The First Battle

Heat stopped when he reached the center of the clearing. Akami grinned. He knew why Heat had brought them there; it was so that he could fully utilize the ground reception. Akami was not about to let Heat get the upper hand. A breeze began to create a whistle among the trees. When Heat turned to face Akami, they abruptly stopped. Akami launched an attack at Heat. Throwing kicks and punches at the younger amen. Heat struggled, yet managed to dodge the attacks. Akami kept crushing the rocks where Heat dodged to. After a while, he paused and looked at Heat.

"You're making this fight very boring."

"Oi, how are almost as fast as Supido?"

"Then this Supido character must be very fast, or you just don't know how to measure speed."

"Allow me to bring my measuring instrument."

Heat grinned and shut his eyes. He opened them with a burst of spa.

"Hebikaze!"

The snakes of his Hebikaze came out and began to spin.

Akami transported behind Heat with a clenched fist. The Hebikaze snakes quickly formed a shield to protect Heat.

"Looks like you are not as fast as Supido after all."

The snakes from the Hebikaze charged at Akami but he dodged and they hit a rock instead, shattering it.

He appeared behind Heat and entered a close combat. Since Heat could clearly predict his moves, Akami's attacks were being nullified with ease. The snakes on Heat's left arm wrapped themselves around Akami's left arm and pulled him. Heat then used the snakes from his other hand to ram Akami's arm into a nearby rock. Akami heard a bone snap when he hit the rock. He looked unfazed as he rose back to his feet and his arm began to heal.

"Oh crap, I forgot about that part of you."

Akami started walking towards Heat; he quickly transported and appeared in front of him. He threw a punch, which the Hebikaze snakes blocked again. The force however, sent Heat backwards.

He ran at Heat with clenched fists and the snakes on Heat's right arm also coiled around his arm to form a large fist. Akami jumped as purple spa began gathering from the air onto Heat's fist. Just before Akami could land with a punch, Heat released a concentrated blast of spa at him. The blast threw Akami backwards and blew off part of his left limbs.

"Great Snake's Hiss. Named it myself," he said with a smile.

Akami stared in confusion as his body begun to heal. He clearly did not expect Heat to have such an attack in his arsenal.

"He's healing again!"

"That technique was amazing. Great Snake's Hiss you called it, right? You really need to consult before giving a name. No more holding back, I underestimated you."

He transported to Heat and began to fight him. This time though, with every punch that a snake blocked for Heat, it disappeared. Akami was rapidly overwhelming Heat. He picked him and hurled him at the trees. When Heat crashed into a tree, he formed another Great Snake's Hiss and fired it at Akami; he dodged easily using transportation. Heat was panting heavily and the snakes on his arm all fell off and crept into the bushes. Akami went to Heat who was on the floor, towering above him.

"Your technique is powerful, but I saw through it fairly easily."

Heat watched Akami stand above him. He Heat was going to make the first move.

"I know that, I was warned, you know," he said with a smirk.

The snakes that went into the bushes opened their mouths.

"Say hello to Snake's Hiss."

Small concentrated purple spa formed in their mouths and they hit the vampire like bullets at different parts of his body, damaging his limbs and other body parts. It was not as powerful as his previous technique, but it allowed him to target more areas.

He formed another Hebikaze on his right arm and aimed it at Akami who was still recovering. He hit him with a Great Snake's Hiss, creating a huge hole in his chest. Akami seemed to have no life in him anymore. Heat leaned against a tree, panting.

"A vampire of lower bloodline will die with that, but not me." Akami laughed as he became whole again.

"A higher bloodline? Does such a thing even exist?"

He walked towards Heat, who positioned the snakes for another Great Snake's Hiss. The purple spa began to gather, but Heat suddenly coughed out blood.

"It looks like three of those nasty bombs are your limit." He held Heat up by his neck against the tree and opened his palm. "Allow me to show you the difference between a lower bloodline vampire and one like me."

Tiny red sparks appeared on Akami's palm and he lifted it at Heat. Heat could barely move; he was exhausted already from the fight. Akami figured he had won the battle, when suddenly, snakes came from the forest and began to swarm him.

"What's going on?!"

They bit his legs but eventually he managed to drive them away. Since he was a vampire, the poison had next to zero effect on him and he began to heal.

"I've had enough of you!"

Akami opened his palm and the tiny red sparks appeared again. However, this time he dropped Heat and fell to his knees.

"How did it take you so long to realize?" Heat asked.

One of his snakes came close to Akami and fired a Snake's Hiss at him.

"What?! You planned this from the start?!"

"Yup. All thanks to Supido, sadly."

Before Heat began the mission, Supido warned him of how readable his technique was and advised him to waste enough time to get enough snakes for a distraction so that one particular snake could attack the vampire behind his shin. That snake had silver fangs given to Heat by Supido. From his battles with vampires, Supido discovered that their greatest weakness is loss of the regeneration ability because they were over reliant on it. Vampires use their lungs for attacks like the red spark Akami was about to use, ribs for strength, heart for speed, and more importantly, behind the shin for regeneration. If any of these places were to be pierced or harmed with sharpened silver, a vampire will lose the respective ability for as long as the silver stayed in their body.

"Supido, Supido, how could I miss that? Your friend is Supido Lupus."

Akami lay on the ground, unable to move.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill you, I need some information from you."

Heat started coughing blood again.

"My, my, it seems your powers are taking their toll on you."

"I can't believe I'm still bound to just three per fight."

"So, what now?"

"Now we wait."