“This shore is part of our territory,” the chief of the roving tribe growled. “Leave.”
Leaving wasn’t an option, though. We were weary from the travel and needed to settle somewhere so we could reestablish ourselves, replenish our reserves, and regrow the tribe after suffering losses from the uqandu.
I went over everything I could recall about inter-tribal conflict, which wasn’t much. When our tribe last got into true conflict with another tribe, back when I was a child, it was mostly just over food, at least on the surface. The conflict was fairly minimal, on the whole. This one was over territory, and I wasn’t sure a few deaths and the exchange of a few mates would solve the problem.
Preparing myself for full-on battle between our two tribes, I watched as the two chiefs argued, and the rest of the tribesmen on both sides positioned themselves, as our females and children hid away. I immediately noticed that the males were finding matches among the opposition with comparable markings, and thus comparable Blood. It almost looked like formations across a line of scrimmage, surprisingly orderly.
With my perceptions dialed up so high, I clocked Daru sidling up to me, but didn’t turn away from the opposition to acknowledge him.
“From the look in your eyes, I doubt I can convince you to go hide,” he muttered, and I grunted a confirmation. He sighed, but didn’t argue. “In that case… maim, don’t kill.”
That pulled my attention briefly away from the perceived enemies and onto my father. “What?”
It was practically the opposite of everything I had experienced in Uli culture so far. We killed animals for food, and we killed each other for Blood. Why wouldn’t we kill actual enemies? And it was a veritable Blood buffet; rather than kill our own people, killing all these enemies would empower us without diminishing us. Sure, we only needed to win the conflict to gain concessions, in this case the land, but why wouldn’t we just kill them all and also claim their power as our own?
The thought made me pause. Maybe I’ve been living as an Uli for too long.
“It will keep you in the battle for longer, and protect you,” Daru explained. “Once the killing starts, the Blood Fever will rise. Depending on your opponent, you could be overwhelmed and pass out.”
I considered that information while I turned back to the opposing tribe. I had been fairly resistant to the Blood Fever ever since my first, severe reaction, which I attributed to my Will stat from my previous life, but I had been warned that killing someone with more Blood could be devastating or even fatal. I had seen other boys pass out after their challenges, and despite how we ritualized murder, the victor was cared for until they awoke, protected by the rest of the tribe.
Since our rituals were entirely between Uli of comparable Blood, the fever was usually measured and safe, though still often debilitating, at least for a period of time. Was large-scale warfare not possible for Uli, then? If every combatant was potentially knocked out after killing a single opponent, making them an easy target—though one which would also potentially debilitate any Uli who killed them during their Fever—then it might not be.
Suddenly, the line of scrimmage made more sense. Rather than a large scale conflict, this was shaping up to be a series of one-on-one fights. If they did kill their opponent, the Uli in question would likely be able to withdraw before the Blood Fever overtook them, especially by battling within their Blood range. And, presumably, if they survived, they would go on to come into conflict with an enemy who had been victorious in their own conflict, nearby.
No wonder the last conflict my tribe had been in with another Uli tribe had resulted in so few deaths. Unlike the mantises, who seemed to have no issue killing and eating us since they didn’t have Blood, our Blood stat—the very System of this world itself—seemed to deter us from killing each other, at least outside of controlled, ritualized circumstances.
I compartmentalized the complicated thoughts for the moment, though, since the argument between the two tribe chiefs was escalating. Daru stepped away from me, and up towards the invisible line between the two tribes, facing off against someone who looked around the same level of strength as him. At least, in terms of the names carved into his skin, because the Uli was head and shoulders taller than my father. Hopefully he had less skill with his Blood, at least, so that Daru’s skill would even the odds.
Despite not being a tribesman yet myself, I also stepped up to the line. Physically, I had grown quite a bit the last couple of years, and was nearing an adult height, though more like that of Daru than Roba. In the last year, accepting several challenges by my peers, my Blood had grown from 25 to 41, and I had advanced a number of my skill levels. I was only a few wins away from earning the right to become a tribesman, but at this level the other Bloodied boys were a lot more wary and took a lot more time to prepare before making challenges. It likely was still a year or two away, under normal circumstances.
Maybe I’d get reprimanded for it later by the chief, but this seemed like an incredible opportunity to me. Kill some enemy Uli who would see my tribe be displaced again and starve, while earning the Blood needed to become a tribesman without needing to kill anymore kids from my own tribe? That was worth a dressing down by the chief, if it even came.
For the moment, though, I went to the far end of the line, since the strongest were concentrated at the center—such as the chief, as well as the Uli who had claimed Nadi—and gradually fanned out to the weaker, younger tribesmen in both directions. Daru was somewhere halfway between the chief and the end of the line, where I found myself facing a young Uli male who looked like he was relatively new to his own tribe’s point of maturity.
The Uli sneered down at me, dismissing me based on my Blood markings. “Weak,” he spat. “You trying to die today, boy? Run home to your mothers.”
I grinned. “As if a boy barely out of his creche has the right to say anything.”
The Uli growled, and his skin flushed bright red as his [Blood Augmentation] kicked on. “You’re dead. I don’t even have to hold back with you. I won’t feel a thing from your pitiful Blood.”
“Perfect. Justifiable self-defense, then.”
The brief look of confusion was displaced by fury as the tensions rose. When the two chiefs roared, tusks bared and Blood techniques shining blindingly bright, the two sides smashed together into combat.
Despite Daru’s warning, I didn’t intend on holding back. I aimed a [Blood-Empowered Blow] directly for my opponent’s heart.
It was like hitting a brick wall. At least, it was like doing so before I had the stats and magic powers that ruined that idiom, since I could shatter rock with a punch now. I did not shatter my opponent, however, instead splitting my knuckles on his skin; his [Blood Augmentation] must have been a high level, and he had the Blood stat to back it up. I narrowly dodge the return blow coming from the augmented Uli and I focused on my own [Blood Augmentation], so I wouldn’t get splattered by a stray fist.
My Will was high, and my Blood was decent—both the stat and associated techniques—but I wasn’t all-powerful. Not yet, anyway. My enemy clearly had a high Blood stat and his own [Blood Augmentation] level was probably even higher than my own, as he was older and had more time to master it, even if he didn’t have benefits from a past life like myself. I couldn’t be dismissive of the possible strength an Uli had at their disposal, given the way Blood worked.
The Uli rubbed his chest, grinning at my weak punch, before he bared his tusks and coming at me again. His skin dulled as he refocused his Blood into his fist, aiming a blow at me.
Perfect.
Though the advantages of my past life came from my stats and mastery of magic, which helped me a bit with Blood skills, the real advantage I had in this fight was my opponent underestimating me. My first [Blood-Empowered Blow] had been a feeler punch, one in which I only used strength comparable to what I should have at Blood 41.
As he came at me without the protection of his [Blood Augmentation], I weaved past his clumsy, overpowered blow using a bit of [Grappling], and struck back, this time without holding back. The blood which had been dribbling from my knuckles sharpened under [Blood Control] into a shiv held together by my energy and I struck another [Blood-Empowered Blow] with it, and the full force of my Will, right back at the same place I had struck before.
This time, it was his skin which split, and my Blood shiv drove directly into his heart.
Maybe having a direct blood connection to the Uli as he died was a mistake, as his Blood hit me fairly hard. He had been a good deal stronger than me, and it was the first time I had felt any Blood Fever since my First Blood, but while painful, it didn’t knock me out. He hadn’t had more Blood than I had Will, after all; if he had, he wouldn’t have been at the end of the line.
I stepped back, trying to reign in the foreign Blood which swirled in me, as it would affect my techniques if I faced off with another Uli. That’s why Daru said not to kill, I scolded myself.
[Blood Restoration] was a bit uncomfortable with the foreign Blood not fully integrated, but the skin on my fist sealed back up. I couldn’t rely on [Blood Control] again right now, with my energies in such disarray, anyway.
Turning away from the dead Uli, I found the neighboring battle was ending as my fellow tribesman—a boy a couple of years my senior, who I vaguely knew in passing from when we shared chores when I was first Bloodied—slumping to the ground. He was wounded, and quite badly, but not dead yet, as his opponent had held back enough to still be in good form for any subsequent skirmishes.
The Uli looked down at his dead tribesman, then back up to me in surprise. “You killed Araq? And you’re still standing?”
I shrugged, then winced, grabbing my lower left arm.
My new opponent smirked at my pain, squaring off against me. We both augmented ourselves with our Blood, and stepped forward to fight.
Seeing a weakness, this Uli kept aiming his blows on my left, and focusing his defenses on my right side. I took a few empowered blows, barely shaking them off thanks to my [Blood Augmentation], increasingly slow to react on my left side, both attacking and defending with my right.
Finally, I charged up a full [Blood-Empowered Blow] with my upper right hand, and slammed it down towards the Uli.
He blocked it with all four of his arms, boosted by [Blood Augmentation], and again smirked at my wasted Blood, until he winced and coughed.
I stepped back as he looked down in confusion at the piece of sharpened ivory embedded between his ribs.
“Yeah, that’s probably in your lung,” I said, shaking my left arms out. A little trickery, some slight of hand with the not-quite-knife I kept tucked in my loincloth, and a hefty dose of [Ambidexterity] to deliver the payload. “It probably won’t kill you right away, but…”
My opponent tried to growl and step forward, but coughed again, this time with blood droplets splattering out.
“It’ll definitely slow you down.”
This time, I came at him in full force, aiming blows at his actual weakened side, as he gasped for breath with one collapsed lung. His reaction time continued to diminish as his state worsened, and soon enough I was in a position to finish him off, but I held back on the kill.
I wasn’t entirely sure how this worked, exactly. If he died later on, would I still get the Blood? Would it hit me when I wasn’t expecting it? Wasn’t that a debilitating risk? In any case, when I knocked him on his back and he remained on the ground, I took Daru’s advice and held off on the additional Blood Fever. Instead, I turned away in search of a new opponent.
By the time my third battle was ending, the two sides were separating. Word came down the line.
One of the chiefs had lost, and the battle was over.