Flashy Decapitation

These enemies weren’t strong, but dealing with undead was different from dealing with living people. Wind gathered around Helena’s feet, and a burst of wind blew out below her as she was launched forwards. She spun in the air, once, twice, thrice, and came to a stop behind the trio of Wights.

Each of her spins had been to strengthen a slash attack, and each of the Wights stumbled before their head fell from their shoulders. Their bodies went limp and collapsed to the ground, their heads not moving.

But Helena recognized this as an instinctive tactic used by undead: They would play dead if they were seemingly defeated, looking for an opening to ambush their opponent. But upon activating her Mana Sight, Helena saw that the mana to their bodies was severed, the remaining mana animating their corpses trapped inside their heads where it could do little harm. Destroying the head would have been a more efficient solution, as it would have completely defeated the monsters in one blow, but that was suited more towards blunt weapon users or earth mages. Helean’s rapier and wind magic were better suited to slashing.

And there was another reason why Helena had left the heads intact: she slashed the air in front of her several times, tracing complex runes. Mana gathered in front of her, and then drifted to each of the three severed heads. “Whispered Testament,” Helena said, casting a spell. This would draw on the memories of the deceased, primarily the ones close to their ****, and would give their thoughts form. It could not be used to discover anything the target would not willingly give up, nor would it provide information they did not know. But it would hopefully provide information on the real culprit behind this.

Helena focused her attention on one of the severed heads she didn’t recognize. “Describe your attacker.” A small gasp escaped the head’s lips, a tiny orb of mana floating in front of Helena. It provided a message, in the target’s own voice, of what she recalled of her attacker before she died. Helena followed that up with another question: “Is there any message you would like conveyed?” This time the answer was negative, this woman had no one who would mourn her.

Helena did the same to the second woman she did not recognize, to similar results.

She then turned to Leila. She asked for the description of the attacker, but she followed up with something different from the others. “Irene escaped safely. Is there anything you wish to say to her?”

“Thank goodness. My dear sister, do not mourn me. I died defending someone I love. That means far more than rotting away in some gutter. I hope you find peace and happiness. Goodbye.”

Reaching into her bag of holding, Helena removed some towels, placing them over the bodies. She could offer them some small dignity until someone could come by and collect their bodies.

Helena made sure to hang onto the descriptions given by the three victims. She could replay these messages several times. She would do so for the neighborhood watch, and for the city guard. It took only a glance for Helena to confirm the distinctive bite marks on their necks that came from a vampire. Investigating the times of **** for these other victims would show that the vampire was continuing to appear, forcing the guard to take this more seriously if the vampire was continuing to infiltrate the slums.

Keeping an ear out with Sound Center spell, Helena waited until a couple members of the neighborhood watch arrived. She entrusted them with the bodies, and went to a high place where she could continue to listen for Wights. She doubted this trio were the only ones.