Their screams did not really last for a long time, just about five minutes. But it gave everyone a chill, Gus was a psychopathic killer, not that he was crazy or anything, but he killed in a way that would leave a person with nightmares for a very long time. But the one thing he could not compare with, was the sheer scale of Asare and Asha's attack.
Maybe when he had grown a bit stronger, he would be able to cause destruction on such a scale, but right now Asare had the edge over him in that aspect. This spell, was just chilling.
After ten minutes the spell began disperse, with the ash floating up an away into oblivion. What was left behind was a field of grey ash almost two feet thick. It was like the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust, there were no bodies left behind, just ash, lots and lots of ash.
Adein had a look of fury on his face, this was too much of a loss, but that fury was also steeped with a fear that stemmed from deep within his body. But Adein was not going to leave with his tail between his legs, he had too much pride for that.
Adein rocked his arm, and his silver whip appeared in his hands, it's tip split into four different partitions that began to crackle with electricity. He swung his whip down, and a powerful wind was generated, and all the ash below him was blown away, clearing the ground for him to land.
His other guards fell into place behind him, and from the looks on all of their faces, they were just as angry and bloodthirsty as their superior at the moment. Growls began to resound from behind him as bones began to crack and armors began to get stretched past their normal proportions.
For the unsealed vampires and their superior senses, the smell of fur and dogs permeated the air as the werewolves all began to shift into a form that's not been seen in the pit for the past 700 years.
This was not the half man, half wolf form Kael and Xaseah had face before, what was standing behind Adein, was a two meter tall hulking beats of fangs and claws, and it was quite prepared to tear them all to pieces.
Adein smirked as he pulled his hand back and swung his electrified whip at the barrier, the crackling of electricity rang through the air as the whip came down on the barrier with a thunderous boom.
The earth shook as dust flew up into the air, from Adein's perspective, it looked as if cracks began to appear from thin air, but from the perspective of Asha and the others, they could see that the shield rapidly developed hairline cracks that spread all over it's surface the moment it was hit by Adein.
This proved that the insane head warden was just as strong as both Asha and Asare. The shield could not withstand one more hit of that magnitude, at this point in time, it had already come to the end of it's journey, and it was etched all over their face.
Noticing the worry all over their faces, Adein prepared for a final clash with the shield, Asare spread his hands to the side as two spell circles the size of plates appeared on his palms, both glowing a furious orange as embers and wisps of flame escaped from it's structure.
A similar sight could be seen with Asha as she had a massive spell circle almost 8 meters in diameter appear on the ground with her standing right in the middle, shadows, and black fog began to seep out of the spell circle and floated upwards, however from this fog and tangible shadows that appeared, skulls and the faces of wailing souls could be seen. It was as if she had dragged up a piece of hell, and the souls being tormented within.
They made for a fearsome duo, not to mention the other vampires behind them were just as prepared for what was about to happen, however Adein did not care, whatever threat they posed, he was sure he would be able to get away if he had too.
The electricity on the whip crackled louder, in fact it could no longer be called electricity again, as it seemed the entire whip itself had transformed into one made from lightening. Adein smirked, and was about to swing the whip when a massive explosion was heard.
The blood cocoon that held Kael, suddenly gave out a piercing light and fell apart with a boom. It released a massive beam of light that stretched all the way to the roof of the pit, bathing the blue district in a wave of scarlet light.
Sloshing sounds could be heard as it seemed someone was coming out of a pool of water, or depending on it's rather viscous sound, blood. They saw his shadow long before they saw his face, he seemed different than before.
And they were right, he had lost his shirt, so his well sculpted and lean frame was exposed to the world, his long black hair had change, it was shorter, but the tips had turned into a deep shade of dark blue and they hung all over his face in disarray.
His eyes were no longer the ferocious red that they were almost an hour ago, instead they were a blazing blue that only denoted one thing. Kael had advanced in rank, he was no longer a revenant, but a blood child.
...…..
......
How much pain you feel is relative to how much pain you receive. Does that even make sense? pain is pain, it's not relative to anything, you just feel it, with different intensity. A little slap could kill a person, while others would completely shrug of a hard hit and walk away just as easily as if nothing had happened.
I was feeling pain, really, really painful pain. And then one moment it was just gone, it was as if for that short moment, I lost my ability to feel.....anything. But it only lasted for a moment, feeling came back slowly, but the pain was gone.
What was new however, was a new sense of awareness I never experienced. I could feel my blood flowing beneath my skin, entrapped and cage by veins, vessels and capillaries. Blood that could bend to my will, and answer to my summons in any shape and form.
Blood that gave life, moved life and sheltered life, it now bowed to my will, flexible in it's movement, rigid in it's defense. Blood of everything that lives, blood of everything that dies.
It was a really fascinating feeling, it was euphoric, and it was something I didn't want to stop, this feeling was unlike any other. But it had to end, because I heard him, I heard him attack. I couldn't nestle myself within this feeling for too long, my family was waiting for me.
[CONGRATULATIONS ON REACHING THE BLOODCHILD RANK, YOU'VE BEEN AWARDED FIVE HUNDRED ESSENCE POINTS]
I pulled myself out of the blood pool, and took a step forward. There was a feeling of hotness in the air, and with it came the chocking stench of burnt skin and ash.
But none of them could compare to the heavy stench of death that was in the air, I can't really describe what death smells like, it was just a feeling I suddenly had. I knew a lot of blood had been split, too many lives has been taken, and Adein was knocking on my front door.
[Husband! Are you okay?]
Her head was not turned as she was still in the middle of a standoff against Adein, but the worry she sent through the bond made my heart ache for her.
But Xaseah had no such qualms as she ran straight into my arms, she cried, and I felt even more worse. I held her tight and closed my eyes and just focused on this warmth I felt, it was not from her body of course, because technically vampires are dead.
There might be blood in our veins, but it's circulation is so slow if there is even one at all, that our body is freezing cold most of the time. But there was warmth, I felt it in my heart, a heart that I suddenly realized was no longer beating. I was well and fully dead now, and as such a fully turned vampire.
But I didn't care for that, not right now at least, I had a beautiful woman in my arms, and all I wanted to do right now was to settle her fears and worries. I pulled her head up so that she could look me in the eye, and then I smiled, as warmly as my unbeating heart could let me. Then I said to her.
"I'm okay my love, I'm okay."
She laughed, and then she hugged me tighter. It felt nice, really nice, like way too nice. I pulled back making sure that the last bit of my self control did not go haywire, we had guests after all.
"Lord Kael! It's been a while." Adein said to me.
I looked up at him and furrowed my eyebrows, I didn't have half an idea what happened while I was in that bloodline fountain, but the fact that Uzoma was kneeling on the ground with Magellan placing his hands on his shoulder, meant that things had taken a turn for the worse, a very bloody turn giving the extreme lack of the vampire lackeys Uzoma came here with.
"Yes Adein, it has been a while. You look good". I said to him as I walked towards the almost collapsed shield.
[SHIELD INTEGRITY AT 6 %]
"Oh you're flattering lord Kael. I don't look as good as you do, I mean you just advanced to the BloodChild rank, just after a year and some months of being a revenant, you're an uncommon one I'll give you that. Now come here and die for your crimes, and hand me my enforcer while you're at it." He replied with a smile.
"Sorry Adein, but I have no intention of dying today. While I really regret breaking your rules and committing any crimes, all of it were done due to ignorance since I was not aware of such rules in the first place. So just let me off with a warning, after all I don't think you would be so stupid as to start a war between to noble houses. Because I assure you, even if I'm a prisoner here, I'm still the head of a noble house whose influence spreads through multiple planets to the point of even owning some of them. I have the resources to make the Ysmir family burn for a very long time if you so much as touch me and mine you sadistic piece of shit."
Silence, I'm sure he didn't think this through, because if he did. He wouldn't have done all the shit he's previously pulled on me. And most of them wouldn't have happened to me if my memories were still intact, I was completely ignorant of the kind of power I had even as a prisoner.
He had a certain amount of power over me because he was the warden, however that power was not absolute, because I was still the one prisoner that could absolutely fuck up his life in more ways than one. Beating Adein was not a battle for fists and swords, I just had to play politics with him, play his own game and beat him with it.
"Oh! Please forgive my language Adein, but am I wrong, you're a piece of shit human being aren't you, I assure you if you stupidly decide to push on with your current course of action, you wouldn't be leaving this place alive. Now I'm willing to serve some punishment, or pay some remuneration for breaking your rules, that way I can make up for my mistakes, how does that sound." I said to him.
It wouldn't do to show any weakness or fear in front of this bastard, but I wouldn't push him too far either. He might not be able to touch me, but that's not the same for the people around me.
He could make lives very difficult for them. I saw him clench his fist tightly around his whip, the crackle of the lightening whip became even more pronounced as his anger soared. But he was able to rein himself back in and said.
"That sounds like a splendid idea, you still have to hand over my enforcer though, your wife and butler has decimated more than half of my forces, people who had hopes, dreams, families. Can you compensate for the lives lost, for the children that have been left fatherless." He said with a sad tone
This damn hypocritical bastard, everyone there knew he did not give a shit about any of the guards that died. He was only trying to squeeze me dry, and gain more profits. The angry looks on the remaining guards behind him more than proved it. Adein was a psychotic, and greedy bastard.
"The 'families' of the dead guards would be properly taken care of. Trust me, that's not going to be a problem, however your enforcer is going to be dying today without question, so we're not in agreement with that." I said to him with a steely gaze.
"That won't do lord Kael, you've already given me great insult and evaded punishment, getting only what I would call a proverbial slap on the wrist. If I let you kill my enforcer without doing anything, how will that make me look in front of everyone. You would call my authority into question and sow the seeds of rebellion, doing so would cause chaos and a lot of vampires will die. After all they're not all unsealed like you are. Also an enforcer is important, he rules over the whole blue district, if you kill him, you would leave a vacuum of power that won't be filled immediately. As such more chaos would ensure."
I was shocked, and I was not the only one. It was as if I was witnessing a miracle, it was actually possible for something logical to come out of Adein's mouth. Who died!
I did not know how to answer him, no matter how I looked at it, he was right. I couldn't find a way to refute his claim, which meant this enemy of mine would slip through my fingers, shit! But along came Asha to the rescue.
"Then let my husband have the privilege of being your new enforcer for the blue district." Asha said with a flourish.
My mouth was hanging open for a second longer than necessary, it was an idea, a very bad idea...or a good one. I couldn't make up my mind, and it seemed as if Adein was in a similar dilemma. But Asha still had more to say.
"Think about it, Lord Kael Cor, noble, savior and the lion of Shearath, is the fully endorsed and supported enforcer of the head warden. You're popularity and control over the blue district would be absolute. That way we all get what we want. You get your enforcer, one that's even better than the previous, and we get to kill this bitch!"
I couldn't help the smile on my face. Asha was seriously intelligent, smart, brilliant and cunning. She played politics like it was a phenomenon as easy as breathing. Neither Adein or me could refute what she just said, and it looked like he was about to agree before someone interjected, damn! That Uzoma dude.
"You can't do that! The seat of grand elder has been a sacred and coveted position of the vampire race for thousands of years. It's not something you can just hand to someone, head warden, he has to win it! Those are the rules, the only way he can become the leader of the blue district is if he beats the previous leader in combat. And that's me!" Uzoma shouted
Adein looked at me with a smirk on his face. Then he said.
"He's right you know, if you're willing, then tomorrow I will set a match to the death between the two of you, and the prize would be total control of the blue district, with full autonomy from the guard tower, if you win, you get to kill him, and you no longer have to answer to me, or any guards. In fact I will pull out all forms of authority or influence from the blue district, letting you guys become a sovereign community of your own...…so what do you say?"
The offer was much too tempting to say no, Asha said something to me in my head, but I didn't reply. I just looked at Adein and said
"I'll fight him."
Fifteen minutes later Adein left with Uzoma in tow, the both of them sporting a rather nasty grin on their faces. When they we're completely out of sight, Asha came up to me fury in her eyes and repeated what she had told me through our thoughts.
"I told you not to agree, it's a TRAP!"