The cold autumn air was so thick you could drink it. Heavy clouds were hiding the sky and the moon, landing heavy shadows and encompassing everything bellow into the world of darkness.

This was the day Lazy Jessica was going to give birth to the heir of the newborn clan. The clan that was formed by the extraordinary exiles Jessica Landruin and Boris Drakonen.

It was several hours past midnight when the sky was lit brightly. The little village and the mansion were especially lively. Loud voices sounded throughout the area, clangs and small explosions could be heard here and there. The atmosphere was truly festive. But that was bloodfest.

The clan was under the heavy siege. Cries and screams reverberated throughout the area.

The first line of defense was easily breached with a sudden avalanche-like attack, but soon assaulters got in stuck in the quagmire of everchanging defense formations. There were no prolonged attacks- Snakes clansmen ferociously nibbled, gnawed and clawed the intruders in tides, efficiently crippling their advances.

Low-level clansmen coordinated like well-oiled clockworks under the command of the ex-general Leto Drakonen. Despite the fact that he was constantly on the move Master Leto was constantly monitoring the battle flow, never missing the weak spots and overall outline of the battle.

Everything was going easy, way too easy. Suddenly Leto stopped, his eyes focused on some invisible goal. There four officer and four commander level auras suddenly appeared. The weaker ones sneaked past the Master, while the commanders rushed towards Leto. "John and Mark will bid for time, but will I be alive to help them?" He sighed inwardly and rushed out of the village in the bid of taking his battle away from the low-leveled clansmen. It was evident that the invaders didn't want to place their kin under the crossfire either, they followed him closely without attacking.

"Hello, there general Ken..khe, Leto!" One of the elders shouted with smug face: "Or should I say ex-general?"

"Guess your puppy clan is really restless now, to think that they send four awakening level elders just to stall me," Leto answered lazily, as though he was not pressured at all, when in fact he's back was drenched in cold sweat.

"Che the green worm is about to die but he's still humorous" elders couldn't help but laugh.

They rushed to surround Leto, but his perfect footwork made it hard to achieve. While the opponents advanced and sidestepped on him, Leto kept moving aside, preventing them from closing the circle. The blades glittered with inhuman speed, Letos provers helped him to constantly fight only one opponent at a time while occasionally the second managed to get closer, he used surrounding buildings and topography to keep them at bay. From time to time, Master shot throwing weapons just for the sake of disrupting only hoping to divert their attention. Even though, he seemed to match the enemies this fight was the losing one.

Outside of the mansion blood fights were going on. "Damn it who leaked the information that Lady changed the date and place she would give labor?" : guard exclaimed in a fury

"Those Blood dogs are hell-bent on finishing the Supreme Masters line. And this damn Prince calling Supreme Master on the mission just cause that dirty Blood bitch flashed her legs in front of him".

"What the hell John! How can you diminish the Prince! That bloody dog should have at least flash her boobs and bark as the bitch she is!" another guard nervously laughed.

"Thous retards think that they can cover their faces with grandfathers panties and we will not recognize them! Pah, they are so dumb it makes me puke"

"Marc don't say so, they are afraid of Kings persecutions so they have to maintain the bare minimum visibility of not having a hand in it" John spat on the ground.

"When Snakes gave a buck on rules? Someone barks on us? Strangle the rabid dogs!" Mark was very upset about not being able to participate in the fight.

The signs of battle were heard outside the windows, people were screaming, fire burning. Four men in masks came in. John and Mark gulped in unison.

John could not help but scream: "Mark, you are freaking jinx!"

Mark had quite a guilty look - it was obvious that each of the masked men was as powerful as the guards. Both of them were determined to give their life away for the Mistress and her baby, but even that would not guaranty their safety.

The two-handed ax* in Mark's hands looked more like a huge shield, Mark took a step forward, covering John and his flexible but heavy glaive**. Fortunately, a huge hall allowed using such powerful and bulky weapons.

Mark's crushing broad blows made him an easy target, but John and his quick and accurate strokes with the glaive transformed their combination into the impregnatable moving fortress, devastating everything on its way. Regrettably, each of the four enemies had nearly the same strength as the duo, and only the perfect teamwork was saving the duo. Both John and Mark knew that it was only the question of time, and sooner razer then later they would fall under the heavy scimitars of the intruders.

All of a sudden something babies cry was heard. *** Zatkites vse, mi rodilis! Nakonec podhodyshi otprisk!* To them, it sounded like an ordinary baby cry, but inside their chests, it reverberated like the mighty roar- excitement and bloodlust surged in their veins. Out of the blue, their respective totems awakened and both guards rushed forward, bracing the death.

Contrary to their expectations the fight was too quick. Intruders were frozen stiff, and, as if guards made plans in advance, Mark, who was standing to the left, swang his ax with a forward jump from the right to left, and John mirrored him from the right. Improvised scissors cut the four intruders in half. With a bang, all six bodies hit the floor. Four dead Intruders, and two totally exhausted and shocked guards.

At the same instant, Leto's totem revitalized giving him a huge burst in power. He coughed some sticky blood but was able to gather much more strength then he could before. Elder, he was facing thought that Leto was running on the last fumes and rushed forward. In a flash, Leto lunged to the side of the masked dog he was facing, and his sword went at the weird angle as if merging with the path of the elders' saber, thus making its final aim for the neck invisible. Elder had no time to react and the thin sword pierced his neck like a pin pierces the bee. Not losing the momentum Leto kicked the unfortunate "bee" from the tip of his sword, launching the masked head onto the face of the elder next to him. With his sight blinded, the second elder could only block the sword with his shoulder in the last moment, but got hit by follow up attack with the foot to his ribs - his bones crushed and pierced the heart.

Instantly the rest of the elders felt terrified, thinking that Leto used some kind of forbidden technique. Not saying the word they turned around and rushed to escape. Master run to catch them but that was all for the show cause his burst in power became an extra burden to his stamina that was already severely depleted in the prolonged one vs four battle. Moreover, what elders were really damn good at was escaping.

*Uagh sukinu deeeti ya vernulsy uaaaagh!**** the baby cryings as if some demonic laughter was spreading through the whole mansion.

Shortly the sounds of battle receded and war cry was heard "Snakes live in death! Snakes live in death! Shred the skin of retarded hounds!"