As the last of the ritual formed, blood continued to gush out unnaturally from the shallow wounds on Helce's palms. Although the pain was excruciating, she did not seem to feel it.
Compared to the pain that suffused her heart, the pain from the ritual was nothing.
Without moving another muscle, the circle of blood on the floor seemed to come alive as the last rune was placed down.
All of a sudden, the magic that was previously abundant in the room was rapidly sucked into the ritual circle. Faced with the loss of magic in the room, Nine and the Vampire King had to switch to a contest of physical abilities.
To be honest, Nine could have easily ended things already. Though the concentration of magic in the room wasn't at its highest right now, she was still able to efficiently draw on the magic that was still in the air, unlike what the Vampire King was experiencing.
Watching what was happening with the side of her eye, she fended off the increasingly desperate attacks of the Vampire King.
The Vampire King snarled, pushing himself away. The concern was threatening to eat him up. There was no more time!
As if sensing his thoughts, Nine moved to engage him again, not letting him catch a breather.
Slowly, the room pulsed and thrummed with the magic that had been gathered by the ritual spell.
Nine strained her senses as she felt the rapidly approaching bunch of magical figures. As far as she could tell, they were all decently equipped in the area of magic, which ruled out the possibility of Helce summoning an unending stream of undead.
Honestly, at this point of time, Nine wondered if the Elf was even making a conscious decision. She seemed more like she was just trying to summon the strongest thing to her to help.
Before long, the ritual circle flickered out of existence, having completed its job. The Elf seemed to have lost all strength as she slumped to the floor, drained and barely breathing.
The Vampire King let out a sound of abject despair, almost collapsing to the floor himself. "No," he muttered to himself, his tone containing the strong flavour of disbelief and despair.
The magical signatures moved rapidly, flickering into the room. As Nine's eyes focused, she suddenly realized what the Elf had done.
She had used all of her magic to summon a bunch of Elementals!
Immediately, she abandoned the Vampire King to his misery as she moved towards Nocturne, grabbing him and hastily applying a stealth charm on the both of them. She then moved the both of them near to the struggling High Elf, who was still bleeding out due to the lack of magic in the air.
Nine absently wondered whether Helce knew what she was doing. She was sure that the High Elf would have been able to heal himself, knowing how strongly connected to nature that Elves were. She was certain that the damage Nocturne had done to the King would not have killed him, had he been allowed access to the magic in the air.
Unfortunately for the both of them, Helce had effectively cut off the High Elf's chances of survival, with her own hands no less.
The room filled with Elementals, who hovered and chirped amongst themselves, talking in the language that only Elementals were able to understand between each other.
Helce struggled to pull herself upright but gave up upon finding that she had little to no strength left. She glared at the Vampire King with burning hatred in her eyes. "Kill him," she enunciated. Her words were clear and full of conviction.
She seemed not to care that she was dooming the Vampire King for something that had not been in his control, since the previous personality of the Vampire King was as good as dead. Even though the Vampire King only had loyalty to Helce left, she couldn't forgive him.
The Elementals in the room seemed to swirl, affected by the anger that Helce was giving off.
Nine imagined that it was because they had been summoned by the ritual thus linking the Elf and the Elementals together.
Upon a closer glance, Nine could tell that the Elementals that had been summoned were all rather weak, but there was a great deal of them.
As she was scanning them one by one, she felt Nocturne poke her in the side. He was glancing in a certain direction with slightly widened eyes.
As Nine looked in that direction as well, she too widened her eyes slightly.
"It was Anya! However, the High Water Elemental that had taken Anya away was not seen. Instantly, Nine connected the dots. These were all the Elementals that had just been born, most likely from the undead that were still roaming the lands!
The more she studied the Elementals, she came to a conclusion that they were born prematurely. The Elementals that filled this room were Tier Two and Three at most, which was rather lacking as compared to the Tier Six that Anya was born with.
Was this the real reason why the undead carried a core!?
Though they were 'cleansing the world' so to speak, Helce had also slipped in something a little extra as insurance should she ever need it.
She must not have anticipated needing to use that Life Sacrificial ritual at this point in time, but she was so gone from the loss of blood as well as the pain, despair and anger that swirled around within her mind, not giving herself any respite to think.
"My Lady!" the Vampire King shouted, drawing near to the bound Elf now that Nine was no longer restricting his movements.
"Kill him! Kill all the Vampires in the room for me!"
"My Lady, please!"
Even as he heard her words loud and clear, the Vampire King did not care. He continued to try and unbind the raging Elf, unaffected by the fact that his imminent death was drawing nearer.
"Unhand me, you filthy bastard!"
Heeding her summons, the Elementals in the room grabbed the Vampire King as he resisted, dragging him backwards. As he tried to fend himself, the Elementals grabbed him with a strong, unrelenting grip.
One of the Elementals held on to his index finger, pulling it in the opposite direction.
A piercing shriek was heard in the room as the Vampire King's finger detached from the rest of his body. The stuttering shrieks never died in intensity as the Elementals worked their savage natures on him.
Anya, sensing her Master in this room quickly and discreetly flew over as the rest of the Elementals were distracted by the mission that the Elf issued them, her words ringing unceasingly in their minds.
Nine nodded at Anya, who rapidly cast a series of spells over her Master and Master's Vampire, adding a few layers of protection and distractions from the Elementals in the room.
Though she knew that her Master would be able to handle them, why should she have to if Anya was able to take care of it?
The Vampire King's screams were matched by the Elf's low, maniacal laughter. Tears streamed down from the Elf's eyes unwillingly as she watched the torture the Vampire King underwent before her very eyes.
Before long, the choking, gurgling coughs and wet screams died down, until the room was silent.
It was a loud, jarring silence that seemed even louder than the nosiest of marketplaces.
One by one, the newly born Elementals in the room stopped the moment their order was complete, looking around in confusion. Finding no one else in the room besides their summoner, they left as swiftly as they arrived after throwing the room into chaos.
Anya pecked her Master on the cheek, deciding to leave with the other Elementals. As the strongest in the group, she had to make sure that they would not go down the wrong path from the atrocious act they just committed.
Nine nodded in thanks to Anya, feeling her familiar's intentions.
Helce, who was growing increasingly fearful of the continued silence in the room, wriggled her way towards the barely breathing High Elf.
Try as she might, she was unable to loosen the ropes around her at all, so as she moved on the floor looking reminiscent of a caterpillar, the ropes cut into her pale flesh, causing more abrasions and bleeding.
Her head, already feeling light and dizzy, almost caused her to lose consciousness before she reached the form of the Elf King, her eyes hopeful.
The moment she reached close enough, her body gave out from under her, her vision black and spotty. She allowed herself a brief two seconds of respite before she tried again.
"-y King," she rasped out. "Your Majesty, are you alright? Please wait. Your servant Helce will help you."
The High Elf looked at his loyal servant, Helce, with clear eyes for the first time in years. Her words caused a wave of pity and derision to course through him. Ah, the Vampire King was gone. Truly, he was gone.
Zephyr, the Elf King, lifted his heavy, leaden arm as he placed his hand over Helce's eyes. "It is alright," he said soothingly. "It's alright now. Get some rest."
Nine stopped Nocturne as he made to move forward, shaking her head. Though they were enemies, she could not quite bring herself to hate them, no matter the atrocities that had come from their hands.
For Helce, the surge of joy that Zephyr's words brought her was enough for her. She closed her eyes, slipping off just like that. Quietly, without another word.
Soon after her, the High Elf's breathing grew increasingly laboured. As he lay, panting on the floor, he made no move to clutch at his sluggishly bleeding side. Though he was free from the Vampire King's ritual, the feelings that had been born and fostered within him did not leave.
Truly, he had loved him. And now, he was gone. Just as Helce was gone. Soon, he too would join them. Perhaps they would meet again in the afterlife.
Zephyr lay back, his eyes locked onto the wooden ceiling above him.
"Thank you," he said to the room. Though he could not see them, he knew that they were here. The two Vampires from earlier had ended the cycle that they had forced themselves into was finally broken.
"My gratitude to you. The three of us have committed so many atrocious crimes that we cannot hope to ever be pardoned. All that I ask is that you scatter the remaining Elves to different parts of the world. Most of them have been kept in the dark, believing that the undead never attacked us only because of the forest's protection."
Nine and Nocturne stepped forward, looking the dying High Elf in the eye.
"You have my word. Rest well now."
Satisfied, the light in the High Elf's eyes slowly dimmed as his eyes slid shut gently, never to be open again for the rest of eternity.