After observing the status of his generals, Mikael was amazed and happy, because each of them was powerful and special in their own way.
Calming his emotion and turning to the crowd of vampires, Mikael realized that most of the vampires were barons and baronets so, for precaution, he decided to see the current strength of his family.
Calling his marquises who, as they approached, soon bowed, he ordered that each of them checked the knowledge and strength of each vampire below the occupation of marquis, and the result was that they were very weak because, before that crisis, the vampires did not study magic or combat and that was one of the reasons why the old empire fell.
Determined to change that, Mikael stored his pair of bats that hibernated in the soul space, which opened when he made the contract and waited for everyone to get ready. As Drake's transformation day was cloudy, not letting the sun appear, Mikael concluded that the weather would remain cloudy and decided to leave on that same day.
At nightfall, his entire family, including him, totaling 222 vampires, turned into 100 bats each. On that day, the kingdoms near that cave saw the sky turn dark as night for a few minutes and strangely heard terrifying screams of bats and that day was marked in history centuries later as the beginning of the rebirth of a powerful and magnificent vampire empire.
Traveling until halfway through the night, Mikael managed to approach the territory of the late archmage Alfred. From afar, one could observe the immense, beautiful and luxurious figure of the palace but, he decided to take a break before invading the territory, because when they got a little closer, he had a bad feeling, but nothing fatal and his sense informed him, making him more cautious and vigilant.
After warning his family through sound waves, Mikael landed with his clan on a slope near the territory and everyone returned to their humanoid forms and Drake ran to talk to Mikael.
[Mikael]
My sense warned me to be vigilant and that bothered me; landing on the ground, I saw Drake running towards me and after approaching me, he asked why I asked everyone to stay a little away from the territory.
Then, the others seeing him speak so casually and without showing respect, cast envious and disapproving looks, especially my generals. Sighing... I explained that my sense warned me that something is wrong in the territory and it never fails, and I also warned Drake not to speak or act like that with me publicly, because that would cause problems later.
Climbing up the slope, I summoned my pair of illusion bats from the space and to my relief they woke up and looked bigger and with denser mana emanating from them. Ah! They evolved! I thought to myself, and then I called Nara who quickly came to my side and respectfully waited for my orders.
I looked in the distance and my vision didn't notice anything wrong but, my sense screamed for me to be vigilant. Undecided, I ordered the male bat to help her with illusions and ordered him to explore the terrain around the palace and said, strictly to Nara, not to invade the palace.