Mei Li struck the altar with her sword. The runes glowed brightly, lighting up Akotal's confused gaze.
A fierce wave, colored bright gold, busted outwards, making akotal halt on his track and shielding his face from the fierce hot wave.
Wind slashed hard everywhere in the room and hell broke out. The cracks brought about by Akotal's punch earlier, broadened and formed veins of cracks all over the place.
The entire building shook with tremor and the thousand year old structure seemed like it would collapse at any time.
Soon, the fierce wave subsided.
Akotal grimaced as pain coursed through him. His chest that had been pierced by the Chains of Dracula had worsened as blood oozed out of the gash. Blood also dripped out of his nose and ears and lips as his weakened body worsened in condition.
He faced the altar and was shocked to see that Christa and Mei Li are both unscathed by the fierce wave that made the place a hell earlier.
"You are so dead, girl." His lips twitched with rage as he made it to the altar.
But he couldn't.
Mei Li grinned, weakly. "You can't get in here."
Akotal blinked in confusion. He tried to move forward to the altar again, but the result was the same. He can't get in.
His eyes lowered to the ground just before the altar and he saw a golden line that encircled the altar, simmering and giving off a deadly aura.
Akotal's eyes constricted in shock. "Boundary runes on the blade."
"Now you know your fate." Mei Li tilted her head and continued. "You will have to stay out there until you can no longer make any sacrifices."
Akotal's vicious eyes glinted as he said, "you have no idea how patient I can be."
"Then let's wait and see, because as I am seeing things right now, you don't seem to be capable of waiting."
Akotal took a glance at the Chain of Dracula that now laid on the ground, back to its cold form, inactive. But Akotal knows, the Chain might still attack and if it does, things will be disastrous for him."You are right. This is no time to be patient at all."
"Then don't be. Come. Try to break the circle and see what happens."
"No. I won't do that. But you will know, today, how far a Primordial can go if they are inpatient." Akotal muttered, with a dry grin.
Graaaaaa!
Akotal appeared before Hector in a second. The latter is still laying half-dead and he hasn't even healed from half of his pulverised bones.
Mei Li had a confused gaze as she watched Akotal rally around Hector.
"Tell me. Is it him or that little skull there? Or the skull friend? Or that bragger laying there with a half broken face." Akotal pointed to Adrian. "Choose, young lady. Which one should I kill first?"
Mei Li gritted hard, her face turning paler as seconds passed. Sweat dripped down her face as she stared at akotal in a dilemma.
Akotal grinned, with zero humor. "No one's your darling among them, I see."
"What could you possibly do if I don't do your bidding? Afterall, I have your price here with me."
"You can't hurt her, you and your comrades came into my castle for her anyway. You kill her, the skull vampire will never forgive for the rest of his live."
"You have no idea how far I can go when I'm cornered. Try me, old vampire and I…" Mei Li paused and slowly lowered herself to squat right above Christa's head. She flicked a small knife into her grip and placed the blade on Christa's neck. A trickle of blood slid down as she pressed the blade against the skin. "Will show you, I can handle a Skull's eternal animosity."
Akotal's face scrunched up and he growled in frustration as he lunged at Anna, the dark witch. He grabbed her arm and pulled her up.
Anna's legs were like jelly and she almost fell back to the ground but akotal held her still. Anna's eyes were barely opened.
Akotal shook her fervently. "Anna, I want you here now!"
Anna snapped out of her weakness and widened her eyes.
Akotal grinned when he saw this. "I want you to get that kid out of there." He added. "By any means."
"Yes, my Lord." Anna replied.
Mei Li's face turned ugly at this. However, her dentition cenched and her eyes slitted with a warning look. "You surely don't know how far I can go."
She pressed the blade more against Christa's neck and another drip of blood trickled down.
Akotal's eyes widened.
Anna muttered words inaudibly.
Mei Li gripped her head as she felt a searing surge in her head. It was like it's tearing apart. Every bone and flesh in her head surged and her painful scream spread across the room
Soon blood began to gush out of her nose, mouth and ears. The gleam in her eyes dimmed and her life slowly slipped out of her fingers.
All of a sudden, something happened.
Bang!
Something fast and sharp swung at Anna and slashed her belly. Her eyes widened and she doubled up.
Akotal's forehead was ridged in confusion. His sharp eyes roamed around and he found what's the cause.
Right in front of them, the Chains of Dracula hovered in the air, simmering red hot and oozing out a suppressing aura.
The Chain is back to life.
Akotal growled loudly as he watched his witch drop to the ground.
Akotal faced the Chain of Dracula and flexed his claws. His eyes shone with madness as he bared his thick fangs.
Graaaaa!
He lunged at the Chain and the Chain slashed at his head.
He ducked and grabbed the red hot blade. Fumes rose from his hand as the hot blade burned his palm. "Listen to me, I have owned you for 900 years, why are you attacking me?!"
The blade simmered and slipped out of Akotal's hand and plunged deep into his chest, lifting him up and slamming him down, beside the altar.
The blade burned Akotal's chest and smoke arose from the scorched flesh while Akotal's painful shriek reached every corner of the castle.
The blade pulled out of his chest and dropped onto the ground. The red hot blade turned back to its normal self, cold and chilling.
But Akotal could no longer do a thing. His eyes were barely opened and his chest was nothing but flesh, torn and burned all over.
Adrian grunted as his face bones healed completely. He staggered to his feet, his torn scarlet cloak swayed behind him as he approached Akotal.
Getting to him, Adrian stopped.
"Look at the big bad old Primordial. No more than a reduced creature now." Adrian grinned, with a wince due to the pain that still lashed at his body. "You asked about who I am, earlier."
Akotal's eyes fluttered, weakly. There was a dim flash of light in it, showing his deep interest in knowing which of his family had Adrian, who had spoiled his plans, as a son. "Who are you?"
"I'm Ava's son."
Akotal's lips trembled and his eyes glinted as he muttered. "I- I killed her. The curse killed her."
"Yes, you did. But you and your stupid curse couldn't get me because of her sacrifice." Adrian's eyes flashed with deep anger as he growled. "Now that you know, you can go to hell!"
Bang!
Adrian plunged his hand into Akotal's chest, which had already been torn apart by the Chain of Dracula.
Akotal gasped in response as he felt sharp claws rummage around the interiors of his chest.
After searching for a while, and Adrian couldn't find a heart, he growled, dripping with frustration and pulled out his claws.
Akotal coughed and a great torrent of blood oozed out of his mouth. His burnt face contorted with pain, but his lips had a grin on it as he muttered. "I'm Primordial. I can't be killed. I'm Immortal"
Adrian frowned, his bloody face distorted with rage. His fists clenched beside him, then he muttered. "You can't be killed? We'll see to that. If you don't have a heart, then I'll just have to cut off your head."
Adrian growled and lunged his claws at Akotal's head. Nevertheless, the old vampire lord has the unwavering grin on his lips.
No vampire can survive decapitation. Definitely not.
But is that the case for Primordial vampires too?
Akotal's confident smile only fueled Adrian's anger as he slashed, vertically.
Akotal's head went off the neck and landed right beside the body.
Adrian sighed in relief as he gazed at the dead old Primordial.
"It's finished?" Me Li asked, grimacing as she held her forehead which still stormed with the residue effects of the migraine Anna brought upon her.
Adrian didn't reply as he gazed at Akotal the more, in silence. After a while, he turned to walk away.
All of the sudden, Akotal's body jerked like a body being electrocuted.
Adrian's face flashed back to the dead Primordial, his forehead creased into a frown. His heart banged heavily in his chest as he rummaged his mind for a possible occurrence that's going on.
He could feel a strange energy whizzing through the air.
"Look to your left, the witch." Mei Li shrieked, clearly terrified by what's happening.
Adrian glanced sideways and saw the second witch standing with closed eyes, lips moving as she muttered inaudible words and her hands outstretched towards where Akotal was previously.
She's casting a spell. But what's it all about?
His eyes flashed with confusion. But just as he was still wondering about it, something happened.
All of the sudden, there was a flash of light.
Adrian had to dab his face.
Soon the light died down.
But Akotal's body is nowhere to be found. The Lead Skull and the Chain of Dracula were also gone.
He turned back to where the witch was, but was surprised by what he saw.
The witch had a knife in her grip and right under Adrian's watch, she plunged the knife into her chest and she dropped dead.
Adrian was beyond shocked. He was horrified, about what all this could possibly mean.
Anna, the leader of the Dark Witches, stood to her feets, holding her bleeding belly and her dark scepter that had now lost its luster and was pale in color.
Adrian and Mei Li turned to her, but right under their gazes, before they could say a word, the Dark Witch disappeared with a puff of dark smoke.
Now the tension in the atmosphere skyrocketed.
However,
As the two stood, ruminating in dread, the castle shook with tremor. The thundering sky from the outside could be heard clearly by them. Even the flashing lightnings' reflections could be seen in the altar room.
BANG!!!
It was like the building was hit by a powerful boulder.
The whole structure trembled again.
There was a flash of light and Sarai appeared.
"We need to get out of here now!!" She shrieked with urgency.
**********