In the world of Tayar, those who can cultivate are seen as supreme existences.
Cultivation is the practice of absorbing the energy of heaven and earth to strengthen one's body and soul.
Through cultivation, beings are able to gain the strength to lift a mountain, eternal youth, and powers that are nothing short of supernatural.
There are eight realms in total, each of them more powerful and unreachable than the next.
Mortal Realm.
Beast Realm.
Overlord Realm.
Venerable Realm.
Sovereign Realm.
Quasi-god Realm
True God Realm.
Primordial Realm.
Those who can cultivate are seen as supreme existences whose power and wisdom are nothing short of extraordinary.
In the party of humans, the men are only at the peak of the mortal realm and Annalise is unable to cultivate at all, instead acting as a mage.
'Whispering Horror Art: Negative Aspect.'
Enyo reappeared in the center of the group.
They'd elected to take a simple back-to-back formation that left each of them facing a different direction.
Because she was erasing her presence, none of the humans in front of her would find her even if she yelled directly in their ear.
She quickly stuck out her hand with dagger like nails and pierced the back of Michael's neck, her nails popping out the other side covered in red blood.
Michael's eyes widened in horror as he died without even seeing how.
Enyo disappeared before his body hit the floor, leaving the remaining humans completely horrified.
"Michael? Michael!"
"He's not getting up!"
"Is he dead already?!"
As a poltergeist, cultivation manuals for Enyo are few and far between.
Luckily, the Ascalon Royal family possessed immense resources and succeeded in securing her an incredibly powerful and useful practice.
The poltergeist swallowed the urge to release a satisfying moan of satisfaction when she felt the energy rushing into her.
Her cultivation progresses by absorbing the emotions of fear and terror released by her prey.
There are a few factors that determine the quality and quantity of energy she can absorb such as the number of enemies, their level of fear, and their innocence.
People naturally fear being alone so she actually gained more energy from killing off a group one by one than she would if they were originally alone.
Watching the humans begin to squirm as they lost all hope, Enyo smiled gleefully in the shadows.
"Don't go down without a fight!" Alex roared as he charged up his spear with his own internal energy.
Slice!
The sound of something sharp whistling through the air played in all of their ears before Alex's head was sent flying.
Blood sprayed like a fountain from his dismembered corpse before it too wobbled and collapsed, spraying Annalise in the red water as it tumbled down.
Annalise did not even react when the hot and sticky blood of her companion hit her across the face.
Her eyes slowly drifted towards her husband, and she reached out to him.
"Garm?"
The man did not answer and instead, he also reached for his wife's outstretched hand.
He too had accepted that he would die here, but he at least wanted to do it while holding on to the woman he loved.
Unfortunately, Enyo would not give him that satisfaction.
The bewitching poltergeist appeared in between the couple like she was always there and quickly severed both their hands.
"AHH!!"
"AAARRRGGGHHH!"
As husband and wife fell to the ground screaming, Enyo became mildly annoyed when she realized the two were no longer afraid of death.
They had already accepted their end would come here and no matter how much she tortured them, she would not be able to illicit any more fear from them.
'Oh well... At least I can feed on their anguish.'
She grabbed the woman by her blond hair and made sure that the man was watching.
"No... please, kill me first I beg you!" He pleaded.
This only made Enyo smile manically as she slowly trailed her other hand up the woman's back.
"Do you want to play a game with me, human?"
Believing he might have an opportunity to spare his wife, Garm did not hesitate to nod furiously.
Enyo smiled so widely that her face began to tear, making her look even more horrifying. "Okay..."
"How about...." Enyo positioned two fingers at the back of Annalise's skull.
"Peek-a-boo!!"
She thrust her hand forward, her nails easily piercing past Annalise's frail flesh and bone and bursting out of her eye sockets.
Her eyeballs clung to the serrated yellow nails of her killer, making it look like one of those really old cartoons where an animal sees something truly surprising.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
"ANNALISEEEE!!!"
Heartbroken and enraged, Garm forgot his fear and rushed forward, intending to kill this evil fallen with whatever he had left.
"Martial Art-"
"Not happening."
Slice!
Enyo plunged her free hand into the chest of the rampaging human and crushed his heart.
She finally dropped the couple on the ground as she changed back to her usual incredibly beautiful appearance.
"Hoooo... I wonder how those idiot death knights could've let humans get so far into the castle." She wondered as she stretched her seductive body.
'Wait...!"
As if a lightbulb went off in her beautiful head, Enyo smiled mischievously when she thought of a fool proof plan.
"I know! If I point out how badly the guards screwed up, I won't get punished as much!" She exclaimed with a satisfied nod.
She turned around to leave and that was when she saw him.
He was desiccated and motionless, looking nothing like his former self but she would never forget him.
The kimono she loved so much was still just as immaculate as it was the day she last saw it.
She took slow, shaky steps forward and it seemed that at any moment her body would collapse and she would fall over.
"My... prince...?"
She called for him, yet he did not respond.
'Don't panic, don't panic!' She told herself internally.
She knew what to do in these sorts of situations and the key was not to let herself get worked up.
Kneeling beside him, she gently opened his decayed mouth.
Holding out her hand, she used her telekinetic powers to call some of the blood that had been spilled on the ground.
"I'm sorry to feed you food from the ground, my prince. B-But hopefully you will forgive me just this once!"
She slowly commanded the liquid into his mouth and down his dry throat.
After almost a minute of this, there was finally a change.
Crack.
The hands of the decayed vampire suddenly twitched and cracked.
His eye sockets that were sunken and hollow suddenly gained new life as his eyes opened, revealing bright red irises and black sclera.
"RRRRAAAAA!!"
The frenzied vampire leapt up and growled menacingly in the face of Enyo.
Instead of being horrified, a beautiful smile formed on her face instead. "Thank goodness..."
She knew he couldn't hurt her as she'd made herself intangible already.
"You have to eat so you can feel like yourself again, okay?"
Enyo pointed to the corpses sitting a few feet away that were still spewing hot blood.
As if he were in a trance, he quickly forgot about the girl and teleported over to the bodies in a cloud of red smoke.
"That's good, at least your powers seem to be working properly." She said as she sat down cross legged on the floor, watching him feed.
The powers of a vampire were effectively their identity.
Their abilities are what made them one of the most feared races in Tayar.
Highly enhanced speed, strength and unbelievable regeneration were just the tip of the iceberg. Because her prince was a pure-blooded royal vampire, he had even more abilities than others.
The sounds of his ravenous feeding echoed throughout the dark space they were in.
As he fed, Enyo did not take her eyes off of his back.
The first two bodies were drained rather quickly. Only when he moved to the third, did he slow down a bit.
As he drained the fourth corpse, his body finally began to heal.
His skin regained it's usual warm light caramel tone and it became unblemished and free of the slightest impurity or imperfection.
The muscles on his body began to fill out until his body could be described as every woman's dream.
Long silver hair burst from his scalp and trailed all the way below his hips.
He finally released the body in front of him with a satisfied sigh and stood up to his impressive height of 6'6.
"Prince Indra?" Enyo asked hopefully.
The man slowly turned around and Enyo felt her non-beating heart thump wildly.
'No matter how many times I see him, he's always so captivating!'
Enyo could not take her eyes off the man's face that was somehow more beautiful than a woman's yet was still distinctly masculine.
Sharp eyebrows, a chiseled jawline, and those distinctive red eyes that seemed to pierce right through her existence.
Unfortunately, her delusions were thoroughly stomped out when he parted his blood-soaked lips to ask her an unforeseeable question.
"Who are you? "