The remaining onlookers watched in horror as Ryo fell to the ground, his leg effortlessly snapped by the vampire. "Die, you monster!" yelled Vrax at the top of his lungs, swinging his mace down to crush Lennix's head. However, Lennix raised his left hand and grabbed Vrax's wrist, stopping the swing. "Try to scream a little quieter; I don't want Mari to get used to this," Lennix said calmly as he broke Vrax's wrist with a slight squeeze. Vrax gritted his sharp teeth in pain as Lennix gave him a small shove, sending him scraping against the road, much to the horror of his party members and the onlookers.
"Jamey, why isn't your spell working?" exclaimed the woman, while Jamey continued his hand sigil and held a talisman. "I don't know! I'm sure I'm doing it properly, but it's just not working!" Jamey replied, focusing more on Lennix. Lennix turned to him and clarified, "Don't worry, man. It's working; I am slower. But since I'm faster than lightning normally, your debuff isn't as effective." Jamey, Minx, Ryo, Vrax, and the woman looked at him in shock. "There's no way... There's just no way, is there?" asked the woman breathlessly. "He's that powerful of a vampire?" said Jamey, his hands visibly shaking. "W-we can't win this," said Minx.
As Mari, still with her eyes closed, cheered, "Yeah, you can't! Uncle Lennix is better and stronger than all of you poopyheads!" Lennix turned to Mari and wagged his finger at her (Not that she could see it) as he pleaded, "Don't swear, Mari! If you do, then Clarissa's going to skin me unalive!"
"Sorry, uncle Lennix!" Mari said as she covered her mouth with both hands. *Is this monster even taking us seriously? Is this just a game to him?* the woman thought in horror, while Lennix let out a tired sigh, hoping Clarissa wouldn't find out somehow. He moved his head to dodge the woman's rapier stab, then said, "Hey, could we stop fighting? This is all just a massive misunderstanding in the first place."
As Lennix continued to dodge the woman's rapier stabs, frustrated, she reached into her pockets and threw some sort of powder at his face. "That's gunpowder," he noted calmly. The woman quickly jumped back and, with practiced motion, lit and threw a matchstick, igniting the powder right in Lennix's face. "All undead are weak to fire, no matter how strong," the woman said triumphantly.
Lennix waved the smoke away. "I mean, yeah, but not to a pocket full of gunpowder. You need a lot more than that," he remarked casually. The woman glared at him and attempted to stab him again. Lennix sighed, then transformed one of the fingers on his right hand into a claw. He dodged the stab aimed for his heart and countered by stabbing the woman in the liver with his claw, slipping past her light armor easily. The woman's eyes widened in shock before she fell to the ground in pain.
"Julia!" Minx exclaimed, about to run to her, but she stopped herself as Mari was still in her arms. Lennix sighed. "There, now can we all stop? I like fighting and all, but I'm trying to change, so you all are kind of being enablers," he said casually, unconsciously licking the blood off his claw, which made him look somewhat menacing.
Jamey looked at Minx, unsure of what to do. Minx glared at Lennix, feeling powerless as a non-fighter. *Are we going to lose? To this monster?* she thought, looking down at the ground, then back up at Lennix, whom she thought was looking at her with killing intent. In reality, Lennix was gazing at Mari, thinking to himself, *Oh, she looks so cute and comfy resting her head against that fluffy armor!*
As Jamey uttered, "W-we give up," Vrax vehemently opposed, shouting, "NO!" He stood back up, clutching his broken wrist with his other hand, while his party members, onlookers, and Lennix looked on in astonishment. "We will not give up against this monster! Now that we've revealed his identity, he'll slaughter everyone here if we lose, so we cannot lose!" he declared with unwavering determination.
Jamey clenched his teeth, maintaining his spell on Lennix despite his inner turmoil. "Y-your right, we can't admit defeat until death! I'm sorry, Vrax!" he admitted, his resolve firming up. Meanwhile, Ryo snapped his bone back into place and enhanced his leg to keep it stable. "Yeah, we won't give up until we beat you, vampire!" he roared, readying himself for another round of combat.
Julia, though wounded, refused to back down, pressing her hand against her wound to stem the bleeding. "It's not over yet, monster! It won't be unless we die!" she declared defiantly, her eyes blazing with determination. Witnessing their unwavering resolve, Minx felt tears welling up in her eyes as she urged them on, shouting, "Show that monster what for!"
"Okay then, I guess we're just going to keep going," Lennix whispered in annoyance and resignation, slumping his shoulders. He then looked up at Mari, saying, "Hey Mari, you can go to sleep if you want. This is going to take a while." Mari nodded, saying, "Okay, Uncle Lennix," as she snuggled against Minx, much to Minx's surprise. "Your clothes are really fluffy," Mari said innocently, leaving Minx completely flabbergasted by her words and actions.
Meanwhile, Lennix sighed and got into his proper fighting stance for the first time in the battle. "Alright, let's get this over with," he said, preparing himself mentally. Just as they were about to resume fighting, the ground shook as a man landed right in the middle of all of them, sending everyone besides Lennix, Minx, and Mari back from the shockwave.
"Finally! A worthy opponent!" exclaimed the man as he locked eyes with Lennix, who stared at him completely dumbfounded.
(Just who is this sudden new challenger!? Find out next time on: The Dark Novels!)