When all 30 figures stepped out of the obsidian portal it deformed in to black liquid.
It gathered and flew towards the leader in a ball.
Once near he began to reach for it and the ball transformed in to a one handed sword similar to Erishas.
"You have impressive regeneration. I did not expect to witness such a thing. On the otherhand you are quite rude." Said the leader while pointing his sword at Dawn.
His tone was arrogant like a nobles.
"Are you the one who sent the night fiend?" Asked Dawn.
"I did. I hoped it would at least injure you, but it seems to have failed."
"Why are you trying to harm us?!"
Suddenly Cain cut in and asked in a fiery tone.
The leader only smirked at his reaction and ignored his question as if he wasent even there and continued to speak to Dawn.
"I think I should introduce myself first. My name is Curt Von Askard of the Askard family."
Said Curt while bowing slightly.
"These are my subordinates. Now I would like to ask you...?"
"Kazamir."
"Ah, Kazamir. As I was saying I would like to ask you to hand over the elfs. If you do, there will be no reason for us to get both our hands dirty."
"You blew mine off."
"I may have been a little hars, but-"
Then suddenly a sharp fiery voice cut Curt off.
"STOP TALKING ABOUT US AS IF WE WERE NOT HERE!"
The owner of the voice was the little boy who stood next to Dawn.
"You think you can just come out of your 3rd rate portal, talk like you are someone who deserves to be respected as if you weren't some pathetic fool from and inferior realm! Then you demand from this old geezer to hand us over? HAH! It is honestly funny! HAHAHAHA!
Even Erisha was caught off guard by Cains blunt insults and behiviour.
She could only look at her brother with shock and pride.
"I have a better offer for you! You slowely turn around, use that little artifact of yours and leave before we show you a world of pain!"
Silance fell upon them.
Every single person who was present was trying to process what has happened.
Was it pride or simply foolishness on Cain's part to insult Curt in such a way.
Several men in dark robes began to distance themselfs from Curt.
Clearly they could sense their leader was furious.
But what was odd about it was that not all seemed to be afraid of their leader.
Most of them remained where they were standing while a select few moved
Then suddenly like a madman Curt burst out laughing while holding his head.
The laugh was manical.
It seemed as if he lost every bit of sanity he had.
"Haaaaa" Curt breathed out loudly.
"I am really going to enjoy inflicting as much pain on to you as possible you insolant little shit!"
Cain hearing this opened his arms wide revealing his white bluse that was made from the highest quality silk Eldmar had to offer.
"Try it, bitch!"
With that the men in dark roubes dashed forward, each revealing hidden weapons in their hands.
In response Dawn let out his bone chilling war cry as he too dashed forward, colliding with the one closest to him.
The enemy was easily overpowered and Dawn delivered a massive blow to his body.
He then grabbed the enemies head and smashed it in to a nearby tree.
To Dawns surprise an axes blade came for his head forcing him to let the man go.
"Tch, ghouls!"
Ghouls were servent type monsters like night fiends.
They are sturdy, with thick bones and tough skin and some posess regeneration as a bonus.
On the other hand they had the inteligance of a 2 year old child and if left in the hands of an incompetent leader they would never achieve
"The only way to kill them is to destroy their heads! They will keep moving otherwise!"
"Oh come on that is just unfair!" Cain responded with an annoyed voice.
Several were coming straight at him.
With a clap of his hands the earth below them began to move and like a snake it slithered up their body, restraining them.
Then Erisha appeared behind them from the shadows and with a swift precise strike she cut each ones head clean off.
Thinking the danger was no more Erisha turned her attention to the rest, not noticing the headless ghoul that was closest to her beggining to wind up its blade, aiming for her neck.
If not for Cains quick reaction to crush their bodies Erisha would have also lost her head.
"What the hell was that!?" Shouted a disturbed Cain
"Destroy the head! It is not enough to cut it off!" Dawn responded.
He too had a lot to work with.
At first the ghouls came at him individually.
Each time they came Dawn masterfully avoided their attacks and ended their existance with a single strike to the head.
However the ghouls began to quickly adapt to his style of fighting.
Something that was unusual for odinary ghouls.
The ghouls began to form a circle around him and started attacking him from differant sides.
Each ghoul held differant weapons and had perfect synergy with oneanother.
If Dawn responded to one of them, another was there to strike him back.
They were like heyenas.
Trying to tire out their prey which was bigger then them.
Curt smiled in satesfaction.
He was the only one who did not move from his otiginal place and simply laid back and watched the fight.
While Cain and Erisha are used to working together it was clear Dawn preferd to fight alone.
Considering his strenght it was no surprise.
Dawn tried to break free of the circle by taking them out one by one, but each time he got close to destroying a ghouls head the others stepped in.
They were precise, too precise.
Dawn then noticed that 3 of the ghouls were not coming at him mindlessly like the rest.
It was then that Dawn realised their true identities as vampires.
Seeing no other option Dawn dashed towards one of the vampires at full speed.
He crashed in to the him at full speed, causing him to explode in to a bloody mess.
Dawn did not stop there and continued to run deeper in to the forest.
The ghouls quickly followed him and only the 5 vampires stayed behind.
They all looked at Curt for orderes.
In response Curt nodden his head and all of the vampires joined the ghouls in the forest.
"I will deal with these elswhere! Survive until my return!" Dawn cried out.
Now the elfs were left alone to fend off Curt and 10 of his ghouls.
A wicked smile spread across Curt's face as he began walking towards Cain and Erisha.
"Remember what I promised you? I am a man of my word so preaper yourself, boy!"
With a wave of his hand the ghouls dashed forward like wild animals that were starved.
"Boy this boy that! I am fucking 80 years old!"
With a wave of his hand the ghouls charged at the duo.
Before the first ghoul could reach Cain, Erisha appeared behind it and plunged her sword through its thick skull.
She then began to channel her darkness from her eyes coating her blade with it.
And within a few seconds the ghouls head exploded in to fleshy chunks.
The second and third ghoul tried to attack Erisha from behind, but she sensed their intent and dissapeared in to the shadows, making the ghouls hit nothing, but air.
Cain did not waste this chance and pierced the ghould with spikes made from earth.
This allowed Erisha to kill several ghouls very easily
However when Erisha tried going after the last ones she was met with a blade coming right at her.
Thankfully she managed to react in the nick of time and barely deflect the attack.
It was Curt.
He did not give Erisha anytime to rest and began a full assult with his blade.
Erisha tried to hold him back, but Curt's fast and precise attacks proved too much even for her.
As cuts began to appear on her body and face Erisha became agitated.
She could tell that he was toying with her.
In her desperation she called upon her darkness again and she formed a bubble around herself which finally made Curt stop.
She knew her barrier wouldn't last long since it was weaker then all of her other abilities.
Unfortionatly she couldn't see through her own barrier and could only hear the sounds outside.
His brother was close and it seemed like he was struggling.
She heard him grunt and phant heavily which made her worry.
She had to stall for time until Dawn gets back.
"Why!?"
At the sudden question Curt tilted his head.
"What do you mean~?" He asked with an amused voice.
Hearing his arrogant tone Erishas blood began to boil with anger.
"What do you want from us?! We did nothing to you!"
Silance befell the two of them.
"What would I gain from telling you that?"
"Tch-"
Suddenly the bubble of darkness shook from Curts blows as he began to attack.
Each strike sent ripples through it but somehow it still managed to hold on.
After the 5th slash Curt stopped.
He had an idea.
"I am a little impressed elf. You have made an impressive barrier. Then let us see if it can take this one."
He then proceeded to cut his own hand with his sword.
The blood began to drool over the blade, coloring it crimson red with blood.
But strangely the blood didn't drop from the blade and instead got stuck on it.
Then Curts red eyes and the blood on the sword began to glow with a crimson light.
He raised his sword above his head with a loose grip.
He breathed in and slowely let it out.
Then in an instant his grip tightened and the blade came down at alarming speed and met the barrier.
As if it was cutting water the blade cut right through it, but it didn't stop there.
The blood continued to travel through it in a crescent moon shape to Erisha's dismay.
In the split second where the slash could have reached her she dissapeared in to the shadows.
She reacted instinctively to the danger, it was as if her powers activated on their own to protect her.
However this was what Curt wanted.
The slash continued to travel through the air and hit its intended target.
Once Erisha began to come put of the shadows her expression froze.
She could not belive it, no she did not want to belive the sight that unfolded before her void like eyes.
She saw her brother being restrained by the remaining ghouls.
As the ghouls slowely let go they fell to the ground with all of them being cut in half by Curt's slash a little white boy was revailed.
"NO!" Erisha cried out
While Erisha was being overwhelmed by Curt, Cain was forced to deal with the remaining ghouls.
Just like with Dawn they moved with nearly perfect synergy as if they could read each others mind.
Cain tried his best to fend them off, but they were nothing like he has ever faced before.
They felt no pain and knew no fear.
Cain was unnerved by this and due to a severe lack of experience he was defeated.
Then came Curt's attack which did more damage to the ghouls then him.
But while the ghouls could heal he could not and he fell to his knees.
A large wound spread from his shoulder all the way down to his hip.
He put his hands on the wound in a desprate attempt to stop the bleeding, but to no avail.
He felt his blood slip through his fingers.
It was hot, like boiling water yet he felt colder and colder with every seacond.
In the midst of all this pain he could also feel his guts trying to escape his belly and slip through his fingers.
His breathing and heart rate increased as panic set in.
In his mind he screamed, but on the outside he couldn't make a single sound, he tried to will his body to stand, but it gave up on him.
Then Cain fell forward, in to the snow with his innards and blood spilling out, painting a gruesome and bloody image for Erisha to see.