The Butler, not wanting to waste anymore time, rescinded his restrictions. He was now a fair bit stronger. With a serious look in his eyes he smirked, raising his hand. All around the area had been pools of blood. Now, as if heading the vampire's command, millions of drops of blood floated up. Each drop took the form of a piercing weapon.
"Now, how are you going to deal with this?" The butler smirked a villainous smirk.
The 5 sisters were a little surprised, but ultimately not scared. They were actually relaxing slightly given that the potential fight was now a joke.
"Well, this is great. Acailia, you take care of restricting his blood control abilities. I'll take care of hitting him where it hurts."
"Aieria, be careful. Those blows he landed on me weren't weak. The four of you should attack him together. I'll interfere with this disgusting ability of his."
The sisters, continued there telepathic communication making an effort to abuse the extra time that they were getting. The Butler, or rather the Baron Ranked Vampire seemed to stew in this scene with an intense pleasure.
From afar, Vitaliana watched the battle. Solaria helping her to see over the vast distance while still remaining safe.
"Grandmother, I thought that Baron's wouldn't be able to stand up against one of my sisters. Why is it that this one seems able to hold his own against all five of them? Surely his soul hasn't been properly trained, nor for long enough. Is there some other force at play I can't sense?" Vitaliana asked curiously.
"Well, I'm not so sure that the Vampire they are fighting is a Baron after all. This one can control far too much blood for them to be a Baron. Perhaps they are actually a higher rank? Hold on." Solaria answered, her eyes flaring a sunlit glow. "That is not a Baron, or maybe they were reduced in social rank to Baron. This one has the strength of an… Earl? No, they were once an Earl, with the strength of a Viscount. Yet they call themselves a Baron, Interesting." She said readying herself, then stopped.
"Grandmother, if that's a Viscount's power… Can my sisters win?" Vitaliana asked nervously. Her eyes filled with worry.
The look Vitaliana had, stirred Solaria. The little bird perched upon her shoulder, worried about her sisters but also afraid to ask for help. Struggling to balance her worry for her sisters and the trust she should have in her sisters.
"To think you'd have to worry about this, and so soon after your birth." Solaria spoke with a tenderly tone as she lifted Vitaliana up and placed her against her chest, a warm embrace. "Even if you grow faster than anyone, you still shouldn't have to worry about this. You should have been able to laugh and play with all of your sisters." She continued, sensing that Vitaliana was calming down but, was still worried for her sisters. "Now, I'll tell you this, you sisters are strong. And your mother is empowering them. Even if the 5 of them aren't enough to kill that Vampire, your mother certainly is. And she'll be pissed that someone hurt her babies." Solaria continued kissing Vitaliana on the top of her head.
"Mother, she feels different in some way. Like, she's…" Vitaliana said, confused as an overwhelming sense of loss came over her.
"Oh, don't you worry about her. The evolution process, Eternia is going through will make it seem like she's gone. But it won't last long. Trust me, alright." Solaria said, snuggling Vitaliana closer and tighter.
"If you say so, grandmother. I'll believe in you and in this warmth." Vitaliana said, nuzzling in and closing her eyes. "So warm… I love this feeling." She muttered, accidentally aloud.
~ Eternia's Evolution Place ~
Hidden deep beneath the ground of Ridgeline City, there existed a large cave system, used in the event there was a monster outbreak too difficult to deal with, and too dangerous to move along the surface.
Where there had been several floors, separated by solid stone, imbued with magic equivalent to that of an advanced Magus' full mana pool, there was now a giant open space. It was here, that Eternia floated in the center of this space. And where she was absorbing the energy of all the souls of the terrible inhabitants from the city above.
I guess I should probably hurry up and finish my evolution. It's painful knowing that my newly hatched little girl feels I might be dying.
And, the fight above doesn't seem like those girls of mine are strong enough to kill that Vampire. All the more reason to ignore any safeguards, I must protect my babies. I won't fail a second time.
With a deepened sense of renewed determination, Eternia's flames burned with a searing radiance. This created a localized area upon which souls would gravitate towards. A method usually not used on such a large scale but it was necessary.
Before this change, the souls were moving slowly. The souls now quickly rushed towards Eternia, their persona's and identities stripped away and purified into pure soul energy. After which, Eternia would absorb the soul energy into her own soul.
I can feel it! I haven't had to do this in a very long time. And now I have souls by the millions entering my being. No wonder why this isn't done more often. It puts so much stress on one's soul. This must be the difference between a lesser Phoenix and a True Phoenix. The ability to bear the weight of other's souls. After all, if you can't bear the weight of those souls, you'd never be able to judge them properly.
And so, as the battle of the 5 sisters started to pick up intensity, so too did the rate of Eternia's evolution to a True Phoenix.
And though she was a reincarnation of Aven, Vitaliana still trembled at the thought of losing her family. A family she finally got, one she had died to get. Even more than that, she was struggling to manage her new found strength. After all, it is rare for a Bird Monster to advance as quickly or to do as much as she had done today.