Alex was sleeping soundly on the sofa he claimed as his own, taking a rest that his body needed while creatures of the night took over the scene.
But as he was sleeping, his eyes snapped open once he felt something pulling on his leg and he quickly got up.
"Dear Visius, please grant me the power of sight so I can disperse the darkness in front of me."
In an instant, Alex's blue eyes gave off a warm, yellowish glow, allowing him to see what was happening around him, but to his surprise, there was nothing.
Shrugging with his shoulders, he went to lie down again, closing his eyes, but once he did, he could hear the sound of shuffling all around him, followed by snarls.
"The shiny…"
"Lots of shiny…"
"Who said that!" Alex got up again, now standing up as he was glancing around, he could feel something else besides his own presence, but couldn't see anything.
"Luciel… Are you playing pranks on me? If you are, it's not funny!" He looked around the room, hoping that it was just Luciel being spooky.
Once he got no answer from his friend, Alex seized his sword and started to walk around the house as the crawling continued.
"Luciel…" He peeked into the kitchen and started to wander, but once he turned around, he noticed a tiny creature sneaking behind him. "You are not Luciel…"
"Shiny!" The creature snapped, showing its ugly, decaying, sharp teeth as saliva could be seen dripping from its mouth. It was a similar scene when Luciel craved the human blood that was in front of him, except that this creature looked more hideous.
It had dark green skin and a long pointy nose, as well as pointy ears. Its fingers were long with chipped nails. And it wore simple clothing, looking like it had a brown potato bag instead of a shirt.
It carried a club with spikes in one of its hands and it swung it towards Alex, stopping it before it was able to hit him in the face. "Give us… The shiny!"
Alex blinked a few times, looking at the goblin in front of him. He heard stories about them and how they used to go into people's homes and terrorize them, but luckily, they didn't cause any life-threatening incidents. They were usually considered pests.
"Hey there little guy," Alex kneeled down, going to pat the goblin's bald head, "I'm sorry, but this is my shiny, go find another victim to bother."
The goblin didn't say anything and went to bite Alex's hand, starting to gnaw on it. If Alex didn't have his armor on, he would definitely feel the bite.
"Hey! Let go!" Alex got up and swayed his arm, throwing the goblin into the wall.
Alex inspected his armor, it seemed to be unscratched, but full of goblin saliva.
"Delicious shiny." The goblin licked its lips, still staying on the ground, "Get the shiny!" He pointed with his long finger towards Alex and it didn't take long for the rest of his crew to appear.
More and more goblins started to emerge from the damaged floor, ceilings, and even from the holes in the house. They were coming in like a flood, surrounding Alex, and filling the whole place.
"Brothers, attack the shiny owner!" The command has been issued and goblins raised their clubs in the air before going on a raid.
Alex was punching and kicking the goblins that would try to jump on him, at one point, he started to slash them with his sword since he was getting overwhelmed with numbers and even started to use divine arts, blasting them away.
Green blood got splattered all around and each time Alex would obliterate a goblin, their attacks would get more fierce.
They started to leap on his back, and legs, biting, scratching, pulling, and hitting. No matter how many he killed, there was just no end to them.
At one point, Alex didn't even know how it happened, but he got buried by piles of goblins that were trying to take off his glittering armor.
Firing them away with a divine art, Alex made his way toward the kitchen window, slicing, hitting, and kicking, the goblins that were standing in his way.
He jumped through a shattered window and his eyes widened once he saw hundreds and hundreds of goblins around the house and there were more coming. It was like he summoned all the goblins from the forest.
Overwhelmed by their number, Alex gulped and made a run for it toward the woods, calling Luciel's name. He shouldn't have gotten far and if he really is a vampire now, he should be able to hear him.
"After the lord of the shiny!" One of the goblins growled, giving out a command and so, an army of goblins started going after Alex.
****
Luciel had his eyes closed, focusing on his hearing which was way more sensitive than before and the night didn't seem as scary as before, instead, it was alive more than ever.
He could hear all kinds of insects flying around, owls hooting in the distance, beasts and creatures walking around, hunting for food, playing, and clashing among themselves.
There was also a sound of leaves playing in the wind, making a soothing sound.
The fresh air also seemed different with all kinds of new information. Carried by the wind, Luciel could tell what kind of entity had passed or was somewhere near, but he couldn't identify its species.
These new senses were creeping him out in a way. He was able to take in all new kinds of information he was never able to perceive before.
No matter how he looked at it, his body was better than it ever was before. Now it feels like he was blind, deaf with no sense of smell when he was a human.
The moment of bliss didn't last for long once Luciel heard the rustling of the leaves getting closer and closer.
Getting up, he sniffed the air and looked around, perceiving a new presence.
Examining his surroundings and nearby trees, his gaze met with wine-red eyes staring back at him.
Hearing a hiss coming from the figure staring at him, Luciel got ready for the fight, but nothing could have prepared him for what was going to happen next.
The vampire jumped from his branch right towards Luciel who already had his arms up in the air.
Luciel stepped aside, avoiding the vampire that wanted to make a jump on him.
The attacker grabbed the branch Luciel was on and climbed up, throwing a punch with no questions.
Luciel didn't bother to ask any questions either, after all, it was to be expected for the vampires to be after his head, they always were.
Without saying anything, Luciel blocked the punch with the back of his forearm while swinging his other hand, aiming for the vampire's abdomen with his claws.
The vampire swiftly evaded the hand going towards him and went to toss a high kick.
Luciel matched the high kick and grinned a little as he continued to exchange the blows.
Behind each punch or kick he received or sent, he could feel a powerful force behind them, driven by pure strength.
He rarely fought in hand-to-hand combat against a vampire since it was considered pure madness. Humans didn't have their strength, speed, reflexes, and senses, all they could rely on were their weapons and divine arts borrowed from the divine realm.
Luciel only had to fight vampires in hand-to-hand combat twice during his career. One was when his sword broke and the other time was when he was going home from a bar and got ambushed.
He barely managed to survive those two fights that sent him to the hospital due to the wounds he suffered. The only reason he survived was because of his use of arts, but that can't compare to what he's experiencing now.
Divine arts were a borrowed power. In no way did anyone feel any stronger than they actually are, that's why only a few can master this power. It felt more like if they believed, then that what they prayed for would happen.
But this right now, it was Luciel's pure natural force and for the first time ever, battling felt fun, especially since one punch won't end his life.
The vampire managed to get a scratch on Luciel's face as Luciel ducked, going for a low kick, wanting to throw the enemy off his balance so he could fall to the ground.
The vampire jumped up in the air and landed back on the branch, but when he did, a crack could have been heard.
Both vampires stopped their dispute and made eye contact, both widening their eyes once they heard that the branch started to break, knowing full well what it meant.
And just like that, the branch snapped and the two vampires started to fall down, with their backs facing the ground.
While in the air, both of them managed to turn and landed in a crouching position, before getting up.
Luciel looked up and whistled once he saw from which height they had fallen and not only did they survive, but they were uninjured with only some scratches that were already healing.
"So…" Luciel started, looking at the vampire whose appearance looked slightly younger than his.
"Do you want to go for round two or what?"