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nThey were strong. Whoever the silhouette that strutted out from the rain of ash was so strong that I could hardly contain my excitement.

n“Finally… somebody who is a challenge,” I smiled, seeing a vampire step out. Her long and revealing red dress displayed an hourglass figure of pale utter beauty. Her bright red eyes hung high, not underestimating us but still keeping that signature pride of the disgusting bloodsuckers.

n“Hmmmm… why were you all enslaved? I intended to free you all, but it seems you had no problem doing that?”

n“Well, you ruined basically our entire plan, so I desire some kind of compensation. Also, it didn’t look like you were intended to save us as those bats were quite threatening… what were you trying to do, huh?” Bella complained.

n“I intended to turn you all into my servants… of course, of the superior race,” She smiled, those two blood-sucking sharp fangs glistening in her scarlet aura.

n“Yeah, I don’t like you already….” I grumbled under my breath with Findir stepping right next to me. The two sickles that he summoned into his hands were practically quaking with excitement at the thought of fighting this powerful foe.

n“I see… if you want to fight, then please, bring it on. I welcome it….” The woman smiled, so Findir, Bella, and I all stepped up, smiling as we summoned our weapons. Findir, two metal sickles swirling with wind, Bella, a magic staff with a large green orb on top, and me, a single spear with a black blade. “But, you must get past my servants first….”

nThe woman’s eyes shimmered a blood-red, and while raising her hands high into the air, the ashes of the previous bats compressed back together. Life was created from these charred bits of flesh, yet, somehow, they were a bit different. Legs, arms, necks, heads, fingers, toes… they were bats, but humanoid figures… and thousands of them.

n“My army of dhampirs has been dying for a drink, you see… so, do you think you could handle them?” The woman smirked, her hand tightly squeezed in the air as if doing us a favor by holding the monsters back.

nThe slick blood-red eyes, nauseating amounts of saliva, and their pale complexion, no matter the skin tone, looked to be more from exhaustion. They were closer to dead beings than the vampire in front of them, so yeah… those were definitely dhampirs.

n“Tsk… so, what do you want? Do you still want to turn us into your little servants? If we don’t want to fight, how will we proceed from here… because if I’m going to be honest, your little friends aren’t enough to stop us,” Luna coldly announced, her eyes digging deep into the beautiful vampire smirking ahead of us. She thought she had won already, but upon seeing our confidence, she couldn’t help but click our tongues.

n“You all are interesting… and worthy of my Master’s attention… may I know your name?”

nThis shocking revelation of this woman being but a servant to a higher being caused us all to freeze in place and glance at each other. That means not only was there somebody that much stronger than this woman, but somebody with arguably way more soldiers than this couple thousand.

nDashing forward, the dhampirs shifted their attention away from us and onto the slaves behind. They were immediately turned into rabid beasts that, when meeting the eyes of the beautiful vampire, became docile and passed out.

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n“What makes you think you’re worthy of knowing our names-”

n“Luna, Findir, Cy, and Bella,” Luna immediately revealed our names without even a split second of hesitation. Bella went to question her but quickly silenced her potential arguing with a finger to her lips.

n“I apologize.”

nWe all snapped our heads back towards the vampire who was bowing towards us. The once cocky general of an army of dhampirs was now lowering her head towards us and even apologized in an instant.

n“Huh? Why are you suddenly apologizing?” Bella asked, a fit of bubbling anger rising within her. “What? Are we too strong for you because you’ve heard of our name?”

n“No, my Master… is somebody you know, and he has asked me to retrieve you all… so, allow me to apologize again and allow me to formally introduce myself,” The woman slowly raised her head and took on a more royal and polite attitude. “I am the second general of my Master’s army: Alba. I have no family name as I have relinquished my utmost loyalty to my Master.”

nHer sudden turn of politeness was almost uncanny, and as my friends and I continued to look at each other, Luna asked the obvious question.

n“What is your Master’s name?” 𝑶𝓋𝓁xt.𝒸𝓞𝔪

n“My Master’s name mustn’t be said so lightly. Even if you are his friends, I don’t believe I’m allowed to name him like that… but if you would like to meet him, please follow me.”

n“Where are you leading us, though? We still need to meet up with one of our friends at the Capital of Leviathan’s territory,” Findir asked just as the woman snapped her fingers, causing all of the dhampirs, including the newly turned ones, to disappear into a massive cloud of smoke.

n“It seems we are heading in the same direction. My Master also resides there, so I could potentially guide you if you follow me to his quarters.”

n“*sigh*… wait a second…” Bella reluctantly agreed before turning her head to four men, bruised and battered, standing straight up just a few feet away. Their eyes were completely and utterly lifeless while a purple aura surrounded their heads, seemingly manipulating their brains with pink strings that dug into through their skull.

nSuddenly, the aura disappeared, and they dropped to the ground, their minds coming back to life, and the pain of getting burnt and cut by the debris quickly rushed and overwhelmed them. They screamed and writhed on the ground before Luna went up to each and every single one of them, crushing their heads with a single foot. One. By. One.

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