Chapter 57: War (Part I)
Three days had happened since the last training session with the Lord, Vlad was truly scared from that last look on Raskreia"s face as she materialized blood whirlpools descending from the sky. He was sure that she had finally reached the level Lord should have, perhaps she was still lagging a little behind sir Raizel"s level but on a extended battle she would gain the advantage.
Vlad had spent these days training in the desert and managed to reduce the size of his dark energy sphere to twice the size of a tennis ball without the a.s.sistance of his soul weapon, and while wielding Sombra the size of the dark energy sphere was further reduced to a golf ball size. This already was close enough from his final target and more than sufficient for an extended battle.
His "blood energy battery" had been improved and now he had stored 5 times his blood energy reserves, he had gone a little over the board while feeding the battery but the war was coming near and this would his more powerful card.
He ended his thoughts and felt confidence rise in his hearth as he entered the Throne Hall along with the other family leaders, they all were looking anywhere but the Lord hopping that she had forgotten that last training session.
Raskreia felt amused at the way the family leaders were behaving, she was no longer angry as she had managed to surpa.s.s her limits with their help and they did not break any of the agreed rules for the sparring session, still she was happy to had retained her dignity and avoided screaming in frustration at their scape. Her usual cold and bored voice carried a trace of solemnity as she said.
"It is time to teach the Werewolf Clan what it mean to make an enemy of Lukedonia. I will lead our quest for retribution, Ludis, and Claudia will protect Lukedonia in our absence. Rajak, Kei, Rossaria and Vlad will follow me to war."
"Send a message to Edian, Karias and Seira to be ready in case the Union decides to attack them. We are leaving now".
Raskreia was leading the incursion team as they flew over the ocean, neither Rossaria nor Vlad had ever visited the werewolf kingdom so they could not use teleportation but they did no mind as they trip itself will help them focus.
"Rajak, Vlad you will both will hide your aura and would explore their territory, I want to understand the situation of werewolf clan. Do not engage in battle unless you deemed necessary and join us when the battle starts."
"Kei will go with me as we perform an open attack on the werewolf clan to keep them from paying attention to you and Rossaria, you will find a safe place to prepare an all out attack as I want you to turn their palace into dust. Then you will regroup with us".
As soon as they arrived to the Werewolf Kingdom Vlad proceed on his own looking for laboratories as he knew that he might find a few interesting test subjects, he did not know if M-21 had been captured but he was sure that the woman Garda would have become a mindless guard dog by now and capture her before she was activated would be to their advantage.
As he moved under the cover of the shadows he saw a couple of middle aged men who were walking dejectedly while wearing lab coats, he smiled and put them of a hypnothic trance as soon as he appeared before them.
"I"m looking for the woman Garda, do you know where she is been kept? Have you heard of a human brought recently to your country?" The two middle aged men were werewolves but no warriors and had no resistance to his mental prove.
"Garda and the human are kept in the lab facilities..." Vlad was now sure that sir Raizel and Frankenstein should already be on their way and the battle will escalate soon. He made the two men forget their conversation and made his way to the lab.
He found no researchers or security on the place perhaps due to been late at night and the werewolves who would normally work here should be no much different from normal humans. Finding Garda was no trouble as she was been exhibited on a gla.s.s container as some sort of trophy, been careful to avoid activating any alarm he opened the container and a dark chain extended from his palm making its way to the unconscious woman binding her as it pierced her arms, legs and shoulders.
She made no reaction to pain as if her mind was shut down, he probed through his blood chain and found several control mechanisms and overwhelming despair, he started devouring her negative emotions while erasing the control mechanisms and the most severe side effects of the experiments carried on her but it will take a long time so he could only carry her along while making sure she would not wake up.
He released a sigh and kept moving to the sealed rooms and took no much time to find a barely conscious and bloodied M-21 having a cheerful conversation with his cellmate who was in a similar condition.
"Well M-21 lets make a deal I take you out of here and you make sure that Seira never finds out from you that I was carrying a chained unconscious woman around during my visit to the Werewolf Kingdom. Do we have a deal?" The voice startled M-21 as he saw the door opening to reveal a young n.o.ble who was dragging nonchalantly an almost naked young woman binded by chains as if she was some sort of puppet floating behind him.
He was interrupted from his surprise as his cellmate growled in anger...
Chapter 58: War (Part II)
"You are... Vlad? Seira"s fiance?" M-21 was still confused and asked over the growls of his cellmate. "What are you doing to that woman?"
Vlad smiled as if he had no hurry in life as he started releasing the constrains on M-21. "Yes I am Du Lac Alexandre Vlad, pleasure to make your acquaintance. I realize now that we had never had a proper conversation, haven"t we? I found this woman on a gla.s.s container exhibited as some sort of trophy and didn"t feel right to leave her there, and my blood energy can devour harmful things as experiment side effects, negative emotions and the sort... this one is a complete mess and it would take a lot of time to get her into a functional person again, also carrying her in this way consumes less energy and as we are invading the Werewolf Kingdom I should be careful in expending energy unnecessarily, don"t you think?"
Vlad took a moment as he saw that M-21 was in no condition to move and said apologetically. "As a mater of fact you will be joining her as I can not carry around in any other way nor I can"t just abandon you... but you can take some consolation knowing that this will reduce to some extent the side effects from whatever they did to you here and help speeding your own healing ability". M-21 was startled and reluctant but he had no energy to resist nor the desire to become a burden for the one who was helping him, then he smiled and said.
"I understand, can you take him along as well?" Before Kentas could yell in denial he was pierced with chains and felt his mind blurred as sleep overtook him. Vlad then smiled at M-21 and said. "All right, sorry for offense" as he repeated the process with M-21 and made his way out of this place.
He found the chimera that was made by Maduke and felt terror from its incredible power, he knew that he could not keep that thing under his control with his soul weapon, so he made a split second decision and teleported the monster directly to the desert where he usually trains, hoping that the distance to be far enough to avoid it from responding to Maduke´s orders and that it would just remain sleeping until the war is over. Then surely Frankenstein will have a way to deal with this abomination.
As Vlad made his way under the cover of the shadows he noticed the sound of battle not far from his location and what it seemed a few familiar auras. He hesitated for a moment and headed in that direction while hiding his aura and while the three werewolf puppets floated not far behind him.
He stayed hidden in the distance as he observed the battle that was unfolding, Frankenstein, Karias and Edian were facing a werewolf warrior each and except for Frankenstein the other two had a clear advantage. He had seen Karias fighting style before and had even suffered from it countless times, but he felt a little unwillingness as he saw Edian"s. She wielded two rapiers in a similar fashion of that he had trained for nearly two centuries but with a skill level that he knew was beyond his reach.
When he was a child he had imagined himself fighting as she was doing now, but reality forced him to abandon the idea as his talents were not compliant with this direction, still there was certain pain in his hearth while seeing his childhood dream fulfilled in some else hands. Edian didn"t take much time to collect the head of the werewolf warrior who seemed to be covered in stone scales and turned to aid Karias holding his enemy for a moment before a giant blood arrow killed the werewolf erasing any trace of his existence from this world.
While Edian and Karias were looking at Frankenstein battle as he made his way towards them. "Lady Edian, your sword skills are fantastic. As a child I hoped to reach that level only to find that it was not within my ability". Vlad calm voice surprised the two family leaders as they did not feel his aura before and their faces showed unbelief as they saw a young man approaching them as if he was taking a walk on the park with three werewolves binded and pierced by chains floating behind him contrasting the illusion of his gentle speech.
"I believe that you are looking for this one, right?" He said as pointing a finger at M-21. "He would be able to walk on his own in about 10 minutes. Do you think the Lord would like the other two as souvenirs?" Karias seemed to be imagining Raskreia with two werewolves tailing behind her and his eyes started to shine while Edian was thinking that perhaps she had spent time like that herself as she was told that it was Vlad who had captured her along with Rajak, she directed and aggrieved look at him before turning her eyes back to the battle deciding to ignore this annoying brat.
Karias seemed to react and asked. "You been here means that the Lord is leading war against the werewolf clan?" Vlad looked surprised and said. "Yes a message was sent to Korea but I guess you were already on your way here on a rescue mission and missed it. Shouldn"t we help Frankenstein? This is not a sparring session were honor and the like counts, we are at war."
He didn"t wait for them to answer but summoned his soul weapon and focused in strangling the werewolf with his telekinesis as Frankenstein attacked without wasting time defeating the werewolf. The strange thing was that he choose not to kill him, "he must had been having fun fighting that werewolf" Vlad thought.
Frankenstein appeared next to him and started checking on M-21 condition. "He would be able to stand on his own in a few minutes, do not worry about him. But the woman, she is far too much of a mess for Sombra to help her so I guess you are gonna have to play veterinarian again. Sorry about that". Frankenstein registered what Vlad said and felt relieved but then frowned and asked.
"Why would I help her? Who is she?" Vlad blinked at that and smiled. "Why she is perhaps the only loyal follower of that guy Muzaka, so I guess sir Raziel will ask you to do so". Frankenstein sighed and resigned himself while contacting his Master through their telepathic link to tell him that the three targets or rescue were already on their hands.
Chapter 59: War (Part III)
Vlad released both M-21 and Kentas and retrieved his energy chains they both opened their eyes almost instantly and found themselves on what seemed the after match of a great battle. M-21 found that Frankenstein was checking his condition. "Boss, I have cause you trouble." Frankenstein continue with his check-up before saying. "There is no trouble, you only need to rest for a while... all foreign substances had been removed by Vlad"s blood energy and your own self-healing ability will be enough for you to recover after resting for a couple of days".
Suddenly in the distance a giant eye appeared within the clouds looking down on the Palace before releasing an attack reducing it to dust, the wind hit them and the floor trembled revealing the power of the attack even at such distance.
"Rossaria is more powerful than I had ever dare to imagine, the battle had started I should go and join the Lord". He looked at Kentas and said. "Muzaka is here and is going to battle Maduke and the warriors of your people, perhaps you should join him. But if you join your people in battle against Lukedonia within our battle of retribution I would not hesitate to kill you".
A blood-rune-arc started rotating around him and Garda as he teleported away.
Raskreia was watching the battle between Kei and the old werewolf warrior, he seemed to be a master of runes and spells that could rival Rossaria while his body fighting skills alone were enough to face Kei. He would grow stronger after this battle, suddenly another werewolf warrior tried to attack from her back, Raskreia in at almost bored way looked at him immobilizing him and the swinged Ragnarok, the blood field was not necessary for dealing with a poor combatant like him.
She was surprised as the warrior managed to recover his control at the last instant and avoided death at the cost of an arm, he was kneeling on the ground gasping from pain and fear, at that moment the familiar blood-rune-arc appeared by her side and after a revolution Vlad was now standing there while a woman was suspended in the air behind him by blood chains. She knew that woman, she had gone to Lukedonia looking for Muzaka after the n.o.blesse disappearance.
Vlad bowed at her and said. "Lord, Edian and Karias are here they came with sir Raizel and Frankenstein to rescue one of the human kids that the n.o.blesse took under his wing. Muzaka is making his way as well to kill Maduke as the werewolf clan had been using their own people as experimental materials over the years, all considered traitors or those who had no warrior quality had suffer that destiny. I guess that this war is no longer ours alone."
Raskreia felt her hearth turn cold while the man kneeling on the ground started to shiver he had just realized how strong the family leaders and the Lord of the n.o.bles were, but now they were facing the n.o.blesse and Lord Muzaka as well, his family was facing extinction.
The werewolf warrior who was fighting Kei also heard this and decided to end the battle as soon as possible, he had to reduce the number of enemies or they would surely die. He attacked with a mixture of magic and physical energy creating a three headed giant wolf that charged at Kei who meet his attack while releasing his blood energy to the limit materializing a giant tiger head creating a powerful explosion as both energy attack collided.
As the dust dissipated and both of them were standing facing each other while sporting similar level of damage, he felt he had attained victory but he needed to escape now, this Kei was already enough to push him to the limits and he had another family leader and the Lord to deal with while that useless brat had got himself crippled. Before he could retreat he found that Muzaka was standing behind him.
He could feel Muzaka"s aura locked at him and sealing any chance of retreat, but he was not looking at him... he noticed that he was looking at the young family leader... no, the woman behind him, Garda. He felt fear now, he knew he was going to die today.
"Are you helping her? Are the chains necessary?" Muzaka growled and Vlad looked at him. "Yes, her mind and body are a mess... my blood chains are keeping her together and if I let her free she will become a mindless rabid beast trying to kill anything... specially you, she was programmed for that... to kill you".
Muzaka anger turned into cold murder, he then turned to Raskreia and said "I believe this is the first time we meet young Lord of the n.o.bles, you sure look more reliable than your father... then again I was never a good Lord myself". He did not wait for a reply and started beating the werewolf warrior and without stopping he keep talking. "I hope you don"t mind If I deal with him I have some business with him".
The werewolf who was kneeling on the ground yelled in disbelieve. "Zaiga!" Zaiga seemed to react at that and started releasing all his power trying to fight back while speaking in anger. "Muzaka! You dare to come back, I will show you that our people doesn"t need you! We are stronger now!"
Muzaka received his attack without effort and mocked him. "Is this the power you obtained by sacrificing the people of the werewolf clan? Is this even worthy? I have been sleeping for close to a millenia and I"m still stronger than you, are you saying that all the people who you sacrificed died for nothing?" And without waiting for an answer Muzaka released even more power and grinded Zaiga"s body into meat pieces with his claws not giving him the chance to scream.
Vlad was already jealous of the power attained by the combination of magic and physical strength that Zaiga had shown moments before, but it was nothing against the Lord of the werewolves, still he was sure that Muzaka would not be this strong without Frankenstein treatment. He had recover completely of the damage done to him and even grew stronger by age alone as a powerful werewolf warrior would.
Chapter 60: War (Part IV)
After killing Zaiga, Muzaka approached Garda and looked at her with regret and guilt. "How is she?" Vlad looked at him expressing uncertainty and said. "To be honest she is in worst state than you before Frankenstein treated you. Not only she had been used for experiments for centuries, but she was awake... it was torture, so her mind is as messed up as her body. They put control mechanisms on her mind to use her as a weapon to kill you."
He took a moment to breathe and expressed his doubts on her condition. "Her body would have no trouble healing either by Frankenstein"s treatment or by spending long enough like this for my blood energy to erase any substance that should not be there so her own healing ability would do just fine. The problem is her mind, in another 5 minutes I will have breached the control mechanisms but I don"t know if she is still sane or even if she is still there at all. For that I cannot help at all, sorry."
Muzaka was trembling with fury as he made his way towards the now destroyed palace in search for Maduke. It was at this moment that Vlad had a moment of doubt, things had changed so much that he would no longer had the advantage of knowing future events and suddenly understood why he felt uncomfortable.
"Lord, I think we have a problem... Edian and Karias are here because they did not received your orders of staying in Korea. They came here to rescue M-21 who is a companion to Seira, Regis, Rael and the other kids... what if they were unwilling to stay behind and found an excuse to come as well before receiving your orders? Seira might be alright by herself but the others would be in danger and Seira would be forced to protect them."
Raskreia registered the worry on his voice and noticed that at this moment the signal for rescue on Vlad"s bracelet started shining. She sighed thinking how annoying things could be when plans don"t met expectations. "Can you take Kei and me along?" She asked while looking at Garda.
It was at times like this that he was happy to had learned how to amplify his powers through blood energy, he couldn"t reach the Rossaria"s skill to take all family leaders at once but 3 people were no problem.
10 minutes ago...
Seira, Regis, Rael, Tao and Takeo had just reached land and entered the werewolf territory and were planning to lay low looking for their companions, but they found themselves intercepted by two almost identical women the only difference between them was the color of their hair.
"Humans and n.o.bles... but they seem weak, they could not be the ones that destroyed the palace. Still we better just kill them". The green haired woman said to the blue haired woman. "Indeed, better hurry". The blue haired woman charged and was intercepted by Seira who was wielding her soul weapon as she said to the others. "I"ll deal with her you guys take the other one down quickly, we cannot waste time here."
Tao said as they all entered combat formation. "Modified werewolves will have incredible regeneration ability so small wounds won"t do anything, wait for an opportunity to deal a strong attack directed at the heart and brain".
Seira had clear advantage over the blue haired werewolf but her regeneration was as impressive as Tao had said, so she decided to end things quickly and prepared her soul weapon while extending her hand to receive the blue haired woman fist and felt her hand trembling and perhaps even a small fracture as she got hold of her and swinged her scythe cutting the blue haired she-werewolf"s chest open and connecting the attack while delivering the full power of her soul weapon as a giant grim reaper materialized behind her. The she-werewolf felt the danger and released all the power she could muster at the moment without a change to balance herself after the wound she just received.
On the other battle Rael disappeared the moment Seira"s battle started to wait for an opportunity, the green haired she-werewolf released energy attack by weaving her claws and the three others avoided, at that moment the she-werewolf found herself binded by a strange cable that released corrosive energy paralyzing her body for a moment and was. .h.i.t immediately by Takeo"s bullets that released the same corrosive energy disrupting her even more. In anger she released energy around her body to get rid of the corrosive energy and the binding obtaining her freedom but it was at this moment that she found herself surrounded by many bats as shallow wounds started to appear in all her body. Before the wounds could begin to heal, Regis had appeared in front of her performing a knight style thrust with his soul weapon and she only managed to move avoiding her spine been pierced and received the attack on her right chest.
After a moment the dust that had raised from the two explosions dissipated revealing the aftermath of the battle, the blue haired she-werewolf was missing her entire lower body and her right arm while the green haired she-werewolf was missing her entire right upper body, Seira left arm was slightly bloodied while the 4 males were unharmed. Without a second thought they launched two energy attacks to end the battle before the women could reform their bodies but their energy attacks were deflected by the sudden appearance of a blue haired werewolf who had yet to transform.
Seira could feel the powerful aura of the new enemy and did not hesitate to activate her pendant asking for help, the man alone was enough to kill them all and with the two women that were recovering already their chances of scape were almost non-existent.
"Humans and n.o.bles dare to invade the land of my people, you will only find death for your arrogance". The voice of the blue haired man had not completed his sentence when a blood-rune-arc had appeared next to Seira and started rotating to reveal 4 people who were not there a moment ago.
"Your words make no sense, didn"t your people invade Lukedonia first? Today you will understand who are you dealing with". The bored voice of Raskreia reached the ears of the blue haired man who was still surprised by the sudden appearance but before he could respond the three n.o.bles were bowing to the woman, looking as children caught in the middle of their mischief, calling. "Lord!"
Chapter 61: War (Part V)
"That"s the Lord of the n.o.bles? And at least 4 family leaders... we should retreat". The blue haired man muttered while observing that the attention of the Lord was focussed on the 3 children and was about to leave when he found that there were more people behind him.
Lunark, Kentas and the artificial werewolf that they captured a few days ago were standing by the side of three n.o.bles with aura of at least family leader level and a human whose presence brough shivers to his spine, he could feel that he was not an opponent at all.
"So you were all here... but it seems that some people that should not be here arrived as well". Tao and Takeo trembled slightly while Regis and Rael took a step back intimidated only to find that Seira was no longer by their side and looking around they saw her behind Vlad looking at the clouds in the sky as if appreciating the different forms they took.
"Well I don"t know if this invasion has much sense any more... apart from these 3 and the two others that were spared by the Lord and Frankenstein all warriors of the werewolf clan are dead, and Muzaka must be about to start the battle against Maduke, perhaps we should just go there and take this three along? Unless of course that the Lord wants to destroy the werewolf clan completely..." Vlad said shifting Frankenstein attention while the 3 werewolves along with Lunarc and Kentas trembled at those words.
Raskreia released a bored sigh, the original idea was only to destroy the palace and beat the werewolf warriors to submission as a warning, but now more than half of the werewolf warriors were dead and the battle between Muzaka and Maduke would not stop until one of them died. She took a brief look at Raizel and said.
"Cadis Etrama Di Raizel, the person that was captured is already at your side. Are you going to leave now?" asked Raskreia in her bored voice while a blood-runic-arc started rotating at her side revealing a tired Rossaria and a seemly bored Rajak increasing the pressure on the werewolves.
"I have a debt with Muzaka" Raizel sounded tired. "Very well, you three lead the way to your Lord or die". Raskreia said while turning to look at the three werewolves, the two women seemed to be ready to fight to the death but the blue haired man bowed slightly and said. "Then, lets go" and started to move while forcing the two unwilling women to go along.
Maduke was waiting impatiently on his destroyed palace while gritting his teeth in anger, "why were they taking so long? Muzaka should be dead by now and the n.o.bles who dared to invade his land should have been captured and brought to him". He noticed movement behind him and found a werewolf warrior who"s arm was still regenerating at a very slow pace.
"Lord, Zaiga its dead. He was defeated by a n.o.ble from the Ru clan and then killed by Muzaka who was pa.s.sing by, the Lord of the n.o.bles is here and they already got hold of Garda, on my way here I stopped by the lab where she was held and found that the chimera is also gone." The werewolf warrior seemed lost in panic and denial ignoring the killing glare Maduke was releasing on him but before he could start yelling his frustration, another werewolf warrior arrived.
The blond man had deep wounds on his chest that were not regenerating and seemed out of breath. "Lord, except for me, every one in my unit is dead. Two n.o.bles and the human who serves the n.o.blesse are responsible. I"m afraid that by now most of the warriors were killed or captured".
Maduke was between laughter and disbelief, "how could this happen?" The Lord of the n.o.bles and the n.o.blesse were invading his land along with Muzaka and already disarmed two of his most powerful cards, he would have to fight himself and kill them all. He was interrupted from his thoughts again by the most hateful voice he ever heard.
"It seems that things and not going too well for you Maduke, lets see if I can kill you before Raizel and the others arrive." Muzaka murderous aura made the two werewolves tremble while Maduke looked indifferent.
"Muzaka, I had prepared many presents to greet you but unexpected things happened. I"m sure you will have love to fight Garda to the dead as she was the only person who remained loyal to you till the very end. She even screamed your name while undergoing torture under the experiments... of course that was before she lost her mind and became the broken thing she is now". Maduke smirked as he saw Muzaka growling and preparing to attack, but more people arrived... three werewolf warriors kneeled behind him while another voice responded at his words.
"Well, I am not a veterinarian but I had deal with worst cases... she will be fine after treatment. But the real question is if there would be a werewolf country after today." Frankenstein mocking voice attracted his attention and saw that almost every family leader had come with the Lord of n.o.bles. The n.o.blesse seemed tired but not wounded or close to death as he was supposed to be... "this makes no sense and why even Muzaka looked stronger than before?".
Without wasting more time in the battle of words he said as he transformed releasing an aura comparable to that of Muzaka. "Well since all of you came to my land looking for death, I will kill you all myself!" He charged towards Muzaka who responded in kind.
Maduke was repelled and his arm was missing but it was regrowing at incredible speed, he had advantage in case of extended battle but he was surprised that his power was not enough to beat Muzaka without using his more powerful cards, he decided that he could not wait for the n.o.bles to join the battle. He had to kill Muzaka now, so he increased his aura again and growled loudly while a blinding light erupted from his body.
After the light disappeared, Maduke had transformed again into what humans would call a cla.s.sic werewolf. His head and feet had turned completely into those of a wolf and his body was completely covered in fur. His aura caused everyone, except Raskreia and Raizel, to tremble as he attacked Mazuka again.
Chapter 62: War (Part VI)
This time the one who was pushed back and got injured was Muzaka, Maduke smirked regaining his confidence. "How does it feel Muzaka, I am now stronger than you! This is the power of our people!"
Muzaka"s body was healing at high-speed, but it was not comparable to the regeneration level that the modified werewolves had shown, he expressed his cold anger in words. "The power of our people? Are you saying it like that because you killed so many of our kin to get that power? I really cannot understand you, what is so great of having that power? What is so great about been the Lord? Why is it so important to you that you killed so many of our people? That you killed my daughter?"
Maduke was startled and laughed. "So you knew about that... yes it was our people who provoked the war that killed you half-breed daughter and forced the n.o.blesse to fight you. But you could never understood... you didn"t want to be Lord! You tried to give up the position that I dreamed about as if it meaned nothing! But I made you lose everything, I took everything from you!"
While Maduke was laughing as a maniac something broke inside Muzaka and his anger overwhelmed him and he released his aura attacking Maduke without caring for defense. Maduke was surprised and found that Muzaka could hurt him slightly, it was not enough to cause danger as his regeneration healed the small wounds almost as soon as they appeared.
Still he was angered and attacked Muzaka again, he wanted him to suffer so he was not trying to kill him yet. But little by little the difference in power seemed to be gaining balance and Muzaka started growing stronger as the battle progressed and suddenly Maduke found himself overwhelmed, his wounds were no longer scratches and he was feeling pain.
Maduke growled and tried to regain the advantage... "after all I did, Is he still stronger than me?" the thought burned his mind and it was more painful that the increasing wounds of his body.
The five remaining werewolf warriors were surprised and unwilling, after all their efforts... they could not surpa.s.s the power of the previous Lord and even if they didn"t want to acknowledge it, they had heard clearly Maduke"s confession of Muzaka innocence, this battle had no meaning at all as everything they had believed proved to be a lie.
Vlad was watching the battle with apprehension, Muzaka and sir Raizel where in much better condition that they should had been and he was sure that the Lord, the n.o.blesse and Muzaka combined would not be defeated. But he was witnessing a battle that was above his realm, he could barely follow their moves with his eyes and noticed that the family leaders, except for Kei, had the same look of surprise and unwillingness.
Still, he had not stopped his work, all this time that he had carried Garda around, Sombra was searching for the blood stone within her and looking for away to deactivate it. He was getting closer, at least if the soul stone were to be activated now Garda will not suffer as much as the other warriors, the mental restrictions on her had already been breached and destroyed but she seemed unwilling to wake up.
He released a sigh and redoubled his efforts on breaching the blood stone mechanisms while his eyes never left the battle. Suddenly something seemed to resonate between Sombra and Garda and a red crystal started protruding from her chest, most of the n.o.bles were focused on the battle so the only one who noticed this was Seira who had not stopped paying attention to Garda since Vlad arrived to her side along the Lord.
A little smile slowly appeared on Seira"s face as if she had just understood something and watched how the red crystal started to turn into dust while Garda trembled for a moment and then relaxed as if she was sleeping in her bed and not pierced by chains.
Vlad sighed in relief and slowly placed Garda on the ground while his chains started to dissipate, he extended his hand and clothes similar to what Kei usually wears appeared covering the sleeping woman. He had found the way to stop and destroy de blood stone inside the werewolves without killing them ad he was hesitating about how to approach the issue to the Lord to subdue the werewolves before Maduke could activate the blood stones but the scream on the battlefield made him realize that it was already late.
Maduke had no arms, legs and the whole right side of his upper body was missing as well. He screamed in desperation and unwillingness. A moment later his body seemed to reverse in time and it was complete again, Maduke gained more power while the werewolves on the other side of the battlefield trembled as they felt their life force leaving their bodies.
Then Maduke was engulfed on a blinding light while blood stones started to grow from the chest of each warrior as they realized in desperation that their Lord was sacrificing them to gain more power and defeat Muzaka and the n.o.bles.
The blinding light receded showing a Maduke who had transformed for a third time, his fur was white while his legs and arms were black and blood stones had grown on his shoulders and forehead giving him a demoniac aura while he laughed like a maniac intoxicated by the sudden rise in power.
"Lord, what is happening to us?" The green haired woman asked while kneeling on the ground holding the red crystal protruding from her chest with both hands. "Are you absorbing our life force? Why?"
Maduke indulged for a moment longer before turning his head in her direction. "Why is it strange of me sacrificing those who are weaker than me in order to gain more power? Isn"t that what you all have been doing all these years? You should have known that some day it would be your turn, right? Now be quiet and die being proud of been of use to your Lord".
The five werewolves seemed to lose their souls at that moment, there was no argument against that and they have no way to avoid death today... suddenly Lunark and Kentas didn"t look so stupid anymore...
Chapter 63: War (Part VII)
This time the demonic aura released by Maduke was enough to affect both Raskreia and Raizel and they were preparing to join the battle. Vlad looked in the direction of the 5 werewolves and created a telepathic link with Rossaria and the Lord. "I can deactivate the blood stones on their bodies, but it will be suicide for me to go to them. Rossaria, can you bring them here when the battle begins? It will take me half a minute to solve destroy the blood stones."
Raskreia did not even look at them but her responce made Rossaria felt pressure. "Rossaria I trust your teleportation is good enough for the task, I will protect you in case you get attacked. Go and bring them here as soon as the battle resumes". Rossaria just sighed and looked resigned.
"Muzaka, this time my power has surpa.s.s you. I have, as the humans would said, evolved into a superior being. I will kill you all here and then go to Lukedonia and erase the n.o.bles from this world. It is time for me to rule the world!" Maduke said with a crazy voice as if drunk from his new power, he charged at Muzaka and this time he had the advantage completely suppressing him. Maduke was enjoying the feeling of toying with the person he hated the most and stopped for a moment to look at Muzaka whose regeneration could not keep with the battle, at this time he was missing half an arm and his body was completely bloodied.
"It is time for you to die I will..." He stopped mid-sentence as his arm started to bend, he looked with surprise as if something invisible was drilling from inside his arm making its way to the surface devouring his flesh. Soon he had lose an arm and noticed that Raizel had his arm extended in his direction, but his arm was already half way healed and was about to mock him when he saw something that sent shivers to his spine.
The 5 werewolf warriors who were serving as his sacrifices were somehow among the n.o.bles and black chains that seemed to grow from a young n.o.ble were piercing them, but the part that scared him was that the blood stones on their chests were crumbling into dust and the flow of life force he was receiving was reduced by half.
He then saw as the kid, looking tired, said. "Well we are still enemies... so be good doggies and remain chained there, would you?" Vlad said this nonsense, as if thinking aloud, breathing heavily after his mental energy was drained by Sombra to destroy the blood stones. Raizel and Raskreia seemed ashamed but a trace of pride was still visible due to a job well done. Frankenstein was smiling as if watching his favorite student answering correctly a difficult question.
Maduke felt unnerved and was about to attack to kill the kid when Muzaka voice full of surprise and guilt stopped him. "No way! I can"t believe it!" Maduke froze looking at Muzaka who seemed to have found the most unbelievable thing and could not help but wonder what could have surprised him to that extent.
Even the n.o.bles looked at him with curiosity as Muzaka said with a worried voice. "Raizel, did you and Raskreia had a child together before our battle 800 years ago? Was it my fault that you could not raise him as I forced you into slumber and Frankenstein ended taking care of him?"
The silence hold for a moment until Vlad fell to the floor looking at Muzaka in disbelieve, Raskreia and Raizel were blushing and looking to the ground not knowing how to respond to the sudden attack and Frankenstein seemed to be wondering how did he got dragged into this situation again while Edian eyes were looking at Muzaka with murder.
"Are you mocking me? You still have the energy to joke before dying?" Maduke was enraged and seemed to be draining more energy acc.u.mulating momentum. Frankenstein said. "There seem to be more life force sources for his blood stone!"
Maduke smirked. "Why yes there are devices on the whole island to absorb life force from every werewolf. After today I would be the only werewolf!" His voice was full of madness as if fascinated by the idea.
Raskreia seemed to come to her senses and said looking at Lunarc and Kentas. "You should go looking for those devices and destroy them. Rajak and Rael you go as well". Rajak disappeared as soon as she ended her orders while Rael, Lunarc and Kentas took a moment to realize the situation and followed Rajak example.
Before Maduke could react he was surrounded by Muzaka, Raizel, Raskreia and Frankenstein, but his aura seemed to prevail over his enemies. On the ground Kei and Edian were standing in front of the group of n.o.bles preparing to deflect whatever aftermath of the battle reached their way while Rossaria and Karias seemed to preparing their most powerful attack, Vlad remembered that Karias had disintegrated a powerful werewolf warrior before while Rossaria had reduced Maduke"s Palace to dust in one hit.
He sighed and prepared his attack as well, it would not be comparable to Rossaria and Karias but it was the best he had at the moment. Giant black wings grew from his back and he extended both his arms while an energy sphere started to form and soon it grew to 1 meter in diameter, this was half the blood energy on his body and 80% of the energy within his "blood energy battery".
Muzaka was tanking the attacks while Raskreia and Raizel used blood field whirlpools creating devastating damage that seemed nullified in an instant due to the great regeneration, only the wounds produced by Frankenstein"s Dark Spear seemed to last for a moment before disappearing. Maduke could feel that the flow of life force was starting to fade as the devices were destroyed, he needed to end the battle soon. He forced Muzaka back and charged at Raskreia facing both blood fields that were unable to stop him, his claws were almost reaching her while Ragnarok was already in front waiting for the impact.
But the impact didn"t come as giant black laser beam pierced Maduke erasing his head and chest while his arms started falling to the ground, his body was already starting to regrow while a giant red eye appeared in the sky and a red laser beam three times bigger than the previous one attacked Maduke who was forced to raise his arms in defense releasing energy to resist the attack reaching a short impa.s.se before a giant red arrow reached Maduke chest forcing to redirect one of his arms.
The explosion reached to were the n.o.bles were, forcing Kei and Edian to handle the aftermath leaving them breathing heavily and almost out of combat just like Vlad, Rossaria and Karias. Seira and Regis stood in front of them while guarding them.
Maduke"s body was already recovering but it was far from the immediate regeneration he had shown before, even lower that Muzaka"s current level. He was starting to grow nervous as he never suspected that the n.o.bles could cause him so much damage, but at this moment he found that blood whirlpools fell from the sky and started grinding his body as Raskreia was pointing Ragnarok towards him.
Maduke found himself overwhelmed and scared and by now retreat seemed the only choice but before he could act on it, he felt something devouring him from inside his chest and found that Raizel was extending his arm pointing at him while blood tears dripped from his eyes, it took only a few seconds and the black hole, that now was visible to all of them, devoured his body leaving no trace of the Lord of werewolves. Maduke was no more.