52. What Are Vampires to a God?

Something unbelievable was happening right before Lucien's eyes. His own army—the army he was supposed to oppose gods with—was destroying itself from within.

"What's wrong, Lord Lucien? I've already told you..."

The hero he was fighting against repeated the same thing. He kept telling Lucien that he was making fatal mistakes, but the vampire wrote it off as a bluff. Yet the tide of battle was quickly turning against him.

"How?" the vampire asked, panic slowly creeping up on him.

"Don't ask me," Gavin answered. "This is between Yumino and Velmira. She kept going on about a powerful witch and some spirits using her as a catalyst for a spell. Honestly, I had no idea Yumino was keeping such secrets, but I'm glad it worked."

Half of Lucien's army were fighting against the other half; the knight he kept under his thumb seemed to have betrayed him; the giant he was taking advantage of seemed to be doing his own thing, and the vampire who was tasked with taking out his main target was now dancing with the elf as if nothing else existed around them.

"My revenge... I'm supposed to kill Death..."

"Oh? Revenge? Isn't that a bit petty of an ancient lord like you?" Gavin taunted Lucien.

Lucien clenched his teeth, his long canines almost cracking from the pressure. Betting it all on the same old tricks, the vampire screamed towards the crowd.

"I order you to take out the elf! Knight Ave—"

But before he could finish his sentence, a strong punch in the jaw launched him through the melting snow, staining the lord's robe with the dirt below.

"I can't have you ruining the moment right now..." Gavin intervened. "It's about time the hero also fulfills his role."

As the hero readied his weapon, Lucien got out of the dirt, wiping off the many stains on him.

"So be it! If I can't use any of them, then I will have them make themselves useful another way!"

As he spoke, the ground started shaking around Lucien, and one by one, the many bodies still on his side started falling as their lord started floating.

"I gave them a bit of me so they could grow it and give it back. Now, witness the power worthy of taking down gods!" he said towards Gavin, lunging at the hero who was having a hard time holding his balance.

Gavin barely managed to block Lucien's strike, but the next moment the ground opened beneath his feet, having the hero fall into a fall hole that seemed bottomless. Luckily, Velmira, who was now recovering from the spell she had just pulled off, found the strength to give the hero some footing with her earth manipulation.

"Thanks!" Gavin said. "But y'all better stay away from this guy! He seems pretty angry right now!"

His eyes bloodshot, Lucien gestured with his hands, holes opening up wherever his invisible hits landed. It took Gavin a lot of blind dodging before he understood those were also gravity attacks and started cutting them with his sword, but even that wasn't enough.

While Lucien had the advantage of moving freely into the air, Gavin was stuck with his feet on the ground, putting him at a disadvantage. Being stuck on the defensive, the hero could do nothing to hurt Lucien.

Knowing that, the vampire laughed at the human's lack of options.

"That's it! Fear this power just like the riders will fear it! You've grown lenient, hero! It never crossed your mind that the demon lord had good reason to avoid my kingdom!"

Faced with the fact that he couldn't win with his feet on the ground, Gavin had to think of a solution.

"That damn demon lord only gave me this sword. If he would have given me his wings, I would have looked so much cooler! How do you expect me to learn how to fly without them?" He screamed to the heavens, frustrated at the treasure he didn't understand at all.

That's when, as if it had heard him, the miasma oozing from the sword gathered at Gavin's feet. Before he could say anything, the hero was lifted into the air, letting out a loud "woah!"

Stunned, Lucien tried to take him down quickly, but the hero didn't get his title for nothing. In a matter of moments, he had already mastered the new flight ability gifted to him by the ashen sword, and their fight continued.

The speed of the two cleared the cloudy sky and painted it in shades of red and gray instead, every collision between the two letting out waves that shook the leaves of the trees in the distance.

Yet the advantage was still on Lucien's side. As the weaker elven spirits lost their grip on their bodies a second time, the lord's power kept increasing, and it was not long before his speed and strength surpassed Gavin's, yet his wounds were also piling up.

All he needed was a lapse in the hero's attention, and it happened soon enough. As Gavin approached him, the ash that kept him aloft grew thin, and the hero lost his footing for only a moment, but it was enough for Lucien to strike.

Before everyone's eyes, the ashen sword shattered from the vampire's hit. The support below Gavin's feet vanished, and gravity started working again on the hero, bringing a smile to Lucien's face as he tasted victory.

However, he was not the only one smiling. As he was falling to the ground, the hero did the same.

"That's the third!" he said, waving his palm at the vampire.

Confused, Lucien looked around, but by the moment he had noticed, it was already too late.

Down on the ground, the pair that kept the spectacle going was ready to show off their last trick. The elf with his bow ready and the vampire lady with her feet in the air both took aim at Lucien.

An arrow flew at the same time a dagger got kicked. As they both made their way towards Lucien, a bright, crimson flame lit up the sky. The flame then turned green, then red again. It passed through the remains of the sword to turn pale, just before turning black at the very last moment when it pierced Lucien's chest.

With a hole left instead of a heart, the lord's power left his body. Powerlessly looking at the two who had done this to him. It was only once that they had used their strikes together, and the result was enough to take out the unsuspecting vampire.

At the same time as the hero, Lucien hit the ground, yet it was only Gavin who got up and lifted what was left of his sword above the vampire's head.

The hero stuck the broken blade into the ground next to him and left without saying a word. In fact, nobody gave Lucien the time of day. Yumino, Nima, and the four heroes left for the forest, leaving the vampire all alone in the cold snow to breathe his last.

Before his consciousness faded, Lucien looked to his left, where the broken blade stood tall, yet its ashen fog had stopped.

"I did it..." he said.

"I... I finally beat you..."

Those were the last words of Lucien, the vampire lord, the failed avenger, the elder of a fallen world. With those words, he closed his eyes, his tired body falling apart and being taken by wind towards a knight standing high up in the air on his ashen horse.

That's how Lucien's quest for revenge ended, completing instead the revenge of somebody else and splitting in two the circle that should have continued endlessly. The only one to witness it enjoyed the sweet irony, for now the souls he had been waiting for would be released, and the elves turned vampires could finally die for good.

*****

While no tear was shed for Lucien, tears were still shed in the forest for somebody else. Those were the tears of a young girl named Averin and the tears of a screaming elf called Yumino as he held a soft body that was growing cold.

"Nima! Get it together! We've won!" he said, his voice drowned by sorrow.

"Yumino..." her faint voice called. "Remember who you're holding... Don't you dare confuse me with this damn vampire..."

As she spoke, her cold hand touched Yumino's face, the elf putting his warm palm over it.

"This was bound to happen to all vampires tied to Lucien. Those many bodies relied on a single soul—a soul that is not heading towards Death. Remember, Yumino, this girl's body isn't Nima," a voice spoke in Yumino's head. It was the voice of a witch who had just now regained enough strength to talk.

Words having left him, Yumino stood there in shock. A part of him knew this would happen, yet another part of him refused to accept it; hence, the thought of parting with Nima didn't cross his mind.

"Nima... I... I don't even know how to say goodbye to you! Please, give me some more time!"

"Idiot," she said. "Don't let me see this sad expression on your face ever again... Remember how cool you were back in Veston?"

Strength leaving her body, Nima's hand fell from Yumino's face, but not before handing him something. In his palm he left two long canines—canines that he noticed missing from her mouth when she smiled next.

"That moment you first shot at me with cruel eyes... that hurt. As punishment... don't forget to keep our promise."

In that forest, another vampire had spoken her last words—words heard by many. No, they were heard by the ones who needed to hear them at least. With those words, Nima parted from the group, leaving behind waves of tears and broken hearts.