The Fallen Vampire

Chapter 96: Defeat

As Taira struggled within 'Duncan's' grasp, his wife immediately flew into a rage.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HIM!"

Enyo's yell was more like a horrendous gurgle as more of her body broke down into that horrendous black sludge with a wide assortment of violet eyes.

Goopy, fleshy wings spurted from her shoulder blades, and she lunged at the human with a frenzied demeanor.

"Since you asked so nicely..." Left with no choice, Duncan snapped Taira's neck before he flung his body at the wailing monster girl.

Of course, Enyo forgot all about attacking him and focused only on catching her lover out of the air.

'Duncan' thought that she would be more distraught to see a man she was clearly attached to suddenly die in front of her, but she didn't really seem to be nearly as concerned one would have thought.

And a few seconds later, he understood why.

The kitsune immediately got back to his feet, and seemed to truly be no worse for wear after popping his neck back into place.

Taira transformed his weapon into a one handed scythe with a long golden chain, and to twirled it around aggressively like he was immediately about to go back on the assault.

'What... Is he..?' The human wondered.

No matter how powerful one was or how pure their bloodline, divine foxes didn't heal like that.

Almost nothing did.

Almost..

"What the fuck is going on down here...? Shoggoths running around like chickens and vampiric foxes suddenly springing up out of the blue... Those two shouldn't even be compatible in the first place."

A glimmer of intrigue shone within the human's eyes as he stared at Taira like he'd found something exciting to work on.

"You there... You'll be my next test subject."

"Over my dead body..!"

"That defeats the purpose but sure."

Growling, Taira activated the second move of his Dark Moon Art and his body became no more than a blur as he ran in circles around the perimeter.

Even the strange human was having a hard time keeping up with him, and was mildly impressed in turn.

"Not bad, but I need my research subjects to stay still for the most part."

Duncan raised his hand and parted his lips as if he were about to activate a spell, prompting Enyo to spring into action.

"Whispering Horror Art : All That Is Unseen!"

Suddenly, the shoggoth vanished right in front of the human's eyes.

Actually… everything vanished in front of him.

The entire world seemed like it was suddenly submerged in a pitch black darkness that even the sun could not escape.

"Not bad… using your qi to invade my body and strip away my senses is not something just anyone can do.

You're impressive, but the problem with techniques like these is that they never hold up when subjected to the might of a superior force."

Duncan held up a single finger, and a horrendously chilling energy left his body.

"Forbidden Arcane Ice : Frozen World."

There was a small cracking sound before light returned to the hero's retina and he saw what would have been in store for him if he waited even another second to cast his spell.

Enyo was frozen solid in front of him, and Taira was in the same state directly behind him.

Her fingers were outstretched like she was about to dig into his temple, and his sickle was mere millimeters away from his neck.

*whistles* "That could have been bad."

He grabbed the icy sculptures and lifted them both over his shoulder like simple cases of water.

"Now, where is… damn it all."

His eyes scanned the stone bridge that was currently frozen over in a thick layer of ice from his spell.

He found the particular body he was looking for, but the werewolf from earlier was kneeling over her.

Judging by her comatose state, he knew exactly what must have happened while he was busy with the other two.

And a few seconds later his hypothesis was immediately confirmed.

There was a loud gust of wind that blew throughout the entire cavern before a golden light shone on the body of Keran.

The space trembled a few times before finally settling, and the hero let out a depressed sigh.

"So she gave this place to you then? That's sweet and all, but it doesn't really change anything."

Keran finally regained clarity within her eyes and immediately clutched her head in pain.

'Right… I have to get us out..!'

Keran started looking around for her family so that she could get them into hiding, but her heart was nearly torn in two when she found them both frozen solid and resting on the shoulders of the bastard human responsible.

"Put… them… DOWN...!"

"Woof."

Enraged, Keran forgot all about everything that had just happened to her and stood up.

"Apostle of Fenris : Beast God's Ferocity!!"

"Wait… You're-"

"DIE!!"

With both of her hands boasting razor sharp claws incomparable to the best knife, Keran lunged at the man holding her family with the visage of a nine tailed fox swaying behind her.

BOOOOMMMMM!!!

Keran's fist blew apart the icey stone at Duncan's feet into small shards of rock.

Sidestepping her claws while holding Enyo and Taira, he continued to shake his head at the absurdity of this situation.

"This certainly complicates things. You're the only one I can't kill."

"SHUT UP!!"

Continuing her movements, Keran slashed at Duncan's waist with enough power to bisect him cleanly, but he ducked under her reach to avoid it.

"He's probably watching me right now… Aren't you, you furry maniac?"

"STOP TALKING TO ME AND PUT MY FAMILY DOWN!!"

The slashes Keran made with her claws caused shearing winds that cut up the ground like it was made of play dough.

All the while, Duncan continued to avoid her movements by a hairs breadth as if she were moving in slow motion.

"Lucky for you, your life is guaranteed atleast but… I'll still be taking what I need. I'll worry about the consequences when I get back to the upper realm."

Duncan tapped his foot on the ground a single time and spears of ice riddled Keran's body all over; stopping her dead in her tracks.

While no vital areas were harmed, she was thoroughly incapacitated.

With the last adversary strung up in front of him, Duncan let out a tired sigh as he freed one of his arms by dropping Taira to the ground.

"Sorry to go about this in such an unpleasant way… but you're still better off than most everyone else here today."

With his free hand, Duncan reached for Keran's sternum while wearing a small grimace.

"This will be significantly less unpleasant for you if you only cooperate."

"D-Don't touch me!!"

"You make me sound like a creep. The truth is that you just so happen to have something that I need is all. No more, no less."

As soon as Duncan's fingertips made contact with Keran's breastplate, a sharp current passed through the air.

Glancing over his shoulder, the human watched two figures appear from the staircase that led outside.

One was a lion headed man wearing silver armor and carrying a sword that was almost as large as him.

The other was a beautiful woman with wolf ears and a number of scars and burns running across the length of her body.

Unlike her companion, she wore no armor and instead boasted a pair black leather pants and a bra that barely contained her impressive bust.

A pair of dark clawed gauntlets adorned her feminine hands, and the usual black eyepatch she wore had been swapped out for a grey one with a strange symbol in the center.

Behind the two of them, more and more soldiers started to spill out into the chamber, mystified by their surroundings and the carnage that they had apparently already missed.

Ayame took in the sight of her daughter impaled like a pin cushion with a human's hand near her chest and completely misread the situation.

"Leopold… give me your sword." She asked calmly.

"Y-Yes, my queen…" The lion looked like he was a bit heartbroken to suddenly give up his prized possession like this, but he literally had no choice.

By the sound of the queen's voice, he knew for sure that if he did not give her his weapon she would kill him and take it from him.

She was just that enraged.

Ayame lifted up the the greatsword that weighed an outstanding two tons and waived it around like it was as light as a feather.

With a mad light in her eyes, she pointed the blade at the man standing in front of her daughter and spoke to him in an eerily cold voice.

"I want you to understand something before we begin… There will be nothing… nothing that you can do to escape with your life today.

Now back away from my daughter and you can die with what little amount of honor that you have left..!"