June 20th, 2018.

  After Alli, Lelai and Helo start to trek down the mountain the rest of the party quickly reach them. Helo is definitely slowing them down. “Go!” He waves them forward. “I’ll be behind you. Lelai can keep me safe, and our senses are good enough to avoid any danger.”

  The group tries to argue but Helo reminds them that they need to save Hinata. That quickly changes their minds, they all start to rush ahead. Looking down he says. “Looks like it is just us two.” Then the two of them follow behind as fast as he can move.

  Fifteen minutes later Helo catches up to his group near the water's edge. It would have taken him longer, but he had a few interesting enchantments stored in his necklace. A lot of them were failed experiments, the kind of things that he made to test an idea. Then when it didn't work as expected, but it still had some kind of effect, he just shrugged and said, “Huh. I can use that.” They are the kind of things that explode after you use them, but he got enough use out of them to speed up his progress. They had different effects like lowering his weight, increasing his jump distance, or even a failed powered scooter that blew up after ten seconds of use.

  At the water's edge he is surprised by what he sees. Hinata is hugging Alli, and she is back with them. The entire party is surrounding the two heiresses and keeping an eye out. But most of everyone’s attention is on the sky.

  In the sky over the coast, it appears like the world is ending. Half the sky is lit up like an ocean of blood, and the rest is a rainbow of ever-changing light. “My dad does that when he is pushed to his limit.” Hinata says to the group. “He normally just creates a dark effect. But for enemies that are unaffected he creates a massive domain of colors and sounds.”

  “So, he is losing?” Alli asks Hinata, the two girls have yet to separate.

  “No, but they are pushing him enough, where he is going all out now. The rainbow effect uses a lot more mana and concentration.” As Hinata explains to the group about what her dad is doing, he is up in the sky and fighting the vampires.

  Horace is a straight up instinctual bruiser. He doesn't fight intelligently, but he listens to his instincts. To stay in the sky, he must continuously use techniques like Akira. Both are using their magic to conjure platforms. The still unnamed brother is a unique fighter. He is far more intelligent than his brother. He also is able to conjure up a pair of bat like wings.

  The teenagers on the ground all stare in awe as the different attacks collide and create shockwave in the air. The tier 3 auras are so strong that they are creating visible effects. Bursting free from the mix of red and a cacophony of colors a vampire rises in the sky with bat like wings. “Thats the leader.” Hinata says quietly. After she speaks the vampire thrusts both arms forward. They meet in the middle of his chest, and his hands create a diamond shape. The party watches as a red glow starts to appear in the gap between his fingers. Then suddenly the gap turns black, and a wave of bats appears.

  The bats screeching creates a multiplicative effect, each one amplifying the other as they start to swarm. The sound they are creating almost matches the visible cacophony of Akira’s illusions. From the side of the swirling rainbow another vampire appears. This one didn't leave on his own accord; he was kicked out by Akira. Spitting up blood the vampire makes a barrier behind himself to stop his backward momentum. He crashes through that barrier and is forced to make another one. Once his backward momentum is stopped, he starts to fall, but he makes a platform beneath his feet.

  Looking up he growls, “That hurt.” Then he leaps forward again. Akira drops the illusion field and meets the vampire in physical combat. Akira has drawn his sword and is now wielding a vibrant blue flame. The entire party has complimented Rocco on his great affinity for Foxfire. But seeing Akira wield his own, shows them just how far Rocco has to go.  Swinging out his sword, a wave of fire spread out ahead of it. The flame is so hot and condensed that it creates rippling heat waves in the air and spreads with a burning hiss. The vampire uses his own blood creations to slow the fire. It gives him just enough time to dodge.

  A second later a blast of sound strikes downward from the swarm of bats. They are all circling around the unnamed vampire, and he was gathering the noise that they were creating. Once he had enough, he sent it all straight down in a wave of force.

  The beam of sound isn't seen as a color, but a writhing wave of force. It strikes Akira and he rockets down into the ocean. He hits the water with a splash that sends water spraying in all directions, but the sound that follows him makes his wave look like nothing. The sound hits the water with so much force that an actual tsunami is created in a circle around the blow. The water wave spreads out and picks up speed. It is heading right toward Helo and his party.

  Alli, thinking fast creates a construct dome around her. She augments it with runes for strength and durability. Then Arisah uses her own skills to connect to the trees around her. She strengthens all their roots and uses her ability to control them to have the nearest trees reach out and keep the construct grounded.

  As the wave towers over them it blocks out the sun. It falls with the sound of roaring water, and they no longer can see anything. Thankfully Alli’s construct holds. If only barely, as the wave hit visible cracks were created, but with another surge of mana she was able to repair it.

  Arisah’s own efforts were not in vain. She was able to first strengthen the trees enough so very few were actually torn from the ground. Then she used the extra roots to keep them in place.

  As they wait for the wave to recede something happens that they did not foresee. The power of the wave causes the ground to erode around them. Eventually water starts to flow in from underneath. Normally water wouldn’t fill an air pocket. But it has too much momentum and is forcing all the air out. Eventually it will move them too.

  Cody looks around the group and has a look of apology. Most of the party is wondering why he is looking at them like that. But Helo quickly understands why. The surroundings start to quickly drop in temperature and all the water that was eroding the ground around them and flowing into their bubble, starts to freeze.

  Quickly the temperature in their bubble drops to below freezing, then even further. All around them the water is starting to ice over. Eventually they no longer even need the construct. They are safe within the tower of ice that Cody created.

  Then seconds later the wave recedes back. But now the entire party is trapped within the impromptu igloo. Gabi gives Cody a cold gaze. “Really...” The ice that froze against the barrier created a crystalline pattern and is see through. Even though Hinata’s dryad bloodline is weakest in the cold, she isn't complaining. She is looking toward where her father hit the water.

  Hinata is staring with an unblinking gaze. Her heart is dropping further every second that goes by. “Come-on.” She is muttering repeatedly. It takes about five seconds and in those few seconds that vampires gazes lock onto the ice dome.

  The unnamed vampire is still floating in the sky on his bat wings. He has what seems to be an entire colony of bats still swirling around him. He is gazing down at them with a vicious grin.

  His brother Horace is laughing as he lets himself fall into the water. “Hahaha, looks like we went fishing brother, and we got an entire school of them.” As his feet hit the water the location he is directly standing over starts to turn red. It is one of his most powerful abilities and it is incredibly rare for vampires to have. Turning water into blood.

  Using that newly created blood Horace starts to casually walk toward the party. Everyone lines up in a defensive formation and wait for the man, that they have no way to defeat, to attack them. He continues to laugh as he walks forward, but right before he steps onto the land, the water beneath him surges.

  Akira rises out of the water blade first. Horace’s reactions are too quick for the sneak attack to land cleanly. But somewhere in the surge of water he loses his left arm. Akira lands before the group and looks back at them. He is drenched, and the sound wave looked like it did a number on him. His face is contorted in pain, and he is bleeding from his ears, nose, eyes and mouth. But when he realizes the entire party is still alive, he sighs in relief. Then he looks at them in confusion. “What’s up with the ice?”

  “Nevermind.” He says as he turns back to the fight. Horace is still retreating backward. He stops directly below his brother. Holding his bleeding arm, he looks at Akira with hatred.

  Just before Horace is about to speak Akira winks. As he does, Helo realizes what is happening. It takes Horace another second to realize as well, he only does because his instincts are screaming danger. Akira’s form starts to dissipate from his place in front of the group. He reappears mid-sword swing, he is standing behind Horace and aiming for his neck.

  Horace dodges to the side. The only reason he can is because of his instincts. But a second into his dodge he flinches. Something doesn't feel right. Then he turns his head in shock. The Akira behind him dissipates as well. A third Akira appears in front of him; he is aiming to take a swipe at his center mass. Horace starts to dodge but he is too late. This time he loses his right leg.

  As the sword swings through the air, it is only slightly glowing blue. As the leg is separated from the body the blue glow turns into Foxfire that is on Horace's wound. The thing about Foxfire is that it only burns if the wielder has the skill and wants it to. But Akira doesn't want to cauterize the wound. He just wants it to hurt.

  “Gahhh what did you do to me.” Horace shouts as he jumps back. This time he is saved by his brother who uses his bats to create a veil around him.

  “Just a little bit of Foxfire. Nothing much.” Akira smirks as his form fades away. “It’s only spiritual damage.” He says nonchalantly as he fades away.

  “Spiritual damage my ass. My leg!” Horace yells in anger. “How did he trick me.”

  Akira then appears in front of Horace. Not trusting his instincts, he only dodges enough to avoid a killing blow. But Akira’s sword strikes true and cuts into his side. IT passes through his ribs and out his back. Then as Horace flinches away the blade is pulled from his side. Further opening the wound.

  “How?” He mutters as he stands there in shock. Above his brother is diving down to try and save him.

  Akira lunges forward and the two exchange a series of blows. Jumping back Akira says. “It is simple. You rely on your instincts, and they tend have this weird focus of reacting the most to killing blows. I have my own set of instincts that I fight with. My best friend is the BrightMoon clan leader. I have had a lot of practice at tricking instincts.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “But... blood. I can see through your illusions.” Horace says. At this point he is partly trying to buy time, but most of him just wants to understand.

  “I had a plan for that also.” Then Akira lets the illusion around his body drop. Hinata who is watching the fight with rapped attention gasps. Akira is covered in wounds. The sound blast did a lot more damage to him than they assumed. He is dripping blood all over the floor. “I never canceled my area illusion.” He says with a bloody smirk. Everyone assumed he stopped creating a field of darkness or rainbow light. But as that illusion drops also, they can see that the water around Horace is covered in blood.

  It is this moment that Horace realized that something else was wrong. Blinking his gaze clears up. “You put an illusion on me?” He says with horror. “You lulled me into complacency. I was using just enough of my instincts and blood sense to not notice. You were dampening everything but the important stuff.”

  Akira smiles. “And sometimes, the important stuff truly isn't so important.” At that second the unnamed vampire flies through Akira and into the water. Instead of getting hit and tackled, Akira and the vampires brother dissipate. They appear ten feet to the left, but the brother has a sword through his chest. Horace slips off Akira’s blade and limply falls into the water.

  With a powerful flap the vampire launches himself from the water and hovers above it. Looking at Akira with hatred he growls out. “You had us played.”

  Akira gives a one-armed shrug. “Not really... I just know how to confuse people’s instincts. Use an illusion and aim for a vital location with a dangerous enough attack and you can convince them it is real. Especially if all their other senses are confirming what their instincts say.” With those words a second Akira appears behind the man and strikes for his neck. Screeching fills the air, and a group of bats appear to intercept the blow. “Then truly strike at a non-vital area, like… a leg.”

  “I have it figured out.” the vampire smiles.

  “Do you. Vlad. Do you prefer Dracula.” Akira smiles back. Then a third Akira appears, this one only aims to nick Vlad’s neck. “If you don’t aim to kill, it is much harder for your instincts to find them. People who don't have a type of bestial instincts tend to call the feeling a ‘Danger Sense’.”

  Hearing the names that he hates, and getting cut on his neck cause him to hiss in anger. But Akira doesn’t react. “I always expected you to be stronger. My father talked about how powerful you were before he died. He said it took over ten men to put you down. But here you are.” Akira looks at him curiously. “There was on man that kept saying they never actually saw you die.”

  Sneering at Akira, Vlad growls out. “They thought they killed me. It is hard to kill someone who can separate their body into multiple wholes.” At this Vlad's body falls apart. He turns into a swarm of bats and flies upward. Reforming into the air he shouts. “I left just enough body parts behind that the assumed I was dead. It took me years to reform myself, bat by bat. But here I am.”

  Akira just looks at him and shakes his head. “Nah...”

  “Huh?” Vlad calls down.

  “Did you inherit his class? Maybe he is still alive. But he is still reforming. What did you say? Bat by bat.” A look of shock and fear goes through the vampire's eyes.

  Realizing that he reacted he just looks down, “How?”

  “I grew up on stories about Vlad the Impaler. He wouldn't be so upset about someone's death, even a brother.” Akira meets not-Vlad's eyes. “I can see it in your eyes. The rage you're trying to hide.” Akira smiles. “But thank you for the information.”

  Roaring in anger not-Vlad spreads his arms wide and starts speaking in another language. “Ti Convoco Demoniues !” As he continues to chant portals open all around him.

  Akira disappears from the ground and reappears in the air near not-Vlad. Slashing out with his sword blue fire erupts around Vlad but a red barrier appears to stop the blow. Looking at the barrier for a second Akira shakes his head. “Tch.” Dropping down he hits the water and runs to the party in two quick strides. “This is a demon summoning ritual. I really believe he is Vlad’s inheritor now. Having a similar bat and sound class is one thing. It is rare but other vampires have it. But having a demon summoning class is the nail in the coffin.”

  Alli smirks at the quick pun but she looks up toward the portal that is growing behind not-Vlad. “Why aren't you attacking him?”

  “Dracula had an artifact. It was one of the most powerful on earth. It would be rare even in the multiverse. When you open a summoning circle, you are accessing a lot of energy from somewhere else. The artifact supposedly forms an almost impenetrable barrier created from that other dimensional energy. He must have gotten it from his body or been given it as an heirloom. There were a lot of reports on the artifact from my father. But it was never found.” Akira looks up at the red circle and pulls out his tablet. Sending out a quick message to his wife he tells her the situation. He trusts her to find a good response.

  “It looks like we will have to fight.” Alli says while looking over everything. Hinata is focused on the wounds covering her father. She knows that tier 3 people are far more resilient. But they are not invincible.

  “Are you going to be okay?” Hinata asks while pushing Aiko forward. She starts casting her healing spells on him. It isn't doing much. The amount of energy in the body of a tier 3 is exponentially larger than what a tier 1 can produce. But Akira is able to control the flow and send it to the worst of his injuries.

  Rolling his shoulders he nods his head. “Oh, by the way. He might be protected but whatever comes through that portal won't be.”

  With that knowledge the team starts to prepare. Rurgrim uses his rudimentary earth magic to create a bunker with a high wall. As soon as it is created Cody starts to generate cold energy. The rest of the party gets set to fight whatever comes through.

  It doesn't take long before misshapen forms start to appear in the red of the portal. Then they start to tumble out. All the forms hit the water with a splash and then vanish into the water. “Ahhh... Is that supposed to happen?” Arisah asks. “Like maybe he has a plan?”

  “AHahahah. Oh my. The poor lad.” Akira starts laughing. “He is trying so hard to be dramatic and mimic Dracula. Hahaha.”

  Everyone watches Akira laugh and then they start to chuckle. The guy wanted to look so cool flying into the air and summoning monsters, that he didn't consider that his monsters couldn't fly or swim.

  “So, what now Father?” Hinata is curious. From her perspective the man looks embarrassed and angry. But he isn't stopping.

  “Oh. Yeah. There will still be a fight, the summons are not gone. I got an ‘identify’ off on the first few. They are called ‘Demonic Thralls’.” Akira says to the group. He is going to explain what those are to everyone but Helo cuts in.

  “Are they wearing uniforms?” Everyone stops and looks at him. He just cut off the clan head. But Akira takes what he said seriously. Looking closely a spark of realizations is in his eyes.

  “I know who he is.” Akira nods, “Good find.” Pulling out his tablet he starts to look up someone. “World War 2 was a horrible time. Most of us clans tried to stay out of the fighting. But if another awoken got involved on the other side we would send someone in response. There was a man.” Scrolling through his tablet he finds what he is looking for. “Adrian Albu. He was a tier 2 vampire. He was supposed to have died in his home country. He must have found something and faked his death. He was known for making thralls out of anyone he could get his hands on. Now with his secondary turning into a demonic summoning class things must have changed a bit.”

  It doesn't take long before the party understands why Akira said there will still be a fight. Emaciated and misshapen hands start to appear over the edge of the water. Each hand is tipped with horrific black claws. As the monsters pull themselves from the water each one has black eyes that are backlit with a red glow. ‘Detect Weakness’.

  Helo flinches from using the skill, but it uses so little energy that he still can use it.

  Demonic Thrall.

  Weakness: Int, Dex.

  Telling the party what his skill says, he also mentions that there is a red glow in the diaphragm of the thralls.

  Akira smiles and Helo. “Good, whatever skill that is, it is good for detecting that. The process of creating a thrall corrupts the individual's core.” Akira steps up to the most powerful of the thralls. Which is at peak tier 2 and cuts it with his blade. His sword strike doesn't actually do much. But the blue flame that stays behind does. It burns into the monster's diaphragm and then the red glow in their eyes goes out.

  “There is a spiritual connection between a vampire and their thrall. When a thrall is completely taken over like these. With no hint of personal consciousness, you can sever the connection to the creator, and they will drop.” Akira steps back to the group and looks over the small army. There are around a hundred that are clawing their way onto the land and Adrian is still summoning more. “They are weaker than expected. But there really haven’t been any major wars since World War 2. That is where an army like this would level up.”

  With those final words everyone gets to work. Everyone that is, but Helo. He is standing near the back with Cody and watching everybody else fight. Akira continues to channel Foxfire and whenever a monster appears that is too powerful, he finishes them off in one swing. But for the most part he is conserving his energy to fight Adrian soon.

  The party is in their usual positions with Hinata front and center. Alli is behind her, and they are flanked by the defenders. Behind them is the rest of the party. Everyone has been working hard, and they work together like a well-oiled machine.

  Right now, the majority of the thralls are peak tier 1 or low tier 2. But some that are far more powerful do come out. Those are taken care of by Akira. With the party fighting a majority of tier 1 monsters they are well equipped to handle themselves. Any time there is a stronger monster they work together to take them down.

  Carl and Rurgrim are taking point in dealing with the more powerful variants. Using Carl’s unmatched defensive abilities and Rurgrims own earthen abilities, they are able to keep the more powerful ones at bay. Then Rocco works to sever their connection to Adrian.

  Jumping off Carl’s shield Rocco clears the earth wall made by Rugrim. Landing in a roll, as he gets up he swings his sword. Severing the connection of a tier 2 monster to a tier 3 summoner is much more difficult than Akira made it look. But using a large amount of mana and his own skill with the his blue flaming sword he is able to make it work. His sword cleaves through the stomach of the thrall, leaving a gaping wound.

  Most monsters would have been injured, but the thrall doesn't even seem to notice. It swipes down at him in a wild but deadly blow. Anticipating the attack, he is already rolling backward. Then, Carl is there. He also anticipated the blow, but being the stalwart defender he is, he interposed himself between Rocco and the monster.

  As the blow crashes into Carl’s shield, he staggers a step back from the surprising strength behind the blow. Before a second blow can follow, Rocco is already thrusting forward. Using as much mana as he can channel, he stabs his sword forward into the already open wound. Then he floods it with Foxfire.

  Rocco’s own connection to the spiritual stems from his enhanced hearing. He grew up with vulpine features; he was expected to have a great sense of hearing. But it was discovered that his hearing is only a little above a human. That brought a lot of shame to himself and his family. Alot of the other people where he grew up talked behind his back.

  Everything changed when they learned he could actually hear spirits. Then he was the unique individual. The talking continued but the tone changed. It went from his weakness to how he was different. Then they learned his affinity for Foxfire was only below Akira himself. Suddenly all those people that talked behind his back wanted to get to know him. Friends, he that stopped talking to him, started again. Parents that stopped their kids from playing with him suddenly wanted to introduce him to their daughters.

  It was all so overwhelming for him, but then Akira showed up at his door and offered to train him. Now learning that he was the only person able to combat the threat to his mistress makes his chest fill with a sense of pride. Then there is the fact that the man that trained him is watching. It makes him want to perform to his best. It burns deep in his body and enhances his own attacks. His fire burns hotter and with a fiercer blue.

  Pushing even more fire into the core of the thrall, Rocco doesn't move. He is aware that another attack is raining down on him. Two things flash through his mind. One, he trusts his team. Two, if he dies protecting Hinata, and he guesses Alli. Then he died a good death.

  The blow is stopped by a mix of a metal shield and a wall of earth. Then in that moment Rocco can hear as the spirit within the thrall screams. A moment later he can hear as something rushes away with the wind. At the same time the thrall collapses to the ground, like a marionette with its strings cut.

  Standing up from his lunged position Rocco smiles at his two friends. Walking past he claps them both on the shoulder. “Great work. I knew you had my back.”

  The shorter man, a dwarf, scoffs, “HA, you just made us do all the work.”

  Carl has a much different answer, “It is always a pleasure to work together to ease the burden of the mistresses.”

  Rocco looks between the two very different men, but still, both are great friends. “I think you both a right.” He says with a smirk, then he runs back into the line.

  When he gets back Akira appears beside him. “You learned something.”

  Carl and Rurgrim are surprised by Akira’s appearance and words. But Rocco is used to it. All he does is nod his head. He isn't exactly sure what he learned. But he felt his flames burn hot.

  Akira grabs him on the shoulder and turns Rocco to face him. “I call it purpose. An emotional alignment within yourself. Makes your spirit burn brighter. Thus, it makes your flames hotter.” Nodding his head Akira vanishes in a flash. Near the water's edge another thrall loses its head.

  “Is he always so damn cryptic?” Rurgrim asks.

  This just makes the rest laugh. “Yeah. Yeah, he is.” Hinata answers from her spot at the front of the group with a shake of her head.