Arthur walked behind the young vampire through the overgrown plants and trees, like he recalled she was dressed in that crimson red cloak and kept her face hidden with her hood. When they reached the illusionary tree line the vampire turned to speak with him. “Lord Darius has placed an illusion here that helps prevent anyone from snooping around, so don’t worry when I disappear.” With the quick explanation the vampire stepped through the illusion and it shimmed before quickly returning to normal, after a moment Arthur followed.

Once on the other side of the illusion he looked back and saw the image was exactly the same as it was on the other side, only this time it was mirrored. “Is your master a skilled illusionist? This is a rather impressive illusion after all.”

Looking to the young vampire he noticed she stopped in her tracks and slowly turned back around to look at the young mage, he could see she was both surprised and a little tense from the question as she likely didn’t have an answer.

“When you meet Lord Darius he can tell you himself.” The vampire answered and began walking back towards the mansion at the end of the path they were walking. Arthur didn’t say anything and just followed the vampire knowing he had his answer.

Reaching the front door of the mansion Arthur saw its old and worn walls, the cult that had taken refuge here clearly hadn't been taking good care of it. The young vampire reached into her bag and brought out an old iron key which she then used to unlock and open the front door, she ushered Arthur inside after her and then locked it behind them.

The inside of the mansion unlike the outside, was far better taken care of, the paint on the walls looked almost new in the dim candle light that lined the walls. A few cultists in their red robes were walking in the distance towards the large ballroom where Darius had brought him the last time, the vampire led him in the same direction.

Within a minute Arthur was standing in the old ballroom, looking up he could see the old chandeliers covered with spider webs. Along the sides were the cultists each holding a candle in an eerie fashion, and at the very end of the room sitting on a throne was the familiar face of Lord Darius.

Darius smiled as he saw Arthur enter the room, he had acquired the young images file and saw it was rather impressive for someone with no backing. Mastering all four evocations to the apprentice level and then diversifying himself further with alchemy and enchanting, he was certainly an excellent catch that Darius very much wanted.

“Welcome Arthur, welcome to my home. I am happy that you accepted the invitation, please take a look around and tell me what you think about the place.” Darius said in a generous tone, he wanted Arthur to feel like he had a choice in the matter when in actuality Darius had no intention of allowing Arthur to leave without joining him.

Listening to Darius Arthur looking around the room which was almost entirely empty of furniture, the only nice thing to look at was the windows which were made from stained glass depicting various phases of the sun and moon throughout the day and night. It was a unique design choice, but it was likely that Darius wasn’t the one who made it.

“It is certainly an interesting place you found yourself, the illusion was also a nice touch to keep those who like to snoop out of the way.” Arthur commented as he looked Darius down.

Darius, a little surprised by the young mages' behavior, shifted in his throne. “Yes, illusion magic is such a wonderful skill to have. You can make all the annoying people in your life stay far far away while you keep your eyes trained right on them. Now what did you think of my offer? I think joining us would be a good decision for both of us, your talent would blossom even further and we will benefit from having someone as skilled as you on our side. What do you say Arthur, will you join us?”

The two surviving vampires that served Darius stepped forwards in front of Arthur’s view in a sort of demonstration of their unity. Arthur smiled and reached for his sword before giving his answer. “No, I don’t think I will. I have done my fair share of reading and I have found vampirism to be a rather poor way of achieving my goals. Since the three of you and all your cultists are in my way I will have to assume you will not allow me to leave without a fight.”

Arthur stood with his sword in his right hand while his left was ready to cast a spell of his choosing, he stood defiantly angering Darius in a way he had never experienced. Darius snarled like a beast at the display and stood from his throne as he pointed towards the young mage. “Break his arms and legs, then bring him to me!”

At their master’s command the two young vampires stepped forwards to follow their orders. The female vampire stood several steps behind the larger male vampire as she started casting a simple tier one spell. In response Arthur raised his left and and with a small gesture conjured up three fire bolts and fired them towards the male vampire. The male vampire being far more dexterous than his ally rolled out of the way, she however wasn’t so lucky. She was struck in the right hand, left shoulder, and the chest falling to the ground from the pain. She tried to remove the bolts with her hands but only further hurt herself.

“How dare you! You are going to serve Lord Darius like us whether you like it or not!” The male vampire shouted at Arthur as he raised his two handed axe and gave an overhead swing at Arthur. Arthur raised his own sword and blocked the strike with the lower half of his sword to maintain his strength. The vampire, not one to back down, pushed down and forwards with his axe trying to force Arthur into an unbeatable situation, Arthur on the other hand had a few tricks up his sleeves.

Taking just one second to do so Arthur removed his left hand from the sword's handle and with a quick flick of his hand he conjured up three more fire bolts point blank towards the vampire's chest. Unlike his two fellow vampires this one was wearing actual metal armor to protect himself, specifically chainmail that was covered with the red cloak they all wore. But it wasn’t enough to block the bolt entirely, it stopped most of the impact but not the heat itself.

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The vampire cried out and back away from Arthur the moment he felt his flesh cooking while still alive. He reached down, dropping his own axe in the process, to try and remove the bolts like his ally only to fail the same way. Arthur, not wanting either of the vampires he wounded to survive, brought his longsword to his right side with the intent to slash. When he was within range Arthur swung his sword towards the vampire’s neck only going around halfway stopping at the bone. The vampire fell to his knees and could only let out a few gurgles as he tried to ask for mercy. The second strike at the vampire’s neck severed his head completely with both it and the rest of his body falling to the ground.

Arthur stepped over his corpse to the female vampire that was trying to heal her charred and painful wounds, the fire bolts had disappeared already but the pain they left behind was still very much there along with the wounds they left. The young vampire of course did have the natural ability to heal her wounds at an accelerated rate without any magic, she also knew a little bit about restoration magic. Unfortunately Arthur was standing over her with his sword pointed at her, and with one swift thrust he stabbed her through the chest.

With gasp cut short from the punctured lung she suffered she fell to the cold floor and her blood started to pool alongside her fellow vampire.

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+ 150 Exp X 2 (300)

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With somewhat shaky breath Arthur looked up to the somewhat surprised looking self proclaimed vampire lord. Darius wasn’t expecting something quite like that to happen, he knew that Arthur was skilled in terms of magic but this was well out of his expectations.

‘He can instantly cast tier one pyromancy spells, his file from the guild and my other sources never said anything about that. That means he is likely to know how to cast tier three spells as well, looks like he could be far more trouble than he is worth.’

Quickly Darius put on a fake smile, both for Arthur and his followers. “Well look just how powerful you are Arthur. Just imagine how much stronger you would be with my help, we could become gods amongst all these people. I was just a man before I acquired this power, imagine what you would become.” As he spoke Darius could feel his heart beginning to beat far above normal, this was something that hadn’t happened in years since he took refuge in this old abandoned mansion.

Instead of responding to what Darius said to him Arthur instead took a rag from his bag and wiped off the blood that was covering his sword, with a few wipes most of the blood was cleaned off and he turned his attention back towards Darius who was angered by the act of pure disrespect for him and his two dead blood spawns.

Stepping forwards Darius reached his right hand downwards and conjured up a mace from earth, when it was fully formed he jumped off from the small elevated platform his throne rested on and moved towards Arthur with unnatural speed.

Slightly startled by the sudden burst of speed displayed by the vampire, Arthur quickly adopted his best defensive position with both hands on his sword and one leg back with the tip of the blade pointed towards Darius. This position gave him stable footing and a good range of movement to either block or counter anything that Darius would try.

When Darius reached Arthur he quickly raised his conjured mage above his head and swung downwards with all high might. Arthur quickly repositioned his sword to block and deflect the attack off to the side, however Darius turned out to be far stronger than he expected as the bones in his arms felt the impact all the way to his elbow.

Darius followed up with another attack this time from his right towards his left, this time Arthur stepped back and avoided the strike. But Darius used the momentum to make one more strike with minimal wasted energy back across from his left to right. Arthur, who wasn’t expecting the sudden change in direction only barely managed to block the attack with his sword at the cost of absorbing the power behind the blow through his arms yet again.

Taking the first opportunity to take several steps back Arthur’s arms burned with pain from the impact of those attacks, the sheer power that Darius managed to put into them gave him a better perspective as to what the paladin Aulus experienced when he fought and then defeated this very same vampire.

‘Darius is a very strong opponent, likely the strongest I have ever fought against in terms of physical might. However his skill with his weapon is rather lacking in comparison, and even though I am not particularly skilled with my sword, magic is my go to weapon.’ Upon reaching the ten step mark away from the vampire before him Arthur stopped and planted his right foot behind him, and with his shaking hands he raised his sword back up to the very same position that Darius rendered useless.

“You are obviously suffering from terrible eyesight Arthur, otherwise you would see that my gift of blood is the only real choice here. All you need to be blessed just as the three you have bested is to lower your weapon and kneel before me.” Darius said as he looked at Arthur. He could see his hands shaking from absorbing the power of his attacks and now holding the weight of his own sword. Darius had no worries, and when he didn’t receive an answer he decided to give Arthur another example as to why his gift was needed.

Darius dashed towards Arthur with his mace to his side intending to knock the weapon out of his hands and even force him to consume his blood if need be, but as he was doing this something happened that wasn’t within his expectations. Arthur removed one of his hands from his sword and made a small gesture towards the ground in front of him, Darius wasn’t quite sure what it was at first until he was suddenly stopped in his tracks and he could feel something grabbing onto his leg.

At first he tried to continue running and escape from whatever was holding onto him, but it didn’t seem to work. Looking back he saw a tendril of earth sticking out from the ground wrapped around his leg with a solid grip, he brought his hand back with the intent to smash the weak tendril to show Arthur how weak his magic was without the blessing of blood he was offering. Suddenly another bursted up from the ground this time grabbing his other leg and forcing him to keep the rather uncomfortable position he was currently standing in. At first it was no big deal, but then more and more tendrils were conjured up grabbing not just his legs but also his arms and torso. The only place he wasn’t being destined by tendrils was his head which he turned to look at Arthur.

Arthur who he saw wasn’t one to sit on an opportunity as he started to chant and perform hand signs for a powerful spell. Thoughts of worry and fear began running through Darius’s mind, he could barely move any part of himself and now the young mage he was intent on turning was casting a spell that could very likely easily wound him.

Twelve seconds later the spell was finished and a longsword conjured from earth floated above Arthur’s right arm. With only a second after the spell was finished Arthur thrusted his arm forwards and the sword followed plunging into the gut of the restrained vampire.