In a world of magic and monsters, Marvin would have thought that the way to his showdown against an evil creature that was probably older than his entire bloodline would be magical as well. Perhaps they would go through the Caelum Terra, or another similar thing.

And yet he found himself sitting in the backseat of Eobard Kon’s car in the middle of what had to be one of the warmest days in his memory. To make matters worse, James Mallory was occupying the passenger seat drinking God-knows-what from a flask.

And the thing that pushed over the edge was the fact that he was talking with his grandma on the phone, because she had called him then of all moments. All in all, it was a pretty fun day.

“Yes grandma, I’ve gone to see Annie.” said Marvin to his phone, barely keeping himself from groaning at his discomfort.

“Good. And you haven’t been causing any troubles? And don’t try to lie. I’ve talked with Mr Kon, but I want to hear from you too. And have you been having fun?”

“You think I’d lie to you?” asked Marvin, secretly impressed with his grandmother’s diligence. “But I haven’t caused any trouble, no. And although I’m pretty tired, I can say that this was a worthwhile trip. How have you been?” Granted he spent most of his time dealing with personal issues and secrets, both his own and those of his friends, while also fighting witches and monsters.

“Oh, don’t worry about me. I’ve been keeping busy with housework and hearing the neighbours gossiping about every moving creature.”

Marvin felt a small smile form at his lips. He knew for a fact that his grandma did her fair bit of gossiping as well, although she tried to keep it as harmless as possible. Amdis’s image popped into his head once more, and that smile faded just as quickly as it was formed.

“Hey, grandma. You know I love you right?” said Marvin, digging his fingernails through his palms.

He’d certainly been a handful when growing up, he wouldn’t deny that. He was mostly alone after all, and not exactly the most fun to be around. Especially after he lost his parents he…

In spite of all of that, he never stopped loving her. And she supported him through everything, even when she was in just as much pain or even more. And he rewarded her by keeping what quickly became the biggest part of his life a secret from her.

God he was a mess of a human.

“Of course my boy. And I love you more than you can imagine. Well, I think this is a good note to leave this conversation on, don’t you?”

“Yeah. Goodbye grandma.” he responded, hanging up his phone.

“Give it to me. Your phone.” said James Mallory. “I think the glove compartment is a safer place for a phone than the battlefield. Besides, we have strategies to discuss.”

With a sigh, Marvin handed the commander his phone, waiting anxiously for him, or Eobard, to begin the conversation of ‘strategies’.

“It may be daytime, but inside the boundary Amdis set up, it is most likely that it won’t matter. While your reports have made it clear that he wants to fail, we mustn’t rule out any possibilities. So while you are in there, it is not your job to beat him. It is not your job to weaken him. Your job is to survive. Understand that?” asked Eobard and, much like the circle of trust meeting, he was surprised at his harsh tone.

The ‘military commander’ version of Eobard he found to somehow be at odds with his regular personality, while also fitting in perfectly.

“Whilst I think Eobard’s words are harder than needed, he does have a point. My granddaughter’s life is at stake. You will not waste it with recklessness.” said the commander as he took another sip from his drink. “You will do your part and Ava will be rescued today. To celebrate that I shall have a party to celebrate that rescue in one year’s time. If all goes well you, Marvin, will be the guest of honor.”

The guest of honor. If he were to include this one, he had met James Mallory, supposedly one of the most important people in the IDA. And he certainly seemed to carry that with him everywhere he went. His every suggestion, or sentence felt to Marvin like an order.

He had spent far too long surrounded by arrogant pricks that expected everyone to follow their instructions and James Mallory seemed to be no different. Then again, he was the man who orchestrated everything that led to his parents’ deaths so Marvin was more than a little biased. The one positive he could attribute to the man was that he genuinely seemed to care about his family, even though that did appear to be the extent of his empathy.

“I certainly hope it all goes well sir.” responded Marvin, feeling both anxious and angry when around the man.

“Good. And that was a good conversation you had with your grandmother. Family is the basis of life.” The commander took another sip from his drink. “I will be frank with you young man. Your chances of surviving this are slim. Be at peace with that fact. Not only will you be essential in saving Ava, but also in striking a blow to our enemies. To capture a vampire is a rare occurrence and-”

“Enough.” said Eobard, suddenly stopping the car. “You don’t get to talk like that. This isn’t a suicide mission. And this isn’t a soldier you’re talking to. As for you-” he turned to Marvin, “-I’ve never given you an order as a soldier. Here is the first and last one I’ll give. Live!”

Those were the words he’d spoken a few days back when they first returned to the relative safety of the school trip. Eobard, Kara, Marly, Adam and everyone else.

He didn’t deserve them and even then they’d placed their hopes on him.

“I will.” he said with as much conviction as he could muster. He’d already decided that he’d try to become the person they thought he was. He’d help save Ava, he’d do everything he could. And then more.

“Ava is my primary concern. Saving her, and hurting the bastard that took her from me. Taking down one of the vampires is merely an added bonus for me, although it is a very lucrative one. As long as that is done I will be more than satisfied. Drive Eobard, we still have nearly an hour’s worth of road ahead of us.”

After a moment of silence following James Mallory’s words that felt like it lasted forever, the car’s engine was brought to life once more, and the trio’s journey continued in silence.

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Eventually, they reached the Blood Mountain and, although Marvin had only been there when he was a very small child, he still had faint memories of having fun there with his parents.

Fate was fun like that.

As they hiked through the forest with no equipment he felt himself worried, but they eventually reached a place where dozens of soldiers were aiming their guns forward.

“What-What is this?”

“The end of our road.” said Eobard as he squeezed Marvin’s shoulder in what the boy thought was supposed to be a reassuring gesture.

He felt it clear enough that it wasn’t. Granted they weren’t that high up and there wasn’t anything particularly special about that area-most likely an attempt by either Amdis or any one of his bosses to be cheeky, in spite of the fact that he never thought he’d describe ages old monsters as cheeky of all things.

“Here my boy. Use this wisely.” James Mallory handed Marvin a sheathed knife. “A knife is a weapon both simple yet deadly. Use it to carve the symbol for your spell and, if you cannot avoid confrontation, try your best to get that beast with this sword at least once.”

As Marvin clipped the sheathed knife onto his belt, Eobard actually bent down and hugged Marvin. The dark haired teen reciprocated the hug of his principal. The man who saved his life and gave him a leg to walk on.

He never thought about it but, in a lot of respects, Eobard Kon was the reason Marvin stood there. He mumbled a quick ‘thank you’ in the man’s shoulder, before hurriedly leaving off towards the direction the soldiers’ guns were facing.

After a few minutes, and a long way away from his allies, he felt a cold tingle go down his spine and everything suddenly became darker, as if he was looking through tinted windows. So this was how Amdis intended to fight in the daytime. Still, Marvin could see clearly enough with his glasses. He was pretty sure the trees and foliage would provide him with enough cover as to not be seen by Amdis.

Looking back he realised he could no longer see Eobard, James Mallory or any of the soldiers. As quickly as he could, Marvin took out the ‘Mallory heirloom’ and began carving the circle for Kara’s spell.

It was a simple design for a rather complicated spell. Granted the actual spell could have taken up an entire room’s worth of space, but that was unimportant. All he needed to do was draw the circle.

Theoretically, after he was done with that, he could just head back to Eobard and he’d be safe. Sure James Mallory was there but, while criminally negligent of others, as far as Marvin knew the man was as much of an ally as he could. Maybe everyone had just overreacted to the situation and everything would be fine.

Just as he sheathed his knife once more, he felt another tingling sensation on the back of his neck as a giant beam of light rose to the sky. Along with it went any hopes Marvin had of this going smoothly. He just had to tempt fate, didn’t he? He was lucky enough to be wearing his watch.

Three minutes.

Definitely less time than it took him to get there. So running away was not an option. Amdis would be hot on his tail. So he breathed. Magic had a lot to do with both his physical and mental state.

He felt the universe around him. The imperfections in its structure. A warmth engulfed his left leg. His best bet was to focus on his weapons and that damned Multi spell. Not only was he able to summon them with ease, it was also the only way he had to completely avoid causing massive destruction in the forest. He looked at his watch again.

At Two and a half minutes, a rustling sound came from ahead. He had to time this perfectly if he were to survive.

“Aspis tou Aiax.” A golden glow engulfed his prosthetic leg, and the image of Amdis rushing at him briefly graced his vision before the seven layered shield was formed.

A loud thud was heard as what Marvin could only assume was Amdis’s fist came into contact with his shield, pushing him back to a tree trunk.

“Come on Marvin, this-this is our grand confrontation! I’ve been waiting for days. Put your back into it!” said Amdis in a gleeful manner, repeatedly punching Marvin’s shield. The only thing that had broken through it was Kara’s magically enhanced sword, but it looked like that was going to change soon as the shield cracked more and more under Amdis’s assault.

He still had the knife however. If he got the chance he could use it to draw Gleipnir. Although he had more pressing matters to worry about at that moment, he was determined to defeat Amdis that day. As for how he was going to do that when he was so terrified his grand plan had amounted to ‘hope my shield works’.

As Amdis’s hand broke through the shield the tall vampire grabbed Marvin by the shirt, bringing them face to face with each other.

“You see Marvin, we’re not alone. You have your reinforcements and, unfortunately, I have mine. Hey, at least they won’t interfere.” said Amdis, not giving Marvin a chance to respond as he hurled him from where he came.

As Marvin tumbled and flailed in the air, somehow managing to not injure himself as far as he could tell, he roughly landed in a clearing in the forest. One that would have been showered in sunlight if not for the skies that were tinted.

As he looked up he found himselftaring at a white haired female vampire dressed in a black shirt and trousers that was looking down on him. The sheer disgust in her crimson eyes made him feel almost as terrified of the earned arrogance in Amdis’s eyes.

Next to her was a growling Vaewolf eerily similar to the one that introduced him to this world, holding an unconscious blonde haired woman. That-that was-after two months.

Ava Mallory.

Two minutes.

They were so close.

He took out the knife once again, carvin out the spell of Gleipnir in the lush green grass. At least that was what he was doing with his right hand. He had his left one on the enchanted lighter in his pocket, making sure he was able to use it if the need arose.

“Toxon tou Apollona.”

He reached out his hand, the golden glow returning to his right leg once again. Dark images threatened to appear in his mind, but he kept them pushed down as much as he could.

His eyes met those of the unknown vampire and he dared to turn his back to her as once again a rustling sound came from the forest. If Amdis was to be trusted they wouldn’t intervene, but he had had more than his fair share of doubts about the vampire’s credibility. As if on cue, Amdis’s form appeared through the woods, running towards Marvin at unnatural speeds.

“Gleipnir!” said Marvin as loudly as possible, an array of painful memories pushing through his brain and pain through his scars. Four chains appeared around Amdis, trapping him in place as Marvin shot at him in the head.

One minute.

Marvin felt himself fall to his knees as he used up the last of his energy in that shot. He'd trained sure, but using so many spells, and such a situation. Behind him were two beings that would likely kill him, although he hoped their inaction continued for the remainder of his time trapped there alone.

Ten seconds.

A cruel and yet hearty laugh broke him out of his thoughts.“This-this was great! A lesser being would be down by now. Unfortunately for you, while I do desire defeat, I’m not going down so easily. You are not ready yet however.”

Marvin’s tired eyes widened at the man. All of that was-was for nothing?

“Brace yourself and prepare to meet your parents once more.” He broke out of the Gleipnir bonds as if they were made from paper.

A moment of silence passed as he removed the arrow from his head, the wound behind it closing in a couple of seconds, he once again rushed to Marvin.

Amdis’s speed seemed to be double what it was before as he almost instantaneously closed the gap between the two of them. When Marvin got to this place, he thought himself prepared for any pain he might have to go through. He thought he’d be able to handle this in some capacity.

How wrong he was.

As the vampire’s hand neared his throat, he found himself thinking about the past and the future. About his friends-even if they didn’t consider him as such. He couldn’t die now.

He didn’t want to die.

He found himself wishing for a miracle. This was a world of magic and mythical creatures. There should have been something, anything that could save him.

A flash of blinding light was his answer. Like in the sparring matches and the battles he’d experienced, the deciding moment, the one it all came down to, lasted only the smallest fraction of a second.

Suddenly when he could, at one moment, feel his opponent's hand at his throat, he suddenly found himself surrounded by CB, Adam as well as Kara and Marly in front of him.

How was Marly there?

“Don’t worry Marvin, the cavalry has arrived!” declared his teacher without looking back at him.

It should have been reassuring. He was saved, that’s what their very presence screamed at him.

So why was he so terrified?