Smoke billows from the Storehouse. Fire consumes the gangster’s goods. Bodies incinerated. Drac watches it all from on top of a building. Legs crossed, he meditates. He has never been this far away from his copies before. It has required its full attention to steer the two at the same time.
The storehouse was destroyed and the captives were saved. Now for the last part of the plan.
“You think Banner will still go to Paradice to hide.”
I am very sure of it. As ostentatious as it looks, it is very fortified. And Maki profiled him as a very cowardly man. He hides in the place he feels the safest. He created a place like this for a situation like us. Wait… there! Look at the carriage. The one with reinforced glass. It's the target.
A man with a prominent eyebrow ridge and blonde hair walks out of his carriage, closely followed by sycophants. Dress like an Aristocrat, Banner’s slim lips quake with fear as he argues with them. A procession of carriages stops by Paradice,
“Alright. I’ll summon back my copies.”
A burden lifts off Drac’s soul. He stretched back and jumped up from the sitting position to his boots. Mask and hood up. He split in three. They run together, leaping buildings like young deer. One stays level with the roof, and another drops down to the balcony and stalks the middle floors. The last drops to the street. And assault from the top, middle and bottom. Drac approaches the Casino, its lamps shine on the star. The Bones discover him. They shout and screech one word. Hood.
Drac takes out his sword and it gleams in the warm light of the street lamps. Drac swings it around with the wrist, to his back, side to side. He levels Heilong at Paradice. Windows open Archers come out. Their Bows notched. They pull and aim. One gangster’s head is forced backwards. Another head flies back. The Archers look toward the enemy that snipes them from afar. A Drac kneels on a rooftop releasing arrow after arrow. His aim is true. His arrow is full of aura strength.
The Drac on the ground slowly walks forward cutting the occasional arrow. A copy stalks the shadows. He sneaks on a balcony of the middle floor, stabbing unaware Bones with a small dagger. He sneaks inside the Casino assassinating more of the gangsters. Dozens of Bodies lay in his wake. Drac walks on the ground floor ever so slowly. Three Aura users finally came out. They flare the aura. Attacking in Frenzy. Their haphazard strikes look like bravery but their eyes speak of fear.
Weak. Who trained these people?
We already killed their teachers a day ago.
An amputated hand and neck, a thrust to the stomach and an overhead chop to the head. The three fall in seconds. Drac walks by.
The middle floor is clear. The top floor is cleared.
Drac dematerialised his copies. He pushes off the ground into a full sprint. He runs inside the casino, past the card tables and the roulettes.
He wasn't up top or in the middle floor.
Not here either.
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Drac uses the Aura senses.
A door over there, in the kitchen.
Drac wastes no time on his way there. Cooks squatted down behind stoves. Chef hats shake with nervousness. “Don't try anything and I won't do anything. You hear?” They nod, bopping the hats around. Drac looks around the kitchen. A mark on the floor. From a shelf being pushed.
Drac says to the cooks “He's in there, isn't he”
They nod their head rapidly.
Drac turns back to the shelf. With Aura, he pushes the shelf with a single push. The cooks squeal. A Door is revealed and broken by Drac’s feet. He enters a Dark storeroom.
Always found those hats funny.
Fire on his finger, Drac searches the storeroom. A sword targets his head. He evades back. Thrust forces him further back. Drac can sense it. The strength that breaks stone with ease, the speed that turns a weapon invisible. This Banner is different from the rest but the same. The same as Cal. Drac is back in the kitchen. Cooks run away as their cooking equipment is destroyed.
Let's guide him outside.
Easier said than done.
Moving backward the mad banner smashes his sword at Drac. His eyes are red with fury.
"You have destroyed everything I have built!! After I am done with you, I will destroy everything you hold! Imagine a headless Maki, paraded in the streets!! HAHAHA!"
Drac’s body hesitates a second, much to Drac’s shock. Banner cuts into his right shoulder. Before the weapon goes any deeper, Drac uses Heilong to block its way down. Using a larger amount of aura he blows the sword off his shoulder. The pain is unbearable. But he has to move.
Sorry…
Concentrate! We die here, THEY die. Gove, Marina and MAKI. Pull yourself together!!
Drac manages to get outside. His bleeds on the stone. His breaths are haggard. Legs losing strength.
“It's now or never.”
"Are you giving up? Hood. Please don’t. I would very much like my sword to taste your blood again!” Banner Soul blazes. His Aura envelopes him like a Flame.
Drac breathes in till he can no more. And exhales through his mouth.
I will help with the pain. Drac… Do your best. For Them.
Drac smiles.
“Have you gone crazy, madman?! Accepted death?! WELL THEN, DIE BY MY SWORD, COMMONER!!!” Banner breaks the street as he leaps up toward the man in black. His sword is covered in a bright flowing light, headed for Drac’s head.
Drac creates a copy to his right. A thrust into the side of Banner's stomach and both crash to the side. Banner grows angrier exponentially. He charges again. Another Drac attacks from the left. Banner blocks a torrent of attack by both copies. They attack where he is open and trick him into opening up. Taking turns slicing into the Bone Leader like no teammate’s can. Although the copies give him trouble, their speed and strength of Aura are divided among the three. Banner is barely slowed by the jab to the body.
Drac dematerialised his copies and made his stand against the furious Gang leader. With their right arm weak, he holds his sword with his left.
“Don’t use strange magic and fight like a man, COWARD!!”
“I don't need to be lectured by a kidnapper.”
Banner grew more furious. A last charge explodes the stone. Drac blocks it head-on.
“Die bastard!!” Banners spit his insults at Drac while their swords are locked into each other.
It's Now.
Drac unleashes his Aura. Banner looks at the giant flame around Drac with bewilderment. With all of Drac’s strength, he pushed Banner's sword to the ground. Sliding Heilong up Banner's blade to cut fingers, wrists then an arm. Banner's screams echo in the street. Drac stabs Banner's knee and cuts the other wrist. Banner wiggles on the floor. Tears fell from his frightened face. Drac grabs his hair and points a dagger to Banner's neck.
“The worst has yet to come.”