“I want no part in what is to come,” Amelia announced, though she may as well have been announcing she was weak to everyone present.

Not that it made a difference.

It was much too late to make such a decision.

The most naked drop of sweat would grace the ground from Coventry’s perspiring forehead and everyone would move in unison.

Xavier didn’t know how he knew that – he just knew it… memories banged against the inside of his skull, trying to remind him of something important.

He did not listen… he could not.

Andy and Kaulder knew it too.

Vlad and Caligula were always conscious of it – death was looming.

Marcus could see the changing moments of his death through the lenses of one of his many gifts…

Beyond the guarantee of death, he could also glimpse something else… something strange – he could see the uncertainty.

For the first time in a decade, he could see uncertainty.

Xavier saw the moment realization dawned, not just on Marcus, but on everyone gathered – regardless of their status or skill… this was soon to become a battlefield where any of them could die.

Immortal…

Eternal…

Witch…

It didn’t matter… nobody would be left unscathed.

Sam and Coventry choked on the pressure of a semi-formed thought that their subconscious refused to beam to their conscious mind.

A protective instinct of sorts – they did not want to realize just how much over their heads they were.

Xavier’s fingers curled – it was the only thing he could do to stop the trembling and creaking of joints rubbing together.

The Eternal was scared but The Ikaris within him was tightening for battle, as if a beast about to be released after centuries of indecision.

Xavier had been prepared for the battle… even expected death but what he was currently feeling was something else.

‘Like bringing a gun to a stick fight and suddenly realizing it was best to bring a pillow instead,’ Xavier mused.

His thoughts reflected the battlefield – a place where anything could happen, even though nothing had happened thus far.

Everyone on the battlefield was a monster in their own right.

An Immortal Progenitor Vampire – Vlad III Tepes - capable of controlling the weather, controlling creatures of the night, and transforming himself into a flood of bats.

An Immortal Witch Hunter thrumming with such magical might inside his heart that mystical energies avoided his immediate area – Kaulderam, The Witch Hunter.

An Immortal Vampire born of a Corvinus, A True Immortal, and she capable of growing in strength the older she becomes – Lady Amelia.

An Immortal Progenitor Demon sealed in Broken Tooth Mountain for thousands of years before the world remembered him once more – Caligula, Julius Caesar.

An Immortal Fangless Vampire who had a hand in almost all British historical events and once hunted witches down by the hundreds – Philippe De Clermont.

A Child of The Moon, born from The Quileute Tribe and possessing the mark of an Alpha Dire Wolf– Sam Quileute.

A Warrior Nun possessing a legacy that has been passed from female warrior to female warrior, each time adding to its strength and profoundness – Mother Superion, The Warrior Nun.

A Blood Witch hunted for the unique ability to consume the soul through the consumption of hears, and therefore the power, of all other witches – Marcus Edge.

The youngest in the history of the magic community to make Grand Magus while possessing an understanding of the mystical arts of Arcane – Edward Coventry, The Grand Magus.

An Eternal of the highest caliber who possesses knowledge of just an inkling of what he is capable of, and even then, he still qualifies to stand with Immortals and Warriors – Xavier Ikaris Aionios.

And…

An Immortal beyond all other Immortals gathered… Her very atmosphere told of her age… as if the finest wine had become unfathomable to drink due to its over-aging.

Everyone could tell – Andromache The Scythian was a step above them.

“Who called me here?” Marcus questioned, arrogant as ever even though he had realized death was a possibility.

Death was an old friend, it bored him.

For him… maybe for all of them, death had always been a possibility closer than all other possibilities.

“Not who…” Xavier replied, stretching to show his nonchalance. “More of a… what?” He leadingly suggested.

“A helpful answer,” Lady Amelia rolled her electric blue eyes – still, she remained wary.

The Eternal scanned The Corvinus Vampire from head to toe, calming his nerves as he admired her beauty.

Still, there was something he found innately disgusting about the vampires and witches in the group.

“Perhaps we should question the person who brought me here,” Xavier shrugged, gesturing to Philippe since he knew the vampire knew more than he was telling.

The Eternal had never been a trusting person and if Philippe wanted to get himself killed to keep a few secrets, then Xavier would feel all the better for it.

‘One less unstable variable…’

“What kind of answer would you like?” Philippe inquired, his presence demanding everyone take him seriously.

“Why are we here?” Kaulder questioned when nobody raised a question of their own.

Andy raised a brow – to her, answers came second to slaughtering the most dangerous threat amongst the group… Caligula.

She could tell he was something vile.

“We were summoned,” Philippe revealed, eyes glancing toward Xavier. “I thought The Eternal would have told you already.”

Kaulder and Andy glanced at Xavier.

“Not enough time,” The Eternal shrugged, cursing internally – he had an idea but Philippe wasn’t supposed to know he had an idea.

Still, there was nothing to tell because he didn’t understand what was happening… what he had were vague guesses that were likely incorrect.

But it was better to be seen as being in the know.

At the very least, if the battle didn’t swing in his favor, he would be captured and interrogated instead of killed.

‘I am in a teenager’s body after all… not threatening at all.’

“We have time now…” Lady Amelia voiced.

“No, we don’t…” Sam replied, sniffing the air and scrunching his nose in displeasure.

“No, we… do… not,” Andy repeated Sam’s statement but in a much more subdued, more ghastly tone. “But I don’t understand why?” She was confused, staring at Caligula unrelentingly. “Just that something bad is happening…”

“More like coming,” Marcus held his head and wiped the blood leaking from his nose – he had utilized his future sight.

The backlash was great.

“I feel it too,” Mother Superion spoke and a divine aura briefly clashed against something toxic in the air. “And it’s demonic.”

Nobody could tell the origin of a strange energy that could move between Immortals, Eternals, Shapeshifters, and a Magus undetected.

Still, only one person staggered when the energy was repelled.

“UGH!”

A whisper of pain left Caligula’s lips.

Vlad took the chance to attack.

A flood of bats – faster than such creatures had any business being – twirled and whistled through the air, tearing chunks out of The Progenitor Demon.

Andy was the only one to notice something amiss.

She swung her labrys at the empty air to her right, and a shower of sparks flickered into reality, churning against the void.

Hexenbane followed the Labrys’s deflection as Kaulder dashed forward but the air twisted and Caligula’s presence disappeared as if an illusion.

Andy and Kaulder now stood back to back.

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Vlad’s flood of bats rejoined, realizing that he had been striking at nothing… Caligula was no longer there… if he had ever been there.

Xavier’s eyes scanned the field – he subconsciously floated closer to Sam.

It was a tactical move as much as an emotional one.

The Eternal could feel traces in the air where Caligula had disturbed the gravitons but he could not follow The Progenitor Demon’s movement precisely.

If the entire world was green, Caligula was a paintbrush leaving a slightly darker green in the mix… easy to track given enough time, but Xavier had no such time.

The Eternal was hoping that combining his quick reaction with Sam’s instincts would yield some sort of an advantage.

But, it happened suddenly.

Philippe twitched and tilted his body backward, sinking into the darkness of his shadow.

The next thing Xavier felt was being tugged and spinning in the abyss as a hand clutching his wrist attempted to pull him into the depths.

It didn’t seem hostile.

Then, a powerful sting seemingly wanted to tear through him.

The Eternal’s body glowed with cosmic brilliance and the hand clutching his wrist recoiled.

The abyss was washed away by reality.

The air embraced Xavier.

Immediately, he could tell that he was a couple of feet above his previous location – it was as if he had fallen counter to gravity, through a darkness disdained by reality.

His eyes flickered as the world in his perception slowed.

Directly below, Caligula was in the process of withdrawing his hand from striking the air at The Eternal’s previous location.

The flood of Cosmic Energy augmenting Xavier’s body rushed through his veins, ramming into his Ocular Nerve, and the next second, a Cosmic Beam burst from The Eternal’s eyes.

It was his third time accessing his Cosmic Beam and the strain on his eyes was considerable but not entirely impossible… he was learning and getting the hang of it.

A sizzle.

A sizzle was heard as a foot-deep trench of molten earth followed Xavier’s Cosmic Beam through Caligula’s position.

But there was no Caligula.

Xavier twirled in the air, calling on the gravitons to stabilize him and keep him floating just above the ground… he pulled Sam to his side with a quick burst of levitational strength.

With a flicker of darkness, Philippe appeared next to Xavier and Sam… The Eternal sensed the disturbance beforehand, allowing him to determine Philippe was not a threat.

Still, the Fangless Vampire wore a displeased expression.

A second passed before Caligula appeared opposite Xavier and Philippe, and it wasn’t until that moment that The Eternal recognized his shoulder was leaking golden blood.

Caligula licked his hand.

The wound on The Eternal’s shoulder healed an instant later as everything fell into place.

“Thank you…” Xavier voiced, not removing his eyes from The Demon Progenitor.

“You’re the strongest here but also the most inexperienced,” Philippe voiced, never taking his eyes off of Caligula. “It makes sense to go for you first.”

Xavier was upset.

Though it was after the fact, The Eternal could sense the ease at which he would have died had Philippe chosen not to intervene; though that intervention came about due to necessity more than kindness.

And, apparently, Caligula’s nails could pierce Eternal flesh.

Luckily, The Progenitor Demon did not get to take a shot at an Eternal without paying the price.

Caligula’s entire right arm was charred a deep black due to Xavier’s Cosmic Beam; though. The roasting of his flesh didn’t seem to bother Caligula too much.

Everyone saw what had happened.

Everyone but Sam and Coventry - both who had not trained to enhance their perceptions.

In their sights, everyone on the battlefield suddenly shifted, Xavier was injured, Caligula was injured, and the ground held a foot-deep trail of magma.

Marcus was also surprised, not because he couldn’t see the events that had taken place but because Andy, Kaulder, Xavier, and Philippe had shown reactions that outclassed his own.

But even then, Caligula had evaded all of them and even almost killed one of them.

That meant Caligula was a threat to him – a threat that Marcus knew would kill him in an instant of inattentiveness.

“We can’t afford this fight right now,” Philippe voiced, shifting his gaze to the temple in the distance. “I am pretty sure you thought about why I brought you along… it’s for this reason.”

Xavier was doubtful. “What reason?”

Kaulder and Andy casually hopped over the magma trench, sheathing their respective weapons as they did.

The others had also started to drift along, making their intentions to go against Caligula clearly known.

Xavier suspected it was more about the painful urge echoing in their minds instead of pure willingness.

“The Power Cosmic restrains The Blood Stone inside of Caligula,” Philippe explained, keeping his eyes trained on The Demon Progenitor in question. “It will take all of us working together to make sure La Magra does not get his hands on the stone.”

“The Blood Stone is real?” Kaulder frowned.

“Care to enlighten the rest of us?” Marcus questioned. “I have the urge to fight without being aware of what I am fighting for.”

“The Blood Stone was born when the moon first bled,” The Witch Hunter imparted the little knowledge he had. “or so legends say. Ancient Egyptians believed the stone was once used to flood the world in blood, allowing vampires to rule the world… and it is prophesized to happen once again.”

“That would be bad for me,” Coventry chuckled.

“That would be bad for everyone,” Andy corrected, taking a combat stance with her Labrys.

“Doesn’t sound so bad to me,” Amelia commented.

“Until you realize that the bloodstone is fueled by blood,” Vlad inched closer to the forming group. “—and vampires also have blood in their veins. Trust me, we will not be exempt from the hell.”

“But what is La Magra?” Mother Superion questioned.

“An Ancient Blood God that no man should try to summon,” Coventry replied.

As everyone took their combat stances, Caligula merely observed… his gaze was blank – as if there was never a soul occupying his body.

Now, merely instinct reacted.

Philippe sunk into his shadow, and Xavier clapped his hands in front of his face, stopping the sharp nails that were aiming for his throat.

Sam shifted into a Wolf in an instant, slashing out with six-inch long nails capable of rending carbon steel asunder.

But Andy leaped forward, blocking Sam’s blow with the handle of her Labrys.

Xavier realized belatedly that, at some point, he had switched positions with Caligula, and Sam had been taking aim at him instead.

Then, The Eternal’s eyes widened when he saw Caligula standing on Sam’s back.

Luckily, before The Demon Progenitor could deliver a killing blow, Kaulder swept forward with Hexenbane, shattering whatever magical defenses Caligula had shrouded himself in.

That gave a wolf larger than Sam ample time to crush Caligula between its jaws – it was Marcus utilizing his shapeshifting and size-altering abilities.

But there was no time to breathe a sigh of relief.

The four-meter wolf Marcus had transformed into was lifted from the ground and tossed dozens of feet into the air, shifting back into the human it once was.

Caligula blurred in a burst of speed that brought him in front of Vlad but just as his hand struck true, Vlad’s body burst into a colony of bats.

Then… Caligula’s shadow stretched and consumed The Demon Progenitor in his entirety.

Everything stilled…

Everybody froze where they stood…

Xavier could feel the gravitons being disturbed around him but it was merely the aftershocks of a battle occurring in another plane of existence.

Then, the gravitons clumped together.

The Eternal barely had time to react before Philippe came barreling into his chest, sending them both tumbling to the ground and skidding across a dozen meters.

Andy and Kaulder pincer-attacked the emerging shadow but in a clash of sparks, the duo found themselves unable to withdraw the Labrys and Hexenbane.

Caligula had pinned their attacks under his arm, uncaring that they had cut into his body.

In a blur of movement, Andy and Kaulder slumped to the ground, their bodies pierced through where their hearts were supposed to be.

Xavier pushed up from the ground, stabilizing himself in the air… cosmic energy gathered in his ocular nerve and the Eternal made sure to respect his limits.

BZZZZTTTT

A yellow beam tore through Caligula’s chest… alas, just like before, the image of Caligula shattered with the tell-tale signs of an illusion.

Then… thunder rumbled.

Vlad roared at the top of his lungs as lightning shot down from the skies in the dozens…

Xavier was smacked back into the ground by a bolt.

Sam was struck, singing fur and rendering him useless.

Philippe fared little better…

Coventry was spared by a timely intervention from Marcus…

Amelia also wasn’t spared even though she had been trying to stay out of the battle… and as if a punishment, she was struck multiple times.

The only silver lining was the fact that the air shimmered and Caligula appeared from his hiding place.

And that was the opportunity Mother Superion had been waiting for… The Warrior Nun shot up and out of the ground, grabbing Caligula by the ankles and dragging him into the earth.

A pulse of red saw Mother Superion spiraling uncontrollably through the air but she had accomplished the impossible – getting Caligula to stay in one place.

Xavier’s body pulsed with cosmic energy as the world in his perception slowed… The Eternal dug his heel into the ground, shattering the earth where he ran.

He dodged two lightning bolts, reaching Caligula’s side in a blur of movement that saw him almost entirely exhausted – he had pushed his physique to its current limits.

And yet still…

The Eternal grabbed the buried Caligula by the neck, squeezing with all his might as he flooded The Demon Progenitor with Cosmic Energy.

Caligula stilled…

Andy and Kaulder, who had their hearts crushed by Caligula, suddenly leaped to their feet, sticking their respective weapons in Caligula’s chest.

They had the precision of a thousand-year-old butcher.

The Labrys and Hexenbane precisely slid between Caligula’s robust ribcage and as the duo pulled in opposite directions, The Demon Progenitor’s chest cracked open to reveal blood, organs, and a glowing red stone.

Philippe flickered in the darkness of Andy’s shadow and then, the bloodstone disappeared from Caligula’s chest… Xavier released The Demon Progenitor an instant later, feeling all the struggle had ceased.

Philippe re-appeared a dozen meters away with the bloodstone in hand and just as everyone was ready to breathe a sigh of collective relief, a chill passed through their bodies.

Red veins were starting to run up Philippe’s arms… he was being corrupted by the bloodstone – he was very likely to end up Caligula the second.

Luckily, it was at that moment Coventry managed to showcase his usefulness.

“Signum Daemoniacum.”

As the word echoed in the surroundings, stirring the air and magical energy lingering within it, the veins running up Philippe’s arm started to retreat back into the bloodstone.

The Fangless Vampire released the bloodstone and it fell to the ground with a sizzle and pop that shook the ground… the bloody glow of the stone lingered for a couple of seconds before retreating entirely to reveal a stone of obsidian black.

“I… I am not picking that up!” Xavier groaned, trying to recover some of the cosmic energy he had just burned through using breathing exercises.

Kaulder and Andy chuckled…

Soon joined by Sam who had darted off at some point only to return with an injured Mother Superion on his back…

Vlad clutched the burns made by his own lightning storm while Marcus eyed the bloodstone with suspicion.

Ultimately, nobody picked up the stone… at least, nobody wanted to be the first.