Ejiro and Seth were confident. There were three vampires left on the enemy side. Four, including Gabriella, but they could beat her easily if it came to.

Jason closed the gap between himself and Seth as he cautiously ran towards him while simultaneously firing his shotgun pistol. However, Seth’s shadow emerged from the ground and, impenetrable, absorbed all the bullets coming at him. At the same time, the master covered a broader area with a second shadow to his feet.

The dark spot surrounded him when Jason used his vampiric abilities to run faster than Seth’s eyes allowed him to see.

He appeared behind him with a smirk. Everything was ready. His pistol pointing straight at the retired mage’s face would blast it, then his claws would penetrate his neck if he were still breathing, and he’d back up by flying away with his wings straight after.

But as soon as he arrived in Seth’s shadow, a deep, suffocating dread overcame him. ‘I can’t move! Move!’ he thought in the back of his mind.

Seth tilted his head, stared at him without a hint of stress, and raised his staff. He had caught Jason in his trap.

Yet, before he could finish him, the second vampire pushed Jason away with all his might and avoided the shadow. They backed away.

This one had smaller, softer wings and dark eyes. The afternoon sunshine glimmered onto the vampire’s grey claws and dark clothes that contrasted with his pale skin. He was a medium-rank vampire.

“I couldn’t move in there. It felt like I was stuck with a horrifying monster in a dark cage. We need to fight him together.” The counsellor caught his breath and rose to his feet.

The three mages stood still, staring down at each other.

A few metres away, Theodoric jumped toward Ejiro as he attempted a clean vertical slash. But Ejiro released a powerful golden light ray before Theodoric landed his sword, stunning him, and backed away.

Striking the ground, Gabriella’s father quickly spotted Ejiro’s new location and dived toward him for another attack.

Ejiro was young and was a vampire for less than a year, while his opponent was old and powerful.

So, when Theodoric appeared before him again in a flash and surprised him with his sharp and heavy sword, he didn’t have time to dodge.

But Ejiro Sani kept his cool and tried to block, holding his sword with his hands. Nevertheless, Theodoric’s thick, giant sword hit upon the Dragonsword, making it bounce away, and cut into Ejiro.

Ejiro didn’t have time to breathe when Theodoric Rivampe followed up with another attack but missed. With a clean cut running down his chest, Ejiro rushed to his sword.

He frowned when he picked up his sword. He was losing a lot of blood rapidly, and every ounce of his being wanted him to give up. But he stood firm and glanced at Gabriella’s perplexed face before focusing on the sturdy vampire.

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The old vampire was already closing the gap, and it took Ejiro almost everything to avoid the next sword blow.

There wasn’t any time left. Ejiro’s wound worsened after each sudden move. He had to end the fight right now.

“DIE!” He shouted. Ejiro gripped his sword very tight and ran forward.

“Fool!” Theodoric didn’t blink. He raised his sword and prepared to slash down.

As Ejiro closed in on him, Theodoric anticipated his movement and swung his sword down the DA agent's weapon. But it was only a feint - Ejiro had shifted to the left just before Theodoric's sword came perilously close to grazing him. This maneuver was something only an experienced fighter like Ejiro could do.

At last, there was an opening. Ejiro jumped in, piercing through his opponent’s tight with his sword to disable the use of his left leg.

Ejiro was almost sure of it; he had won. With the man before him handicapped, there was barely any way he could lose. Playing it safe, he backed away and got ready for another attack.

…

“They stopped moving. Something’s wrong,” claimed Jenna as she looked at the GPS.

They were still in the armoured vehicle. Despite Luo driving, Jenna was the one who directed them throughout the concrete desert.

Luo Ren looked into the horizon, yet there was nothing but an endless void. “Do you think they encountered something?”

Isaac had learned to feel people’s presence through their souls. He opened his window to find out what was happening, but they were too far away. “We should go faster.”

“Okay, I hope the car can handle it.”

Luo pressed harder on the throttle as the car accelerated and bounced over the concrete roof.

…

Theodoric Rivampe was flying since he couldn’t walk properly. Figuring he’d eventually have to come down, Ejiro stayed on foot.

Theodoric had made a blunder by getting hit by Ejiro’s sword. It was no longer about protecting his daughter. He had his honour to keep: losing against two DA agents was out of the question.

So, he reached under his shirt and took out a syringe filled with a crimson liquid.

He regretted, ‘I can’t believe I have to use it now,’ and stuck it into his neck.

Soon, his veins popped out and blackened, his muscles grew another fifty kilograms, and his eyes glowed red. Finally, both his wings became three times the size of his body. He had injected himself with red magic.

Both Ejiro and his daughter looked at him with perplexed expressions. Even Seth and the two other vampires had stopped fighting momentarily.

A grin rose on the Vampire Lord’s face. His body felt renewed. “Normally, vampires are stronger at night. Although there isn’t much difference between day and night for us high vampires, this potion mitigates that effect and improves my dark magic, complementing it with the red magic in this shot.”

Before Ejiro could react, the monster had already arrived and kicked him in the stomach.

Ejiro Sani collapsed.

Worried about this sudden turn of events, Seth abruptly appeared behind Theodoric. He pointed his staff at the vampire to freeze his mind with shadow magic and knock him unconscious.

*BAM!*

Seth was now on the ground, knocked away by Theodoric’s back elbow strike. Looking over at Ejiro, his last direct disciple, the retired mage couldn’t mutter a single word.

“Before, red magic shots made the hosts go into a fury. But now they’ve been perfected. You didn’t know that, did you?” Theodoric advanced toward Ejiro as he waved his sword.

“Now DIE!”

Theodoric Rivampe pushed his sword down toward Ejiro’s chest without pity.