The Count looked in control of the situation. Victor wanted to blast that smug grin right off of his face, but he couldn’t risk it with children around.

“What are you playing at?” Victor growled out at the monster.

“You invaded my castle. And dear Jared, you brought him to me too,” the Count chuckled as Jared’s hands shook.

“You took these children. Might be smarter than the average Metamorph, but it seems you’re still an animal,” Victor snapped at him. That seemed to annoy the Count more than anything else they’d done.

“What I’m doing is pragmatism. My own kind are nothing more than slaves to others. I won’t let that stand. Do you even realize the potential we hold?” the Count said, standing up from his chair. Clay moulted off of him, leaving an after image in his place on the pipe organ’s seat. The clone was a facsimile of the real Count but could move around unbarred.

The real Count strode over to the centre of the room and pointed around at the sacrifices around him.

“I’m not cruel. This is your family, isn’t it, Child of The Pantheon?” The Count asked.

“What?” Victor replied.

“Not you, him,” he pointed to Amadeus instead. The gap-toothed blonde was chewing on his lips in anger.

“I don’t know your circumstances, but you care for them. So why not make a deal with someone who shares your heritage, even if a little?” cracks of red lightning flared from the Count’s hands as he spoke. Victor took a look at Lillie, a silent conversation passing between them in an instant.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Amadeus replied curtly. The Count frowned, quirking an eyebrow.

“I’m sorry, I was under a misinformed assumption because of your powers. Don’t you know what your Seed relates you to?” the Count asked.

“The only people I’m related to are in this room, under your thumb. Let. Them. Go,” Amadeus ordered, but the Count brushed off his tone.

“Sure, but you’ve cost me a lot today. Killed people from my family, as it were. I deserve compensation,” the Count demanded.

“And if we don’t agree?” Victor asked.

The Count pointed up at the centre of the ceiling, where pipes ran down to the various sacrifices.

“This is an implement made for my Seed. The ritual requires sacrifice to empower others. And it only accepts those with blood. If you take even a breath without my permission, I’ll send the signal to have them all executed at once,” the Count told him with a scowl.

The statement hung in the air for a moment; both parties not moving an inch.

“To who?” Lillie asked.

“To my cl-” the Count turned to find his muddy shadow encased in a prison of light. His expression changed to one of shock and he turned back to quickly raise a shield.

Quickly, but not quick enough. Victor got off a single shot against the Count’s arm, breaking off the shield. He then emptied the rest of his magazine into the pipe organ, frosting it over. One of those errant shots managed to hit the mud clone and collapsed it into a puddle.

Victor thought the shrewd Metamorph would try to bargain once again but he clearly wasn’t a coward. He jumped out of the way of the blasts of lightning and sword swings, reaching further back into the room.

“Don’t let him near the piano!” Victor shouted at his allies as he jammed another magazine into his gun. Times like these made him glad that they took normal ammo and not some weird magic metal.

The Count didn’t stand idly by for him though. Lightning crackled across the man’s skin and exploded outwards.

“No!” Amadeus shouted as it reached the nearest of the sacrifices. The electricity impacted against a newly formed pane of light, cracking it apart under its force.

“Lil, prioritize the children!” Amadeus begged as he ran for the Count.

“What about you?!” she shouted back.

“If it gets too rough, Lillie, ignore his instructions,” Victor said in a quieter tone before rushing into the fray with Amadeus.

The Count unleashed more lightning onto the both of them. It hit Victor straight in the chest and knocked him back into a table. He toppled over it and ended up on the other side panting. Suddenly his muscles felt weary like he’d run a marathon.

He was tired? How? Victor looked back up and saw the Count take the brunt of a blow from Amadeus’ lightning before shrugging it off. He clenched his jaw and shouted the warning in his head.

“Don’t let him hit you or he’ll drain you!” Victor shouted as he got back up. He placed his dual pistols on the table to steady his aim but couldn’t find an opening without hitting Amadeus or Jared.

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Screw it, have to get my hands dirty. He jumped over the table and picked it up with a single hand. Victor hauled it over and threw it at the Count with a shout.

“Back away!” He ordered Amadeus and Jared.

Jared was slow to listen so Amadeus grabbed his hand and jumped away. In the air the table enlarged to twice its size. Before it could hit the count, it cracked apart as red lightning burst through the splinters.

The lightning arced in the air, tumbling down and hitting Jared in his armour. The gauntlet around him did little to help as he jittered and fell to the ground.

Amadeus was quick to respond. The Count readied another bolt but Amadeus met it with his own. The bolts impacted in the air and sent a shockwave across the room. Papers were overturned and candles went out as the bolts continued their clash.

The Count and Amadeus both struggled against each other arms raised. Then Hemotep lowered his other hand as more mud clones separated out from his body. They formed into bodies that raised their own hands. Amadeus’ eyes went wide in fear. Lightning crackled across their hands ready to fire.

Then two blades cut them apart in a second. Victor jumped in and slashed them down to puddled before cutting the Count’s legs. Hemotep buckled on his knees and Amadeus growled out a scream. He put his entire being behind his lightning, feeling a cracking in his Seed as he did. His power consumed the Count’s and sank into his flesh with a sizzle. His flesh bubbled and shook in the air.

The monster sat paralyzed on the ground as Victor raised his blade.

“You’re done,” Victor grunted as he brought the sword down. But the blade clanged against another.

The Count’s arm had hardened to a bloody steel and veins exploded across his face. He grabbed Victor with the other hand and threw him. Amadeus caught the man and they both stood alert.

The Count ripped off his clothing. Underneath it were muscles and veins that stretched from his heart. His eyes bled away their fleshy sclera to reveal instead ones that were shockingly human-like.

The Count didn’t speak as he stood back up. He glanced at Jared’s fallen body between him and the humans and frowned. Amadeus knew in that moment that something was wrong. And he was proven correct as vials of blood popped out of the Count’s arms.

Amadeus and Hemotep rushed for Jared at the same time. Victor shot at the Count’s feet and forced him back a few steps. Amadeus chimed in with more bolts.

“Get the kid back up! I’ll handle the Wannabe Vampire!” Victor shouted. He jumped over Amadeus and raised his pistols again.

Hemotep grimaced further. He jumped around the room to avoid the shots aimed at him. But even still a few landed on his flesh. They scorched and iced wherever they landed, slowing down the monster.

Victor kept firing until his magazines ran dry. The second he took to reload, Hemotep made his move. The vials popping from his arms drained in an instant. More veins popped around the Count’s body and a red shimmer covered him.

Victor raised his arms instead of reloading. Like a blur the Count was next to him swinging a fist. The next second Victor was flying across the room again. His arms stung down to the bones.

When he landed, he rolled. His guns went skidding across the floor beside him. Victor looked back up and saw that Hemotep had already caught up by then. The man was on him again, ready to strike.

Whether it be by providence or something else, Amadeus managed to fire off a bolt of lightning then. And Jared stabbed his sword right through the Count’s back. Hemotep’s eyes widened as he shifted his flesh around.

Then he grabbed the front of the blade and ripped it out of his side. He raised the blade up to knock away Jared but the boy proved resilient. He braced his legs against the Count’s arms and ripped his sword out of his arms. Amadeus punctured him with more lightning at the same time. and Jared slashed off a few of Hemotep’s fingers before he jumped off.

Victor then kicked the monster in the chest and came up onto his feet. He could see the Count growing tired and angrier by the moment. That’s why he knew he needed to end this soon. And he knew just how to.

“Box!” Victor shouted in that moment.

Panes of light surrounded the Count. Then another. And then once more. The Count seemed to rip through them just as fast, but the momentary distraction was just what Victor needed. He ran around and picked up his guns before Hemotep broke through the last of the boxes.

Lillie fell to her knees in exhaustion and Victor thanked her silently. Jared, Amadeus and Victor surrounded the monster from all sides, covering him in slashes, burns and ice. The Count countered each and all but grew weaker for a moment. Noticing his opportunity, Victor lunged right into the middle of the monster.

Hemotep looked surprised. He grabbed at Victor with his flesh and he accepted the embrace with open arms. Arms holding his dual pistols. Victor aimed them right into the monster’s chest, where his heart ought to be. There, he fired off freezing rounds.

The Count gleamed what he was doing and tried ripping him away to no avail. Amadeus’ lightning and Jared’s sword kept him busy as Victor fired off more rounds. When it was all but frozen over Victor slammed the butt of his gun into the monster’s chest.

The clay cracked to reveal a glass chamber filled with glowing blood. Victor took aim at the chamber and pulled the triggers.

Dual bullets pierced through the chamber and covered Victor in its blood.

“No!” Hemotep screamed, finally able to rip Victor away. He threw him aside and went to the floor. The strange blood mixed with glass there.

Hemotep reached out hands to grab it but they were slashed apart by Jared. He reached for the boy but lightning fell from the skies. Hemotep looked up to find a small thunderstorm building in the room. Amadeus was behind it, channelling the last of his stamina into the blast. And as Hemotep tried one last time to defend himself, the lightning fell in a flash.

His flesh exploded in jitters, failing to take a form. The lightning was blinding to all around; who could only hear the shrill screams escaping from the mouth of the Metamorph. Thunder roared along with it, electrifying the air around the room as the onslaught continued.

And then it stopped, just as quickly as it had come. The place where the Metamorph had been was charred and smoking. The blood underneath him had boiled away. Only a corpse stood there now.

Amadeus wobbled on his feet for a moment, trying to take a steady foothold. He failed in the end, falling to the floor face first.

“Am!” Jared shouted as he dismissed his armour. He ran for Amadeus’s fallen form while Victor kept himself aware for any more tricks.

When nothing did pop out at him or Lillie, he sighed and let his shoulders down a little. They rose back up once he saw the weak movements coming from the Count’s supposedly dead body, however.

Victor raised a gun to it, waiting for a second movement. Then he made his way slowly over to the corpse turned it over with a kick.

Hemotep wasn’t dead. But he would soon be. Most of his front remained uncharred, but it was no closer to helping him survive. The Count’s mouth trembled for a few words that Victor couldn’t hear.

“I… I just… wanted to f-free them…”

Then Hemotep’s one remaining eye collapsed into clay along with the rest of his body. Victor grimaced at the monster’s glowing Seeds. Two of them. He’d put them on the backfoot with only two of them.