The SUVs came to a forced stop, the pathway was blocked from the impact. A large boulder stood before them. "Stay inside and don't move," ordered the guards to the captured. From the entrance, Cake and Jason rushed closer to Staxius. 

 'I'm amazed,' he stood and dusted the dirt off the clothes, '-this vampire body sure is resilient.' 

 "You're alive, how lovely," black wings from which feathers fell, the one responsible hovered menacingly. The face was hidden behind a helm made of an unknown material. Purple and black armor, one that had small spikes on the shoulder and knees. An armor as ill.u.s.trated in the ancient books about G.o.ds and demons. 

 "MASTER," below, the door blasted opened with blood. Aiden had gone berserk and so did Elsa. "You've come to set us free," she knelt. The still half-formed dragonkin with a mouth dripping from blood followed suit.

 "Desmond, I presume?" nonchalantly, a voice came from the hillside. 

 "Don't you speak my master's name so casually," in a fit of rage, Elsa turned with the intent to kill – her eyes looked vile and unworthy a lady. *Pang,* a pebble flew across her face and hit Aiden in the back of the head.

 "Don't you dare use that tone with me," with an aura as impressive as he who hovered, Staxius marched forth. The boy who got hit, fell instantly, the pebble went straight through his head – it left an opening, "-I regret trying to save you both, should have killed on sight." *Death Element: Unleash Aura,* as opposed to earlier, this time, the aura was unleashed outwards as opposed to inwards. The difference between the two was that the former manifested his strength as pressure outside, as opposed to the latter which served to boost the body's defenses. All who stood in a ten-meter radius fell to the ground, it included the guards except Cake and Jason who remained hidden behind another boulder. Scared beyond recovery, Elsa went into shock. The half-dragon died in a blink of an eye.

 "Don't get in the way, puny witch," the ground cracked, with her catching the full blunt of Desmond's punch. Her body, now unconscious, flew twice as far as Shadow did. "Let's get to the matter at hand," an aura equal to Staxius's landed. It clashed in the middle, a deadlock between two strongly matched opponents, lightning could be seen fighting in the middle. The ground around burnt, the air turned violent, the blue-sky changed into one cloudy and filled with an essence of despair and hatred. 

 "State thy name, spellcaster," Desmond ordered.

 "My ident.i.ty isn't what you should be worried about, Lord Desmond. For you see, thou art not going to see the ever-slumbering dusk," the eyes turned emotionless, the hair levitated slightly. A powerful being had appeared. The body unconsciously began to change, it was ready to go into battle. The breathing stable, the stance without opening, the eyes ready for any sneak attacks, a major battle was to start, from every fiber to the bone's marrow, the body could feel it. 

 "Do as you see fit, spellcaster. I had come with the intention of a peaceful talk; however, I now see that thou art ready for a fight," similarly, he raised his guard.

 "Who are we kidding, all it comes down to is the survival of the fittest. Now then, Lord Desmond, prove thy art worthy," following that sentence, both leaped and charged forth. As opposed to fighting with weapons, with Tharis and Orenmir out of the picture – using the Death Element, he fought as if a battle-mage. Each tested the waters before going all out. Desmond held his own, *Demon-Arts: The Fallen's Justice,* after the first blow, he went full out. Left to right, dodge followed by Void fireb.a.l.l.s – Staxius fought a defensive battle. Desmond didn't sit idly, he matched every move that was made against him, matched with double the strength. With Desmond up in the air and having the lower ground, Staxius was at a disadvantage. The wings couldn't be used just yet, the impact from earlier still had lasting issues. 'I doubt we can go head to head,' the eyes closed, Shadow-step activated, tis was a combination he would have used with a sword since it best suited close-quarters fights. Desperate, increasing the speed and avoiding any damage, he focused on a more flexible combat style, '-let's go." *Void Fire Ball,* he disappeared from Desmond's field of vision, "-you're opened," a voice came from below. Inches from hitting its target, a flap of the wing later, the opponent dodged. 

 "You call that a sneak attack?" *Demon-Arts: Mimicry, Heather's hand,* semi-transparent palms forced their way down. 

 *Death Element: Magical Barrier,* '-he used the same spell as Elsa did,' strike after strike, with each one with force equal to that of a full-power swing from Raulf, the circular barrier began to crack. 'I need to get away,' the pressure atop grew heavier by the second. *BANG,* the ground exploded, a giant hole appeared amidst the dust and rubble. 

 "You got away," he laughed, "-one must know when to give for a human fighting a demon is unheard of. A weak race who wishes to go against the will of my supervisors. One day or the other, all of this shall end, the world will be cleansed."

 *Huff, Puff.* "If it wasn't for that last-minute jump, I'd have been turned into a c.r.a.pe." Now resting with a knee on the ground, he stopped. *Spell: Augmented Mana output x15, Death Element: Unleash Aura x10.* 'Limit break, the combination I used against Gallienne's Hydra, the best of what I can do with my magical element,' a black mist enveloped the caster, *Death Beam,* he jumped with both arms close to one another, a variation on the fire-beam spell. As opposed to channeling the Void flame, the spell was one that used the dense mana as the weapon.

 *Demon-Arts: Mimicry Enhance, Abyssal Return – Death Beam,* the moment Staxius cast his spell, Desmond did the same, "-sweet dreams," he whispered, in that instant, before each spell made contact, Desmond's attack reached his opponent. The beam was twice the size of what Staxius had cast – unable to retaliate, the body flew across and into the hill. The impact resounded across the land, bones shattered, the inside turned into nothing but liquid – instant death. 

 "Did the boss…"

 "Don't look," Jason patted her head, "-Shadow is dead, no one could ever hope to survive that sort of attack. The blood pours out without sight of stopping. It's over, we need to get away before it gets too difficult," 

 "We can't leave him," her face felt empty, "-I need to go to his side." 

 "Shut it," *Slap,* "-This isn't some fairy tale where a kiss is going to revive he who fought. The man is dead, that's the reality, we're in a world where the strongest survive. Shadow was strong, but not strong enough to take on a demon," hand on her arms with a tight grip, the bartender tried to move. 

 "For a human, you fought well, spellcaster, I admire the efforts," from hovered, he landed and walked over to he who had been defeated, "-sadly, not even an SSS-ranked mage could ever hope to compare with the likes of unworldly beings. We transcend the limits placed onto humans; our powers are far stronger than one might have imagined." 

 "Wait…" she remained adamant and watched.

 "What is it now?" forced to look, Jason glanced over to where Staxius was.

 *Spat,* "-I agree with you on that front," the lifeless body spoke, the auto regeneration kicked in, "-humans are weak," the mask fell, all the blood stopped pouring, the bones returned to normal, a dense aura filled the air. "Sadly," the eyes opened with a crimson glow, the canines grew sharper, the hair levitated, "-I'm not a human," a step later, wings sprouted from his back. 'By nature, the Death Element is a defense element. This is why I had to focus on using weapons and augmentation. The only real fire-power is the Void-flames. Dark-arts would have been useless against anything that isn't human. On the contrary, Blood-Arts is attack-oriented, fully offensive with unlimited fire-power. The perfect balance.'

 "This can't be true," Desmond took a step back, "-Nightwalkers, I thought that race had gone extinct. They who went against the wishes of both G.o.d and Demons were left to rot for all eternity. How is it that there are survivors?"

 "It's simple," *Blood-Arts: b.l.o.o.d.y Mary,* "-its because the second true-born vampire is still alive and well," *Blood-Arts: Crimson Threads,* a halo of his own blood materialized.

 "Don't tell me you've received blood from him?" a mild fear was sensed; Desmond grew on edge. No response, a horizontal cutting motion of the hand later, the nauseating sound of body parts being ripped was heard. The blood halo disappeared for it was used in the slaughter of all who remained unconscious. All that blood flowed into a single point which resembled an umbrella, "-we're ready to fight," at the helm, Adete with the blood flowing directly into her mouth. It all came from the guards who came to help in his rescue.

 "The more blood we have," now behind Desmond, "-the more powerful we get." The demon's arm sliced off and turned into liquid, without looking, the Crimson Threads took on many forms to accomplish what he wanted. The demon's armor could but look as if a piece of cheap fabric.

 "All that precious demon-blood," he smirked, "-we can't let it go to waste now, can we?" without a second thought, Desmond's head sliced right off. From blades to tiny crystal b.a.l.l.s, the demon's body suffered the same fate as the arms. 

 "A lower ranked demon, how pathetic," it happened so fast that all Cake saw was a ma.s.sive pool of blood getting swallowed by Staxius and Desmond turning into dust.

 "Can I, can I?" asked Adete seeing all that food. 

 "Eat your fill, my dearest companion, feast for its thy reward," he approached where Jason and Cake hid. Behind, Adete went wild in turning all the corpse into orbs – her face seemed joyful. 

 "How are you both doing?" the body returned to normal, the wings vanished, the eyes stopped burning and the canine grew smaller. 

 "O-ok?" said Jason in utter confusion, "-care to explain what the f.u.c.k happened?" 

 "You're not human, are you…" Cake added with the same emotion.

 "Is that a problem, though I do apologize for killing the guards, I don't feel the need to justify my actions," he turned and pointed at the SUVs, "-that girl is still alive, she might prove useful in getting information about the UO. I did get carried away – killing her master might not have been the smartest choice," he faced the sky, "-I couldn't help it. A worthy opponent presented himself, I needed to show what I could do."

 "That's not the issue," Cake voiced, "-you died, I saw you die, how can you come back from the dead?"

 "Have you not heard of vampires?" he turned and asked, "-the immortal race shun by all who lived…" 

 "I thought it was just a myth," Jason said in disbelief.

 "Think about what you want, I care not. A warm bed is what I'm looking forward too. No need to worry about the corpses, my trusty companion is on clean-up duty. The immediate threat of a.s.sa.s.sins has been resolved, the Syndicate might have beings far stronger than Desmond, be careful." 

 "I'm done," Adete rushed over with her mouth covered in red.

 "I see," with what remained of the sleeve, he wiped off her mouth and teleported away. 

 "Shadow is a vampire, we best keep this a secret," Jason took charge, "-that goes for you as well, Cake. Human or not, you should have been accustomed to non-human beings. Let's just finish up the operation."

Meanwhile, inside Pandora as opposed to the mansion, Staxius jumped into bed. 

 "Why did you not use the vampiric power from the get-go?" Adete asked whilst getting ready to sleep.

 "I wanted to see how my older self would have faired against such a being. The old Staxius Haggard who only had the Death Element and a few spells to fight. It's awfully obvious now. If I hadn't changed – there would have been nothing else I could have done, defeat was what awaited me in the end. I don't regret becoming a vampire, it has opened up a plethora of avenues…*Yawn,* "-let's leave it for tomorrow, I'm sleepy."