Levistus pushed forwards towards Atarah with a tremendous leap, claws aimed for her throat, and Atarah's mind went blank for a moment.
However in that stunned state, Valp had rushed over and intercepted the attack, being pushed back almost 10 feet, but the warriors' strength held out over the vampires, and his bites were stopped with the width of her massive hammer, while only one of his claws could pierce her.
"Atarah! We'll talk later, but now we fight!" She shouted, louder than she had been the entirety of their mission, as her eyes gleamed with ferocious power.
Levistus dislodged his jaw and seemed to be ready to assault her more, but a volley of arcane darts in his back forced him to turn away, as Flora had taken a back position and fired off her Magic Missile at the vampire.
"Valp's our best bet, I need to buff her up, but if he gets ahold of me I'm done for!" Flora thought as some of the red sparks from the metal ring began to fly outward.
"I need sight, I need forces, I need victory!" Levistus howled through a raspy throat, and the sparks seemed to go through him, empowering his deranged state with a fraction of his former magic, conjuring two spirits next to the pedestal.
"I thought you said he was a Diviner?" Kage shouted towards Lillian. "That was his job, not his only skill!" She retorted, as her rapier began to fly and she held a strange white wood bow.
As his eyes gained some semblance of color, he received his artificial vision just in time to see Valp swing her hammer directly at his face, before reeling back and slamming him once more. As he fell back from the force, she planted her hammer on the ground and spun around it as leverage to land one more sucker punch in the side of his face, cracking his jaw.
"I'm not a fan of those spirits!" Alena said as the summoned specters seemed to have a ravenous hunger in their hollow approximation of eyes, armed with spectral blades. "Leave them to us! You help Valp!" Kage suggested, as her own magic began to spark around her.
Following the advice, Alena rushed towards the other two, firing off her bolt of divine power as she did. As it landed, it did seem to stop the closing wounds and the recovery of the broken bones that Valp had caused but didn't burn the flesh as much as Alena expected it would.
"Aren't vampires supposed to be susceptible to this stuff?" Alena asked.
"Not all vampires have the same physiology." Lillian quickly explained as her blade closed in with the spirits.
As it began its flight, Kage fired off two beams of arcane energy at one of the sword specters, blasting it directly in the head and staggering it off balance.
The flying Rapier, meanwhile, made a sharp turn and stabbed through the second specter, as Lillian aimed at an illuminated section of its body with her strange bow, made of a stark white wood with silver etchings. With a successful shot, the figure staggered as if severely wounded.
"They have cores, like any summon, aim for those!" She shouted to Kage.
The two summons, aiming for their closest target, close in on Valp and take several swipes at her with their spectral blades. However, the momentum she had gained from her assault had not yet worn off and she evaded most of their attacks, and the singular slash that went through was barely felt past her adrenaline-enhanced durability.
Behind the more injured specter, Atarah suddenly appeared, recovering from her panicked state and giving two hard slashes to its exposed core, causing it to dissipate back into the energy it was spawned from.
Turning her attention to the mad vampire, she uncaps the vial and throws it with enough force to shatter in his face, taking the opportunity to slash against his wounded gut before successfully dodging behind him to avoid wild claw slashes.
However, it was not his claws she needed to worry about, as she saw his legs tense up. Before she could respond, he launched forward towards Valp once more.
The vampiric strength behind the push along with the unnatural strength of Valp pushed both of them through the stone pillar, causing it to fall over on top of the summoned specter, who merely phased through it.
When the dust settled, however, Valp was standing as tall as she was before, now with Levistus' face between her hands.
Behind the two of them, Valp sees Flora rush to her hammer. The thin woman, clearly nervous, places her hands on the handle of the hammer, and it began to be surrounded by the sound of fluttering wingbeats and a gently rushing breeze as it levitated off of the ground.
"Valp! Take this!" She shouted, and with a burst of upper body strength pushed the levitating hammer with enough force to carry it over to where Valp could catch it. As she laid her hands on it, Flora released the levitating magic, and the hammer dropped once more.
As the specter turned its face towards Flora, she disappeared in a cloud of smoke and sparkles and appeared behind the pedestal with the rings and crystal.
"In case he draws power on it again, I should take care of this!" She thought to herself, as a magic circle formed in front of her hands. As it did, red bolts of energy began to fly from the crystal and the ring into the circle she formed, but the circle shot back blue bolts at the same intensity.
Valp, having her hammer once more, returns to attacking Levistus brutally, slamming him back hard enough almost to launch him to the marble floors once more, before a wave of warmth overcomes her.
"It's a bandaid, but it'll keep you up, kid!" Alena said as the healing energy disperses from her hands.
Turning her attention to the spirit, Alena gathers up more of her divine power, seeing that even if the spirit wasn't necrotic in nature, magic would be their best bet. With that, Kage and Lillian trained their sights on the specter as well, and all three of them launched their respective attacks at its core, piercing through with deadly efficacy and dissipating the monster.
Levistus, shocked that his summoned spirits were dispatched so easily, takes his eyes off his opponents for only one second. However, that second is all that is needed for Valp to close distance with his front, and Atarah his back.
With a single shared look, Atarah swung her sickle-like sword at the midsection of his back, where she knows Valp has hit him a couple of times now and opposite where she slashed before. Valp, meanwhile, aims for his face, where Atarah had thrown the holy water which was surely eating away at his flesh.
For a moment, it seemed like he had recovered enough for his legs to launch once more, as the muscles began to tense. With the way his head was looking, it seemed that he intended to launch himself upwards to evade the attack.
However, before he could, a pulse of energy rocketed throughout the cavern, and a shout was heard.
"DON'T MOVE!" Lillian shouted, as her silver eyes briefly turned bright, unnatural gold.
Levistus seized up and looked in her direction, confused.
Stressing their muscles, Valp and Atarah unleash their attacks, and with immense force and precision bisect the body of Levistus between them, the momentum of their attacks landing the two back to back with one another, as the body falls limp.
With his body mangled and energy exhausted, Levistus began to flake and turn to ash.
"Do we need to finish things for good?" Valp asked, muscles and face still tensed. A second later, however, all of that faded, and she relaxed her shoulders. "I suppose not."
Alena moved to the body, and pulled a small censer with a piece of Bloodstone planted on it, and began to speak in Dwarvish. As she did, a holy light surrounded her in a circle, and the flakes and ash began to dissipate into energy rather than flitting about in the air.
"That wasn't as hard as I expected," Kage said with a sigh and a stretch. "He didn't have his full capacities. I don't know what happened, but something corrupted him." Lillian explained, letting her rapier slide back into its sheath.
"Oi! Kage! Little help!?" Flora asked, as her circle was beginning to get beaten back by the crystals sparks. "Ugh, you couldn't have waited?" She said with a roll of her eyes but still rushed to her side, erecting her own magic circle.
Atarah began to move that way as well, but Valp stopped her with a hand on the shoulder. "That was reckless." She said with a stern glare.
"I would've been fine, I'm not so weak that one attack could take me out." Atarah shot back, avoiding her eyes. "No, you wouldn't have," Valp said, showing the red marks on her arms. What would've been bruised was already healed, but the intense force of Levistus' attacks clearly showed a mark.
"He could've broken your arms or worse if I hadn't been fast enough. I can tell you have skills, but that doesn't mean anything against an unknown opponent with unknown capabilities." She continued.
Atarah didn't have a retort but still didn't turn to face Valp.
"Remember, as long as we're working together, we are a team. That means none of us goes off on our own without good reason. Even with other groups, reliance on others is a necessity." She said, before walking to check on Alena.
With the scolding out of the way, Atarah noticed that Lillian had moved to the desk set up in the corner of the marble floor, and decided to see what was there.
Flora, for her own reasons, had been eavesdropping on that conversation, and gave a slight satisfied smirk, before Kage shouted at her for taking her eyes off the circle, and returned to dispelling what was causing this shard to spark.
It only took their combined magic a few more seconds before the sparks ceased, the four metal bands returned to a simple ring, and the shard slowly descended on its side to the pedestal. Kage gave its rested form a very reserved poke and did not feel anything off about it.
"Well, that's one problem solved, what's this ring?" Kage asked, picking up the inactive ring.
"If you give me about 10 minutes, I could tell ya~!" Flora said, pulling out her spellbook.
"Sadly time isn't on our side, we need to gather anything essential and leave. Once I'm done looking here I'll prepare our transport." Lillian explained.
"If you need time, I'll look at these notes," Atarah began. "If you don't mind me asking, what's the rush?"
Lillian evaded Atarah's gaze for a moment. "I used a specific skill of mine towards the end of the fight and potentially revealed our position. Therefore, we have to hurry." She explained.
"Either way, I shall begin. Grab any journals that are legible, along with any schematics you might find." She moved to a far wall, where her rapier floated out of the sheath once more. Once it was pressed flat against the wall, handle pointed upwards with the blade going downwards, silver runes began to apperate in an arch, with its center point being the crossguard of the handle. As she performed this, she also pulled out her page, and quietly spoke into it.
"By ability, do you mean that shout you gave off?" Alena asked, having finished her ritual. "Yes. I wished to be conservative with it, but if Levistus escaped that final blow, he could have used the energy of the crystal again, launched a surprise attack against either Valp or Atarah, or even escaped, so I deemed it a necessary usage." She explained, after finishing her message.
"So you can control vampires?" Valp asked with her eyebrows raised in surprise. "Saying I control them is overstating. I can issue slight commands for a few moments, and doing so gives me away, so it's a last resort."
"Speaking of nothin' in particular, this little do-hickey is a Ring of Direction!" Flora announced. "I thought you needed 10 minutes?" Kage asked. "Well since we're in a rush, I just decided to use a spell slot. Apparently, it can direct and channel spells and magical energy, although using it on spells makes it an exchange, one increased trait for another trait being decreased, like increased range but less damage." She explained.
"I've found a decent amount of legible text too. I can tell a lot of this is in some kind of coded language, but what I can make out explains what Lillian mentioned. That crystal is some powerful source of energy, but it's also described as just a piece of something greater, something he referred to as 'The Great Shattering', whatever that is." Atarah said, bundling up various papers safely.
"Wait, The Great Shattering is that the exact wording!?" Flora asked, suddenly slightly manic. "Mhmm, he uses it several times so I assume it's something specific. Why do you ask?" She responded.
"The Great Shattering is a magic event that happened about 6,000 years ago! No one knows much except rumors and legends are still around, but whatever caused it, the result was magic being splintered into the eight schools that now exist. Many rumors mention some dark cabal of mages crafting an artifact to do just that, an artifact of unparalleled power and potential known as Dark Sun." Flora explained, seeming equal parts excited and panicked.
"If this shard is a piece of Dark Sun, then Lillian wasn't kidding about it being on par with the Leylines of the material plane! Oh, we have to be very careful with this indeed!" Her expression began to shift more towards excitement than panic, making the others a bit wary.
"How about I keep onto this for now, just until we get it somewhere safe." Kage said, quickly grabbing the shard. The energy of it felt a bit tingly on her skin, but there weren't any adverse effects.
"If this thing is that dangerous, it sounds like we should destroy it." Valp said, readying her hammer.
"I wouldn't suggest that, kid!" Alena spoke up. "Magic items are hard to bust anyways, but they got a bad tendency to go BOOM big time if not handled properly. The amount of fingers I've had to reattach because some zealous punk didn't want to wait for a War Mage is enough to match all our hands together."
As they discussed this, the silver runes reached the ground, and a doorway made of shadows extended to the floor. "It's done, now we need to leave." Lillian announced.
"Where are we going with this?" Kage asked. "In case you missed it, it's extremely dangerous."
"We're taking it to the main base of The Sunsetters. They have researchers and containment devices. For the time being, it's the safest place on Edda to take it." She explained.
"Let's hurry, we probably don't have much time to-" Lillian began, before all six of them felt an intense pulse of pressure out of nowhere, leaving even Valp shivering in its wake.
"Go." Lillian whispered, her teeth clattering together.
A few minutes prior, in the distant north of The Midnight Realm, an elegantly dressed woman stood on the balcony of a grand castle, made of dark stone, wreathed with red banners with the insignia of a golden and silver rose.
She had adorned herself with a simple white dress shirt and a long flowing dress coat, the shoulders and back adorned with black roses, some natural and some fabric, with a pattern of interwoven thorn-laden stems between them. With her silver, ruby-inlaid circlet keeping her long, densely curled hair flowing in the wind behind her, she kept her eyes on the horizon.
Some minor noble was giving her reports of a recent battle, but she didn't care for the information. Her vampiric army had effortlessly laid waste to the minor contingent of Undead that sought to claim some of the vampire's territory, her territory away from her. It was the obvious result.
But then, she felt it. A pulse of energy that she recognized instantly. At that instant, her pitch-black painted lips curled into a sadistic smile, and she leaped onto the ledge of the balcony.
"That'll be enough for today, dear Viscount. I have a meeting to attend to!" The woman said with an elated tone. With a spark of magic, her long coat and fashioned shirt transformed into a stainless piece of steel armor, with a silver rose insignia on the breastplate.
Her knee-high heels remained the same, but the simple pants she had been wearing before shifted to a tasse and cuisse, and her boots gained some pieces of armor as well.
Before the Viscount could say anything, she launched herself off of the balcony with such power that the thick stone railing completely shattered in the place where she leaped, and the Viscount only saw her leap off of one more structure before she disappeared behind the horizon.
As the woman sailed over the disparate islands of the Vampiric Kingdom, her glorious kingdom, she felt the residue of the pulse of energy and saw the strange house it originated from. As her smile grew more wrought, she landed on the ground and set her eyes on the tunnel.
"Lillian, what the hell was that!?" Alena asked.
"WE DON'T HAVE TIME! GO NOW!" Lillian shouted, her fangs bared due to her intensity.
For a second, there was no sound, only the beating of their respective hearts could be heard, as fear and anticipation in equal measures stopped any chance of movement.
"Alright, I think we all need to calm down, I learned some deep breathing exercises recently! Now do it with me everyone, breath in, and breath ou-" Flora began before suddenly having her shirt collar grabbed by Valp.
Flora then saw the looming shadow above her, a tall armored woman with dark brown hair and skin the same tone as Lillians was right behind her, but not even looking at her. As Valp threw both herself and Flora to the ground, the figure finished the swipe of their arm that was about to hit Flora in the head and caused a massive burst of wind to shake the small cavern they found themselves in.
"My oh my, you're quite the fast one. Lillian, you've made such interesting friends!" The woman said, staring at Lillian with wide eyes. Eyes that had no pupil or iris, but instead a crimson rose, the same minimalistic, 2-dimensional style as the insignia on her breastplate, where they would be.
"DON'T MOVE!" Lillian shouted, her voice breaking from fear, and the new figure creaked to a halt as Lillian's eyes shined crimson as well. "Everyone, run!"
Valp used her continued grasp on Flora to toss her in the gateway made by Lillian. Her body was strangely light, so she had no problems doing so as the party had already moved close. From there she pushed her legs to the limit to grab Alena and Kage, even if they didn't fully register what had happened yet, and ran towards the portal to toss them as well.
Atarah moved at the same hurried pace, and the two were standing on either side of the door. "Lillian, come on!" Atarah shouted.
"Don't worry about me, just go!" Lillian said, quickly turning to face them with pleading eyes. As Atarah began to voice a protest, Valp shoved her into the gateway as well.
"Lillian, if you're truly our ally, come back to us." She said, before falling back into the portal as well.
After everyone was fully within the portal, Lillian drew back her sword, closing the portal, but not before her effect against the woman ended.
Before Lillian could react, the woman had punched her in the stomach, sending Lillian against the back wall, shattering the solid stone of the cave.
"Come now Lillian, you didn't even introduce your new friends to me! Are you ashamed of them? I wouldn't judge you for mingling with mortals you know, we all need pets~" The woman taunted.
Lillian picked herself up, blood darker than most leaking from her mouth, shuddering at the woman, but glaring at her with a crimson-dyed determination.
"Or maybe, you know that I wouldn't approve of them? What kind of child are you to keep secrets from me?" The woman said, her eyes growing cold.
"I don't need to tell you anything, Rosellia." Lillian spat back, a growl of hatred escaping her throat.
"To keep secrets from your own mother is a naughty thing indeed." With another spark of magic, a black and silver longsword apparated from thin air, and with a strong swing segmented into several bladed sections, much like a whip.
"And here I thought I wouldn't have to punish you past your first century."
