The room had gone quiet in a way that didn't feel like shock anymore. It felt like people were afraid to breathe.
Xavier straightened and called Serpent's Fang into his hand. The blade answered instantly, forming with that familiar ripple, its weight settling like it belonged there.
Xavier raised Serpent's Fang and pointed it at Luther without shifting his stance. The reaction from the vampires around them was imdiate, and it had nothing to do with Luther being threatened. They stared at Xavier like he was a problem their instincts could not solve.
A human who had just torn apart another human. A human who had transford into a vampire and then stepped back out of it like it was nothing. A human holding a relic weapon that answered to blood and intent without hesitation. To them, he was wrong in a way that made their instincts scream. He wasn't supposed to exist. He broke too many rules at once.
Fear was written all over their faces.
"A human shouldn't be able to do that," one of the elders muttered, eyes locked on the blade. "He transford and reverted like it was nothing."
"He's wrong," another said under his breath. "That thing answers to him."
The fear curdled fast into hatred.
One of the elder vampires snapped and drew his sword. "Enough of this!" he shouted as he rushed Xavier, blade raised, moving with the speed of a veteran killer. "I'll end this abomination myself!"
He moved fast enough that a normal human wouldn't even have seen him leave his spot. It was actually impressive. Brave, even. An admirable act of attacking soone they feared, but nonetheless, it was a Completely useless and foolish move.
Xavier turned his wrist and swung once, not even looking directly at the man. The elder didn't finish his charge. His body ca apart mid-step, cut into uneven sections that slid across the floor, while his sword clattered uselessly near Luther's feet.
Soone let out a choked noise that might have been a scream.
flicked Serpent's Fang forward and let it unfold. The blade segnted instantly, snapping outward into its chain form, and the room filled with a wet, brutal sound that hit all at once. Heads of all the vampires in the room dropped from shoulders across the room, bodies collapsing a heartbeat later as blood sprayed the walls and pooled across the evacuation markings.
Now, only the Blackwoods, Luther and Reva's brother remained on the opposite side of Xavier and Rin.
The chain recoiled and reford into the blade in Xavier's hand.
He lowered it slightly and looked straight at Luther. "That's my farewell gift," Xavier said calmly. "What you do with what's left is on you."
Luther didn't answer with words.
His aura exploded outward, crushing the air hard enough to send people stumbling. He grabbed the nearest Blackwood guard and tore through him without slowing, then turned and killed another before the first body even hit the floor.
"Luther, stop!" Lucian shouted, backing away. "You're destroying everything!"
Luther didn't look at him. He moved through the room, killing guards, investors, shareholders, and relatives alike, his power overwhelming and indiscriminate. People ran screaming, tripping over bodies and slipping in blood, but it didn't help them.
Rin's blades were already drawn and stained red. He cut down two guards who tried to rush Xavier and then planted himself between Xavier and the chaos, eyes tracking Luther but body angled protectively.
Aldric pushed forward, his voice shaking with rage and fear. "Have you lost your mind?" he shouted at Luther. "This is a war cri. You've dood us. This will justify extermination. I will get all the vampires massacred from this planet! I will commit a genocide!"
Luther crossed the distance in an instant and crushed Aldric's head in his hand. The body dropped straight down, and the room fell into a stunned silence broken only by alarms and sobbing.
Xavier watched it without expression. He wiped the blade once against the floor and turned away, Serpent's Fang hanging loosely at his side.
"Let's go," he said to Rin. "This part's done."
Rin nodded and stayed close as they moved, stepping over bodies while the evacuation floor descended into panic behind them. Luther remained standing among the dead, soaked in blood, while Lucian stared at the aftermath with hollow eyes.
The ceremony was gone. The deal was gone. And whatever ca next would be written in blood, not contracts.
Suddenly, Lucian's voice cut through the alarms as Xavier turned to leave, sharp and hoarse from shouting too much already. "You don't get to walk away!" Lucian yelled, stepping forward and grabbing a fallen sword from the floor with hands that were shaking but firm.
He raised the blade toward Xavier, not in a perfect stance, but with enough intent that it wasn't just a gesture. Blood streaked the floor between them, bodies still cooling around the evacuation point, and Lucian's eyes were locked on Xavier like he was afraid to blink.
Xavier stopped and turned slowly, his expression flat and tired rather than angry. "Get out of here," he said, voice steady despite everything happening around them. "This evacuation point is done for, and if you stay any longer, sothing worse will happen. Take whoever's still breathing and leave."
Lucian's grip tightened on the sword, knuckles whitening. "You murdered my son in front of ," he shouted, his voice cracking as he spoke. "You destroyed my family, my investors, my board, and even my father. You think you can just give orders after that?"
Xavier looked at the bodies once, then back at Lucian. "Your son died because he deserved that," he said calmly. "And the rest of them weren't killed by . Luther did that, right in front of you. If you want soone to bla for that part, aim it at him."
Lucian laughed bitterly, the sound rough and broken. "You started this," he snapped. "If you weren't here, none of this would've happened. You walked into my house, ruined everything, and turned this into a massacre."
Xavier stepped closer, close enough that Lucian's sword tip trembled near his chest. "Let it go," Xavier said, not raising his voice. "You already lost once to in a duel that mattered to you. This isn't a ga arena, and it's not a stage. Out here, you don't beat , no matter how hard you pretend."
Lucian's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"
Xavier tilted his head slightly. "ObsidianShade," he said. "You really didn't think I wouldn't figure it out."
Lucian froze, shock flashing across his face before he could hide it. "How," he demanded, gripping the sword harder, "how do you know that was ?"
Xavier exhaled slowly, sounding almost bored. "It wasn't anything impressive or mind-blowing," he replied. "I watched all the streams and clips about Obsidianshade. I just connected the dots, the sa way you said you did back then."
Lucian stared at him in silence, the sword lowering a fraction as the weight of that realization settled in. Around them, the alarms kept screaming, the floor slick with blood, and the evacuation countdown ticked toward collapse, while Xavier stood there like this was already finished.
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