Not even five minutes after Frank and Joe get into the sedan parked outside the Wallace villa, Philip and Cassian are already back.
Philip is sared with blood from head to toe. Cassian follows behind him, forcing himself to stay composed.
But it isn’t easy to stay composed after what he has just witnessed.
The contrast between Philip’s delicate features and the sadistic brutality with which he killed Sophia Wallace and her son Lucas will haunt Cassian for a long ti.
They get into the car, with Philip taking the wheel.
They drive along the main road out of Greenwich, then take a shortcut.
A paved road lined with an endless row of trees on both sides, lit only by the car’s headlights.
But less than twenty minutes later, Philip suddenly brakes as two large creatures erge from the trees ahead, blocking the road.
They are primordial vampires, abnormally large — at least twice their normal size.
Frank grimaces in irritation.
"It seems these beasts have spread far beyond New York. Apparently the containnt plan my HESPARC contacts told about wasn’t as effective as they hoped. Green, Black — clear the road."
"At your orders, boss."
They get out of the car, and Joe imdiately returns to his true form as an ogre. But he’s not the only one to change.
Philip’s skin suddenly turns black. Two horns sprout from his blond hair, and a long, thin, pointed tail appears.
Like Joe, he uses magic to hide his true form. Philip is a tiefling — a race of demons from the Realm of the Dead.
The sight rekindles the visceral terror Cassian felt in the Wallace bunker, when he saw Philip transform to break through the thick door, slaughter Sophia and Lucas without rcy, and feed on their flesh.
Joe imdiately leaps at one of the enormous primordial vampires.
Despite being much smaller, the ogre’s strength completely overwhelms it.
He slams it to the ground. Before it can react, his hands close around its neck and tear its head off like picking a flower.
At the sa mont, Philip dispatches his opponent just as effortlessly.
His sharpened tail extends several ters and pierces straight through the vampire’s skull. The creature collapses lifeless to the ground.
They are about to return to their human forms and head back to the car when two more equally massive primordial vampires erge from the trees — but not alone this ti.
With them is a woman with long pink hair streaked with black and blood-red eyes shining in the darkness.
Levreeshka Dulcar.
"Well, that’s a surprise..." Frank says.
He’s never seen Levreeshka before, nor has Isabelle described her appearance to him. But faced with a vampire who commands primordial vampires, he quickly puts the pieces together.
Frank signals Cassian to stay in the car, then steps out with a lit cigar between his teeth.
"You’re Levreeshka Dulcar, right?" Frank asks, stepping toward her.
"I’m surprised a miserable human like you knows ," she replies, stepping closer.
"I know enough to see you’re a threat to my business. And anyone who threatens my business gets crushed. Nothing personal, vampire."
He gestures to his subordinates.
"Green, Black, kill her."
They don’t need to be told twice.
The ogre moves first and charges straight at Levreeshka.
A long whip of blood extends from the vampire’s hand.
She lashes at the ogre, but he doesn’t slow down and avoids the strike with a powerful leap. Or so he thinks.
The tip of the whip moves as if it had a will of its own and catches Joe off guard.
It strikes him from behind and cracks across his back, tearing through his thick flesh.
The ogre is thrown forward, crashing face-first into the ground, writhing in pain from the large, excruciating wound on his back, dripping with viscous dark green blood.
But Philip isn’t intimidated.
Red and black flas ignite around his clawed hands and at the tip of his sharpened tail.
The Infernal Flas — a fire whose destructive power is second only to the Tear of Azkarith. Only creatures from the Realm of the Dead can wield it.
Levreeshka lashes again.
Philip avoids it just as Joe did, and now that he knows what to expect, he isn’t caught off guard.
He uses his flaming tail to sever Levreeshka’s weapon, yet he’s struck anyway.
His skin isn’t as thick or resilient as the ogre’s, and he too ends up on the ground with a deep gash across his back.
"A-And yet... I was sure I’d parried it..." Philip gasps.
But when he glances behind him, he realizes the tip of Levreeshka’s whip has forked where he cut it.
Levreeshka grins in amusent.
"Now my little ones finally have sothing to feed on."
The two ends of the whip move toward Joe and Philip. But just as they are about to reach them, a huge serpent of green energy slices through them.
Levreeshka turns to Frank, clearly surprised.
"That power... don’t tell you’re the human who betrayed his companions to seize the Scale of Urvoras. Your cowardly act even reached Elyndra. So you must be the famous Oktavian Azuralis. Two divine artifacts in the sa city — quite the stroke of luck. First I’ll take yours, then the Tear of Azkarith. This just got far more interesting than I expected."
The two severed ends split again, and now the whip has four tips, writhing around Frank like a nest of serpents ready to strike.
The green serpent of energy circles him.
The four whips strike at once from all directions, but Frank’s serpent reacts instantly, breaking three of them. One, however, slips past his defense and coils around his neck.
It tightens with enough force to sever it, and Frank’s head falls to the ground.
Yet not a single drop of blood spills. His body remains perfectly still, still upright.
Levreeshka watches in surprise as his head, before even touching the ground, breaks apart into a trail of glowing green particles that float back toward his neck, perfectly reconstructing it.
"So the Scale of Urvoras grants invulnerability as well. Truly magnificent — now I want it even more. But who knows how much energy it consus."
The three severed parts split again, and now the whip has seven ends thrashing wildly around Frank.
"From what I know, the Scale of Urvoras is the only divine artifact that doesn’t drain its wielder, but feeds on its own energy — which is why it needs to be fed often," Levreeshka continues. "A perfect power for a human with no magic like you."
Frank grimaces slightly in irritation, letting out a puff of smoke from his cigar.
But her words wound his pride more than he lets on.
Sensing it, she presses further.
"I wonder how shaful it must have been for the glorious House Azuralis to have soone born without magic among its ranks."
"You talk too much, vampire. I’ll shut that fucking mouth of yours for good."
But just as the clash is about to resu, the whip’s many ends retract until it returns to a single strand. Then it dissolves.
"I’d love to test the invulnerability that ring grants, but I have a feeling this could drag on, and luckily for you, I have more urgent matters to deal with. But don’t worry — next ti we et, I’ll have all the ti I need for you, Oktavian."
Then Levreeshka vanishes among the trees with a soft laugh.
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