"It’s been a long ti since we last saw each other, Levreeshka Dulcar," Frank Pyton says, a lit cigar clenched between his teeth in a sinister grin.
With him are Joe Callhan — the ogre — Philip Serghel — the tiefling — along with Cassian Eisenfaust and Clarissa Felmon.
Levreeshka imdiately throws an arm out to protect Alexander, pushing him behind her. A natural, instinctive gesture.
At the sight of that man, Alexander is seized by pure terror. He knows exactly who he is — Oktavian Azuralis, the traitor wanted for stealing the Scale of Urvoras and killing his expedition companions.
"You again... looks like the lesson I gave you last ti wasn’t enough. Seems you just can’t wait to die," Levreeshka replies, forcing a sadistic, cruel grin.
But those threats only draw chuckles from Frank and his lackeys.
"The last growl of a dying she-wolf. Like this, you’re not so threatening anymore, you know?"
Then Frank’s gaze shifts past her.
"And look at the company you keep. Alexander Azuralis, if I rember right — cowardice made flesh. Last ti I saw you, you were just a kid who did nothing but cry and complain. Looks like you haven’t made much progress since then."
At those words, Alexander moves behind Levreeshka, hiding completely from Frank’s sight. Not out of fear — but out of sha.
Seeing this, Frank twists the knife deeper.
"Funny you haven’t run off yet like a scared little dog. Even funnier that you’re keeping company with a vampire — weren’t those creatures the ones who killed your parents? You’d really do anything to save your own skin, huh. No sha at all."
Levreeshka glances back. She ets Alexander’s pained gaze, and a wave of pity and compassion washes over her.
That brat... he told his parents were killed, but not that it was vampires who did it. And as if that wasn’t enough, he said he wanted revenge on Isabelle for killing his younger sister. He has every reason to hate vampires, and yet he saved anyway. He could’ve just left — I would’ve died, and I wouldn’t have been able to do a damn thing about it. But he helped anyway.
He may be a whiny brat, but he’s got a heart of gold... and I won’t let him die!
Frank turns back to Levreeshka.
"Oh, now that I think about it... last ti we t, you said that next ti we saw each other you’d have all the ti in the world for . Well, looks like it’s your lucky day — I’m free too. I had an important business eting on Wall Street coming up, but thanks to the ss you made, I guess it’s off."
Frank grits his teeth, his irritation boiling over into rage.
"I told you last ti, and I’ll say it again: anyone who gets in the way of my business gets crushed. Always! You cost hundreds of millions of dollars... now you’ll pay with your life! Green, Black, Cassian — kill the vampire and the brat!"
Joe shifts into an ogre. Philip takes his tiefling form, his claws and the sharp tip of his long tail wreathed in Hell Flas. Cassian draws his twin enchanted blades.
The three imdiately charge.
"Brat, run!" Levreeshka orders, taking a defensive stance.
"A-And what about you? There are three of them and you can barely stand! They’ll kill you!"
"I’m a general of the glorious Scarlet Army! After surviving the Destruction Dragon Eyes of Princess Mia Valakis, that boy’s Innatus, and the Platinum Death, there’s no way I’m dying to three nobodies like them! So stop worrying about and run if you care about your life!"
Levreeshka launches a counterattack, a faint aura of Sanguis energy surrounding her.
Joe makes the first move with a powerful leap at her, but Levreeshka beats him to it with a flying kick straight to his chest. The ogre is sent flying, but lands on his feet a short distance away, barely hurt.
She barely pushes one of them back before the other two are already on her.
Cassian swings both blades in a double slash, and Levreeshka only partially dodges. One blade cuts into her left shoulder, but she instantly fires back with a hook to his face, sending him crashing to the ground. Even then, it only breaks his nose.
If she were at full strength, that punch and the earlier kick to the chest would’ve been enough to kill Cassian on the spot and seriously injure Joe. But the little strength she recovered during that brief break after her clash with Isabelle isn’t enough to do more than this.
Philip is right on top of her now. He slashes with his flaming claws, but Levreeshka dodges with a quick backward jump.
The mont she lands, a sharp pain shoots through her calf, making her stagger. The tiefling doesn’t miss the opening. His long tail cracks across her face, spinning her around and slamming her face-first into the ground.
Levreeshka pushes herself up, blood streaming from the deep gash across her face — all under Alexander’s petrified gaze.
He’s torn between his instinct to run as far and as fast as possible and the urge to rush to her aid. One force pulls him forward, the other drags him back — and he ends up frozen in place.
The vampire barely has ti to look up before the ogre’s punch slams into the back of her head, smashing her face against the damp sewer tiles.
He raises his foot to crush her head, but Levreeshka finds the strength to roll onto her back and drive her heel into his ankle. Then she twists her foot — the heel snaps off, lodging deep.
Joe collapses with a piercing scream. He tries to rip the improvised spike out, but it’s too thin and his fingers too thick to grip it. It’s like trying to pull a needle buried deep in flesh.
"Are you an idiot or what, brat?! Why the hell are you still here?! Get out!" Levreeshka snarls, her voice choked with blood.
"I... I don’t..."
But before he can finish, Levreeshka is under attack again.
With a trendous effort, she pushes herself up and launches into the air, narrowly dodging Cassian’s blades. The movent sends a surge of pain through her body — her left shoulder from the earlier slash, and her right from the sharp bone projectile Chris drove into her.
That searing pain keeps her from raising her guard in ti against Philip’s claws. She barely manages to pull back, his strike shredding her tal corset instead of ripping her face apart.
The impact sends her flying back, tumbling across the floor, slick with waste and organic filth.
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