Elsewhere

The blast to the back of Duke’s head had been tremendous, triggering an instinctual reaction. He TELEPORTED to the roof of the building without even thinking about it. As his conscious brain took back over, he triggered his DUNGEON SENSE to get an idea of what was going on inside the building. What he saw was truly disturbing. Every single person inside the warehouse was a vampire, and they all were looking for him.

Rage overtook Duke’s thoughts as he realized both that he had blindly walked into a trap, and that they had converted this many people into vampires just to attack him. His PURPOSE began to churn within him as the depth of the betrayal washed over him. He had thought he was helping hundreds gain freedom from this city’s oppression. Instead, they had all been turned into vampires, monsters. His anger only burned hotter.

Hotter. Yes, hotter. Fire hurts vampires. Time to cauterize this wound on the city. Duke fired up FLAME DART with a continuous stream of Mana, making it less like a dart, and more like a flamethrower which he directed towards the roof. After that started to catch on fire, he flew around the warehouse, aiming at the walls. Burn, assholes! Duke made it nearly completely around the warehouse, pouring more than 100,000 Mana into his FLAME to set the place on fire before anyone made it outside.

The wooden building obliged nicely, flames spreading quickly over the walls. Duke swung around to the red door he had entered and was met with a number of vampires pouring out towards him but Lasandra wasn’t among them. Not wasting any time, he aimed his FLAME in their direction but one of the vampires had erected a barrier of some sort that deflected the FLAME away from them.

From the vampires, Spells and Abilities lanced into the sky to meet Duke. He dodged most of them but even with his speed, there were just too many for him to out and out dodge. Considering his options, he decided to take a smarter approach than just charging into their midst, still remembering the blast that had cut his Health nearly by a third. He flew back to gain some distance and plan his attack.

Although some attacks were still being sent his way, he was well outside of their effective range. What he did notice, however, was that vampires were starting to escape, using the shield as cover from him. He decided that he couldn’t wait any longer. He accelerated as fast as he could, aiming right for the barrier, releasing the stone balls he had been holding from his time in the dungeon right before he TELEPORTED away centimeters from the barrier. It was a maneuver he had repeatedly practiced in the dungeon and the numerous times practicing it led to a near perfect execution.

The first four stone balls obliterated the barrier and the vampires cowering behind it. The next twenty slammed though the warehouse wall, causing untold chaos inside. From the rubble, came dozens of flying vampires, all heading straight for Duke.

You die here, human!” A particularly ugly vampire with scars all over his face and neck shouted as he charged Duke in the air. Duke IDENTIFIED him as a matter of course.

*** You have encountered Samuel, a greater vampire. This is a tier three foe.

Level: 146

Health: 108,008

Mana: 89,106

***

Duke took notice of the vampire’s information and summoned his tonfa from his INVENTORY moments before the vampire reached him. The monster named Samuel arrived, charging for Duke at his full speed which was considerably faster than most foes Duke had fought. But Duke was faster still.

Dodging claw strikes while smashing his foe with now flaming Tonfa kept Duke too occupied to worry about what was occurring below them. That is, until another three vampires joined the fight. They quickly surrounded Duke, slashing at him from all directions. He TELEPORTED a short distance away and bathed the area in flames. The vampires did not seem to appreciate that move and flashed in his direction again.

He met the first with a crushing blow to the head, sending it plummeting to the ground. The rest began to swarm him again, with Samuel in the lead. Duke was operating with both his COMBAT SENSE and DUNGEON SENSE engaged. They seemed to compliment each other, giving him better situational awareness than he had ever experienced before. He could see the positioning of all the vampires around him and how they were attacking. He could also see the vampires streaming out of the burning warehouse, some injured, but most whole. This irritated Duke to no end.

Duke increased the intensity of his attacks, pushing extra Mana into his FLIGHT to increase his speed in the air. With his significantly enhanced awareness, he was able to shift from fighting to killing. The combination of near instantaneous acceleration from his FLIGHT and instantaneous deceleration from his TELEPORTATION allowed him to strike devastating blows that killed most of the vampires around him quickly. He took the occasional slash in the process and really hoped his REGENERATION could handle the intrusive vampire blood.

As Duke finally put Samuel down, he was able to focus on the rest of the vampires fleeing the warehouse. Almost all of those injured by the fire seemed to be healing as they attempted to flee the flames except for Lasandra who simply stood outside the door and stared hatefully at Duke. He was filled with questions and was sure he would not like the answers. He started to head down to the Vampire Lord to get his answers when a realization struck him. If all the people in the warehouse were vampires, all the people I sent to the Inn are vampires too. Shit! I’ve got to get back there and help.

“Something wrong, Duke? Don’t you like me anymore? You did let them kill me, after all? Maybe that was your intention all along.” Lasandra’s words struck Duke harder than any physical blow and he stopped in mid-flight.

“I didn’t just let them kill you.” Duke responded, barely keeping his voice steady.

“And yet, you stood there while I died. Why did you survive while the rest of us died, Duke? Sounds a bit too convenient to me.” Again, Lasandra’s words struck him hard, his emotions reeling. He felt the pain of her death all over again. The hopelessness of the memory, of being completely unable to stop her from being killed overwhelmed Duke. He felt himself lowering to the ground, unable to care – he had failed Lasandra so completely. Now was his chance to make it up to her.

“That’s right, Duke. Come over here and ask my forgiveness.” Lasandra called out to him, and he approached her, arms hanging defenselessly at his sides and his jaw slack. His tonfa clattered to the street as he slowly walked right up to her, entranced by her words. She smiled broadly, showing her fangs as she stretched up to place her hand on Duke’s shoulder. “Come down to me, Duke. Let me whisper in your ear.” Duke complied, thoughtlessly.

She gently pulled him close and whispered to him, the barest of sound caressing his ear. “It is time for you to submit to me and join me as my greatest creation. Show me that you are ready. Show your neck to me.” Her fangs crept forward, ready to drink his lifeblood away.

Duke’s PURPOSE flared to life, enhancing his MENTAL RESISTANCE to finally break him free of Lasandra’s control. The flash of realization nearly stunned Duke in and of itself as he suddenly knew how close he was to losing himself forever. In its place stood only red-hot rage, fueled by his PURPOSE. Duke finally acted.

Duke’s left hand flashed upward and then forward, grasping Lasandra around the throat followed by his right fist slamming into her face. The look of shock on her face quickly turned to rage as Duke pulled back to strike her again. She twisted in his grip, trying to slip out while bringing her clawed hands to tear at his arm. Duke ignored the pain and squeezed harder while slamming his fist into her face again and again.

Lasandra screamed. It was a horrific sound that reverberated throughout the area, shaking loose several beams and causing the burning warehouse’s roof to collapse. Duke instinctively covered his ears with his hands, releasing the vampire. She shot away from him, hissing. “You will be mine. You abandoned me. You left me to die. I will have you as my slave!” She flashed forward to claw Duke, her claws having grown nearly the size of his chest.

“Bad choice, monster”, Duke replied. Her charge met nothing as Duke TELEPORTED behind her, following her with his own FLIGHT Ability.

Lasandra stopped once she realized that Duke had TELEPORTED away. Before she could react, he had driven her face-first into the flaming ruins of the warehouse, burying them both in the inferno. Duke TELEPORTED out, waiting for the vampire some ten meters above the flames.

He waited for a full ten seconds, wondering if that really was enough to finish the Vampire Lord Lasandra. He received his answer as a whisper on the wind. “You may have beaten me this day, but my minions are killing yours and now…now we all know where you live!” An involuntary chill shuddered down Duke’s spine as he realized the truth of her words. “The longer you stay here, the more of your people die, and the more minions I gain.”

“So, you know where I live. Send everything you have at me and none of you will live through the night.” Duke was pissed. He wanted to tear through the rubble and find her so he could tear her apart once and for all but the thought of his troops, his friends, facing hundreds of vampires without him just ate away at his resolve. With a final statement that galled him to make, he TELEPORTED back to his base, letting the empty words float behind, “This is not over.”