NOVEL NEXT Chapter 67 Subjugate
Zero pulled a blade out of his space as Yoko produced her bladed whip Malice and her Spellkeeper armor that she shaped into a dark red armor. Dracula snapped his fingers and a sword made of ice appeared in front of him and he grabbed it.
“I’ll handle the frontal assault and you handle magical support and disrupting his movements.” said Zero
“Alright let’s go.” said Yoko as she turned her dark tide orbs into ice spikes and launched them at Dracula causing him to summon flames to protect him. As the flames encircled him Zero and Yoko lost sight of him but sensing something Zero grabbed Yoko and teleported away. Dark flame spears pierced the ground where they had been standing.
Zero and Yoko appeared 30 feet away from where the spears pierced the ground. Dracula appeared above the 2 of them and slashed down. Zero blocked the strike with his blade, grabbed Dracula’s hand, and teleported both of them away from Yoko.
Dracula pulled his hand free from Zero’s grasp and attempted to kick his side but Zero teleported behind Dracula. He slashed at Dracula’s neck but the attack was blocked by Dracula who punched him in the abdomen pushing him back. In an instance, Dracula was struck with white lightning that arced from the left direction where Yoko stood.
Dracula remained motionless after being struck by the lightning. He had patches of brunt skin across his body that didn’t heal.
“Why isn’t he healing?” asked Zero as he stood back wary of what Dracula was going to do.
“I used holy lightning so he’ll need to use mana to force his body to heal faster but he’s focusing it somewhere else. He’s about to do something big so prepare yourself.” explained Yoko as she created an air shield around herself.
The area wrapped and the scenery changed the sky looked blood red and the ground became a floor of bones. The air was now heavy with the scent of blood and an oppressive feeling floated in the air.
“He brought us into a territory!” yelled Zero as he teleported next to Yoko.
“What’s a territory?” asked Yoko as she increased the number of air barriers around them.
“Basically, it’s supposed to be how gods fight. They create a space in which they control everything and it amplifies their powers.” explained Zero
“Wait, did you just say they control everything here?” asked Yoko
“Yes so we're in a bad position right now.” answered Zero
Yoko then grabbed Zero's arm and took flight into the air as bone spikes rose from the ground. The spikes exploded and tiny spikes flew in all directions with some flying towards them. The spikes clashed with Yoko’s wind barriers causing the spikes to arc around them missing them completely. Yoko then let go of Zero allowing him to manifest his own wings.
Dracula raised his hand and the air around them started to vibrate and a howl echoed throughout the area. Zero along with Yoko teleported next to Dracula and Zero sliced him down the middle and the sword went through him like butter. Dracula looked at Zero and grabbed his arm and it began to shrivel as the blood was drained from it. Yoko turned her whip into a sword, sliced off Zero's arm, and flew back.
Zero bit Yoko’s neck and drained a bit of her blood to regrow his arm. As he did Yoko summoned holy lightning to attack Dracula to buy time as Zero recovered. Dracula created a blood barrier to block Yoko’s attacks but was unable to completely defend against the attack as tiny arcs of lightning made it through the barrier.
“Looks like holy power will be the best way to attack him.” said Yoko
“Well, then I’m useless then. Wait! Can you imbue a sword with holy power?” asked Zero
Taking Zero’s sword Yoko imbued it with mana causing it to glow white. She handed it back to him saying “This will only last for 5 or so minutes so make them count.”
The lightning barrage ended and when the smoke cleared Zero and Yoko saw that Dracula was slightly injured. The blood barrier faded and Dracula healed instantly but the menacing aura around him faded a bit.
Blood needles appeared from the blood-colored sky and launched straight at them. Zero grabbed Yoko and teleported away but when they appeared the needles launched there. Yoko created an ice barrier but it was easily penetrated by the needles. Zero and Yoko were impaled by hundreds of blood needles that liquefied and entered their bodies.
Zero and Yoko began to scream in pain as black veins appeared on their bodies. The intense pain caused them to be unable to maintain the ability to fly and they crashed into the skeletal ground. Zero used his blood manipulation skill to try to push out the foreign blood from his body but couldn’t.
They screamed and writhed in pain as the veins spread from their chest to the rest of their body. Zero summoned Death’s shadow to protect them as he tried to figure out how to spot the pain. The shadow charged at Dracula with its scythe slashed at him. Dracula blocked the attack with his ice blade and summoned blood needles to impale the shadow but they passed right through it.
As the shadow reaper fought Dracula and was buying time as Zero's mana was constantly being drained each time the shadow was damaged. Zero looked towards Yoko and asked, “Do you… have a way to stop this?”
“This is a mix of blood magic and a skill so you need both to undo it. I can use the blood magic now that I’ve seen it I can do it. You manipulate the blood and I’ll handle the magic.” explained Yoko in a pained voice
Zero attempted to expel the blood from his body and the foreign blood moved this time. He moved all the blood to his left wrist and it burst from his wrist. The dark blood bled from his wrist and the veins disappeared from Zero. Zero then proceeded to do the same to Yoko and the veins disappeared from her body.
“Looks like it succeeded but I don’t think we’ll win at this rate.” said Zero
“Yeah, we can’t win if we’re fighting him in this world so first, we need a way to break out of here. I’ll try my sealing magic to try and disrupt this space.” said Yoko