"What the hell is going on? We were just supposed to patrol and hang out… so why am I standing before something that radiates such malicious evil?" Mikage thought, a bead of sweat rolling down his face.
The museum—once intact—was now reduced to rubble from his own attack. Where Dracula had stood moments ago, a blazing inferno raged.
As the flames thinned, they revealed a crimson dome, pulsing and slick with blood.
"I just came back to life, and you're already trying to send me back? Does that make sense, boy?!" Dracula's voice cut through the roar of the fire. The dome shattered, revealing him completely unharmed, irritation flickering in his eyes.
"Damn… I knew Enten wouldn't kill him, but not even a scratch?" Mikage's jaw tightened.
"Die."
Dracula raised a finger, blood swirling to its tip in a deadly spiral—
"Mshale wa radi!" Lyon's voice thundered.
BZZT—SHNK!
Lightning tore through Dracula's chest, punching a hole where his heart should have been. His eyes widened as blood sprayed from his mouth. He dropped to his knees.
"My heart… it exploded? How did I not even react?!"
"Where are you?!"
"Right here."
Three crackling rods slammed into the ground around Dracula. He looked up to see Lyon hovering above, one hand raised.
"Tenshi Geki!"
A wave of lightning crashed down, flooding the battlefield with blinding white energy.
Akira knelt, cradling Kane's battered body, while Sigvard stood between them and Charles.
"He's lost too much blood—it's a miracle he's still alive," one of Akira's shadow soldiers reported.
"How do we help him?" Akira demanded.
"Seal his wounds and get him to a medic—fast." Darkness began wrapping Kane's injuries, even the severed wrist.
"But his mana's too low to heal. Sir, you'll have to share your mana."
Akira froze. "How do I even—"
"It won't work," Kane rasped. "Our cores don't mix."
"But you're dying!"
"Just… take the others and hide until the Phantom World collapses."
"Shut up and let me think!" Akira snapped. His eyes widened as a memory clicked. "When Yukiko ran out of mana, she drew from the environment. Can you do that?"
"I… can…" Kane wheezed. Slowly, the rubble around them dissolved into golden light, flowing into him. His breathing steadied.
"Good," Akira exhaled. "Now I can fight without worrying about you."
Kane's hand shot up, gripping his wrist. "Don't. He's too strong."
Akira pried the hand off gently. "I'm a one-man army."
The dark parasitic armor crawled over his body as he strode to Sigvard's side.
"Master, there's no need. I can handle him."
"I know I'm not on his level," Akira said, voice low, "but I can't forgive what he did. I don't even like him, but that doesn't matter. Doing that to someone in front of me… it's disgusting. So please—don't ask me again. I'm not in a good mood."
More soldiers erupted from the shadows, surrounding them.
"Very well," Sigvard replied.
"Constructs or summons?" Charles analyzed, eyes narrowing. "He speaks to them like people, but they have no mana cores… yet one severed my arm. Something's not right." His hand regenerated in seconds.
Akira and Sigvard spoke in unison.
"Charge."
The soldiers surged forward from all angles
—and Charles smiled.
The soldiers surged from all sides, flanking Charles like a tightening net.
"Do you think a parlor trick like this will shake my resolve?" he scoffed as the first soldier brought an axe down on his shoulder—only for the blade to shatter.
"This one couldn't pierce my skin… a fluke?" Charles thought, before seizing the soldier's face and smashing it into the ground. The construct dissipated in a wisp of shadow.
"They vanish… constructs made of mana?"
Another soldier lunged. Charles backhanded it aside without effort.
"Every soldier costs him mana," he realized, slashing one's head off with a blade of blood and skewering two more in a smooth weave.
"He's not reforming them. That means they're saving mana for a decisive strike—heart or head."
A grin split his face. "Is that the best you can think of?"
His mana flared, and the air turned heavy. Akira froze under the weight.
"You feel it, don't you, boy? The overwhelming gap in our power."
Akira's legs trembled.
"Steel yourself, Master," Sigvard said calmly. "He's trying to break your will. Once he does, he's won."
Akira inhaled sharply. "You're right… get ready."
A soldier swung for Charles' neck—
"What a waste," Charles thought, reaching to catch the blade.
In that instant, Sigvard stood where the soldier had been, his sword already in motion. Charles' eyes widened as his fingers flew into the air, the blade driving for his head.
Chng!
With his other hand, Charles formed a blood blade, blocking the strike. What the hell? He cut me again? Gritting his teeth, he forced his blade against Sigvard's in a contest of strength.
"Hey—over here."
Charles turned at Akira's voice just in time to catch a spinning kick aimed at his head. The distraction was enough—Clang! Charles' blade shattered, and Sigvard's sword bit into his neck.
"Shit—again!" Charles hardened the blood in his neck, halting the strike. Spikes of blood erupted from his body in retaliation, but Akira and Sigvard swapped places with soldiers, letting the spikes impale only shadows.
"What's wrong? Where's that confident smile?" Akira taunted.
Gasping for breath, Charles fixed his gaze on Sigvard. "How is he cutting through me? I can't sense a mana core from you."
Akira only tilted his head.
"I'm talking to your knight. I know it talks!"
Sigvard leveled his blade. "I prefer to let my sword speak for me."
Impossible, Charles thought. A being without a core… the only explanation is a transcendent. But how did that boy summon one?
"Nothing is coming between me and my plan!"
Blood exploded from his back, surging at Akira and Sigvard in a massive wave. Darkness coiled from Akira's body, holding the crimson tide at bay—at first.
"It's useless," Charles growled, pressing harder. The blood began to overwhelm the darkness. Soldiers attacked from every angle, but none could pierce him. Sigvard broke through the chaos, blade flashing.
"Now the boy's occupied. I can focus on you."
Charles' eyes blackened, crimson pupils glowing as veins spiderwebbed across his pale skin. He caught Sigvard's sword in one hand.
A soldier switched with Akira in a blink.
"Who did you say was preoccupied?" Akira's voice came as he slammed a punch into Charles' side.
At the same moment, Sigvard conjured a second blade and slashed upward, tearing through Charles' left eye.
"Get—away!" Charles roared, mana exploding wildly. Akira and Sigvard leapt back.
Punching him felt like hitting a wall, Akira thought grimly.
Behind Charles, the blood surge coiled around Akira's shadow soldiers, crushing them all into nothing.
Outside the Phantom World, Trixie kept trying Mr. Simon's number while Yukiko tried Mr. Oliver's, but each time the same cold message echoed: "No network."
"Kiko… I can't get through," Trixie said, more cracks forming across her face.
"Relax. You're hurting more than you're letting on," Yukiko replied gently.
"It's not going to work," Luke cut in.
Edward frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I'm not answering to your kind."
"Explain yourself," Yukiko pressed.
Luke sighed. "The Phantom World was designed to block signals. When I forced it open briefly, its mana remnants spread out, jamming communications."
"When will it clear?" Yukiko asked.
"Could be minutes… could be days. And its range is far."
Edward's thoughts grew heavy. And getting back to school takes two hours by car… forty minutes running. Who knows what's happening to them right now?
Inside the Phantom World, Dracula's charred body was barely recognizable.
Lyon whistled, retrieving his rods. "No matter how strong a vampire is, a heart strike always works."
"Sânge Táios."
A voice slithered through the air. In a blink, a hole appeared in Lyon's shoulder.
"You must think I'm like the rest," Dracula said, his burned form rising.
Mikage and Lyon locked eyes—frozen with fear.