The battle in the lab was still a roar of chaos, but in the balcony, Albus, who has finished his fight with the turtle, entered and stood in front of Ilya and the console. He kept his golden shield and spear leveled in his hands.
"You have made monsters out there," Albus said, his tone low but edged with fury. "Why? What is the purpose behind all of this? The mite, the leopard, the turtle, the chameleon, the albatross… why make them?"
Ilya did not flinch. He set his hands behind his back like a lecturer about to begin a calm lesson.
"They are not monsters," he said softly. "They are the prototypes of a better world. Each of them, an apex design. Each engineered for a role in the new order."
Albus's eyes narrowed.
"Engineered for your order."
"Engineered for survival," Ilya corrected, his voice carrying an unsettling conviction. "You have seen what your kind does to itself, war, greed, stagnation. The humanoids are my soldiers, the first wave of a structured society with no weakness, no hesitation. They will enforce balance. Permanently."
Albus stepped closer, his spear's point gleaming in the cold light.
"You can't just replace humans with animals. That will not bring any order."
"They are perfect," Ilya said, not a hint of shame in his tone. "Bound by design to serve the cause. To serve me… until the cause outgrows me. That is the beauty of it. I am simply the architect. The foundation. The world will not remember my name, only the perfection I leave behind."
Albus's gaze flicked to the containment tube where Callidora floated.
"And her? What is her role in this 'order'?"
Ilya's smile returned, thin and almost reverent.
"She will lead the second generation. No longer will vampires rely on inefficient, archaic methods to spread. She will birth her own kind, loyal, pure, bred for purpose. My humanoids will be her army's guard dogs. Together, they will sweep the board clean."
Albus's voice dropped.
"And whose idea was that?"
For the first time, Ilya's expression shifted,pride tinged with something colder.
"The King of Darkness wanted an army. I am giving him the finest one the world has ever seen."
At that, Albus's chest tightened.
"If this King of Darkness is who I think he is… you are not building an army for a ruler. You're building the end of everything."
Ilya chuckled under his breath. "Spare me your myths, golden boy. The King of Darkness is the inevitable evolution, and I will be remembered as the one who set the world upon the right path."
Albus's grip tightened on his spear.
"If you keep going, the only path left will lead straight into the grave, for all of us."
Outside the chamber, a deafening clang signaled Blanchette and the mite smashing through a steel pillar, flames and sparks chasing them like a comet's tail. The creature's six muscular arms spun its arsenal with dizzying speed: a long sword slashed from the left, a battle axe crashed from above, while curved daggers jabbed at her midsection. Blanchette ducked, rolled, and parried, her fire sword flaring each time it clashed against cold steel. She was bleeding from a cut above her brow, sweat streaming down her face, but she smiled. Blanchette ducked under a swinging flail, the wind from it nearly tearing the braid from her hair. Her fire sword flared bright as she slid low, sweeping toward the mite's insectoid legs. The mite brought down its war pick, narrowly missing her shoulder.
"Burn, you bug-eyed freak," Blanchette snarled.
With a scream, she charged, her blade sweeping up. The flames arced and struck the mite's chest. Its helmet melted at the edges. The creature staggered. She did not let it recover, drove her sword deep between two of its ribs, the heat hissing as it pierced through internal tissue. The mite shrieked, all six weapons falling from its hands as it collapsed, smoking and twitching.
Across the chamber, Lillian took aim at the humanoid albatross as it glided through the air. Lillian dodged behind a crate as an arrow thudded into it. The albatross, elegant and deadly, flew in wide arcs. His wings spread from his arms like gliders, his silver bow glinting.
"This one is gonna be tough," Lillian muttered, spinning out and firing a round.
The albatross dipped its wing and corkscrewed mid-flight, narrowly avoiding the bullet.
"You missed, cowgirl," the albatross called, nocking an arrow.
"Keep talkin'," Lillian muttered.
He released, a whistling bolt of steel. She rolled, the arrow grazing her side, then came up firing, three quick shots. The albatross twisted, wings folding to dive, but one bullet caught him in the wing joint. He faltered. Lillian ran forward, holstering her gun and leaping onto a counter, then leapt into the air as he stumbled on landing. She landed on his back. He spun to throw her, but she was quicker. With a bullet to the base of the neck, the albatross crashed to the metal floor.
The leopard skated fast along the floor on his wheeled feet, twin pistols flashing. The leopard realizes that he lost sight of Adolfo. Suddenly, there was a monstrous blur of fur and fury, the werewolf lunged, shoulder-first, slamming Leo into a support beam. Sparks rained down. Leo rolled, kicked off the beam, and fired again. Adolfo took two bullets in the shoulder but did not slow down. With a roar, he leapt, claws flashing, and tore through the suit's armor, sending the pistol skidding. The leopard wheezed, tried to draw a knife from his wrist sheath, but Adolfo slammed him into the ground.
"I have had enough of this cat and mouse," Adolfo said.
The leopard looked to the side and sees an opportunity. Daisy on one, hands on her head as she fought the mind control.
"Come on, girl," Cullen said. "I am still your partner. I do not want to fight you."
The leopard managed to kick Adolfo and break free. He rolled behind Cullen and raised his pistol at his head, threatening him and Adolfo with his action. Adolfo stood in place.
"You do not have to do this. You already lost," Cullen said.
"Then I will take you down with me," the leopard replied.
"Cullen!" cried a voice.
Daisy. Her eyes locked on the leopard.
"Don't, Leo," she said softly. "Stop please."
Leo froze. The fire in his eyes dimmed.
She stepped closer. "You always protected me, remember? Even after we got… changed… Come on. We should not let him control us anymore."
Leo's fingers twitched. Daisy reached out, lightning softly humming. Leo looked between her and Cullen… then slowly lowered the gun.
"I remember," he muttered. "I remember you."
Ilya's cold expression cracked just slightly as Albus stepped toward the console, golden spear still pulsing with heat in his hand.
"I am done listening to speeches," Albus said, his voice steady. "You talk about order, evolution, control, but all I see is manipulation."
"You do not understand anything," Ilya hissed.
"I understand that you will make the darkness consume the entire world just like it consumed you."
And with a burst of light, Albus hurled the golden spear across the room, and it slammed straight into the control panel of Callidora's containment cylinder. The console exploded. Sparks erupted, and glass hissed as the glass cylinder cracked fully open. Steam hissed from the seal.
Ilya's face drained of color. "You FOOL! I had not installed any electrocution or mind control device!"
Callidora smiled cruelly as she stepped out and looked at Ilya above her with her blood-red eyes. Behind him, Albus stood firm, golden shield in one hand, flames building in his palm.
"You built your army on control," Albus said. "And now you have lost it."
Callidora turned into a bat then flew and landed in front of the two of them. Callidora's lips curled into a slow, dark smile.
"It is over for you, boys," she said.
Albus threw fireballs at her. She disappeared and appeared beside him then threw him powerfully out of the room. Ilya's scream is heard as the group of heroes gathered around the fallen Albus. Callidora stood tall, her fangs crimson from the bite that had ended Ilya. Her white hair, stained with streaks of red, flowed behind her. A dark aura pulsed around her body, and with a twisted smile, she spread her arms wide. From the floor around her, vampires began crawling into existence, not turned or bitten but born. Screeching, malformed creatures, some still wet with undeveloped skin, others already bearing fangs and claws, rose and surged forward. They clawed at the walls, at the air, and then at the group of warriors now preparing to face their greatest battle yet.
Albus rose slowly from the rubble she had flung him into, wiping blood from his mouth. His golden shield flickered as his bracelet sparked.
"Hold your ground!" he commanded.
Lillian rolled into a crouch beside a toppled steel beam, her six-shooter already drawn. She took a breath, focused, and unleashed a volley of enchanted burning bullets, each shot ripping through one of the newly born vampires. They screamed, crumpled, then melted to ash. Callidora did not care at all.
"Burn as much as you want," she laughed. "I will make more."
Adolfo tore through the newborns with primal fury, fur matted with blood, claws drenched in gore. He leapt, slashed, and howled, but every time he brought one down, two more rose behind it.
"I can't hold them forever!" he snarled.
Cullen ran through the chaos, his twin pistols firing precise, rapid-burning rounds. Vampire heads burst in flame around him. Behind him, Daisy and Leo stood back to back. Daisy, lightning crackling in her paws, let out a snarl as she threw electrified punches that blasted enemies apart. Leo, his carbon-tactical suit torn and scorched, spun on his wheeled feet, dodging attacks and striking with military precision.
"Let's keep each other safe," Daisy said.
Leo's yellow eyes softened when he looked in her eyes. Daisy's voice, real voice, had returned. She placed a paw on his chest, letting a current surge through his system just enough to ground him.
"I will always remember you by the way," Leo whispered.
"And I will never forgot," Daisy replied.
Together, they turned back toward the storm of vampires.
Blanchette, her fire sword glowing brilliantly, dueled directly with Callidora now. Blanchette moved with fury and precision, but Callidora's unnatural speed let her evade or deflect most attacks. She danced like a phantom, then kicked Blanchette backward into a pillar with a bone-crunching crack.
"Cute ," Callidora said with a sneer. "You would make for a great pet, girl."
She swung again, this time connecting, searing Callidora's arm. The vampire shrieked, not in pain, but in thrill.
"Yes! Hurt me! It feels so good!"
Albus had finally recovered. Golden light burst from his bracelet as he summoned spears, sending them hurtling at the queen. One struck a newborn mid-leap and incinerated it. Another grazed Callidora's shoulder, leaving a mark.
"You are not unstoppable," Albus declared.
"Not yet," she admitted, and with a sudden blur of motion, she vanished and reappeared behind him, claw slashing.
However, Adolfo slammed into her just in time, tackling her through a wall. They crashed into the next room, tumbling. Callidora kneed him in the gut, flipped him over, and kicked him in the ribs. He rolled but caught her by the leg and threw her against the lab table, sending glass flying. Another wave of vampires rose. Cullen, Daisy, and Leo turned to intercept.
"Cover the others!" Cullen barked.
"You got it, boss!" Leo shouted, then launched a barrage of shots with his pistol.
Some of the vampires were surging in through ceiling vents. Daisy grabbed one of the vents and electrocuted it, frying a dozen of the creatures trying to crawl through.
Meanwhile, Blanchette ran to Albus. "We need more than fire. I think that scientist made her resistant to it."
"She maybe resistant, but she is not completely fireproof. We can beat her, Blanchette."
Callidora hurled Adolfo across the lab, sending the werewolf crashing through a metal console. Sparks flew. He lay groaning, blood dripping from his fur, the monster within flickering under the strain.
"You really thought a beast like you could stop me?" she snarled, fangs bared. "You are still just a dog."
She waved her hand and more vampires surged out. These new ones were bigger, sharper, faster. With each one she birthed, her aura darkened, her strength pulsing like a living storm.
Albus spun toward the reinforcements and threw a fireball, but this time, they avoided his attacks. One of them tackled him hard, slamming him into the ground. His bracelet flared to life, forming a shield of light, barely holding.
"Something has… changed," he grunted, sweat beading on his brow. "She is making them faster."
Lillian fired bullet after bullet, each one igniting on impact, but the vampires were dodging now. One grazed her leg with a claw, and she dropped to one knee. She hissed, clutching the wound.
"Dammit," she muttered, grimacing. "You cannot slow down, Lillian. Not now."
She rolled and fired point-blank into the head of the attacker, but even then it took two shots to drop it. Cullen ducked behind overturned equipment, reloading both pistols with burning rounds. Daisy was covering him, claws crackling with electricity as she clawed through two newborns trying to reach him.
"Cullen, this is worse than I thought!" she shouted.
"I know!" he shouted back. "Stay alive!"
But then Callidora appeared behind them.
"It is so nice that your little pet remembers you out of love?" she whispered to Cullen, her claw scraping across his metal shoulder. "It is going to be very fun to eat another one of those you love."
Cullen turned and fired both pistols at once, right into her stomach. She managed to turn into a bat before he shot, and she turns back behind him.
"You will have to try harder," she hissed, backhanding him across the lab.
Blanchette lunged in then, sword blazing. She came down on Callidora in a perfect arc, but the vampire queen caught the blade with her bare hand. The fire burned her skin, but she smiled.
"I have tasted worse than fire."
With a roar, she flung Blanchette aside, her body skidding across the floor. Lillian rushed in, trying to buy her time, but a swarm of newborns tackled her. She fought with ferocity, firing into their skulls even as they dragged her down, one clawing at her shoulder.
Golden light erupted like a nova. Albus, hovering above the battlefield now with his bracelet glowing like a second sun, sent a beam of burning light across the room, vaporizing the newborns clinging to Lillian. Despite that, Callidora surged up behind him, leapt into the air, and struck him with her hand. He crashed to the floor, skidding across glass and wires. He groaned, reaching for his bracelet as it sputtered.
Adolfo, regaining his footing, howled loud and charged Callidora again, but this time, she was ready. She ducked under his swipe, slashed him across the ribs, then sank her claws into his side and flung him into the wall with enough force to crater the steel. The werewolf slumped, gasping, body twitching from the impact.
Leo, rolling into the fray on his wheel-feet, tried to flank her with rapid pistol shots. Daisy, too, launched a spear of lightning from her hands. Callidora twirled through both attacks, then kicked Leo so hard he hit the ceiling, bounced, and did not rise again. Daisy shrieked.
"No!" she cried, running to him, only for Callidora to catch her by the throat and slam her into the ground.
"This is what I am going to make all of you feel," Callidora said with venom. "Pain. Loss. Despair."
She raised a claw to finish Daisy when a single spear shot from the side, grazing her arm. Albus, panting, bleeding, had pulled himself up again. His eyes glowed faintly gold.
"I will stop you… no matter what."
Callidora hissed, looking around at the scattered, broken heroes. And she laughed.
"This is your hope? This… rabble of misfits?" She twirled, summoning a fresh wave of vampires. "I could end this now. I could drink every drop of your blood, leave nothing but bone. But what fun would that be?"
She turned, slowly stalking toward Albus.
"I want to see your pretty lights go out. One… by one."