A wave of invisible energy burst from Lief's open palm, but that was neither light nor darkness, but a force representing absolute "balance."
The impact struck Dracula with the power of an unstoppable tide and completely submerged him in its radiance.
"AH...!"
His scream tore the air, charged with total incomprehension and agonizing pain.
His silhouette began to distort violently under the pressure of that energy. Seeming as if two hands grabbed his essence from within and pulled in opposite directions, stretching and twisting his being.
His impeccable suit, his aristocratic features, and that immortal body that had endured four hundred years began to fragment before that primordial force.
When the radiance finally dissipated in front of the throne stairs, there was no longer a single man.
Now, two figures occupied the place where before only the lord of vampires existed.
One of them remained standing, retaining the regal bearing and dark clothing. However, his face had transformed into a mask of unleashed ferocity.
His totally red eyes burned with madness and a thirst for absolute destruction, emanating an aura so cold and dense that it reminded one of a demon just escaped from the abyss.
The other, dressed identically, was the living image of total defeat.
His legs gave way and he fell heavily to his knees against the ground, unable to support his own weight.
Raising his trembling hands, he looked at them with horror, seeing in them the indelible stain of centuries of blood.
In his eyes, the coldness had disappeared to give way to a painfully human look.
"What have you done to me?!"
The Evil Dracula roared, locking his gaze on Lief with a hatred so visceral that it seemed to want to devour him alive right there.
Beside him, the Good Dracula hugged his head, shaken by uncontrollable spasms while tears of blood began to run down his pale cheeks.
"W-What have I done..." he whispered. "All those lives... the souls I corrupted... my wife..."
The lament grew until becoming a howl of despair of one who wakes up in a nightmare.
"WHAT HAVE I DONE!"
"..."
Lief observed the scene floating a few meters off the ground, analyzing the result with curiosity.
Indeed.
This was much more interesting than simply killing him.
The power of separation had ripped out the residual humanity that Dracula repressed for so long, creating that pathetic being that crawled regretfully on the ground.
And what remained standing beside him was the pure distillation of his evil, a monster without conscience or restraint.
"I WILL KILL YOU!"
Swish
The Evil One, having lost any trace of reason, roared with his body blurring until becoming a blurry black trail and launched himself forward.
Observing him with a smile, Lief simply levitated higher vertically, letting Dracula pass harmlessly under the soles of his boots.
"Slow."
Taking advantage of him passing by, Lief took a weapon from his jacket.
It was a silver pistol of strange design, which he aimed directly at the vampire's exposed back.
"Try this."
His finger pulled the trigger.
Swish
But fire and lead did not sprout from the barrel, but rather a blue electric arc, thick and crackling like a living snake, which crossed the distance in an instant and struck his back with precision.
"AAAHHAA!"
Dracula's scream was deafening. The high-voltage discharge ran through every fiber of his being, carbonizing the fabric of his suit and paralyzing his muscles in mid-flight.
His body went rigid, with his nerves frying under the power of the energy.
Like a marionette whose strings had all been cut, the incarnation of evil lost the ability to fly and collapsed.
Thud
He crashed against the ground with an impact so brutal that the hall shook. The floor gave way opening into a crater full of cracks, while a cloud of dust and debris rose to hide him.
Lief blew the smoke coming from his weapon's barrel, relaxed.
But the calm lasted barely a breath.
"GROAAAR!" A bestial roar emerged from the center of the cloud of smoke, dispersing the dust with a shockwave.
Swish
A black shadow burst from the debris with even greater speed than before!
Evil Dracula shot into the air, propelled by an inexhaustible anger.
The burns on his back closed before the eyes, healing in seconds, while a mass of darkness condensed on his shoulder blades until materializing into a pair of gigantic wings.
He flapped the new limbs with force and nose-dived toward Lief like a meteor.
And this persistence was beginning to become insulting. With a gesture of resignation, Lief holstered the weapon.
"Does this never end?" he murmured raising his empty right hand toward the hall's dark firmament.
The air began to vibrate, responding to his call and particles of light condensed in his palm, fusing until materializing a sword of golden radiance.
The weapon became a beacon that cut through the surrounding gloom.
Faced with the brutal onslaught approaching, he waited until the last second and then, with a simple movement, executed a frontal slash.
Swish
A massive arc of golden energy detached from the edge with a deep hum that resonated in the bones of everyone present.
!
Dracula's eyes widened upon seeing that light and he attempted a desperate turn, but the sentence was already dictated.
"Aaaaargh...!"
The slash impacted him squarely on his shoulder, but there was no blood.
Instead, a golden fire cauterized the flesh and bone instantly, provoking an agonizing hiss while the darkness of his being screamed.
The cut broke his concentration and shattered his control over flight. Turned into an inert projectile, he was thrown violently backward.
Boom
His trajectory ended abruptly against one of the hall's support columns.
The stone exploded, and the entire castle groaned and trembled, sending a rain of dust and debris into the void.
Amidst the settling dust cloud, Evil Dracula slid to the ground, falling heavily onto one knee.
His breathing was a violent gasp, each exhalation a struggle against the burning pain devouring his shoulder.
Slowly, he raised his face, revealing a contorted hatred, toward the figure floating serenely above him.
And his look of superiority was the fuel that stoked the hell inside the vampire.
Refusing to accept defeat, he stood up and opened his arms.
"In my name!" his voice amplified. "Children of the night, hear my call and come to your master!"
The castle responded to its lord.
The shadows in the farthest corners seemed to thicken, stir, and come to life.
In the unfathomable darkness of the high dome, thousands of red points lit up simultaneously like embers.
An instant later, a collective shriek, a cacophony of thousands of throats capable of bursting eardrums, flooded the space.
A dense and suffocating cloud of bats burst from every crack, every arch, and every hidden corner.
They converged in the center of the hall, forming a black torrent that eclipsed the little light that remained, and lunged like a wave of death to devour Lief.
"The same cheap trick."
Stifling a yawn and ignoring the sword, Lief simply extended the palm of his hand toward the approaching maelstrom.
The air in front of him responded to his will and densified in a fraction of a second, creating an invisible but absolute barrier.
!
The torrent of bats slammed against the wall with violence.
A repulsive sound filled the hall when the vanguard of the horde was crushed instantly, reduced to a bloody mass by its own inertia and the pressure of the thousands pushing from behind.
The creatures continued their suicidal advance, piling up against the impenetrable defense like waves breaking against a cliff, unable to gain a single millimeter of ground.
Observing the useless massacre coldly, he decided that the show had lasted too long.
"I've played enough."
His gaze changed and the atmosphere in the hall became heavy.
He stopped holding back his true power and allowed his essence to overflow.
"Let there be light."
!
A supernova erupted from his position.
A radiance of inconceivable intensity, brighter than the sun itself, swept the hall in all directions, devouring the darkness and reclaiming every corner of the castle with a purifying gold.
"Screech...!"
The torrent of bats was annihilated upon contact with the light, the shadow creatures disintegrated, erased from existence before even being able to feel pain.
But the light, hungry, continued its unstoppable trajectory.
The radiance pierced the stained glass windows, making them explode outward, and rose like a pillar toward the firmament.
The column of light pierced the storm clouds that had suffocated those lands for centuries, dissolving them.
For the first time in the history of that cursed domain, the kingdom of eternal night shone with a blinding clarity, illuminated as if it were the most radiant noon.
"NOOOO...!"
In the center of the hall, Evil Dracula covered his face with his arm in a futile attempt to protect himself.
The light was acting like acid on his skin, burning his flesh and tearing a heart-wrenching scream from him that was quickly engulfed by the absolute silence of the radiance.
________
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