Liam frowned, the psychotic gleam in his abyssal eyes sharpening to a razor's edge. He did not appreciate the way this Third Calamity whelp spoke to him, nor the lazy, knowing gaze that looked through him like he was already broken.
"Correct," Liam said, voice silk over shattered glass as he gestured lazily toward Katherine.
"Apparently, you've laid your hands on a woman who was going to be my future wife."
Katherine's face twisted in immediate disgust, fear of Liam's reputation warring with her pride. She stepped forward, blonde hair whipping.
"Ridiculous! I was never meant to be anything to you, Second Prince."
The room fell deathly silent, the crimson torches seeming to dim.
Ash's face warped into a slow, beautiful smile.
"Well… you heard the lady~"
Liam's aura exploded.
HUMMMM!
The obsidian table shattered into fragments that hung suspended in the air, Ninth Calamity pressure crashing down like a blood-moon eclipse. The hall groaned, walls cracking, lesser vampires dropping to their knees.
The pressure targeted Ash and everyone behind him—even Raven.
But Ash was one step ahead.
|Law of Protection|
A dome of invisible, absolute mana threads snapped into place around Raven, Summer, and Katherine—holding strong, unyielding, the aura sliding off like water on glass.
Ash himself felt gravity double, triple—nothing more than a mild inconvenience.
He smiled wider.
Then unleashed his own aura and bloodline to the maximum.
HUMMMM!!!!!
Third Calamity power poured out with intensity that rivaled Seventh—dense, refined, monstrous.
The moment his Primavus bloodline roared, every vampire in the room faltered. Bloodlines recoiled in primal fear, auras flickering, elders clutching chests as their essence bowed instinctively to something higher, older, hungrier.
Ash took one step.
Space folded.
He vanished.
Reappeared directly in front of Liam.
His fist—wrapped in Law of Space—shot forward.
On contact, reality teleported them both.
BOOOOOOM!!!!!
They materialized high above the Nocturne estate, four suns casting strange shadows across the crimson landscape below.
The hall emptied in a scramble—elders, guards, Raven and the others rushing outside, eyes turned skyward as the estate grounds trembled beneath the pressure of two clashing auras.
----
High above the Nocturne estate, Liam recovered mid-air, body twisting like a shadow given form. Lightning crackled across his torn robes, blood-shadow scythes reforming in his hands as Ninth Calamity regeneration knit flesh with unnatural speed. His psychotic smile widened, silver hair whipping in the wind of his own aura.
"Not bad," Liam purred, voice carrying like velvet thunder across the sky.
"You actually made me bleed. I'm going to enjoy carving that smirk off your face."
Ash hovered opposite, wings half-spread, blood-drop eyes gleaming with quiet amusement.
"Sorry for you, buddy, but you won't have the chance."
Liam's eyes narrowed, psychotic gleam sharpening.
Then, in the next moment, Ash disappeared again.
Space folded.
He reappeared behind Liam, Primordia already drawn—blade igniting with full Sword Aura.
HUMMMMM!
The battlefield transformed in an instant.
Cosmic scenery unfolded around them: nebulae swirling in silent fury, newborn stars birthing and dying in rose-pink explosions, gravity warping into stellar pressure that crushed the air itself.
The four suns above dimmed, as if bowing to the galaxy-weight domain now overlaying reality.
He reappeared inches from Liam, Primordia already in hand—the blade igniting with its passive hunger, devouring the prince's exposed desires.... his obsession with Katherine and the psychotic need for dominance.... and converting them into raw regeneration that would knit Ash's minor wounds instantly.
Liam spun, scythes slicing with the Law of Blood at full power—crimson chains bursting forth to ensnare and drain Ash.
But the blood chains faltered mid-formation.
Ash's Nosferatu traits roared with elder vampire essence that's superior to all lesser strains, rendering Liam's blood-Law useless—chains evaporating like mist before a storm, unable to touch or affect him.
Liam's psychotic smile twitched. "What—?"
Ash swung Primordia, the active channel for the Law of Paradox, at full power..
The blade cut through space, paradox reversing the scythes' momentum—Liam's own weapons turning back on him, slashing across his chest in silent agony.
SLASH! SLASH!
Dark, red-black blood sprayed as Liam's Law of Shadow, unleashed at full power, erupted outward, the darkness swallowing the sky to consume the attack... a fatal mistake.
Darkness?
Ash excelled in it.
It's worth noting that his Primavus amplified and refined every facet of his being. From the Abyssal Selene bloodline to the Nosferatu heritage, darkness was like a second home to him. Calling upon the Law of Silence, he wiped away Liam's control, twisting the prince's own shadows into chains that held him suspended in mid-air.
Liam roared, the Law of Eclipse blazing at full power—a tiny black hole swirling to drag Ash in.
But Primordia's special ability kicked in, flipping the eclipse back on itself through sheer paradox. The black hole reversed, yanking Liam in instead, his own Law consuming his shadows and blood.
Liam stumbled, unleashing the Law of Soul at 90%, psychic agony slicing through the air like unseen blades.
Ash channeled the Infinite Stellar Eclipse through Primordia, dimming the stellar energy across the sky and snuffing out both light and mana, while twisting Liam's Laws into self-destruction across tangled timelines.
The psychic torment rebounded in endless loops, breaking Liam's mind under the weight of his own madness. At 85%, the Law of Madness tried to push him into frenzy.
But Ash unleashed Primavus Void Devour, the blade hungering as it consumed Liam's blood, mana, Laws, and stellar essence with the next strike.
SHK!
The attack hit, shattering the Law of Madness into pure Primavus energy that surged into Ash, restoring and empowering him.
The more Ash fought, the more his foes seemed to crave their own end, while Liam's twisted urges turned inward, his scythes faltering as they slashed at illusions he himself had created.
Blood poured from Liam's wounds, none healing, his vampiric regeneration smothered by the dominance of a superior Nosferatu bloodline. He unleashed the Law of Void at 80%—silent rifts yawning to consume Ash—but Ash countered with the Law of Space, twisting the voids back on him, emptiness gnawing away at his limbs.
There was no chance for Calamity Laws; every attempt was shattered, swallowed before it began.
Ash reigned supreme. Primordia struck again and again, massive attacks driven by the Laws of Fire, Ash, and Gravity, scorching, scattering, and crushing all before them.
Liam's body broke—ribs snapping, fur singed, blood hanging in the air before being devoured by the blade.
With one final savage strike—Primavus Void Devour erupted.
SHK!
Liam fell, battered and broken, his aura flickering like a dying flame, the Ninth Calamity barely clinging to life.
Not dead.
Damn near....
Ash descended slowly, wings spread wide, bloodied but unbowed.
He landed beside the ruined prince, katana vanishing.
The estate below was silent—onlookers frozen in horror and awe.
Ash tilted his head as he turned to look down at the others.
"Hmmm, is that all the famed prince has to offer?"