Once we were inside, everything felt suffocating. Vampires were not very clean species in terms of their dinner time so there was a stench of death which made me want to throw up. In that respect Nate and I were similar. We killed so many, and we will kill many more but the smell of death is something neither of us will ever get used to.

Ignoring the horrendous smell me and my two little rookies proceeded forward. We killed whoever would come around but once again without getting much attention. We encountered a few corrupted here and there but nothing too hard. This made me believe that even during the ceremony none of the corrupted should be too powerful. So the archer that Leah was should be able to take them on easily.

We went from the entrance hall which was filled with dark fog, straight ahead up a gigantic staircase where those few corrupted were. The stairs were quite long but as we reached the top we stood in a wide corridor which led in two directions. Every single wall was filled with paintings of a people who I assumed was Carleon himself and his daughter. Between the art were doors leading to who-knows-where. We didn’t check them, the creatures were just leading me ahead. We went in a huge circle and stopped before big wooden doors. Looking around the corridor for any more vampires and undead I reached over and gently opened the doors. They made far less noise than what I expected. As soon as I could peak inside I face another set of stairs, however, those were only a few steps tall. Climbing them quietly one by one we finally got a glimpse of the main hall. I quickly judged the area. It was in a circular shape with a high ceiling. Above us was another little area which looked like a balcony where the stairs ended just across from us near the back of the room. I also spotted another set of stairs just to the side, but those lead downwards. If push came to shove at least I knew there was somewhere to go which, hopefully, could be an escape route.

Then my eyes focused on the scene in front. There in the centre was who I assumed was Godvia. Floating and unconscious, her arms were limply falling to her sides not moving while the rest of her body was held up by some magic. Around her, the soulless wizards either mumbling their dark spells or watching with anticipation. Meanwhile not too far away from his daughter was Carleon who was just watching calmly. His long white hair covering his face almost completely. Beside him stood a corrupted who looked like the leader of the bunch. His cloak was darker than others' and he looked like he was supervising everything.

Leah mumbled from beside me, “That’s her.”

I nodded whispering back “They haven’t finished it yet. They didn’t even properly begin.” I never used the forbidden magic but due to me being a wizard I knew them, it was as if I was born with them in my head. So I could tell that they barely lifted the poor girl from the ground. They only thing that was suspicious with all of this was the fact I did not recall a spell which can turn human into a vampire, but that was not important for now.

Then from behind us, a huge ruckus resounded. It sounded like it came from the outside. I didn’t even glance while the two creatures looked around in panic.

I mumbled trying to calm them down “It's fine, the target is ahead not behind.”

I knew it must have been Nate who was making that commotion. No one else would be this stupid to charge in there so loudly. This, however, gave us three extra advantage as some of the monsters from the castle rushed out, we saw them running along the corridor in panic. Carleon however, did not even flinch. He was too absorbed in the ceremony. His face split a huge grin.

I took a deep breath and cast a spell quietly "Perderefo gierra." My wand which I held onto gave out an orange glow and one side of the hall was blasted. The corrupted stopped their chanting and both the leader and Carleon looked towards the damage not sure what happened since it shouldn’t be normal for a wall to just get a hole out of nowhere. I then stepped out of the shadows. Ava and Leah nodded to one another and got ready as well.

Carleon’s eyes focused on me solely. His face contorted in a frown and his red eyes flashing manically at me from under that unruled hair “You insolent wretch! You will now taste what it means to interrupt a vampire.” I was not afraid, not even when he threw himself at a mad dash right at me. His body was going at an inhumane speed towards me. Approaching me faster than I anticipated. Once he zoomed past the corrupted those started to get ready for the attack as well. Not wanting to lose track of Carleon I only glanced over and saw them moving Godvia out of the way, then facing me.

The spells came in from all the directions. However, because they were wizards I could absorb their attacks without casting anything or easily dodge them. I moved to the right, leant down, stepped backwards, absorbed a fire shot, stepped to the right once more. I saw every wizard in the room and their attacks I could predict them, especially since they had to cast long spells. One of the bad points of becoming a corrupted wizard. You sacrifice your time to cast your spells for power that it gives you. However, corrupted or not those ones were not powerful at all.

While I was avoiding the attacks from behind me, Leah started to shoot her arrows at the mages where one by one they fell. Her shots were not that powerful but since I was the distraction they did not need to be.

Meanwhile, Ava cast a shield around me as soon as Carleon, at last, reached me. His sword raised in front of my face before I could react but bounced back harmlessly from the impact on the shield. If it wasn’t for that my head would have been rolling on the ground by then. He was fast, too fast. For a split second watched Carleon in a daze thinking that I owe Ava for that shield, but then cast my own spell "Dyribuami fignia!" From my wand, a fire blast emerged and hit Carleon moving him away a few meters. The fire did not harm him but it gave me enough time to continue with my attacks.

While the fight was slowly shifting, mages tried to shoot Leah, although Ava was quick to react and protected her and me simultaneously. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead as she tried to protect us. Of course, it was not possible to protect us completely as Leah got hit in the leg with an icicle and started to limp, meanwhile, my arm which held onto the staff got grazed with a sword. Blood splattered on the cold ground in large quantities while Carleon smirked: "Hmm, your blood smells nice, I will make you my next meal!"

He raised his sword high while I did not have enough time to deflect. Luckily Ava was watchful. She shot a flash of light at Carleon and his sword missed me when I jumped to the side just in time. Carleon growled trying to get his bearings in the blinding light and I glanced at Ava who was already on her knees from exhaustion, but she was still concentrating on the fight. I had to admit that was impressive. She managed to still be able to keep the two shield intact and helping out with the fight. At least she was not a complete rookie in a fight.

As the fight kept on going Leah managed to get half of the corrupted down. She was panting from running around. Meanwhile, even when I could barely move my arm I still was keeping Carleon at bay, slowly exhausting him. I didn’t do much damage, I only trapped him in ice, or slowed him down while he tried to avoid the bolts of lightning I was creating.

However, due to the ruckus in the main hall, other vampires and undead came in, rushing. It seemed not all of them left to fight with Nate. He most likely did handle most of them but there were still many that came over, too many. They joined in the fight seeing their master struggling and the three of us had to deal with that problem too.

Leah still dealt with the corrupted which were decreasing in numbers slowly. Meanwhile, I glanced at Ava who looked drained by then. However, seeing the approaching army she got up and rushed to me to take my place in the fight with Carleon, who turned out to be very resilient and tough to kill. She was not wounded so she would be quicker to cast spells which were essential for the fight with him.

I meanwhile turned back towards the approaching monsters. I then took a deep breath and said "Impexousia kyrcuklos yarereouo mouhi kampagitas venihei emoras," which created a bright ring with inscriptions on the ground under the monsters' feet. Above the circle a cloud appeared out of nowhere and then I finished, "ket apercutiergia!" and bolts of lightning shot out from the cloud killing every single monster in the circle. I then quickly moved on to the next batch of monsters. The similar circle appeared as I said "Impexousia kyrcuklos yarereouo mouhi gierra autou fignia venihei emoras," however, this time when I finished the chanting with "ket apercutiergia!” meteorites hit the area. The residue from the force managed to kill some monsters even outside of the circle.

I looked around estimating the damage, after which I frowned in discomfort. My bleeding arm a hindrance - now. I was using enormous amounts of energy for those spells but they were the most efficient. However, after that my arm proved to be not just a physical pain but also a mental one. It was bleeding vigorously and the loss of blood made me dizzy after that last spell. I gritted my teeth seeing as the remaining monsters were approaching. There was only half of the number now, but it was still too many to handle one by one, meaning I had to use one of the big spells again which I didn’t know if I would survive.

Then horrendous screeches resounded from the back of the group. One by one splatter of blood appeared from the back of the army. Like a shadow, something was moving among the monsters and was cutting them down - one by one. Thankful for the sudden appearance I sighed with relief realising Nate decided to help out. He had good timing as usual.

I then turned towards the hall trusting my brother to deal with the army. I noticed that Leah was dealing with the last corrupted - the one who stood by Carleon during the ceremony. However, Ava was not doing as well. She was growing very weak. While I wasn’t looking, Carleon changed his form into a demonic one. He grew a pair of wings and started to fly attacking Ava from the air. Unlucky for us the ceiling was high enough for him to gain a lot of momentum so he would slam into the shield around her trying to break it. That gave Ava a huge disadvantage. He was already a tough opponent with a sword but now with wings, it made the whole scenario even grimmer.

While I was still absorbing the situation, Carleon charged at Ava's shield once more breaking it completely. The shards of magic falling around her and then disappearing into dust. Her eyes grew wider as she tried to recreate it, but she was not fast enough. He rammed one of his wings into her and she flew across the hall. Carleon then flew towards her saying "Well you will be my first meal then." Ava was lying on the ground trying to get up once more but Carleon was too fast. He got to her too quickly for her to do anything.

I owed her one for before. She saved me and was helping me quite a lot. While Leah and I were dealing with other monsters she still kept protecting us even though she had Carleon on her shoulders.

Once Carleon was by Ava, I didn’t have any other choice but to run for it. Carleon was too fast, no matter how quickly I would cast a spell I wouldn’t make it, not in my condition. The only thing I could do was to jump in front of the count to push the priestess away, and so I did. I was stronger than her physically so I had bigger chances of survival than her. It was a logical choice, one which I did not expect to make for a woman.

Immediately after I got in front of Carleon I felt something grabbing my shoulders and a burning pain hitting my neck, digging into the flesh and ripping my senses apart. I sunk onto my knees, feeling my life being drained out of me as my blood was leaving my body.

Leah turned to look at me after defeating the corrupted. Ava stared in shock. At the scene, while I struggled to keep my eyes open. If only he would have attacked me with a sword, I might have survived, but instead, he bit me, and since he was the mixed vampire life of mindless wandering awaited me.

However, soon enough the pain stopped abruptly in a fountain of blood. My body collapsed just as I looked up at Carleon, who had his head sliced into two equal pieces, right side and left side. Then as his body fell down limply just behind him stood Nate with a fury in his azure eyes. Seeing those eyes I could tell he was gritting his teeth behind that mask. Already thinking of how to save me. I tried to smile but I didn’t feel any part of my body at all. So as I hit the ground fully my consciousness faded into darkness.

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