The five clumped close, flames dancing straight around them for only a minute moment in time before scattering into the eternal nothingness. Both Britt and Rusty glared forward, while Caldori and Sora took a back approach with eyes shaken. Elise maintained her ground, hand upon the hilt of her weapon. Leon’s arm slowly lowered as his body finished a full turn to be viewed from front in full by the group, Vikram still beside him appearing semi-startled.

Her face drew into a scowl, teeth in full grit as the hand closed upon Sephiroth’s handle, “Damn him.”

Leon’s cloak flapped open near the coat tails once, then a second time as the darkness drifted away, strung around as if responding to a release of pressure. His eyes locked upon Elise, burning, filled with pure venom- the likes of which one witnesses eye to eye with a hungry Saltwater Croc.

“It is… a pleasure to meet you, at long last Elise Bakuuva,” Leon announced, his eyes remained deadlocked on her form.

Those beside her turned their heads, now facing the back of Elise who again changed stance with a slight shift. Her feet swept round, one out and the other in retreat, positioned ready to spring, “You know me?” she questioned in a mild nervous tone, a gulp half-heartedly within her voice.

“Of course. Everyone among my rank knows of you. The brat who took down the Drachen King, Azala Bakuuva. It was an impressive feat to take him down. My agents who were there that day observed it all and I must say- we are truly impressed by your progress.”

“Progress? So you guys have had your eyes on me for awhile.”

“Heh- yes. We know about Project Stingray. You are not Bell’s only pet, far from. She had produced many a strong warrior; though you are one of the very few we have yet to kill.”

“So what’s stopping you?” she growled with eyes closed a touch more, short of a full on glare yet more than enough with a slight forward tilt of her head.

“I believe you to know better than that. You know we’ve had our eyes on you, so you should know that we know more than enough about you. A young teen looking to protect what she loves, looking to avenge what has been lost, looking to bring about justice. Thing is- what if I were to say that we are not the apparent bad guys here?”

“Preposterous!” Sora spat out, “You Dharkanians, you’re all vile bastards! You started this!”

“Sora!” Caldori hissed, quick to throw herself around him with a hand over his mouth.

“You’re not the first one to state that,” Elise called back, “Why should I listen this time and not any other?”

“Heh. Surely enough time has passed to see some of the Tribe’s own darkness. From that loud mouth toad parading around with your new master- thinking that he is tough shit, all while you are continually used in a conflict you don’t fully grasp. But if anything Shadow says is sufficive, you know she gave you that hellish life just to raise a weapon and that should say enough, right?” Leon replied with a grin, smirking off to his left side with humored eyes.

“Yes, I- I am well aware of what she did,” Elise replied, her tone softening along with her stance; though in no time at all it resharpened, her stance just as firm as she looked fiercely back, “But I have come away from that with a unique life and goal that I wouldn’t trade back.”

“You may see it that way now but ask yourself, how much do you truly know about the Tribe? Perhaps I overestimated your perception- or perhaps they are shadowing you from the true dread within their ranks. Heh, no matter, that can’t last for forever.”

Again her stance softened, becoming slightly more casual as Leon went on.

“Like so many others Miss Bakuuva, you are simply being used by your new… adopters. We may be using these barbaric meat heads,” he replied once more, gesturing towards Vikram, “But they are to combat the full force of the Tribe itself. And unto you, Miss Bakuuva, I would like to extend my hand.”

“What do you mean?” she growled back.

“What I am proposing is the notion of having you join our cause.”

Her head flew back a square, her eyes sent aflutter. Behind the entire group tripped up much in the same manner, full bodies put into it. Britt immediately gave off a scowl as he returned a look to Leon, “No way, Elise is one of us, she’d never join you!”

Leon gave a short glance towards Britt, again smirking big, “So sure are you? Perhaps not at this present moment; but you know it, and I know it. The Tribe is not as holy as they preach themselves to be. They do enjoy selling out their allies if it benefits them, while also leaving so called mundane affairs to their allies, even if it means the potential deaths of said allies. When push came to shove, were they not ready to simply nuke the entirety of the Vulfax Valley just to silence one known enemy of that time? All that over Azala, I can’t say that’s very wise, right?”

Her head hung a bit, her gaze shifting down to the ground at her right. At that moment, Leon’s arms flew out, almost as if inviting an embrace, welcoming Elise forward, “Come now, I know just how smart you are. You know that I am right.”

“No-” she choked out, glancing from the ground back to Leon, glaring now, “You- I won’t believe a word that you say. You’re the enemy here, not Holly, not the Tribe, you! You people broke the peace, you planted the seeds of corruption and power in my clan, you were going to sell us out as pawns to fight for you. I refuse to believe a word that you say!”

The smug grin of Leon quickly faded, his arms lowering with his eyes and expression, “That’s… too bad. If that’s how it’s going to be, we’ll end this here. Your resolve makes you a threat, and a witness.”

She blinked.

Standing around the group were dozens of Undead, all normal-level zombies with melee and long range weapons drawn. Many began to drool, shifting as they stood stationary.

“W-when did-” Rusty choked.

“From the very beginning,” Leon replied, “Darkness is my ability do not forget. I can easily make it so your eyes see only what I want you to see, or rather what I don’t want seen.”

“Bastard!” Elise choked out, quickly unsheathing Sephiroth with her left hand, holding the weapon outward with both hands.

“Mmm. Alright then,” Vikram muttered.

With a simple flicker of light the Vampire Elite vanished, appearing in the next instant right behind the Undead surrounding the group, “In any event, I’ll be sure to take the girl alive. Realistically any of them would make for good material; but for her, the one who took down Azala, she’ll be a specialty.”

The group crowded closer, back to back as the Undead moved in unison closer step by step. Both Rusty and Britt raised their arms, taking on a basic boxer stance. Caldori and Sora moved to their backs. Elise maintained her position, looking around with sharpened eyes.

“Not a lot of openings here, are there,” Sora muttered.

“No, no there are not,” Rusty growled back.

“In that case… Sora, lets go with Plan Ten,” Caldori murmured.

“Plan Ten? Heh, you’ve got it Callie. Everyone, hit the deck in sync with us and get ready to move.”

“Why? What are you going to do?” Elise asked.

“Watch and you’ll see,” Sora replied, raising both of his arms up in front of him, hands outstretched.

The various Undead with long range weapons held said weapons up, for most that being rifles. The rest stood ready, their weapons held up. Vikram narrowed his eye, observing with both hands placed upon his cane.

“Now!”

The group dropped to the ground as Sora brought his arms down. Dropping to the ground himself, both hands slammed onto the ground, a vast white glow appearing around him for only a split second. In the next instance a blasting puff of dust and smoke flew high into the air, a thick cloud which quickly obstructed all manner of sight. On the outside Vikram’s eye widened as the smoke engulfed him.

“Now Callie!”

“Got it! Dance of the Fireflies!”

Both of her arms flew up, electricity surging quickly around each finger and thumb. The ten flows of sparkling power jetted outward, firing off in all directions like bullets out of a gun barrel, a high pitched pew sound following. The electricity scattered, crashing into several of the zombies, which now had begun to open fire as well with multiple ratta-tat-tats. Several were struck by the electricity, bullets of which burst on impact scattering a net of yellow static right around the targets.

Those hit both fell and flew, six in total falling from the fight immediately. Others fell, struck by their own fire- or rather the fire of their comrades. Both Sora and Caldori remained down as the other three sprung into action, Britt and Rusty being swift and quick as they flew into selected targets. Upper cuts and sideways smacks first, then strikes straight forward into their faces. Several more fell in the next instance as the brothers spread, nailing other Undead in the legs to topple and some right via the hands holding their weapons.

Elise shot ahead, swinging Sephiroth clear into one enemy at an angle, then another straight across at the torso. Both fell back as she sprung right by, heading straight for Vikram.

CLANG

Sephiroth collided, not with flesh, instead something harder. A quick blink and the object became visible, Vikram’s cane was held via one hand, holding off the Star Blade’s edge. The rattle of blade to metal was heard, a quaking, force applied from Elise with a shaking set of arms while Vikram remained mostly unphased- now visible as the dust around the two cleared way. His gaze then met with hers, his appearing rather bored.

“You’re not at all what I had imagined. What kind of moron attacks the head of the enemy head on without gathering any sort of battle data on what that enemy might be capable of,” Vikram muttered, “Your green is showing.”

“You’re not the first Vampire I’ve done battle with- and you certainly won’t be the last!”

“Hmph, so stubborn and arrogant, yet so very determined. I can see why Azala might have underestimated you; though you would do well not to underestimate me either brat,” he growled back.

Vikram’s free hand flew out, quickly grabbing hold of Elise’s blade. Her gaze widened, and at once a surge of light blue electricity flew straight around and into her. A yell escaped her instantly, while the very unimpressed looking Vikram remained stationary, “This is why I hate brats. You think you’re some tough shit until you face a veteran of actual combat.”

His grasp on her weapon was released, to which he then stepped back. As smoke rolled off of Elise, his hands returned to the top of his cane as it connected to the ground. Slowly she stumbled back, flopping forward after four steps. Sephiroth plunged right into the ground, both of her hands upon the hilt of the weapon with force. Heavy breathing escaped her as she stood there, looking at Vikram, using her own weapon as a support.

“You are the one who defeated Azala? Truly? I knew that man for centuries. To know he was defeated by a NOVICE like you is just insulting.”

“Shut up- do not-” she growled, a white light flooding around Sephiroth in an instant.

Vikram’s eye widened as Elise stood back up quickly. Both of her feet stomped down as she forced her weight into Sephiroth. Rock could be heard crackling and ripping apart as her blade’s edge cut through the ground, white energy completely coating it. As he twitched to move, Elise’s weapon flew from the ground and with it came a slash of pure Light Energy straight forward, blazing through the air.

“Do not underestimate me!”

The blast flew straight from Elise and her weapon into Vikram, the latter of whom let out a wail as it struck. A blast, rather an explosion, followed right after. Flames and smoke flew as she stood there, breathing in and out, “G-got him!”

The dust behind her cleared way, revealing the others standing around. Rusty held two Undead in his bare hands, hoisted high into the air. Britt stood around several, as did Caldori who stood over Sora. All looked around, then forward towards Elise. Every Undead present now lay upon the ground unmoving, their weapons scattered.

Slowly Elise stepped back towards them, Sephiroth held out as the blast of her attack faded. A form remained in the smoke as it cleared, standing tall. Her gaze sharpened, ferocity present as Vikram’s form came to light, intact.

“How the hell- she landed a direct hit on him? He should’ve burned to ashes!” Rusty spat.

“Hmph. Arrogant pups. Do you believe every Vampire to be so weak as to be destroyed by simple light? Pft-” Vikram muttered in response, remaining stationary.

“Tch- guess this won’t be so easy after all,” Elise growled to herself, holding Sephiroth straight out still.

Behind Vikram, Leon remained with both of his escorts. The dark warrior looked on, smugly smirking as the battle had come to fruition.