Rachell Wallace:POV

Anxiety and fear filled every cell of my body as I tried to stop the approaching dark elf that killed Ren and was advancing toward Diana.

 Damn it all, first my sister, then Ren. What was the point of my high output if people were still dying? I thought about releasing max mana output, but the recoil from that might take me out of commission for at least 4 four days. 

“DIANA!” William shouted, his voice raging with fear 

There’s no time to second guess myself. I took a deep breath and prepared my body, but before I could release my mana, a burst of golden energy shot up into the sky. 

Lighting up the dark night like a beacon of hope. A booming noise came from the house, and a gust of wind blasted towards our direction. 

I blinked to get the dust out of my eyes to see my sister standing behind the dark elf, her blade close to the left side of his neck. She slashed, but he jumped out of the way and landed about 50 meters away from us. Blood dripped from the side of his neck from my sister. 

“Sorry I took a nap while y’all are risking your life.” She said to us in a joking tone but with some sincerity mixed in 

“No problem, but what about Ren?” Hanz asked 

“He’s fine; just watch and learn,” she replied with a smirk. 

“Don’t be an arrogant human!!” The dark elf shouted, his voice booming like an explosion in the water. 

Elizabeth and the dark elf ran towards each other or disappeared and reappeared. Both moved at such speeds my eyes couldn’t follow what was happening. The only thing I could process was the golden hue of Elizabeth's blade and the two neon-red strikes of the dark elf’s daggers. 

More violent gusts of winds burst out of their extreme speed encounter.  They Cut the ground, the building, and trees from the sheer force of their attacks. 

Looking at the others, I wish I could take a picture of their expressions. Diana and Hanz looked wide-eyed like some cartoon characters, while William’s mouth gaped like a fish out of water. 

“So this is the power of the generals,” William said, still fixated on the battle. 

“The amount of mana she’s producing is almost sickening,” Diana added while trying to pick herself from the ground. 

I Turned back to the fight, and it seemed like it was at a standstill. Elizabeth and the dark elf stopped their fierce assault on each other, probably to catch a breath. 

My sister looked about the same as when she first showed up, maybe with extra cuts around her body. Her eyes were bloodshot, and I could tell she’s already been using her weapon too long. 

I quickly looked at the elf, and he was much worse. Blood poured out of his missing right arm and abdomen, where his core is. His left arm pressed against his throat as more purple blood leaked through his fingers. His eyes glared at her while gritting his teeth. The cut on his throat healed, but his arm and stomach wounds were still open. 

He stuck his left arm out behind himself, and a giant purple portal opened up, sending wind and dust everywhere. 

“Don’t think you won, human. The Dragon King is not happy with that little vampire.” He shouted as he was backed into the portal. 

Elizabeth rushed towards him, but it closed before she could finish him off. She cursed and shouted to let him escape. The constant alarms and sirens soon turned off. 

“The attackers have either retreated or been neutralized.” Dr.Kirk said over the intercom.

I stared at Elizabeth, and my squad members, a look of confusion and concern was evident on their faces. What did he mean by “little vampire?”

Zora POV

 I stepped through the portal, and my body fell to the ground. Looking up at the castle made of dark marble stone surrounded by black bark trees. I breathed in the mana-infused air while lifting myself up. 

Walking into the castle, dread and disappointment filled my body, along with soreness and pain. That human almost destroyed my core, but how did she have so much mana even after taking so much damage? 

Stopping in front of two guards holding large spears in their hands. “General Zora, I'm here to talk to his highness,” I informed the guards. 

They pushed open two large doors that led into a room filled with animal corpses from the hunters. In front of the fur rug was a throne with king Beil resting his head on his hand. While the blood moon shone through the large window behind him.  

“Come, Zora, I’m sure you have some information for me,” his highness spoke, his voice full of authority but softness. 

“My king, I found a vampire with the humans I attacked.” I debrief while kneeling in front of the throne. 

“A vampire!” He shouted more out of fear than anger, 

“How are we going to tell Longwong about this?” He continued, this time tapping his long nails. 

I picked my head up, finally getting a look at his highness. His skin was pale grey, with medium black hair covered by a black helmet with large antelope horns. His dark red eyes looked at me like he was thinking hard about the next course of action. 

“No need to tell him.” A raspy voice said from a dark corner of the throne room. 

“Dragoth, what are you doing here?” I snapped at the dragon, who was currently in his human form.

A form that has short fiery red hair with orange-red dragon eyes and is wearing gold and red armor that embodies a burning flame. 

“Lord Longwong is here and is eager to hear the news.” He responded by bowing and raising one arm into the room's shadow. 

A man in his late thirties and early 40s with long dark red hair that covered his left eye and was wearing the same gold and red armor stepped into the light. My throat went dry, and I could feel my core and chest starting to hurt like I was being crushed by two planets. 

“Yes, Beil, tell me about this vampire,” the king of dragons asked, his right crimson eye looking directly at King Beil. 

“Well, you see. Apparently, a vampire was working with the humans, but don’t worry, Zora dealt with him. Right?” King Beil stammered while looking at me. His eyes pleaded with me to say yes.

“Yes, I killed the vampire,” I answered while kneeling and lowering my head again. 

“Did you check the body?” The king of dragons asked, his voice growling as irritation filled his body. 

“No, I-“ I try responding before getting cut off.

“Then we don’t know if the vampire survives. Those treacherous bats shouldn’t walk this existence. I made sure of it,” he shouted, which shattered the window and cracked the stone walls due to the mana bursting out of his body.

“Beil, I’m putting you in charge of finding and killing this vampire,” he commanded while turning back around and creating a portal, “I expect you won’t fail me, right?” 

“Yes sir, I will prepare my army for a full invasion,” king Beil responded. 

“Good. I’ll see you later.” The king of dragons replied with a smile and vanished into the portal. 

“Zora, prepare the troops we attack in two months.” King Beil commanded 

“Yes, my lord.” 

Elizabeth Wallace POV

The sun rays of the afternoon beamed through the window of the holding area. Quickening my pace, I walked to maximum containment; Ren was healing his wounds but hadn't woken up in two days. Shortly after the attack on the Iron Turtle, I ordered Ren to be taken into custody. Opening the door to his cell, Ren was chained to the wall by his arms like in some medieval dungeon. His mouth was muzzled just in case he had a sudden urge to rip the head off someone. 

Dr.Kirk was standing in front of Ren with his tablet, and he contorted into a frown. He was clearly frustrated. 

“Is everything okay, Doctor?” I asked while closing the cell door behind me.

“I can’t tell if he’s a beast or human.” He responded this time, cutting Ren’s hand with a knife. 

The cut healed itself once again as muscles and skin reformed over the wound. Using my contacts, I saw the flow of mana. Rush towards the wound like a river into a lake, then evening out into the rest of the body after it healed. Looking at Ren’s abdominal region, there was a cluster of black mana moving and bouncing away from each other like bumper cars. 

“I assume you can see that he’s producing mana and trying to form a core.” Dr.Kirk explained, his eyes squinting at the tablet

“Trying to form a core, what’s stopping it from forming?” I asked, whipping around to face the doctor, “is he able to go on missions?” 

“Mission!” He said with surprise that I even asked that question, “I’m sorry, Ms.Wallace, but he’s too much of a risk; even just using fifty percent could cause unknown damage.” 

I focus on the doctor and Ren trying to figure out how to use him without having him turned into a weapon, “what if we put more restrictions on his suits?” 

He turned and looked up towards the stone ceiling, “that could work, but he can’t go past fifty percent for now or until we have a better understanding of what's happening to him.” 

“Fine, but if he does attack us, put him down,” I told the doctor, surprised by my mood switch. 

The others are not going to be happy about this. Still, we might be able to use that weapon if Ren can control it, but that was one thing I wasn’t willing to risk right now, I thought to myself while walking back to ground level.