Cain delivered hundreds of consecutive punches in a matter of seconds, breaking Alexis’ shield, and then calmly walked among them. Everyone stared at the Elder Vampire. Marceus made the first move, charging at him like a pyromaniac, with fists lit in flames. He went for a right hook but Cain simply moved back and then blocked the incoming straight left with ease before kicking his feet off the ground with a sweeping move. Marceus found himself sideways midair and slowly watched Cain punch him. The force of Cain’s sheer power sent Marceus far away from the group, taking down whoever was behind him at the time. Two Demigods advanced but were taken down immediately as Cain brandished a thin, long sword and sliced their heads clean off. Gallus was going to attack but their swift deaths locked him in his place.
“Leave.” Alexis demanded, unafraid of the threat the Elder Vampire was. “Of course, your majesty,” The vampire turned his back to them but then flung his sword at an unsuspecting head. The unlucky soldier toppled to the ground with the sword firmly stuck in the skull. The ones that remained beside the Mara siblings and Ulyssa went to attack him but Cain made quick work of them, clenching their necks one by one with lightning speed, shredding their hearts and ripping off arms and legs only to use them as weapons against the next Demigod in his way. Cain was ridiculously fast and agile.
Gallus buckled, terrified of the gore he witnessed. Ulyssa stood firmly next to Alexis but unlike her superior, she was petrified in her place. The vampire smelled the air fresh with blood. “Did you really think you were unwatched?” he hissed. “That your enemies were foolish to let you out of sight?” Alexis took a step forward, her one hand clasping her wrist behind her similar to the way Arcadeus stands, and looked into the eyes of the Elder Vampire. “Did you really think we didn’t take precautions? She challenged. “Do not toy with me, child!” he barked. “There isn’t a single being besides that father of yours who can stand against me.” “Then why am I unafraid of you?” Cain studied her to make his own judgement. Gallus and Ulyssa too were examining the delicate scenario. One wrong move and they would all be dead. “I know you can hear my heartbeat.” Alexis continued. “I am too wise to fall for that trick. No matter.” Cain extended his hand towards her neck but she palmed his shoulder, rocking him off-balance. “Hmm...” His extended hand instead went to his shoulder and grabbed it and an unpleasant sound resonated as he reset its position. “That was... unexpected.” “Leave.” Alexis repeated herself. “I almost beat Arcadeus. Or, truth be told, I undermined his abilities and lacked the ability to retaliate properly once I was down.” Cain minimised the distance between them. “I see you, Alexis Mara, the intelligent one of the children but do you see me?” “I see you.” She simply replied. “False.”
Cain quickly withdrew his sword from the dead body and began swinging at her. Alexis pre-emptively summoned a shield, wrapping her body in its pale blue light. The sword bounced off her arm leaving Cain empty handed but he wasn’t about to stop there. Alexis had a good defence but he was quick. He pushed her off-balance, grabbed her arm and tossed her above him and slammed her onto the ground. Gallus wildly sprung to his feet and shot off two balls of fire from his fists. Cain whipped the tail of his coat around and blew off the fire, much to Gallus’ amazement. Marceus joined the fight roaring at the top of his voice. He jumped up high in plan to come crashing down on the vampire who simply watched and then moved out of the way in a flash. Marceus rolled down and quickly turned to face him. Cain had armed himself with his sword once again, its blade shimmering. Metal, Marceus thought to himself. “Ulyssa!” he shouted.
Ulyssa woke up from her petrified state. “Metal!” he yelled. It took her a second before she understood what he meant by the single word used without context. Cain charged towards Marceus. Ulyssa concentrated on his weapon and whipped it out of his grasp. “No!” he gasped but the sword was only a bonus and was unnecessary as he hurled several fists towards Marceus. The oldest brother tried his best to maintain his defence but the vampire amped up the speed of his flurry. Two punches went through, both hitting the cheekbones. Cain delivered an uppercut and Marceus went straight down. Ulyssa saw Gallus attempting a second go and quickly delivered the sword to his hands. He looked at the blade and instantly began firing it up with heat. Within seconds it began to glow orange. Gallus was delightful but looked up to see Cain about to kick him in the chest. He took the blow and rolled backwards. Ulyssa immediately took the sword out of his hands and began controlling it midair to attack the vampire. Cain dodged the blade while studying the battlefield to see who he was actually fighting. Once his eyes caught Ulyssa he dashed right up to her.
Alexis saw this and conjured up a massive force below him, and like an invisible giant fist erupting from the grounds below she knocked him into the air. Cain flailed helplessly in the air which gave Ulyssa an idea. “Alexis!” she tried to get her attention. Alexis made eye-contact with her. “How long do you think you can keep him up for?” Cain landed with a big thump and groaned. “Quite some time if I aim it right!” she answered. “Then let’s play ‘keep it up’”! Cain was shoved back into the air, several meters above them. Ulyssa brought around his sword and started stabbing him from behind with ferocity. The Elder Vampire began to scream in pain. Gallus picked up Marceus and brought him beneath the ongoing torment. “Let’s fire up the grill, brother!” Gallus joyfully suggested. “Let’s!” Marceus agreed.
With Alexis keeping Cain in the air, Ulyssa continued to stab him, bleeding him out as the brothers unleashed streams of hellfire and kept him ablaze. The park echoed with his screams but he began to tire and soon vomit heaps of blood. His body suddenly dropped to the ground. Alexis was clearly tired from using her powers. The rest of them began to panic because the vampire was not dead yet. “What the fuck do we have to do to kill him?” Gallus wondered. “We can take his fucking head off!” Marceus proposed. The brothers looked over to Ulyssa. She stabbed him one more time in the back before stabbing him one final time in his neck. Cain choked and Marceus immediately jumped on his back and grasped the hilt. He fired up the blade like they had done previously and began to cut towards the right side of Cain’s neck. He could almost see right through half of it and pressed on. Cain was too beaten and was moaning and gurgled the blood inside his throat. “How are you not dying, you piece of shit!?” Marceus roared.
Ulyssa went to help Alexis up. She seemed drowsy from the excess exertion of her powers. She looked over to her brothers and saw that both of them were covered in the vampires’ blood. Suddenly the sound of flesh ripping apart gave her shivers and her hair stood on end. “Is he dead?” she asked. Marceus grabbed the vampires’ head like a football under his arm. “That... was difficult, I’ll say that.” He huffed. They all took a breath of air as they could finally relax. Each one of them then slowly began to survey their surroundings. Everyone besides them was dead. “I’d advise us to go back to HQ.” Ulyssa said after a while. “I would agree,” Alexis held on to her shoulder as she tried to stand up straight. “But I believe we just eliminated two of our biggest threats. I know it sounds risky to go the rest of the journey without guards but... look at what we just accomplished.” “True. We’re a couple of bad-asses.” Marceus grinned as he tossed the head from one hand to the other. “Please throw that away. I think I’ll vomit if you do that again.” “Oki... You want a feel before we get rid of it?” he asked looking at his younger brother. Gallus immediately raised his hand mid-way to decline the offer. “I’m good man.” “Alright.” Marceus lobbed the head away as far as he could. “So what’s the plan?” “We continue our journey.” Alexis decided.
The four Demigods left the park in complete destruction in hopes to fulfil their journey with less dramatic encounters. By time their wounds healed and kept up a good pace. Cain’s body was left untouched after their departure. Hours went by. Darkness settled and then washed away by light in the morning. A cloaked man approached the headless vampire. Behind him was a woman following his lead. “Find me the head...” he snarled. The woman darted away with great speed. The man knelt down by the body. “Do not worry, my child, you are not finished working for me yet.”
Comments