3 The Vampiress Called Mechiel

Now was not the time to be lost in thoughts. Kyros knew that. He immediately ran and followed Mechiel.

As they moved out, a horn resounded, and gongs echoed all over the place to alert the camp of the breach.

Kyros recognized where they were. This was the eastern castle in the Omega Kingdom. But now, the residents were the Vampire clan.

"Kill the traitor queen!" Shouts and howls could be heard everywhere.

Mechiel didn't hesitate to attack the vampires that were near. Mechiel's power was strong that it easily killed them like they were nothing.

"Stand down! I order you by the Blood Crest Symbol!" Mechiel shouted as she noticed a familiar platoon approaching.

The soldiers were trembling as they heard it. A giant vampire took a step forward.

"My queen. Why?"

"I have my reasons. Will you stand in my way, Duplicus?"

"I dare not, my queen. But I fear this may be the last time we will see each other in this manner. I hope that you will survive this. It has been my honor serving you!" The large General saluted.

"Guards! Form ranks and cover every inch of this passageway. Nothing gets past us! The queen has turned traitor, and we cannot let her pass here!" Duplicus ordered.

Mechiel's eyes softened as she heard this. The location where Duplicus guarded was never her escape path. However, various soldiers would rush from this direction.

"Thank you..." Mechiel said.

Duplicus tossed a strange bottle towards Kyros.

"Warrior. You would remain a burden with those wounds. Protect her just as she is saving you." The General smiled.

Kyros nodded.

"May you have a good life, my queen. I hope your suffering ends one way another." Duplicus saluted.

Mechiel turned away unceremoniously as she led Kyros to retreat.

"Blood Crest! Move! Your platoon is on the way!" Another group of vampires rushed in. These were from the Scarlet Sword clan.

"To protect the Eldrich from invaders is our honor! We will not give up that glory for you, Scarlet Sword!" The General howled.

The vampires realized just who this tall General was and dared not answer any further. The leader of this platoon could only gaze angrily at Duplicus and ordered his man to turn around and use another exit.

"Blood Crest! Make sure to guard the entrance! We make sure that no prisoner escapes!" Duplicus held a strange crystal on his hand that began to glow.

All over the castle, several platoon leaders heard this command and immediately made barricades to cover the entire path. But none of the Paths that they barricaded were among the paths that Mechiel chose to escape in.

In fact, as they would pass by these barricades, the soldiers would even offer Mechiel a salute.

Mechiel was in tears as she saw her men do what they can to help them.

Kyros saw all of it and glanced at the faces of these soldiers that gazed lovingly at their queen. But mixed in those looks were eyes of pity. It was as if they were looking at someone doomed to die and can only wish her sufferings would end.

"Why?" Kyros asked as they fled.

"I'll tell you all about it once we're safe. Look ahead of us. The enemy is here. Can you fight?" Mechiel asked.

"Yes," Kyros answered.

"Good. Those soldiers are organized and trained. It will be rather difficult for us to pass them."

"Send me whatever buffs you can," Kyros stated.

"Ok." Mechiel began to channel magic on her hands.

"Dark Thirst. Soul Devourer. Dark Defense. Midnight Veil. Moonlight Blessing. True Haste. Dark Sight." Mechiel started to cast the various buffs and enhancement on both of them. Kyros felt various powers surrounding him.

Kyros's mana had also recovered thanks to the medicine that Duplicus gave, and he began to cast his own sets of spells.

"It's a good thing that the Eldrich negated my Death Stance. A blessing indeed." Kyros laughed. Death Stance granted him a false life and strength, but he would die from the rebound of the attack. But it seemed that the Eldrich had used their magic to heal him. He felt stronger as the effects of Death Stance had permanently increased his strength.

"Celestial Guard. Holy Strength. Precision. Marvel Speed. Light Regeneration. Blood Recovery. Force Manipulation." Kyros began to cast his own spells.

Excluding Death Stance, Over Limit, and Might Aura, Kyros immediately activated all his most powerful buffs.

The two had fought each other and knew well how strong each buff was. For the first time, they used their buffs not only on themselves but also on each other.

"So this is Celestial Guard? Half of those soldiers wouldn't wound me with their level of attacks." Mechiel praised.

"I'm curious about trying your Soul Devourer. That gave you the strength to break through my Celestial Guard." Kyros laughed.

"I'd never thought this day would come." Mechiel smiled.

The two began to clash with the various soldiers consisting of different races.

Dark elves. Lizardfolk. Undead. Goblins. Arthropodians. Vampires.

These were the races that compromised the Dark Alliance. Leading them was the Eldrich clan, a mysterious humanoid clan that was said to have half the bloodline of a Dark Devil of legend.

"Mechiel! You traitor! Die!" A Spider-like lady of deathly beauty broke out of the marching ranks and charged towards Mechiel. Six needle-like legs appeared behind her, and her size grew larger. The monstrous half-spider attacked. Her face was now hideous and did not have any remnants of her beauty.

"Grashel. Good to see you." Mechiel smiled and began to spin her blade slowly.

"Oh? A strong enemy? To think you'd use that immediately." Kyros noticed Mechiel's actions.

"With my current buffs, she should be nothing. But I don't want to waste time. That Undead Skeleton, Relios, is strong. Don't underestimate him." Mechiel warned.

Kyros nodded and began to charge directly to the Undead Skeleton that Mechiel warned about.

The Skeleton released a terrifying aura that distorted the space around him.

"Defiler!" The Skeleton summoned as a path leading towards Kyros grew dim. Skeletons are generally great mages. Through a dark spell that transforms them, they abandon the flesh to make their souls stronger. As such, the magic they control is usually twice or three times greater than a standard magic-user.

And against a human that that was a Paladin who emphasized healing magic, the dark magic of [Defiler] was perfect for it. It was a spell that could subdue the strongest holy magic of defense provided that the summoner's soul was stronger than the recipient of the spell. Even if Kyros could erect a powerful Holy Shield that would resist a Grandmaster Level spell, the [Defiler] being only in the Advanced level could destroy it.

But what Relios didn't know was that Celestial Paladin's are different. Being the first of his kind, not many knew the potential of Kyros. They did not know that Kyros was not limited in wielding the Holy Element. He could wield all—even Dark element as possible.

Because of this, Relios didn't know that Mechiel's [Soul Devourer] was buffed on this Paladin.

Kyros didn't even stop with his charge and slashed the approaching darkness with his sword. Soul Devourer absorbed the powerful soul energy of the attack and negated it.

With the surging Dark energy, Kyros sneered and immediately used his Celestial Powers to activate it.

"Reformation!" Kyros yelled as the Dark energy was being transformed.

[Reformation] was a Celestial art that allowed Kyros to change the nature of any Element. Although the conversion wasn't exactly 1:1, the massive dark force that Kyros received from a high-ranking undead was enough to cast that crowd-controlling water spell.

Kyros raised his arms and threw the ball of water.

"Maelstorm!"

A ball of water energy shot towards the ranks of Relios.

Relios was so stunned by the sudden counter that he was unable to erect a shield quickly enough.

The spell fell, and the small ball of water erupted, and a powerful torrent of water threw the organized ranks of the various soldiers into chaos.

Relios didn't turn to see his allies but rushed towards Kyros and prepared for powerful soul magic.

"Reapers Sword!" Relios summoned the dark energy of the various souls he controlled.

"Are you an idiot?" Kyros laughed as he lunged his sword.

BOOM!

Relios was split in half. Kyros devoured the Soul Core inside his skeleton frame.

Kyros smiled as he looked at the poor state of the remains of Relios.

"You died just like that Eldrich Noble, Hordes. You didn't know I could wield more magic." Kyros laughed and continued to run without waiting for Mechiel.

Mechiel suddenly arrived next to Kyros.

She held a long spear with the upper torsos of the many strong warriors on all the races trying to stop her.

She plucked off the head of the spider-woman who faced her earlier and bit the neck area to suck her blood.

"How... That was... light..."

"Marvel Speed. The spell that catapulted Kyros to legend rank during his battle against the Orcs. That's why he's called Kyros the Unwounded."

"How... can a vampire... wield the light?"

"Do you know what happens when a vampire bites and drinks of the blood of a Celestial Paladin?" Mechiel asked the spider-woman.

"Mechiel... She's already dead. Get ready. There's another crowd upfront. Let's do the same. Use your explosive powers while I aim for the shield-warriors, tanks, Defenders, and Spell Defenders." Kyros spoke.

"Alright." Mechiel tossed the woman's dead head and drank on another race that was still impaled on her long shield.