The Vampire King

The sky had turned red with dark clouds covering the moon.

Not even a single ray of light was able to pass through.

Down below, a strong smell of blood was lingering around with battle cries that could be heard far and wide, mixed with the sound of clashing weapons. 

On the ground, one could see piles of dead bodies being stamped on by those who kept fighting for their lives.

"Die! You stinking vampire!" One of the vampire hunters screamed, raising their sword high in the air, but before having a chance to behead the vampire in front of him, blood started to sprout out from his mouth.

Looking down, he could see that a fist went straight through his chest, ripping his heart out.

A second later, the vampire hunter fell down on the coarse soil, becoming a dessert for the injured vampires that were lingering around.

On the other side of the battlefield, a different scene was taking place.

In the clash between hunters and vampires, one hunter was completely surrounded.

He held his broadsword with both hands, anticipating an attack that could come from any direction.

He was alone, with no one to help him. If he was meant to die, he was going to make sure to take at least a few of these blood-sucking monsters with him.

A few vampires ran towards the hunter whose eyes started to radiate with a gentle yellow glow, like the sun, and so did his broadsword. 

With one horizontal cut, he managed to kill three vampires that instantly turned into a pile of ash before the wind could take it across the battleground. 

The vampire hunter was giving his best against the vampires praying down on him, but his concentration started to fail him bit by bit, getting weaker.

He was only a human after all and exhaustion was getting to him.

Before he knew it, a vampire came from behind and lifted him by his neck.

The hunter could feel the claws around his throat.

He tried to strike, but couldn't as other vampires rushed in, holding him down and making him unable to continue fighting.

What was surprising was that they hadn't killed or fed on him yet.

"Screw you all!" The vampire hunter shouted at the top of his lungs, "You will all turn to dust at the hand of our savior! The Ray of Hope, our-"

Before the hunter could finish his sentence, a vampire went to grab his face, forcing his mouth open.

There was a cut on the vampire's wrist and blood could be seen dripping down his elbow as he had his hand raised in the air.

"Let's see your lord's mercy once you start craving some blood." The vampire hissed, letting the blood drip down the hunter's throat. 

The hunter tried to spit it out, but the vampire closed his jaws, not letting him do so, and eventually, the hunter swallowed the dreadful vampire's blood.

Once the deed has been done, the vampire holding the hunter's neck finally decides to let him go, allowing the hunter to fall on his knees.

The hunter was sweating more than ever, he even tried to push his fingers down his throat to throw up, but nothing, and before he knew it, from his stomach, a burning sensation spread all around his body.

The hunter was defeated. His head hit the bloody dirt as he kept pounding the ground with his fist.

He screamed in agony at the top of his lungs before rolling on the soil. What seemed like an eternity was only ten minutes.

Once the pain started to slowly disappear, the vampire hunter lifted his head, revealing blood-red eyes as he watched the snickering vampires surrounding him.

The hunter was breathing heavily. Opening his mouth slightly, one could see a set of vampire fangs.

The hunter was ready to go in a state of panic, but before he had a chance, a new feeling and desire settled in as his final traces of humanity disappeared.

There was an unexplainable feeling of thirst in his throat like one would be in the desert for hundreds of days with not even a drop of water. 

With the new feeling, there was a beastly instinct that settled in his head as well - to feast on human blood.

Not even ten seconds went by before a former vampire hunter could be seen pouncing on the nearest human who was fighting for his life.

The newborn vampire didn't hesitate even for a second, stabbing his fangs into the victim's neck, and starting to drink blood before his head was cut off clean.

"Disgusting demon," Luciel commented, stomping the head he had cut off moments ago.

"Thank you, Luciel."

"You will thank me later with a beer." Luciel smiled at his friend before running off.

While being one of the strongest on the battlefield, he rarely participated in brawls unless the opponent was way more powerful than the average vampire.

Luciel had another job on his hands and that was watching the back of other fellow humans. He couldn't be everywhere at the same time.

One would say that his task was stupid because he should put his strength to full use, but doing that would drastically increase the number of casualties.

Besides, Luciel had a good reason to preserve his strength.

He had to locate the one that vampires call their king and slay him once and for all to put a stop to this madness.

"Helen? Have you managed to locate the vampire king, Alukah?" Luciel asked through his communicator that was attached to his ear while he continued to cut down the vampires that were about to kill his comrades.

There was a sharp stabbing pain in his heart every time Luciel would hear a cry from the army of hunters.

He knew he couldn't save everyone, but it hurts to know that one more innocent person wouldn't be able to live long enough to see the next day.

"Head to the center of the battlefield. He's on top of-" Helen stopped talking all of a sudden, making a small break before continuing, "Well… You'll know it when you see it."

"Thank you, my love." There was a warm smile on his face after hearing his wife's voice.

Luciel continued to speed through the battlefield, wherever he looked, one could see countless and countless corpses lying around, many of them without a head.

At least he couldn't see the extent of it due to the ash flying around, making the visibility poor on the battlefield.

It was also extremely dark as well due to having only a few light sources that some vampire hunters still had with them.

No one expected the battle to last for this long. It was supposed to be a simple mission to exterminate a vampire nest that appeared recently near Paradise, the colony he was staying at for the last few years.

Before a simple mission, now a final battle that will decide the fate of humanity.

"O lords," Luciel started to pray, putting both of his hands together while avoiding incoming attacks, "I turn to you for strength and guidance. Help me find the path amidst the evil. Allow me to soar up high and offer salvation to those that have wronged."

Luciel continued to pray, it was a long prayer that needed lots of preparation.

It was a race against time that he did not have. Either he will finish the prayer or will end up as a vampire's dinner.

"By the ancient rite and sacred symbols, I summon the power of flight to grant light to those in need."

Once Luciel finished the prayer, a pair of great astral wings appeared on his back, covered with gold and white feathers.

The prayer had been answered and he was able to receive a blessing.

He spread his wings and with a single powerful swing, he took off to the skies, heading towards the general direction.

There was a faint, golden trail where he went, with this, he should arrive at the center in mere minutes where running would take him some time due to constant fighting.

As he was flying, he got an incoming connection request from Helen.

"Hey, you should hurry up a little if you can. The hunters can't hold on for long." 

"Don't worry, you just stay safe," Luciel replied. He could already see the center of the battlefield. He couldn't see clearly, but there was definitely some kind of a hill of some sort.

"I'm already here, soon engaging in battle."

"All right and remember, even if this is our final stand, retreat if you won't be able to win. There is no point in dying if your death is in vain."

"Don't worry, my love." Luciel reassured her, "I promised you before and I will do so now. I will make sure to return to you, we still need to go on our honeymoon after all." He smiled a little, remembering their happy time together.

"I love you." He said softly and took a big breath before cutting off the connection.

He took off the communicator from his ear and crushed it into pieces. He didn't want any kind of distraction during the fight that had yet to come.

His heart was pounding while cold sweat covered his body.

Even though he had been proclaimed as Ray of Hope, Humanity's Savior, Vampire's Bane, and so on due to his achievements and numerous battles, he still had a fear of dying.

Unlike vampires that are hard to kill by ordinary means, one punch from a vampire could be the death of him.

Descending, his eyes widened in horror as the scene in front of him almost made him puke.

The smell of blood was stronger than ever on the battlefield while rarely any scream could be heard since everyone was keeping their distance.

There, in the middle of the battlefield, a large pile of corpses made from both vampires and humans could be seen and on top of it all, there was a large, bald figure with skin gray as ash with barely any clothes on it.

It also had a pair of bat wings sprouting from the back and an ugly tail waving behind.

There was a loud thunder in the distance, signalizing a start of the upcoming battle.