CHAPTER 202: THE LAST DAY BEFORE AWAKENING IV

"Welcome! I have been waiting for you." Cassian's friendly voice resounded within the area.

The auras of sixteen powerful figures soon exploded before him. The four Principals and twelve teachers narrowed their eyes on Cassian, and while some of them tried their best to mask it, Cassian was able to perceive the deep fear nestling within their eyes when they inadvertently glanced at the army behind him.

"What happened to the elder outside?" The Old principal questioned in a deep voice.

A dumbfounded look appeared on Cassian's face before he grinned knowingly.

"Oh, Are you talking about the super-strong elder protecting the teleportation formation?" 

The old Principal didn't respond and merely kept his eyes on him.

Seeing this, Cassian lost interest in toying with his enemy and merely shrugged.

"He is dead."

A brief deafening silence ensued.

"W-what?" A teacher questioned with a shaky voice.

Cassian's face turned impassive as he looked at the small group in front of him, "I must confess, the old dude was quite strong, terrifyingly strong. Even when besieged by almost 25,000 magical beasts, he remained strong and steadfast. In the end, he took down 5000 souls, but he still couldn't escape the inevitable..." He paused as he flashed an evil smile, "Just like you guys wouldn't."

"I see..." The old principal trailed off before lowering his head slightly.

Despite grinning victoriously, Cassian's mind spunned.

'Is this the strongest force they could muster? If so, I don't need the army behind me.'

'Still, why are they being impassive, this is unlike a vampire!' Cassian's eyes narrowed. He knew how domineering and prideful vampires were. When they acted, they did so arrogantly with no care for the other party. In fact, the vampires inherently look down on other races, yet those same vampires who acted impulsively were calm in front of their enemies. It almost seemed as if they were trying to buy time...

When his thought reached here, Cassian's eyes widened, before he looked past the figures before him and into the distance.

'Don't tell me...The students?'

Cassian was almost certain of his conjecture. Thinking of how desperate the usually domineering vampires were acting, he couldn't help but laugh.

"Hahahahahaha!"

The magical beasts had always acted tamed in front of this superior race. This world was once theirs, and only the werewolves were formidable enough to contend with them. Yet, one day, the vampires appeared out of nowhere and terrified the world with their unusual prowess. But now, those same vampires were cowering before him.

"Hahahahahaha!" Cassian laughed to the point that tears formed at the sides of his eyes. He couldn't believe he had always been afraid of these blood-sucking bats.

Seeing Cassian suddenly laugh with a condescending tone, some of the teachers couldn't help but frown in displeasure but the principals stopped them from acting.

"Do not move. Our main goal is buying enough time for our students to escape."

"Once the time comes to fight, we the principals will try to restrain Cassian, the others should join hands to kill as many corrupted as you can. Just draw their attention enough and don't give them any chance to think too deeply."

Cassian had actually guessed correctly. While the group before him appeared to be disheartened by the loss of one of their elders, the scene couldn't be farther away from the truth.

They were expertly communicating with their spiritual energy, and they thought the beasts were none the wiser. It was why what happened next shocked them to the core.

"March in. Kill any student on sight." The laughing Cassian abruptly commanded.

The fifteen thousand army behind him didn't hesitate to obey his command.

"No!" The Old principal shrieked.

"Where do you think you are going to?" Cassian singlehandedly blocked the way of the vampires.

"Attack!" The teachers had already acted before the old principal could even command.

"Hehehe...you really look down on me!" As Cassian spoke, his body quickly morphed before a towering figure soon blocked the path of the vampires.

A Wyvern tens of meters long, with its red scales shining brightly below the resplendent moonlight, raised its head and released a roar.

The vampires came to a sudden stop when the suppressing aura of the fake dragon before them engulfed them.

As Cassian's scales flared blindingly, a small ball soon formed above him. In but five seconds, the fireball turned into a mini-sun that became an artificial source of light that illuminated the whole minor world. It was as if the sun which had set a while ago had risen back again. The surrounding temperature rose, the heat suffocating all those present. 

The red wyvern shifted his window-sized eyes on the vampires before him.

"Die!"

The red sun descended. 

Ah!" The old principal released a breath as he gazed at the fast-approaching catastrophic attack. He realized that he had been too arrogant and complacent to plan to attack the presence before him with just the four Principals. The towering figure before them was the leader of an ancient family, a family that has survived for thousands of years. Comparing him to the nine protectors of the Royal family wouldn't be an understatement. Can they handle such a figure with just a few numbers?

He didn't need to think deeply to arrive at the answer.

No!

As the blinding sun descended, the vampires noticed that while Cassian had commanded the army to leave, about four thousand corrupted remained. It didn't take long to know the reason why.

The four thousand figures spread out before surrounding them from every direction. Then, their bodies morphed into wyverns with scales similar to that of Cassian. Despite being of far smaller size, the deep-red light that shone from their outstretched mouth spoke volumes about their strengths. None of these figures could be underestimated. Yet each of them launched a fire breath that combined to form a wall of fire that closed on them from all directions. And above the enclosing walls was a falling red star.

As the old Principal looked at death approaching, he made a decision.

"Grim!" Rather than communicating telepathically, his voice echoed in the area, showing that despite the situation they were facing, he still retained his calm.

A grating voice that sounded like a metal rod being rubbed against solid ground resounded from behind him.

"Yes?"

"Please, save as many students as you can." he pleaded without looking back, his gaze fixed on the approaching attacks.

Nobody responded this time. Instead, a moment of silence passed during which the heat suffocating them increased several notches higher. Soon after, Grim who was covered entirely by a black cloak quietly disappeared, reducing the number of vampires to 19.

Feeling the sudden disappearance of one of his instructors, the calm look on the principal's face suddenly disappeared as if a lie, and what took its place was a crazy light flashing within his eyes. His hunched back slowly straightened, and as his eyes started shining with a crimson glow, the old principal spoke with anger evident within his voice:

"The people responsible for the disappearance of our liege are before us, yet they dare to run rampant. I believe it is time to remind the people of this world why they shouldn't mess with vampires."

Even in the middle of his speech, the other principals and teachers started undergoing a drastic transformation. 

Their eyes shone with a ruby light, as two crimson sharp fangs jotted out from their mouths. But that wasn't the end. Each of them invoked their clan's unique abilities. Some transformed their hands, some their legs, some turned into swarms of bats, some info a black fog, some had a dark sheen shining on their skin like black armor that increased their defense and durability, and many more.

"Go!" The old principal commanded and in response, 19 figures disappeared. 

Perhaps it was more apt to say that they charged towards the enclosing walls of fire at breakneck speed. As darkness bloomed around their bodies, each of these powerful figures plunged into the wall of fire without any hesitation. The darkness around them offered a layer of protection that allowed them to pierce and pass through the fiery walls, however, three of them still succumbed to the unbearable heat and before they could come out from the other side, the darkness around them was incinerated before their bodies soon followed after.

As if they could feel the death of their members, the now remaining 16 vampires raised their heads and released fierce roars. 

The wyverns who still had their mouths outstretched as they released fiery breaths had no idea when the vampires pierced through their attacks and arrived before them.

It was then that the vampires displayed why they were one of the most fearsome races not only within the Lunar World but even in the whole universe. They were the only races who could be described as natural tri-cultivators. 

They showed their superior physical might that was almost comparable to warriors as they closed their distance to their enemies in but an instant.

Streaks of darkness coursed around the thousands of wyverns and before they could even react, their bodies were evenly split apart. Dark fogs wove around the towering wyverns, and from within the fogs came sharp claws that easily pierced into their deep-red scales like knives through butter. 

It was then...

...The falling star finally met the ground.

With a blinding light that illuminated tens of thousands of kilometers, the world went silent.