92

-Why are you frozen? Come on, follow me! - The vampire shouted to me, who was frozen. Apparently this was the last straw, as he quickly approached me and with a sharp wave of his hand gave me a resounding slap in the face. - Stop flying in the clouds! You're flying through the next world. Ha ha ha.

    Laughing a strange, crazy laugh, Ed moved further along the crystal corridor. Well, I finally cast aside thoughts about the strange voice (a life-giving slap in the face works wonders).

    "Yes, there's not much left," after about twenty minutes the vampire began to communicate with himself. I don't know what it is, madness or illness, but this "something" is progressing at incredible speed, gaining momentum every second. "He will die, and I will gain power." The owner will be pleased," here he stopped in place and hovered slightly. - No! He's not needed! I will become the master myself! And then Susan!.. No, we don't need her. Or needed!

    Even for me, a not very "sensitive" person, it was scary to watch how a reasonable person gradually loses himself, ceasing to be himself. Sharp, broken movements, the tic of his palms, an ominous grin that did not leave his face, which seemed to have grown to him despite all the emotions that he was experiencing at that moment.

    - Right! They are not needed. None of them! — the head, clenched with hands on both sides, was slightly lowered. Deadly gray hair covered his face, but through it one could see a grin and an unhealthy look of eyes darting around the sockets. - By myself. Myself! All by myself. And no one else... yes... no. Don't know. Myself...

    The phrases disappeared, leaving behind only words, without any connection. The vampire's figure swayed from heel to toe, mana burst out of him in crazy bursts, acquiring an increasingly chaotic structure. The crystal corridor rang, as if some orchestra had decided to perform its composition.

    But in an instant everything stopped. A powerful wave of mana, not felt by anyone until now, passed through the entire castle. Most of it flowed onto Ed's body, absorbed without a trace.

    The madman froze. The hands gently dropped and the muttering stopped. The gleam of realization shone again in his eyes.

    "Let's go," the vampire ordered, looking at me carefully.

    Under his gaze, I began to move slowly, without lifting my face from the floor. With the help of magical vision, I saw how the Mana channel connecting Ed to the castle, through the amulet, became thicker, stronger, stronger. Now, precisely at this moment, the vampire was doing something with the castle; too much mana was flowing from the vampire to the castle.

    Having made sure that I was following him, Ed began his movement again, but I did not cease to feel that I was being followed. Perhaps Ed was watching me through the castle, or maybe it was just my paranoia.

    However, all this is not important. The climax is near.

    *****

    Our journey was not long. Some measly five minutes of travel, and we found ourselves at the goal - a door leading to some room in the center of the pyramid, or rather its top. How corny. Either dungeons or tower. Although it is surprising how this room is still divided, after the crushing "landing" of the dragon in the throne room. Still, he broke through more than one wall with his body.

    Stopping in front of the crystal door, the vampire carefully removed the amulet that controlled the lock from his neck. Thanks to this, I was able to see him. Well, what can I say, most of all it resembled a sphere of pure, white color. This area was not ordinary. How to describe... everyone knows how jewelers use cutting to give diamonds different shapes, like sculptors, thereby creating diamonds? All these lines, angles and so on. They are unforgettable. So, this is exactly the feeling that came to me when I saw this amulet. It was as if a very talented jeweler was trying to bring this "statue" closer to the sphere using cutting. And damn it, I must admit it turned out to be simply incredibly believable. If I hadn't looked closely, I wouldn't have noticed.

    After looking at this artifact for a few seconds, Ed inserted it into a special form that was in the door.

    Without any special effects, the door began to open. Only at the last moment did I notice how the sphere "melted" as it was absorbed by the door.

    "Let's go," Ed said and entered the not really open door. Apparently he was already tired of the theatrics.

    No sooner had I crossed the threshold than I found myself in a room I had never seen before. We were in an incredibly large, round room. On its sides, columns covered with runes "grew" into the heights. At the very top, these columns became thinner and branched out. All these branches intertwined with each other, in order to eventually connect in the middle, thereby forming a dome... It seems that this was created by the same intelligent person as the icy forest under the snow.

    From the center of these branches downwards, straight into the center of the room, a mana crystal "flowed". Yes, exactly the current one. I don't know how, but that's exactly the feeling I had. Like a crystal flowing. And no, it's definitely not water.

    There was a platform in the center of the room, rising about five centimeters above the rest of the floor. In the center of this platform there was an altar made in the form of a bowl, stylized as arms. "These" bowl-shaped hands held a sphere, similar to the one the vampire used to open the door, only much larger. (PA who played Skyrim should know the Star of Meridia, only with a smoother shape and with more edges. Much more).

    "Stay where you are," the vampire ordered and walked towards the altar. Slowly, as if fearing something, he moved forward. Finally approaching the podium, he stopped and slowly raised his hand.

    *Clink* For a brief moment, I was able to see the semi-transparent barrier that the vampire's hand collided with. It seems that he was the one who prevented Ed from getting to the treasured artifact.

    "It still won't let me in," the vampire whispered quietly, resting his palm completely on the barrier. Under his palm and about three centimeters nearby, the barrier became permanently visible. - A little more, a little more, and you will become mine. Be patient, it won't be long now," removing his hand and stepping back a little, Ed pulled out a knife from his bosom and put it to his other hand. "Let's begin," there was a sharp wave and a cut appeared on the magician's hand, from which something like blood flowed... Dead blood of a dark burgundy, almost black color.

    Obeying Ed's mental commands, blood scattered like a fog around the barrier, filling a space with a radius of three meters. Stopping there, the bloody fog began to thicken until it fell into an even layer of blood onto the ground.

    *Chick* *Chick* The sounds of thousands of knives filled the room. The blood began to boil and hit the stone like blades, leaving behind cuts in the "crystal" floor.

    After about five minutes everything stopped. The blood froze in place, and then, obeying the wave of the vampire's hand, began to flow towards the figure of the magician, accumulating at his feet, and then, rising in streams into the air, absorbing into his body through the wound on his hand.

    As the blood left, it slowly opened the ritual circle. Tens, hundreds of lines of various shapes. Thousands, tens of thousands of runes intertwined in a variety of combinations. And not only were there a lot of elements, but they were located as if in 3D, and not applied to a flat surface, that is, 2D.

    Having absorbed the blood, the vampire turned to me.

    "Come," he whispered quietly, I would say softly, stretching out his hand in my direction.

    I remained standing there as if I didn't hear him. Just a little more, just a little more...

    - Come to me, Slave! - the vampire shouted.

    Raising my leg, pretending to walk in his direction, I got ready. It was at that moment that something flew past me and forcefully threw the vampire into the protective barrier.

    *BAM*. The collision was not the mildest. A mana cloak wrapped around my body, carefully taking me away from the battlefield, closer to the wall.

    - Calder! How are you — Susan asked, lifting my head with her hands and looking into my eyes. The answer was the dead pools. - What happened to you? Col! — Without achieving any reaction, the necromancer turned towards the rising vampire. - What did you do with him?

    - Well, we need to know who we have here. "Susan and Croco," Ed said cheerfully, with some mischief. And yes, it was Croco who threw the vampire away. At the moment, he was clutching his sword forcefully and looking at the vampire menacingly. - How do you like my pet dragon? Fascinating, isn't it?

    -What did you do with the child? — without letting us change the topic, Crystal asked again.

    "Yes, this vegetable gave in to you," he waved his hand. - How about asking me how I'm doing? What's the weather like? Well, or you can tell me how Al fucked you in bed, that'll do, too. Tell me what it was like to lie under a stinking dog that was probably already dead.

    "I don't recognize you, Ed," Susan said quietly. "Where has the one who saved me, who gave me a home and a purpose gone?"

    - Oh, this weakling? Well, he died after the betrayal of his girlfriend and best friend. Yes, it was sad," Ed nodded theatrically, as if not talking about himself. - But! - He raised his finger in front of him. - Then he appeared in front of him! And saved him!

    - Who is he? - Croco grabbed the word, and I understand him. It is better to know the enemy by sight. - Who helped you?

    "He helped me..." here he fell silent, the smile disappeared from his face, and he, in turn, froze. - Who

.. He... I. Susan... Star. - He again clasped his head and began to mutter.

    The sphere that was in the bowl began to pulsate white, as if to the beat of some kind of heart. This went on for several seconds, but it just flared up. A wave of mana erupted from him, exactly like the one before.

    Mana began to be absorbed into the vampire's body, but was stopped. Someone else's, alien and more sinister mana burst out of the vampire's body and fenced him off from the mana of the sphere. A moment of collision between two opponents, and they melted away, leaving no trace behind.

    - My! I'll kill you! - the vampire roared like a wounded animal and rushed towards Croco.

    Right along the way, his body began to change even more. The limbs lengthened, the skin aged and became the same as that of the draugr. The claws became larger and more sinister, and with them a new fence of teeth grew in the once vampire's mouth.

    Hit. With one blow he pushed the dragonite aside and rushed towards the girl. Crystal was not at a loss and created a barrier of dust, thereby protecting herself and me. The monster was furious, hitting the dome, gnawing at it, but could not break through.

    Running up to him from behind, Croco threw him away from us with a blow of his sword right in the side, and then rushed after us. A fight ensued.

    Croco hit and stabbed with a sword, as well as with magic, dodging kicks, claws and teeth. Susan created bone spears, barriers, a curse, in general, everything that could help the dragonite and kill the vampire.

    But he didn't give up. The severed limbs grew back, the holes in the body closed with a disgusting hiss. The bones protruding from the body stopped some of the blows. So he was still incredibly agile, not forgetting to dodge the Magess's attacks.

    All this time I stood nearby and watched the battle, as well as the bloody fog that the vampire managed to spread during the conversation. It was thanks to him that he was able to discover me. Finally, a couple of minutes after the start of the battle, he dissipated (apparently Ed in this state does not control his spell at all). It's time...

    And the battle was gaining momentum. Now Croco was wounded, caught in the bastard's claws. The spells flew at incredible speed. More and more often one could see how a vampire came into contact with a barrier or wall, and then, after lying down for a while, broke into battle again.

    Strike, spells, every move. All this was incredibly beautiful and mesmerizing. The Dance of Death can be beautiful, just like now. Eye-catching.

    Once again meeting the sword face to face, the vampire flew away towards the barter. Having hit it hard, he slid to the ground. As soon as he stood up, he was instantly wrapped in dead arms, holding him in one place.

    - Croco! Hold on for another thirty seconds! The rest are on their way! - the necromancer shouted to the dragonite. Have the artifacts stopped working?

    "Got it," Croco nodded and rushed towards the struggling vampire. But…

    With a whoosh, the silver dagger pierced the monster's back. The vampire froze, shock reflected in his eyes. In disbelief, he lowered his gaze to the tip of the dagger that had been torn from his chest.

    - How...?

    "When you stopped drinking blood, you began to become like the dead." And in this battle I completely became like this - slowly my body began to appear right behind his back. Everything happened gradually: arms, chest, then head and only then legs. "It's true that you haven't completely become a dead man, since you're still alive, but that won't last for long."

    With a squelch, I tore the Mage Killer from the vampire's back. He watched in disbelief as I calmly walked away from him, approaching the frozen Croco.

    "You..." the vampire wheezed as he fell to the ground.

    "Goodbye, Ed," I said calmly looking into his crazy eyes.

    At that moment, the runes that the vampire had carved before lit up with a bright light. The hall shook. The barrier that hid the sphere disappeared.

    *BAM* The dome was broken. A giant bone dragon burst into the hall and swallowed the sphere in one bite.

    " She's finally mine." How long have I been waiting for this ," his voice boomed. - The bloodsucker did a great job. This is your reward.

    With a sharp whistle, his paw fell on the body of the still living vampire, crushing him into a cake.

    A curtain. So, what is next?

    The dragon turned his attention to us.