Katie struck first, her Branch Blades going right for Royce’s neck. Technically, as someone who had a clear advantage in speed and agility, Katie should be abusing that factor. She should be dancing around the man, gradually wearing him down with a cut here and a stab there until he was too wounded to withstand a frontal attack. That was what she should do...if she actually wanted a quick and decisive victory! 

Nope. As much as Katie wanted victory, there was no way she would waste a worthy foe because of this petty thing called the greater good! Royce looked tough. He felt tough. Good. She wanted to test how tough he really was! 

It turned out...well, he was indeed quite tough. The two Branch Blades snapped almost immediately when they made contact with Royce’s fists. Of course, that didn't stop Katie from dropping what was left of the two blades and moving forward with her bare fists. 

Two fists hit each other in the air. Neither Katie nor Royce pulled any punches, literally, and the result of two punches, each capable of going through a lot of supernaturals in this world, colliding was devastating. 

A groan left Katie’s mouth as the girl stumbled back. Her right fist, and the arm in general, was maimed in an instant. Almost all the bones in her fists were shattered into a million pieces. Her forearm had multiple bone shards sticking out on the side. What was left of the limb hung down from her shoulder. 

Royce took a step back as well. To his horror, he realized that the brunette before him was as strong as she was fast. Ever since he became a Dominator, Royce had been tearing open his enemies with his bare hands. Angels. Demons. Fellow Dark Pantheon Dominators. Even among his own ranks, Royce was a powerful one. There was a reason he was sent on a mission as important as this one into somewhere as deadly as Los Angeles. 

Yet he barely came on top in that brief moment of engagement. He fought in the field he was the best at, and he almost lost!

Unlike Katie’s extensive injuries, Royce’s arm looked fine. On the outside. But even now the Dark Pantheon Dominator could feel surges of pain coursing through his body. A foreign sensation. Since it wasn’t really his body, he could block out the pain with a single command, but that didn't change the fact that this body was injured. That was anything but good news.

Katie grimaced as the bones in her arm started growing back into their place. By the time Royce realized that she was healing and wanted to push the attack, it was already too late. A few seconds was all it took for Katie to recover her crippled arm and make another leap at Royce, forcing the Dominator to defend himself. 

As the two fought in hand-to-hand combat, the audiences of this melee found themselves frozen in place, shocked. The vampire elders looked at each other, wondering what the hell they were supposed to do. A few of them glanced at the door. These two beasts could fight each other all they wanted! They should get outta here! But these would-be deserters were quickly stopped by John Lance. 

John was much more aware of the situation than the other elders. They have already gotten onto the boat of the New Factions. It was too late to turn back now. If they fled and Katie won the fight, then their betrayal would become obvious. If they turned tail and ran and the Dominator who they abandoned emerged the victor, well...how would he treat the cowards that left him to fend for himself?

Their only hope now was to get rid of Katie and Cara in this chamber. This was the only possibility they had of preserving their secret and their alliance.

John quickly turned to the others and gave the order. 

“Use blood magic. Focus on...her.” This entire time, John had no idea what Katie’s name was. He didn't know about Crypt Entertainment either, not when he spent his days hiding underground. He saw the look of fear on the elders’ faces and quickly calmed them down. “Don’t worry. The Dominator has her occupied.” 

Upon seeing that they wouldn’t be torn to shreds in just seconds, the vampire elders finally gathered some strength to fight. As their safety was guaranteed for the moment, the elders finally demonstrated why they were on the top of the vampire hierarchy. Streams of blood appeared on the floor and gradually floated into the air. Acting under the influence of the elders, the blood suddenly surged toward Katie with malicious intent. 

The first few blood daggers pierced Katie’s flesh, resulting in injuries that healed almost instantly. After seeing that direct attacks were almost useless against Katie, the vampires changed their tactics and did their best to sabotage Katie and open up opportunities for Royce.

Katie was about to land a hit on Royce’s face when a string of blood wrapped itself around her arm as if it was a solid rope. The blood burned against Katie’s skin, which achieved very little. However, it did give Royce an opportunity to land a punch in Katie’s chest. 

Just as Katie stumbled back, two more blocks of blood formed behind her feet, causing her to almost trip and giving Royce another opportunity to punch her in the neck. 

When Katie tried to retaliate, the vampires channeled their powers and formed two blood vortexes beside her fists, holding them in place and giving Royce the perfect opening to send a knee into Katie’s stomach. 

The vampire elders and Royce worked well as a team. Things looked bad for Katie...until it became clear that all that teamwork achieved absolutely nothing. At the end of the day, the broken bones healed and the wounds closed, leaving Royce with an opponent that was even more excited than before. 

After a few more exchanges, Royce made another terrifying discovery. It was common sense that healing took energy, so self-healers should only get weaker and weaker the more they mended themselves. But this brunette he was fighting...somehow, she grew stronger and faster with every injury. He had an upper hand at the beginning of the fight, and he used it to maim Katie countless times. 

The result? Katie had grown so powerful that she was slowly overpowering him. It came to a point where Royce needed the intervention of the vampires just to stay in the fight! How...this fight was so damn unfair!

As the Dark Pantheon Dominator was wondering how the hell he could get himself out of this dire situation, one woman, forgotten by almost everyone, suddenly sprung into action. 

As the fight began and Katie started slaughtering, Cara Cull was more or less forgotten. The vampire elders were too traumatized by what Katie did to pay any attention to someone as young as Cara. The same could be said for the Dominator. Everyone sort of just ignored Cara and focused on the Lockwood in the room.

But Cara had no intention of sitting back and letting her ally do all the fighting. She was never one to sit back and pray. Using the distraction Katie provided, Cara suddenly turned to the two vampire sentries. She might be a young one in the eyes of the elders, but she was still a high-ranking vampire. Within seconds, the two vampires laid dead beneath her blades. 

The path out was cleared, but Cara had no intention of fleeing. Instead, she grabbed onto her knives and charged at the vampire elders. She had had enough of these old fools! She would make them pay for their arrogance and betrayal!

“Shit…” One of the vampire elders swore as Cara came charging at them, reminding the others in the process. Normally, he wouldn’t be too bothered by Cara. The elders far exceeded Cara in terms of their expertise with blood magic, and someone like her couldn’t even get close enough to them without being smitten. Yet the elders were too occupied by Katie and lost their usual vigilance. By the time they saw Cara, she was way too close for comfort. 

To be fair, the elders still had a chance of repelling Cara. The only problem was that in the split second of seeing Cara merely steps away from them, almost all the elders subconsciously dropped their magic against Katie and defended themselves from Cara instead. It was a natural act of self-preservation. Streams of blood formed a shield between the elders and Cara, saving the elders from a lot of decapitations. 

Yet the success didn't bring the elders relief. In fact, they quickly realized their fatal mistake. If only a few of them shifted their attention to Cara and the others kept doing what they had been doing, they could’ve maintained the stalemate a little longer. But now that most of them have fully moved against Cara…

The elders were experienced with magic, but it had been a while since they fought in battles this close and this dangerous. This led to terrible consequences. 

Dominator Royce didn't have the time to scream at his allies and condemn their idiocy. No longer disturbed by the annoyance that was the blood magic, Katie landed a full blow on his chest. This time, her fist buried itself into his body, fatally injuring the Dark Pantheon Dominator. 

As Katie pulled the punch back out, Royce collapsed onto the ground. His soul was fine, but his body was maimed. He channeled the power of the Chaos Descendant titan sealed in his soul and did his best to give his body a little more strength. Unfortunately for him, the titan was never known for its regeneration, and for a while, the man couldn’t muster the strength to get back up. 

Katie walked up to him. She looked down on the wounded Dominator and chuckled in glee. The man stared back at her, knowing that he was defeated. Yet the man simply laid there as if he had accepted his fate. 

The brunette was going to mock him when she saw something on the side. Cara wasn’t doing so hot with the rest of the vampire elders focusing their attention on her. She was stumbling back against their magic, and if Katie didn't act soon, she would be very very dead. 

Dominator Royce watched as Katie charged toward the elders so fast that she was almost a blur. He watched as she carved her way through every single one of them, simply laughing as the elders used every magic they knew against her and couldn’t as much as delay her. He watched as Katie removed the head of an elder who was practically begging for his life. He watched as two elders ran for the door, completely broken by fear, only to be stabbed in the back by a furious Cara.

Finally, he watched as Katie and Cara approached the last surviving elder in the room. John Lance. 

“I did what I did for the survival of our people!” Even as he knew his end was near, John Lance did his best to maintain his dignity, unlike his fellow vampires. “We can’t beat the New Factions on the battlefield! You know it, Cara! It doesn’t matter if we fight or not! Sooner or later, they will kill every single one of us...unless we yield right now!” 

Cara stood there in silence. She knew John had a point...sort of. Yes. She knew something that John didn't know. She knew about the so-called Protector, but so what? What were the chances that they could somehow find this Protector and then kill her? And if this Protector died, would all the New Factions just roll over and die as well? Their chances simply weren’t great. 

Perhaps John was right. Perhaps the Dark Pantheon really was willing to accept the surrender, and perhaps his submission could’ve saved his family and his people. 

Alas, that was never going to happen. Cara and Katie were the victors in this battle. The Lances played their card and placed their bet, and they lost. Now, Cara was going to make sure the Lances would never join the New Factions. 

“I would rather die fighting than placing my hopes on the mercy of my enemies.” Cara Cull simply replied. “As for you...your time is over, Wise One.” 

She turned and nodded at Katie, who jammed her fist into the vampire’s heart, killing him gruesomely yet quickly. 

As the voices quieted down and the footsteps approached, Dominator Royce sighed as blood rushed to his mouth. In that split second, he thought about a lot of things. He remembered the smile of his mother and his sister when he first graduated from university. He remembered the laughter of his wife the night they were married. He remembered the tears from his family members when he was put in jail for embezzlement. 

Everything that happened after that was a nightmare. He and hundreds of other prisoners were secretly transported out of their cells and taken to an underground facility, where they were shown all the horrors this world had to offer. He watched as his cellmate was devoured by a centipede the size of a bus. He could still remember the screams as another prisoner was melted alive by the acid of some other Chaos Descendant.

He remembered being forced to commit countless atrocities to prove his loyalty...atrocities that ended with a single test. He remembered going back to his home and seeing his family members, who were both surprised and happy to see him. He remembered drawing his handgun and shooting them dead one by one, knowing that if he didn't, he and they would both be put through torments beyond imagination. 

It was an act of mercy. He told himself that as he ended the lives of his own mother. His sister. His wife. 

From that day on, the cowardly accountant was gone, and in its place was a monster willing to do anything to stay alive. As a Predator, Royce fought the enemies of the Pantheon with all the fury in the world. This gained him the favor of a Dominator, who helped him climb up the ranks, perform the ritual, and become a Dominator himself. 

Of course, that Dominator later grew jealous of the favor Royce earned with their Lord. He challenged Royce to a duel, where Royce ripped his arms and legs off and left him to die in the halls of the Dark Pantheon. It took him days to draw his last breath.

Through the years, he had killed Angels and Demons and all sorts of monsters. He was so close to becoming a Lord! Yet...yet ultimately here he was, laying on the ground in a puddle of his blood and waiting for his end.

Perhaps...perhaps this was for the best. Perhaps an end like this was more than anything he possibly deserved. 

Royce’s thoughts came to an end as Katie crushed his head with a single stomp.