Holy arth thou Lord of the Universe whom nature has not formed, the vast and the mighty one lord of light and darkness. - Cipher Manuscripts, Folio 4:16

Alex's heart was broken.

There he was at the front of the vampire reinforcements, the Judas who betrayed him. It was Vampy, his beloved pet.

"Pierre, good job," one of the chosen said. The two chosen slowly stepped back, trying to blend into the group of vampires.

"Show yourself!" the other chosen screamed.

'I guess that's the end of melee mode,' Alex thought.

*Breep*

A sound abruptly echoed in the hall. Everyone looked around for the source.

*Pew*

Suddenly, a fist sized hole appeared in the chest of the giant General as well as the chosen behind him. The General turned into light and the chosen turned into a corpse.

The room was dead silent.

"He's invisible, spread out! He has to be around here somewhere. Run around until someone bumps into him!" Vampy yelled.

'This ungrateful bastard...' Alex thought. Then he heard even more footsteps approaching from the distance.

'Sir, we should escape. First, grab that book at the foot of the first chosen you killed,' Scott suddenly said.

Alex looked over and saw a book bound in dark green. He ran over and picked it up. As the book turned invisible, a vampire noticed, pointed and yelled, "He's over there!"

*Pew*

His pointing finger disappeared along with a large part of his head, his hair now sizzled with small sparks of fire.

"Surround that area!" The remaining chosen yelled. The vampires gritted their teeth and charged forward. Alex had something to deal with them.

*Hiss* Dracula materialized in front of the vampires and immediately gave them the daddy treatment. He knocked back the vampires in front, then pulled out his blood sword and started to hack and slash. Dracula's soul ability was a physical summoning. Alex finally had a tank.

Alex was already on the other side of the room due to his sandals' 50% movement buff. The previously blocked entrance was passable now. He looked back at Dracula who was surrounded and slowly being suppressed. Dracula was stronger but there were weapons and fists flying at him from all directions. Looking back at Dracula, Alex said, 'If they kill you, will you die?'

'No, Lord. I will simply be unsummoned.'

Hearing that, Alex stepped outside. Right after he did so, a dozen more vampires ran past him into the chamber. Alex considered running away now, but then he saw Vampy, and realized he needed some closure. He looked around at the space. It was clearly reinforced well and much sturdier than the old catacombs outside. Now that he'd found the book he came for, a small risk could be taken.

'A bad dog needs to be properly disciplined.' As all the vampires piled on Dracula and he turned into motes of light, a sound came from the doorway.

*Pew*

The last remaining chosen looked down to see a massive hole in his chest and quickly collapsed. The vampires were confused now. There were no more bosses left to order them. More importantly, the enemy was clearly outside already. With his invisibility, they probably couldn't catch him. Should they attack?

Alex saved them the trouble of making a tough decision. "Vampy, you broke my heart!"

Pierre suddenly had a very bad feeling, like maybe he shouldn't have been such a bad boy.

"Smash you with gold!"

...

"A chamber filled with a mountain of gold.

Vampire soup served brutally cold."

Alex had been working on his poetry skills. He closed his eyes and savored sweet justice. 'This must be what heroes feel like,' he thought to himself. He forgot that heroes don't commit mass murder.

There were footsteps coming from the distance again. It sounded like even more vampires this time. Alex made the smart decision to not stay here any longer. He barely had time to reseal his gold before escaping just as they approached.

'Dracula, you alive?'

'Yes, Lord.'

'Does the corridor to the sacrificial room lead to a dead end?'

'No, Lord. There is an exit to the surface not far away.'

'Phew. I need to get some fresh air. It's like living in a vacuum cleaner down here.'

Sometime later, Alex emerged to see the Paris streets under bright sunlight. He'd fought underground the entire night and was exhausted. Luckily, traveling above ground is much faster than below. Soon, he made his way back to Coco.

Earlier, she provided him with a short distance communication device. So as soon as he arrived at her location, he had her come down to pick him up. With both him and the ship being invisible, there was no problem doing this even in a large city. The only requirement was a space big enough for her ladder to descend.

Back on the ship, Alex was petting Barney. 'You would never run away and lead dozens of vampires to kill me right?' Alex believed if Barney could speak, his answer would be no. Some breeds are just more loyal than others. Before he passed out, Alex decided to have a quick meeting with the whole team. A few minutes later, everyone was in the sky lounge above Cardopolis.

"Dracula, you did a great job today. Have you met everyone?" Alex asked.

"...Yes, Lord." Dracula had a strange expression on his face as he looked over at Hades. He still remembered when Hades warned him to stay away from his "Naughty garden of love."

"Good. Just remember we have two rules here: nobody quits, every joke hits." That was the entirety of Alex's rookie training program. "Scott, what was that trip all about? You said we needed to get that book, but what is it in the end?"

"Sir, that book is the Cipher Manuscripts. It will be very important in the future."

Alex had already looked through the book. It was just a bunch of symbols in a language he didn't understand. "What is it for?"

"Sir, we will use it to open dimensional portals, but first, we must go meet some gods and possibly some werewolves."

*Hiss*

Dracula really hated werewolves.

"ARRGGGHHH!"

Hades suddenly ripped his shirt off. Apparently he had an even bigger problem with werewolves.

Author's Note:

The Cipher Manuscripts is a real document. A large part of western occultism has been based on it since it went public.

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