A burning storm starts to awaken within Zeruna; her fist clenches and a tide of terror surges through the Naga and even Aldue. A shiver shoots down Aldue's spine. He was impressed with, not only the tactics but also the nature of this masked female's abilities. To him, it's unfortunate for them to be fighting his master. They will surely lose against his overwhelming power— maybe not this girl though, her aura is much similar to his.

"She couldn't be a– no, she's with humans. It's also day outside the dungeon. But maybe that's why she's wearing the mask, the cloak. If only I had an appraisal skill," mutters Aldue to himself.

The Naga darts at Zeruna, but it can't, it's as if time itself has frozen. Within a second, the Naga had become a wall decoration. She had no reason to hold back now since the Sparrow Knights weren't around. However, she wasn't finished, she first had to make sure it was dead, permanently. She peels the Naga from the wall and makes a crushing motion with her hands. The noise made when the centipedes were awful, but this act transcended it tenfold. Even Aldue, who is a Vampire, seems uncomfortable by this act of crushing a Naga into a tennis ball sized sphere. 

"Take me to your master," growls Zeruna.

"V-very well," Aldue stutters in an attempt to keep his exterior cool.

Caspian sits silently on his throne, enthralled by the crystalised woman before him. The crystal is beginning to clear up, and the woman inside is more visible. However, hair colour and eye colour is still a mystery. There is a sudden knock on the door, immediately putting him in a bad mood. Most likely, it is Aldue telling him a group of adventurers got slaughtered on the way here. Either way, it isn't that significant, more will come. With the abundance of monsters running around, someone somewhere head will turn an order a subjugation.

"Enter," growls Caspian, his red eyes flickering.

Two people enter, Aldue, obviously, and a masked individual with a magnificent red cloak. Caspian raises his eyebrow in surprise at the appearance of this person here.

"What is the meaning of this intrusion, Aldue?" barks Caspian as he sits forward, his eyes dangerously flickering again.

"I believe this human's soul will be enough to break the crystal," he replies. "Alone."

Caspian sits back in his chair as the two continue to approach. When they reach the foot of the throne, a strange feeling suddenly overcomes the Vampire Lord. Like the hands of death had put themselves around his mouth and neck. He shakes off the feeling and instead looks to the prostrating Aldue, then to the human who baldly stands unafraid.

"Bow," utters Caspian. "Bow yourself before your better, feeble human."

The human cracks her knuckles then proceeds to slowly undress, starting with her cloak then mask. She tosses the items aside, but before they hit the ground, they enter an ominous purple portal. To where it takes them, Caspian doesn't know. However, that wasn't the concern, the 'human' was actually a dark elf.

She has long silver hair that elegantly flowed to her upper thighs, showing Caspian her vampiric heritage. Her eyes were purple and mystifying, they could, by themself, enchant an entire legion of soldiers. Long ears that sharply pierced the air. Her skin was a perfect brown, without a blemish or scare that would degrade the Dark Elves Complexion. Encasing her body is white armour, the first piece encasing her chest but stretching no further than her ribs. From the rim hung thin gold chains. The second piece is around her waist could be best described as a battle skirt: the fabric part made of some purple material, the edges armoured with the same white metal as the breastplate.

Only the Gods could've fashioned such a perfect body; however, despite this, Caspian's eyes remained uninterested. Aldue, knowing well who this individual is, begins to shake in fear.

"Aldue, tell me who this is," says Caspian.

There is a long pause as Aldue attempts to speak, but finds himself unable to under the pressure of being five metres away from the Empress of Death. Eventually, he manages to speak. "That... is Zeruna Black... my liege."

"Aldue, I'm hungry, go to the 'food cellar' and bring me two morsels," Caspian commands, eyes still looking blankly at Zeruna.

Aldue stands, bows then leaves, each action he takes is done clumsily. His entire body is quivering with every movement as he leaves the room. It wouldn't be a surprise to him if when he returned, there was no room left.

"Zeruna Black, of course, I've heard stories of you. Looks like you didn't die 300 years ago," says Caspian. "Empress of Death, Destroyer of the Elven Kingdom, Leader of the Children of Chaos, Eternal Beauty.

"Don't speak to me as if you know me," snaps Zeruna, her face twisted with anger.

"Well, now you can," Caspian replies. "I am Vampire Lord Caspian, I welcome you to my castle."

"I don't care who you are, to me, your a corpse," responds Zeruna coldly. "But first, I ask you this, what is the purpose of your visit to the surface?"

"Ah, yes," Caspian claps twice. "You didn't look at that crystal next to you. That contains my beloved. A devil or some sort, I can't see any features other than her silhouette. She is the one for me, my beloved. Yet, unfortunately, she is trapped within the crystal. A crystal that requires a minimum of five strong souls to open; however, your soul will more than suffice. Your soul is a supreme soul."

"So you're the one causing this problem?"

"Indeed, I'm using a monster duplicator to spawn vast amounts of monsters to draw in adventurers who will make their way here," Caspian explains.

The sound of screaming is suddenly audible, and after a few moments, the door opens to reveal Aldue grasping two chains connected to two naked females. Their bodies are thin and starved. One, an elf, is writhing and shrieking as she is dragged to Caspian; the other, a human, merely saunters over, her eyes devoid of hope.

Aldue throws them before Caspian who immediately grabs the screaming Elf and burrows his fangs deep into her neck. Her struggles increase as blood spurts from the incision. The Elf suddenly goes limp, she bends backwards and reaches for Zeruna, tears in her eyes. Caspian drops the near-empty husk to the ground; however, something can be seen. The elf is still alive, barely.

'So that's how he keeps himself down in the dungeon, he sucks the blood of his food but keeps them alive so he can eventually suck their blood again. Smart and resourceful, but horrifying. How long have they been here? Weeks? Months? Years? More? They're probably fed food from monsters. He's probably keeping them alive with soul magic too.'

The smell of the Elf's blood slowly seeps into Zeruna's nose, unintentionally, the Dark Elf starts to drool. The tiniest drop falls to the ground alerting the two Vampires.

"I see you're thirsty too!" Caspian announces. "Here, I brought this second one intentionally. I've heard that your grandfather was a Vampire meaning you have enough of a Vampiric bloodline to feed."

"I rarely did so," responds Zeruna.

"You are more than welcome to since you are my guest. Don't kill her is all I ask, I need them"

Zeruna's belly rumbles and her fangs sting, he's right. I wrote that in my avatars past, her grandfather was a Vampire and her father had more Vampiric features than Elven.

Zeruna leans into the young blonde-haired human female. Zeruna's hands shake as she gradually leans into her neck. She then feels something around her neck: a hand. The human moves her mouth to the Dark Elf's ear as she pulls Zeruna in.

"Kill me," she whispers. "Please, I beg of you. End my life."

"Really?" whispers Zeruna back.

"Free my sisters, and kill those who have no life in their eyes. They beg of you, I beg you."

"Very well."

The fangs in Zeruna's mouth grow as she nears the girl's neck. The human winces as the dagger life teeth penetrate her skin and begin drinking her blood.

A surge of heavenly pleasure rushes over Zeruna and causes her to sharply spasm. Zeruna's eyes close as she further indulges in this blissful experience that'll inevitably end. In either of her lives, Zeruna had never tasted something so delicious. Even if this female asks to stop, Zeruna would find herself unable to. The two sharp fangs burrow deep to further drink more blood from her willing victim. The human's body begins to shrink as its fluid are take. To Caspian, this is a sign to stop. After all, he needs his food resource.

"Stop," says Caspian.

Zeruna's eyes open and stare directly into the Vampire Lord's. The fangs dig even deeper. The narcotic-like blood continues to flow into the Dark Elf until there is nothing left. Zeruna's body flows with newfound strength, at least, that she thought. In actuality, her not eating anything had caused her energy to diminish, making her somewhat weaker.

"It is rude to insult someone who offered you food," spits Caspian.

"These are living breathing organisms. I wouldn't even treat Goblins like this."

"They're just resources," returns Caspian. "Why be sympathetic to a potato? Why be sympathetic to a Human? In my eyes, they're food and are to be treated as such."

"I believe enough has been spoken," she states as she removes herself from the deceased human. "Your time has come, your life will end at my hands."

"Ah indeed, I was waiting for you to fight me. I must awaken my beloved darling. She has waited too long in that crystal."

"Who even is that?" asks Zeruna.

"A Devil and my future wife."

"You disgust me."

"A wolf doesn't concern itself with the opinions of sheep."

Boys, girls, whatever else, we have reached the first actual fight in the novel yet. Someone who can actually scratch our MC. My favourite part is how Zeruna discards the Naga like trash, screwing it up and throwing it away like paper. The next few chapters are quite dark, not too dark, just a bit. I'm sure you'll all enjoy this little part of the story (if I write it right).

That isn't all though, within one month, we have reached the magic number of 420. Praise the lords. Bless you all.