“Is nobody going to pick it up?” Coventry questioned, simultaneously taking a couple of steps backward to show it definitely wouldn’t be him.

Xavier smirked. “With what happened to Philippe?” The Eternal snorted. “I am not interested in dying.”

“But according to The Man of Shadows over there,” Marcus was, of course, referring to Philippe. “You have the perfect energy to counteract the energies of the stone.”

‘And have you attacked me out of greed when you see the stone can be safely picked up? No, thank you!’

“The Nun can do it,” Amelia suggested. “She was able to restrain Caligula for a couple of seconds.”

“I was underground since the start of the battle,” Mother Superion voiced. “That does not come without cost. I am currently exhausted.”

Andy sighed, stepped forward, and slipped her Labrys under the bloodstone, and flicked it into the air, snatching the stone without any hesitation.

She twirled the stone between her fingers and it suddenly disappeared… there was no magic involved but still, nobody had any idea where the stone had disappeared to.

“Just so you know,” Andy chuckled. “I slipped the stone into someone’s pocket. It’s not magic, just a sleight of hand but now… none of us knows who to attack for the bloodstone.”

Kaulder nodded. “Keeps us honest,” He commented.

Everyone nodded one after the next with Marcus and Amelia lapsing a couple of seconds behind.

“Still…” Vlad dispersed into bats, resolidifying when he was in the center of the group. “—the blood energy in the atmosphere is steadily growing.”

“Because our mission lies there,” Philippe gestured to the temple but the mere fact he had yet to move told an obvious truth.

He needed help…

Xavier turned to meet Sam’s eyes – there wasn’t much The Shapeshifter could contribute to the conversation but he had still managed to contribute to the fight, albeit barely.

At least, he didn’t try to sneak away like Amelia.

“URGH!”

As if on cue… Amelia sunk to her knees some twenty feet away. Nobody minded the fact that she had tried to sneak away from the battle umpteen times.

Actually, they were happy she tried before anyone else did – after all, they needed to see what would happen if they tried to make their own escapes.

“You can’t leave…” Philippe voiced, gesturing to Sam.

The Shapeshifter slipped back into his human form as he marched over to Amelia, slipped The Vampire Elder onto his back, and brought her to the group.

“All of us passed through The VEIL to get here so we can the world as it truly is,” Philippe explained. “But as we are all aware, that doesn’t come without a cost. We have been given a gift and we have to pay it back in full.”

“This VEIL can recover its gift for all I care,” Marcus snorted.

Philippe met everyone’s eyes individually. “The VEIL protects us all. You have probably sat next to a vampire sucking the life out of a child and remained completely oblivious.”

This caused Mother Superion, Andy, Kaulder, and Vlad to stiffen… Xavier suspected they were experiencing the same ordeal he had earlier… memories were being reorganized.

“Oh my god!” Mother Superion toppled over, her frown turning into wheezing breaths and drool.

Andy, Kaulder, and Vlad fared better; though, they had also been shaken up.

“Exactly,” Philippe closed his eyes to stop the others from seeing the pain buried within them. “The VEIL protects supernatural creatures from interacting with each other but it does nothing to protect the humans. Still, there are those who combat evil no matter how much of The VEIL they can see through…” He gestured to all of them.

Mother Superion tackled demons and angels.

Sam dealt with Crystal Vampires.

Amelia kept a tight hold on Corvinus Vampires.

Coventry dabbled on the lower mortal side of transition magic.

Andy dealt with extraordinary mortal threats.

Kaulder tackled witches and beings of great magical importance.

Vlad and Xavier didn’t have a particular breed of enemy but they mostly dealt with whatever came their way.

Philippe seemingly dealt with threats to The VEIL itself.

Everyone had a place and a battle to fight… and this was one big enough to require their full attention… but most of all, a blind mind did not ask to take away sight after he was finally able to see.

Suddenly, a thicker scent of blood permeated the atmosphere… a red hue could be reflected in everyone’s eyes as the blood clashed against the electrically charged atmosphere of Vlad’s final attack on Caligula.

“It’s nasty…” Mother Superion covered her nose, her expression morphing between utter disgust and confusion at what could invoke such a reaction from her.

Sam turned green and his body started to radiate heat more intensely than ever before… it was sickening him to the core.

There was no order but everyone, even Amelia, turned toward the temple and started to march forward… the march turned into jogging and the jogging became moderate sprints.

Something was urging them to hurry.

Mother Superion withdrew the divinium blade sheathed on her back and Amelia withdrew two Berettas 92FS with silver nitrate rounds from the straps behind her legs.

…

“Stop…” Coventry ordered.

Kaulder, Xavier, Andy, Mother Superion, Amelia, Vlad, Marcys, Sam, and Philippe paused – more in confusion at the sudden authority contained in Coventry’s voice than actually being cautious.

Coventry was perhaps the weakest link amongst the warriors so when he spoke with such confidence, everyone was inclined to listen.

Xavier frowned and waited to hear what Coventry would say next – he was the only one who knew everyone’s background and even then, he didn’t dare claim to have an advantage if a battle were to break out.

Marcus’s many abilities were a mystery.

Kaulder’s Hexenbane was a magical weapon, fueled by the witch’s heart burning within him.

Andy was… Xavier couldn’t tell what Andy was and that alone was cause for concern.

Vlad seemed the most straightforward of those gathered but the number of bats he could transform into was uncertain.

Mother Superion had magic-nullification abilities and a range of abilities gifted to her by the halo.

The Eternal knew The Halo’s abilities would change depending on the wielder but Mother Superion seemed competent enough.

Philippe could manipulate shadows, or more likely, traverse the shadow dimension for near-instantaneous movement.

As for the others, they were either as weak as they looked or something dark waiting to pounce.

Xavier had to prepare himself for all eventualities.

The Eternal was lost in his thoughts but even distracted, his mind held multiple thought streams capable of following the conversation.

“There is blood magic happening here,” Coventry's voice as if it wasn’t already obvious.

The Magus extended his hand forward, pressing against the elastic surface of a red barrier.

Kaulder and Andy tried the same motion but no barrier appeared to bar their path.

“What is it?” Kaulder inquired.

Marcus, Sam, and Xavier tried in turn – they felt a shift in the thickness of the air but no barrier materialized to stop them.

Vlad had some reaction – a flicker of red.

Philippe didn’t even try – he already knew what it was and how it would react to his shadows.

‘Just how much does he know?’ The Eternal thought.

“It smells horrid,” Mother Superion voiced.

“It is horrid,” Coventry brushed his nose to dismiss the smell. “Even necromancers stay away from it. Turning into an abomination of blood is the least that can happen…”

“And the most?” Marcus asked.

“I guess that’s why we are here,” Coventry shrugged and scanned Marcus from head to toe. “You particularly…”

“Meaning?” Marcus raised a brow.

“You have a blood scent on you but it is stable compared to this,” Coventry gestured to the blood barrier. “It’s like you’re naturally made to counter what is happening here.”

“The question is…” Kaulder stepped forward. “Should we go in?”

“Simple answer?” Coventry shook his head. “We can’t… not without having our blood drained in five seconds flat.”

“It’s weaker in that direction,” Mother Superion gestured to the massive second floor of the enormous structure.

Xavier had the flickering thought that he’d die if he fell from such a height but he quickly remembered that he could now fly.

The Eternal floated from the ground, ascended into the air and after a couple of seconds, he felt the density in the air shift back to normality.

“No resistance up here…” He confirmed.

Xavier released the gravitons and fell back to the ground, landing with a thud that cracked the ground beneath his feet.

“Make some more noise, why don’t you?” Sam sighed.

The Shapeshifter felt as if he was the only consistently tense person in the group.

‘Can’t they feel death coming?’

While Sam was distractingly watching Xavier, Amelia dipped a sharp nail an inch beneath The Shapeshifter’s skin faster than he could react.

Sam only felt a small prick.

A single drop of blood could be seen on Amelia’s nail and she sniffed the drop, dabbed a bit on her tongue, and made a face of utter disgust.

Sam growled beastly, but Xavier stopped him from immediately attacking.

The Eternal felt violent emotions rush through his mind, almost baiting him into attacking Amelia with Sam… but such emotions were quickly suppressed.

“This… thing… can probably make it through,” Lady Amelia stated, unconcerned about Sam’s anger. “His blood tastes digesting…”

Coventry bit his thumb, directed a finger at the blood on Amelia’s nail, and tossed Sam’s blood across the unseen barrier of red.

It passed without issue.

“Your blood structure is too stable to be extracted,” Coventry pointed at Marcus, and then Sam. “And your blood is too disgusting to vampires – the barrier will instinctively avoid you.”

“Can the barrier be broken?” Andy asked.

“That will take too much time,” Coventry responded and then closed his eyes, sweat glistening across his forehead. “And time is something we don’t have… something is nearing completion inside there…”

“Then Sam and Marcus go through the front and the rest of us start from the top floor going down,” Xavier suggested.

Kaulder and Andy nodded simultaneously and that was all the okay Xavier required to levitate everyone, excluding Sam and Marcus, into the air.

Of course, Vlad could fly on his own.

……………

Xavier released the gravitons as quickly as he could, and apart from Coventry, everyone was able to secure a safe landing on the floor above.

Mother Superion used the air as a foothold to grab onto Coventry and carry him onto the ledge.

Needless to say, The Magus was very embarrassed.

At the very least, Xavier was able to confirm that The Magus’ magic didn’t tend to focus on manipulating the physical world – not like Marcus’s.

‘They would make a deadly combination though…’

Philippe disappeared into shadows as soon as they set foot into the darkened main hallway of the upper floor.

Mother Superion glowed a gentle white, and her Halo’s energy washed away the remnants of blood magic lingering in the air.

Everyone was reinvigorated.

Kaulder and Andy both took a different corridor, moving with military precision.

Coventry stuck close to Mother Superion – he needed a protector since his versatility was his gift.

Vlad turned into a flood of bats that disappeared into the darkness above the corridor.

Amelia simply chose a direction and marched down the hall without a hint of worry on her face.

Xavier was confident enough in his strength so he merely blurred down two corridors, and flew through a connected vent.

The Eternal could hear steps echoing in his ears.

He could smell the decay of death, allowing him to distinguish Amelia, Philippe, and Vlad from the other vampires.

Where normal humans smelled of air and earth, Amelia smelled like volcanic ash – it was also an existing scent in nature so Xavier could tell she was a variation of humanity.

Philippe smelled of unfinished wine so Xavier could tell he was molded by human hands but the vampire was not yet complete… something was missing.

Vlad smelled of The Caroline Ripper – something bad for humans but occasionally, some crazy person would yield to the temptation and try it anyway.

The Eternal noted how each of the smells was associated in some way with humanity or an aspect of nature… but Caligula had been different – he smelled of an unnatural miasmic haze.

…

A couple of minutes saw many fights erupting.

The Eternal was fortunate enough to avoid the brawls, allowing him to reach the furthest corridor on the second floor.

Ahead, Xavier saw the large black door and he roused the gravitons, shooting his body forward with speed rivaling a Ferrari.

BOOOOOOM

Xavier rammed his fist into the door barring his path forward - the door shuddered under an Eternal’s might but it didn’t yield.

Instead, a fist-sized dent remained in the three-foot thick metal.

“A tough one,” Xavier muttered. “I wanted to test my strength anyway.”
Three more booms.

With the fourth boom, the door cracked and shattered, enough for The Eternal to slide through the gaps into the chamber beyond.

His eyes scanned the room.

Something… a man was crouched over a woman, biting into her neck and guzzling what little blood supply was left in her veins.

The Eternal’s eyes widened.

The shadows in the room reacted wildly – Philippe had arrived.

A gentle white glow shone into the room at the same time, though it was coming from the floor.

Xavier moved with a pulse of Cosmic Energy.

Philippe moved with a burst of darkness.

The Eternal and Fangless Vampire were barely in time to stop a major mistake from occurring.

Xavier gripped Mother Superion’s hand, blocking the blade and aiming for the feeding hybrid’s throat.

Philippe held a weapon in each hand – Kaulder’s Hexenbane and Andy’s Labrys.

Each weapon was aimed at the eye of the feeding Hybrid.

The Hybrid vampire fed for a couple more seconds, unaware of the tense atmosphere gathering around him.

Blade was in a hunger craze after having his blood drained to power the magic ritual.

When he raised his head, releasing Karen who had willingly given him the blood, he was surprised to find five people staring down at him.

“What are you?” Mother Superion voiced the question in all their minds.

But before an answer could be given…

Lightning flickered across the floor of the chamber.

Philippe sunk into his shadows for a moment, re-emerging with Dr. Karen in his arms – he had pulled her into the shadow dimension to avoid the electrified floor.

The current ran up Xavier’s, Kaulder’s, Andy’s, Coventry’s, Amelia’s, and Mother Superion’s feet.

“We need to get down there!” Coventry yelled, tossing a doll into the air.

The lightning that had been assaulting him instead targeted the doll.

Xavier, Kaulder, Andy, Amelia, Mother Superion, and Blade merely bore the brunt of the electric discharge… it would not permanently hinder them.

Then, a stifling sensation descended onto the chamber.

Mother Superion extended a hand in The Eternal’s direction – he took the offered hand.

The next moment, The Warrior Nun and The Eternal had sunk into the floor.

Philippe disappeared into the shadows, emerged to place a hand on Andy’s and Kaulder’s shoulders, and disappeared into the shadows once more.

Coventry pulled Amelia close and pressed his hand to the ground and the world spun – suddenly, he was attached to the ceiling of the floor below.

-------------

Demons…

Bone demons dominated.

Xavier and Mother Superion fell into a chamber filled with demons and as The Eternal roused the gravitons to slow their descent, Mother Superion’s divinium blade flashed crosshatches in the air.

Bones were scattered left and right.

But their sense of superiority was short-lived.

A blood ritual made for unstable gravitons and as the demons grew more plentiful, Xavier and Mother Superion started falling with increasing speed.

Eventually, there were not enough gravitons to manipulate.

The Eternal pushed Mother Superion onto a nearby ramp, and then, he angled his body downward.

Fist met the ground…

The room shook, displacing many vampires who were ready to pounce… the disturbance bought Xavier the couple of seconds he needed to recover.

Still, some vampires managed to pounce a bit early.

Luckily, Kaulder and Andy appeared from an elongated shadow - Hexenbane and Andy’s Labrys split bone wings from bone bodies.

“DO NOT INTERRUPT!” A loud screech – something between human and inhuman.

Xavier felt his chest constrict as his eyes blazed with cosmic potential.

Andy and Kaulder dipped to his side as a blood beam tore through the air, attempting to reduce everything in sight to ash but The Eternal’s cosmic beam shot out of his eyes.

Cosmic Beam met Blood Beam.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

The Eternal slammed into the wall behind, shattering the concrete.

Luckily, while Xavier couldn’t bear the brunt of the attack, he had weakened it enough for Kaulder’s Hexenbane to deflect the rest of the blood beam.

Mother Superion leaped off the ledge, aiming her divinium blade at the center of the ritual – the vampire known as Deacon.

Andy also charged forward with her Labrys – Deacon hadn’t noticed her presence until it was too late to do anything about it.

But then…

Massive lightning descended from above, marking the near completion of the blood ritual.

BOOOOOOOM

Mother Superion and Andy were tossed backward and wanting to spare them some of the pain, Xavier blurred and snatched the two women out of the air.

The Warrior Nun and Old Guard didn’t require the help due to their rapid healing but breaking a couple of bones was painful even to an Immortal and Halo-wielder.

Everyone settled… they had reached an impasse as the lightning protected Deacon and simultaneously made their abilities less potent.

But there was someone to combat the mysticism.

“Χωρίς κεραυνούς…” Coventry’s voice echoed, and the lightning protecting Deacon dwindled.

Kaulder first cleaved through any magical or ritualistic protections.

Mother Superion formed a golden barrier that protected them from the barrage of bone demons, blood beams, and feral vampires.

Philippe cleared the way by pulling the tougher vampires into a dimension of darkness and shadows.

Xavier released weak beams of cosmic energy from his eyes… each release burned his eyes but The Eternal knew he had to get rid of the bone demons.

Andy spun with a fluid motion that found her Labrys dissecting everything in sight – she had just about reached Deacon when…

The flock of flying bone demons started to dive into Deacon’s body and Amela – who had been silently aiding Sam and Marcus – sensed something amiss.

She dashed forward, ramming into Andy… a pulse of blood red followed their quick escape, rendering the floor black with manifested sin – a vile black ooze.

Everyone could sense Deacon was in the process of becoming something else… something disgusting.

“We just need to bring the entire place down!” Marcus voiced.

The Blood Witch had always been a man of contingencies so before the battle had even started, he had found a way to bring everything crashing down if that’s what it took.

Sam and Amelia had aided him.

Sam stood guard as Marcus pressed both his hands to the ground, releasing the energy he had been storing for the past couple of minutes.

A pulse traveled through everyone and everything.

The pulse shook the temple – Marcus was disintegrating the very structure upon which the temple stood.

But Marcus could not disintegrate everything at once.

Parts of the temple began to crumble… Deacon blurred and reappeared at Marcus’s side, surprising The Blood Witch.

Luckily, Sam was present.

Deacon had let down his guard, giving the Shapeshifter the chance to sink his teeth into The Vampire’s arm.

Deacon froze… this allowed Philippe to appear in a burst of shadows, sliding his dagger perfectly between Deacon’s ribs.

Alas, it did nothing since The Vampire was closer to an abomination than a normal vampire.

A crystallized drop of magically dense blood dropped from the ceiling, curling its way through the air until it came in contact with Deacon’s forehead.

A sudden heaviness descended.

Xavier could instantly tell it was a god’s descent – Ikaris had felt it before, hence Xavier had felt it before.

But Ikaris had killed gods before… so Xavier could.

The Eternal’s eyes radiated endless cosmic energy.

Xavier didn’t understand where the energy came from but for a moment, he felt as if he had access to everything Ikaris could offer… in that moment of crisis, he felt as if he was Ikaris… but also Xavier?

Still, his eyes glowed impossible golden and a Cosmic Beam larger than any Xavier had managed before tore across the chamber, rendering wherever it passed into magma.

The beam pinned Deacon to the wall… it tried to burn the Vampire’s body to a forgotten memory but Deacon was no longer Deacon – he had become The Avatar of La Magra.

Xavier’s eyes bled golden with the strain of releasing a Cosmic Beam beyond his current capabilities but luckily, he had aided Marcus enough…

The Blood Witch disintegrated the final pillar holding up the entire temple and…

Everything came tumbling down.

RUMBLE - RUMBLE

Or, at least, it should have… the falling rubble, the disintegrating vampires, the flowing magma… everything halted.

Xavier, Andy, Kaulder, Amelia, Marcus, Sam, Philippe, Mother Superion, and Coventry froze…

A ghastly blood mist enveloped the temple.

Nobody could move…

A layer of blood gathered around Deacon Frost, encasing him in a cocoon that pulsed as if a beating heart… each beat caused the air to tremble.

Everyone could sense the death that awaited them should the cocoon hatch.

“Now…” Philippe muttered through gritted teeth.

Then, someone… someone everyone had forgotten made his appearance.

Vlad struggled to walk inside the blood mist but he was making steady progress where everyone else couldn’t budge an inch.

Xavier admonished himself for not noticing Vlad’s lack of participation in the battle, especially after witnessing The Progenitor Vampire’s reaction to the barrier outside the temple.

Pulse…

Pulsing…

Fifteen beats…

Vlad arrived in front of the cocoon on the nineteenth beat, and halfway to the twentieth beat, The Vampire Progenitor inserted his sharp nails through the center of the cocoon.

Everything stopped for a moment.

But the solemn expression on Vlad’s face, as he transformed into bats that gathered around Philippe, told everyone the matter wasn’t so simple.

Next, Philippe’s face turned ghastly pale… this was a man who hadn’t panicked since the start of the battle so when Xavier saw the expression on his face, The Eternal instantly understood what came next.

After all, all movies needed a grant explosion for the finale.

Philippe bled from his eyes and ears as everyone’s shadow swallowed them and the next instant, they were a couple of meters outside the temple.

No one needed to be told what to do next.

Mother Superion extended both her hands, calling on the Halo’s power to form a golden barrier around everyone.

Xavier pressed both hands onto the barrier, channeling what little Cosmic Energy he could manage to reinforce the protective dome.

The Eternal knew Ikaris could form shields from the nearby molecules using psionics but he didn’t possess such an ability… not yet anyway.

The dome became five times as strong.

But the preparation was useless.

What came next was on a completely different level…

The temple collapsed at the same time the cocoon exploded in a rush of black blood.

It rivaled a nuclear explosion.

The shockwave weakened the barrier before the explosion even reached them… then…

The outskirts of Los Angeles now had a three-mile deep crater with a fifty-mile expanse of charred earth.