Thinking? What is thinking? What is thought? All of that raced through my mind as I raced around this arena, high and ready to reach Mach seven! No idea how fast I was, but that sounded cool. Oh yes.. what was I thinking? Oh yeah, I needed to save my buddy.

  "Unhand him, you vile villain!" I demanded of the evil creature.

  As I struggled with the vampire, desperately trying to save my best friend. I soon realised his lack of presence. He was the one in his clutches. In fact, after I slammed into the villain. Jeremy kind of disappeared. Frantically looking around, he teleported away hopefully, but that was the moment I saw him. It looked like someone had just planted him in the sand. That was the moment an angry vampire punched me in the face.

  The world spun like a disco; the stars themselves descended to grace my thoroughly damaged brain. It took a while to get back up, and I totally expected fangs to greet me. Instead, I found our villain chilling at the centre of the arena, surrounded by familiar figures. Glancing to the sides, I found most of the vampire army either dead or cowering. Damn, our crew must be badass.

  "What the hell?" I muttered, trying to parse what had happened.

  Luckily, coffee-empowered super speed really helped with the brain. And frankly, it was pretty obvious. My crew and a few others crushed the low-level scrubs. Now, little Mister Vampire Lord was all alone and surrounded by enemies. I could see the dawning on his face as he rose to his feet and surveyed the encroaching figures. I quickly sped over to join Marius and Calraz to my right, with the Doctore guy accompanying us. His eyes blazed with fury. To my left were Rak and Xyn along with that vampire lady, who seemed to have switched sides. Xyn was warily glancing at another hunched-over man. Bedraggled and covered in blood, but looking quite meek.

  "Griselda, my dear, what are you doing?" The vampire's voice was bitter, a faux-smile stretched across his face.

  "Lord Calverus, I have enjoyed your hospitality, but sadly I must decline any further hosting." She curtsied with a sly grin.

  Oh, that had to hurt. She was probably some noble lady he was trying to court or sleep with. Depends on how much of a gentleman he was. But considering all the brutal crap he pulled, I doubted he was very gentle. Still, she switched up pretty quickly. Either she was an opportunist or he was such a shitty host. My money is on the latter; that seemed more likely.

  "I'm not surprised; I was far too lenient with you. Allowing such freedoms in my domain." His face turned from wounded to vicious in a second. "I should have taken you the second I laid eyes on you."

  "Surrender, Lord. Your forces are broken, and you are alone." Doctore pushed aside Calraz and glared hatefully at his former master.

  "Silence, cur!" His words buffeted our minds like a wave, disorienting but easy to dismiss.

  I had expected the Volkaran to fall to his knees, but he remained unaffected by the vampiric compulsion, which was strange considering the blood that ran through his veins. Was that mesmerism crap just temporary? Or was there other stuff afoot?

  "No, you will not silence us anymore. It is time for a reckoning!" The once-cowed Volkaran stood tall and strong, projecting confidence and resilience.

  "Oh, look at that; the little doggy has teeth." He mocked before dismissing him with a sweeping gesture.

  For a moment, the world paused, and we waited. I itched to attack, to wipe that smirk off his face and send his head to the moon. I wonder if it's possible to teleport to the moon? Nevermind, I need to stay focused; a battle is at hand, and soon, I will spill blood. I itched my ravaged neck, noticing that thankfully it had fully healed. Still, the blood-soaked flesh remained, a fresh reminder of my slip-up. Turning back to the scene, I was just in time for his villain monologue, having never actually seen one in real life.

  "Do you really think you can win? To defeat me..." he gestured to himself and then to everyone in a casual sweeping arc, "with this pathetic display!" Everyone tensed at the motion, me included. "This pathetic attempt to defeat your better? I am twice your level. None of you stand a chance. Now die like the pathetic little dogs you are!"

  I expected more, but we were all eager, and he was angry. It's expected for him to be less keen to monologue for a long time before administering his vengeance. Swiftly I readied for the next attack, expecting another blood spike to emerge from the ground. Instead, nothing happened. He looked like he was doing something, but there was no emergence of death spikes. That was when I had a thought, a paranoid little thought, and looked up.

  Above us were tendrils of blood flowing down from the ceiling, emerging from that weird artefact embedded in the roof. An ocean of blood churned and folded in on itself before exploding in gore. Said gore descended rapidly, refining into spikes headed for every person within sight.

  "Above us!" I screamed before charging into a dead sprint.

  A round of gasps and shrieks preceded an impressive amount of movement. I ignored that and stayed true to the battle. Unleashing everything I had. Sending consecutive force blasts to stun him, they barely knocked him back a foot, but after the fourth one stunned him. I am pretty sure he was. Regardless, I sent a final Force Strike, my new skill designed only to kill and one-shot. He tanked it like a boss before flinging me across the battlefield with one hand. I hit the sky like a love-hate relationship before she dumped me into the dirt.

  Still, my coffee-fueled mind would not allow such things to be. I zoomed back to my feet, sword in hand, ready to slice and dice. Screw force powers, it was time for good old-fashioned sword fighting. I thought that full well knowing I had no clue how to actually fight with a sword. Eyeing my target, I witnessed an avalanche of attacks. Rak shot him full of bolts. They stopped midair, Neo-style, before being sent back to ping off his armour. Rakshur looked thrilled and just kept up shooting. The next attack came from Xyn, who went ghost, Calverus finding himself unable to force grip the intangible woman. She arrived in a flash and tried to shiv his ass. He stopped the blades before launching a blood spike from the ground.

  Barely dodging the emerging spike, Xyn's intangibility winked out the moment the spike sliced across her shoulder. She yelped in pain before leaping away, giving an opening for Marius and the vampire chick to double-team the guy. She just manifested an arc of lightning, sending the bolt right at him. Unlike our previous poultry attacks, he took this one seriously and dodged left. Only for the lightning to turn mid-flight and catch him in the ribs. And in that moment he finally yelped in pain.

  He screamed in fury, "You bitch!" only for a sword to narrowly miss.

  Marius came in trying to cut him up with some cool sword-fighting skills. When did he learn that stuff? Quickly, I discarded that thought as the Necrochanter began berating the vampire through song. Whatever he was doing must have hurt. Calverus hissed in pain, lashing out wildly. Only to greet several incredible lunges and sword swipes, or whatever they were called. Marius drew blood, but a wave of the vampire's hand sent him flying. I was about to jump in, but Calraz, Doctore and a bunch of ghosts mobbed the vampire all at once. They slashed, clawed and just tried to stab him with every pointy implement they had. The ghosts carelessly attacked, since their own ghostly weapons had no effect on each other.

  Not wanting to let this moment pass by, I sent every annoying skill I had. Blinding him with constant notifications, blasting heavy metal directly into his brain. I blasted Symphony of Destruction by Megadeath at full volume. Even with all of that and the mounting wounds, he seemed unaffected. That's when his blade came into focus and sliced across Calraz, completely phasing through the Garathi's stone-skin. The kick sent the Garathi across the sands, and he groaned in pain. Doctore didn't fare any better as the vampires' speed enabled him to cut up his opponent before they could even mount a defence.

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  With another screech of defiance, a wave of blood energy blasted away the mob. Covered in wounds, heaving rapidly and his sights locked on to the rest of us. He went on the attack, turning into a blur. Arriving in moments next to the vampire chick, and tried to take her head off. She dodged gracefully before slashing him in the chest. Blood spewed from the wound as she raised her palm and manifested an ethereal barrier of light, bashing him in the face.

  I sped forward and stabbed him through his unprotected back, straight through the spine and out his chest. Failing to reach his heart, I knew that the moment he turned to me with hate in his eyes. Before he could eat me, a fur ball appeared atop his head and furiously tried to turn his head into a scratching post. Vanished the moment the vampire tried to protest. I removed my blade and jumped back, signaling for us to mob him. I sent messages to everyone with a system, quickly coming up with a plan to wear him down. Only Rakshur was exempt, but I told Xyn to feed my messages to him. Despite the confusion, everybody still upright nodded.

  [Marius: Lunge at his chest, aim for the heart.]

  [Vampire Chick: Send a fireball or lightning bolt right after Marius pulls back.]

  They did so, Marius lunging as I withdrew my blade and leapt back. The former cat scratcher dodged the sword strike only for him to meet a fireball to the face. Engulfed in intense heat, he remained standing, scorched and angry.

  [Xyn: Aim for his limbs; tell Rak to do the same.]

  Xynthia nodded, passing along the message before she set out, daggers raised. She sent them flying, one missing entirely and the other embedding in the vampire's ankle. Rak loosed around seven bolts in quick succession, half of them landing in both legs and one shoulder. Everybody attacked perfectly as I tried to entice anyone else into the fight. Calraz and Doctore were down for the count, but they had their ghost pals to keep any probing Volkaran at bay. It was all down to the primary group plus a vampiric newcomer. She had become the real MVP; her spells did the most damage.

  What followed was an intense back and forth. I directed; they attacked. A symphony of destruction, and our victim had a front-row seat to our concert. Fireballs and lightning bolts flew, some missing and others landing a direct hit. Steel and Aetherblades lanced across the field of battle, whittling away the vampire's health bit by bit. We kept our blood at a distance so he couldn't heal any of his wounds. Outnumbered, it wasn't a fair fight in terms of numbers. However, his sheer power and durability made every attack life or death. I can't count how many times I have narrowly dodged a blood spike or a sword strike. Probably a good solid hundred near-death experiences. But slowly but surely we whittled down his defences, and he noticeably slowed down. That was when he got serious.

  "Enough!" he declared, his voice reverberating throughout the arena.

  "We got him on the ropes!" I yelled, taken by the thrill of battle.

  "What ropes?!" someone asked.

  I could feel a wave of confusion pass across the faces of everyone involved. Even the vampire was confused, but he waved it off, returning to his villain persona and ready to kill us all. Was this going to be the final phase boss fight? Was he going to proclaim that he would destroy us and unleash his ultimate attack? And that's exactly what he did.

  "This battle is tiresome. I shall destroy you all in one fell swoop!" he proclaimed, hands out to his side, ominous red aura building around him.

  It was pretty clear what he was doing, probably going to unleash a super blood attack. To destroy us all with a single stroke, to prove his superiority. Everyone readied themselves, aiming spells, skills, and crossbows at the vampire as he slowly levitated.

  "No! Stop him!" Doctore bellowed to the entire arena, frantic and fearful.

  "What is he doing?!" Rak screamed into the void as the world spun.

  As the vampire rose, so did the tension surrounding us. A deep sense of foreboding settled upon me and probably everyone else. Something was coming, something we couldn't face. Winds buffeted, the ground shook and the writhing mass of blood churned around him. Blood tendrils descended from the ceiling, disgorged from the artefact. And that wasn't all; even the corpses that littered the battlefield were swiftly drained of blood, now swirling around the cackling vampire.

  "He is using his ultimate skill, Blood Carnage. He plans to level the entire arena! We must flee." The doctore pleaded, I could see him trying to pull away, Calraz.

  "Skill." I muttered the word that struck a memory. "Jenny, you are the best." I declared the absolute truth before raising my palm.

  "Skill Lock!" I activated my new skill, pumping a decent amount of system points into it.

  The result was immediate; his face turned pale; the cackling stopped. He looked completely shocked as the mass of blood swirling around him went still before falling to the ground in clumps of gore. The confused vampire fell as the sands were drenched, similar to the elevator scene in The Shining. While everyone was stunned into silence, I seized the initiative and sped forward, sword in hand. Arriving in mere moments, I noticed Calverus was still in shock, his face frowning in deep concentration. He was probably trying to activate his skill and failing miserably. In that moment of distraction, I sliced off his outstretched arm.

  The limb went flying, sending a spray of blood and a subsequent scream of pain. Not letting this go, I quickly turned and plunged my sword into his back, trying to aim for his heart. It was a dangerous move since I needed to turn and lunge. I think I just grazed an organ. And that he could still move suggested he was still in the game.

  "Everybody hit him with everything you've got!" I ordered, and a flurry of attacks buffeted the vampire.

  Lightning bolts, crossbow bolts, daggers, and swords lanced forward in a cacophony of death. Wounds mounted, and anger boiled to the surface as the vampire roared in pure and unbridled pain and hatred. Instead of killing me, he removed an item with his free hand. A shining metal key made of gold, shaped like those old castle keys.

  "Damn!" He cursed just as the world shimmered.

  "What is happening?" I demanded.

  He replied by pulling away from my sword and lunging towards a wooden door that appeared out of nowhere. Not wanting him to escape, I chased after him, colliding with his back was we barrelled through. I saw the door close behind us, but an angry one armed vampire was already getting up. Looking around, I tried to find a weapon as again dropped my sword. Finding a simple wooden chair. Breaking the legs, I grabbed a wooden stake and swiftly plunged the piece of wood into his heart. This time I aimed true, and he fell back, paralysed.

  "Holy crap, I am tired!" I gasped, so exhausted from this long fight.

  The coffee was wearing off; I could feel myself coming down from the high. Shaking the grogginess away, I tried to assess my new surroundings. At first glance, this place looked like a private laboratory. Desks covered in glass vials, beakers and alembics. Perfect place to make crystal meth.

  "I will kill you!" Calverus screamed, far more subdued than normal.

  "You can speak? I thought wooden stakes paralysed vampires?" I queried since the book on vampires suggested otherwise.

  "You think this would hold me for long! Once I am free of this cursed stake, I will drain you dry and peel your skin from your bones!" he threatened in great detail.

  "Then I guess I will have to kill you well before then." I suggested, and that only enraged him further.

  He ranted and raved, cursed and imagined my horrible death in great detail. However, I was just staring at his slowly healing stump and the blood still gushing. Vampire blood, the key to immortality. If I had that, I could make myself a vampire, and mortality would never touch me again. The idea was tantalising; more than anything, I wanted to drain this fool dry and turn myself right now. But I held myself back and let out a heavy sigh. Ready to think this through.

  "Shut up." I commanded the talkative vampire, who did the opposite.

  "You human trash! I should kill you and your whole family!"

  And it was in that moment, ignoring all the other jabs, curses and insults. It was that sentence that really made my blood boil. Before I knew it, I had grabbed the vampire by the throat and pushed him against the wall, ready to use my substantial power to bash in his skull.

  "Human!" I screamed, "I have never been human, never known the warmth of a mother's womb, nor the embrace of a father's love. I was never born, never raised! The hands of the divine made me!" I pushed hard, denting the wall and eliciting a grunt of pain.

  "What are talking about, human?!" he demanded, completely ignoring my rant.

  "I am not human!" I screamed into his ear to make my point, "And now I am going to drain all your blood and cut off your head." Turned to look at the scattered vials and blood extraction tools, returning a savage grin to the terrified vampire.

  Once the messy dead was done, I hid the vials in my bag, picked up a magic key. And inspected a crapton of exp notifications. Killing a level forty vampire netted me so many experience points. I should be able to level up a lot and probably rank up my skills. But right now I needed to enter.

  Putting my tie back on and flattening out my suit, I gripped the severed head in one hand, key in the other. Activating the key was easy; all I needed to do was activate the return feature, and the same door manifested for me to walk through. I returned to a familiar arena, right in the middle of a standoff between my crew and the remaining Volkaran.

  "Your master is dead!" I raised the severed head. "How about we get the hell out of here?" I suggested, gesturing to the door.

  They all fell silent, raising weapons slowly descending. The world paused, and hostilities subsided. Just in time for Jenny to chime in with a notification.

  [Warning: Grimgard System AI detected!]

  [Activating stealth program!]

  "Shit, so it begins."

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