Simon watches from the back, pulse hammering in his ears, as Linda slowly lifts her head.

  Her eyes are wrong.

  Too wide.

  Too bright.

  Too empty.

  They lock onto the group with a glassy intensity that makes Simon’s skin crawl.

  Kade leans slightly forward, voice barely a breath. “Shall we attack?”

  Cassandra shakes her head at once. Her eyes never leave Linda. “Wait. There’s something wrong.”

  Linda’s gaze drifts past them, unfocused, and settles on Charlie.

  Her lips tremble.

  Her voice comes out thin, cracked, spoken to no one in particular.

  “I followed every step,” she whispers. “Every instruction. Every sacrifice. Why… why didn’t it work?”

  Her hand trembles.

  A scalpel appears in her palm, its blade dark with dried blood.

  Cassandra’s frown deepens.

  Linda looks down at Lia’s still body, then back at Charlie, then at the air above them all, as if expecting an answer.

  No answer comes.

  Something inside her breaks.

  Linda screams.

  She raises the scalpel and plunges it down into Lia’s chest.

  Once.

  Twice.

  Again.

  And again.

  Blood erupts violently, spraying across the floor.

  Lia’s body jerks with each strike.

  Blood does not spread randomly.

  It flows.

  Streams of crimson peel away from the body, crawling up Linda’s arms and across her skin like living veins.

  Cassandra’s eyes widen in horror. “Stop her!”

  Kade explodes forward, sword flashing into his hand as he sprints.

  Linda lifts her head and shrieks.

  A pulse of energy detonates outward from her body.

  The shockwave slams into Kade mid-stride, throwing him backwards like a doll.

  He skids across the floor, armour screeching against the living walls.

  Linda stands slowly, blood-veins etched across her body, eyes blazing.

  She faces them fully now.

  “This is your fault!” she screams, voice layered with something inhuman. “Because of you, my daughter is dead!”

  Kade roars and pushes himself upright, forcing fighting energy through his battered body.

  Before he can advance, Linda vanishes.

  She reappears directly in front of him.

  Kade’s eyes widen.

  Too fast.

  Her fist drives into his abdomen with crushing force.

  Kade is lifted off his feet and hurled backwards.

  The knights dive aside as his body slams into the tunnel wall, cracking stone and flesh alike.

  He groans, barely managing to stay conscious.

  Cassandra does not order an attack.

  Neither do the knight apprentices move.

  They have felt it.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  The pressure.

  Linda lets out a high, piercing squeal that echoes through the Blood Abyss.

  Her body twists.

  Bones crack.

  Flesh reshapes itself violently.

  Her hunched form straightens, muscles tightening, skin smoothing.

  Wrinkles vanish.

  Her hair darkens and thickens, flowing down her back.

  Clawed hands replace trembling fingers.

  Small bat-like wings tear free from her shoulders in a spray of blood.

  Her eyes burn crimson.

  Where an old woman stood, a middle-aged figure now hovers slightly above the ground, wings twitching.

  Cassandra shouts, “Everyone, be careful! She’s transformed into a Vampire Bat Spirit—strength equal to an official knight!”

  Linda hisses, baring elongated fangs.

  Portals ripple into existence beside her, blood-red and pulsing.

  One after another, blood imps pour out, shrieking as they hit the ground running.

  The air grows heavy.

  Oppressive.

  The chamber feels like it is closing in.

  Linda spreads her wings and charges.

  The blood imps surge forward with her.

  “Kade!” Cassandra shouts.

  Kade roars, forcing himself forward despite the pain.

  He charges straight at Linda, sword blazing with earth energy.

  The knight apprentices tighten formation around Cassandra, shields raised, blades ready, bracing for the swarm.

  That leaves Simon and Bell exposed.

  “Back!” Simon shouts.

  They turn and run.

  They sprint into the tunnel, boots slipping on slick stone, hearts pounding.

  They don’t stop until they reach a sharp bend.

  Simon presses his back against the wall, chest heaving.

  Bell peeks around the corner, pistol raised, hands shaking.

  From their position, they can see flashes of light, hear metal striking flesh, hear the shrieks of blood imps and the thunderous impacts of Kade’s blows.

  Simon swallows hard.

  From the bend in the tunnel, the battle explodes outward in flashes of crimson, ice-blue, and earthen gold.

  Cassandra moves with sharp efficiency.

  From her satchel, she pulls out small crystal vials filled with a vicious green liquid that churns as if alive.

  “Take these,” she shouts, tossing them one by one to the knight apprentices holding the line against the blood imps.

  Each knight catches a vial without hesitation and bites the stopper off.

  They drink.

  The effect is immediate.

  Veins bulge beneath their skin, dark and thick, spreading across necks and arms like living roots.

  Muscles swell.

  Armour creaks as bodies expand.

  Breathing turns ragged, then deep and powerful.

  Their eyes sharpen with feral focus.

  The knights roar and surge forward.

  Defence shatters into offence.

  Blades swing harder.

  Shields bash with crushing force.

  Where before they held ground, now they advance, hacking into the blood imps with savage momentum.

  Cassandra steps forward, hands weaving complex sigils through the air.

  “Ice Arrow.”

  Shards rain down, pinning imps to the walls.

  “Ice Mist.”

  The ground slicks over, freezing the feet of charging creatures, sending them tumbling into oncoming blades.

  She never stops moving, never overcasts, conserving her strength while controlling the battlefield.

  On the other side of the chamber, Kade and Linda collide again.

  Kade’s fighting energy erupts outward, forming a dense earthen armour that coats his body like living stone.

  Cracks glow gold where energy circulates beneath the surface.

  Linda shrieks and slams into him, claws tearing at the armour, sparks and blood spraying as their forces clash.

  They are hurricanes.

  Kade’s fighting seed spins violently within his core, roaring like a steam engine at full pressure.

  Each strike carries thought.

  Each movement is measured.

  Linda answers with raw speed and ferocity, wings snapping, claws flashing, her vampiric strength matching his blow for blow.

  She vanishes and reappears in blurs of crimson.

  Kade anticipates.

  He pivots.

  Counters.

  Earth energy explodes with each punch, shattering stone and flesh alike.

  The chamber trembles under their clash.

  Meanwhile, the knight apprentices, empowered by the green potion, tear into the blood imps.

  One knight grabs an imp by the throat and smashes its skull against the wall.

  Another leaps forward, blade cleaving through three bodies in one brutal arc.

  Blood splatters the walls, instantly absorbed by the living veins, but too fast to empower the enemy.

  Cassandra notices the shift.

  The imps are thinning.

  She retreats a few steps, eyes darting toward the tunnel bend.

  “Simon! Bell!” she shouts. “You two, come out!”

  Bell shouts back, voice tight with fear. “Captain Cassandra, we can’t help! We’re almost out of bullets!”

  Cassandra hurls an ice shard through an imp’s skull without even looking.

  “Don’t worry,” she calls calmly. “I have something to increase your strength.”

  Simon and Bell exchange a look.

  Fear wars with instinct.

  Another shriek echoes down the tunnel.

  A blood imp breaks free and charges their position.

  Simon fires.

  The bullet cracks its skull open mid-leap.

  No time.

  They run.

  Shots ring out as they sprint, covering their advance, ducking and weaving through the chaos until they reach Cassandra’s side.

  She waits for a narrow opening in the battle.

  Then, in one fluid motion, she pulls out two dark crimson objects from her satchel.

  Blood Seeds.

  She presses one into Simon’s hand and one into Bell’s.

  “Take it,” she says sharply. “For one hour, you’ll have the strength of an intermediate knight apprentice.”

  Simon looks at the seed.

  It pulses faintly.

  Bell doesn’t hesitate.

  He swallows it whole.

  Simon follows a heartbeat later.

  The effect hits like a hammer.

  Pain explodes through their bodies.

  Simon screams as his fingers elongate, bones stretching and cracking.

  Fur erupts across his arms and chest.

  His spine arches violently, forcing him forward as his posture becomes hunched and predatory.

  Bell collapses to one knee, teeth grinding as his jaw pushes forward, face elongating into a snout.

  Claws tear free from his hands.

  Muscles knot and expand, tearing seams in his clothes.

  Their senses sharpen.

  Sound deepens.

  Smell floods in.

  Fear is replaced by hunger and raw power.

  They rise.

  Werewolves.

  Simon snarls, flexing his claws, feeling strength surge through limbs that no longer feel human.

  Bell lets out a low growl, eyes burning with feral light.

  A blood imp lunges.

  Simon moves without thinking.

  He intercepts it mid-air, slamming it into the ground and tearing its head clean off.

  Bell barrels into another, claws ripping through its chest.

  They join the battle fully, moving with brutal efficiency, instincts guiding them where thought cannot.

  Cassandra watches briefly, satisfied, then turns back to casting, controlling space, cutting off reinforcements.

  Kade roars as he drives Linda backwards, his armour cracking under her strikes but holding.

  She shrieks and counters, wings battering him, blood energy surging.

  Two forces collide again, shaking the chamber.

  Above them all, blood veins pulse wildly.

  The ritual strains.

  The battlefield tilts.

  For the first time, Linda screams not in rage—but in frustration.

  The tide is turning.

  And now, everyone present is fully committed.

  No retreat.

  No mercy.

  Only survival.