Chapter 91: Approach, that I may assess you

"NO!" Gareth yelled in horror as Caius was ripped from his protection. He thrust his hand forward and cast a spell circle that created a powerful column of fire aimed right at the Vampire woman’s batwings. The goal was clearly to clip them and send her falling to the ground, releasing Caius. Geron threw a hand up as well and cast a purple spell circle of his own that created a dark blanket of Mana and shielded the Vampire woman from the column of flames so she could continue her ascent. Not only did Geron interfere with Gareth’s attack attempt, but he also took advantage of Gareth’s agitated state and his taking his eyes and attention away from their ongoing battle to slam him in the side of the head with his staff. *BAM!* The staff created a spell circle on impact, so not only did Gareth suffer its blunt force, but he suffered it multiplied by that spell, which sent him reeling. His eyes lost focus, and his body became weak, but by instinct, he managed to raise his sword to barely deflect the next attack. Geron laughed callously unbothered by the parry and slammed his hand against Gareth’s midsection, sinking his claws deep into his body while hitting him with enough force to lift the Hellsinger off his feet so he hit the ground even harder. With his opponent down on the ground in front of him, Geron raised his staff and struck Gareth on the side of the head a second time. This time he broke through the skull and blood spilled but Gareth still moved. He still tried to raise his weapon to attack. Geron laughed again and raised his Staff for a third strike, but whether that landed or not, Caius had no idea because he was taken so far up into the sky that the events down below were far too tiny to decipher. Caius let out a sigh. He had been impressed by the Hellsingers but he had known it was a lost cause. He hadn’t even known how it would happen but he had been sure Geron and the Vampires had a move they had yet to play. There was no way they were going to rely only on brute force to achieve their goal. They were a bit smarter than that. That said, he had not expected the shadow-guising Vampire woman to be their hidden card. If he had, he would have informed Gareth about it and things might not have turned out as they did. Did Vampire women like this with batwings exist in [To Kill A Demon Lord...]? Yes. Did they serve Anton Orlock? Yes. Were they Anton Orlock’s consorts? Yes. Yep, the Vampire woman with the horrific and grotesque smile due to her jagged fanged teeth was one of the Vampire Lord, Anton Orlock’s brides. They were the ones who had ’benefited’ the most from his Blood experiments to the point where they had mutated into something different. Something sinister. They usually stayed close to Anton himself. In [To Kill A Demon Lord...], they had been the last line of defense for Caius and Aurelius to battle through to reach the Vampire Lord. He treasured them so much that he’d normally never send them out for a retrieval task like this. When they reached the ceiling of the dome, it reacted to the Vampire woman and allowed her to exit in a way that said she had been the one to set it up. Her formation carving skills and signature Mana had been essential to all this and that was very unusual. Wracking his head, Caius couldn’t fathom what made him so important right now, and would be known to the Vampire Lord at this point, that would make Anton Orlock send one of his women— one of his most cherished experiments—to take him. Her arms were like steel around him and forced his arms tight against his body to the point where he couldn’t move them an inch. The cloak that had become her wings was all she had on so she was basically holding Caius against her naked body. Her breasts were pressing into his back and they were pretty sizable and soft which might have been appealing if it weren’t for that horrific face attached to this unusual but still fairly attractive body. Caius considered attacking a few times. His hands were free enough to form seals and cast spells but he knew it was pointless. Third Circle spells would do nothing against this creature. Besides, his time was better spent on thinking of how he could survive this. He brought the entire ’Anton Orlock arc’ from [To Kill A Demon Lord...] to mind and highlighted parts of it that were of interest and then he had a lightbulb moment. There was one thing he could use. A bargaining chip only he had. The realization filled him with a bit more calm. He just had to wait until he was in the presence of the Vampire Lord and he’d play his card. The crash and the ensuing battle had started very close to sunset and throughout the travel in the air, the day turned dark. It was nighttime now and there was a shift that Caius felt even as he was made to soar above the clouds by the Vampire woman’s wings. This was the time of Vampires. The time they thrived. For the first time, maybe because he had just been discussing it with Arlette before the day took a bad turn, Caius thought he could feel the embrace of the night. Like a Divine being was truly wrapping him up in its protection. ’Delusions,’ he eventually thought shaking his head. The Vampire woman must have felt his action because she looked down at him in her arms with that horrible smile still on her face. "Yes, yes, boy. Nearly there now," she said in a voice that overcame the rush of wind to sound very clear in Caius’ ear. She dived then. Out of the cover of clouds, she seemed to be flying at an empty spot on the ground. That was until Caius felt them touch against a veil that allowed them through. The way the veil felt against him reminded Caius of the Veil that divided Lochxen Forest from the Academy’s grounds. Only this veil was much more powerful and had the added effect of casting an illusion; The space was no longer empty. It was filled with a sprawling Castle hewed out of black stones that seemed to melt into the night beside the small flickers of light in just a few of the windows. It looked like it had been standing for a millennium and had fallen into disrepair due to barely any care by the one who lived within. The thing was though, there wasn’t something imposing about how the Castle looked to be breaking down. It said something designed to match the mentality of the maniac that had chosen to call it home. Of course, having read the original story and knowing how much this location played a role in the Vampire Lord’s Arc, Caius knew it only looked that way and was incredibly sturdy. Almost unbreachable, in fact. As the Vampire woman descended even more, figures began to appear out of the dark; Vampires who had been created by the Vampire Lord. They all bowed to the Vampire woman and she barely paid them any mind as she soared through an open door, through a long corridor until she was at black double doors that she opened with Mana before entering what looked like a throne room. It was lit by a few torches attached to the walls and somehow, the way they cast shadows made the room look fairly dark still. Especially the very end of the hall where Caius could sense seven figures standing. The Vampire woman dropped Caius to the ground and her feet touched down as she folded her wings and they wrapped around her, not exactly like a cloak now, and instead, more like a robe. "Oof," Caius let out as he hit the ground and then tried to stand only to have her force him to his knees. "Husband," she said in a silky voice, "I have brought him." "Well done, Monika darling," said a gruff male voice from the darkness at the very end of the Throne room, "I can smell it from here. The royalty within his blood calls to me. This truly is a gift. Approach, Caius Von Helsing. That I may assess you."