The two remaining men were shocked into stunned silence by the lightning strike. Cory gritted his teeth, his expression hardening into calculating fury as he looked at the unconscious, smoking body of Bam Bam. "How?" he muttered under his breath.
The man with the big nose was sweating heavily, fear finally taking hold. "Boss, I think we should retreat."
Cory shook his head, his sharp eyes evaluating the slumped, exhausted posture of the young man. "Nonsense, can't you see the boy is tired? We could take him if we work together." Cory then started to walk deliberately in the direction of the hybrid boy, masking his true intention behind a facade of renewed attack.
However, Nose lacked the courage to fight the vampire boy after seeing what happened to Bam Bam, who was considered their strongest. He walked a little behind Cory, but seeing his two friends lying unconscious on the ground, he decided he could not proceed any further.
"I am sorry, boss." Nose abruptly turned around and ran in the direction of their camp.
Cory snapped his head back, watching the coward flee, and a fierce, murderous anger started to swell inside him. "Nose, you fu*king coward! You are dead, I promise you!"
The leader then turned his full attention back to the young man. He slowly clapped his hands together once, the sound sharp and isolated in the silence. "Bravo, kid, you surprised me. But I don't think that you can do that move anymore; you played all of your cards."
The vampire boy was standing in a slumping position, visibly exhausted to the brim. He was panting heavily, his chest heaving, as he quickly and fiercely yanked the arrow out of his shoulder with his left hand, the searing, raw pain made his vision momentarily white. He then dropped the spent elemental lightning stone from his left hand.
"You're right," the hybrid boy managed to grin, forcing a desperate, terrifying smile onto his blood-stained face. "Or maybe I might have something else up my sleeve."
Cory watched the pain flash across the eyes of the young man and saw Leonidas lying defenseless a little further behind him on the ground. Cory smiled evilly as the perfect, brutal plan formed in his mind: he would attack the boy's weakness, not his strength. He dashed toward the vampire boy, initially feinting a charge at the exhausted hybrid. However, the young man was grinning, attempting desperately to bluff that he had another hidden tactic.
Cory ran right past his target, his true goal confirmed. He sprinted straight to where the clan lord was located on the ground. The terrifying grin of the vampire boy dissolved into raw, shocked disbelief when he realized he was not the target.
"No!" the young man screamed, the effort of the shout an agonizing explosion in his chest.
The hybrid boy tried desperately to run after Cory, but the sheer, mind-numbing exhaustion had crippled his legs, locking him in place. All he could do was watch, paralyzed by fatigue and failure, as Cory reached the prone figure of the elder a little further back.
Leonidas did not expect the bandit to come for him, but he was still utterly powerless, trapped by the venom. Cory arrived near the vampire lord and kicked him straight in the face. He then patted the paralyzed elder down and found the hidden knife. "And what is a knife doing here? No, no, no."
Cory threw the knife far to the side and thereafter kicked the old vampire on top of his head. The impact was sickeningly dull.
"No, leave the old man alone!" the vampire boy screamed, his heart tearing apart as he watched his grandfather take the beating he was meant to be taking.
Cory watched the boy screaming, paralyzed by his failure. "Why do you call him old man? He doesn't even look that old, or maybe he is a vampire too, hehehe," Cory chuckled, enjoying his own deduction.
The young man forced his body to turn around, his muscles screaming with the effort of walking toward them.
"Don't come any closer, or this handsome man gets it," Cory warned sharply, grabbing Leonidas by his long, vibrant red hair and brutally dragging him several feet along the ground.
Leonidas struggled furiously against the bandit's grip. "You fu*king coward! If I wasn't powerless, I would rip you limb from limb!" the clan lord spat, his rage palpable even in his compromised state.
Cory, fueled by the resistance and the defiance, instantly took out his knife and stabbed it deep inside the back of Leonidas. "You fuker, don't you ever talk that sht to me," the bandit growled.
The elder refused to make a sound. Although the combined pain of the venom and the fresh steel wounds was immense, he would not give Cory the satisfaction of hearing him cry out. Cory noticed the infuriating silence of the vampire lord and, enraged, stabbed the old vampire multiple times in the back. With every brutal stab, the bandit deliberately twisted the knife, all while looking John straight in the eye.
The vampire boy could not take the sight any longer. "Please stop! I surrender!" The young man collapsed heavily to his knees, his arms falling limply to the ground in total defeat.
Cory ignored the broken pleas of the hybrid boy, fixated instead on the defiance of Leonidas. "Oh, so you are a tough guy. I wonder what would happen if I stuck this knife through your heart."
John was in a state of shock, his voice cracking with desperation. "Please! Please! I beg of you, spare my grandfather and kill me instead!"
"Oh, you're right, you humiliated my men in front of me; that cannot be tolerated," Cory replied, his voice chillingly calm. He paused, then turned his gaze back to Leonidas, tightening his grip on the bloody hair. "I just had a thought about who would get hurt the most in this situation. And I have come to the conclusion that if the boy dies, then you will be hurt the most. Am I right, pretty boy? What parent wants to see their grandchild die first? So, I decided that the boy would die first."
The vampire lord gritted his teeth, his eyes blazing with protective fury. "Listen to me, bandit, and listen well. If you lay one finger on that boy, then you will die in the worst way possible. Walk away now, and I will forget everything that just happened today."
"Shut! Up!" Cory shouted, enraged by the persistent defiance. He kicked Leonidas twice in the stomach.
The elder did not utter a sound as he was kicked, but he did cough a mouthful of dark, thick blood onto the ground. "You call that a kick? My granddaughter kicks harder."
"I told you to shut up!" Cory roared, then repeatedly stomped on the head of Leonidas. The sickening, dull impact resonated through the ground.
Tears began to run down the cheeks of the young man, streaming down his face as he watched the unrelenting assault on his grandfather. "Stop!" He then spread his arms apart in an ultimate act of sacrifice, his voice cracking as he shouted, "Here I am! Take me instead!"
Cory grinned, his eyes gleaming with malicious pleasure. He dropped the bloodied hair of Leonidas and walked directly to where the vampire boy was kneeling. The young man's head was hanging down, his eyes fixed on the mud and blood of the ground, waiting for the end. "Do it," he whispered in a low, broken tone of voice.
"Don't be in a hurry, boy," Cory sneered. The bandit leader then savagely stabbed the hybrid boy deep in the ribs. As the cold steel was buried inside the rib cage, Cory looked up at Leonidas, whose face was contorted with pure, helpless anger. "I don't like that look in your eyes, pretty boy."
Cory brutally twisted the knife inside the ribs of the young man.
"Aaaah!" the vampire boy screamed, the pain so excruciating that he felt his consciousness flickering. It was a white hot agony that made the fracture in his arm and the hole in his shoulder feel like distant stings. Blood gushed from his mouth, staining the ground beneath him.
After a few agonizing seconds, Cory pulled the knife out and gripped the young man by the neck, lifting him slightly.
"I warned you, bandit," Leonidas said through gritted teeth as he lay powerless on the ground, his voice a low growl of impending doom.
"Why are you doing this? We did nothing to you," the hybrid boy rasped, struggling against the iron grip on his windpipe.
Cory gave a short, chilling chuckle. "Because I can. And do you think I didn't notice how you laughed when you fried my friend?"
The young man struggled for air, his face turning a bruised purple. "I did not find any pleasure in shocking your friend. I... I did it to scare you. I... And it did work on your friend."
Cory sneered, unimpressed by the logic. "Well, he is dead after I deal with you two."
The bandit then leaned close, his voice dropping to a horrifying, deliberate whisper that chilled the very marrow of the young man's bones. "I am going to take my time killing you, fu*king brat, and after I kill you, I will then find out if you have a family, and I will kill them too, hehehe."
Leonidas then said something out loud which caught the bandits ear "Look at you, a grown man trying to kill a child. Hehe, I bet your peasant father choked you too but seeing how you enjoy choking the boy, I wonder if you liked being choked. You are quite a pathetic human garbage" Leonidas chuckled a little while his left side of his face is laying on the ground
Sudden anger and fury surged inside Cory, a volatile mix of sadism and rage. "Changed my mind; the pretty boy dies first."
Just as Cory wanted to release his grip on the neck of the young man to raise the knife for a killing blow against the elder, the hybrid boy surged up. With a strength that seemed to defy his broken ribs and shattered arm, he gripped the wrist of Cory.
The vampire boy looked the bandit in the eye with raw defiance and said, "You ain't doing sh*t."
"Let go, you fu*king brat!" Cory yelled. He repeatedly punched John in the face, expecting the young man to release his grip. But the hybrid boy did not let go of the wrist of the bandit. Cory then quickly picked up the knife and stabbed John in the ribcage again, expecting him to release his hold. However, the young man only tightened his grasp. "Aaaaah, it hurts!" he cried out as blood leaked from his mouth and the fresh stab wounds in his ribs.
Cory laughed, his voice manic with a twisted sense of victory. "Hehehe, I am going to find out who your grandfather is, then I am going to cut off his head and send it to his family members, hahahaha."
The mind of the hybrid boy reeled. He imagined the entire scenario vividly: the castle, the face of Anna, and everything happening exactly as Cory described. Leonidas noticed the subtle change in the young man, his eyes widening in alarm. Is the wolf side of the boy going to come out again? the clan lord thought. He cannot control that power. If the wolf side comes out, then we are all probably going to die.
Cory was fully focused on his sadistic triumph, but he suddenly sensed that something was amiss. He looked into the eyes of the young man and saw a faint electricity flickering across the iris. "No, it is not possible…" The eyes of the bandit widened from shock and disbelief, and he began to panic. He tried desperately to escape from the clutches of the hybrid boy, but to no avail. The fingers of John dug deeper into the flesh of Cory.
"Let go of me, you fu*king freak!" Cory continued to struggle. He tried to stab the young man in the heart, ready to deliver the lethal blow that would end his life, but it was already too late.
A sudden, fierce surge of electricity erupted from the hand of the hybrid boy.
The eyes of Leonidas widened, filled with great surprise and amazement by the sight. "How is this possible?" the clan lord whispered.
Raw sparks crackled and danced visibly on the fingertips of John. The massive jolt of power surged violently into the body of Cory. Thick veins popped out from the neck and temples of the bandit as he started to convulse involuntarily.
The young man released even more electrical power, and Cory screamed with agony. The body of the bandit whipped and contorted as the electrical power rendered him utterly helpless.
"Yes, boy, kill him… kill him!" Leonidas urged, desperate for the final victory.
The hybrid boy heard the harsh words of the clan lord, and the command immediately snapped him back to reality. The electrical surge came to an instant end. John let go of Cory, causing the bandit to fall limply to the ground. The young man slowly stood up and observed the bandit for a moment. He had a stern expression on his face as he looked at his hand, but secretly, a wave of thrilled satisfaction washed over him. I have electric powers, so cool, the young man thought.
John looked down at the unconscious leader, a faint smile touching his lips. He felt a secret wave of relief that the bandit was still alive; despite the brutality of the exchange, the hybrid boy was not ready to carry the weight of a life on his conscience. He reached into his storage ring and pulled out a bottle of blood, removed the cap and drank the potent, metallic liquid greedily. Further, he felt a small spark of warmth return to his freezing limbs, before leaving the bottle half empty.
The young man then quickly searched through the body of Cory. Moments later, his fingers brushed against cold parchment. He pulled it out triumphantly: the magical map. The young boy then quickly dashed towards his grandfather who lay prostrate on the ground and in intense pain.
"Old man, are you okay?" John asked, his voice strained and thin. His heart sank at the sight because a dark, growing pool of blood could be seen on the muddy ground beneath the clan lord.
John looked down at the elder, whose stubborn defiance had cost him greatly. "Here, drink up," he said, kneeling and pressing the half bottle of blood to the parched lips of Leonidas.
The vampire lord looked at John for a long moment, his eyes searching the face of the boy before he finally took the bottle. He swallowed the contents, and a bit of color returned to his pale features. "Brat, why did you not say that you have lightning powers? What else are you hiding from me, brat?"
The young man let out a big smile, feeling the rush of his successful improvisation and the lingering hum of power in his veins. "Well, I myself didn't even know that I had that kind of power. I'm really him, if you think about it."
Leonidas quickly got annoyed by the sudden ego of the boy and spat, "You ain't sh*t."
John smiled, then instantly composed his face. He vanished the grin and gave the elder a serious, deadpan look. The old vampire did the same, and they both stared at each other in a fierce, silent challenge of wills. As they locked eyes, John decided to deliberately blink. The clan lord noticed the intentional movement and, against his own stoic nature, mimicked him while keeping his expression rigid and professional. The young man then blinked twice in quick succession, but Leonidas flawlessly mimicked him again, refusing to lose the small game.
After a few seconds, the hybrid boy could not hold the serious expression any longer. A light smile started to form on his face, breaking the heavy tension. "I see what you did there, old man. You're really funny, did you know that?"
Leonidas lightly grinned, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards in a rare moment of genuine connection. "I have my moments."
The hybrid boy scanned the ground and saw the knife that Cory threw to the ground earlier. He went to pick it up and placed it back into his storage ring. He took in a deep breath and went back to Leonidas.
"Come, old man, we can't waste much time," John said, pulling himself together. He managed to pick the elder up, but the task was met with immense difficulty. The young man felt his body go numb, his limbs heavy with a leaden exhaustion that threatened to collapse his knees, yet he forced himself to heave Leonidas onto his back.
As John stood swaying, he slightly turned his head toward his passenger. "Old man, I don't have the energy to run anymore."
Leonidas remained silent for a few seconds, thinking as he looked over the shoulder of the young man at the carnage they were leaving behind. He then thought of a solution to their lack of mobility. "Boy, go to their camp."
The hybrid boy was confused, his brow furrowing. "Why?"
Leonidas grinned, and a predatory, tactical glint returned to his eyes. "We are going to take their horses."
John and Leonidas arrived at the camp, where one of the horse tethers was broken and one animal was missing. They quickly came to the conclusion that it was the fleeing man with the big nose, Nose, who had come to the camp and fled with his horse. As John adjusted the weight of the elder on his back, he noticed a subtle shift in his physical state. The sharp, wet heat of his injuries had faded into a dull, throbbing ache. The heavy bleeding from his ribs and shoulder had finally stopped, and the young man could feel his hybrid constitution working overtime. His wounds were healing at a slow, agonizing pace, but at least the life was no longer leaking out of him.
Leonidas then smacked his hand against his forehead in irritation. "Fu*k, I forgot you don't know how to ride a horse." The clan lord knew that people from Earth usually relied on vehicles, so he correctly assumed John lacked equestrian skill. John had, in fact, partially learned how to ride when spending time with Carmilla and Thomas, giving the hybrid boy the bare minimum necessary to survive this task.
With his limited experience, John was completely uneasy about the task of guiding their only steed on this treacherous journey. "We have to hurry." Leonidas was truly worried that he would not arrive on time to warn his family of the surprise attack or be there to lend some moral support.
"I know," John replied, quickly helping his grandfather mount the horse first before the young man mounted the horse himself. As John took hold of the reins, his hands were trembling with profound uncertainty. "Shit, why are my hands shaking like this?" Sweat started to form instantly on the forehead of John. If they arrived late, Decker could possibly win, and they did not know what other plans Decker had up his sleeve.
The heart of John was pounding with a mixture of determination and trepidation. Leonidas could clearly hear the heart of John beating loudly within his chest; he could sense the raw nervousness of the hybrid boy. John knew that his grandfather was now entirely depending on him, as Leonidas was paralyzed from the waist down and severely weakened from all the stabbing and beatings he had just taken.
"Calm down, boy, I am here to guide you," Leonidas said, his voice steadying John.
John closed his eyes and took a long breath. He held the air in his lungs for five seconds before slowly blowing the air out. Leonidas could hear how the racing heartbeat of John was gradually decreasing. The elder knew that the heavy burden of guiding the horse fell upon his grandson, as John was the only one with the necessary, albeit very limited, equestrian skills.
"Now let's go; there's no time to waste."
John did not say anything, merely nodding his head once. The young man still felt profoundly unsure if he had the ability to control this powerful creature beneath him. They first crossed the bridge and traveled a little further until they came across a broad expanse of flatland.
All John saw was greenery stretching as far as the eye could see. The grassy plains, lush and fertile, swayed gently in the breeze. The eyes of John momentarily drank in the beautiful sight. "Wow, I didn't know that this world looked so beautiful. Oh my god," the young man thought. He saw slender streams of crystal clear water weaving their way through the land like soft, delicate ribbons. John also noticed small trees scattered across the landscape like precious gems.
"Enough, we have to go!" Leonidas urged, pulling John back to the moment.
John quickly snapped back to reality. He took out the magical map, which was a small cube, and pressed the button. A magical, holograph like map appeared in the air, showing their current location.
"Old man, where should we go?" John asked.
"Give me the map," Leonidas instructed.
John handed the elder the cube. "Directions to the Crimson Castle," Leonidas commanded. The magical map instantly showed them the location of the Crimson Castle, and Leonidas knew exactly where to go. He then gave the cube back to John so he could store it in his storage ring.
"We have to go that way." Leonidas pointed firmly in the direction they needed to go.
As they set across the plains, the inexperience John had with riding a horse became jarringly evident. The body of John would sway awkwardly and his movements lacked the necessary coordination, making the hybrid boy struggle continuously to find his balance on the powerful animal. Furthermore, the communication John had with the horse was flawed, relying on rough pulls of the reins rather than subtle direction.
Although the ride was inherently difficult, John was immensely grateful that his regeneration ability had worked wonders during his unconscious state and subsequent power surge. The arrow wound in the shoulder of John was now nothing more than a faint pink scar, and the deep stab wounds in the ribs of the young man were already fused shut. This allowed John to absorb the jolts of the clumsy ride without immediate agony.
However, Leonidas, who was wise and resilient despite his paralyzing pain, would constantly offer his guidance to the young man. "Focus, boy," the elder would snap.
"I am trying, you old geezer," John replied. Leonidas wanted desperately to smack the hybrid boy for his foul mouth, but he needed John conscious and focused.
With each jarring stride, Leonidas would grit his teeth and share his knowledge of horsemanship, teaching John how to maintain his balance, the crucial subtle commands, and the bond required between horse and rider. John, knowing this was their only chance, used every ounce of his mental focus to absorb all the advice his grandfather imparted. As the agonizing minutes passed, the young man showed flashes of improvement, his body finally beginning to rhythmically sync with the movements of the powerful animal.
Furthermore, as the two travelled across the vast expanse with the landscape blurring at a frantic speed, they drew ever closer to their destination. The wind whipped past the face of John, carrying the scent of crushed grass and the metallic tang of horse sweat.
However, something occurred that Leonidas had already predicted might happen. As the desperate journey wore on, the strength of the horse waned. Its breath became a harsh, labored rasp, and thick foam gathered on its lathered flank, signaling it had lost the energy to gallop any further. "No, don't give up on us now!" John cried out, his nervousness escalating. John had not anticipated the physical limits of the beast. After several minutes of struggling, the poor animal stumbled violently and then collapsed heavily to the ground.
Thud!
The horse was utterly unable to carry them any further, and the heart of John sank like an anchor to the bottom of the sea. The young man took out the magic device cube to check their progress. The magical, holographic map appeared in the dimming light, and John noticed that they were still a terrible distance away from their objective.
"Shoot, what do we do now, old geezer?" John asked, his voice cracking with the onset of new fatigue.
"Stop calling me an old geezer, you brat," Leonidas retorted instantly, his pride still stinging despite his physical paralysis.
A heavy sigh escaped the elder. The momentary irritation of Leonidas vanished, replaced by the grim reality of their situation. "Guess we have no choice. Boy, we have to run."
"You mean I have to run!" the hybrid boy shouted, his shoulders slumping. John knew that running with the dead weight of Leonidas on his back was going to be a monumental task; the young man had no idea how long his recovering body would hold out. But John realized that arguing would not help them achieve their goal.
John looked down at the tired horse that was lying on the ground, its sides heaving in the dirt. He crouched down and rubbed the animal on its head. "Thank you for carrying us thus far, Mr. Horse."
Leonidas became instantly irritated by the display of empathy. "What the hell are you doing, boy, thanking a horse? It's just an animal."
The hybrid boy snapped his head up and gave Leonidas an aggressive gaze, his eyes flashing with a remnant of the electricity he had discovered earlier. "You ungrateful old fart, if you talk anymore crap, then I'm gonna punch your face in."
"Ugh, I can't be bothered to argue with a dumb child. Hurry up so we can leave," Leonidas muttered, conceding the argument while secretly noting the growing fire in the spirit of John.
After saying a silent goodbye to the horse, John, with the strained verbal guidance of Leonidas, agonizingly hoisted the paralyzed elder back onto his back. John was straining against the combined weight and his own physical fatigue as the hybrid boy and his grandfather embarked on a final, desperate run through the plains. John felt a deep sense of dread that they would not make it in time, but the young man had no choice but to keep moving forward.
A few agonizing hours passed. John had not taken one moment to rest. The legs of the young man were screaming with pain and his breath was ragged, yet John kept moving with sheer determination. The time was ticking with every minute as he resumed the desperate run, pushing across the vast expanse of the plains toward the jagged horizon.
There were still mountains that they had to cross, and as John felt his resolve about to snap, he saw something flying through the sky.
"Help! Help!" John screamed, waving his free arm frantically at the approaching object. The hybrid boy recognized it as a flying boat.
The person operating the vehicle was a middle-aged man; he had a bald head and was wearing black short pants and a white vest. He was clearly a delivery man. The pilot was in a good mood, looking forward to starting a small vacation to visit his family the next day. While the man was humming contentedly to himself, feeling the cool breeze against his skin and enjoying the beautiful view below, he noticed a small figure carrying another man.
"What the hell are these people doing here? Are they lost?" the man muttered, concern clouding his pleasant thoughts.
He saw John waving his arm and instantly figured out that the pair desperately needed assistance. "I am coming!" the pilot shouted, adjusting the controls of the craft.
As the flying boat gently touched down on the grassy ground, the middle-aged man opened the door and asked, "Do you two need some help?"
The friendly expression of the man instantly shifted to shock when he saw John up close. "Wait, little boy, I know you."
John pointed at himself, utterly confused. "Me? Really?"
Leonidas was equally confused, looking up at the unexpected helper from his position on the back of the young man.