With blood pooling on the cold, hard floor, Albus lying unconscious, and Kislev, Elysia, and Cassiel all beaten and worn down, the three stood across from each other, Kislev on one side of Cassiel, and Elysia on the other.
'Damn... even holding back, if they win here, I'll only lose authority… this isn't going to look good.' Cassiel thought to himself.
Kislev and Elysia both look at each other, before nodding their heads in unison.
One thing Cassiel had forgotten to take into account, was that the two of them had fought side by side before, multiple times, to defend their city, Altanisar, from all different types of human dangers.
Within a blink, Elysia charges straight towards Cassiel.
What one would usually think to be a last pitch effort from an assassin, Cassiel realized this was a set up for Kislev to come in.
Without a moment's hesitation, Cassiel forms two different blood orbs in his hands.
He used one in front of him to deflect Elysia's downward slash, the blade arcing toward him, and without looking , he hurled the other behind him, hitting Kislev square in the head, blasting him backwards.
"That was a good attempt, it would've worked on anyone without years of battle experience like mine." Cassiel mocks, smiling.
Finishing his sentence, he makes another blood orb in his right hand and drives it straight into Elysia's stomach, blasting her backwards.
Hitting the floor hard, Elysia falls unconscious, leaving only Kislev and Cassiel as the last two remaining.
Staring at each other from across the room, Cassiel smiles as Kislev gives a nervous look.
'Damnit... How do I beat him..? It's just me left... I can't possibly...' Kislev thinks to himself, before his thoughts are interrupted by a distant groan.
"What the hell..?" Cassiel mumbles, looking over to his right at Albus' unconscious body, still on the floor.
With quick thinking, Kislev takes this chance of Cassiel being distracted as he charges straight towards him.
Moments before impact, Cassiel finally takes notice of Kislev once more, turning to the left just in time for Kislev to only graze Cassiel's side with his fist.
Still, however, the blow draws blood, and with Cassiel being caught off guard, Kislev stops himself in his tracks, pushing all his momentum into his right leg as he crosses it over behind him, in the style of an L-kick.
Kislev's attack hits Cassiel straight in the jaw, sending him airborne.
With Cassiel just a couple feet in the air, no longer on his feet, Kislev takes this final chance, jumping into the air above Cassiel as he slams down, aimed straight towards Cassiel like a missile.
Last second, however, Cassiel smiles, looking up at Kislev with a crazed look.
As blood drips from his mouth, he twists his body, kicking Kislev's leg's moments before impact, breaking them.
Hitting the floor, Kislev lays there, screaming in pain as Cassiel lands on his feet.
"You did good, Kislev. Not only did you hurt me this much, you also bought enough time for Albus to give one last attempt." Cassiel laughs, giving Kislev some praise.
It's only then that Kislev had finally felt the sensation of overwhelming bloodlust.
Looking up at Cassiel, he realizes it's not him giving off the sensation, it was Albus.
Out to the side where Albus had laid unconscious, now stood a completely different man.
It was still Albus, he looked almost the exact same as always, however, the difference being, Albus' demeanor had changed.
His stance was feral, his eyes were a dangerous dark red, and he was protruding off mana, despite never learning how to manifest it.
"Who would've known, Albus possesses a true sanguine soul." Cassiel says, laughing in his weathered state.
"W-What...? A true sanguine soul...? I thought only the Aeternus and Aion family possessed that..."
"That's true, but also wrong. What we possess isn't the real one, we possess one artificially created. It's not as strong as the true one can be." Cassiel states, beginning to sweat as he locks eyes with Albus.
"If you can move even slightly Kislev, then guard Elysia for me." Cassiel says, dashing straight towards Albus.
…..
A true sanguine soul, a one in a billion trait only given at birth for vampires alone.
It's something that one can only obtain naturally if luck is on their side, it's something so powerful, that the Aeternus and Aion family dedicated centuries of research to recreate this absurdly powerful phenomenon.
After centuries spent on research, it all came to a close after a member of the Aeternus family was successful in combining thirteen different bloods all together, creating the very first "Absolute Sanguine Pill."
Since both families had worked so hard on the pill together, they held a contest of power for who would be the first to try their perfect creation.
It was the king of the continent, Cain Aeternus, versus the lord of the Aion family, Xerxes Aion, The Proclaimed Titan.
The battle was said to be so forceful and vicious, the entire continent had shook with each blow.
The only vampire capable of watching the battle happen then and there, was none other than Cain's master, Jenk, the sword king.
After hours of ground shattering blows, Xerxes stood atop Cain's unconscious body, his right fist held high with victory as he smiled ear to ear.
It was said that during the battle, Xerxes had lost both of his eyes from one of Cain's blows, however, Cain had lost the ability to use multiple limbs for years on end.
Once everything had settled, Xerxes, with a blindfold over his eyes for them to recover, was handed the Absolute Sanguine Pill.
As the hour of celebration that took place with his victory was finally coming to an end, Xerxes readied himself before he finally took the pill.
Over hundreds of onlookers had identical accounts. Xerxes' body glowed red from within.
After the glowing had stopped, multiple spots across his body had exploded with blood as he screamed out in agony.
As it was all coming to an end, in the blink of an eye, Xerxes disappeared from thin air, only purple smoke remained in the spot he once stood.
After this event, all further pills were extremely diluted, making them over five times less effective.
…..
"To think I'd fight someone wielding the power of what one of these pills should've granted. How lucky." Cassiel says, his fist connecting with Albus', making a shockwave so big that the healing smoke from the ground stops coming out.
"Let's find out how truly strong you can be, Albus, my hand."