*Thud*
Kai's gaze held firm at the body that fell from the sky, his eyes panned to Zeleti chuckling on the floor in pain, and then back to Cassius, his body still seizing against the cold hard ground.
'WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?' Camilla grabbed Kai and tried to shake him awake, but his trance seemed too strong. Kai's mind was still racing, replaying back what happened as he stared at the smoke trailing from the gun that still held firm in his grip.
Weak! We are extremely weak. Why are we so weak?!
What is that monster? Training didn't tell us about that! How do we know so little?! It's so fucking strong!
We stand no chance against them. Where would we even be if it wasn't for Zeleti's betrayal.
He's losing!
Can we afford to lose him?
FUCK! HE'S LOSING! KAI, DO SOMETHING!
All of these thoughts racing, while Kai stood witness to inconceivable strength. On reflex, his body aimed and shot responding to his inner desires.
Cassius noticed the threat that Vesper was too blind with success to see, and as any mentor would do, he naturally jumped in front of the bullet and saved his pupil. However, what Cassius did not anticipate was what kind of bullet he would be shot with. The compound V formula used Camilla's condensed code to break through Cassius' aura trait and penetrate his heart. The pixie dust combined with the carrier's blood was slowly reforming Cassius' cells, mutating them to a lesser form, or what others would call human.
'Hey, what's going on?' Vesper landed slowly as he approached a shivering Cassius. 'Is this a joke? Get up! GET UP!' He continued to stare in disbelief. Reliving the last few seconds in his mind, Vesper couldn't process what had just occurred. He was almost there, in fact to him he was finally going to exact justice for his family, he was finally going to be worthy of the name Crimson blood. He couldn't understand how in less than a second, that turned to him staring down at his last family member in pain.
'WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?' Ashin's voice grew more menacing along with his confusion as he and Maya arrived at the scene, to witness what they thought was their strongest member on the floor.
Camilla ran to Cassius side, grabbing a glass vile off one of the desks, she smashed the end against the table and slit her palm, deeply. Hoping to help Cassius recover, she rested his body against hers and fed him her blood. Although, the bullet's effects seemed too strong, Cassius didn't seem fully conscious, let alone able to swallow any blood.
Suddenly, only for a moment, the room fell void. Void of sound, sight and warmth. To everyone in the room, it felt as though time had stopped. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say their time was stolen.
Only Ashin noticed what had happened but even for him, his fear froze him temporarily.
As everyone's sense returned, they were faced with a tall blonde man standing over Cassius. Estefan ignored everyone and bent down activating his aura. Vesper had seen Estefan heal many vampires over the years. Due to his aura trait, other families would often employ his services, it was one of the main reasons the Crimson family was able to retrain their position despite their decline. But never did Vesper witness what Estefan was currently doing. Estefan's aura was covering Cassius so densely that it felt like he was forcing all his master's cells to live. Commanding them to pump blood, ordering them to repair themselves.
Confusion. Estefan had never encountered this, something was blocking Cassius' natural ability to heal, something Estefan had never felt before, something he couldn't explain. Yet somehow his instincts were telling him this was magic, or in this case a curse.
'He isn't healing himself, Camilla, he needs more blood now!' Estefan ordered without diverting his focus, like a surgeon at work.
Without hesitation Camilla obeyed, slitting her other palm, hoping to increase the flow.
Estefan used his aura to form delicate threads, he tried to remove the V bullet from his master's heart. However as soon as he would try to make contact, his aura would shatter. Desperate, he resorted to a more crude method. Increasing the density of his aura, he coated his entire hand and swiftly went for a more direct removal route. He was confident he could heal whatever damage he caused; right now, the priority was to remove this bullet that was continuously harming Cassius.
No success.
He tried again. Another jab.
Failure.
'What is this!?' Estefan shouted in frustration.
All heads turned to Kai.
'You FUCKIN...' Ashin charged at Kai grabbing his lifeless body tightly, but not before Hina intervened.
'It's not meant to kill him! That's what the professor said.' Hina tried to deflect whatever she could away from Kai. And she successfully did.
For now.
Still she watched the scene before her unfold, to Hina it felt strangely surreal. On one side was Ashin still holding on to Kai, waiting for the results before taking action. Maya stood by the side lines looking confused; Camilla was holding back her tears as her blood trickled down a barely conscious Cassius. The young man, who Hina had only seen for the first time today looked frozen, anxiously waiting. Although she didn't know him, for some reason she could understand his pain- which seemed ridiculous to her as she had never been in such an extreme situation before. Her gaze shifted from the professor who still laid on the floor in pain, to Estefan. The veins bulged up his arm tearing his suit sleeve apart as he continued to hammer away at the impenetrable bullet wound. His claws clashing against the invisible force that pushed him back.
Again, and again, and again.
Hina's gaze fixated on his failed attempts, the sounds seemed to attract her focus.
*Clang, clang, clang*
Was this a living thing of two machines colliding? She thought to herself.
How did things end up this way?
As the sound continued to escalate her eyes betrayed her as she began to see sparks, as though it really was metal banging against each other. But something else was drawing Hina in. These weren't ordinary sparks she was seeing, it was her pixie dust slowly being chipped away. Through sheer brute force Estefan was succeeding. However, at the current rate, Cassius would be dead by the time he was finished. Both himself and Hina could see this, and yet Hina felt helpless. After discovering more about her true self, the first use of her power was going to result in someone's death.
'This isn't what I wanted.' She muttered to herself.
Do you want us to stop?
Hina looked around in a hurry as she heard the voices, but it was clear by the others' unchanged expressions that they didn't hear anything.
We can come back, if you'd like?
Again she heard them, more clearly this time, they sounded so innocent, childlike even. The voices were resonating so loudly in her mind, yet Hina could see they were coming from the pixie dust that flew off from Cassius' wound. Trusting her instincts, Hina followed what felt right for her.
'Please.' Hina whispered to herself, and she closed her eyes to focus, hoping the pixie dust would comply.
Keeping her eyes closed, she began to feel the pixie dust return to her, a feeling of home she was beginning to grow familiar with. Hina slowly opened her eyes to see a feint trail of golden dust flowing her way, so subtle that only if you knew what was happening would you notice. Even the supernatural in the room wouldn't notice this unless they knew what Hina was attempting, as no one could see the slight change that would save Cassius' life.
No one apart from Estefan that is.
Noticing that his attack penetrated further than the last, he paused as he glimpsed the feint glitter in the air. His gaze trailed off towards their direction and onto Hina. A mental note to investigate later- he thought to himself, before seizing the opportunity to save his master. Using a more delicate approach this time, Estefan weaved his green aura threads to effortlessly remove the bullet and close the open wound.
As the bullet flew through the air and landed harmlessly on the floor, everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief.
'Estefan, will he live?' Vesper knelt down next to Cassius' body waiting for an answer, his voice felt vulnerable, as though the answer could break him into pieces.
'I'll have to continuously heal him, as he seems to have lost his regenerative abilities. But for now, yes! I won't let him die.' Estefan replied confidently, with a determined look in his eyes.
'Good, thank you again Estefan.' Vesper sounded relived.
'Jhaahja, looks like it- *cough* -worked too well.' Zeleti wriggled on the floor still recovering from his transformation. 'What a failure.' He sighed. 'Still alive and still cursed.'
Vesper's expression fell dark as he stood and began walking towards Zeleti. 'You!' His scornful expression could burn the soul.
'OooOo How intimidating.' At this point Zeleti and Iggi had morphed into one and was unclear who was speaking.
This time however, Vesper did not react to Zeleti's taunts, instead with every step he took towards his enemy the ground began to shake underneath, and the air thickened in the room.
'My lord!?' Estefan recognised the change in pressure all too well. 'Camilla, leave now, you won't survive this!' Without waiting for Camilla to protest he pushed her out of a nearby window with his aura cushioning her fall.
You should also leave now; we can protect you but not for long.
Seeing the extreme reaction of the blond-haired vampire, Hina didn't want to question the pixie dust. She grabbed a limp Kai and began running away, with him reluctantly following.
Follow us, this way.
Hina continued to drag Kai behind her as she felt the air slowly become more and more suffocating. The pixie dust led her through the same window that was already crashed in by Camilla.
You do not have time. Jump! Trust us!
'What!? What do you mean-.' Hina couldn't finish her words as she struggled to breath in the atmosphere. Having no other choice, she fell through the window pulling Kai down with her, but instead of falling she felt the pixie dust underneath keep her afloat, till she safely reached the ground.
In the laboratory, the air was now void of life. The surrounding items that lay around began shaking violently the closer Vesper got to Zeleti. There seemed to be violent winds that appeared from thin air, that scattered the contents of the room and pushed all those that remained back.
Estefan cocooned Cassius in his aura and retreated some distance away. Whereas Ashin shielded Maya with his body, releasing more of his wolf form to withstand the pressure.
Behind Ashin's cover Maya witnessed the source of this havoc. With every step Vesper took, dark scales began to form, not on his aura armour as per usual, but on his skin. They purred under his clothes, itching to release. Vesper's eyes were no longer crimson, instead they seemed to be taken over by a shadow, leaving nothing but darkness to see. The view shook Maya to her core, to the point that she could barely take a breath.
Vesper spoke but it wasn't entirely his voice, behind it was the weight of someone, or something frightening enough to even instil fear in an unstable Zeleti.
'Zeleti Crimson, you have committed sin, and you will be judged.'