The party scrambled into an auction restroom backstage. Emma propped herself against a wall to catch her breath, as the others squeezed through. Emma huffed, "Shit, it's hot." She pulled off her clothes, Dahlia immediately attempting to block the view with her body before realizing that underneath was a power suit/exoskeleton —something akin to power armor. A mechanical tail attached to Emma's spine wriggled out from a hoodie she threw on the floor. "Here we go..." Emma met Dahlia's gaze. "Like the fit?"
Dahlia chuckled. "Woah... so this is what you've been working on?"
"Yeah, how do you think I tanked that shot from that one guy from earlier?"
Rider looked down at themselves. "My stability has gone down. Let's keep that in mind for now."
Emma nodded in response. "Yeah, okay." She sighed. "Luckily, we probably won't have to worry about having too many close encounters from here on out since Sebastian's group will take care of it, no?"
Viana poked her head out the door of this restroom. "That's if we aren't caught."
Dahlia continued to stare at Emma. "I dunno how I didn't notice earlier."
"What, you think I just bulked up all of a sudden?"
"Honestly, I think I wa-"
Something slinked out from the ceiling, clad in black as it grabbed Dahlia's face, looking straight into her eyes. "Obey!" It demanded, Dahlia's eyes glazing over momentarily before she shook away the effect, pushing whatever it was above her away. "You all aren't supposed to be here."
The party instantly went on alert as a Vampire clad in completely black jagged armor, looking almost like melted over obsidian, stood above them, grasping the ceiling.
Combat Begins!
"The auction must go on! No matter what!" Everyone raised their weapons, ready to attack, but before they could even react, in the middle of them, prepared to attack this monster, they dropped to the floor. BOOM! At once, two attacks flew out at Rider and Dahlia. Rider was sent crashing through the stalls behind them, whilst Dahlia managed to block the attack, though she was pushed back a few feet from the battle from the impact alone.
"Shi-" Emma almost exclaimed before being forced to dodge an attack from this monster before them, clearly stronger than any of the Vampires they had faced previously.
Viana spun around, bringing her attention to her party before being interrupted by one of the weaker Vampiric guards of this Auction House, crashing through the door, claws cutting through the flesh of Viana's arm, blood spilling across the marble floor below as she recoiled in a panic.
"Sana!" Qicy screamed, the room now engulfed in a healing light.
One of the Vampires recoiled as the other stood stock still, armor emitting steam from the heat of Qicy's healing magic.
"Fuck!" Emma shouted, Rider getting up from the broken toilet seat they had landed on to retaliate against the armored Vampire before them, and from Emma's hand, the blade from before. Emma's sword cracked through the armor, splitting the Vampire's chest open whilst Rider's fist dug into their back. They visibly flinched, surprised by the suddenness and impact of both of their attacks.
Just as this exchange occured, right beside Viana, another one of these armored Vampires appeared, phasing through the wall like some ghost. Viana's eyes widened, a cold sweat coming over her in that moment.
Luckily, but, unluckily as well, though, the Vampire looked to Viana, staring at her with their crimson red eyes. In that moment, she sank into their mind control, falling into a daze.
Dahlia, noticing that the tides were turning, took a step forward and swung straight at the monster in front of Emma, but instead of cleaving through the creature, a myriad of obsidian crystals blocked her way, the axe not wedged into the armor with a CRASH! The creature buckled as the impact reverberated throughout their armor, but the damage was minimal. If her axe wouldn't work, her own body was the next solution, a kick slamming into the Vampire's back-- no dice.
The monstrous creature spun to look at Dahlia in one quick movement, fist slamming straight into her stomach, almost sending her flying into the wall behind her, before grabbing her by a small bit of her armor, grip denting the metal, and pulling her back in. It reeled back its fist as far as it could before slamming it straight back into Dahlia, who, just in time, raised their massive shield to block the blow.
Unfortunately, this time, the shield barely diminished any of the damage, sending her flying to the ground below, where she gasped for air.
"Son of a bi--" Emma cried out before a fist met her stomach. Emma collapsed onto the ground, bile escaping her lips, brought into a cold sweat before getting herself back up to her feet. "I'll kill you!" She wheezed.
The Spawn that had ambushed Viana previously walked over to the mind-controlled woman, licking their lips. "I've never tried Drow before~." Before biting down on her neck and pushing her away. "Yum~."
"Sana!" Qicy screamed out again.
"I'm gonna kill that cleric!" The Spawn screamed, skin being burnt away from the healing magic.
A sigh of relief filled the room.
Emma quickly sheathed the blade, kicking away from the Vampire in front of her as she leveled her rifle at the Spawn, the burning bullet embedding itself into the Vampire's chest, burning away at the inner flesh as they recoil back. Before the Spawn could dodge, its head exploded from the last shot of Emma's rifle, a sigh leaving her lips, now turning the barrel towards the Vampire in front of her.
Rider's fists, though, unlike Emma's sharpshooting, failed to meet their mark, barely making an impact in the armored Vampire's crystaline defenses.
A sigh left its comrade's visor, looking to the dominated Viana before launching a barrage of attacks against the poor drow, embedding her in the wall behind her, leaving her barely alive and unconscious before pushing towards the rest of the party.
Dahlia, regaining her faculties, screams out in a blood-curdling rage, charging back out to the monster in front of her. They whip their head around to meet Dahlia's gaze, catching her blade. She pulled it to the side in one powerful throw before once again, cleaving down onto the creature in front of her, aiming to kill.
CRACK!
Instead of cleaving through its armor, however, her axe had shattered into pieces. Her eyes widen in shock, shards of metal scattering across the floor. "How!?"
***
For Viana, the only audible noise that remained was the sound of her lungs struggling to expand, to take in air. Everything felt as if she were underwater, her body beaten and bloodied. She had never experienced a pain like this before. She felt as if her skin had been burnt to the muscle and ice-cold water had been poured over her head.
"Matron Mother." A memory. A woman with icy-cold, blue skin and long, silver hair draped over her shoulders stood before what looked to be another woman sitting on a throne, wearing all black, with a mask covering her face, revealing only a pair of glossy, purple lips. "I've brought the child."
A young Viana stepped out, barely reaching the hips of the woman in the audience with the Matron Mother of their Coven in terms of height. Viana politely clasped both hands together, eyes averted to the blood red carpeting below.
"She is our newest talent out of the previous batch we had before."
The Matron Mother looked the young Viana from head to toe. "I see... so you believe she is worthy to be trained directly within my forces of the Sadalar Ashendi?"
"Yes, Matron Mother."
"What makes you believe she is worthy?"
"She has shown an intense focus unlike those of the other batch that shared her age. Additionally, her emotional responses to external stimuli have been dulled. She can barely feel pain, anger, fear, sadness, and the like. She is also able to pick up things easily. So far, combat training has been going excellently. Surviving many encounters with her fellow students. I believe that with further training under your tutelage, Matron Mother, she would become a perfected killing machine. An Assassin meant for war."
"You understand the cost of bringing this child to me, no?"
"I do." The Drow woman turned toward Viana, taking a knife in the shape of a spiral out from her waistband before handing it over to the young Viana. They lowered themselves to her, resigning to their fate. Viana blinked, looking to the Matron Mother, confused, before looking back at the Drow woman in front of her-- her mother, her actual mother. "Viana," She pointed at her solar plexus, right where her aorta artery was. "You must embed your blade into my body, killing me, to ascend to greater heights."
Viana blinked. "I... have to kill you?"
"Yes... You have to kill me. Now... Viana, please."
Viana stood there, stunned, her eyes muddied with confusion and frustration. She licked her lips, taking a step back, her mother becoming visibly confused as well.
"What are you doing?"
"I don't want to do that."
Outside of this memory, the situation worsened. Boom! Boom! Two hits straight at Rider, sending them straight into the wall behind them into a metal heap before spinning back around and crashing straight into Dahlia's shield. She held firm, but she couldn't hide that she was, in fact, hurt by that blood, her arms shaking and her knees buckling.
Qicy yelped, the Vampire Spawn charging straight at her. She rolled out of the way, its first swipe missing entirely, causing the Spawn to fall onto the floor, though not stopping their current momentum as they swung once more, as she quickly blocked the second attack, redirecting it into one of the torn open stalls, sending a wall flying through concrete. "Shi-"
"Sana!" Qicy screamed again, louder than before.
"AH!" The Spawn screamed out, her healing light searing its skin.
"Fuck!" Emma screamed, hitting something on her armor. Just as the armored Vampire turned to look back at her after trashing Rider, she was gone.
Viana's memory became distorted momentarily, almost like a record skipping. One moment, she was hesitating to execute her own mother, and the next, that very same dagger that was once in her hands was now embedded in her mother's torso.
Click!
Viana's eyes shot open, gasping for air as an invisible force woke her up from her unconscious slumber. She had been pulled into one of the remaining stalls, held by something.
Finally, the other team arrived. Hero jumped out from the whole of Emma's party that had been created previously, weapon in hand. He rushed past Dahlia, the cut of his blade whistling through the air, audible throughout the entire room as it went straight through the Vampire in front of him. No cut, but even then, the damage was minimal to begin with, as it barely even managed to stagger the creature.
Hero's gaze snapped over to the other end of this restroom as another one of those armored Vampires lunged straight at him. It's fist met his buckler, but the impact was substantial enough to dent his shield and fracture his hand.
With one more strike, Hero's buckler was torn straight off his arm along with any flesh attached to it, the bone of his wrist exposed for the world to see as blood rushed out from the newly formed wound.
SLAM! Dahlia embedded her massive shield into the floor. "If an axe won't work..." She growled, reeling her fist back. She took a deep breath and then swung straight into the closet monster to her. As if channeling the very might of the giants themselves, her ancestors, her fist met its mark, digging deep into the stomach of the Armored Vampire that had assailed her ever since she had entered this room, and sent them flying into the ceiling, breaking the very armor that protected them.
Dahlia reeled her fist back once more, slamming straight into the monster attacking Hero currently and sending them straight into the wall next to them.
"AHHHHH!" Dahlia cried out.
During this combat, Dahlia had evolved, burning brighter than she had ever before.
Aeora, entering the fray with the rest of her group, fired out a bolt of flame into the Spawn, who somehow remained alive throughout this fight, tanking the burns. "I'll kill that cleric!"
"Do not fear!" Sebastian screamed out, placing down his banner once more. "We shall persevere! Slay thy enemies, rend their meager flesh from their bones, slick with blood! We rise!" And so, once more, his allies have been bolstered. The tide of this battle has turned.
"Fuckin' half--" Before the spawn could say anything else, Caspian's halberd had met its mark, cleaving straight through their neck, finishing them off for good.
Viana blinked, fully awake now. She recognized the breath, at least, the voice that came with it. "Emma?" She could see the light shift slightly as Emma looked at Viana.
"You okay now?"
"Better." Viana dropped under the restroom stall, grabbing her rifle in the process, leveling it at the two Vampiric Guards of this auction, specifically, the one who had just made contact back with the floor. "Bang." As the bullet made contact with their armor, they were sent straight through the hole they had created. "Just... die..." Viana whispered, and one last shot was fired, finishing them off, armor rendered useless.
Outside of the walls of this restroom, it kneels, head blown clean off its shoulders.
Only one Guard remained.
Qicy swallowed, stumbling away from the fight, clutching a rosary around her neck. "Sana!" Once again, the room was surrounded by her healing light, but now the adverse effects were beginning to take place: blood was pouring out of Qicy's nose, her body reeling from the amount of magic she had put into this fight.
Crack! The remaining guard felt an impact against their shoulder, but nothing was there. For a moment, it concentrated, feeling the wind before ducking out of the way, just narrowly avoiding something invisible.
Whilst they were distracted, Hero sliced at the Vampire again-- no cut, but he could feel it, a chunk of its soul leaving its body. Hero attempted to get one more cut in, but the Guard pulled its body back, creating distance. It observed the situation, scanning for any advantage they could take. They were surrounded now.
Dahlia's arms suddenly go slack, and the Vampire makes a run for it. For a moment, Dahlia is in a daze, but quickly snaps out of her stupor as what remains of the healthier members of the party chase after the Guard.
Emma's party stayed behind.
Outside of the restroom, the Vampire stood, gasping, clearly exhausted by how long this battle had gone on for; everyone else was as well. There has barely even been a moment to rest ever since they got here, and now, they're fac--
The wet sound of something cutting through flesh. The Guard's arm was now on the ground. It spun around to face its assailant as one of its legs was nearly cut off from the shin. It can barely make out a silhouette, but it's invisible. "What!?"
"Cloaking..." Emma responded.
Hero, taking his chance, slices through the creature twice with his soul-cutting slash, and just as the Guard is about to fall to his blade, its arm regenerates. With that same arm, Hero is sent flying back, behind the group. It spun around, wildly swinging, and by pure luck, slamming straight into Emma, sending her flying straight off the stage of the Auction.
A cold sweat came over the entire party.
Emma lifted herself off the ground, met with the sights of a crowd, and the Auction Host standing before her.