CHAPTER 96: BEFORE YOU KILL HIM

"NO!!!" Anton yelled in a voice that shook the black castle. He stood to his feet.

"Oh? Now you stand? Will you finally make your move?" Athenodora asked with a cackle.

Anton charged at her. He had spell circles beneath his feet so he never touched the surfaces of her Blood river and veins had bulged all over his body, rapidly increasing the energy he was releasing.

"AHHHHH!!!" Anton yelled and his mouth was open wide with his Vampire Red eyes seeming to glow with the intensity of his malice. He moved faster than the eyes of anyone could follow.

But not Athenodora’s.

"Oh quiet down," she said and swung her hand, slapping the Vampire Lord’s face so hard that a sonic boom was created from the strength of the impact...

*BANG!!!*

... And it sent Anton flying away so hard that he crashed into his black throne, destroyed it, and kept flying to break through the wall of his Throne Room until he basically disappeared from view.

"Don’t rush," Athenodora told him in such a sweet voice, you wouldn’t think she basically just broke a Vampire Lord’s face with a slap,

"Let me get rid of all distractions first and then it’ll be just us."

She knew Anton was not too far to hear her and she made good on getting rid of ’distractions’ by starting with the Consorts that had tumbled out of the sky a few minutes earlier.

The two had aimed to take advantage of Athenodora’s momentary distraction to fly out of the river of blood and out of the range of the spikes that were about to appear. At least one of them did. The other one had to remain on the ground because her body was still being controlled by Athenodora’s Blood-string spell. She was fighting it but it was frankly, a losing battle.

The one that flew into the air suddenly let out a gasp when she jerked and realized she could fly no higher. A chain formed out of blood from the pool on the ground had wrapped around one of her legs to anchor her.

The chain swung and slammed the Vampire Woman into the ground with a *Bang!* and a loud spatter that scattered blood everywhere. She tried to rise but a spike of Blood pierced through her chest the very next second, corrupted her blood until she exploded from the inside out.

At the same time, with a casual wave of her hand, Athenodora used her control over the Vampire woman she was puppeteering with her blood-string spell, and forced her neck to turn 360 degrees until it snapped and she went limp on the ground dead.

Her eyes moved side to side and she spotted the shadow-selves of the other two Consorts that were trying to sneak close and attack her from below. With a wave of her hand, she cast a spell circle that gripped the two, wrapped them tight, and shot them out of the shadows in pillars of Blood that immediately solidified like ice.

With a clench of her fist, Athenodora made the solidified pillars of ice explode into shards. Exploding and killing the two Consorts instantly.

She swung her hand back as well and tossed a spear of blood that pierced through the one Consort that had been slammed into the wall earlier. She was still alive, only knocked out by the impact but getting impaled through the wall certainly put an end to that. And if it didn’t, the subsequent gory implosion from the inside out certainly did.

There was only one Consort left. She had been part of the four that flew up to attack from above. When Caius recognized her as Monika who had grabbed him and carried him over here, he was a bit surprised that she hadn’t opted to join the shadow-sneaking three instead.

Monika’s eyes were wide. In a matter of minutes, the rest of her fellow consorts had been killed and she knew she was next. She turned toward the crack in the wall that Anton had broken through following the slap he received from Athenodora and the Vampire Lord stepped through it.

There was an imprint of Athenodora’s delicate-looking hands against his cheek and it ripped his skin so much that it bled. He still had veins popping up on his face but somehow, those just highlighted the imprint even more.

Monika flapped her wings, taking flight to her husband. Her grotesque mouth was open in fear and he was the only one who could soothe those fears. He was the one who turned her. The one who ’improved’ her. It didn’t matter that he had had a setback, surely he would be able to protect her.

But then, Athenodora was suddenly in front of Monika, blocking her path to Anton, and now with a hand clutching her neck.

"Arr— Ack!" Monika choked and clawed at Athenodora’s hand in a pitiful attempt to get free. Sharp as her claws were, they didn’t even graze the skin. No matter how she pulled and ripped, the skin remained flawless.

Athenodora held back the hand that was not holding the Vampire woman’s neck, and a spell circle appeared against its forearm, collected blood from the river below and shaped it into a curved blade that that she swung to slice through Monika’s head before releasing her so she hit the ground with a Splashy *thud* that dispersed the blood.

The final Consort was dead.

Now only the Vampire Lord, Anton Orlock left to kill.

Moving as easily in the air as she walked, and with a proud smile, Athenodora turned around so she was looking down at Anton whose wide eyes were staring up at her while standing beside the rubble that used to be his Black Throne.

And then, suddenly, he was no longer there.

He was coming at her from the side and slammed a fist into her stomach, his claws digging through her skin. Or so he thought. A blood red spell circle had appeared just in time and protected Athenodora so that not even the flimsy material of her gown was torn.

But Anton seemed to have been prepared for that.

A purple spell circle of the overbearing might of Darkness appeared, and it crackled with the electricity of Lightning, and became primed with the ferocity of Fire.

Three Elements all so perfectly mixed with Dark Magic as the base, struck against Athenodora’s Blood red spell circle before they grew brighter and exploded.

*BOOMMMM!!!*

For a second, the cloud of the explosion was all that could be seen and then Athenodora fell out of it with a smile and, holding on to Anton’s wrist, she fell down to the ground and toward the river of Blood.

"Oh don’t look so shocked," Athenodora said, "Surely you didn’t think that would work."

Alas, it was clear Anton had hoped it would. Or at least hoped it wouldn’t be so ineffective. Now he was being held by Athenodora’s irresistibly strong grip and pulled into where she would be strongest.

"Let go of me, you Bitch!" He yelled and the veins all over his body bulged even more as dark tainted blood pumped hard and fast through him, boosting an already boosted Magical and Physical power even more.

The energy oozing from the Vampire Lord’s body, accompanied by the reeking scent of his tainted blood, was now at the very peak of the Ninth Circle and still he couldn’t pull free.

And then...

*SPLASH!*

... He hit the river of blood.

It had swelled now. Becoming so large that Anton could be completely submerged in it. He tried to swim but it was too thick. He tried to lift himself with Magic but it would not let him.

The power controlling the river of Blood surpassed anything he could ever hope to have. It wasn’t even about Mana or Physical strength. It was an Authority. An Authority beyond what Anton commanded as a Vampire Lord.

He had always known.

He had always known that it didn’t matter how much he pushed the corruption of his own Blood, at this moment, and maybe for all time, he was outmatched.

That was why he ’tricked’ Athenodora into their Vow by Nyx, the mother of Vampires, the Goddess of Primal Darkness. The Vow kept Athenodora from ever setting foot in his home, the Black Castle, and all Anton had had to do for centuries was hole up here. Here, he was safe. Here, was his sanctuary.

Until he brought in that fucking Trojan Horse currently protected by a Blood Cocoon and his protection was shot to Hell!

Probably nothing painted the picture of Anton’s impending loss any clearer than Athenodora rising out of the blood with none of it sticking to her even though Anton was completely drenched. Or how the balls of her feet were balanced on the surface of it while he could barely get his shoulders out.

With a sadistic grin, she smoothly gestured with her right index and middle fingers so Anton could rise out of the river of Blood.

"ARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!" He yelled in agony because, as he was being lifted, some parts of him didn’t follow.

His arms remained in the river of blood and were ripped from his shoulders. His legs, the same. So now, when he rose above the surface it wasn’t just the blood of the river dripping from him, but his own was adding to an already ample pool.

"I must admit, I never planned what to say to you in the end. Is ’Goodbye’ enough?" Athenodora asked still with a grin.

But just then, Caius yelled out from within the cocoon.

"WAIT, NOT YET!"

Athenodora glanced at him, surprised,

"You want me to spare him?" She asked.

"Spare him? God no," Caius answered,

"I’m just asking that you perform the ’Rite of Noble Ascension’ before you kill him."