quick recap:
Flickering...
Eleanora had started to cast her "primal mend" spell but The Duke had a different plan on this fight.
"Did you really think I will let you heal up now?"
She canceled her spell and jump to the side avoiding the spell coming from behind her, but yet again flickering noise can be heard from behind her.
"You have no hope of winning against me kid."
A fireball was right behind her head, a man with a sleeveless shirt and a red scarf around his neck was standing behind her, his hair and the scarf were fluttering due the air caused by the heat of the fireball charging at the end of his extended arm, with smirk on his face and gold earring shining brightly on his ear, he released the bright blazing fireball at her.
"This is my den, and you walked right into my trap!"
BOOOOOM
end of recap.
Meanwhile outside of the cave...
Chris managed to lead all the guards away of the cave and out of Eleanora's way, they all were too focused on finding the vampire in the forest, even though he was still worried at her. One of the rebels notice Chris standing in the back lost in his own thoughts, he shouts at him to head back.
"you will be an easy target out here! Go to the cave, now!" Chris nods and start heading back to the cave away from the forest...
As he is close enough he hears a muffled noise coming from the cave, he feels a rumble in the ground as well and his mind race to one thing:
"Sis must be fighting the leader!! I am worried... I feel that something is wrong..."
Chris heads into the cave, he wanted to run straight away into the deeper part of the cave, but he was not only worried, but also scared, he had nothing on him, neither tools, items, skills nor spells, he might get killed before even he do or say anything if he actually reached the fight between Eleanora and the leader, those thoughts made every step more heavier than the other, yet he didnt stop completely, he didnt give up hope, he kept a steady pace of steps even if it was a slow pace.
"If I lost her too, I wont have anything else in my life! If I did not have enough courage to at least go and try something, then why the heck am I living for?! I dont want to keep hiding like we used to! I will not hide and cower anymore! I will go and help her, even if I died while doing it!! I prefer to die than to helplessly watch her die, she always protected me, its my turn to repay the favor, even if the price was my own soul!!"
Back to the cave and the one sided battle, The Duke released a charged big exploding fireball right at Eleanora's head from the back and a huge explosion fills the room with blinding light, after the light fades and vision comes back to the Duke he was amazed by what he have seen, he smirks at the scene.
"Heh, you are smarter than what you look, I will give you that you little witch"
Eleanora had fallen on the ground her face was on the floor, her head was not harmed at all, but her back wound revealed not only fresh burn wounds but it was so deep that you can see the tips of the spin in her back, there was no blood coming out, only dark smoke from her back. Right before the Duke fireball hit her, she managed to jump high enough for the attack to hit the middle of her back instead of her head, thus surviving the attack.
The room smelled like a burnt person.
"Ahhh! The smell of a well cooked vampire meat, I love it."
The duke states, standing there with his victory getting to his head, a muffled whimper can be heard from Eleanora, even though her body was trembling she tried to stand up.
"What are you doing? Hmmm... seems like you are a bit raw, I think you need more cooking, let me lend you a hand in that!"
THUD!!
he stomps on her back in full force, making her fall again into the floor and a cry of pain breaks out of her.
"What a music to my ears... lets hear more, shall we?"
He leans on his knee forcing more pressure on her, then he extend his arm and flame flourishes in his palm, he grabs her shoulder, smoke start to rise out of Eleanora as her body shakes from the pain of burning alive, is there any hope for her to get out of this position now? Eleanora didnt know, but she refused to surrender just like that, she waited in patience made of steel as the Duke kept burning her as he laughs.
BAM!
The room door was kicked open loudly.
"Wh-what are you doing to my sister?! S-stop now or e-else!!"
Chris yells as he stands in the doorway witnessing this scene of torture.
The Duke surprised turns his head at Chris.
"what is a brat like you doing her?! Get the hell out! She is not dead yet!"
Surprised by a kid entering the room at this moment the Duke gets nervous, he thinks that the boy will be in the danger way as the vampire might target him to get some blood to recover, but as he was surprised and talked to Chris, Eleanora took hold of the wrist of his hand on her shoulder and before he even managed to turn back she threw him at the wall in the end of the room, as he tried to gather his balance when he is standing up, Eleanora had already stood right infront of him. A face filled with anger, eyes fired with determination stared into him, she grabbed his neck and punched his guts with her other hand and gets ready to deliver more gut smashing punches, but he goes all aflame in a split second! Eleanora lets go and steps back in surprise, then he start throwing more of his aggressive exploding fireballs and the silent room is filled once again with the loud soaring of flickering fire, while dodging the first two she was casting her "primal mending", she was more than focused now, something was pushing her more than ever, she wasnt fighting because its her job anymore, she wasnt fighting to pay back the pain he did to her just now, she wasnt fighting for justice at all, she was fighting on pure anger and anguish, a pain deep in her soul had awakened along with old memories, she was determined to get revenge!
As she dodged the fireballs she managed to mend her back wounds, now its easier to move around and less painful after the flesh on her back grew again, she sprints to the Duke who is covered in flames but he suddenly vanishes just like the flames of a candle when wind blows into it, she looks left and right but there is no sign of him, he once again used his invisibility spell.
Realising that, she turns to Chris who is standing in the doorway, in a split second she guessed that the Duke might take him as a hostage.
"I have to go and cover Chris before he takes one more person from me!!" Eleanora said to her self.
"I have to go and get the kid out of here before she drinks him dry!!" The Duke wanted to do his best to save this pure soul of this evil vampire, or at least that what it looks like from his point of view, they both wanted to protect Chris, thinking the other is going to kill him. Eleanora started to sprint to reach Chris, but the Duke have started heading there before here and not to mention that he was closer in the first place but she didnt see that thanks to his invisibility spell, before she reached Chris, he was pushed out of the room suddenly with force, The Duke must have kicked him out. Then a flame pillar fills the only exist of that room, the doorway Chris was standing in before he was pushed out, Eleanora thought she could just jump through it like with the twins but was shocked to see the hissing fire roar and soar as it's color turns from a mix of orange and red into bright blue and becomes more violent.
"This flame barrier will hurt you more than you think, you wont even be able to cross it, go ahead and jump into it if you want, it will just make my day easier really."
His voice was heard inside the room, meaning he did not leave and cast it from the outside. Eleanora not wasting a second shoot a magic missile accuratly at the direction of the voice, sadly it only goes through until it hits the wall making a small hole in the solid rock wall. At that moment one thing was clear, The Duke was more strong than Eleanora had thought, and when Lord Savant said he was a fleeting man, it seems that he was not good at running away, but he was just great at avoiding being captured and detected.
however, Eleanora was different in this fight, her face obviously showed not only anger, but hatred, she kept looking around making sure to notice even the tiniest change in the room... the first thing she noticed was more fire hissing from two directions behind her, she didnt wait for anything and acted on instinct right then, jumping high and making a backflip fully avoiding any contact with the fire, and the fireballs explode at the wall leaving lots of cracks and two holes, after she nailed a perfect landing on the floor she didnt turn around, instead she stabbed her own stomach with her hand. As the blood started dripping from her wound, she pretended to turn to her back only to suddenly stop and turn in the opposite direction and pulling her hand out of her own guts, splattering blood in a wide range, but some of that blood did not land on the floor and stopped mid air, it landed on the invisible Duke!
Loud clapping was heard as the invisibility wore off The Duke, he was standing straight, splatters of blood on his chest, legs and feet, he was the one clapping, he had no reason to waste mana on the invisibility spell anymore because Eleanora blood will make it useless.
"Good work, you are not a raw power dump dead meat after all, but that is not enough t--!"
STAB
A spear of blood went through his shoulder in amazing speed, it was aimed at his chest in the first place but the Duke was fast enough to start moving away when he saw the spear diving at him in lightning speed, he falls on his knee and hold his bleeding shoulder, he opens his mouth to speak but Eleanora already dashed and kicked him sending him flying all the way to the wall nearby the broken desk and throne, he falls down on one of his money bags letting a small clink echo across the silent room, a place with no other sound except for the flickering of lingering flames scattered across the room and the bright blue flames hissing from the doorway as if it is saying you shall not leave. Eleanora dodges another fireball shot without any doubt by the Duke and gets right infront of him, getting his back against the wall quite literally, normally Eleanora would catch her foe by the neck at this point, but this fight was different, or rather this foe was a different case, because she holds him tight by the shoulder, yes, the same shoulder she pierced with the crimson spear, then while she glared menacingly at his eyes she poked her thumb right inside the wound, making the Duke face twists with pain, with her other hand she delivered a punch, although she was angry, she held back in this punch.
"I only held back because I need you to answer me one question you miserable wrench... give me the name of the person who told you to kill Mirals."
Spitting some blood to the side, he spoke back with a hint of confusion in his voice.
"How the hell do you know Mirals? Arent you just an initiate?? Or maybe you were a Sagrava agent all alon--" a swift punch shut his mouth.
"You dont have the right to call him by his name!" Eleanora shouted.
He groaned in pain then he spoke up.
"Alright, I get it, a captain from the Order told me to do it and he paid nicely... this bag I am on is nothing compared to what I got at that time..."
"Give me a name, not a rank, or do you prefer to suffer more?" As she finished her sentence she pushed her thump deeper, he screamed in pain then she lowered the pressure on the wound to let him speak.
"L-listen, if I am going down anyway I wont pull others down with me! If you want to find the head of things why dont you just take a stroll down the frozen north dessert to the Order base and knock their door? I am sure they will welcome you heh heh heh--" another scream came out of him as Eleanora literally stabbed his wound with her thump then she punched him making him fall to the floor along with the coin bag, making many of the golden coins shatter across the ground reflecting the bright flames around them.
"If you are not going to give me names then give me the reason, the real reason behind specifically targeting Mirals" the blood from the floor floats and gather above Eleanora's palm, shaping into a crimson orb that endlessly keep swirling.
"Mi-- err... he is no ordinary vampire nor man, when we heard he was going to be one of the council elders soon we had to take him out or the worse could happen... he may seem like a normal scholar at first glance but he is far more than that, he was alive ages ago, when he was a young human he was part of the mages who were first to research 'The Dark' that surrounds our lands, and unlike the others he didnt succumb to the madness it brings, he came back with his full sanity AND knowledge from the beyond, knowledge from the dark itself, he had many priceless info and knowledge that were so important to the extend that if he joined one side of the war between humans and vampires the other side will lose no matter what, he kept all that to himself and never told anyone anything for years, even when the war bettween the vampires and us the rebellion started he simply turned a blind eye and never joined nor helped any side, as he reached his 80s he started to become weak and vulnerable, so he agreed to let one of his Elder friends from the Malakai house to turn him, and so he grew back powerful again and age was no longer an issue, yet for so long, he didnt actually help either side in this endless battle of freedom... thats why in the start of this year when we heard the rumour of him joining the council we knew if that happen we, the Order, the rebellion, everything will be done once and for all, so we planned to take him out, and my skills were the best to assassinate such a careless man who roams around alone thinking he is immortal and all... he didnt even have a family after he became a vampire, the power must have gotten into his head like all the rest of your cursed kind! you all are ju--"
SPLATTER
A crimson blood spear dived into his head, cracking it into pieces and all its contains have splashed out to the floor, painting the coins under him in a gory pink and red colors... soon the blood filled the floor, but a single clear water drop fell into this mess.
"You are wrong, he does have a family... I dont even want to use your disgusting blood to recover..."
Eleanora said her words with a shaky voice.
She covered her face with her arm.
She was overwhelmed with grief.
Soon all the magical flames subside as their caster have been sent beyond this world for good, she leaves via the door exist to see Chris, he was only few steps away standing worried.
The moment Chris saw her coming out he runned to hug her only to stop at the last moment realising she is in a bad shape.
"Sister I was so worried about you!! A-are you okay? You have so many burns!"
Chris frustratedly speaks to her, forgetting the fact that they should start to run away before any of the rebels head back into this cave, Eleanora simply put a hand on his head as she kept walking, making him follow her as well while she spoke.
"No need to worry, my job is done, now we have to hurry back to the city before anything else happens."
Chris nods hesitantly, but he follows her anyway.