The morale of the army was dropping. And it was without reason.
Kyros, Mezal, Aron, Martha, and the Emberdon Champions had moved ahead. They were able to stop and halt the approaching enemies.
When the giants and humungous creatures began their march, they were without any form of leadership but only had instincts. They even would stomp or crush and even eat the armies that the Dragon Commander led.
The Steele Family army grew accustomed to this and took advantage of this making their victory easy.
And while Destiny had worked and somehow restored order to the ranks, it was not enough to stop it. There was no camaraderie, concern, and support that the two armies offered to each other. They fought, they stood within their position, but that was it.
The strength of the Steele family's army was growing exponentially. The greatest advantage was the Temple. The knights and servants were gaining levels quickly that the servants had levels that only trained knights would have. And all of them were growing in the Path of Combat thanks to Branze and Diana.
The army was that pushed way beyond their limits and as close as possible to the brink of death. And the Temple would heal them. The experience of nearly dying and fighting in such horrifying situations granted them the experience they needed. And their confidence was provided by the Motivational Speaker.
But now, an organized army and a Commander appeared claiming to have slain Kyros's army.
And that powerful and unconquerable force was moving towards them.
Even Branze and Diana had no time to offer encouragement to the rest as they focused on repelling the Commander and the army of bats.
"Surrender now and allow yourselves to be bitten and become my Coven! Fighting will only make the inevitable result more painful for all of you! Your leader, the Nephilim, died under my hands. It died easily and had no strength to resist the power of my Lord Cardinal! While your team was able to take down another Commander, it died at the hands of ours! While it is worthy of applauding, you are all defeated! Submit to my power!"
"Liar! Our master has defeated a Devil-level enemy! What is a mere Commander compared to what we conquered?!" Scarlet shouted loudly.
"A Devil level? You are saying that your leader. that dhampir, has managed to defeat a being that surpasses Cardinals, Crowns, and Conquerors? That it fought against a Celestial and won?!" The Vampire Commander laughed and taunted.
"My son defeated a powerful Celestial! That I am certain of! He will not lie! If he said he bested a Celestial, it is true!" Branze finally shouted.
"I ripped your leader's head and drank his blood! All of us Commanders feasted on his body!" The vampire Commander laughed.
"Which being did he defeat?! Where is the body of this Celestial that I may pay homage to it?! Show me! Is the Celestial a Celestial Worm who eats dung? Show it to me that I might laugh at its weakness!" The Vampire laughed.
Suddenly, the Vampire Commander froze.
He could see a strange illusion of a beautiful and terrifying woman standing before him.
"What...?!" The Vampire was shocked at the scene and how he couldn't move. Yet, he was charmed by the vision. He, after all, was a vampire. And with such an impure lineage, he could not do anything but succumb to the power of another pure vampire. It was dominance. The vampire before him simply had to show a hint of herself and stunned the Vampire Commander.
Branze and Diana smiled and immediately activated their strongest power that utilized the power of [Push].
"Go all out! Wield the Temple's Light and shoot it!" Branze shouted. Through his meditation, Branze had managed to push the power of the Light from the Holy Beams of the Temple and move it out. He wielded it, and now, he was harnessing that same Light and used it as Force.
Hitting the Vampire Commander was impossible. They had heard the stories of the Coven and how they spoke of the speed and power of the Dragon Commander. They knew that they would not be capable of attacking the Commander with such high Dexterity.
And so, the pair made a plan.
It was for just a second. The words of the Vampire Commander angered the Blood Calamity. It was already angry at its claims of killing Kyros. The power of the Charm spell was working against her. Mechiel's concern became her concern. But while she was able to hold and control herself, the insults of the Vampire Commander were the last straw that broke the camel's back.
The anger manifested itself for just a second, and it stunned and left fear in the heart of the Vampire Commander.
And that was just what Branze and Diana needed.
BOOM!
CRASH!
The massive force smashed on the Vampire Commander's unprepared form.
Throughout the battle, they openly talked to Mechiel and talked about the Blood Calamity.
Diana, in particular, would ask Mechiel if she could tap into the massive power of her soul. And while knowing that the soul inside was an enemy as it was of Destiny, it was also a weakened one. Diana was confident that everything they did in Airom Logat would ensure that it would take a long time for the Blood Calamity's main body to recover. The orcs were just too cautious after everything they lost in that place.
And what Diana was trying to do, was harness his Code, the Code of Burdens, and tried to lay it upon Mechiel. Branze had sensed that by sincerely molding Mechiel, they could soon be able to use her as a secret weapon to attack the rest.
And while Diana and Branze held no hope in being able to force the Blood Calamity to act because of her affections for Kyros, they decided to use her pride.
And those insults caused the Blood Calamity to abandon her allegiance to Destiny for a small second.
When it happened, the Blood Calamity realized what she had done and stopped, but it was already too late. Branze and Diana were waiting for this moment.
"[Force Push]!" Branze shouted as he released the Code in which he learned.
Stellya also channeled her magic and shot a massive beam towards the Commander.
Scarlet also used her newly acquired powers to create an elemental attack.
Mardock harnessed the power of the Light Golem and shot a beam that also had his Entropy.
Gojirrah and Reptilia also threw the weight of their attacks.
"No!" The Blood Calamity appeared in Mechiel's consciousness and shouted in anger as she realized what had happened. However, the Coven was not affected as they had the bloodline of another vampire who had a lineage more powerful than the Blood Calamity.
"You used me?!" The Blood Calamity raged.
"You have your pride to blame!" Branze laughed as he charged forward and widened the Wall to push the swarm of bats back.
Aron was lying down on the other end of the portal with no strength left. He had received several attacks that finally butchered his right leg and fell down. He used the last of his strength to try to jump to the other side of the portal, but the blood of the Vampire Commander that had invaded his body through his wounds stopped him.
His visions were blurry.
"Crap. I'm going to be a paraplegic!" Aron laughed.
He could see the future. The vampire would try to bite him, and he would use True Cut to wound the vampire, which would anger it.
"I guess, annoying that Commander for a life of being a paraplegic will do. Strange. I was confident that if I just delayed, I would survive this... Oh well." Aron sighed as his head lay down several inches from the portal.
Numerous bats were charging into the portal now that Aron could not fight. He watched as the swarm of bats ignored him and moved directly to the Temple.
"Brilliant!" The Vampire Commander landed and approached him.
"You slew all those giants and monstrous creatures and somehow could recover strength at their deaths! What an interesting power. You will make an excellent Coven member!" The Vampire laughed as he stood over Aron.
Suddenly, Aron felt it and laughed.
"Ah, you laugh in the face of death."
"I just need to kill myself, and you won't have me." Aron laughed and began to activate [Death Stance].
But suddenly, the Vampire appeared in front of him and had a blue light appearing on his palms.
The energy of the soul was stopping Aron from activating it.
"Now, now, now. I can't have you die like that. I am also knowledgeable in the ways of Soul Force. We do have a Shaman Commander after all."
Aron laughed again.
"Is this bravery that you laugh, or is it foolishness?"
"No. It's because I'm not very good at acting, so I decided to laugh. Otherwise, I might give away how I sensed that my brother won.."
"What? Your brother won?"
BOOM!
The distracted vampire was wielding Soul Force on his hands when massive Holy energy erupted out of the portal and struck him.
His Blood Clone was at the center of it and tried to resist it. A swarm of bats also followed and was thrown out from the attack.
Finally, Branze and Diana were the first to jump out of the portal with their almighty push.
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