Vardis lunged forward, his longsword dragging a streak of violet through the air. Alistair twisted to avoid the blow, barely. The strike cleaved a furrow into the floor where he had just stood, the purple sheen on the blade hissing like acid as it bit into the stone.

  [Warning: Enemy Ability Detected – Soulrend Cleave]

  Type: Blood Revenant Class Skill

  Effect: Deals damage to HP and reduces maximum HP by 5% for 10 seconds

  Alistair’s breath hitched. That was going to suck if it landed.

  “You like it?” Vardis sneered, his eyes alight with mania. “She sings when she bites. Listen close next time.”

  “Hard pass,” Alistair muttered. He darted in, redcrystal blade swinging wide, but Vardis wasn’t there. He was behind him.

  [Ability Detected: Veinstep]

  Effect: Short-range teleport through nearby shadows.

  Alistair felt it before he saw it, the blade already cutting. He spun, [Firebite] flaring to life, embers curling around his blades. His sword intercepted Vardis’s follow-up slash, the impact rattling up his arms.

  Strong. Too strong.

  He grunted, slid back, and snapped his fingers.

  [Darken Sight] – Cast

  The shadows thickened around them like oil, smothering the light. Vardis vanished into the gloom and so did Alistair.

  “Cute trick,” the revenant called, voice echoing off stone. “Too bad I’ve lived in darkness longer than you’ve been alive.”

  “Yeah, but I make it look good,” Alistair growled and opened his mouth.

  [Light Breath] – Cast

  A cone of blinding motes erupted from his lungs, burning through the dark like a divine exhale. Vardis screamed, not in pain, but rage, and stumbled into view, eyes clenched, flinching hard.

  [Blind] applied. [Disoriented] applied.

  “Oh? That worked?” Alistair grinned. “Huh. Note to self: minty-fresh death breath. Patent pending.”

  He didn’t wait. He lunged in, blades glowing red with heat.

  [Firebite] – Active

  He slashed Vardis across the ribs, then again across the shoulder, carving shallow lines. Sparks flickered where the blades met blood, and Alistair felt the first tugs of healing pull into him.

  But Vardis twisted, moving faster than he should’ve while blind, and slammed his shoulder into Alistair’s chest. The impact sent him flying backward, skidding across the ruined marble.

  [Ability Detected: Bloodshock Pulse]

  Effect: Instant AoE knockback. Consumes 15% HP to release a concussive wave of blood magic. Has a chance to stun.

  Pain bloomed in Alistair’s side. One of his ribs popped. He bit back a scream.

  Buddy snarled from the courtyard’s edge, massive paws gouging the stone as he tried to force his way in. His body radiated fury, fur bristling, flames licking between his fangs, eyes burning with raw loyalty.

  Alistair glanced back. “Not yet, boy,” he called. “I’ve got this...”

  But Vardis was already moving. With a flick of his wrist, he produced a small black crystal from his belt, a twisted, pulsing thing etched with violet veins.

  “Can’t have your pet interfering,” Vardis muttered.

  He hurled it.

  The crystal struck the ground in front of Buddy and shattered. Purple bands of crackling energy burst forth like writhing serpents, coiling mid-air and snapping around the hellhound’s limbs and torso.

  [Enemy Item Activated: Revenant Bind-Cage (Rare)]

  Effect: Summons spectral chains to immobilize enemies for 3 minutes. Caster may remotely detonate for AoE damage.

  Buddy let out a furious, pained howl as the bindings clamped down. He thrashed violently, fire pouring from his jaws, but the energy chains pulsed with necrotic magic, suppressing his strength.

  “Bastard!” Alistair roared, eyes wide.

  Vardis only smiled. “You are too sentimental for this game.”

  Alistair’s focus fractured. That was all it took.

  Vardis vanished again, a flicker of mist and blood scent.

  [Veinstep – Activated]

  Alistair spun, too slow.

  The impact hit like a battering ram, Vardis’s shoulder slamming into him mid-swing, driving him back with brutal force. A knee followed, straight into his gut, folding him over. Then the edge of that cursed longsword came down in a wide arc...

  Alistair barely raised his blade.

  CLANG!

  The redcrystal sword caught it, but the weight behind the blow knocked him clear off his feet. He slammed into the cracked stone floor, skidding backwards and tasting blood.

  “Godsdamn it!” he hissed, struggling up.

  “You’re flailing,” Vardis said, stepping forward, composed as ever. “I told you. You don’t belong here.”

  Alistair bared his fangs. “And you don’t belong anywhere.”

  He reached into his magic, not just to retaliate, but to level the field.

  He climbed to his feet. Vardis was already coming.

  “Still standing?” the revenant hissed. “You’ll make a fine puddle.”

  Alistair raised one finger. “Hold that thought.”

  [Kindle Spark] – Cast

  A pinpoint flick of fire zipped across the space and struck Vardis dead center in the chest. The small explosion triggered on contact.

  [Explosive Spark – Bonus Damage Triggered]

  It staggered him, barely, but Alistair was already moving again, heat spiraling around his hands, embers clinging to the air.

  “You’re fast,” Alistair muttered. “You hit like a bastard. And you’ve got more edge than a teenage poetry slam.”

  He exhaled sharply. “But I’ve got style.”

  Alistair surged forward, blades aflame with [Firebite], and slashed high, then low.

  The smell of burning cloth and sizzling skin followed.

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  But Vardis wasn’t down.

  He snarled, raising a hand glowing with black-red energy.

  [Enemy Ability Activated: Hemogorge]

  Sacrifice 50 HP to absorb blood in a 5m radius. Heal for triple the damage taken and gain +15% Strength for 10 seconds.

  Alistair flinched as he felt blood tugged from his pores, just a faint drain, but enough to make his knees wobble.

  Vardis’s eyes glowed, feral. “Mine.”

  He swung again, faster now, empowered, relentless.

  Alistair’s lungs burned. His ribs ached. Blood slicked the inside of his mouth.

  “You’re limping,” Vardis called. “I wonder, should I go for the knee or the throat?”

  Alistair spat red onto the stone floor. “Try it.”

  He reached for the cold in his veins.

  [Spell Cast: Frozen Step]

  The air crackled. With a hiss, a wide patch of the uneven ground beneath their boots suddenly froze over, slick, silver-white ice forming like creeping fingers.

  Vardis snarled and skidded, foot losing purchase just long enough.

  “Gotcha.”

  [Skill Activated: Sword Bind]

  Alistair lunged, locking his redcrystal blade against Vardis’s longsword with a sharp clang. Energy sparked between them.

  For a split second, the two vampires struggled in a brutal bind, until Vardis growled and tried to wrench free.

  But it was too late.

  [Sword Bind Successful]

  Vardis’s next attack prevented

  Alistair’s next strike gains +25% damage

  Mana flared through Alistair’s limbs.

  [Imbued Strike – Active]

  His sword glowed with raw mana as he twisted and drove it forward in a savage slash. It tore across Vardis’s shoulder, cutting deep enough to make the Revenant stumble back with a pained roar.

  [Critical Hit!]

  [You dealt 61 Damage]

  Alistair wasn’t done.

  His lungs burned. Blood in his mouth. But he kept moving, backwards now, drawing Vardis in.

  Frost bloomed beneath each step like spreading cracks in glass.

  Vardis snarled and advanced anyway, but his footing shifted, traction lost for a blink. That blink was all Alistair needed to lash out again.

  He snapped his fingers.

  [Summon Chittering Bats – Active]

  A screech burst through the air as a swarm of shadowy bats erupted around Vardis’s head, clawing at his face and tangling in his hair.

  “Godsdamn pests!” Vardis shouted, slashing wildly at them.

  Alistair panted. His vision blurred for a second. Every movement hurt. But he couldn’t stop.

  “Having a rough day?” Alistair called, grinning through the blood on his lips.

  Vardis hissed, eyes bloodshot.

  And then he vanished.

  A blur of motion. A gust of wind. A scent of burning blood.

  [Enemy Skill Activated: Rending Mirage]

  Afterimage dash with bleed-inflicting strike

  Next basic attack deals 200% weapon damage

  Alistair barely had time to raise his blade.

  Too slow.

  The longsword tore across his side. Metal, flesh, bone. The impact lifted him off the ground and sent him crashing into the cracked wall.

  [You took 74 damage]

  [Effect Applied: Bleeding – 6 damage per second for 5 seconds]

  [HP: 106/235]

  His boots hit the stone, hard, and the spell surged again.

  [Spell Activated: Frozen Step]

  Cracks of frost webbed from his soles, turning the broken tile into a slick sheet. Vardis lunged, then stuttered. Just half a step. Just enough.

  Alistair pivoted into his strike. Redcrystal edge flashing.

  “Still standing?” Vardis mocked. His armor smoked. One eye was swollen shut, but his grin never wavered. “You’re persistent. Like a roach. But you’re not a predator.”

  He vanished again.

  Alistair dropped low, instincts flaring.

  Too late.

  Another blow, this one to the back of his shoulder, sending him spinning.

  [You took 58 damage]

  [HP: 48/235]

  Alistair landed hard, a grunt escaping his throat.

  He rolled, blade raised. The bleeding slowed, the world spinning.

  Buddy snarled behind the barrier, slamming into it uselessly. Fire blazed from his mouth. He couldn’t break free.

  And Vardis stood tall above him now, his longsword resting on one shoulder.

  “Any last words?” he purred, licking blood from his cracked lip.

  Alistair coughed, chest heaving. One eye swollen. His armor cracked. But his grin returned, slow and defiant.

  “Yeah,” he rasped. Then he roared...

  “KNEEL.”

  [Skill Activated: Noble Edict – Command: KNEEL]

  Target fails Willpower Save – HP below threshold

  Vardis dropped like a sack of arrogant rocks. His knees slammed into the frost-slick ground, right onto the icy patch Alistair had left behind.

  His boot skated out.

  He slipped.

  The Blood Revenant flailed with a snarl, momentum dragging him down, hands scrabbling against the cracked floor.

  Alistair exploded up from the ground, pain forgotten.

  [Imbued Strike – Redcrystal Sword]

  Bonus damage applied

  Effect: Burn applied via Firebite

  [Dark Magic Spellcast – Vesselbreaker]

  Bonus condition met: Alistair below 50% HP

  Bonus condition met: Target under spellcasting strain

  His blade tore across Vardis’s chest, searing crimson and shadow erupting on impact. Black-violet veins spidered across the vampire’s pale throat, flickering violently as the spell sank in.

  [Critical Hit – Vesselbreaker Successful!]

  Damage Dealt: 198 HP

  Status Inflicted: [Manavessel Rupture] – Mana regeneration reduced by 50%. Extra damage if target casts a skill in next 5 seconds.

  Vardis screamed, a hoarse, furious cry, clutching at his ribs as blood sprayed in thick arcs.

  [Vardis – Blood Revenant Champion Level 33]

  [HP: 58 / 410]

  Alistair landed on both feet, panting, firelight dancing on his soaked blade.

  “Still want my last words?” he spat, eyes burning. “You are dead.”

  Vardis hissed, staggered, his body shook, smoke rising from the veins seared beneath his skin. The aftershock of [Vesselbreaker] still pulsed violently through him, his blade trembling in his grip, the hand behind it slick with his own blood.

  Alistair surged forward, redcrystal blade raised for the final strike.

  “Stay down,” he growled. “Be a good little leech and die screaming.”

  But Vardis looked up and grinned, blood staining his teeth.

  Then his eyes widened.

  He turned.

  “Not today, favourite.”

  And he vanished.

  [Skill Activated: Veinstep]

  A pulse of corrupted mana surged from his feet, and Vardis flickered, warping backward in a smear of red shadow and stuttering motion.

  But he landed wrong, right on a patch of terrain still frozen solid from [Frozen Step].

  His boots skidded out from under him, sending him sprawling. One arm flailed, catching a broken pillar, and he stumbled upright with a curse.

  Alistair was already pivoting, charging again.

  Vardis didn’t wait.

  He turned and bolted, his form flickering in and out of shadow as he careened through a crumbling hallway, vanishing into the maze of ruins.

  “NO!”

  The word ripped from Alistair’s throat like a blade. His arms trembled, blood dripping from his wounds, and his vision swam, but he pushed off the ground, roaring after him.

  “You cowardly little shit!” he bellowed, voice echoing against the cracked stone walls. “You think you can do all that and run?! After everything?!”

  Behind him, the necrotic bindings around Buddy finally gave out with a shattering crack.

  The hellhound dropped to the ground with a thunderous thud, eyes burning like twin suns. He turned toward Alistair and let out a whine, low, furious, eager.

  Alistair didn’t hesitate.

  “Hunt him down.” His voice was ice and iron. “Tear his fucking throat out.”

  Buddy growled, then took off like a launched boulder, flames trailing in his wake as he bounded into the ruins after Vardis.

  Alistair stood there, breathing hard, chest heaving.

  He’d nearly had him.

  He should have had him.

  The vampire’s name echoed in his mind like poison.

  Vardis.

  Alistair clenched his fists, his voice low and venomous.

  “In my father’s court, turned trash like you weren’t even allowed to speak in a pureblood’s presence. You think you can challenge me? You filthy, mangled animal...”

  He slammed a fist into the cracked wall beside him, stone splintering under the force.

  “You looked me in the eye. You fought me like you were equal.”

  Spittle hit the floor.

  “You’re not. You’ll never be. And next time...” his fangs gleamed in the dim light, “... I’m ripping your heart out, and I’m going to make you watch.”

  He stood still for a beat longer, the adrenaline crashing down.

  Blood ran down his temple. His lip was split. His armor was scorched and hanging loose in places, but his eyes blazed.

  “You’re going to die, Vardis,” he whispered. “Not today. But soon.”

  He sheathed his sword with a sharp snap and limped forward, following the trail of scorched paw prints Buddy had left behind, each one burning like a brand into the ground.

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