Chapter 159

After dealing with hordes of vampire thugs, with their ashes now scattered to the wind, you hurried down the main building.

As you rushed downward, through your Focus gadget, you realize that this ruin of a building was constructed from extremely ancient materials—its stones and bricks at least several centuries old.

Yet, despite its age, it had been continuously renovated over the years and somehow remained standing. You couldn’t help but feel it was fortunate that this region had a low probability of earthquakes; otherwise, the entire structure would have easily collapsed.

Descending the stairs to the basement, you encounter numerous corpses, both human and vampire. You had long since lost track of how many vampires you had slain, though your NZT-powered brain could give you an accurate count at any moment.

Your thoughts wander instead to the sheer scale of their numbers. If a small city like Balgrade harboured such a vast vampire population, how many more would a megacity like New York contain?

Pushing those spiralling questions aside, you reached a set of massive metal doors. Swinging them open, you were startled by the sight before you.

Both Elsa and Sable were on their knees, visibly struggling to rise. Blade was also present, similarly restrained, while several others—they are not visible to the Focus, so you quickly realize they must be vampires—were oddly held captive, possibly as prisoners or hostages.

At the center of the room loomed a swirling dark aura, and before it floated a busty, hooded blonde woman holding a sinister-looking book.

You capture all of this in a single glance, your supercharged brain processing the information in less than a second. The dark aura surrounding the area is clearly the source of the red mana you have been seeing—undoubtedly the product of the ritual you had overheard about.

From what you know, Deacon Frost is likely inside that aura, undergoing some sort of transformation. This isn’t new to you—something similar happened in the movies, so you are not entirely caught off guard. However, you know it’s best to interrupt the process before he succeeds in whatever he’s attempting.

There’s one other ‘bad’ player here: the floating woman. The book she is holding, made from what looks like human skin, clearly marks her as a dark or black magician. She is likely the one responsible for the others being sprawled out on the floor. Given the ritualistic markings and grooves on the floor, it's possible she helped Deacon Frost complete this ritual—or worse, she might be the one orchestrating it entirely.

You had expected to see Racquel here, but sadly, she’s nowhere in sight. Maybe she’s still somewhere on the upper floors.

Barely a second had passed since you opened the door. You stepped inside the room cautiously, wanting to test the range of the spell affecting the others. When you felt no effect, you decided to head straight for your girls to see if you could resist whatever was binding them.

You were already actively making Chi flow through your body, so you were moving at a faster pace than usual. With a brisk stride, you easily reach your destination before the others can react. Ignoring everyone else, you head straight for Sable, who is the closest to you.

"Sable, you are hurt," you say, kneeling down and gently gripping her trembling shoulders. Blood trails down her forehead, the crimson lines stark against her pale skin. It dawns on you—she must have faced the witch, and the confrontation left her wounded.

Maybe it's a flaw in your thinking, but you are not consumed by rage seeing her like this. Despite her being your woman, the sight of her injury doesn’t ignite the fiery anger you would expect. Is it because you know she can handle it? As a mercenary, she has endured far worse injuries; this is just another scar in her line of work. Or maybe it’s because the one who hurt her is a woman. You know deep down that if another man had made her bleed, your fury would be boundless.

Right now, though, revenge takes a backseat to concern. All you want is to treat her wounds, to make sure she is okay.

When you try to lift her, however, you are met with resistance. It feels as though she is rooted to the ground—an invisible pressure still weighs her down, holding her in place.

"Careful... That witch is powerful," she says with difficulty, her voice strained, though she doesn't seem overly concerned about the blood.

In fact, you had already surmised that the 'witch' must be powerful, which is why you had kept a close eye on her even while checking up on Sable.

"Who are you?" The floating, hooded, busty blonde asks, her voice laced with surprise. From the moment you entered the room, she had been too stunned to speak until now.

You ignore her, focusing entirely on Sable for the moment. "Wait a second, I will fix you right up," you say with a reassuring smile, as you use your power Phoenix Magic to conjure a Phoenix Companion.

Blue flames ignite in your hands, molding and shaping themselves into a palm-sized bird.

KEEEE!

It screeches softly, its body composed entirely of red flames, with hints of blue dancing within. The Phoenix Companion resembles a robotic creature, obediently following your mental commands. It can utilize all of your Phoenix Magic techniques, from healing to combat, depending on how it's controlled.

"It will heal you up," you say to Sable, as the bird spreads its small wings and perches gently on her shoulder. The flames from its body begin to radiate toward her head, slowly starting to mend the wound.

"Thanks..." Sable says with a smile as you stand up, turning your attention to Elsa, who is in much better shape, nearly on the verge of standing and pushing past the pressure.

"You okay, Elsa?" you ask, walking towards her. You aren't that worried, as her Bloodgem easily heals most of the damage, so she won't need any healing from you.

"I’m dandy... although I wouldn’t mind if you gave me a cute bird too," she says with a grin, causing you to chuckle.

Before you can reply, the darkness in the room trembles, as the blonde woman’s voice ring out, sharper and more dangerous than before. "I asked you a question—who are you, and how are you unaffected by my strongest spell?" she demands, her tone laced with menace.

Feeling no effect from the spell, you guessed there must be an exception you satisfied—some loophole in its design. Ignoring her for the moment, you walked past the hostages, past a raven-haired beauty staring at you in shock, and stopped in front of Blade, who was still struggling, facing the floating woman head-on.

"Me? I am the one at the Apex!" you say with a mocking grin. "Your weak-ass spells won't even tickle me!"

She stared at you, visibly taken aback, before her expression twisted into one of irritation.

"Hihihihi," she chuckles darkly. "It has been a long time since someone has spoken to me, the Voodoo Queen, with such insolence. My Sovereign Submission Spell works on both the living and the dead… so you must be a soulless demon masquerading as a human."

Her assumption about you being a demon was obviously incorrect, but her statement provided clarity. The spell didn’t affect you because of your power, Undetermined Existence, leaving you neither truly alive nor dead.

"Why don’t you shed your illusion and show your true colours, demon!" she sneers, swiping her hand toward you.

Before she even started speaking, you had already activated two of your powers. The first, Mana Sight, it allowed you to see a translucent claw rapidly extending from her hand, aiming straight for you.

Reacting instantly, you activate your second power. Dark aura engulfs your fist, and with a swift punch, you obliterate the claw the moment it makes contact, causing it to vanish in an instant.

"You should undo your own illusion first, Voodoo Queen," you say mockingly, noticing with Mana Sight that her entire body, even her face was covered in dark mana. You deduce that since 'Voodoo Queen' is a title and not a name, she’s likely concealing her identity, just like you. A bigger clue, however, is that the person with this title looked very different in comics from her current appearance.

Your guess proves correct as she glares at you with irritated, narrowed eyes. "Dark Binding," she intones, and the book in her hand pulses with a dark glow.

Black shadows erupt from the ground around you, twisting into shadowy vines that rise taller than you. With a clenched fist, she commands the vines to lash out, attempting to swallow you whole.

The same Dark Aura that had surrounded your hand erupts from your entire body, forming a cloak of darkness around you. The black shadows, before they can touch your body, are met by an even darker force and are quickly consumed by your Dark Aura.

"What?!" she exclaims in disbelief.

You smirk inwardly, pleased that one of your first powers, Personal Anti-Magic, has just made its debut in battle!

You don’t miss her lapse. With Chi already flowing through your body, you channel Electricity as well, boosting your speed even further. Having figured out a way to defeat her, you charge into action.

BOOM!

In the blink of an eye, you are in front of the blonde woman, Electricity trailing in your wake.

“Y-you!” she stammers, flustered.

Ignoring her reaction, your hand, now enveloped in a dark aura, reaches straight for the eerie-looking book clutched in her arms.

CRACK!

The sound of shattering glass rings out as your hand meets resistance—a barrier briefly obstructs you before it shatters under your Dark Anti-Magic Aura.

“Arrgh!” the woman cries, yanking the book away. Your hand misses its mark and instead brushes against her arm.

Abruptly, she vanishes in a plume of dark smoke, reappearing across the hall. You look towards her, startled. Gone is the fair-skinned blonde—standing in her place is a dark-skinned, raven-haired woman.

“Hihihihi, you are a sneaky one, aren’t you?” she says, her grin wide and her feet now firmly planted on the ground, no longer floating. Her breasts— surprisingly just as large as before—jiggle with her laughter.

“You don’t smell like a demon,” she continues, her voice taking on a playful tone. “But bypassing my Hex Shield and my illusion so easily… You must be a disciple of the Mystic Arts.” she adds, taking a deep breath as she sizes you up with a wicked grin.

"My name is Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. Remember it, as I have a hunch we will be seeing each other a lot more in the future." She licks her lips. "And my dear golden goose, I will come back for you someday… so don't die, hihihihi!"

She laughs eerily, winking at the struggling Blade. The Book in her arms begins to glow intensely, and in the blink of an eye, dark smoke surrounds her, causing her to vanish without a trace from the hall.