October 11, in the year of 8845, Reminis Calendar (RC)
Hundreds and hundreds of Vampists surrounded the group. They clasped their hands on the adventurers' shoulders. Some nodded to Roxy; some gave her a thumb-up sign.
A clapping sound rung from the edge of darkness and a shadow appeared from it. "Welcome home, Roxy, my most loved mutated servant." Vadiraj waved his hands and amber fire adorned the black walls. The lights made the Underworld looked more horrid, as Elli was now standing face to face with those Crack-Faced Vampists and the demonic creatures she came across in her dream.
"Roxy, you betrayed us," said Marko. "You swore we are a team."
"Yeah, thanks for trusting me," came the short answer. Roxy smirked and walked towards Vadiraj; but Elli could see guilt lingering in her eyes.
On the other side of the cavern, the Vampist called Cindy was being bound to a throne. She spat the rag out of her mouth and said, "Vadiraj, you idiot. Stop this war, you're going nowhere."
Vadiraj frowned and stuffed the rag back into Cindy's mouth. "Shh... Don't force me to slap you. I don't want my beloved fiancee to witness this."
Elli tore free from the hunchback Dominic. "Bastard, you jerk, you maggot!"
Vadiraj spun across the cavern and stood next to Elli. "You must be too excited to see me again, Elli. I don't think such foul words should come out of a Lucifer's mouth." His fingers clasped at Elli's jaw and sparks of electricity spiralled around his hand. He cursed but didn't let her go. Resisting the pain, he said, "Now that all of you have come, let the party begin."
Vadiraj raised his staff to the air, and the other Vampists, taking the sign, pierced their staffs at the arms of their hostages. But the latter parried the staffs away with their weapons. Roxy stood aside and watched them fight, biting her lips; while Vadiraj sat on his throne, watching the heart-tearing drama. Netto the three-eyed hellhound growled as it saw its kin hopping around the floor. It wanted to join the fight but Vadiraj kept holding it back, whispering soothing words in its ears.
Elli tried to tear free from Vadiraj's embrace but to no avail. Roxy had even disarmed her. She could only stare wide-eyed at the gory scene before her. The ground trembled all of a sudden and two huge shadows loomed over them. Benedict's wife and son ran towards him. Only, the embrace wasn't due to missing him, but to want to suck his blood. Benedict stood paralysed at how his family looked: cracked skin and dark lips. It was Rooney who climbed up the body of Benedict's son and slaughtered him.
"They are no longer your family, Ben!"
Benedict woke up from the pygmy's rebuke and pierced his scimitar into his wife's heart. Tears streamed down his eyes as he saw his family disbanded into ashes. Marko and Lukas were working as a team. Marko sliced the Vampists' chainmail apart while Lukas pierced his axe into their hearts. The Jackals were surrounded by a bigger horde of Vampists. The male Jackals stomped their rakes and tendrils sprouted up, binding the bodies of the Vampists. With a hi-ya cry, Freda sprang to the air, threw her blades out, and they stabbed through the Vampists' weakest point.
The hunchback Vampists sneaked up from behind Maxim, a black scythe in his hand. A lightning zapped out of the blade but Maxim didn’t aware of it. It was Halford who had saved him. He called out and Maxim was able to dodge, when the lightning blast a boulder apart. When Maxim had gathered his consciousness, Dominic had disappeared. Elli realised a large group of Vampists and the demonic creatures had vanished, too.
Vadiraj didn't notice the difference. He stepped down from his throne and clasped his fingers tighter around Elli’s neck. Pulling her nearer, he said, “I don’t want to kill you. When all of your friends are dead, we can proceed with our marriage.”
“Murderer!” Elli wriggled in his arms. She was only waiting for her chance, the only one chance. Roxy didn't know she had hidden her father's broken sword in her sleeve. When Vadiraj was only an inch away from her, Elli brought the sword down to Vadiraj’s heart but Roxy stopped her in time. With a twist of her wrist, Elli screamed in profound pain and dropped the sword.
“You’ll never win,” cried Elli. She had faith in her team.
At first, it seemed that Elli was right and victory was siding with her friends. But the number of the Vampists was beyond count. Soon, her friends' stamina became lower, and they stroked with weaker force. Three Vampists surrounded Vortex and pierced their staffs at his heart. Before he could swing his rake, his eyes darkened and he collapsed on the floor.
"No!" The Jackals dashed towards the dying Vortex and knelt before his cold body.
Seizing the brief mourning period, more and more Vampists lunged at them. The hope of success thinned. It was obvious that they'd never out-beat the Vampists but they still fought on. Cries of hatred and groaned of pain lingered in the air, as numerous bodies fell to the floor.
A herd of hellhounds jumped onto Darrell and feast on his flesh. Marko and Lukas advanced forward. They cast some incantations that instantly burst the hellhounds apart. Seeing its kin dying, Netto woofed and lunged at Lukas. Before Lukas could react, Netto bit hard on his left calf. Marko roared and flung his scimitar, and it guillotined Netto’s head.
“No, no, Netto!” Vadiraj dashed towards his favourite pet as it was disbanding into ashes. Netto looked at its owner with blood-red eyes and within seconds, its entire body disintegrated into nothingness, leaving only the green stone. Vadiraj grasped the stone in his palm and cried, not realising the heads of weapons that were pointing to him.
Elli didn’t know what had gotten into her but she darted towards Vadiraj to shield him, when Marko’s scimitar pierced right into her heart. For two brief seconds, Marko and Vadiraj were stunned. They stared wide-eyed at Elli’s bleeding heart and didn’t know how to react. At the next instant, lightning flashed and brightened the entire Underworld. The Vampists wailed in terror as the blood that was oozing out of Elli's heart swooped upwards, and formed a vortex in the air.
The vortex blasted seconds later and the Vampists disintegrated. The only remaining Vampists were Vadiraj, Cindy, Roxy, and an orange-haired Vampist which Elli remembered going to Detroit with. When the vortex subsided, Halford crouched next to Elli, who was lying in the shivering arms of Vadiraj.
Elli looked at Vadiraj with her bleeding mouth agape. "Everyone... born... kind heart." With that, her hand collapsed.
Marko’s cry echoed around the cave. He couldn’t believe it; he had pierced his scimitar, into the heart of the woman he liked. Vadiraj tried to hold back his tears but failed, too. The only being that was extremely calm was Halford. Quickly, his hands searched Elli’s breast pockets to retrieve the shimmering phial. Opening the lid, he poured the golden liquid into the wound on her heart. Elli didn’t wake up.
Shaking his head, he said, “It’s too late. Only you can save her.” Halford stared at Vadiraj.
Vadiraj returned his stare with glassy eyes. He didn’t understand what Halford meant. Too many things had happened at the same time. He had lost Netto, he had lost Elli, he had lost his entire empire.
Cursing aloud, Halford slapped Vadiraj’s face, bringing him out of his lamentation. “The Breath of Jayafi, you idiot. What are you waiting for?”
Vadiraj’s mouth formed a wide O. Without further delay, he lifted Elli's head up. He checked her pulsed and was relieved to know she was still alive. "I'm sorry. I've let you suffer because of my greed. I always love you. That's the reason why I've never killed you even when I have the chance for the entire month. Now, let our souls combine." With that, he placed his lips on Elli's.
She didn’t wake up, too, but her blood had stopped oozing out. The group watched her nervously and minutes later, her breathing became smooth. Roxy threw herself at Elli's body and let out a cry of relief. Halford had released Cindy and she scrambled forward as well to check on Elli’s state.
"What now? What did you do to her? Why isn't she waking up?" Marko shouted.
Vadiraj’s shoulders slumped as he said, "I don't actually know... I've never encountered this before. I'm not sure when will she wake up. We can only wait."
Marko rounded his fists. “Give her body back to Halford. He is her guardian.” Marko looked at the poltergeist, waiting for his affirmation, but the latter hung his head to his chest.
Vadiraj tsked. “From today onwards, I am her guardian.”