They walked slowly as they approached the mouth of the entrance. The smell of sulfur wafting from spent ammo and coppery smell of blood mixed in a foul way that made Todor dizzy for a brief second. Ezezu droned in his mind as if she was a living war drum that gave rhythm to his steps and movement. The ghost didn't speak but he could feel her anticipation and her will to fight. The closer they came to the large double doors the faster his heart went. The world gained the red filter as if everything suddenly gained a thin covering of red paint, or blood.
Todor blinked few times to set his railgun to the lowest setting possible and he motioned Hillard to come closer.
"Here, take this," he said to the agent shaking the weapon in his direction. "You will need this more than me."
"Can I even use that in close quoter's?" The lanky man eyed the gun warily.
"I set it to lowest setting. You have around seventy shots before both battery and orb will be out of juice. Make them count."
Hillard nodded and grasped the weapon.
"Thanks. And constable? If I don't survive this ..." The agent stopped glancing towards the casino as if in any moment hordes of vampires will come charging from there. Which wasn't unlikely at all, Todor mused.
"Yeah, yeah. It was an honor and all that," Todor said with a grin.
"No. Well yes, that too. But ... take care of the Sea Pit for me, will you?"
"Sure thing, mate. But don't think you can weasel out of your obligations just by dying. If you kick the bucket I will reanimate your corpse and make it my personal servant. So you better live through this."
Todor didn't know if he could any such thing. But it sounded like something that could motivate the young agent.
"I'll try to avoid that. It sounds rather unpleasant," Hillard said with a smirk. "So let's go get your girl back."
Todor chuckled brandishing his sword. "I thought storming a castle to rescue a princess from evil overlord was such a fairy tale cliche."
"Life imitates art. Midnight Breeze wanted to take you out of the picture. And when his goons couldn't find you at home he did what any evil megalomaniac would do, make sure you would come to him."
"So, it's a trap," Todor said what he knew from the start.
"It sure is," Hillard agreed.
They entered the lobby of the gambling establishment not hearing or seeing anyone. The large hall was littered with slot machines, blackjack tables, roulette wheels and all other fortune seeking scams invented. Bellow the main floor were stairs that lead upward to the middle floor that looked down on the machines and common vice practitioners. There VIP rooms and suits for costumers with deeper pockets and needs for privacy resided.
"It's empty," Hillard said looking around nervously.
"Or so it seems," Todor responded. He summoned Ezezu, the book appearing in front of him in the air where it floated. "I guess this one worked last time," he murmured before clearing his throat. "Harsag Zalazalag!"
Mana burned his eyes forcing him to blink a few times before he could look around the large space. Now he could see webs of different colors crisscrossing entire hall. He didn't know what these magical wards were but he couldn't chance it. There were twenty different types and he could stay here the entire day, looking through Ezezu's memory for their function. But Cassandra was somewhere in there and he clenched his fingers on the hilt of his sword. Can we dispel this? He asked Ezezu directly. The ghost sent a notion of looking for it. Then the pages fluttered stopping at one incantation.
"Nusku Batlu!" He read the words as the mana formed in front of him and then exploded into red strings that coiled around the magical webs tearing them down. After a few seconds, his enchanted eyes couldn't see anything magical around him. He spread his sorcery awareness around, touching and reaching outward but everything felt empty.
"What is wrong with your eyes?" Hillard said staring at him.
Todor squinted at the agent then looked at the polished slot machine. There in his reflection, he could see that his pale blue eyes gained a ring of gunmetal gray. The same color he saw Ezezu's eyes were. We are in sync, I bleed through you, Ezezu confessed lightly. But don't worry, I am just a passenger, I am not a fool to try to take over your body.
"Nothing," he responded.
Something moved in the area of his awareness and he jerked towards it.
"So, you are the megi that killed White Branch," The voice echoed through the huge area. Todor looked up at the VIP area where a large bald dark-skinned vampire appeared. "He was an overconfident fool but I am still impressed."
"Where is Cassandra?" Todor yelled back.
"The Morg girl? I don't know, somewhere in the dungeons," the vampire said hefting a large blade on his shoulder. "So, you know how to use a sword and have some rudimentary knowledge of lower tier spells. I might as well have some fun with you."
"I don't have time to play with you," Todor shouted back but vampire just laughed and snapped with his fingers. Every door slammed shut in one instant, the boom re-vibrating through the floor.
"My name is Morning Wind. And I have no intention of making the same mistakes as White Branch. I will stay away from you while children whittle you down."
Every object in the large hall started humming and then it got crushed into tiny pieces that rearranged themselves into vaguely humanoid shapes. Hillard swore behind him readying the railgun.
Listen, you must practice raw mana manifestation. Give me your sword and I'll try to reach the arrogant prick while you play with his dolls, Ezezu said as Todor felt slight tugging at his sword. Todor cursed inwardly as he thought about it. He really didn't practice with raw mana manifestation. From that strange place where he learned his True Name. With that knowledge came the realization that he can manipulate three things, blood, ice, and lighting. He became aware of that at that very moment, giving meaning to the strange gaseous creature, blue-skinned twins and a slender Anadori woman he met during his vision quest.
Should I start with ice? It sounds easiest, he thought. He let go of his sword and the blade flew on its own swirling for a second before rushing somewhere deeper into the building.
"Alright Morning Wind. I might play with you a bit," Todor said feeling the mana flow into his palms before he morphed it with his mind. The sharp smell of blood assaulted his nose while cold tingling spread through his hand. With a sharp jerk of his palm mana turned into red icicle that flew and embedded itself into the metal monstrosity that lurched towards him. The impact of icy projectile made it pause but it continued thumping onward towards him.
Ezezu I don't have much force behind this, he sent to the spirit. She laughed, her voice clear in his mind even though she was traveling somewhere nearby. That is why it's called practice. Every mage finds a different way to use the mana. Todor cursed as he turned a large chunk of mana into an icicle shaped like a sword. He swung it at the creature, sending a trickle of mana into the improvised magical weapon. It shattered at the impact exploding into thousands of tiny ice needles. With a gasp, he realized that he could feel every one of those. With a mental nudge, he made a swarm of them fly around and through the metal creature. Every needle exploded chipping away at the mana that was animating it mixing with the mist that was the end resault.
He breathed in, letting entire cloud into himself recycling the mana used. Both his and vampires mana came into his lungs. But the mana that was handled by a vampire didn't stay into his invisible bag with the rest of metabolizing energy. It wanted to be used rightaway. So Todor inflated his lungs and blew out all the mana he gathered that way morphing it into tens of thousands of needles. The swarm flew erratically attacking the vampires' constructs, reducing them to slag with numerous tiny explosions of ice.
"Unorthodox and creative. But I have centuries to gather mana so I can recreate my children all day," Morning Wind said snapping his fingers again, more mental and wood monsters rising from the debris.
The sound of railgun resounded as Hillard shot the nearest magical monster. It exploded sending shrapnel that damaged few more behind it.
"Keep shooting at those that come close to you. Don't waste energy on farway targets," Todor yelled before breathing environmental mana and re-morphing it into another cloud of tiny ice spikes.
Norman didn't respond, he just took a step back and waited to see if any of the animated creatures would attack him. Smart move, mate, Todor thought as his cloud smashed into four more metal monsters. The explosion sent slivers of metal flying and turning his needles into the watery mist. But Todor knew arrogant vampire was right. He didn't have mana to go toe to toe into a magical brawl. He could last longer than usual by reusing the mana from the mists but every time he did that he could feel a portion of it was lost forever. Eventually, he would have to add more of his own mana, and if the magical boxing continues he would deplete all of it. Which would leave him powerless to save Cassandra, he had to think of something.
"Let's make this a bit more exciting," Morning Wind said swirling his large sword in the air. The monsters started to rise at an increasing pace and soon floor was overrun by them.
Todor snarled at the horde in front him taking a step back closer to Hillard. Ezezu, any luck coming closer to stab the bastard? He sent pleadingly. Almost there, had to dodge some soul catchers that your dispel spell didn't reach. Just keep him occupied. He sighed rising his palms towards the horde, thinking.
"What now, sir?" Hillard asked shooting into the throng of metal man made out scrap and slot machine parts.
"Keep fighting until the vampire drop dead," Todor said with a smirk. "Er, more dead than usual."
"That is your plan? Doesn't sound like a very good plan to me."
"How about not dying? That a good plan?"
"That goes without saying," agent Hillard agreed.
Norman kept shooting while Todor kept his needle swarm reforming and slowing the advance of vampires toys. But soon they will close enough to overrun them.
Todor clenched his fists and let mana flow into them making them glow with red smoke which swirled around his knuckles. He squatted down and slammed both fists into the ground. The mana flew out of him forming into an ice spike that grew fast into a palisade that sprouted into the half ring in front of Todor and Hillard. The metal constructed tried to reach them but got impaled into sharp long ice logs.
"Wow, how did you think of that?" Hillard asked.
"English archers used the same tactic to protect themselves from cavalry charges as they sent clouds of arrows at them."
"Never heard of English people but they probably fought humans who died when they were pierced by arrows and not a horde of immortal junk creatures," agent Hillard replied, his voice rising a pitch.
"You got me there," Todor said with a savage grin, sending swarm after swarm of needles upon his attackers but barely making a dent. Once again he was shown that he had no idea what he was doing and that only No Terrors foresight made him survive this long. Thank you Ezezu, he sent her a thought. For what? ghost of the girl replied surprised. For everything.
"It's a pity. If you could have been turned you would have grown into a powerful hemmomancer," Morning Wind said mockingly. At that moment Todor saw and felt a sword pierced through vampires heart. Todor could feel mana of the vampire flowing directly from the blade into his immaterial bag where it was stored.
Todor laughed as the metal monsters burst apart turning into debris once again. Sword flew from the VIP window and smacked into his sheet.
"How did you do that?" agent Hillard asked, his mouth open.
"I didn't, a ghost girl did," he responded striding onward towards the innards of the casino building. His boots crunched on the bits and pieces on the floor when the rumble of dozen of trucks came to their ears. They turned to look back at the street where tires screeched and the entire army of vampires started to jump out running into the great hall.
"Well, this is just great. From pan into the fire," agent Hillard said clenching the railgun while Todor looked in frustration at the approaching wave of enemies.