Sereena’s steps ceased, the crowd of undead parted and standing to either left or right. None made a move before the Vampiress or the Vampire Knights, both parties now standing in opposition to one another. Shree’s halberd raised out and Yeager’s scythe held up with both hands, the ax of Rao held like a hammer might be, twin black rods belonging to Sereena held straight like daggers.

The rods twirled in her hands, rolling round until in position, her smug smile arching round. Yeager stepped ahead with his good foot, holding back the snapped. Shree on the other hand took forward and spun the halberd in hand until grabbing on with both hands.

“No,” Rao spoke, stepping up with his ax slamming down.

“Fen- you can’t be serious!” Shree shouted.

“Hoh? Hoh hoh hoh, ha ha that’s RICH! What the old man is going to throw down with me to protect the kiddies? Oh how delicious!” Sereena laughed.

“Look sir, there’s no way we’re going to let you take that psycho bitch on alone. Let us back you up!”

“There is no need for that Yeager. You and Shree need to hold stead until the time arrives… I will handle this one myself.”

“What, so the old man thinks he can tango? Alright, that’s fine. I was getting bored watching Maja and Rengard have all the fun. I’ll be sure to make this hurt~”

“You two look out for one another, this child is mine!”

Two distinct booms echoed, both Vampires darting at one another. The clack of their wears and the shimmer of their metals. CLANG!

The swing of his ax up and into her twin rods, the forces equal, the strikes neutralizing one another. The quiver of her arms, the shake of his one, their feet grinding into the ground and locking. Her expression flexed and open, his stern and cold.

“What?!” Sereena exasperated.

“Shocking isn’t it? How in the worlds could a nobody who doesn’t even drink from humans… possibly block your strikes?” he murmured, raising his second hand to the grip of his weapon, “You people look to it as a cheap gimmick for power, whereas I-”

“Hngh-”

SCHHHHLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!! Clang bang rang-

The spray of scarlet in the air- backwards Sereena stumbled with a sizable gash in her chest, Fen remaining positioned post-swing as he looked upon her, “A cheap shortcut will never measure up for true dedication and discipline!”

Smoke streamed from the wound as did her own blood- spattering across the ground, a shot of screams escaping her briefly. The glow of the ax as the blood burned away, her hand raised to the chest wound immediately. The drip of blood from the wound to the ground, the flesh writhing and slithering. Her expression blank, mouth hung only a slight, the glimmer of her sights hidden by the dark.

“A-heh,” she jolted, sloshing forward, “Heeheehee~”

“What?” Fen Rao growled, watching her lips curl back into a smile, her head tilting back.

“Heh heh heh heh heh heh… alright. Maybe I’ll take back some of my assumptions old timer, hurgh-” she grunted, slumping forward as the flesh closed the wound up, “However-”

“GAH!” Rao cried out, his gut heaving.

The elder knight’s form flew back through the air. Before his former position stood Sereena with a leg up, a leg now covered in gray fur- claws sticking right out of her new paws with blood trickling from them. The thunk and clang of his armor, like cans banging into a wall, his back against a tree.

Clang!!

“HOWUAAAH!!” Fen Rao wailed out.

Blood slipped from his gut, pooling around and dripping from a set of black claws that dug straight into him. Sereena stood with an ear to ear grin, a snout emerging from her face which fur now began to cover.

“Oh what’s wrong, you were talking like you were some kind of big shot a minute ago. Did I get under your skin? Heh ha!” she laughed.

His grunts echoed, looking down to the clawed hand digging straight into his stomach. His chest plate hung crumpled and cracked, caved by the force of the blow; and now with his back to the wall his life essence had begun to slip out onto the ground by the daggers digging into his insides.

“We’re not normal fucking Vampires old man, we’re well and truly enhanced!! Your enchanted and blessed weapons don’t mean shit. This isn’t a simple power grab!”

Her hand dug in deeper, a howl leaving Fen Rao as she did so.

“Master!” Yeager yelled.

Her arm retracted, claws covered in the knight’s blood, her wolf faced grin intensifying. A giggle escaped, her hand swatting forward. Claws dug into the skin of his face, four long lines being carved in as she swung from the upper right to the lower left. A backhand followed, knocking him away.

“That tears it, lets get this bitch Shree!”

“Right!”

Both raised their weapons and both began to charge, their metals clanging around as they went in after Sereena. The Wulf’n Vampiress turned, licking her claws of the blood stained upon them.

“Oh by all means, give it your best shot!” she wailed, claws jetting from both hands and feet.

“Don’t you touch them!” Rao barked, jumping forward.

“Oh please-” she grumbled, swinging around with her claws.

!Clunk!

“What?!” Serenna howled out.

Fen Rao blinked, his armor rattling as he hobbled back a few paces. Across the way both of his students drew to a halt just the same, big eyed and stirred. The Wulf’n Vampire’s claws rattled against the metal that blocked her way to Fen Rao’s body. Stationed between the two combatants was Elise, her sword held defensively at an angle with only a single hand placed upon it.

She stared into Sereena’s eyes blankly, if not a little stern. Up above in the ranks of the puppeteers, Maja stood with a huff, her hooks raised up, a look of bewilderment washing over her just the same.

“E-Elise?” Shree murmured across the way.

“Bakuuva?” Rao questioned.

“Sorry it took so long, Fen; but I needed to be sure about this,” Elise murmured calmly.

“What are-” he began before pausing, his iron clad gaze expanding with the inaudible sound of a click.

“Dante, we’re done here!” Elise called out, the battle between her friend and the other Vampire no longer in view, instead echoing in the far back.

“Done here? HA! The hell does that mean little pup? You’ve been on the back burner this entire time. Maja has been playing with you like an infant does their food. You think you’re gonna run, is that it?!”

“Just stop talking, your voice is agitating” she murmured in response, sights fixed on Sereena.

“Oh what, you think you’re going to pull something grand out of your-”

“Still not getting it? *Sigh* We’ve been holding back this entire time.”

“What?!” Sereena barked.

“Hrmm?” Maja murmured high up above, looking down still.

“Since you defeated our friends, we thought it best to hold back and play with our best cards held close- just in case; but your power so far- and with you about to kill Fen just now, that play is up.”

“HA! You’re bluffing right? A quick attempt to intimidate us to back out? Not happening little worm.”

“*Sigh* Holly was right about that one. The arrogant will cling to their beliefs in their own power, even if it costs them everything. Oh well, can’t say I don’t welcome it-”

A glimmer of white light poured along the edge of her blade, the slightest of auras coating her body. Her katana held in reverse grip as she stepped back a pace, preparing her stance and ready to swing forward. Sereena’s right arm swung up and out, her mouth parting with blood and spit splattering out. The Wulf’n’s entire force behind that swing with a near pounce forward. The emerald glow, pulsing for a brief instant, the light pushing forward.

Shling-eeeng… thump bump-

The tip of her katana passed before the chin of Sereena, nicking a few hairs. The squirt of crimson hue, the warmth trickling back along the shoulder of her arm. Elise skid by without so much as a drop on her face as she stepped behind Sereena. A downward swing, flickering through the air as the thumping roll bounced off the trees.

“Hoah EEEEEYAAAAAAAAAAA-” Sereena began to cry out.

A stump raised into the air, rockets of red pumping out of what remained of her arm as the full body of what once was rolled out onto the grass with a twitch. She stepped back, blood still spraying right out, the echo of her scream flying off the forest around her, a blood curdling scream. Her voice becoming rasp as she trailed on, her remaining hand clutching at the torn fabric and the exposed bone.

The pulled back look, her parts practically popping from her body as her caterwaul continued. Sephiroth, the katana, hurled forward with a jet of blood surrounding it like the truest of energy auras- dispersing as the swing was complete with a spatter littering the ground around her.

“Sereena!” Maja called out.

“F-F-FUCKING BITCH!” the disarmed foe wailed.

“Crrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyy me a river of blood~” Elise chimed, still monotone and dull.

“I-I’ll fucking spill YOURS!” Sereena spat lunging around with her remaining arm lashing out.

“Doubt it,” Elise concluded taking a single step forward.

Fen Rao blinked once, hoisting himself left mere microseconds after. A mighty hurl and a toss of himself, hitting the deck just then as a blast of light rippled from Sereena’s back. A straight line of light in a mighty flying slash ripped through, crashing back into the trees. At first a few trees stood anchored, blocking part of the line whilst the rest shot further back into other trees before at last fading out. Bark broke from the slashes that carved into the trunks, littering the ground.

Elise’s left arm lowered to her side, sword still in hand though now positioned normally rather than in reverse grip. Sereena stood in place, her hair flapping, her teeth gritted. Silence… Blood trickled from her teeth, then from her wrist, just along the arm after the shoulder, and right from the middle of her chest.

Thick strands of black and red slopped off and hit the ground, some blown in the wind. A rattle came, tips of her wolf claws hitting the ground below… and then she went. Her hand slid from the wrist as her arm buckled and broke off. Her weight carried her down to her knees, slumping back as the top half of her body above the chest slopped off.

Sereena fell to the ground in pieces, a cough of blood escaping her mouth- her jaw wrenching open without a sound. All that could be heard through the silence of the woods was the sound of meat hitting the ground- the form of Sereena now scattered as bits.