A man in the center back of the room could be seen looking at official documents stamped by his Highness King Exelsious the Third, clarifying the military research to the Noble Court, the empire’s system Legislation. The man in question was wearing a few badges of honor and a custom, yellow and gray, regal uniform clearly designed to charm the common folk. His attire deemed him to be the High Supervisor of the Sector of Technology, Markus Coulious.

The room itself has aisles of different machines and transparent blue screens each labeled with their own names such as “The Magic Department” or “Security Administration.” Different people and officials were working around the clock to ensure all properties of the site and its experiments are in working condition. This room is the heart of the facility. Where resources, human and not are properly allocated to improve the objective of the time. In this case, mutant soldiers.

Suddenly the scream of an alarm pierced the ears of all of its inhabitants causing some to cover their ears with red flashing lights to accompany the noise

“Sir, we have a code red situation.” A fairly young man with a leather military uniform saluted while standing before his superior.

“State the situation, Mr. Lance. We have no time to lose.” The man replied back returning his salute with one of his own.

“Yes, sir. Currently, subject number 5 has escaped captivity and is now attacking all of the guards stationed within floor 6. As of right now, we have 15 casualties and 10 soldiers currently in action.”

“This is a dreadful situation. Send in severe reinforcements. I want maximum effort in restraining the experiment. It cannot escape the premises. That is an order!” The Supervisor yelled out his demands to the whole entire room.

“Yes, sir!” All of the people working in the facility replied reverently and started echoing his orders to the grunts using their holographic communication computers.

“Evacuate all personnel to the Maximum Security Area!” One person spoke into a microphone.

“Team H and L prepare to engage!” Another person directed their voice.

The Supervisor put his fist sideways under his chin. ‘This is going to put a bruise on this Sector.’ The man thought to himself.

…

As soon as Akiael started to step outside the Surveillance Room, alarms rang and a woman began to speak.

“All personal retreat to a secure location. All able-bodied guards, report to floor 6. I repeat…”

‘Damn, did they already spot me?’ Akiael looked around to see the area devoid of any people. ‘No, that’s not it.’

Suddenly the dark elf commanded through the earpiece. “Akiael get moving while you still can. Now that the cameras are out of the way, get to floor B7.”

Akiael began to retrace his steps to the stairs only to find a quad of soldiers spotting him as they were hiking.

“Open fire!” The soldier in the back yelled as the quad aimed their guns and fired at the vampire.

‘Crap, they spotted me.’ The vampire scrambled to a corner as the guards closed in on him.

Acting quickly, the vampire hacked one man through the legs, taking advantage of his blind spot. The man was silent as the rest of his legs and upper body splattered blood on the ground. Another man was kicked to the side, causing a dent in the thick concrete walls, visually grimacing at the severe blow. One of the remaining guards brandished a glowing electric baton while another fire his assault rifle at Akiael’s chest, the two of the bullets lodged into his chest as the vampire tried to duck and run.

“Shit.”

Holding his chest, Akiael braced himself, holding his knife in his hand as the guard with the baton crashed down on him. However, the vampire used his left hand to thrust his sword into the guard’s body, causing the sword to come out on the other end as a makeshift spike. Then right before another barrage of bullets were fired at him from a distance. Akiael used the corpse as a meat shield and rammed into the last guard, also impaling him on his sword.

As the vampire pulled his sword back from his victims, more guards noticed the bloody conflict and started bursting in through the stairs. Fearing for the mission, Akiael decided to make a tactical retreat via the air vents on the ceiling, busting up the vent cover and ripping it off. He then threw the fresh corpse in the interior of the vent and climbed his way inside to conceal himself. Fortunately, he escaped before anyone could spot him.

The air vents were fairly large, able to fit a small child. However, Akiael was trapped in that space above the floor due to a laser security system. Those menacing red beams would certainly either give away his location or cause a skin-searing injury. None of those options were spectacular considering that the traps spanned the whole area diagonally.

Deciding to stay where he was, near the vent, Akiael opened up his robe and took off his upper body armor to assess the injury. Two holes could be seen near his ribs. One shallow and could be seen while the other only left a trail of blood in its impact. Quickly reaching into his cape, Akiael pulled out gauze and a blue liquid and dropped the knife on his right hand. The liquid was in a small glass bottle and had a tag attached to it with the title, Minor Healing Potion.

Turning over the tag more directions could be seen. “Apply directly on wound for external injuries. For internal use, consume through the mouth. Accelerates the healing process!”

Akiael popped the cap open and lied down. Then he poured a small amount of the liquid into his hand and rubbed it on his gun wounds, grimacing at the pain as the pale flesh began to rejuvenate, forcing the metal projectiles out of their target. After the potion was applied, the vampire rolled out the white cloth and wrapped it around the chest wounds, still feeling the impact of the bullet.

‘It's going to still take days to heal.’ Akiael thought to himself while looking at the blood on his chest.

‘Let's see, stairs are blocked off, yet guards are going up to the 6th floor. Since it's an internal attack, the elevators would be off limits.’ Akiael thought as he bit into the dead man's corpse, draining his remaining blood.

The vampire decided to seek assistance. He opened up his cape and brought out the grandly decorated tablet which lit up as soon as it recognized its master’s touch.

Akiael opened up his virtual documents and found Dantalian's map.

“Elevator is in the center of the floor, five doors down from the Surveillance Room.” Deciding to make his move, Akiael covered himself with his armor and picked up his weapons. He poked his head in the hallway to look for possible combatants and saw none. Thus he landed below the hazardous vent, leaving the corpse behind and made a mad dash towards the elevator he saw on his left.

Suddenly it opened revealing a group of fleeing scientist, accidentally arriving at the incorrect floor. Thinking swiftly, Akiael rammed himself into the elevator interior, bruising few people in the process, barely getting in before the elevator doors closed. The vampire fell to the ground and got up directly as the other people in the elevator attempted to get as far as possible from the strange masked maniac with two blades.

“All right!” The vampire demanded the attention of the whole entire space, freaking out the already shaken scientists. “I only have two demands. One, hand over all of your belongings. Two, never speak about me or what you see for the next 48 hours.” The vampire glowed in a black and white aura as moved his sword over one of his possible victim’s neck, making his threats more vocal.

“Justice will triumph over you, fiend. We noble scientist and inventors will never surrender to the likes of a scoundrel such as yourself.” The man who spoke was a younger man with glasses and short hair who’s teeth were clenched and fists were drawn.

“Fine then.” The vampire taunted him while wagging his hand towards the man to strike him. “You are just computation dogs that the empire uses to have a stronger military. You serve no purpose than to wallow in your own research, little known about the nature of which you are being used. Prove your so-called justice to me if you can!” The vampire made a mockingly true remark as one of the elder scientists tried to stop the younger one from taking action.

“He’s trying to provoke you William! Don’t fall for it. We can get out of this without violence.” The elder man spoke as his hand tightened as he grasped the man’s shoulders.

“Old man, have you gone senile? I’ll do what’s right and true without hesitation. Now leave me alone!” The young scientist escaped from the man’s pleaded grasp and attempted to tackle his captor to the floor using both of his hands.

Yet as soon as he was about to touch the vampire, the cold blade of a seemingly heartless man punctured the younger scientist’s body. Still barely gasping for air, the vampire moved his head closer to the man’s ear and spoke loud enough so everybody in the interior could hear.

“Look how shallow justice is. To you, it’s a tool of justification to protect yourself from any criticisms of others about your actions. You fail to realize that maybe you cannot fulfill so-called justice because it's always objective. How narrow.” The vampire smirked and pulled the blade from the dead man. His desolate body dropped to the floor, further clarifying his point to the remaining scientists.

As soon as the vampire looked up the people were quickly taking out all sorts of items they possessed. Key cards, records, electronic devices, wallets, and even medications some were taking. Akiael took off his cape and held it in front of him as each person placed their possessions into the portal. Soon only two people were left out of the dozen to insert their belongings.

“Come on man, hurry up so we can get out of this horror.” A man spoke to the person in front of him as the said person had still yet to go.

The scientist in the front was silent only looking down in the dark rippling void inside the captor’s cape. Then the scientist attempted to kick the vampire in the nuts below his cape, only to find a knife impaled into his chest as he sunk to the study elevator floor.

“The actions of one can be an infectious disease. I’ll remember that.” The vampire spoke having no guilt for his actions nor sympathy for the man’s family.

“Are you stupid enough to put your life in jeopardy?” The vampire glared at the remaining man through his mask, partly confused on why his victim would sacrifice himself to such a feeble goal which was destined to fail.

“No, sir.” The man stepped over the corpse of his co-worker, having respect for the dead, and also because he didn’t want blood on his shoes.

As soon as the man’s hand sank into the dark portal with nothing remaining, the vampire donned his cape and stood in front of the elevator, just in time for the floor, B7 to arrive on the pixelated elevator screen.

“Gentlemen, remember. Foolishness is infectious. Don’t be the corpse on the floor.” The vampire walked out of the elevator like he didn’t just murder two people into the dimly lit hallway of the secret floor. One of the scientists rapidly pressed the button to escape to the higher floors which caused the elevator to be on its merry way.

The vampire took his time walking through the dark, linear hallway as if it was his natural home. Only the faint blue glow of energy passing through streams through the walls comforted him as he approached the sturdy gates made of enchanted steel.

The sight is strange considering the Empire was not home to many enchanters much less many who were willing to work for his majesty considering his focus on technologies more focused on handing electrical and pure energy compared to its magical form but nevertheless the royal family always has at least two or three tricks up their undemocratic sleeves. The chap who enchanted this gate was probably paid a handsome amount.

Two shadowy figure stood motionless in front of the gate as the vampire drew closer, letting his feet echo through the hollow pathway.

“Halt, identify yourself immediately for you will be dealt with deadly force.” A male clad in an armor made of a mixture of synthetic material, quite rare, and metal alloys spoke as he drew his sword that had a blade of pure raw energy. It glowed in the gloomy atmosphere as it’s gold light and gear symbol made it clear that this man, as well as his partner, were trained extensively, perhaps even royal guard level. The two men were guarded though their covered faces did not show it as they also donned a crystalline energy shield in front of them, respecting the countries roots in the shield and sword.

The vampire sweated as he knew one slice could end him. Seeing as they wore helmets not covered by glass and were very active in preparations, he decided that the power of infiltrating the psyche would not benefit him nor would piercing their armor be an option with the blood beginning to take its toll on the already fairly dull blades. He then decided to aim for a less power-centric option.

With blades crossed, and the two men approaching him, the vampire chanted. “Dark Ball.” The round projectile was fast but ineffective against the shield of an impressive magnitude of soldier number one who stood his ground behind his cohort.

Soldier number two aimed to slice and dice the intruder but the vampire only dodged by a hair via using the man’s head as a pole to leap over, spreading his legs and landing behind him. The man was caught by surprise and couldn’t attack the creature above him. Soldier number two was ready and decided to attempt to reach the vampire with a blow downwards, but was too slow and instead was shoved from behind by the very same opponent. This caused the man to accidentally slide his laser sword into his cohort, injuring him in the process.

“Watch it asshole. Aha, shit” The victim of the accident yelled as he held his stomach and attempted to reach for a rejuvenation medication in his belt.

“It’s not my fault that you failed to dodge, something that was taught at the beginning of the royal guard training initiative.” Soldier number two retorted and attempted to defend the stabbing of his ally. “But we will make it out pal after this terrorist falls.” The second soldier now had a newfound vengeance to aim at this despicable terrorist who caused him to attack his fellow guard.

However, before the first soldier could recover the vampire interfered. “Dark ball!” Instead of an attack, a smaller sphere was aimed at an angle where the medicine was destroyed and unusable. A plan devised while the two were busy speaking about each other’s faults.

“Motherfucker.” The guard kneeled as the blood was spilling out of his gut.

Soldier number two took the initiative and devised to deal with the intruder from a distance. Grabbing his assault weapon and aiming at the vampire. However, the vampire was aware of this and hid away from his range using his comrade’s injured body as a shield while the person was still contemplating his injury.

Hesitant to inflict damage at the cost of his ally, soldier number two waited and aimed above the man. The vampire taunted him by sticking his arm above the injured man causing the soldier’s battle instincts to flare and shoot, missing his target and lodging bullets into his ally. However, soldier number one took advantage of the vampire’s tactic and attempted to slice through the vampire before he was shot. The moment was close but the vampire escaped with a shallow flesh wound while his attacker fell to his own bullets. The soldier had his armor pierced and died as the bullets impacted his already stabbed corpse.

The second soldier was horrified at his own actions. Killing his own comrade and friend who he held on for so long. They celebrated together, bleed together in the Dream Wars, and married his friend’s sister only to have him die by his own hand. The man put his weapon down and wallowed in despair as he lamented his own failures and faults.

Yet the deities of war are not kind towards those who despair and hesitate during combat. Taking advantage of the guard’s despair Akiael ran straight in, took the fallen soldier’s sword and thrust it into the despaired man’s chest, killing him as he lost his will to live.

Guards such as these are commonly placed in high-security areas, for many reasons. They have large experience, they are popular with other soldiers, and are generally a boon on the battlefield. However, men such as these are disqualified from being royal guards due to one reason or another. In this case, it was their emotions and compassion which held them back from being the merciless defenders for the royal family. In fact, some believe that the royal guards are robots only obeying the will of their king. Nevertheless, these valiant soldiers were taken advantage of a vampire who took a great risk in this stratagem to achieve his goals.

Akiael then stripped the men of everything they had as he could afford the time to and entered the highly protected chamber which protected the successful experiment Number 45.