Alexis and Kain were pleasantly surprised when the test came to an end. There had been 2 days left and only 2 of 7 forts had been taken, but in those 2 days the new-bloods acquitted themselves flawlessly. Well, ‘flawlessly’ wouldn’t be entirely correct, there were hiccups, but they managed to pull themselves together and achieve a stunning comeback. Each member of each House did their part, and each team worked with their members as best as possible.

While the House Moreau vampires scouted and directed wildlife to harass travelers and patrols, the House Nefarius vampires wove powerful spells that atrophied the ironwood that made up the forts. The vampires from House Carmilla and House Brandou infiltrated the forts with entranced mortals, setting fires and assassinating people while poisoning wells and sabotaging the gates. House Dracones’ new-bloods proved more than capable of directing the myriad zombies and skeletons and by the time the last hour before the deadline ended there was no one left to dispute Darksol’s claim to the region.

The stress of the ‘crunch time’ had taken its toll on the young vampires, but they had managed to pull it off. The toll wrought on each formation of their undead pawns was varied, but at minimum they were kept above 50% total strength. Now all they had to do was face the judgement of their monarchs, all while hoping that their bending of the rules did not earn them oblivion as a ‘reward’.

…

The vampires knelt before their two rulers. Kain, as usual, sat on Alexis’ right and in a slightly more ornate chair than his spouse.

“Well done. I am impressed that you managed to pull off a surprise comeback.”

Alexis’ words sent shivers of joy through the bodies of her subjects. They had impressed their mistress, and now she would reward them!

“However…”

That one word caused concern to bubble up.

“You did indeed succeed, but to do so you broke the ‘spirit’ of the rules. While you did not actually violate my commands, you did act in a way that circumvented part of the intention of the test. I applaud your inventiveness, but you must be reprimanded for bending my commands to suit your intentions. As such, I order you all to become a new army under my direct command. Your teams will remain as they are until more new-bloods join the Houses, at which point they will be forced to serve in this new pseudo-army until I believe they are ready to rejoin their House. This applies to you all as well, so do work together and show your worth.”

Now they were confused. Wasn’t she going to punish them? How was being made to serve under her direct command a punishment?

“I can sense your confusion at my beloved’s orders, so allow me to explain.” Kain said while trying to look as regal as possible. “Your Houses would consider it a dishonor to have to work side by side with members of other Houses. Your ‘punishment’ is to work in such an environment and eventually be sent back to your Houses to try and change such antiquated thinking in a grassroots manner. As I have often said; you can’t build a strong wall with just random stones, you need various materials, each with their own merits and demerits, to make something that will stand the test of time. You are those materials, and if you manage to join together, regardless of petty differences, you will be nigh unbeatable.”

Kain and Alexis continued on for a while before the young vampires were ordered to go to a military outpost where they would be reordered and prepared for their new duties. Whether they knew it or not, they had just been given another test. And this test would be one with a far longer scale.

…

Inside the Vatican City, the Pope of the Luminas Church was growing ever more frustrated. She had expected that, after the defeat of the Crusaders, that Darksol and its slaves would be quick to invade. This had proven to be false, and the evil empire and its puppets were simply waiting a few miles out from the border. She had a sneaking suspicion that somewhere, high up the chain of command, there was a leak. Someone had sold their soul to the Devil and his Whore Queen, letting them in on the planned usage of the massive purification spell that was just waiting to be unleashed.

If only they would rush in and be annihilated by the massive burst of Holy energy, which would then create a powerful barrier that would deter the darkness from entering for quite a while. She could not keep the spell from being unleashed for too long, if the eternal enemy did not enter the area of effect soon, the spell would go off regardless and avail them nothing. All it would do is create a barrier and keep the evil ones at bay for a while longer.

If that wasn’t enough of a headache, she also had to worry about the ‘True Hero’. He no longer had a collar or the ‘Stepford Rune’, so he was free to do as he wished, a fact that was not lost on him as he continued to abuse his power and authority to no end. Perhaps forcing him to wear them for but three hours was too lenient; perhaps he should have been forced to wear them for the rest of his life?

Regardless, it seemed that if nothing was done to entice the Devil and his Queen to enter the spell’s targeted area, then all of their preparations would be for naught. This second-to-last ‘ace in the hole’ was about to be expended, and it seemed that it would be wasted without it being useful at all. twelve hundred years they had stored power for this death sentence for any and all foes who entered their Holy Land, and it seemed that it would be wasted, used on a land with few if any targets and of them none of any worth.

She would have to find some other way to use that power. If there was a way to divert the rapidly coagulating mass of Holy energy and use it for some other purpose…

Then she hit upon it. It was a rumor, passed down from generation to generation of clergymen. The rumor that somewhere, deep inside the Vatican City, there was a switch that could be flipped. This switch would make the Vatican City itself a massive superweapon, one more than capable of defeating any foe, great or small. Once flipped it would impossible to stop the machine, only once all power had run out would the superweapon cease functioning and would fall to ruin. If used, the Vatican City would forever be lost, but the foe it would be used against would be erased long before then.

With this rumor in mind, she looked at the staff she held in her hand. Its odd shape reminded her of a bizarrely shaped and oversized key. If, by some miracle, the rumors were true, then there was a way to repurpose the energy and bring oblivion directly to the devils in their dark city of sin.

She gave the order, and the search began.