With immense inertia and a loud pop, the world returned to normal. The Fallen Angel vanished, and only an exhausted Victor stood within the Ravenhall ballroom. Damien lay asleep in Fay's embrace on the floor.

Victor turned on his heel, and a portal appeared with a snap of his fingers. Before walking through, he looked over his shoulder at the furious Fay and chuckled, "We will meet again, young one, as I cannot dally otherwise, the administrator will forcefully remove me." He then muttered, "The Dean is one bothersome fellow..."

Victor stepped into the glowing blue portal and vanished as if walking through a door, leaving Fay alone. She grit her teeth as arcs of golden lightning covered the surface of Damien's skin and fried her arms.

The smell of burning meat aroused Olympia from her slumber; her eyes were unfocused but widened when she saw Damien. "MASTER!" she shouted as she scrambled over, "What did that Angel bitch do!?"

"I don't know!" Tears flowed from Fay's eyes due to the pain and distress.

A loud boom startled Fay and Olympia as a massive wooden door flew overhead and smashed into the far wall. Oscar, Vanity's vessel, dashed into the room. The albino man had worry written all over his face, "I was using blood magic to track Damien's heartbeat, and then he suddenly disappeared and now appears as a burning golden light in my vision!"

"There was an Angel... called herself... Inara Elaine..." Fay choked on the saliva in her throat; it was all too crazy for her. "She made Damien bite her, and now he is like this..."

"What? No Vampire can survive drinking Angel blood!" Oscar screamed in shock but then regained his focus. Damien was somehow alive, and therefore his recovery was possible. Without wasting another second, Oscar started the second part of their plan. 'The first step was infiltrating the city, disrupting the chain of command and imprisoning the strongest residents. The destruction of the fort was in anticipation of this next step...'

Oscar closed his eyes and raised his hand. Then, activating Hemokinesis, blood began snaking along the floor from the dead bodies and accumulating in a ball above his hand. It spun and compressed at immense speed, forming a small hurricane around it, causing Oscar's white hair to flutter in the intense wind.

"Not enough..." Gritting his teeth, he expanded his area of control. Soon a stream of blood came through the broken doorway from the guards he killed on the way.

"Still not enough..." Oscar's eyes shone like headlights as Vanity's full power was channelled through the vessel's delicate mana circuits. His body groaned in protest, and blood leaked from his pores, ears and eyes.

Over a few miles away, in the ravaged dungeon fort, the sea of endless bodies had their blood forcefully pulled out of their mouths. The blood from the soldiers, men, women and children formed rivers that flowed through the moonlit streets.

Residents watched through their windows in abject horror as their streets were dyed red. Wooden carts, rubbish and other junk floated along with the gush towards the Ravenhall estate.

"HA!" Oscar shouted as he slammed the dense ball of blood that looked like Jupiter dyed a scarlet shade with storms covering its surface as winds spun around it. Then, as it exploded on the ground, the estate shook, and debris fell from the ceiling. Within moments, a large section of the roof came tumbling down, allowing moonlight to shine through.

Despite the golden lightning arcing off Damien's skin, Fay used her body to block the falling debris. Pieces of stone pummeled her back and broke her bones. She sobbed and cried as she protected him. The lightning struck at her chest and belly, scorching her skin and leaving behind charred flesh.

Oscar focused on the immense spell but couldn't help but smile, seeing Fay's dedication. None of her actions was necessary, but they showed her commitment, which warmed his stone-cold heart. As if conducting an orchestra, Oscar waved his hands in a controlled fashion as he directed the blood to form an immense portal. The leylines deep under the Ravenhall estate shone an azure blue as the spell consumed mana at an alarming rate.

***

Charlotte secretly adjusted her brown horsehair wig and reapplied her makeup in the servant quarters. Water splashed behind her as a team of maids furiously scrubbed stains from beautiful dresses.

"I. Hate. That. Whore." The maids chanted as if they were oarsmen on the open seas, "I. Hate. That. Whore." With practised movements, they moved on to the next dress.

"Charlotte."

The woman yelped in pretend surprise. Of course, there was no way a mundane maid could sneak up on a trained assassin from Oshal like her, but it was all part of her disguise to infiltrate the Lord's castle to confirm if Fay Karles was indeed residing within these walls.

Charlotte turned around and saw the stern head maid. She had only been working here a week and was one of the newest recruits. Therefore she was under constant supervision from the busty head maid.

"Yes, head maid?"

"Take these." The head maid passed her a basket filled with neatly organised dresses, "To the whore's- Ahem. I mean mistress Lily's room."

"As you command." She respectfully bowed and left the laundry room with the heavy basket in her hand and hid her smirk. This was the first time she was allowed outside without supervision, and she fully intended to use it.

Checking her earrings that blocked her magic were secure, she retrieved a pipe she had hidden between her bust. Then, instead of heading straight for mistress lily's room, she planned to take the longest route. 'If they question me, I can say I got lost. I am a ditsy new maid after all.'

Taking a left, Charlotte walked away from the castle's western wing and towards the courtyard. It was a large empty square filled with a fine layer of sand. In the far corner was a very expensive-looking carriage that appeared to be some kind of magitech.

She ignored the sight, brought the pipe to her lips, and was about to activate the magic artefact to obscure her from everyone while she snooped around, but the sound of the Lord's balcony shutters opening above her startled her for real this time. She quickly hid the pipe and tried to turn back.

Vanity jumped down from the balcony and sent plumes of sand in her wake. "Maid!"

Charlotte stiffened. All the Vampires were terrifying, but the rumours surrounding Vanity were enough to give her nightmares. All the maids gossiped that if the Lord and Mistress Vanity fought, the Mistress would win without even lifting a finger.

"How can I serve-"

"Come here! There's no time."

Charlotte had passed by the Mistress's room a few times while running errands, and she had always been either asleep or staring at the wall like a possed doll. Seeing her so full of life shook her worldview greatly.

"Okay!" Charlotte dropped the basket of dresses and hurried over.

"Step back. Stand there and wait." Vanity commanded as she let a drop of her blood hit the floor.

As the blood droplet fell through the air, Charlotte stared in awe as sand flew off the ground as if the droplet had a gravitational pull. 'How dense is a droplet of her blood? What am I even seeing!'

Charlotte was starting to debate running away and never looking back. To hell with her loyalty to Oshal and Duke Henson! Vanity was a terrifying creature she didn't wish to offend!

The droplet splashed on the ground and rapidly expanded to fill the entire courtyard as if it were a swimming pool of blood. Slowly the raging tides calmed and began to condense into lines.

Charlotte watched on as the entire courtyard became an intricate tapestry of runes drawn in blood. The moonlight seemed to gravitate to the runes and caused them to shine in a pale light. It was so beautiful it could match some of the floor decorations back in the Henson estate while also having such gruesome cogitation.

Vanity's long white hair fluttered in the winds as she rammed her black claws into the sand. She then chanted, "抄♄米米អ抄ቲ 毫ອ🜏អ⸸送." To Charlotte, the language was a series of hisses that seemed to resonate with the ancient world.

As if the world bent to the will of this ancient creature. The runes shone a blinding white as the space in the centre cracked and rippled. Blood surged up and surrounded the rift to stabilise it.

Second, later the rift stabilised and within the swirling pool of blood was a hazy image of a half-destroyed stone room and an albino man.

Vanity smiled at her vessel, and Oscar smiled back.

Charlotte watched the scene in a half-daze. She had never witnessed magic on such a ridiculous scale. But out of the corner of her eye, she saw a woman; she seemed familiar yet foreign, and the distortions in the portal somewhat distorted the woman's features.

But she was almost certain. That woman was Fay Karles.