Chapter 50: Malice

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Susan was originally feeling dizzy from the huge pressure Edward had been forcing on her, but as she saw her trauma, her mind cleared in an instant as a blush came to her face, and she waved her hand, creating a powerful forcefield.

Susan's trauma, aka her Inner Demon, arrived with a prideful expression as she declared "Malice has arrived! Bow…"

Her 'grand' entrance was ruined though as a forcefield smashed into her and sent her flying. Susan wasn't done either as she created multiple forcefields several cubic meters in size and slammed them into her Inner Demon.

As she did so, she was surprised to find that she could create her forcefields much more easily than in the real world, and her shyness and embarrassment quickly turned into curiosity and excitement as she dropped heavier and heavier constructs with more and more force.

On the side, Edward felt a little speechless seeing this. He was here to help her, but with how things were going she may destroy her Inner Demon by herself…

But Malice wasn't so weak after all, and after the initial stun from the surprise attack, she created a strong shield above her, and a forcefield below her that moved her away.

Susan didn't want to let her go though, and formed a dome around her and tried to crush her in. But Malice, now fully conscious, created a smaller but stronger forcefield, which she used to pierce through the dome and attack Susan.

Sue, who had been dominating until now, clearly wasn't prepared for this attack, but still managed to create several walls to block to the projectile. Once again, she was surprised at how sturdy her walls were, but she had other things to care about.

While she was creating those walls, Malice created a myriad of spikes in the air, and sent them toward Sue, who this time had to form another dome around her to protect herself.

However, the spikes seemed endless, and her dome was showing signs of breaking.

But then, the world once again lost it's colours as Edward decided to intervene. His Royal Will destroyed many of Malice's spikes, and covered her too.

The Inner Demon found it's movements to have become sluggish under Edward's pressure, and was prepared to kill him. However, as she was creating forcefields weapons, something suddenly punched her from behind.

Then, it was followed by five other punches, each sending her flying toward another fist. The final one sent her flying toward Edward, who easily grabbed her by her neck.

The two shared a brief look into each other's eyes, and Edward crushed her neck.

Malice's body first went limp, before quickly fading away.

A few meters away, Sue blinked "That's it?"

Edward acknowledged "Yes. She was but a part of you, and wasn't too strong yet. And those punches were well place, especially the last one."

Susan added "Strangely, I felt like creating my forcefields was much easier here than outside."

Edward nodded, and uttered "I will explain to you later."

Sue obviously wanted answers now, but through their short interaction she learned that he probably knew better what to do now than she did. However, as she looked down at her hands, she noted "I don't feel any different. Are you sure we destroyed her?"

Edward chuckled "I told you your fears were unnecessary. You are still the same person, you simply won't be influenced as strongly by your bad emotions as you used to be. Think of it as you becoming a stronger woman."

Sue opened her mouth, wanted to thank him, but Edward interrupted "I know you have a lot to ask from me, but the longer I keep you awake and the more tired you will be. We will speak when you wake up, if you still want your answers."

Not letting her say anything else, Edward left her mind, and with a thought, got back into his body. He was in the same position as earlier, his forehead against Sue's, and he was relieved to see her face was now much better looking than before.

She didn't wake up with him though, and was instead sent into a real sleep this time. Helping her get rid of her mental demon released all the energy the mental demon had stolen from her since it's apparition, allowing her to absorb it and recover from her fatigue.

Her mind and body were still spent though, so there was nothing better than a good sleep for her now.

Edward let go of her head, and turned to look at the other three in the room. Mr Fantastic and the Human Torch were both on the ground, unconscious, and, surprisingly, the Thing was still standing, although his knees were somewhat bending.

It was convenient for Edward though as he said "She only needs some sleep now, I would say about… 12 hours, give or take."

After saying his piece, Edward was about to portal back home when Ben got out of his stupor and asked "What was that?"

"Nothing to worry about. Also, when she wakes up, tell her that if she wants to find me, the answer lays within herself." Edward informed Ben before opening a portal and walking through it.

As the portal closed behind him, Edward moved to the bathroom. The fight had been somewhat tiring, it was quite intense, and he sweated a lot.

However, he was glad he took part. Not only did he help 'co-workers', he also made a huge discovery. Unfortunately, he would have to wait for Susan to wake up before he could delve deeper into it.

After his shower, Edward sat down in the sofa and started some light reading. Diana wasn't here as she was working, and the brat downstairs was at school.

Donna had been acting reluctant, but she was actually excited to go to school. It was Christmas two weeks ago, and the break had just finished so Donna was in her first days at school. They had decided to put her in Midtown Middle School too, where Peter was studying, so he could look over her.

So with his girlfriend working and Donna at school, Edward was prepared to chill for the rest of the day.

But after only a few minutes of reading, a portal suddenly appeared in his living room. On the other side, was Stephen, sporting a large smile.

Exhaling loudly, Edward got up and got to the other side of the portal.

"What can I do for you Stephen?"

The Sorcerer replied, excited "Don't use that tone, it's going to be fun!"

Edward slightly tilted his head, curious at his friend's excitement. Stephen grinned even more as he questioned "Aren't you interested in meeting a race of beings coming straight out of legends?"

"Stop beating around the bush and tell me what we are doing."

Stephen clapped his hands and created a portal. On the other side, it was already night, and there stood a big castle. It looked gothic, with tall, pointed dark towers and sharp shapes.

Edward joked "We aren't meeting Dracula are we?"

But hearing no response from Stephen, he looked at him with some shock and asked "You're joking. Don't tell me we are going in to save a maiden from his grasp. That movie is lame."

Stephen raised an eyebrow and reassured him "We have business with the vampires, we aren't there to save anyone."

Edward hesitated for a moment, before shaking his head with a sigh and walked through the portal. Behind him, Stephen looked delighted as he followed him.

As he crossed to a whole other part of the world, Edward instantly felt the air was more chilly than in New York. Although his body could resist much more easily to extreme temperatures, he could still feel a difference in temperature with accuracy.

Behind him, Stephen felt the cold much more vividly though as he began trembling a little. Edward was shocked though to see his cloak move on it's own as it wrapped around Stephen, trying to warm him up.

Edward joked "That's a… strange cloak."

Stephen rolled his eyes as he cast a spell, dispelling the cold around them, and boasted "My cloak is much better than your armor."

As if to ascertain his words, he suddenly levitated off the ground, looking down at Edward with a smug smile.

To be honest, Edward was impressed, but never was he going to let Stephen win that one.

"Oh yeah, that's cool. Oh, did I tell you, back when I was stuck in the past I was struck by Thor's lightning? 81 times? And look at that, not even a scratch."

Stephen grit his teeth at that, and started flying toward the castle as he jeered "Right, well while you stand there, smitten by Thor, I will be going."

Edward was speechless for a second there, that was a nice wordplay. Damn, he didn't have a comeback.

Gathering Chi in his legs, Edward jumped to a nearby tree, and started jumping from one tree to another, following Stephen. Seeing this, Stephen started picking up on his speed, making Edward do the exact same, and like that they started a race to Dracula's castle.

Well, an average Friday isn't it?

In the end, flying turned out to be more convenient. Jumping from tree to tree was cool, but it wasn't fast enough as he had to avoid some trees, and sometime there just wouldn't be enough trees.

Obviously, the forest didn't extend all the way to the castle, there was some distance between the forest and the castle, but Stephen had taken too much advance on him in the forest.

Moreover, they were here for business, and racing to the entrance of the castle would make them look like children, which wasn't good.

So the two stopped at the end of the forest, and Stephen got the win for this time.

By the time they arrived in front of the castle's grand entrance, both men stood straight, their head held high, controlling their breath to appear normal.

By the entrance, the group of vampires guarding the entrance looked at the two visitors with respect, but also some confusion. They knew a Master Sorcerer was coming to visit, but they didn't know about the other one.

What they did know though, was that their brain was telling them this masked man was the best delicacy they ever encountered. As vampires, their main, and frankly only, dish was blood. Hence, their bodies evolved to sense blood, and it's quality.

A fat middle aged man in bad health wouldn't have the same blood quality as a pure maiden in her teenage years. Moreover, for them, blood quality wasn't just a matter of taste, stronger blood would also allow them to grow stronger.

Unfortunately, another truth of the vampires was their strict hierarchy. As mere guards of the castle, they could only feed on the cattle and hadn't grown stronger for decades. Prime blood was only kept for the nobles, and Count Dracula was the one who could get the very best blood, the aforementioned young virgins.

But not having ever tasted one did not mean they didn't know the smell of such blood, and yet, much to their shock, this man before them gave them the feeling that… even a single drop of his blood would feel better than the whole body of a virgin.

However, their stupendous thirst was quickly quenched by the second sense vampires developed over the years, their danger sense.

Even though they felt they would reach heaven if they drank this man's blood, they knew they would probably reach said place long before tasting a single drop of his blood.

"Gentlemen, we have an appointment with the Count. If you would be so kind to lead the way."

The vampires were eventually waken up from their stupor by the Sorcerer, and the leader nodded at his men before gulping "I… I can lead you."

Stephen thought the vampires were scared of him, and that put him in a good mood, but Edward felt something was fishy.

His Chi Sense could only sense strong emotions from people, when they reached their extreme. Most of the time, he wouldn't feel anything from them. But here, the vampires' fear was vivid to him, light a lightbulb in a dark room.

And he could also feel a second emotion behind, shadowed by the fear, but the fear was too strong for him to feel what they were feeling. Still, his instincts were telling him trouble was brewing.