Fighting Verthan

Verthan did not have a problem with that. He knew that Anastasia was called Blood Rose and also ranked 13th, but he did not think too much about it. After all, she had never faced him. What he did not like was that the Succubi Queen was using him to get rid of an enemy, like he was some sort of foot soldier.

He sneered as he thought, 'You are strong, but soon you'll be nothing but a puppet, and I will enjoy dominating you.'

Anastasia also frowned because it was disrespectful for a queen to ask another queen to do her bidding. She was about to leave when Verthan sneak-attacked her.

She managed to block the punch and stare at the human, who now donned an armor made of shadows. Anastasia was furious. Blood materialized behind her and formed an armor of blood. She also held a short sword and buckler in her hands.

She dashed forward to teach this disrespectful creature a lesson. Normally, Anastasia barely lost her cool, but the embarrassment from the succubi queen and the sneak attack from Verthan made her understand that these people did not fear until they encountered real strength.

She struck forward with her sword, and Verthan moved his hands to block in an X position. He was pushed deep into the ground and was shocked.

'Is this the power of the Blood rose?'

Anastasia did not waste any time. She immediately kneed Verthan in his abdomen, causing him to vomit a mouthful of blood. He was sent tumbling a few meters away. He stood up now, furious.

"You bitch!" He yelled.

The tendrils formed behind him, propelling him forward. With his hand balled into a fist, he punched forward.

"Fists of the Penumbra: Flickering Mirage"

The first fist hit Anastasia's buckler, but that was not all. Another fist came into contact, and another, and another. The tendrils behind his back also formed fists and struck Anastasia's block. Over fifty attacks connected, and Anastasia was being pushed back by every single punch, but she did not falter. By the time Anastasia noticed the attack was slowing down, she retreated and said

"Blood rush"

The armor that was on Ana's body retreated and turned into several branch-like tentacles. They were around a hundred, and they rushed at Verthan. Verthan immediately turned into a huge shadow-like dragon-like being with tentacles squirming on its back. His tentacles tried to combat the ones coming from Anastasia, but it was for naught. He was sent flying, but the tendrils were still heading in his direction.

He immediately formed a barrier from the shadows to protect himself, but he could feel the barrier was cracking and was going to break soon.

Creak! Crack!

The barrier shattered into several small pieces, and the tentacles that had spear-like tips bombarded Verthan. Some pierced into his body, while others managed to leave a cut on him. Verthan stared death in the face and was about to abandon the body when he felt the attacks stop.

He looked at Anastasia and saw she was farther away than where she was before, but she was still in the same spot. How? It was then that he noticed it was he who moved. He looked behind him and saw the Queen of Succubi smile at him. She then spoke.

"I am not interested in the alliance. Go away or stay forever as my plaything," She sneered.

Anastasia had finally calmed down, and the motherly feeling she gave was no more. She now had a majestic aura, something befitting the ruler of a kingdom.

"You've dug your own grave. In the history books, you shall be known as a fool who doomed her own race."

The queen of succubi, who was usually calm and collected, screamed, "You fucking whore." As she jumped up for the attack, her twin peaks swayed around like trees beating battered by wind.

"Charmed: Mountain Stomp"

Anastasia stared at the mountain that materialized in front of her and was crushing downward. Verthan also stared slackjawed as he was surprised by the power of the Succubi queen.

The mountain crushed Anastasia, and they saw her perish under its weight. The queen of succubi cancelled the skill, and Verthan then realized it was an illusion. Anastasia stood where she was, but she was moving. The queen walked up to her corpse and said, "Next time, you should know your place."

Pushing the corpse to the floor, but as soon as it touched the floor, it became a puddle of blood.

"WHAT?!" Both the queen and Verthan were surprised. This was not Anastasia's real body, but that means that Verthan was just defeated by a blood clone that did not even have the full power of Anastasia.

"As expected, the queen of Succubi, you are really strong, but I don't think that will be enough to stop the alliance. Like I said earlier, you will be known as the fool that caused the end of her race." Anastasia's voice slowly became distant until it disappeared, but everyone in the succubi village heard her voice and were confused but chose not to pursue anything while the queen's face was once again distorted. She looked at Verthan and said, "You better have a proper plan, and when we are killing the vampires, I want the head of Anastasia all to myself."

Verthan gulped as he felt the rage of the succubus queen, but he dared not refuse. He just nodded and said he'd be bringing proper reinforcement after getting back to the castle. The queen allowed him to leave, but two Incubi warriors followed Verthan.

Anastasia was several kilometers away from the succubus territory. She stared at Verthan leaving and thought to end his life there, but she felt that he might have been protected. She also knew that he could just shed his physical body, escaping her pursuit, and since she was not like Vladimir, who could devour their shadows, she deemed it unnecessary to chase after him. She flew on to Wallachia to prepare.

After she arrived at the castle, Vlad flew in a couple hours later. Sensing the changes in his body, she was shocked and started asking questions, which he answered honestly. He also heard about the Succubi queen and how she refused the alliance. He sneered and said, "Tell the other leaders of the alliance to come together in a week. There will be a meeting on what we want to do about the shadows."

From within the shadows of the castle, several voices sounded in acknowledgement, and they vanished.

Vlad moved to hug Anastasia as he noticed they were alone, comforting her with words. Anastasia was not really upset about the battle, but seeing the Dracula, a butcher people feared for being cold-blooded, being all cute made her laugh. She hugged him back, feeling safe in his arms.

(Author's note: Incubi are male succubi. Also, a little bit of romance never hurts anyone, so yeah)