Chains rattled as Duncan’s body spasmed violently, flinging himself against the wall. Sweat soaked his back as he sucked in air like a drowning man, trying to still the hammering in his chest. Bloody hell, that took a lot more out of him than it normally would.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” A Japanese soldier stood up from his chair, pointing threateningly at him. “Don’t even think about trying to escape!”
Duncan’s wards had given up trying to torture him and had decided to simply keep watch over their prisoner.
They slumped back in straight-back chairs, fanning themselves in a near-futile attempt to alleviate the cell’s humid heat. Thankfully, none of them knew magic, which meant they were none the wiser to Duncan’s astral form returning to his body.
He had taken the chance to project his astral form out of his body earlier and explore the place while the soldiers busied themselves chaining his physical body up.
The first thing he looked for was Lucy. He found her location quickly enough, for a relief. After all, she was only two cells away from him, although the cells between them were empty. The vampire’s cell was also laced with holy magic, not too different from the one in the liminal prison he saw earlier.
The next thing he looked for was his belongings. To be more specific, the Transylvanian Darting Daggers and the Rakshashi Fan. They were left out in the open in the only room with an office desk. If he were to wager a guess, that room must belong to an important person.
But he also saw something else on the way back: A large machine in the middle of a warehouse, buzzing with an unsavoury concoction of magic. It was empty, but he could sense lingering magic from multiple creatures swirling within. Whatever this machine did, it was mixing DNA at random.
He wondered if that was the true cause of Bertram’s death. If so, Yuri was truly a heartless woman to have let her husband be subjected to such horrors.
Steel creaked as Duncan’s cell door opened again. A different man walked in this time, one who appeared full of confidence and dignity. And yet, Duncan could also spot a hidden sense of vulnerability behind his demeanour. It was an odd combination, to be sure.
“Sorcerer Duncan Ward.” General Masao Kubo gestured for his men to leave as he pulled up a chair to sit on. “A pleasure to finally meet you. Our fates have been intertwined centuries ago, it seems.”
Duncan narrowed his eyes. “You know me?”
“Not me. But Koji Kitagawa knew you, didn’t he?”
He nearly reeled in response as memories of that frankly terrible warlord surfaced in his mind again. It had been five centuries since—
“Who is he to you?” Duncan asked cautiously.
“My ancestor.” Kubo started to grin. “Yes, that’s correct. I resurrected my own ancestor, Yuri Kitagawa, to serve our nation. That is how far I’ll go to regain Japanese superiority, and you will not stand in my way.”
“You seek my elixir of life for nothing but your delusional ambitions,” Duncan said behind clenched teeth. “You are not worthy. I’ll die before giving it to you, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Something flashed in Kubo’s eyes, but he leaned back against his chair instead.
“Ambitions? You think I’m doing this for such a petty reason?” His voice hardened. “I have not come so far just for myself. No, I serve a higher purpose. I am serving—”
“The Emperor,” Duncan cut him off impatiently. “Or— let me guess— Japan. Every soldier pledges their undying loyalty until they’re just a body among a thousand others. You think yourself a hero? ‘Soldiers’ like you are just boys who point their weapons at other boys just because their government tells them to. When will you people learn?”
“You know it’s right what they say about old people; you always think you know it all. No, I do not think myself a hero,” Kubo said. “I serve humanity as nothing but a man willing to do what it takes, and to take what he needs.”
“That’s a right fancy way of calling yourself a thief.”
“There are no criminals in war, only casualties. The Americans are developing a new weapon to cripple Japan forever, even when we have all but surrendered. Would you call them murderers, then? Or will history hail them as heroes? You, of all people, should know that history will always be written by the victors.”
New weapon? Granted, Duncan had been busy for the past few days, but he hadn’t exactly been living under a rock. If there was a new weapon being developed, why hadn’t he heard of it?
“Perhaps it does not matter to a long-lived immortal like you, but the world is ending. While many seek to take the reins of a decimated world, I seek to save it. I do not have much time left, anyway.” Kubo shook his head, a dark look harbouring his expression. “If you give me what I need, I can end all wars permanently. No longer will you have to save humanity from itself! With an undisputed superior race, humans will have all the reason to kneel forever.”
“People aren’t born to kneel,” Duncan hissed. “To bend the knee in eternal, misguided worship is hell itself. A hell that you and your followers, as powerful as you will ever be, can never contain forever.”
“Then let them band together as one race to face me and save themselves. Either way, humanity will be saved,” Kubo said. “It’s but a temporary hell, a hell better than that of gunfire—”
A deafening thud cut him off, shaking crushed rubble off the walls. Two soldiers burst into the cell right on cue.
“Lieutenant Yoshida… He’s… He’s gone mad!” one of them panted as more crashes shook the place.
“What happened?” Kubo asked, his voice urgent yet calm.
“He entered the machine while we were on shift change and activated it! He… He turned himself into a monster!”
“That fool!” The general yelled, jumping out of his chair. He rushed out of the cell after his soldiers.
Duncan creased his eyebrows before shattering the chains around his wrists with a determined ripple of magic. He had really intended to play prisoner for a little longer to fish out more information from Kubo. But it looked like he didn’t have much of a choice anyway, now that this place was probably coming down soon.
He snatched his clothes and left the cell as well.
~ ~ ~
Less than five minutes later, Duncan set Lucy Carpenter free. The woman took a moment to stretch her arms with a big yawn while her fancy-looking vampire outfit rematerialised around her body.
“I know they say vampires need to be invited into places, but this is just excessive,” she complained lightly. “If I am to be kidnapped yet again, I shall lose my wits.”
Duncan looked around the empty corridor. “I saw what befell Ileana in that accursed tournament ring. Hadst thou been forced to witness that—”
“It was I who slew her.”
“If it be worth aught, I’m sorry you were forced to do such to another vampire.”
“Eh, she was always a crazy bitch.” Lucy flicked her hand dismissively. “Never did I like her anyway. Tis but her just desserts.”
More commotion buzzed from outside.
“Can you portal us out of here?” the woman asked. “Mine own dark travel magic avail me nought. This whole place must be covered in a holy ward or suchlike.”
“Nay, my teleportation magic fails me as well.” Duncan shook his head. “There must be some sort of interference preventing supernatural creatures from teleporting in and out of this place. Figures. How else would these men keep their experiment subjects from escaping?”
“Fie, don’t tell me we have to fight our way out of here,” Lucy groaned.
“If we use our wits, we won’t have to,” Duncan said grimly. “I have a plan. Come, let us away.”
The duo scurried out of the corridor into the open. Thankfully, the building’s layout wasn’t terribly complicated— it was pretty much just a huge warehouse— so it wasn’t easy to get lost here.
Duncan cringed silently at the horribly mutilated corpses lying all around. Some were missing body parts, while the others had their faces raked open by what he could only assume were huge claws.
Unpleasant memories seized him again. The destruction and death wrought were all too similar to those of the weapons from the First Great War.
“Duncan.” Lucy’s voice shook him back to the present, and Duncan realised that he was already in the important room he had seen in his astral form earlier. “This is yours, I suppose?”
The witch doctor swiped the dagger from the desk and kept it in his coat, but the Rakshashi fan was nowhere to be found.
“Bloody hell,” Lucy breathed as pages rustled. “So that’s why they brought me here. They’re using my essence as a foundation to fashion some monstrous spawn.”
“And it must’ve worked, I reckon.” Duncan leaned over to look at the machine schematics that Lucy was flipping through. “Congratulations, thou hast at last borne a child.”
“Absolutely not. I am unfit for motherhood,” Lucy muttered. “If you have all your belongings, it’s high time we depart—”
A shadow loomed from outside the window, and a figure crashed through it before anyone could react. Another hulking figure jumped into the room shortly after.
“Yuri Kitagawa!” Yoshida roared, now looking twice his size with ugly muscles rippling all over his body. “Where are you, vixen?! I’m not finished with you!”
Yuri groaned as she rolled to her side painfully. Her supernatural physiology had protected her from any life-threatening injuries, but it was obvious that she was still too winded to move.
“There you are!” Yoshida sent a table crashing into the wall with a casual swat. “What was that about being a mortal again? You can’t push me around any longer!”
Black particles rippled through the man’s body, his fingers extending into claws and his mouth into a snapping snout. He grinned, revealing a set of teeth big enough to tear a car in half. Bat-like wings burst from his back as what remained of his comparatively tiny uniform dropped off his body.
Duncan clenched his fists in apprehension; those were clearly the physical traits of a vampire’s beastly form. Whatever the case was, it looked like the machine’s random fusing had finally found a combination that worked.
Yoshida lunged without warning.
Duncan stepped in front of Yuri instinctively, bracing himself for the incredible impact to slam into him, but it never came. Instead, a hulking figure had blocked Yoshida’s blow in his place.
“Looks like I must needs find mine own way out, Duncan.” Lucy had somehow transformed into her true vampire form without a sound. “You have business yet to dispatch, yes? Go! I am more than able to hold this knave at bay.”
Yoshida screeched in indignation, but the vampire shoved him back in an incredible display of strength. He stumbled back, crashing through the whole room before losing his balance and slipping off the edge of the broken room.
Lucy seized the chance to slam into him again, but Yoshida caught himself with a powerful flap of his wings before he could plummet to the ground level. He let out a frustrated growl as he soared towards the hovering vampire.
“Over here, little boy,” Lucy taunted the man, leading him away from the broken room. “Come to Mummy!”
Duncan helped Yuri up once silence rushed back in. “Are you alright?”
“I’m sorry…” The woman was almost sobbing. “I’m sorry I was so selfish—”
“Don’t be.” Duncan held tightly to her as he focused his mind on the Transylvanian Darting Dagger. “Come. Let’s save Hilda now.”
And the world compressed itself in a flash of gold.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPC1uXhYLiG
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