The air between them vibrated with tension.
The vampires of Gudras disapperead in the shadows.
Azrael's eyes were focused, breathing slow, energy flowing through his limbs.
Gudras, now a towering monster of muscle, claw and dark magic, let out a guttural snarl.
He had revealed its true form.
In such a short amount of time…
Gudras had always been the calculating type of enemy.
Always analyzing the enemy, to find its weak spots, always calm, mindful… a perfect strategist.
But in that moment… something inside of him snapped when he tasted the blood of Azrael.
It seemed like he found a diamond… or… he immediately understood the danger…
Now he was nothing more than… a monster.
They kept staring into each other's eyes…
Then—they moved.
Azrael's greatsword flashed forward in a storm of precise strikes.
Gudras answered with feral swings, fueled by brute strength and inhuman speed.
Azrael's greatsword met Gudras' monstrous claws in a shockwave of raw power.
The trees around them bent violently, their roots groaning from the force.
Dirt exploded into the air.
The battlefield became a crater of chaos.
They suddenly found themselves face to face , with only their weapons separating them.
Azrael saw the eyes of a bloodlust monster, with saliva and blood drooling from its face…
On the other hand, Gudras only saw… a true and pure human. Without any kind of magic.
"Maria has told me about a special human I should be worried about… I remember that she was even scared to say its name… but I now know that she meant you…and I know why I'm feeling strange sensations… again."
The monster said, before pushing the hunter away.
But Azrael didn't hesitate for a single second.
Instead, he went directly to attack again.
Azrael moved with inhuman precision, striking in patterns no warrior could predict.
Every hit was fatal.
Azrael was literally slashing his sword in a deadly way.
He wasn't fighting.
He was trying to kill his enemy.
His blade sang through the air, each swing sharp enough to cleave mountains—but Gudras endured.
"How can a human be so… strong…?" Gudras thought, during his exchanges of hits against Azrael.
The vampire lord, now a snarling beast with bulging muscle and blackened skin, blocked strike after strike, his own strength seemingly endless.
Steel clashed with claw.
Muscle with mastery.
Azrael's blade nicked Gudras' arm—
Gudras' fist grazed Azrael's shoulder—
A counter, a dodge, a spin—
Each strike shook the battlefield.
The trees trembled. Rocks split open.
Azrael twisted mid-air, delivering a spinning slash—
Gudras ducked low and responded with a brutal uppercut, sending Azrael flying backward into a broken tree.
CRACK.
Azrael landed hard, rolling once before rising.
A smear of blood marked his cheek.
He wiped it away, calm but with a small smirk on his face.
But Gudras was already chanting.
From his outstretched arms, glyphs formed in the air—twisting, ancient, red like cursed blood.
The earth beneath them ruptured.
And then—they rose.
Dozens of reanimated corpses, warriors, vampires, monsters long forgotten.
Rotten, twisted bodies surged toward Azrael with hollow eyes and broken blades.
Gudras roared:
"Let's see if you can fight me… while drowning in the weight of death itself!"
Azrael didn't blink.
No sign of emotion, until he spoke a few words.
"Oh… other useless puppets…?" Azrael thought, while an electrifying feeling was raising in his body.
He was starting to enjoy the fight.
He was having fun.
So, his smile widened and became more "crazier".
He then bursted into a malicious and psychopathic laugh.
Gudras remained stunned, but he didn't care.
He only thought: "this guy is crazy."
"Let's end this now… shall we?" Azrael said , while crouching like he was charging something.
Azrael closed his eyes and held his sword, preparing for what it seemed to be a dash.
Then, he inhaled a lot of air and then exhaled, before opening his eyes.
A crack in the air was sensed by Gudras when he saw Azrael's eyes.
"IT'S TIME TO DIE, MONSTER! HAHAHAHA-" Azrael shouted.
Gudras immediately felt a shiver down his spine.
Azrael then dashed forward—into the horde.
It seemed like he disappeared into the wind.
He moved like a ghost.
One step—three heads flew.
One spin—five bodies fell.
One upward arc—the sky turned crimson.
Blood was everywhere.
But they kept coming.
He cut, dodged, weaved—
But the numbers grew.
For every one he cut down, Gudras raised two more.
The air around Azrael became red.
He kept slashing every single monster that came to him.
"Your blade is fast," Gudras hissed, advancing through the mist.
"But my death is endless!"
Azrael was surrounded… or not.
One of the undead grabbed his leg—another clawed at his back.
Then Gudras appeared behind him, moving with terrifying speed—fangs bared, claw aimed for Azrael's throat—
A perfect kill.
But—he missed.
Or rather, he struck an afterimage.
The Azrael he had attacked shattered like glass.
"What—?!"
Another Azrael appeared to his left—
Another behind him—
Another in front—
Five. Ten. Twenty identical Azraels, each standing perfectly still in the fog of the undead.
Gudras' eyes widened.
"An illusion…? No… these feel real—"
"HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!" AZRAEL LAUGHED!
Each image was breathing.
Each one radiated the same killing intent.
Gudras swung wildly, destroying one—then another—
But every time he did, two more appeared.
"Show yourself!" he roared.
Then—all of them moved.
Like a tidal wave of shadows.
Each Azrael slashed from a different direction.
Gudras tried to block, defend, roar, retaliate—
Too slow. Too confused… Too human.
Steel bit flesh. Again. And again.
Azrael's true self dropped from above, sword raised.
"This is the end, Monster."
"NOT SO FAST, HUNTER!" Gudras shouted, trying to cast some other kind of magic… but he couldn't.
Lowering his defense would've meant dying.
He was struck in Azrael's WIND OF STEEL.
He couldn't break free. He could do nothing.
The vampire looked up, his monstrous form still trying to process the impossible.
SLASH.
A blinding arc.
Azrael's blade cleaved down—through Gudras' chest.
All the images vanished at once like fog under sunlight.
Gudras staggered.
A long, deep gash ran across his chest from shoulder to hip.
His claws fell limp.
In the blink of an eye, both arms and legs separated from Gudras' body.
His mouth trembled.
"So… fast…" he muttered, a smile of admiration twisting his lips.
"So… beautiful…"
Gudras collapsed on the ground, his monstrous body broken, his chest split open from Azrael's final strike.
Blood poured from his wounds in rivers, soaking the soil beneath him.
Azrael stood tall, his blade lowered, his breathing calm.
The wind moved softly around him, tugging at his tattered black cloak.
For a long moment, there was nothing. No sound. No movement.
Then Gudras, still grinning through cracked fangs, gasped out:
"That technique… it's… monstrous…"
Azrael didn't answer at first.
Instead, he raised his eyes toward the pale moonlight, then looked back at Gudras, cold and quiet.
His voice was almost detached.
"I wasn't fighting seriously." Azrael spoke, with a cold voice.
He usually slayed vampires in silence.
But this time, he felt like he had to speak.
Gudras blinked. His bloody lips trembled.
"…What?"
Azrael stepped back slightly, as if dusting himself off after a light exercise.
"This entire time…" he continued, "I was only playing around. Testing. I wanted to see how powerful one of Maria's generals truly was."
Gudras froze.
Not from pain—
but from realization.
"Y-You weren't even trying…?" Gudras asked in shock.
He didn't even use all of his tricks.
He didn't have the time.
Azrael tilted his head, calmly reflecting on it. Then, with a faint sigh:
"You're strong. But not enough. I had to be sure…"
Gudras' monstrous form began to tremble, not with rage—but with dread.
He hadn't been defeated in battle.
He'd been evaluated.
Measured.
And found lacking.
He let out one final, broken chuckle, coughing blood with every syllable.
"Ha… haha… Then… she was right to fear you…"
"You truly are… the end of us…"
"Lady… Maria… I'll always…-" he exhaled, his voice broken.
Azrael turned his back, and Gudras became silent to the ground behind him, lifeless.
Azrael stood above him, his breathing steady once more.
The technique had taken much from him...
But it had ended the battle.
Azrael then took another look at the dead body in front of him.
A small wave of anger enveloped his heart , remembering flashbacks from other fights he had.
Azrael walked close to the body to scan it.
The wounds were still open.
His limbs were still on the ground.
His eyes were dead.
But… to be sure… he chopped off his head.
After that, he spit on the vampire lord and then looked at the village in the distance before moving his glaze again on him.
"He was too weak… he's certainly not a general…" Azrael said to himself, before putting his great sword away, sealing it on his back.
The mist cleared. The reanimated corpses collapsed. The forest slowly exhaled.
Azrael still had things to do.
And he knew that the fight was way too easy for him.
A general of Maria couldn't be that weak to him.
Moreover, there also was a bunch of vampires who had escaped him…
Then , he moved his glaze towards the man he had saved.
He passed out.
He was laying unconscious on the ground, next to the bush where he was launched.
Azrael walked close to him and picked him up.
"Let's go… I need some informations…" Azrael said, while starting to sprint towards the village…
—-
Far away, a pair of ancient eyes opened in a dark castle.
Maria.
She turned her gaze toward the sky.
"He used it again…" she whispered.
"The mirror technique. So he's grown into it at last."
She smiled.
"You're getting closer, Azrael. But you still can't reach me."