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Thalassar's anger rose, but he wasn't foolish enough to engage in combat with the King of Vampires when he wasn't at full power.

"Why are you here, Vlad?" the archlich asked.

"I'm here to tell you that as long as you don't cause trouble for my lord, you can go back to sleep. But if you truly want to stir up trouble, I suggest you head to Europe. There, you'll only be dealing with the Hightower, not me, my lord, or our organization," Vlad replied.

"Hightower?" Thalassar muttered, his mind racing to decipher the intrigue behind Vlad's words.

From what he remembered, the Hightower was a mage organization tasked with regulating mages and certain aspects of the Curtained World. It was founded by Merlin himself, and after Merlin vanished, it was managed by Envy, the Witch of Envy. That two-faced wretch, who preaches peace and harmony but is actually ruthless.

Many underestimated her, deceived by her gentle exterior, only to meet their end at her hands. The graves of those fools were covered with grass tall enough to reach one's knees.

But that wasn't the point. He recalled that the Hightower's influence spanned the globe, meaning they should have known about him by now. The fact that they hadn't sent anyone to stop his rampage left him with two possibilities: either they were powerless to stop him, or he wasn't within their jurisdiction.

And from what he knew, mages never liked sharing power. This could only mean that the Hightower had lost significant influence during the centuries he had slept beneath the sands.

"Is Europe the Hightower's territory?" the archlich asked.

"That's correct. You catch on quickly," Vlad responded with a smirk.

"Besides Europe, where else is within the Hightower's territory?" the archlich inquired.

"Nowhere. The Hightower only controls Europe. Everywhere else falls under the jurisdiction of our Order of Ember," Vlad answered.

[The entire world, except for Europe, is under the Order of Ember's control!?] The archlich was stunned. This revelation shook him. [Is Vlad lying? No, it seems unlikely. Even though I've deliberately avoided areas where mages reside, the Hightower should have sent someone to negotiate with me, even if they lacked the power to stop me.

I've been asleep for over 500 years, but that shouldn't have made all mages cowards. The only logical answer is that this region is outside the Hightower's jurisdiction.] The archlich concluded.

"And you expect me to rampage through the territory of a mage organization powerful enough to control the entire magical society? The same organization founded by Merlin himself? Even if the Hightower has weakened, I'm not foolish enough to challenge them directly," Thalassar paused.

"On the other hand, challenging a newly established organization like yours, without much foundation, could yield far greater rewards. Even if the Hightower has weakened, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. I'm sure that if I were to kill your leader and seize control of your organization, I'd gain far more!" Thalassar said with malicious intent, then softened his voice.

"What about you, Vlad? Why not join me in taking over your order? I know you don't want to serve mortals. With your immortality and vampiric power, combined with my material wealth and forbidden knowledge, we could entice many mages to serve us!" Thalassar proposed, attempting to sway Vlad.

He even floats from his throne toward Vlad who is standing on the ground below and standing on the same ground as Vlad, showing that they are equal.

"Come, Vlad! The King of Vampires, join me in creating an Eternal Empire, and you'll never have to fear the light of God or his servants again!" Thalassar extended his hand toward Vlad, trying to convince him.

Despite Thalassar's grand gesture and enticing words, Vlad didn't even flinch. He looked at Thalassar as though he were looking at an idiot.

"Are you an idiot?" Vlad asked.

"What!?" Thalassar stumbled.

"Yes, it's true that a starving camel is still larger than a horse. But..." Vlad paused, the atmosphere around him shifted, and his crimson eyes locked onto Thalassar's empty eye sockets, where only green light glowed—connecting directly to the archlich's soul within his phylactery.

"Have you ever considered... that we might not actually be the horse? But perhaps... a dragon?" Vlad said coldly. He reached up to his earpiece, pressing the connect button.

"My lord, negotiations have failed. We can proceed with the plan," Vlad said calmly.

"Affirmative. Charging the..." Thalassar caught fragments of the voice coming through Vlad's earpiece.

Vlad swiftly moved, retreating to a point 200 meters away from Thalassar.

"What are you trying to do, Vlad?" Thalassar asked, dread creeping into his heart as he sensed that something terrible was about to happen.

"Goodbye, Thalassar. It's been nice knowing you," Vlad replied with a smirk.

A sudden rumbling noise from above drew Thalassar's gaze to the sky.

The dark clouds parted as a blue light ripped through the sky toward the earth. Instinctively, Thalassar retreated, using every ounce of his magical power to flee the beam's range. The moment he laid eyes on it, he knew—this beam could kill him, delivering true death, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Yes, his shields were powerful enough to block a near-point-blank nuclear explosion and survive, but this beam? This was an entirely different matter. Even at full strength, with his ziggurat overflowing with soul power, he couldn't block it—let alone in his current weakened state. He wouldn't even last a second.

The searing heat of the colossal blue beam struck the black ziggurat head-on. The intense heat instantly melted the soul crystal atop it, followed by the obsidian-like structure. Millions of souls were released, fueling Thalassar's growing despair.

"Noooooooo—ooo! My vassals! My eternal vassals!" Thalassar wailed as he watched the beam slice through his ziggurat like a hot knife through butter. The molten remains of the ziggurat oozed to the ground, deepening his despair. That obsidian-like material was synthetic, crafted from the sacred volcano's long-dead obsidian.

It held the power to contain souls and extract energy, allowing Thalassar to use his eternal vassals indefinitely.

The ziggurat also served as his phylactery, a sanctuary for his one true soul. And now it was destroyed, reduced to melted slag. If his body were destroyed again... it would be his final death.

The bluish-white beam was fired from the Godslayer Cannon, with only 10% of its total accumulated charge—yet it had enough power to melt Thalassar's obsidian ziggurat completely.

From the satellite feed, Daniel observed the situation at the site. He noticed that Thalassar still lived, but he wasn't concerned. He knew Thalassar wouldn't survive for long.

"Ooooh, tch tch tch... oh, I'm sorry… did we just break your toy?" Vlad taunted, his voice dripping with sarcasm, mocking the despairing archlich.

"You! Vlad! You and your organization will pay!" Thalassar roared in fury. He activated the magic engravings on his black skull, igniting all his power, ready to fight to the death against Vlad, his nemesis.

"Yes! HAHAHA! That's what I've been waiting for! Come, you old corpse! Face ME!" Vlad's smile widened, a hint of madness gleaming in his eyes, blood seeping from them in sheer excitement.

One must understand, Vlad had been denied his mad rampages many times. First, by Envy, that two-faced woman, though she was his lord's lady, so he couldn't complain. Second, by his lord, preventing him from killing to his heart's content. And the Vatican? Their good relationship with his lord meant he couldn't unleash his madness on them either.

Yes, he had slaughtered many fools during the mage families' uprising not long ago, but that level of slaughter wasn't enough to sate his bloodlust. He craved either a large number of enemies to massacre or... a powerful opponent worthy of his wrath.

In his frenzy, Vlad swiftly unsheathed the sword his lord had bestowed upon him.

Card: Righteous Flame

Picture: A flaming sword burning with holy, cleansing fire, its radiant blade searing foul undead and abominations.

Rarity:

Type: Unique Artifact - Equipment

Mana Cost: 2 Light, 3 Non-Elemental Mana

Description:

Equipped creature gets +5/+5. Choose up to three targets; damage is equally distributed among them. Undead, Demons, and Devils are instantly destroyed when they take damage from the creature equipped with Righteous Flame.

Flavor Text:

Forged in the cleansing flames of the High Heavens, legend says it was baptized by the blood of the One True God.

Seeing the heavenly blade before him, Thalassar knew that even a speck of the holy flame from it would reduce him to ash. But no matter! This fight needed to end—he needed it to quell his fury!

"Vlad! You die!" Thalassar bellowed, casting a dark crushing spell toward Vlad. The spell's power was immense, enough to obliterate an entire town. The foul green magic surged at Vlad, but with one swift swing of his sword, he eradicated it instantly. But...

When the smoke and light cleared, Thalassar was nowhere to be seen.

"Thalassaarrrrrr! Get back here, you coward!" Vlad roared in fury, enraged that his enemy had fled without hesitation after such a grand display.