1792 The Only Leader

Out of frustration, Peter attacked the spot from where Erin had teleported. His head-tail continued to pound that spot and even created a crater. Seeing Erin escape right before his eyes had frustrated Peter more than anything. And the fact that she escaped so effortlessly was just putting salt on the wound.

In anger, it looked like Peter's new Lesser Wight, Laxmus, was doing the same. It was punching the ground like an angry gorilla and hitting it repeatedly as it imitated its new master.

The ground was easily shaking the whole nearby area.

"I don't know if it's just me...but I find it so weird to look at," Kev said. "I mean, after how much we were afraid of Laxmus and the fact that everyone in the Red Vampires respected him, and now for him to end up like this, isn't it ironic? He wanted to make the whole world bow, but now is nothing but a mere puppet."

Many Red Vampires at the scene felt the same way as well, and they had heard what Laxmus had said. Although they agreed with him on hatred for humans they didn't know his reasons which seemed petty more than anything. It was as if he felt being a vampire was a curse and because he had to deal with it, he wished everyone else did as well.

While most of the vampires that sided with him, did so because they thought they were superior. Which contradicted the two ways of thinking.

However, something strange was in the underground town—the Dhampirs that had come with Erin were still inside the settlement.

And through whatever means Erin had escaped, she hadn't revealed it to them.

The dhampirs soon realised their danger and were trying to leave from where they had come. However, by communicating with each other telepathically, the Vampires were one step ahead and had already blocked off any way of escaping.

The Red Vampires were not tired yet. This war had filled many with anger because they had lost a lot of their friends and even one of their leaders. Therefore, they didn't show any mercy to the escaping Dhampirs.

The battle resumed, and this time it was more of a one-sided massacre. Ni, seeing this herself, didn't know what to do since she was also part of the Dhampirs.

"I can help," Xander suddenly suggested, "My shadow power... I didn't get it from Laxmus. We had been designing contingency plans against him for a while, and the shadow was one of them."

Using his own shadow crystal that looked dimmer than the last time he took it out, he used the shadow to shroud Ni for now and decided to think about what to do with her later. However, it was too late for the rest of the dhampirs.

There was too much wrath, and bloodshed as the Red Vampires massacred the dhampirs without showing pity or mercy. By now, Peter had also calmed down and had stopped acting crazy.

The group decided to head to where he was standing. Everyone was curious about what had truly happened and what would be the next course of action.

However, as they did though, Xander noticed that Layla was wobbly on her feet.

"Layla!" He shouted and ran across the ground, grabbing onto her.

"Is she okay?" Shiro asked. He had just come from a tough fight against one of the Guardians. Although after the Guardians lost their shadow, the fight became much easier, and Shiro defeated his opponent swiftly.

"I think so. She's just tired and will recover with good rest." Xander replied. He could hear her faint heartbeat and even sense her breathing slowly.

The battle between the Red Vampires and the dhampirs had ended by now. The Red Vampires were currently only a quarter of their size when the war began. Nevertheless, a little over 200 hundred Vampires had managed to survive.

However, of all the dhampirs that had attacked, only a handful had managed to escape.

Earlier, since Peter and his group had landed right in a war, they had taken care of most of the Guardians.

The group came to this planet with a heart of vengeance and had planned retribution for the Red Vampires for attacking the Green city, and if it was another day, they would have seen this plan through to the end, but this day was different.

Even though this group of newcomers had been attacking them moments ago, now that the dhampirs were defeated, the Red Vampires were on their knees, staring off into the distance, not knowing what to do now.

"I really don't know what to report back to Dad. Do we say we won this battle? Achieved our goal?" Jake asked.

"Well yeah, it's hard to judge what has happened," Muka replied, walking towards Jake. "The Red Heart is no longer with Laxmus, who was our biggest fear. I don't think the Red Vampires will ever be the same threat as ever after this, and it looks like our other Leader was working as a double agent."

While saying this, Muka looked towards Layla, lying flat on the ground, relaxed.

"However, the Red Heart is in the hands of someone who sees the whole world as her enemy, and she is also the one who defeated Laxmus. This simply means we could be in for an even bigger mess."

Just then, Lucia, Jessica, and Minny came running back to the others, looking tired and out of breath.

"I'm sorry, but we couldn't find it anywhere," Jessica said. "The sword that you were talking about. There were a few other weapons and a strange box and some larger stuff that we couldn't open but nothing that resembled the sword."

A few minutes back, they were sent to find Arthur's sword. But after hearing what had happened, they knew it would be almost impossible to get it back because the sword was now in the hands of the vengeful Dhampir Queen.

And since she also had the Red Heart, the combination of the two could potentially be very dangerous.

…

After the meeting ended, they began to focus on their own things, and Jake reported to Logan to update the latter about what had happened and how the mission went.

But that was when the Red Vampires started to do something as well. They began to gather in front of the wrecked Lab and headed towards where the others were.

However, they didn't get to close, only staying away for around twenty metres and waiting.

"Um…this is a bit strange, right? Should we do or say something?" Jake asked.

"Not yet," Xander stated, as he could tell that Layla was finally opening her eyes.

"Xander…" Layla said in a soft voice, smiling and rubbing her forehead again. "You're alive."

"Well, thank you for the vote of confidence. Did you really want me dead?" Xander asked.

Shaking her head and lifting herself slowly, she noticed Peter and the others, the destroyed settlement and more.

"I guess everything wasn't a dream in the end. Did Laxmus die? And what happened to Erin?" Layla slowly asked.

Xander then explained everything that had happened, even though he felt now wasn't the right time. He just wanted her to rest but knew she wouldn't give up until she had her answers.

"I see…I should thank everyone." Then, using the sword, she pushed herself off the ground, and Xander helped her. Quickly, both Kev and June went to her side, and she finally stood properly with her hands around their shoulders.

"Please, you really shouldn't walk," June pleaded.

Layla didn't respond because her thoughts were occupied by something else. Instead, she continued to stare into the eyes of everyone there. She didn't know why they were there, nor did she know who everyone was, but she knew one thing: they had all worked as hard as they could to stop Laxmus and Erin, and most importantly, they were on Quinn's side.

That was the critical factor that they all had.

"Thank you, everyone, thank you so much for helping me. No, not just for me, but for the whole vampire and human race from collapsing." Layla stated while bowing her head.

The group felt a bit embarrassed; some of them didn't know what to say. The red vampire leader, considered an enemy of the world, had given her apology. Confirming she really wasn't an enemy after all and was one of the good ones. It was mind-scratching, but they somewhat knew this could be the case after learning the truth from Quinn.

"Quinn will be happy that you were helping him as well," Peter said. "And hey, look what I got out of this whole thing. It might be a loss for everyone, but it's a plus for me." Peter smiled, patting the shoulder of the large Laxmus, who just grunted.

Just then, a particular vampire walked over to Layla and bowed down on the ground.

"My name is Hannah, captain of a small squad of the Red Vampires. I greet the Leader with great respect." Hannah said.

"Please...stand," Layla replied. "I was the leader of the Red Vampires, but.."

Standing up immediately after hearing that, Hannah had a tear in her eyes.

"No, the Red Vampires are here still. We all fought for a cause, and you were one of our leaders. Still our Leader. Which is why I ask you, as there is still something you need to do."

Stepping to the side, Hannah presented her hand and gestured at the two hundred or so Red Vampires.

"Please, as the only leader of the Red Vampires, look after us, and guide us on what to do!" Hannah bowed again, and following her words, the rest of the vampires did as well.

******

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