The Fallen Vampire

"Which of you is to become Sect leader?"

""Both of us.""

"Then I must test both of you."

"...At the same time?" Aveena clarified.

"Naturally."

Taira\'s eyes narrowed. "Be warned. You get but one opportunity to invoke this test of yours. Afterwards, I expect you to comply totally."

Tiche smirked pridefully.

"You have my word. Are you still man enough to accept my challenge?"

"...How eager you are to learn." Taira shook his head. "Our first lesson has begun already."

Taira snapped his fingers and a deep blue circle of flame surrounded the three of them.

The other inhabitants backed away to avoid any sudden cases of frostbite- save for the wives who barely felt anything at all.

Except pity.

Aveena shrugged off her outer covering while Taira summoned his weapon to his hand in the form of a very long sickle.

However, Taira was surprised to find that his soul weapon looked a bit different from normal.

The blade was just a few inches longer than before; possessing a more serrated edge with jagged points like the wing of a demon.

In addition, it\'s formerly golden blade had been replaced by a homogeneous mix of black and blue ice.

The previous ruby colored shaft was now made out of a much darker black metal, with etchings of silver symbols inscribed along the top and near the butt of the weapon.

Though graceful before, it now seemed much more menacing to the eye.

"Oh? How eye-catching." Aveena smiled as she re-wrapped her fists. "You ready, hon?"

"Mhm. Let\'s begin."

Tiche saw Aveena lunge at her first.

As always, her sized ballooned as vibrant red tattoos showed up along the course of her body.

Tiche had already seen Aveena\'s prized fist art before, so she prepared herself to get in closer and avoid any of it\'s signature long range surprises.

All the while, she kept her eye on Taira who had yet to make any dramatic moves.

Her own sword seemed to become super heated before the blade itself melted down.

Bright ruby colored gauntlets formed along Tiche\'s arms.

She met Aveena in striking range first; allowing her the privilege of dealing first blow.

Her fist sailed out and struck the oni full force in her muscular abdomen.

Tiche was no easy opponent, and was quite strong physically.

She could blow away most cultivators with one punch.

However, Aveena was an oni, and one who had specifically trained her body over the years to take large amounts of abuse.

So even though Tiche did strike first, her dream of ending this in one hit would remain unfulfilled.

Aveena\'s flesh was like a leather punching bag filled with diamond sand.

Her opponent couldn\'t even tell if she had succeeded in injuring her at all.

Aveena only smiled like a beautiful buxom berserker; earning her opponent\'s attention as well as her ire.

Finally, it was Aveena\'s time to strike back, but Tiche was left a little confused by her beginning motions.

\'She supposedly uses fist arts, so then why does this look like…\'

"Nine Yin Palm Art : Winter\'s Flow."

The cold air in the room was suddenly siphoned and traveled towards Aveena\'s palms.

With movements as graceful as a dancer\'s, Aveena lashed out with her palms in seemingly simple movements.

Tiche was dismissive of this movement at first, but as time went on it became harder and harder for her to block.

It almost seemed as if she was progressively getting faster…

\'No, I\'m slowing down..!\'

Every time that Tiche blocked with her arms; ice was generated along the surface.

\'…Annoyingly troublesome.\'

Tiche superheated her gauntlets once again and melted away the frost along her body.

With her full reflexes restored, Tiche quickly picked out a small opening near her opponent\'s midsection.

With the speed of a jet plane, she threw out her fist in the small gap between Aveena\'s movements and struck her directly in the sternum.

This time, she directly felt bone crack underneath the power of her knuckles and she smiled in satisfaction.

But her smug smile was wiped away nearly two seconds later when Aveena\'s open palm struck her hard in the nose.

"Y-You…!"

"If you avert your gaze for even a second this\'ll be over." Aveena said with a bloodied smile.

"I want to see what you can- Kugh!"

Tiche looked down at her midsection and the large icy blade that was jutting out of it from behind.

Cold qi was freezing her organs from the inside out even faster than she could use her internal energy to thaw them.

\'Damn it..!\'

She looked up at where Taira once stood and found the area empty.

"Cheating bastard…"

"She warned you." Taira replied from behind.

Tiche\'s mind went back to Aveena\'s last words and she grimaced.

She had gotten so immersed within the battle in front of her that she took her focus off of Taira for just a single moment.

In that brief timeframe, he not only closed the distance between them, but impaled her from behind without tipping off her senses.

All without emitting even the faintest trace of bloodlust or even danger.

\'He is a man who seemingly moves while carrying nothing… Unbelievable.\'

"This game is done. I expect you to live up to your word." Taira yawned.

Fifty years is a long time.

In that period of cultivating, fornicating, and learning, Taira and his wives not only learned how to build themselves up, but how to uplift each other too.

Though Aveena falls below her husband in terms of destructive power, there is no greater partner for him in a fight than her.

The way she fights is specifically tailored to exhaust, overwhelm, and captivate.

Taira is a man who exploits openings no matter how small.

No matter the opponent, she can almost always forcibly cause an opening for her husband to take advantage of.

They are like true yin and yang.

Had Tiche not stubbornly tried to challenge them both at the same time, they might have found themselves in the middle of an entirely different outcome.

"I demand…another-"

"You are in a position to demand nothing. I gave you a moment to reconsider, and you did not take it." Taira reminded.

Humiliated wasn\'t the right word to describe how Tiche was feeling.

Embarrassed? Annoyed?

More than anything, she just wanted a proper re-match to prove her ability wasn\'t this shallow.

But, she had already given her word that she would comply.

And for the asanbosam, one who openly breaks their word becomes an outcast.

"D-Damn it…"

"We need to hear you say it." Aveena goaded.

Tiche spat out a heap of blood onto the floor.

"…I… concede."

Taira removed his blade from Tiche\'s backside and watched her body fall to the ground.

Aveena\'s fierce demeanor disappeared almost instantly.

Instead, she smiled kindly and dropped to her knees in front of her.

Reaching inside of her ring, she pulled out one of Vermeil\'s own pills and fed her quickly.

"Circulate your internal energy if you don\'t want to freeze from the inside out. It seems my husband\'s new weapon comes with nasty new effects."

Tiche could physically feel her organs freezing up, so she didn\'t have time to complain about such baby-like treatment.

While she healed, Taira dismissed the wall of blue flames cordoning off the area.

Now, he was clearly able to see the stunned faces brought about by a crowd that was unable to even perceive his movements.

"Does anyone else have an objection?" Taira asked.

Unsurprisingly, no one else even considered stepping forward.

Atleast, not to challenge them anyway.

"I have a question."

Surprisingly, Vaal stepped forward with the first serious look on his face that was relatively unlike him.

"I must know for sure, cousin and kin-bride. Would you have us form a clan with the races of light?"

Taira and Aveena looked at each other for a fraction of a moment before inevitably turning their gaze back to Vaal.

"It isn\'t our specific goal, but it certainly will not be an impossibility." Aveena shrugged.

"After everything you\'ve heard here today, don\'t tell us that you still are wary of interaction. I had thought you more courageous than that." Taira chuckled.

All five of his wives stared at their husband like he had just grown nine new tails.

\'Did he just… joke with someone other than us..?\'

\'I can\'t believe it…\'

\'No fucking way…\'

\'Little Ina is never going to believe this shit.\'

\'Perhaps hell has also frozen over…\'

Vaal himself chuckled in a mature tone.

"Quite the opposite… I had just wanted to be sure we were on a better path."

Vaal suddenly shuffled his feet awkwardly as if he were trying to remember exactly how to do something.

Eventually, he got down on one knee and raised his hands in a wushu gesture similar to the one Aveena exhibited earlier.

"First Discipline Vaal Naa\'leth greets his new Youn Wou- No, how do you say it… Dai-Shi."

All around them, the rest of the hunting party were following Vaal\'s example and performing their own greetings.

Even Tiche did not seem to take an issue with it.

Nearby, Vermeil pinched Enyo on the butt to get her attention.

"Hey, cougar-pedia..?" She whispered.

"I told you that I don\'t know how I feel about that name… but what is the matter?" She rolled her eyes.

"What\'s Dai-Shi mean?" Vermeil ignored the first part of Enyo\'s sentence entirely.

"It was a very old, very cultural term for the great god of undead. It means \'The Great Death\'. It\'s quite the compliment, no?"