Taos lunged at Diana. His elongated, claw-like nails struck her dagger with a sharp, metallic screech. Spinning toward the vampire who had slipped behind her, Diana hurled the dagger. The blade sliced through the air and embedded itself deep into Taos's eye. Cursing vehemently, the vampire clawed frantically at his eye to dislodge the steel. Seizing the opportunity, Diana summoned her bow through magic. Just as she drew the string back to pierce his remaining eye, Isolde struck her from behind with razor-sharp shards of ice.
"Sol, hold your mark!" Diana cried out in pain.
"I'll try!" Sol managed to shout back.
Meanwhile, Hekate was locked in combat with Silvan. Silvan might have been short, but his stature granted him a distinct advantage: explosive speed. Where other vampires remained visible as they moved, Silvan accelerated so abruptly he seemed to vanish into thin air. To keep him at bay, even if only for a moment, Hekate encircled herself in a ring of fire.
Evelina had not yet attacked Amor. Involuntarily, she hesitated to fight him. Having no time to decipher the reason behind her own hesitation, Evelina shifted her target and surged toward Hekate.
Already pushed to her limits, Hekate panicked at the sight of Evelina charging toward her. Panic was the fatal mistake she could least afford; she lost control over the ring of fire, leaving herself completely exposed. Spotting the opening, Silvan locked onto her, intending to crush her to pieces. Just as he was about to collide with her, Amor intervened, seizing Silvan by the throat and hurling him backward.
"Is that how a gentleman treats a lady? Did your family teach you no manners at all?" Amor taunted.
Silvan glared furiously. "Hey Evelina, I'm taking this bastard. The girl is yours."
Hekate halted Evelina's advance with a torrent of flames. Gathering the residual fire, she condensed it into a small fireball.
"Who are you supposed to be, Amor's girlfriend?" Evelina sneered mockingly.
"Why, does it matter? Didn't you already sleep with him? Even if I were his girlfriend, we'd be broken up by now anyway."
"I just wondered how much the person I'm about to kill means to him. After all, you look like a woman no man would ever want. You're weak, plain, and you don't even know how to speak to him. You're going to die, Hekate."
"Come on then, let's see who kills whom, you bitch!" Hekate screamed, consumed by rage. Hurlng the fireball directly at Evelina, she sprinted toward her.
At that moment, Sol was decimating Isolde. Every time a spear made of sunlight touched her flesh, Isolde shrieked in agony, the solar radiance temporarily halting her regenerative powers.
Isolde looked at him, a flicker of fear and curiosity crossing her face. "You aren't human either, are you?"
"That has nothing to do with it. Your defeat is simply the natural consequence of facing your absolute nemesis."
"No... I've seen you before. Now I remember. Three hundred years ago, in Athens. Yes, during 'Krogen'—the vampire-human war. I saw you there. You were fighting against us."
"You're mistaken. I'm only seventeen. It was likely one of my ancestors."
"Did your ancestor also carry a V-shaped scar on his hand, Phoebus?"
Sol's demeanor shattered. The calm, patient, and focused leader was instantly replaced by a tense, terrified, and enraged youth. Drawing back his spear, he hurled it at Isolde. Just before impact, the spear burst into a blinding flash. The searing light dazed the vampires. Taking advantage of Isolde's temporary blindness, Sol caught her off guard, drove his spear into her chest, and tore her heart from her ribcage. Just as he felt a wave of relief, Isolde turned into ice and shattered into fragments.
It was a decoy. The real Isolde had already slipped behind him. Delivering a crushing blow to Sol's stomach, she grabbed him by the throat just as he was about to vomit blood, freezing his blood right inside his veins. Sol was caught completely unprepared. His companions watched in horror as he began to choke on his own frozen blood. Realizing he had no other recourse, Sol transformed himself into a miniature sun. Radiant light burst from his body, illuminating the area as though morning had suddenly broken.
Though Isolde threw herself backward at the last second, the light forced her back into her human form. Due to the extreme speed at which she had been moving as a vampire, her human body slammed violently against the wall, blood spurting from her nose and mouth. Wiping the blood away without losing a beat, she conjured a spear of ice, spun it in her grip, and aimed it at Sol. Their eyes locked. Sol spat the blood accumulated in his throat. "Bring it, vampire," he growled. They charged at each other, the clash of their spears echoing down the length of the shore.
Diana pressed her battle against Taos, pinning him down under a relentless hail of arrows. Her bow was enchanted—a gift from her master, Mim. Every time the bowstring was drawn, the magic summoned arrows from a pocket dimension pre-stocked with multiplication charms, providing her with an infinite arsenal.
Once Taos was fully pinned, she closed the distance and plunged her dagger into his throat. Before the creature could even process the pain of the arrows, he felt the icy bite of the blade. Trailing the dagger around his neck, Diana gripped his head with both hands and twisted with all her strength. The vampire's head rotated a full circle, snapping free from the spine and coming off in her hands. Taos was finished. Only three vampires remained.
Hekate seemed to have transmuted her fury into an immortal flame. She unleashed strike after strike upon Evelina, giving her no room to breathe. The right side of Evelina's face and both of her arms were scorched by Hekate's fire. Driven by desperation, Evelina lunged forward, diving straight into the flames. The fire extinguished in her wake as she struck Hekate with full physical force. Hekate felt several of her ribs snap. Yet, she refused to let her friends down. "I can never do anything right during training; I might as well make myself useful here," she thought. Throwing her weight forward, she tackled the exhausted Evelina, wrapping her arms around her. The vampire couldn't fathom what she was attempting, but Hekate had already resolved her course. She engulfed her entire body in flames. Though Evelina shrieked amid the blaze, Hekate held on with unwavering grip. Finally, Evelina burned away into ash. Hekate had won.
The duel between Amor and Silva was also turning in Amor's favor. Silva had fallen under the influence of Amor's Cosmyth. His attention continuously wavered, and he began to doubt his own vision. Extending his newly awakened claws, Amor gouged Silva's eyes, blinding him. Despite his blindness, Silva had little trouble tracking Amor using his heightened vampiric senses and echolocation. In an instant, Silva vanished and materialized behind Amor, delivering a devastating kick that shattered Amor's leg and sent him crashing to the ground. Just as Silva prepared to finish him, Amor unleashed his power, casting an illusion that tricked Silva into believing he had already slain his opponent. Though it would buy him time, Amor desperately needed aid.
Diana rushed to his side. Grabbing her wounded friend by the arm, she pulled him up and hauled him away from Silva. To buy them time, Hekate trapped Silva inside a swirling vortex of fire.
"Hekate, are you alright?! Can you keep fighting?" Amor shouted.
"Yes, but I don't know how much longer I can hold on. Hurry up and help me!"
Diana chimed in, "I'm fine too, thanks for asking! So, what now? Your leg is snapped. You look completely out of commission."
"Diana, I have to ask something of you."
"?"
"You have to let me drink your blood."
"What! Absolutely not!"
"Like we have a choice!"
"Ugh, fine—just this once. Deal?"
"Yes, yes, now give me your neck!"
Amor latched onto Diana's neck and drank her blood, careful not to repeat the mistake he had made with Hekate. Once his leg regenerated, he pulled away from her. The two sprang up to assist Hekate, who was now utterly exhausted. For someone unaccustomed to using her power, sustaining a fight for this long was nearly impossible. "I... I don't feel so good..." Hekate murmured before collapsing unconscious. Amor handed her to Diana and turned to face Silva alone. This was to be a duel between two vampires, untouched by outside interference.
Silva moved first, grabbing Amor by the arm and hurling him into a boulder ahead. Amor lifted the massive rock and threw it back at Silva, sprinting right behind it. Keeping Silva obscured behind the flying boulder, Amor waited until he was certain he was out of his opponent's line of sight, then delivered a heavy strike to the rock, accelerating it even further. As Silva scrambled to dodge the boulder, he came eye to eye with Amor, who had already closed the gap. Amor shoved him directly into the path of the flying rock. Rebounding from the crushing impact, Silva barely had time to comprehend what was happening.
Slipping behind him, Amor delivered a brutal kick, pinning Silva between himself and the boulder. The opposing forces reduced everything below the vampire's waist to a bloody pulp, bisecting Silva entirely. To ensure the kill, Amor sank his teeth into Silva's throat, tearing through his windpipe. Placing one hand on the throat and the other on the chest, he ripped the head clean off the remains of the body. Amor had won his duel as well.
Only Sol and Isolde remained. Turning to look, the others saw the pair still locked in combat. Sol was not trying to kill Isolde; his true strategy was to stall her until dawn. And his plan had worked.
The sun was rising from behind the horizon. Dazzled by the sudden light, Isolde shifted her gaze toward the sea. Her time was up. Dropping her ice spear, Isolde raised her hands into the air.
"I surrender," she said.
Sol paused for a second, glancing back at his companions. They were all watching him. He slowly lowered his spear. Amor called out, "What do we do, take her with us?"
Sol turned back to Isolde and looked at her one last time. Her face wore an expression of acceptance, pleading for mercy. Unfortunately, Sol had no mercy to offer. Jerking his spear upward, he drove it through Isolde's jaw, piercing straight into her brain. Isolde was dead. Sol let go of the spear and watched the corpse slump to the ground.
Hekate gasped, "She surrendered, why did you kill her!"
Diana added, "Yes, she could have given us crucial information!"
"I know why," Amor said quietly.
Sol glared at him. "And what would my reason be?"
"You were afraid of what she might say. I heard you two—she saw you in that war three hundred years ago. Am I wrong, Phoebus?"
"You're wrong. That's the name of one of my ancestors. If you're so curious, go ask Luna. In fact, let's just go back to the hotel."
Amor sighed, "Fine, have it your way, Sol. But I'm not the only one who senses something strange going on here. I feel something off about Luna, too. I'll ask later... I'm exhausted." With that, they set off toward the hotel.