“Aspis tou Aiax!” said Marvin right as the white haired vampire launched his assault, the glowing heptagram in his hand morphing into the powerful shield. It worked for a moment, but the vampire used his sword in a two handed grip, breaking through the shield. As soon as that happened, Marly lunged at him, a knife in her hand, pulled out of lord knows where, joined by the guy from earlier, Alpha, Marvin reminded himself.

The two dhampirs managed to briefly push back the vampire. Soon they were joined by more people, some being like them, some being werebeasts that had morphed into a wide array of animals. Many sorcerers were among the crowds as well, looking down at the fight.

If their frowns and general expressions were anything to go by, then they had the same thoughts as Marvin.

This was too easy.

The vampire didn’t seem to be actually trying to hurt anyone, holding back on attacking and even when he did attack, it wasn’t with his full strength. He was even smiling as he fought them off. It might have been too pessimistic of him, but he believed they didn’t have a chance of succeeding without help.

“What do you want?” said the girl-Yui-as she stepped up to the immortal in front of them. He saw various of the sorcerer apprentices around them manifest long range weapons, some of them bows and arrows, some spearheads similar to Maria Rockwell, and some even produced guns, which shocked Marvin more than a little.

The vampire bent down, jumping up to the top of the twin staircases that had now been abandoned even by those that were there before, looking down at the teens with a grimace on his face.

“I seek not to fight!” he said loudly. “There is a special field put around the building. The people outside wouldn’t hear you scream if I decided to kill you. But even if I do enjoy fighting with you, that was the very reason I struck, I see no reason for this to devolve into needless bloodshed. More than enough of that is on the horizon.

“I am here to claim two people. I do not care who they actually are as long as they are the finest sorcerers you can produce.” he raised his sword high to the air, “I urge you to give yourselves! Support the coming of the New Order! The perfection that shall surpass all notions of utopia ever thought of in the past! Rise from simple apprentices in an old and decrepit system and bring into fruition the future where true prosperity is the norm!”

Silence reigned in the grand house. Marvin felt Marly’s presence beside him as the vampire spoke. This-this was like a complete one eighty compared to Amdis. The horror of that beast was still in his mind, but with him there was always a chance of victory. He was a being that wanted defeat.

But this-this was a completely different thing. A completely different feeling. Eobard wasn’t there this time. Kara couldn’t magically pop in and save them. Unless the barrier-of course, the barrier!

He couldn’t deactivate it of course, even Kara had needed an elaborate spell and a long time to do that, but what if he could go out and ask for help. He looked at Marly beside him. If James and Ava Mallory truly did care for family to the extent he thought of, then something could be arranged.

His tuxedo pants had pockets. In the left one he had put the cloth needed to clean his glasses and in the right he had the lighter Kara had given him. It looked like she was saving him even from beyond the grave.

He grabbed it within the pocket, all he had to do was point it upward and shout out Ignis. He could do it.

Flashes of the battle with the hybrid minotaur went through his mind. This wouldn’t be a repeat of that. He’d go on the offensive, he wouldn’t freeze.

But before he could get over himself and actually do that, a series of arrows, flying spear heads, bullets and even a few shurikens and boomerangs were thrown at the vampire who dodged them effortlessly as he once again jumped down.

“Fine then!” said the vampire as he grabbed his weapon with both hands.

“Dammit.” muttered Marvin. “Toxon tou Apollona.”

He aimed the black bow at the vampire, before taking a deep breath. “Multi.” he said quietly as he focused on the bow. He’d trained on the spell for months, it had to work.

And it did. A dozen of arrows all flew towards the vampire, thankfully not going through any of the other apprentices. He might have managed to dodge or block a lot of them, but a few struck, alongside some other hits from the rest of the sorcerer apprentices. It looked like this vampire, Arnoldo as he’d called himself, had made the same mistake Amdis did.

And it would be his downfall.

“Caelum Terra.” said Marvin quietly, hoping Marly would catch the meaning of his words.

If her rushing toward Arnoldo was any indication, it would all go according to plan. “Dhampirs, werebeasts! Get his limbs!” she shouted as she threw her knife at him.

Arnoldo may have caught it, but a bear and wolf duo managed to grab his arms in time, while a few other knives were thrown by dhampirs, weakening the vampire.

“Get cover!” said Marvin as loudly as he could, igniting the lighter. A fury of fiery colours dominated the spell circle carved into it, as the dark haired teen spoke, “Ignis”

A torrent of flames emerged and flew straight to the vampire, thankfully not hitting any of Marvin’s peersm but fully engulfing their enemy.

A moment later, small flames dotted the ground, and the vampire’s significantly burned body stood motionless with its sword having nearly melted and smoke coming out of it.

Marvin struggled not to fall, as a hand reached out to stabilise him from his shoulders. He was surprised to find that it was in fact gloved, and that it belonged to Yui.

“So, you are Kara Snow’s apprentice.” she said softly, looking at him like he was the most interesting thing she’d seen all day.

He saw Marly run up to him, looking angry. No. She wasn’t angry, she was disgusted. Next she started yelling, telling him that what he did was stupid, putting everyone in danger, including her, how could he have done-

“Marvin?” a soft voice broke him out of his thoughts. Marly was suddenly standing next to him, looking at him worriedly. He managed a soft, insincere smile that he was sure didn’t fool her. Damn magic.

Suddenly, the blonde glowed, a golden glow he knew signified magic, and she was gone in a flash of blinding light.

James Mallory stood in her place with an angry expression on his face, holding his golden rapier in his hand as he looked at the charred body in front of him.

“Young Perlie.” he said, after looking around the room for a bit.

“Y-Yes, sir?” he said, sure that his stressed gulping was audible to the entire room.

“Ava tried to contact you telepathically, but we got no response. A magical barrier, rather weak but not incompetent, was raised around my house. What happened?”

“Sir.” Alpha saluted, his crimson eye seeming to glow as the older man looked straight at him. “A vampire attacked us. It was only thanks to teamwork, and a rather risky move on the part of Marvin Perlie that we managed to stop him.”

The burned body of the vampire then started moving slightly, as his body healed rapidly and he began to glow. A colour that seemed to be a combination of red and purple engulfed him. It was only due to his close proximity that Marvin noticed the stone at his sword’s guard glowing a similar colour.

It was also due to his proximity that he heard him mutter something about old fools and their plans.

“Is that-” huffed the vampire after the lightshow was finished. “-the best you can do? Because, while not bad, it will only get you killed.” His eyes seemed to light up when he noticed the commander, the amusement evident in his eyes.

“I know why you’re here you foul beast.” said James Mallory, holding his sword tightly. “A show of power. It’s a pity you won’t even be able to face your masters after this. You overplayed your hand, prepare to fall!”

The vampire rushed to James Mallory so fast that to Marvin he looked like a blur. Somehow, the old man managed to dive out of the way, taking the dark haired teen with him.

Getting up, the commander pointed his sword toward Arnoldo, sidestepping his attack, while simultaneously putting his blade through his chest, where his heart should be, stopping him.

“Corpses desperately clinging to life.” said James Mallory, disdain evident in his voice. The stone in the sword glowed once more as he twisted it in the monster's chest.“That’s all you vampires are. For too long we have lived in fear of you.”

James Mallory removed the sword, letting the vampire fall to the ground, a black liquid coming out of his body as he laughed quietly to himself. “The New Order is coming, commander. You have only bested Amdis and myself. These aren’t victories. Not even you can stop us this time.”

A shiver ran down Marvin’s whole body. He looked down at the vampire, and the man that had bested him. James Mallory.

Summer was certainly going to be a lot more interesting, and terrifying, than he expected.