The rocky surroundings stopped being monotonous as Kain and his troupe of Dumahim approached the drawbridge to the silenced cathedral, a pair of bored-looking Zephonhim standing guard while on either side of the bridge was a moat, which was typically a problem for any vampire. Both of the Zephonhim tensed when they saw Kain and his army.
"Greetings Lord Kain." One of them spoke with a terse politeness.
"Greetings." Kain replied.
"State your business." The other one demanded.
"Since when do I, Lord Kain, have to state my business?" Kain sneered.
The two Zephonhim glanced at each other, before the politer one replied.
"Please forgive my companion Lord Kain. It is almost the end of his shift and he doesn't usually stay up this far into the morning. But if you wish to pass and enter the Zephonhim territory you of all people may do so. I do not see why you brought a small army with you"
Kain's brow furrowed, expecting some resistance. He began to doubt that that one Zephonhim at least was not possessed. His instincts however was screaming 'trap'
"Thank you very much, but I'm afraid I'll have to decline. If I may, I'd like to see your Lord Zephon as well as Turel, whom I believe is staying here"
"Well if you want to see them..." The first guard began again.
"...And I would prefer they could come out to see me instead." Kain explained.
The two guards glanced at each other again. "As you wish." The polite one bowed then turned to enter the cathedral, leaving the other one to watch Kain and his company with narrow eyes. He heard the Dumahim behind him began to chatter quietly amongst them-selves as they waited.
"Is he sure that they've all been possessed"
"Maybe this is all some mistake"
"No way, I saw some of them affected myself"
"What's going to happen"
"Hush." Kain snapped, and at once all the Dumahim were silenced. Kain turned back to the Zephonhim who was still watching them all warily. A few minutes afterwards Zephon approached from behind the gate. "Lord Kain." He bowed once he spotted the uber-vampire. "Zephon." Kain nodded.
"What is it that you wish of me"
Kain's eyes narrowed. "I want to take both you and Turel away from the Hylden"
"Hylden? I don't know what you're talking about." Zephon gave a blank look.
"I'm sure you don't." Kain replied, meaning the opposite. "In any case, you're coming with us"
"And what will you do with me once you have me?" Zephon asked cautiously.
"I don't know...Get it out of you... or something." Kain muttered, frustrated.
"How? By exorcising me? You sound like a human!" Zephon laughed nervously.
Wrong thing to say.
In a flash, Kain's talons raked across Zephon's face, leaving two gashes across his cheek. Zephon backed off, hissing. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" He demanded. "Calling you a human? Why don't you stop acting like one then? Exorcism! What kind of 'father' pulls that nonsense on his 'Son?' when nothing is wrong with him, let alone those who are vampiric"
"Don't play games with me." Kain hissed back. "Melchiah has already seen you possessed"
"And why do you believe him and not me?"
Kain stood there, contemplating what Zephon had asked, unable to answer. The question remained unanswered, however, as Zephon abruptly hunched over as if ill, interrupting Kain's thoughts as Zephon's eyes glowed a bright green, and anyone could tell that he knew the pretense was over. "Very well then, if that's how it's going to be." He said finally after regaining control. He jerked his head to the Zephonhim who was still waiting nearby, who opened the gate behind him, revealing a mixed army of Zephonhim and Dumahim.
"Attack." Zephon ordered quietly, the vampires behind him streaming past to wash onto Kain and his army. Kain wasted no time attacking back, brining forth his makeshift sword (it wasn't the soul reaver but it sufficed.) and hacking off the arm of the first vampire to approach him. A pike skewered him before he had a chance to fall. Kain blocked the next vampire that came to him, the sword scraping along the pike the other held, a moment before Kain jerked his talon towards the vampire's neck and ripped his throat out. He then quickly spun to strike a Zephonhim female which attempted to attack him from behind, but she still managed to get a hit in, kicking him down, dangerously close to the moat.
He struggled to keep his face away from the water a moment before hopping back up and facing the vampiress, who was running towards him. Kain merely dodged while the vampiress' momentum kept carrying her forward and sent her into the water, where she floundered for a moment before dissolving. Kain didn't stand around to wait, however, slicing off another appendage of another vampire coming to attack then his other arm. A Dumahim moved into attack but was tackled by another Dumahim before Kain could react. The unpossessed Dumahim began kicking the downed vampire again and again while Kain saw a flash of green light from the other Dumahim.
"Look out!" He yelled, but the other vampire didn't seem to notice, kicking the now unpossessed Dumahim into the water when the green light hit him. The Dumahim, now possessed, turned towards Kain, who merely shrugged then sent a bolt of energy towards the Dumahim, the electricity sparking through it's body a moment before it dropped down onto the ground, dead. Satisfied, Kain turned back towards the battle, assisting a Dumahim by stabbing his sword through the chest of another Zephonhim and leaving it there.
A second later Zephon himself slammed into him from the front, making Kain slide back a few feet. He steadied himself, ready to slash his once lieutenant with his talons when a bolt from above knocked Zephon down. As Kain approached to finish him off, Zephon quickly got off and shielded himself from Kain using a pair of Dumahim fighting each other, causing Kain to punch a hole right through one of them. "Thanks." The other Dumahim grinned, his eyes flashing green for a moment before another energy bolt from above hit him in the face and sent him into the water. Kain removed the dead vampire off of his arm, looking around for Zephon, but found out that he had lost him.
Looking at the battle's progress, however, Kain saw that although both sides numbers had dwindled by about a quarter, his side was still outnumbered by about two-to-one. It seemed that despite Kain's attacks, his side was gradually weakening. Now and then, the Hylden within the possessed vampires would leave when it looked like the vampire in them was about to die, then possess their attackers. It was becoming less like a battle and more like a pandemonium as everyone became confused who to attack, while the moat on either side of the drawbridge was becoming filled with the corpses of vampires. Turelhim standing on the rocky ledges above the battle shot bolt after bolt at any Zephonhim they could see, unsure if they should attack anyone else. "I guess now would be the best time." Kain observed. He turned and leaped up onto one of the rocky ledges overlooking the clearing, between a Turelhim and a boulder. He then pushed the boulder over the ledge and let it tumble down onto the ground; the sound of crashing rocks audible even over the din of all the fighting. Everyone was too busy defending themselves to bother figuring out what caused the racket, but then the next instant over a hundred Melchiahim shot up out of the ground amidst the battle. The possessed vampires looked at the Melchiahim that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. From the look of things, the tables had turned, and now both sides were equally matched...
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Our weaker brother should know better than to use the same trick twice." Turel mused from a window within the silenced cathedral, overlooking the fighting below, and seeing the Melchiahim give their not-so-surprising entrance.
"True, but then again we are not exactly ones to talk." Janos commented darkly.
"Whatever do you mean?" Turel inquired the possessed ancient next to him, puzzled.
"Watch."