Fate To Fake: Loved by the Fallen; Fated to Kill the Divine

BOOOM!

Debris exploded outward, showering them with dust. From the settling rubble, Dracula emerged... face faintly wrinkled, clothes coated in dust, his expression unreadable.

He stared at them with a calm that was somehow more dangerous than rage.

Before Leo could react, A crushing pressure slammed down on them.

Leo's knees almost buckled. Every muscle trembled under the invisible weight, but his arms never loosened around Ophis. The pressure grew heavier, grinding on his bones. His teeth clenched so tightly his lips split, a thin line of blood streaking down his chin.

He wasn't going to let go.

Then, suddenly, the weight vanished. The cloaked figure stood between him and Dracula, one hand extended.

"Ha… ha…" Leo panted, glancing at her. "H-How is he even alive? The backlash… it should've killed him, right?"

Her brow furrowed. "Maybe… he's stronger than I thought." She raised her curved blade.

Dracula dusted his clothes with deliberate calm, stepping neatly onto the stone floor.

"I honestly didn't expect you to come here," Dracula said, his voice quiet but edged, though faintly weakened.

"You not only managed to enter my domain," he continued, "but also stopped the ritual? How?" His gaze shifted to Leo, "What are you? Were you not supposed to die there, end your chapter? Why are you still alive? What exactly caused fate to change now?"

Leo didn't answer.... He didn't even look like he cared to.

Dracula's eyes swept the ruined chamber, the wreckage of his work.

"I should have killed you that day… MONGREL!!"

His voice became a piercing shriek. Leo flinched, covering one ear with his shoulder, the other with his hand, teeth gritted against the ringing pain.

Then, as suddenly as it came, Dracula's rage dimmed. His voice smoothed into something almost casual. "My bad… I just get angry when things don't go as I expect." A smirk played on his lips as he rubbed them with one thumb.

Leo shook his head, ears still throbbing. Hugging Ophis closer, he glared. "Aren't you her father? Why the hell are you trying to kill your own blood? Aren't you ashamed of yourself?!"

Dracula's expression barely shifted, but his eyes gleamed with disdain. "If that thing is my blood, then why did it let you live? I told her to kill anyone in her way... Yet she not only let you live but also... played with you.

That is not just a disgrace to her... it is a disgrace to her family, Head!"

Leo's teeth clenched as his foot slid toward his backpack, trying to reach it quietly. "Even so, you'd go as far as killing her? Don't you feel… any love for your daughter?"

Dracula turned to the cloaked figure. "Did you hear what that thing just said? Haha…"

She tightened her grip on her weapon. Something was wrong. He wasn't the kind of man to waste breath on this much talking.

Dracula's smirk faded. He stared straight at Leo, "Love? What are you talking about? This isn't my first time."

He snapped his fingers.

The wall-mounted torches suddenly flared up with yellow flames, revealing the full breadth of the underground chamber.

Leo's eyes widened in pure horror. His breath caught, then froze entirely.

The floor was littered with skeletal remains.

Dozens… no, hundreds.

Some adult.

Some small... too small. Children?

Bones lay scattered like discarded toys, and some corpses still had scraps of decaying flesh clinging to them.

The cloaked figure's lips parted, "Monster…" It was the only word that came.

"D-Don't tell me… you…" Leo's voice faltered, but Dracula's smirk stretched wider.

"Indeed," he said, spreading his arms as if to display some grand masterpiece. "I sacrificed all my blood."

Leo's face turned ashen. The children in the picture… all of them… dead.

The cloaked figure turned horrified. "You… Are you trying to reach… the Fourth Stage? By scarificing your own children?"

Leo flinched at the words.

There were four stages for a mage. Up until now, Leo had only ever heard of the first three.

However, Dracula smirked. "Reaching the Fourth Stage?… Haha… Hahaha—HAHAHAHA!" His laughter broke into a manic peel that rattled the bones.

The temperature dropped with it; the air grew thin and cold.

Dracula lowered his chin, crimson eyes flaring.

"I am… already in the Fourth Stage. I am reaching the BEYOND!"

BOOM!

In an instant, Dracula launched at Leo with insane speed. The cloaked figure moved on instinct, boot slamming into Leo's hip and knocking him sideways. Razor nails of Dracula skimmed Leo's shoulder, tearing through fabric.... then Dracula smashed into the wall with a stone-splitting crack while Leo rolled hard across the ground.

Dracula screeched at the cloaked figure, "You were not supposed to be here!"

He lunged again.

The figure brought her curved blade up, "Leo—take her and run!"

"Run? We can fight together—"

Tang!

A slash like a guillotine scythed for Leo's neck. The figure caught it on her blade, the impact jolting up her arm. Sparks spat between them. Dracula grinned, lips parted back to show too-sharp teeth.

"Run? Do you think you can escape from me?" he murmured, a bloody smile spreading as his eyes glowed.

The figure snarled; from beneath the hood, her eyes flashed, a sudden flare of gold. Dracula flinched... only for a heartbeat, but enough. She drove a kick into his chest and knocked him back, stone dust exploding around his heels.

She turned to Leo and said with a serious tone, "Fight? That thing is not something we can face now… I miscalculated."

"Then I'll help yo—"

"Don't forget why you came here." She pointed at Ophis in his arms. "Go. Now!" She pointed toward a narrow stairwell revealed when the underground lights had sprung to life—the way out, half hidden behind collapsed masonry.

Leo hesitated for a heartbeat... He tightened his hold on the unconscious Ophis, drew a breath, and pulled mana into aching legs until they trembled.

He ran for the stairs.

Dracula snarled, "No one leaves this place alive!"

He swept his hand. A crescent of bloody red energy ripped across the floor toward Leo, shrieking like molten metal.

Leo gritted his teeth, forcing his legs to move faster, but the wave was closing in. It almost grazed his back—

BOOM!

The cloaked figure's curved blade intercepted the blast, the shockwave hurling Leo forward. He tumbled onto the stairs, his head striking the stone. Blood trickled down his temple as he tried to rise, but before he could look back, another flash of steel caught his eye.

The cloaked figure had drawn a second curved blade and slammed it into the ceiling.

CRASH!

Tons of rubble rained down, sealing the stairwell.

"W-Wait!!" Leo shouted, stumbling forward, but the stones fell too fast. Through the narrowing gap, he saw her glance at him one last time, hand raised in a silent command to go.... before Dracula lunged at her.

Thud!

The passage was closed. The only sound now was his own breathing and the faint echo of battle muffled by stone.

Leo's grip on Ophis tightened. His vision swam; blood ran down his face in hot streaks. Forcing a swallow down his dry throat, he turned toward the stairs and began to climb.

Soon, he reached a metallic door. He shoved a shoulder into it; it groaned and shifted, opening onto a laboratory lined with stained glass canisters and steel tables, machines, and a pungent stench of rot.

He tried the far exit, but it's locked.

He cleared a space on the nearest table, swept away cracked vials and dusty cloths, and laid Ophis down with careful hands.

He looked at her face for a long moment. He leaned down and kissed her forehead.

"Just wait here… I'll get you out," he whispered. A droplet of his blood fell from his brow and touched her lips.

He winced and turned to the door. Taking his tools from his bag, he worked on the door lock.

His hands wouldn't stop shaking.

He had saved Ophis... but at what cost?

The life of the person who had saved him?

His lips trembled, holding back the emotions that were crawling in his skin. He didn't even know the figure's name. Not her face or even her story and yet....

Yes, Ophis came first. She was close to him, while the cloaked figure had kept herself at a distance, face hidden.

It was the logical choice.

Yet…

'You are a coward.'

The words echoed in his skull.

Trrr

A fresh tremor shivered through the floor... something dangerous was going down.

He took a slow breath, forced his hands to steady, tightened his grip on the pick, and worked the pins one by one.

Click.

The lock turned.

He scooped Ophis into his arms again. He pushed through the door and into a narrow corridor, praying he wouldn't run into any other monsters on the way out.

"I'm sorry,"

And with those parting words, Leo carried Ophis away from the laboratory.