In the heart of a desolate desert, Kurogai stood before the entrance of an ancient ruin, the air heavy with anticipation.
Beneath the sands lay a monument of dread — the crypt where Dracula, the first of all vampires, had slumbered for centuries.
Before this night, Danica Talos, acting under Kurogai's command, had already offered countless victims to feed the dormant vampire lord.
By now, Dracula should have regained much of his strength.
Footsteps echoed from within the ruin.
Kurogai's expression remained unreadable as he turned toward the sound.
From the shadows emerged a figure, monstrous and malformed, with jagged bone-like ridges protruding from his crimson-scaled armor.
His presence radiated an ancient and terrifying aura.
But as the creature stepped into the sunlight, his monstrous form dissolved, transforming into a tall, pale man with sharp features and a bald head — Dracula himself.
"Danica Talos… why have you awakened me?" His voice was cold and commanding, echoing with centuries of power.
Though the sun blazed high in the sky, its light seemed meaningless to him.
Danica, wrapped in a sleek black coat, stepped aside, gesturing toward the silent figure behind her.
"Someone wishes to meet you," she said calmly, revealing Kurogai.
The vampire lord's expression darkened the instant his gaze fell upon him.
"You reek of blood," Dracula hissed.
"My kind's blood. You've slaughtered many of us."
Kurogai's mismatched eyes gleamed faintly.
"Impressive. You noticed right away. As expected of you, Dracula."
The faintest hint of amusement tugged at Kurogai's lips.
Despite Dracula's hostility, he admired the vampire's instinct — it was what made him different from the lesser bloodsuckers Kurogai had annihilated.
"Danica Talos!" Dracula's tone turned furious.
"Why do you bring this executioner before me?" His rage erupted, a suffocating pressure filling the air.
The ground trembled as his killing intent surged.
"I think you misunderstand," Kurogai said evenly.
"She's under my control."
That single sentence ignited Dracula's wrath.
With a bestial snarl, he lunged forward, his arms morphing into razor-sharp blood claws that slashed toward Kurogai's chest.
"In that case," Dracula roared, "I'll tear your head off — and free her from your spell!"
He moved with blinding speed, but Kurogai didn't flinch.
"Decisive," Kurogai murmured, his tone coldly impressed.
"A pity it's useless."
Without so much as a gesture, the air around him twisted violently.
Dracula's claws distorted mid-swipe, bending out of shape before exploding into droplets of blood that splattered across the sand.
The vampire recoiled, his body trembling as his shredded hand rapidly began to heal.
Within seconds, it was whole again.
"Invisible… unpredictable," Dracula muttered, narrowing his eyes.
"Spatial manipulation? No… something stranger. No wonder you've slaughtered so many of my kind."
Kurogai said nothing.
His calm unnerved even an ancient monster like Dracula.
"But your power means nothing to me," Dracula sneered, revealing his sharp fangs.
"I am eternal."
Black, leathery wings unfurled from his back, and he shot forward again — faster this time, a blur of shadow and fury.
"The same mistake twice?" Kurogai's voice remained indifferent.
He lifted his palm, and the air rippled like disturbed water.
Crack.
Reality itself bent.
Dracula's charge halted midair, his body twisted by unseen force, before crashing violently into the ground.
"I told you," Dracula growled, reforming again as if nothing had happened.
"Your tricks can't kill me. I'm Dracula — I cannot die."
Kurogai tilted his head slightly, his voice low and calm.
"Not necessarily."
He raised one hand, focusing the distortion not on space, but on time itself.
Dracula's regeneration suddenly halted.
The flesh that had just healed began unraveling, reverting to its previous state — the damage replaying endlessly as if his body were trapped in a loop.
Panic flickered across the vampire's eyes.
"What… what did you do?"
Kurogai's faint smile returned.
"Simple," he said.
"I warped time."
Dracula's roar echoed across the desert, defiant but fading, as his immortal body fought a battle it could no longer win.
Kurogai stood unmoving, his expression calm as the sands swirled around him.
"Immortality," he whispered, watching Dracula's struggling form.
"Always sounds better than it actually is."
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