Throne of Magical Arcana
chapter-379

"You rule everything. You decide life and death. You are the god of gods, the king of kings."

The movement of the Elder was quite distorted in a weird way, and he moved around in a quite disorganized manner. However, if one observed carefully, one could tell that Augustus' movement was still following some mysterious patterns.

The rest of the dwarves were having a hard time following his movement, and at the same time, they repeated the Elder's words, "You give us life; you give us food; you give us the courage when facing the difficulties, as well as goodness, integrity, and perseverance."

At the entry of the palace, four transparent figures were staring at the dwarves' praying.

"It looks like the manner from the ancient magic empire…" said the vampire bride, Tess, using the kindred's talent called Short-distance Mind Communication to the butler Galata, Wells, and the maid Edith. Tess was feeling both amused and confused.

They had found the place where the rebellion force hid!

Both Wells and Edith were blood servants, and they grew up on Night Highland. The farthest place Wells and Edith went to was the castle of another vampire count. They had no idea what the ancient magic empire was, and thus when hearing Tess' words, both of them lowered their heads but did not know what to say. Of course, they did not have access to the study in the castle, and Wells did not even know how to read!

"The old dwarf is acting quite differently. His movement is very complex and distorted," responded the vampire butler, Galata, respectfully, "To me, it resembles the ritual dance from the Saint Truth."

"The ritual dance from the Saint Truth came from the simple magic rites," said Tess in a low voice. "Galata, don't you see that the old dwarf is playing the six different roles? The dance should be carried out by six sorcerers in six different directions, using different movements… But he is now dancing all by himself."

Both Wells and Edith lowered their head even further. They dared not to interrupt the conversation, as they knew that Count Vlad was severely hurt by the divine power of the Saint Truth at the end of a war called the War of Dawn. Count Vlad never completely recovered from it, and thus in the recent several hundred years, the count had been sleeping for most of the time and never left Night Highland again. Therefore, no one was allowed to talk about the Saint Truth except for the noble kindred.

"Madam, you are right," Galata agreed after a closer observation, "but their praying song is for sure not a spell, so the rite won't work. I can't tell what the rite is, though."

"It doesn't matter. It is not going to work anyway. When we catch the filthy dwarves, we will know," Tess sneered. "I hate those pastors and preachers. Because of them, my dear Vlad cannot always be with me!"

"We can never know where the rebellion force is without your sharp perception, madam," flattered Wells. He was worried that Madam Tess' emotion would get out of control.

Tess smiled, "He is different. Laboring in the mine for three years, he is still energetic and his eyes are still filled with hope. That is not right. I did not expect that he was connected to the rebellion force, though."

"As you said, madam," Edith flattered, "dwarves do not deserve having any hopes. They are animals."

Seeing that the rite had almost come to the end, Tess raised her hand and commanded, "Kill them all. Let the bodies dry on the wall."

"Yes, madam," answered Galata, Wells, and Edith together.

Harold kneeled on the ground in an extremely respectful manner following the Elder, and they prayed in low voice, "The great master of life and death! You have mercy on us and you have the great power in your hand. We shall make everyone respect your name. May we get out of the pain and sufferings under your blessing and glory!"

"May your sacred name, Steam, ascend to the top again!"

Harold added in his mind, "May we rebuild the splendid steam civilization under your blessing!"

Then, he heard a bitter scream!

Harold quickly got up and hurriedly looked at the direction where the scream came from.

Four figures slowly appeared. They were Madam Tess, butler Galata, Wells, and Edith.

Galata's two white fangs pierced through the neck of a dwarf. Wells just cut the throat of another dwarf, and the blood spread everywhere.

A blood servant did not deserve enjoying the blood.

"Why… How did you find this place?" Harold burst out because of the great fear. He could not help trembling.

The beautiful dwarf vampire took out a fine handkerchief made of Black Nightingale from the Kingdom of Holm. She gently wiped the corner of her lips and said, "It was you who led us here."

All of the dwarves looked back at Harold. They were all shocked, and their eyes were filled with bitterness and hatred.

"Harold… why?" Aquinas picked up the heavy ax.

"I trusted you!" Myrna's voice trembled.

"I didn't… I… Elder, I didn't!" Harold hurriedly explained, "Please trust me! I never did this!"

Tess giggled. She signaled to tell Galata not to kill the dwarves right away. She liked watching this.

"I trust you, Harold," said the Elder. "If you did betray us, they would have directly broken in."

Harold almost burst into tears.

Augustus sadly shook his head and then said to the rest of the dwarves aloud, "You want to fight? Or you want to kneel down?!"

"Steam above!" cried out the dwarves holding their weapons.

Tess covered her mouth and said in a disappointed way, "Boring… Galata, do it."

Galata adjusted his bow tie slightly and then bowed, "As your command, madam."

Facing the dwarves holding the axes coming to him, Galata was still very relaxed.

When the ax almost hacked in his back, Galata turned into a streak of shadow like a ghost and then showed up behind the dwarf holding the ax.

Galata's left hand was now a sharp claw. He instantly tore the dwarf's body into half. The dwarf let out a bitter scream but his voice was immediately chocked by the gurgling of blood from his cut-open throat.

Then the shadow swiftly went into the crowd of the dwarves. The screams were everywhere.

When the many dwarves finally encircled Galata, countless small bats covered the vampire butler. Then, the vampire showed up on the other side of the hall, following the bats.

The rest of the dwarves were fighting against Wells and Edith. There was no big difference between their power. The heavy axes was a big threat to the two blood servants.

Seeing that there was little hope to beat Galata, Augustus commanded, "Go to the gate! Get out!"

The seven or eight dwarves exchanged a look. They burst out a harsh roar and together charged at the vampire butler. They were going to use their life to win time for the rest of the dwarves.

However, they died one by one. The time they could win for their people was not long.

The rest of the dwarves rushed toward the gate, with tears in their eyes. Wells and Edith lost the gate, and the dwarves almost reached the passage!

"Useless…" said Tess coldly. Two white fangs grew out of her beautiful and delicate lips. She raised her right hand and a cluster of black smoke covered the few leading dwarves.

Ahhhh!

When the black smoke disappeared, the several dwarves fell onto the ground and their blood had been drained up.

The rest of the dwarves were scared. They ran around out of panic but all stayed at least a meter away from Tess.

"Why… Why is she so powerful?" The dwarves in the back, including the Elder, murmured out of shock.

Although the Elder was rather calm, and he knew that the rebellion force could not fight against the senior-rank vampires, he had never expected that the common and middle-rank vampires were also this powerful. They were slaughtering the dwarves like killing domestic animals!

The Elder kneeled down facing the altar. He raised his hands and cried, "Why all our efforts… means nothing… We sacrificed, we died… for nothing?!"

Tess took out the fancy handkerchief and wiped her hands, "Why don't you understand? The only reason why you are still alive is that we are too bored. We are just playing a game with you."

"Is that right…" There were tears in the Elder's eyes, and he hit the floor using his head, "So we dwarves died for nothing…?"

Augustus turned around and cried to the altar, "The God of Steam! The Almighty God! The master of life and death! Please… please save us!"

More dwarves were dying behind him.

"Wake up, dwarf. No one is going to help you," Tess teased. "You dwarves have been so innocent for thousands of years."

The Elder did not listen to her. Praying, repeating the name of the God, the Elder hit his head against the stages of the altar. His blood dyed the altar surface red.

"Idiots…" Wells mocked at him.

The rest of the dwarves all kneeled down desperately. Was that the end? Just like that? Harold could not bear the great pain.

However, light suddenly burst out from the altar. The entire altar was covered with a pure light!

Ecstasy rose in Harold's mind. He kneeled on the ground on all fours, crying.

"The great master of life and death. Have mercy on us; you hold the ultimate power. We shall make everyone respect your name."

The Elder, Myrna, and Aquinas were all shocked. With tears, they prayed facing the altar, "May we get out of the pain and sufferings under your blessing and glory!

"May your sacred name, Steam, ascend to the top again!"

A figure wearing a black suit slowly appeared.

"My Lord, your arrival brings us all the blessings!"

"The master of life and death, your glory can purify everything!"

The Elder, Harold, and the rest of the dwarves were very excited.

Was it the God of Steam?! Did Zie come to save them?

Tess, Galata, and the two blood servants stared at the altar in great shock.

What was going on!?