301 Breaking The Illusion [2]
"I see your sun… and I raise you one."
Sofiana looked at Lucas with confusion etched onto her grotesque face.
As the silver-haired boy pointed to their right, she suddenly felt a chill creep down her spine.
A sense of urgent dread took control of her senses as her vampiric instincts rabidly screamed at her, alarming her of some unknown incoming danger.
Instantly, she pulled her consciousness out of Lucas' mind and returned back to the real world.
There, she looked around with a sense of veiled panic hidden deep in her crimson eyes.
It only took her a split second to take in her surroundings and scan for any underlying danger.
But no matter how cautiously she looked, Sofiana found nothing that could pose her any harm.
But then why were her instincts in such an anxious state? Something here was so out of place… so wrong… but what was it?!
The cafe looked just how it was a few minutes ago, with everyone sitting quietly in their chairs, their pale faces wearing a lost expression.
Their eyes resembled black puddles, void of any light and emotion.
All of them were entranced by Sofiana's illusions. All of them sat in silence, eating their food without a word. Among them were Lucas and Amelia were ensnared as well.
Both of them were defenseless, yet something felt amiss to Sofiana.
A chilling, almost primordial fear settled deep within her heart. She didn't know the source of it, and she didn't want to find out either.
She realized one thing, however — Her survival depended on it. She understood that she had to swiftly kill both Lucas and Amelia.
In an instant, Sofiana stood before Lucas and Amelia's table, her long obsidian nails gleaming with intent.
She threw her claw forward, aiming to rip Lucas's heart out.
But before her claw could inch anywhere near the silver-haired boy, a radiant white light entered through the cafe window on her right.
As the cafe's temperature rose, the unknown, unsettling feeling in Sofiana's heart dangerously intensified.
She turned her head around to look at the window and saw a sphere of blazing silver flames hurtling toward her, looking like a miniature sun more than a fireball cast by a magic spell.
Before she could react, however, the ball of incinerating silver flames crashed through the window with explosive speed and hit Sofiana squarely in the chest.
"Khuaak!" Sofiana coughed a mouthful of blood as she felt the conflagrating flames burning a hole in her chest.
She had no time to cast magic and no means of defending herself at this point.
Was this her end? Was this how she would die? But how? That Morningstar brat! Did he cast a spell before being trapped in her illusions?!
No, that would be impossible. People below the Platinum rank could not control their magic with such precision.
So then… how?!
Thinking that, Sofiana looked down at the sphere of blazing silver flames and saw a sight that left her agape.
Shrouded beneath the halo of blinding silver flames was a mythical bird with red and silver feathers adorning her build.
Its bright, scarlet eyes were ablaze with fury and its long, sharp golden beak was impaling Sofiana's chest.
Ahh, so that's how it was.
Although Sofiana saw Lucas' memories, she didn't go look at the recent ones. After all, in his head, much more arcane and mysterious secrets were hidden.
So naturally, she decided to focus on them. She got to learn about the things she didn't even know were possible let alone existed, hidden in plain sight.
This world… was much more complex and mysterious than she thought.
But perhaps, she should've focused on the much more immediate task. She should've searched through Lucas' recent memories and made sure he didn't have a hidden ace up his sleeve.
If only she had done that, she would've seen that Lucas ordered Sera to jump in and deliver a final blow to the vampire while she would have her guard down.
Well, to be really honest, it wouldn't have made much of a difference because Sera was ready for that scenario.
She would've attacked had Sofiana discovered their plan. With her speed, the phoenix would've killed the vampire before the latter could've done anything to avoid her demise.
In a way, her fate was already set in stone the moment she refused Lucas' offer of mercy and peace.
But she didn't know that. In her mind, she made a mistake – a blunder that caused her life.
Right, they do say that curiosity killed the cat.
As that thought flashed through her mind, Sofiana stumbled back and the blazing ball of silver flames pierced right through her chest, erupting from the other side of her body.
The glaring silver flames around Sera soon diminished before completely dying out as she soared toward the ceiling and landed on a modern-styled chandelier there.
Trapped in her beak was a thumping chunk of bloody flesh… A heart! It was a beating heart!
Blood gushed out from its severed veins each time it beat, yet instead of showing any sense of revolution, Sera just started chewing on it… devouring it.
Slowly savoring the taste of her first real victory over a vampire, she looked down at Sofiana from above with cold indifference in her eyes.
Sofiana, on the other hand, staggered and fell onto her knees.
As she continued to violently cough up blood, she looked at the phoenix above and then turned her gaze to Lucas, who was still trapped in an entranced state.
But not for long…
Soon, his scarlet eyes fluttered and a glint of light sparked in them. Gasping his mind back from the clutches of the vampire, he took a deep gasp and looked around.
All around him, patrons were still trapped in intricate illusions designed to keep their minds ensnared and under the control of Sofiana.
Lucas was the first one to break free as Sofiana struggled to maintain her illusion-casting relic, Enigma Sightstone, active.
After he completed scrutinizing his surroundings, Lucas calmed her ragged breathing and stood up from his seat.
With slow, menacing steps, he walked toward the kneeling vampire and stood before her, towering above her like a god.
After a bit of reluctance, he said, "You should've listened to me."
These were the same words he had said to her before.
Sofiana clenched her eyes shut in agony, as her life started to fade away from her grasp like grains of sand. She was dying.
She could probably try to fight, but there was no point.
She knew Lucas was capable enough to stall her until she bleeds to death from the gaping wound in her chest.
Yeah, no matter how she may look at it, this was a checkmate for her. She was the one who underestimated Lucas all this time.
She lost.
Using her last few final breaths, Sofiana painfully parted her lips and managed to choke out a few words.
"Don't… Don't trust that girl… She is—"
Before Sofiana could complete her sentence, however, an arrow whipped through the air and struck the vampire right in the center of her skull.
White, gooey brain matter or sticky blood spurted out of her wound, and instantly, the life in her eyes was snuffed out.
Sofiana was dead.
Lucas looked over his shoulder in mild confusion. He saw a black-haired young woman standing a few steps behind him with a war bow grasped in her hands.
It was obviously Amelia who had shot that killing arrow. She was the second one to break free from the illusions after Lucas.
As her bright emerald eyes met Lucas', she asked a single question in a voice laced with concern, "Are you okay?"
Lucas nodded his head. "You?"
Amelia nodded back before asking, "Was she saying something?"
Lucas looked at the corpse of the fallen vampire, her canines fell loose from her mouth and gazed back at Amelia.
"Yeah," he replied. "But you killed her before I could understand what she was telling me."
Amelia arched her eyebrows. Scratching the back of her head, she mumbled, "Ahh, I'm sorry."
Lucas shook his head dismissively. "It's fine. Anyway, do you have a knife?"
Amelia walked closer to Lucas and summoned a short combat dagger before handing it over to Lucas.
Grabbing it from her hands, Lucas proceeded to do what he had already done once before, albeit in a dream.
He gouged out Sofiana's right eye, crushed it, and retrieved a small, intricate violet orb.
He had finally done it, for real this time.
He had acquired the Enigma Sightstone!
Lucas looked at the violet orb with a dark expression deeply etched onto his face.
Although he didn't remember most of them, the dreams he saw left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Noticing his discomfort, Amelia gently rubbed Lucas' back and asked, "Was this really the only way?"
In truth, before entering this cafe, Amelia presented Lucas with a suggestion.
She told him that they could try to take the vampire inside the cafe by surprise. But Lucas disregarded her suggestion almost instantly.
In the novel, Nero tried opting for the same tactic. He took Sofiana by surprise but failed to end her in one blow.
The battle that followed was bloody and chaotic. So many innocent patrons died in its aftermath.
Lucas doubted that his attempt wouldn't be much different. Thus, he came up with a foolproof plan.
It involved him and Amelia getting trapped in the vampire's illusion, giving her a false sense of security.
And right then, when she would feel that victory was just in her grasp, Sera would chip in and finish the bloodsucker.
Of course, back then, he didn't think that the illusions would take such a toll on his mental state.
However, in the end, no patrons were hurt and the battle ended as quickly as possible.
Indeed, it was the perfect outcome.
"Yes, this was the only way," Lucas replied.
