As new dusk gradually fell over the region, coloring the sky a blood red color, Castle Dimitrescu was now placed in a state of alert. At the top of the towers or the ramparts, the humanoid gargoyles gathered in droves, preparing for the attack which was about to begin, just as the living dead, armed with their swords or axes, were gathered by dozens in the front yard of the domain, in order to defend the main gates. In the distance, towards the ruins of the village, they could be heard ... by the dozen, or even by the hundreds, the roars of the Lycans, gathering to then come and attack the castle.

In the large living room of the castle, Lady Dimitrescu had remained particularly silent, her face dark and sad, even if deep down, she knew that what she had just done was for the good of Mathias and to send him as far as possible from Miranda, even if that meant she would never see him again. Bela, Cassandra and Daniela were with her, feeling very sorry for their mother and the big sister came up to her.

_ "Mother ... you made the right decision. Don't feel guilty." Bela said to comfort her.

_ "But yet I am ..." answered Alcina, although smiling at her eldest daughter for these words. "And now I'm ready to take the consequences. Miranda betrayed all of us... I have been such blind... she may have our lives tonight, but she'll never have Mathias."

With these firm words from the countess, the three sisters smiled in unison, supporting their mother 100%, and making their sickles appear in their hands for the fight to come. But with their mutant metabolism making up their bodies largely in swarms of insects, Bela, Cassandra, and Daniela couldn't go outside due to the winter cold and would have to stay in the living room and defend that position. Alcina Dimitrescu would have liked to stay with her daughters for the battle, but as mistress of the castle, her place was in the front line, in the front yard with her undead. Before leaving, Alcina knelt down and hugged her three daughters with strength and love. The three girls, huddled together against their mother, hugged her back.

_ "I love you so much, my dear daughters ..." Alcina told them, looking at them each. "I was lucky to see you born, to see you grow and master your mutations ... every moment that I was able to spend with you was a blessing."

_ "We will not let you down, mother. We swear it." Bela moaned, her throat tight but still strong, and supported by her sisters, also holding back tears but vowing to do their best.

_ "No need to swear to me, my children. I know you will." Alcina told them with a smile, and kissed them one after the other on the forehead.

Hurried footsteps were heard on the stairs. Karl Heisenberg and Donna Beneviento, who had been able to recover from their injuries thanks to their mutant metabolism, went down into the living room.

_ "I wouldn't want to play the spoilsport by disrupting these heartbreaking farewells, but we have to move quickly. The lycans will be arriving soon. I can almost smell their wet dog stench." Heisenberg said, with his legendary lack of tact. But he wasn't entirely wrong. Miranda's creatures were not going to delay any longer.

Donna, not being at all fit for hand-to-hand combat, would stay with the three Dimitrescu daughters to defend the interior of the castle. With the pheromones that she could generate from her body, Lady Beneviento could use them against the lycans who could manage to enter and plunge them into a deep hallucinatory state.

Alcina Dimitrescu and Karl Heisenberg walked together into the large entrance hall to exit to the front yard, where the castle zombies were waiting for the start of the battle.

_ "By the way, Heisenberg ..." Dimitrescu said while walking beside him. "Earlier you mentioned your soldiers who would be at your factory. What does that mean exactly?"

_ "Well ... if you want to know everything, I had planned to create my own army to attack and kill Miranda, to make her pay for what she did to me when I was still a kid. This bitch ruined my life, and for that she's going to pay a hundredfold." Heisenberg growled, with a palpable hatred in his voice.

_ "I was sure you were just a traitor from the start." Alcina sneered cynically.

_ "If we get out of this fight alive, I swear I'll kill you." Heisenberg told her, sighing in annoyance after what she had just said. Alcina was not at all intimidated and continued to smile, but quickly resumed her seriousness when she arrived in the front yard. Even though she and Karl didn't like each other at all, they were smart enough to know that an alliance with Miranda was their best chance of winning, however small.

Lady Dimitrescu remained at the top of the steps, on the large porch of her castle, dominating the whole courtyard, while Heisenberg advanced among the zombies who moved aside to let him pass and come to the front line. Looking more than focused, dropping the rest of his cigarette in the snow and crushing it under his boot, Karl clenched his hammer in his hand, already savoring the idea of ​​crushing Miranda's head with it.

Alcina, like Heisenberg, could then observe an unusual phenomenon occurring in the village and the valley in front of them. The ground first began to shake for several seconds, and all over the village huge, sprawling, moving roots, made up of disgusting black mold, shattered the ground and the houses to rise higher and higher. Several of those black, slimy roots appeared only a hundred yards from the castle gate. Alcina and Heisenberg weren't intimidated, knowing that was Miranda's power.

And suddenly, amid the giant roots and the growing mass of black mold, there arose hundreds of enraged Lycans, all covered with mold, most of them armed with swords, spears, axes or bows and arrows, and all rushing into a concert of beastly roars and howls towards the portal and the walls of the castle. Karl showed a sadistic smile as he saw the horde appear and come closer and closer.

_ "Yeah ... that's it, come on, you hairy bastards ... my hammer is waiting." he said, his gaze mad and eager to do battle.

Meanwhile, on the porch steps, Alcina Dimitrescu showed her long, sharp claws on her fingers, and looked up at the great towers of the castle. She had learned that during its long existence, this castle had already suffered several attacks, but had never been taken. And she wasn't going to let that happen today.

_ "Gargoyles! Attack!!" she forcefully ordered attention to the flying creatures that she herself had created through her experiences with the blood of her former victims.

The gargoyles roared in unison and like a swarm, all dived and flew together from the heights of the castle, towards the horde of lycans rapidly approaching the portal.

The lycans equipped with bow and arrows began to fire a rain of flaming arrows. Several gargoyles were hit and crashed to the ground before they could reach their targets. But most of the furious gargoyles collided with the first row of lycans, like two walls colliding at full speed. In the impact, several creatures from both armies were killed and shredded, in geysers of blood and pieces of flesh.

Taking advantage of the fact that the arrowheads of the Lycans were made of metal, Heisenberg used his power to stop as many enemy arrows in flight as possible, and with a simple wave of his hand, sent them back at full speed towards their owners, thus killing several dozen Lycan archers in a few seconds with their own projectiles. Heisenberg was laughing with all his rage, continuing to slaughter as many of Miranda's minions as possible.

From the top of the steps, Alcina watched attentively the beginning of the battle, waiting firmly for the enemies who would manage to pass through the portal and the walls of the castle. And deep down, she knew it, they would. Despite Heisenberg's power and the number of her gargoyles who continued to suffer losses despite everything, the Lycans were far too numerous, several dozen steadily emerging from the black mold of Miranda which covered the valley even more every second. But ... where was Miranda? Alcina was looking everywhere, she was nowhere.

Finally, despite a fierce resistance from the gargoyles and having already suffered more than a hundred losses in their ranks, the first Lycans, crazier and roaring than ever, managed to leap over the portal and the walls of the castle, to throw themselves fiercely against Heisenberg and the zombies that stood firm for them. Heisenberg howled in rage and hit the first lycan with his hammer, causing its head to explode into bloody pieces. The zombies, although armed, showed little resistance to lycans, much faster than them and killing most, beheading or dismembering them with their powerful jaws.

One of the lycans, very fast, managed to pass the ranks of the zombies, killing several of them and wanted to pounce on Alcina Dimitrescu. But the countess saw it coming.

_ "Pitiful creature." she said contemptuously, gazing at the monster.

The lycan did not even have time to hit his target which he was violently cut in half by the quick and violent claws from Alcina. Blood spurted out and the lycan's entire organs spilled out as the two body halves fell heavily at the feet of Countess Dimitrescu, her claws dripping with blood and her gaze more determined than ever to fight and defend her domain.

*************

Mathias heard and felt before he saw. Eyes still closed and heavy, but the effects of the chloroform having worn off, he felt a little rocked, and could hear the characteristic sound of cart wheels rolling over loose, somewhat rough ground. Feeling his head aching a little, he hardly emerged from this forced sleep and had to wait a bit for his blurred vision to return to normal. He was stretched out against a wooden crate, in what looked like a large merchant's trailer filled with general merchandise, lit by a simple small lantern hanging from a hook in a corner.

_ "Ah, finally you wake up." said a recognizable voice. "I had hoped that the dose of chloroform was not too important."

That voice ... Mathias, still a little confused, turned his gaze to the front of the cart, to see a familiar shape. The Duke was there, sitting on his bench and holding the reins attached to the team of his horses whose hooves were heard outside, trampling the snowy ground.

_ "D ... Duke? But what's going on? Where am I?" Mathias asked, gathering his wits and trying to sit up, leaning on the wooden crate.

_ "In my trailer, my young friend." replied the merchant without turning around. "After she put you to sleep, Lady Dimitrescu asked me to take you as far as possible, to protect you. But I fear now that with your departure, Miranda will take revenge on the lords who disappointed her."

Mathias did remember the moment when Alcina had applied the handkerchief to his nose and mouth to put him to sleep. A brief sense of anger washed over him, even though she had done it to protect him. But what was to become of the countess and her daughters now? For helping him escape, Miranda surely wouldn't forgive them. Just at the thought of what might happen to his beloved and her daughters, Mathias, even if it was against Alcina's will, got up and leaned against the doors of the trailer.

_ "Stop Duke, now!" the young man ordered firmly.

The merchant, without saying a word, obeyed and had the horses stopped. The cart came to a stop on the small, steep dirt road leading to the pine forest. Mathias opened the wooden doors and jumped out of the trailer, to find out what was going on in the distance, with amazement and horror. Towards the center of the valley, the village had been gradually covered by these vile things resembling giant black roots and undulating like tentacles. Mathias could also see, further on, that Dimitrescu Castle seemed under siege, several small fires having started all around.

_ "Oh no ... Alcina ..." Mathias breathed in horror.

The urge to run in the direction of the castle seized him, but is that really what Alcina would want? That he put himself in danger for her? The thought froze him in place. Behind him was the edge of the forest, as well as the path that would lead it back out of this valley, but the world of humans. Mathias clenched his fists ... he had several times thought of regaining his freedom and returning to his fellows ... but now ... no, he did not want to abandon Alcina and her daughters to certain death, because of him. He could never forgive himself and more ... how could he abandon the woman he love without trying to act?

_ "I see that you have made your choice, Mr. Derune, and I respect it." said the Duke then. "However, you'll never make it to the castle empty-handed. That's why, I think I have what you need."

The obese merchant searched his wares behind him for a few moments and showed Mathias several things. weapons! The first was a machete, which looked like it had been used before, and the handle was made of solid oak wood. And the second was an old two-barreled sawn-off shotgun, still functional, and supplied with a bag full of cartridges.

_ "The blade of this machete is made of pure, solid silver. As for the cartridges of the sawed-off shotgun, they are also silver. Ideal against creatures like lycans. Here, they can be useful to you."

Having listened to the descriptions of the Duke, Mathias came to examine and take the weapons in his hands. Even though he had never undergone gun training and had never fought in his life, he knew that without weapons there was nothing he could do to help Alcina. But Mathias also knew the Duke and the way it worked.

_ "But ... I can't pay. I have nothing left." confessed the young man.

_ "No worries about that." the Duke replied with a smirk. "Lady Dimitrescu has already paid me handsomely. You don't owe me anything. Let's just say that in this exceptional situation, I feel generous in soul."

_ "I ... thank you." Mathias said to him with a nod. He equipped himself with the weapons, hanging the ammo satchel around his waist, the sawn-off shotgun in one hand, and the machete hanging from his belt. With a little difficulty, he managed to load the first two rounds into the rifle, hoping to be able to handle it properly if he encountered any enemies in his path, which was more than likely. The Duke, still seated on his trailer, watched the young man to equip himself with his weapons.

_ "I wish you made the right decision, my young friend." said the merchant. "And also good luck. I don't know what the future holds after tonight, but know that it has been a pleasure doing business with you."

Mathias didn't answer him, but nodded in a sign of understanding and thanks to the trader. Finishing loading the sawed-off shotgun, Mathias, more than determined but also anxious about what was about to happen, began to run alone along the sloping path to return towards the village and the castle.