In the middle of the totally devastated living room, an overwhelming tension had settled as two powerful mutant beings were preparing for a duel from which only one of them would come out alive. Alcina and the Thanator were only ten meters apart, each looking at the other with the same merciless gaze. The countess prepared her long claws while her enemy, having transformed her forearms into bony blades, rubbed them against each other as if to sharpen them. Her daughters having fled for safety, Alcina could fully concentrate on the fight and was determined to slice this armored jester to ribbons.

The Thanator charged first and its blades collided against Dimitrescu's claws in an explosion of sparks. Eye to eye, the two entered into a struggle of strength, each pressing with all his strength to make the opponent retreat and falter. Suddenly, components of the Thanator's armor, like small transparent pipes on the shoulders, began to inject some sort of strange green liquid into the creature's body. Despite her superhuman strength, Alcina then felt that of her enemy becoming more and more important to the point of starting to overtake her and begin to push her back. So this liquid increased the creature's abilities? Bad news.

But Alcina did not allow herself to be intimidated by this unexpected event and pretended to give up by stepping back, narrowly avoiding a slash from the blade. She grabbed the Thanator by the throat, lifting him off the ground and slamming him on the ground with all her might, shattering the ground and creating a small crater. 

_"I will... make you... understand... what it costs... to challenge me!" growled the Countess, knocking the Thanator's head against the ground several times.

Taking advantage that her adversary was on the ground, Alcina held him down by strangling him, and with her other hand, made her claws appear and brutally gouged out his eyes, causing foul black blood to flow. Alcina continued, wanting to pierce the Thanator's belly with all her might to eviscerate him like an animal, but the claws managing to pass, with difficulty, through the metal of the armor.

Despite taking this damage, the Thanator showed no stamina debuff. With one of his blades, he pierced Alcina in the ribs, making her wince and moan in pain, then pushed her away with a brutal kick in the stomach. Her back banging against the wall, Alcina dropped to one knee, seeing her blood seep from her wound in her right ribs, but saw her regenerative power working and closing the flesh, leaving only bare skin under the torn fabric of the dress. The Thanator rose to his feet, and with dismay, Alcina could see that his eyes had also healed thanks to an accelerated and equally effective healing factor.

_"Oh give me a break..." Alcina breathed annoyed, but being far from having said her last word.

The Thanator activated his gravity control power again on a perimeter around him and specifically targeted the Countess. The ground cracked and creaked violently as the gravitational wave spread, lifting furniture and objects caught in its radius. Alcina grabbed a cupboard and threw it with all her might towards the Thanator, but the gravity wave crushed the cupboard and tore it to pieces before it reached the target. Alcina was then caught in the powerful embrace of the wave, and thrown against a wall, then blocked by the invisible but very real grip of the power of the Thanator who reached out his hand towards her, tightening his fist little by little. Alcina gritted her teeth, trying to resist as she felt the gravitational force tightening around her more and more in an attempt to compress her.

Meanwhile, being the only survivor of his group, Mathias had returned on horseback and at a gallop in the direction of the Dimitrescu castle. Traveling at full speed through the muddy and damp streets between the houses of the abandoned village, carrying with him the man from the helicopter whom he had taken prisoner, Mathias gasped, observing with horror the black smoke rising from the castle, but also the disturbing presence of several other large black helicopters flying over the area.

_"Oh no!" Mathias hissed worriedly, thinking of Alcina, Bela and Cassandra, and snapped the horse's bridle hard to make him hasten his way towards the castle.

Heart pounding, the young man prayed to arrive in time. He hadn't been able to save Donna, and he refused to fail again. After a frantic race until reaching the stables of the castle, the horse stopped and Mathias jumped to the ground and started running as fast as possible and rushed towards the main doors. He left the prisoner behind, having first taken care to knock him out and tie him up.

Hardly had he pushed open the main doors of the castle to enter the entrance hall, when Mathias heard the sounds of violent clashes coming from the living room. Without waiting and filled with fear for the life of his wife, he ran.

_"Hold on Alcina! I'm coming!" he yelled.

Eventually he arrived to find the large living room completely devastated, the floor cracked and the vast majority of furniture knocked over and shattered into pieces all over the place. But even more dramatic was the presence of this huge armored mutated humanoid creature that he didn't know and which pinned Alcina against a wall with the use of the strangest power.

_"Alcina!"

_"Mathias! Watch out!" the countess warned him.

The Thanator noticed the young man's presence, identifying him as another priority target and also sent another gravity wave towards him to block him. But Mathias jumped up, rolling to one side and dodging the violent crack that split the floorboards in two. Taking his lighter in hand and igniting a small flame, Mathias stirred his lord power in his veins, letting his eyes turn yellow and reptilian and glare furiously at the creature.

_"LEAVE MY WIFE ALONE!" roared Mathias who took control of the flame of the lighter by his pyrokinesis, making it levitate in front of him, making it double in volume and unleashed a torrent of devastating fire in the direction of the Thanator who was enveloped in it and began to roar excruciatingly in struggling in the whirlwind. The grip was released and Alcina fell back to her knees on the ground, catching her breath and letting her regenerative power work on her. Mathias joined her, making sure she was okay while keeping the flames on the Thanator who continued to howl.

_"Holy shit, but what is this thing?" Mathias asked, mentioning the monster he was holding trapped in his fire.

_"I...don't know..." Alcina answered, straightening up. "The...the girls...where are they?"

_"I didn't see them when I arrived. They must surely..." confessed Mathias.

But as he spoke, he was abruptly interrupted by the charred but still living form of the Thanator who managed to extricate himself from the flames and leap forward, coming to grab Mathias by the throat under Alcina's panting gaze. Mathias cried out in pain, his back banging against the wall and the Thanator's charred, giant hands strangling him and visibly trying to snap his neck. At this, Alcina flew into a black fury, her eyes bloodshot and her teeth sharpening.

_"GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY MAN!" she ordered in her powerful voice and with a masterful, lightning claw slash, severing both of the Thanator's arms at the elbows.

Mathias fell back to the ground as the Thanator, impassive, noticed the absence of his forearms, black blood streaming from the wounds.

Angry, Alcina grabbed the Thanator by the throat again, lifting him up and slamming him hard on the floor as Mathias rubbed his sore throat, coughing as he caught his breath.

_"Mathias, now!" Alcina warned, stepping away.

Guessing what she wanted from him, the young man jumped up, grabbed the stunned Thanator's head in his hands and concentrated his power with all his strength to rekindle the residue of flames still present on the monster's body, reviving them and spreading again and thus preventing the Thanator's regenerative power from proceeding.

_"Go to hell!" growled Mathias whose voice had become almost monstrous and accentuated even more the power and the heat of the flames.

With another inhuman howl, the Thanator slowly began to crumble in ashes like his armor, unable to withstand the infernal heat that even forced Alcina to take several steps back and protect herself. And finally, following long seconds, the mutant creature was completely reduced to a vulgar heap of still smoking ashes. Mathias made the flames evaporate and sat back on the ground, panting and sweating after such an effort of energy. The infernal heat having vanished into the air, Alcina was able to approach safely and knelt beside her man. Mathias looked at her, out of breath but let her know he was fine with a smile and gave her a thumbs up.

_"You little idiot... You took a big risk." said Alcina lovingly.

Touched by her words, he touched his cheek with his hand.

_"That's how you love me, don't you?" Mathias answered. "Besides, you are worth all the risks in the world."

Alcina couldn't suppress a small chuckle, shaking her head slightly. Decidedly, Mathias would never cease to surprise her. But as they looked at each other and calm seemed to have returned...

_"MOTHER!"

Bela and Cassandra's voices echoed and reached their ears, making their hearts leap in their chests and catching their eyes. It was coming from the entrance hall!

_"Girls!" Alcina gasped with the greatest fear and rushed out of the living room, closely followed by Mathias.

The couple arrived as quickly as possible and once arrived in the hall, could only see the most terrible evidence. Several lycans lay dead on the ground, shot through. Outside, just outside the front doors, a large black helicopter had landed, its noisy propellers kicking up clouds of dust around it. Several armed men in coveralls were there, and Alcina and Mathias saw with horror that two of them were busy carrying Bela and Cassandra, unconscious, aboard the craft after handcuffing their hands behind their backs and preparing to lock them up in sorts of metal containers.

_"BELA! CASSANDRA!" Alcina yelled, wanting to go to their aid.

The armed men, having noticed the presence of the couple, had hurried back on board with their catches and the helicopter rose quickly in the air and then turned machine gun barrels towards the entrance of the castle.

_"Alcina, watch out!" Mathias said as he leapt on his wife and managed to push her with him to one side behind one of the walls as a flurry of heavy gunfire swept in a straight line, ravaging the hall but thankfully hitting no one.

Following this shot, the black helicopter turned around and flew away in the air. Emerging from the cover of the wall, Alcina and Mathias rushed to the devastated porch of the entrance to the castle, to contemplate helplessly the distance of the machine flying in the sky. A tear forming in the corner of her eye seeing her last two daughters having just been kidnapped before her eyes without her being able to do anything, Alcina fell to her knees and banged her fist against the ground screaming in a mixture of fury but also of despair. Mathias came to support her as best he could, feeling himself responsible for not having been able to do anything, but raised a murderous look in the direction of the helicopter. Whoever was responsible, he was going to pay more than his life, he swore to himself. He would understand what it costs to defy the lords in this way.

A little later, a gloomy silence had fallen over the valley, mingled with a bitter feeling of defeat. Despite the destruction of the Thanator, it was by no means a victory.

Returning to her quarters in the castle tower, Alcina remained dark, traces of dried tears still visible on her pale cheeks. Sitting on her bed, her eyes still showed pent up anger, but also concern. Although she too lamented the kidnapping of Donna, her thoughts were primarily with her daughters Bela and Cassandra, painfully unaware of what they would suffer at the hands of this mysterious organization but knew it would be no good, which only heightened his fear for their lives. What a miserable situation, she thought, clenching her fist. She felt so helpless, it was maddening. But she forced herself to channel herself, knowing full well that letting herself be blinded by anger wouldn't help her save her daughters.

But while she was lost in thought, the bedroom door opened. Mathias came in and brought something with him. The man from the organization he had managed to capture near Donna's house. He had tied him at the hands and ankles and dragged him by his feet on the ground under the gaze of the countess who got up to come and see.

_"What is it?" she asked.

_"I captured that asshole after his buddies managed to kidnap Donna." Mathias explained. "With a bit of luck, we might be able to get some information out of him."

Alcina recognized that it was a good idea, even if deep down, at the mere sight of this man from the organization, she felt a deep hatred. She wanted to inflict so much torment on him but changed her mind. Mathias took a chair on which he sat the still unconscious prisoner and tied him firmly. Once done, Mathias woke him up in his own way, with huge slaps in the cheeks.

_"Come on, let's wake up!" ordered the young man without compassion.

The man finally came to, his cheeks reddened by the blows, and looking completely helpless looked around him, to quickly see the delicate situation in which he found himself, completely immobilized on a chair and seeing this man and this tall woman to stand in front of him and look at him with the greatest possible contempt.

_"Oh shit..." he huffed fearfully.

_"Yeah, I think that's the right term for you." replied Mathias, coming to sit down on another chair which he placed just in front of the prisoner, to question him afterwards.

Alcina stayed behind but clearly showed the prisoner that she was cracking her knuckles and that she would take immense pleasure in making him experience the thousand and one ways of suffering and that terrified him even more. Mathias then came and grabbed the man by the hair, forcing him to look him straight in the eye.

_"Okay, so here's how things are going to be." explained Mathias with a fake calm tone. "We're going to give you a chance, ONE chance, to tell us who you work for and why your organization is picking on us...Do you see my wife behind me? It's her daughters you kidnapped and if there is one thing that Alcina does not tolerate is that we hurt her family. So, I prefer to warn you now and believe me, I won't do anything to stop her... If she doesn't like what you're saying, you'll go through the window."

With these last words, Mathias pointed to the balcony outside with his gaze, the bedroom being on several floors. Behind him, Alcina showed a part of a sadistic smile at the prisoner man who swallowed and let a shiver of fear run over his body. Mathias then stepped aside and left the floor to his wife who came forward, covering the prisoner with her great shadow, bent down and seized him by the hair so brutally that a little tug would be enough to tear off his scalp.

_"Very well." said the countess. "First question: who do you work for?!"

At first the prisoner wasn't very talkative and Alcina decided to put even more pressure on him by slowly letting her fingernails turn into claws on her other hand and came and placed a sharp point just a centimeter from the prisoner's eye. Mathias, leaning against a wall of the room on the side, arms crossed, let her do.

_"I have the means to break your silence." Alcina said mercilessly. "I ask you again: who do you work for?! Speak!"

_"I... I have nothing to say to you, you monster!" trembled the man from the organization.

Wrong answer! The man's scream echoed through the room as Alcina just pierced and gouged out his eye with her claw. The blood flowed like a small fountain on the floor and the tied man was screaming to death as the pain must have been excruciating. Faced with this torture, Mathias remained yet insensitive to the suffering of this man. Alcina held the gouged out eye and crushed it in her palm, grinding it to a pulp and wiping her hand with a rag. Seeing her exasperated, Mathias decided to take over and returned to the prisoner in pain and in tears and even slapped him to make sure to keep him conscious.

However, despite the torture, the prisoner laughed, almost as if he had lost his mind.

_"The boss was right about you... torturing and killing, you love that... You can deny it, you are monsters, living weapons..."

Alcina clenched her fists in frustration and was about to silence him, but Mathias motioned for her to calm down.

_"Look, what you or your boss can think about us, I don't give a fuck." said Mathias darkly. "All I want to know is his name and where Bela and Cassandra are. Tell us and who knows, maybe we'll agree to let you live."

_ "Or at least grant you a painless death." replied Alcina coldly.

But again, as if resigned to his fate, the prisoner laughed with that same look and crazy smile as he watched them.

_"You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into...I'm already dead, but it doesn't matter, the plan will continue...These monsters you consider family will serve our cause, and then this It will be your turn! All of you will end up where you belong: serving the new mankind that is about to be born!"

Mathias sighed heavily, seeing that he wouldn't be able to extract any information from him even with the torture, as this man was so indoctrinated by the cause of his organization. At the mention of her daughters destined to become slaves, living weapons in the hands of these strangers, Alcina couldn't stop her anger from exploding inside her and in a way, Mathias understood and let her do. Lady Dimitrescu, her gaze filled with hatred, grabbed the prisoner by the hair, pulling him from the chair, dragging him to the ground as he struggled. She opened the window and with her superhuman strength and without the slightest effort, she threw the still bound man over the balcony. The man's scream was heard lower and lower until it died out after a brutal shock on the ground.

Without even looking back, Alcina came back into the bedroom, slamming the window shut and slowly letting her anger give way to deep despair, sitting down on the big bed and burying her face in her hands.

_"Bela...Cassandra..." she sighed sadly.

This interrogation had been useless, Mathias was aware of it and felt so sorry for his wife, and so helpless to be unable to comfort her. Even though he was very attached to Bela and Cassandra and saw them as sisters, he couldn't imagine how painful it must be for Alcina. He came to sit next to her on the bed and took her hand in his.

_"We will save them... I give you my word." he said.

To support her, he gave a short kiss on her hand. Lady Dimitrescu looked at him, managing to smile to thank him but showing moist eyes. Mathias had promised but deep down he knew it would be easier said than done. In their condition, they couldn't leave the valley without risking being spotted by everyone. The couple would need help, they were aware of it...