"My lady, the evacuating parties in the eastern gates are being wiped out. We're also losing formation cohesion for a reason we don't yet know." Another adviser came to report to the Crimson Queen.

The flash of light in the sky a few minutes before had already told her well enough that their plans were beginning to fall apart. Though she stood her ground, the Crimson Queen now trembled in worry. This attack was not meant to go this way. If only he had been here, this attack could have been successful. For now, she had to salvage what she could from this operation. Foremost, she had to save her own skin and get back to Vaslonya. The Bloodchiefs and other leaders of the vampire tribes were a lost cause, they would have to be spent for her personnel to make it out of the ruined city.

"Get me two null-herders. I need them to gather as many as they can in near the northern gate, and send my carriage with them. We'll evacuate to the south." She said, after some deliberation.

"That's a bit hasty, don't you think?" Asked a coarse male voice behind her.

The Crimson Queen whipped around to behold the man who had not been there only a moment before. Hair of gold, eyes of rubies, skin like porcelain, and a wicked scar encircling his thick neck. This could be no man other than Vova Eztli, Hero-King of Vaslonya. His expression was somewhere between bored and mildly amused, though he did give the Crimson Queen a polite smile. Her already milky skin turning nearly translucent from shock, vampiress dropped down onto one knee before the king, leaning on her blade and averting her eyes.

"F-father, I thought that you had forsaken us." She said, trying her hardest to maintain her composure.

"Not at all. I merely had a few other commitments to attend to. They ran longer than I predicted." He lead her back onto her feet by gently caressing her chin before deeply kissing her. As they broke away, a strand of blood-tinged saliva still connected their lips. "It is good to see you again, Mina." He said, his tone soft and warm.

Mina Eztli, Queen Regent of Vaslonya and True-Blooded Queen of Vampyres, again tried her hardest to keep her bearing. She cleared her throat and sheathed her sword, before taking a brief moment to try to explain the current situation to her father. It was under his orders that this attack had commenced, orders that she had been waiting on for her entire life. She was not the oldest child of the Pariah King, not by a long shot, but for some reason he had taken particular interest in her. After having been thought dead for centuries, he made himself again known to the people of Vaslonya and had her instated as Queen to better serve his will. His near-absence had very nearly triggered an existential crisis for her, but now all would surely be well.

"Worry not," he eventually said. "Let them come with their armies. I am ready for them." He raised his head to face the heavens and boom with unworldly volume, "Do you hear me? I am here, avengers of Dead-King Aroesus!"

Vova cracked his neck and knuckles. He was more powerful now than he had been in centuries. This city, its people slain by his brood in his name, now fueled him. Worship was certainly a good means of empowering a god, but it was not the only way, or was it the most efficient. Sacrifice had long been looked down upon by his "civilized" peers, but their snobbery would be their downfall. Every life taken with his name upon their killer's lips gave him strength in such a way that their prayers never could. After all, they each had only one life to give, and it had been gifted to him. What else was there to take?

"This is quite a fine temple," He mused softly, looking back to the gutted building behind him. "I suppose it's mine now, isn't it?"

The icons of Aroesus had all been removed from it, as ordered, and the city had been claimed in the name of the kingdom which he ruled. A city which had just been sacrificed directly to him. Overnight, this place had become the focal point of his power, and the other gods had been too blind to realize it. Soon they would come and realize their grievous error, but by then it would already be too late for them.

"You there," He called to a nearby sorcerer of his daughter's entourage, who hurried to the First Vampire. "Sanctify this temple in my name, and do it quickly." He said, biting his thumb and smearing his blood on his face in a vague pattern like a bat.

As the newly-minted priest rushed off to his task, Vova prepared himself for battle. He wore no armor, his chest adorned only with gaudy, gold jewelry, and some vague cotton garment resembling a kilt covering his lower half. A blade came to be in his hand, quite unlike the one wielded by his daughter, this was a hefty tool meant for chopping and smashing, rather than slicing and stabbing. Its blade was a black void which reflected no light, yet seemed to almost quiver, perhaps in anticipation of coming bloodshed.