Four days passed after William and Lilith arrived in the Deadlands…
"The Haunting has begun," Raizel said with a serious expression as she looked at the black tower in the distance.
Red mist started to extend from the tower, and it slowly made its way to the city.
William felt a familiar sensation spread across his left hand, as it reacted to the power of the Undead that the tower was radiating.
A few moments later, William heard a distinct ringing sound that came from the tower. The sound was similar to the peeling of a bell, and it made the hair on WIlliam's neck stand on end.
"Do either of you hear that ringing sound?" William asked the two girls by his side.
The three of them were on the roof of the stadium to observe the Haunting from their vantage point.
"Ringing sound?" Lilith frowned. "What ringing sound?"
"I don't hear anything unusual," Raizel answered. "Will, do you hear something ringing?"
After spending a few days together, the three of them had become close to each other and comfortably called each other's names without any problem.
William nodded. "Yes. It is coming from that tow–"
Suddenly, William's eyes glowed and turned golden. He then held his shoulders with his hands as his body shuddered uncontrollably. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he held back the blood thirst that he had been keeping at bay for the past few days.
Ever since he had entered the Seventh Sanctum, he hadn't been able to drink any blood from Charmaine and the other Elves. This was a problem that had been plaguing him ever since he had entered the Deadlands, and he was using his willpower to keep it at bay.
However, the ringing sound of the Black Tower seemed to have bypassed the emotional barrier that he had set in place and broke it to pieces.
William took ragged breaths as his fangs slowly extended.
"Don't come near me," William said hoarsely as he used all of his willpower to resist the urge to pin down one of the girls beside him and drink their blood. "Go back inside. Hurry!"
"What is happening to you?" Lilith asked worriedly. She was about to touch William's shoulder, but Raizel caught her hand and prevented her from touching the Half-Elf.
"Let's go," Raizel said as she glanced at William with a complicated expression. "We will only make things worse if we stay here. Let's go hide in the basement with the others."
The young lady didn't wait for Lilith to say anything and forcefully drag her away, leaving William behind.
The Half-Elf kneeled on the roof of the stadium as the nails on his left hand turned black.
'This is bad,' William thought as nerves started to bulge in his left hand. He had never allowed his bloodthirst to get out of control because he had a steady supply of blood to drink from.
Now that his connection with the Thousand Beast Domain was cut off, he had no means of quenching his blood thirst, aside from drinking from the people in the shelter.
This was something William didn't want to do, so he had tried to hold himself back for as long as he could. He just didn't expect that the Haunting would cause his Vampiric Powers to rise to the surface.
Due to William's heightened senses, he was able to see countless eerie-looking, glowing, orbs of various colors coming out from the base of the tower.
Minutes passed and this procession of glowing lights entered the city.
William took in a deep breath when he realized that those glowing lights were actually the eyes of the undead legion that Raizel had spoken of.
"This is indeed troublesome," William muttered.
He was not a stranger to the Undead, so he was able to get a rough estimate on how powerful this Unholy Army was.
Deathknights, Wraiths, Zombies, Zombie Lords, Skeleton Soldiers, Skeleton Mages, Skeleton Archers, and Dullahan littered William's vision.
What made him feel cold were the four Bone Dragons that flew above the Black Tower. Although he had a feeling that these dragons wouldn't be joining the Undead Army, he still felt threatened because a single one of those dragons could obliterate the stadium with a single Dragon Breath.
The Unholy Army then dispersed in the city. Among these undead, a group that William estimated to number over a thousand headed towards the Glory Shelter.
William knew that even if the Bone Dragons didn't help, this small army was enough to massacre everyone inside the Stadium.
The Half-Elf didn't know how the people in the various shelters were able to survive the Haunting on a regular basis.
In William's opinion, this was simply overkill. Even if Raizel was as strong as Lilith, she wouldn't be able to handle this many undead, especially since they weren't able to use their powers.
While the Half-Elf was busy holding back his blood thirst, and observing the Undead Army, a set of footsteps reached his ears.
"You're probably wondering why we were able to survive this long everytime the Haunting commences, right?"
The familiar voice reached William's ears, and it almost broke his concentration in suppressing his vampiring urges.
"Don't worry, they will not be able to enter the Stadium," Raizel said as she glanced at William, who was kneeling beside her. "I will not let them enter this shelter."
Raizel took a step forward and a golden lasso appeared in her hand.
"Their numbers have exceeded my expectations, but it is still within the acceptable range," Raizel said. "But, I will not be able to beat them alone. I'll need your help, Will."
The golden rope in her hands wrapped itself around William's body and held him in place. She then knelt in front of the Half-Elf and held the back of his head.
"This is my first time," Raizel said. Her voice carried a trace of anxiousness and excitement at the same time. "I still need to fight later, so, please, don't take too much of my blood, okay?"
"You…" William wasn't able to continue his words because Raizel pulled him close and rested his head on her shoulder.
"It's fine," Raizel whispered in William's ear. Her voice carried a temptation that was too hard to resist. "We need to survive and escape the Deadlands together. That is the only way for the three of us to be reunited in the future."
William didn't have time to digest Raizel's words because the latter had already pulled his head closer to her neck, forcing his lips to press against the throbbing blood vessels in her neck.
The ringing of the bell that had rang ceaselessly atop the Black Tower took the opportunity of William's short lapse in judgment to break past his defenses.
With a sigh of acceptance, William opened his lips and sank his fangs into the offering that had voluntarily presented herself to him.
Raizel's rich and powerful blood tasted so sweet that William found it hard to control himself. When the first drop of blood landed on his tongue, the Half-Elf regained a bit of his senses.
Because of this, he didn't drink too deeply, and only took in a mouthful of blood, before licking the wounds on the young lady's neck, healing it completely.
"Thank you," William said as he gained a firm hold on his bloodthirst.
Although he wasn't able to drink his fill, it was more than enough to control his body.
Raizel, on the other hand, sighed as she basked in the afterglow of the unbelievable pleasure of having her blood drank from her neck.
"Are you sure you had enough?" Raizel asked. Her face was flushed, and it seemed that the euphoria she felt still lingered within her mind.
"Yes," William replied. "Um. Can you remove this binding? The Undead are almost here. We need to deal with them now."
Raizel stared at the golden rope that bound William's body in a daze. It took a moment for her to remember where they were and the current predicament that they were facing.
In order to hide her embarrassment, she hastily removed the binding on William's body and looked at the Undead Army to hide the blush on her face.
"Now that you've drunk my blood, do you feel anything different?" Raizel asked.
William nodded. He didn't know the reason why, but he felt very powerful right now. Perhaps it was due to the combined effects of the Black Tower and Raizel's blood. But, right now, William felt that even if a few thousand more Undead were added to the Unholy Army in front of him, he would still come out victorious.
"Let's go," Raizel said as she jumped off the roof of the stadium. She then waved her hand and the golden lasso descended upon the undead that were now only a few meters away from the entrance of the stadium.
"Bind the world in your embrace and hold it in place," Raizel shouted. "Hold the Firmament, Gleipnir!"
