New Beginnings

The conclusion to the war against Dracula was one that the vampires never expected.

The ground troops had won decisively on the werewolf capital as without the help of Dracula, the rest of the troops did not have the necessary strength to repel the modern vampires who had greater numbers and tactical superiority.

For a moment it looked like the vampire forces had managed to snatch an unlikely victory when the times were tough for them as a species, however, just then Drax landed on the werewolf capital with an unconscious Max in his hands.

Since after Drax took over Dracula's body, the primordial vampire no longer looked like his usual being with blood red eyes or a sleek chiselled chin, but rather like an old man with a thick beard and grey eyes, nobody made the connection that Drax was actually Dracula, however, they did assume the worst seeing Max unconscious.

"You! Who are you? Why do you have my friend in your arms-" Sebastian asked, completely vigilant of Drax as he did not trust the individual he was seeing for the first time ever.

Although Max and Sebastian were close, him having an A.I. in his brain was one of the secrets that Max had not revealed before anyone including Sebastian as the dwarf had no idea what Drax looked like or what was his connection to Max.

"Lord Max is fine, he has successfully defeated Dracula, but has fallen unconscious after the stress of the battle.

I'm his humble servant Drax. I'm here to look after the master, " Drax said as cheers arose instantly from the vampire crowds who could not believe their ears that the evil vampire lord Dracula had been defeated!



As Severus and Sebastian rushed to Max's side to check on the unconscious King, Drax stood calmly and cooperatively as he knew he needed to face much scrutiny for his actions in the coming days.

While for the rest of the vampires this moment was something that was going to be immortalised in Vampire history as the greatest victory of good over evil, Sebastian felt like something was severely wrong about Max passing out, however, he could not put his finger over what exactly it was?

Max had told him in confidence before the raid ever started that he might be knocked out unconscious at the end of it, however, Max had assured him that he would be able to make it back to land by himself before he passed out and that the details of his real situation would be hidden to all but his closest confidants.

For his condition to be made public and for him to be carried by an unknown man made Sebastian feel cautious as he could almost smell that something was wrong about this scenario.

Nonetheless, he could not act on his suspicions as of today as even he understood the importance of today's victory.

Dracula was a menace for both the vampire society and for the kingdom of life and his death was going to be celebrated like it was the greatest moment in the lives of millions of citizens, with Max being their hero.

With this win, the other planets controlled by the rebels were going to lose morale and might start surrendering soon as even if they resisted, Sebastian expected both the vampires and the kingdom of life to take back what rightfully belonged to them in the next 12 months.

Although the clean-up was left, the war had been won today and Max had cemented his legacy as the leader of the new era of vampires.

***

(Meanwhile Rudra)

Rudra's condition had degraded significantly ever since he started to walk down the path of mastering his emotions.

Although he did not realise it himself, his family was the anchor that kept him from going mad and kept him from giving absolute control to the seeds.

If it were not for his love for his family, Rudra did not have strong feelings for anything else that would make him resist the temptations from the seed.

By walking down the path of trying to detach his emotions for family, Rudra found it harder and harder to keep the seeds under his control as he began phasing in and out of conscious control with him losing himself to the corruption of the seeds for about 2 hours a day in small intervals of 5-7 minutes every hour.

While the queen noticed his peril, she was under orders to not interfere.

The queen could ascertain that her master was slowly reaching the point of no return and that a week from now he might turn into a vegetable and while it was the most regretful, she had been coded to stand by and watch which was all that she could do under the circumstances.

"RUDRA! LORD RUDRA! OH SUPREME LORD! PLEASE GRANT ME AN AUDIENCE-" a voice entered Rudra and the queen's ears as it seemed like Odin who had landed on Rajput Capital was screaming at the top of his lungs to desperately secure an audience with Rudra.

"My lord would you like me to allow him an audience?" the queen asked, hoping that Rudra said yes, however, Rudra violently replied "NO- TELL HIM TO FUCK OFF" as the queen could do nothing but dutifully obey.



"Right away sir...." She said as she planned to momentarily manifest herself before Odin and deliver the message, however, before she could do so, Odin said something that snapped Rudra back to his senses as the old god shouted

"THE PERFECT WARRIOR HAS MOST LIKELY SCREWED YOUR BROTHER..... YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN SAVE HIM " Odin shouted as violent tremors ran down Rudra's entire body.

Having not yet completely mastered his emotions, Rudra could not stand hearing that his brother was in trouble, however, the seeds begged him to let the matter go.

Rudra shivered and shook, yet for a moment all the clamour from the seeds died down for him as he achieved a moment of clarity as he said in his usual voice "Queen, send him up-"