"H…"

Dracula, who was about to hold the relic, halted, his pale fingers suspended mid-air.

His crimson eyes narrowed, brow furrowing as he tilted his head, listening for something just beyond the edge of sound. Behind the ancient relic… he saw only the endless dark path winding into blackness, as if it swallowed the world.

He wasn't sure why, but something twisted in his gut—a faint whisper, a chill, a half-remembered fear.

He thought he heard a voice, or was it a memory echoing back? Just then—

Flick~

A dim, dying glow shivered along the corridor, stretching far down the long road, illuminating nothing but dread.

At the very end of that road…

A silhouette stood.

A tall figure, shrouded in shadow and flickering light.

Facing away from them.

Back hunched, as if burdened by invisible chains, and shoulders shaking, trembling in silence.

Flick~

Darkness

Flick~

The figure suddenly lurched several steps forward, like a puppet cut from its strings.

Not walking... Dragged!

Its limbs jerked with grotesque spasms, as though they weren't attached correctly; feet scraped against the stone floor, leaving a harsh, grating sound that echoed through the emptiness.

Behind it…

Black, sticky shapes crawled across the ground... slow, sludge-like shadows, twisting and reforming, reaching for its ankles like hands made of living mud.

Dracula's lips curled, "Show yourself!"

Flick~

Darkness

Flick~

The lights blinked again, brighter for a heartbeat.

The figure had gotten closer—now halfway down the road.

Its head snapped toward them—too fast, too sharp. The neck bent the wrong way, a sickening crack, before snapping back to place.

"HE…."

One of the black, sticky hands clung to its back, its arm stretched impossibly long, fingers vanishing into flesh. They crawled over each other, writhing, reaching upward for the crown of its skull.

Flick~

Darkness.

Flick~

The lights returned.

The figure collapsed to its knees, hands outstretched in desperation, as if begging for help, as if reaching for them... fingers splayed, trembling, pleading for salvation.

But the black, sticky monsters yanked it upright, bending its spine at impossible angles, pulling it backwards, deeper into the darkness.

"HEL…"The word oozed from its mouth, stretched by agony, twisted by fear.

Its jaw gaped wider, impossibly wide!!

Flick~

Darkness

Flick~

It dragged its fingers along the ground—five long, bleeding nail marks carved into the cold stone, lines of black crimson trailing after.

And behind it, the sludge creatures clung to its spine, its shoulders, its legs—pulling, tugging, their forms ever-shifting, trying to hold it back from escaping.

Flick~

Darkness

Flick~

The street was full of black slugs now, their bodies merging and splitting, crawling over each other in a writhing sea.

The stench of decay thickened, suffocating, burning the back of every throat, while the sickening sound of countless slick bodies sliding over stone filled the night air.

Flick~

Blackout!

A low, wet dragging sound echoed closer as if something massive was being pulled through mud.

Ssshhhhk… ssshhhkk…

"HELP….HE…rrr…!"

The word itself seemed to be dragged from a ruined throat, torn by suffering.

Someone… something… was coming toward them. It moved in the blackness, neither alive nor truly dead, only a blurred shape in the shadows, swallowed by the writhing black slugs.

"Was that… Camazotz?" Dracula muttered with confusion, his expression uncharacteristically uncertain. For a fleeting moment, even his arrogance faltered, a crease forming between his brows as he searched the shifting gloom for any sign of the familiar monster.

Leo gripped his sword tighter, his bleeding arm trembling uncontrollably.

The others stood rooted in place, utterly taken aback by the thing that was slowly, impossibly, approaching them, their hearts thundering, their minds screaming for escape.

Their instincts screamed at them to run away from this horror as fast as possible and as far as possible.

Dracula stared at the road.

Flick~

Darkness

Flick~

Dracula stepped back immediately when he saw… the figure slowly twitching, limbs jerking, then standing up as if pulled by invisible strings.

Its eyes—no, there were no eyes at all—just hollow holes, deep as pits, leaking black tears, oily streams crawling down its corpse-like face.

Its jaw hung open, tongue stretched far too long, an unnatural appendage that should not exist. Black slime dripped from it like tar, heavy strings of filth dangling and pooling on the stone, each drop hissing as it touched the writhing slugs.

Flick~

Darkness

Dracula frowned, "Oi, Camazotz? I know it's you… what the fuck are you trying to mess with now?" he said.

Flick~

When the light appeared, there was nothing.

The slugs, the figure... gone, as if the world had swallowed every trace, wiped the slate clean.

Everyone blinked in confusion, seeing that the road was empty.

Flick~

Turned darkness.

Sssshhkk…

Sssshhkkk…

Sssshhh…

Footsteps? Or was it something crawling, slithering, impossibly close but hidden just beyond sight!

Flick~

Yet when the light came back… yet nothing there.

The road looked empty, still, almost peaceful, as if the nightmare had never existed at all.

Dracula's body turned tense as he clenched. His shoulders locked, his fangs slightly showing.

Flick~

Darkness

Flick~

"FUCK!!"

His eyes widened in feral horror as that thing… that abomination… appeared the moment the light flickered, materialising inches from his face as if it had always stood there, waiting for him to notice it.

Stood right in front of him. No footsteps or warning.

It simply existed!

The monstrous bat hung upside down from nothing, suspended in midair like a nightmare sketched into the void. Its wings were long and covered in black sludge. The sludge dripped in slow, heavy drops, each one burning into the stone with a soft hiss. Its wings twitched like butchered flesh pinned to metal hooks.

Its eyes glowed with emptiness, hollow sockets swirling with a living darkness that stared into him, through him, past him.

Its snout was elongated and skeletal, jaw unhinged, teeth crooked and uneven like broken knives. Each tooth pointed in a different direction, jagged and cracked, as if the mouth itself didn't understand how to be a mouth anymore.

And its entire body was wrapped in writhing tendrils of black slime, dripping like melted tar. Each tendril twitched like it had a mind of its own, slithering across the creature's skin, sometimes sliding into its flesh and re-emerging elsewhere.

It was a broken, wet shriek that gurgled through distorted throat muscles:

ggkkkHHHHHHHHHHHkkKRRRRRK—

The sound vibrated the air itself, rippling through the ground.

A sound that echoed like drowning lungs trying to breathe.

Every breath from the creature sounded like someone dying again and again.

Dracula clenched his ears as the sound made his mind crawl, not only him, but also others, as they clenched their ears trying to stop the sound from getting into their ears.

"STOP YOU FUCKER!"

Dracula shouted furiously before a blood axe appeared in his hand as he lunged towards Camazotz's mouth.

Chuck!

The blade cleaved through the creature's jaw—its mouth split open, nearly tearing half its head apart.

Black sludge sprayed like boiling tar and parts of black tongue and other fleshy!

Camazotz's mouth opened almost, his head half falling down until it stopped screaming, and its hollow eyes looked at Dracula for a second, and that single second stretched forever.

No sound... No breath. Just those empty sockets locking onto him.

BOOOMM!!!

The creature's massive arm—or something like an arm—moved faster than thought.

Dracula's head smashed into pieces… blood and flesh splattered around… his remaining headless body fell to the ground.

Thud!

The body trembled once, twice… and then collapsed flat!

Everyone flinched back in horror... Their bodies jerked before their minds even understood why.

They had thrown everything at Dracula, struggled just to scratch him, and yet this thing… with a single slap, it tossed him aside.

If Dracula was a storm, this creature was a void.

Leo's grip tightened on his sword, but his hands wouldn't stop shaking. Blood trickled between his fingers.

Azrael grabbed his arm, her voice a trembling whisper:

"Leo… run."

She had never whispered like that before... Her fingers dug into his sleeve, cold and shaking.

As she and Valra more or like understand what happened to Camazotz… It's something similar to Nergal!

Both women paled. Memories of Nergal's corruption... twisted bodies, hollow screams, inhuman transformations—flashed in their minds.

The resemblance was unmistakable... A nightmare reborn!

But before Azrael could finish her warning, the monster's head snapped back into place, jaw creaking closed like a coffin lid.

In perfect mimicry, it whispered:

"Leo… run."

The words came in Azrael's own voice, but twisted, as if chewed up and spat back out.

It glided toward them, dragging tar across the ground, hollow eyes flicking from face to face. As it looked at each of them, it echoed their most secret fears, its voice shifting. The tar hissed wherever it touched the stone.

Its empty sockets scanned them,

To Raphael:

"Don't leave me. Please—I'll be alone…"

Raphael staggered.

To Leo:

"This is my new life… I will not give to anyone!"

His own words twisted back at him, sounding possessive, deranged, a warped reflection of his darkest desperation.

To Valra:

"I'm sorry, Father."

Her breath hitched.

To Essa:

"…grrrr."

To the unconscious Ophis:

"…"

It shivered, and every time it did, each individual inner fear where showing through their eyes… Camazotz can see it.

Every flinch, every twitch, every memory reflected in their pupils... absorbed, devoured.

Suddenly—

"HOW DARE YOU!!"

Dracula's roar cracked the air, filled with fury and humiliation. Blood magic radiated off him like a crimson sun.

BOOM!!!

The explosion rocked the black creature, sending it flying, tar splattering across the stones like rain.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.