My Vampire Harem Will Dominate Everything

This time, Ezra didn't bother to admire the scene or some shit like that. His darkness covered the stone and began leeching the vitality out of it.

He felt satisfaction as his enemy's energy streamed into him but it wasn't fast enough. Not for him. At this rate, he'll spend hours here before he is able to open up the stone.

With a nod to himself, he began pouring vitality into his arms and the giant arm of darkness formed in the air in front of him, mimicking his actual arms.

He reached out and seized the giant ball of stone, raising it up into the air. When the ball was finally in the middle of the black zone, he began squeezing.

When James gets out, he won't be able to escape.

He strained, pouring more vitality into it. This might be a slower method but it was better. He couldn't risk smashing the stone cocoon. Not this time.

He had to control his strength or he'd bring down the entire vampire society on his head. Whether Vampire Society or Monarchy, everyone respected the Law of Secrecy. That was how impactful the death wave was.

He pressed and the stone cracked. The vampire inside poured more vitality into it, reinforcing it but Ezra didn't stop.

More cracks began to appear in the ball and he grinned, showing teeth.

Seconds later, the cracks began to grow. Ezra continued, and a minute later, there was a loud crack and the stone shattered into several pieces.

But... there was no one inside.

Ezra's eyes widened and he dived to the side. The place where he had been standing exploded as the ground under his feet came alive.

He slammed down with his giant fists of darkness, breaking whatever had been reaching for him. Vines grew everywhere, reaching for him. James was going all out. Well, he'd have to show the vampire that there were levels even in the sixth ring.

Ezra roared and blades of darkness began forming, zooming off in every direction. The rain of blades kept falling until it was so thick that the only thing that could be seen was darkness.

The swords flew through the air, slashing everything that moved. Vines and trees grew instantly as in a time lapse to cover something and Ezra directed the blades which shred through the vines.

But there was nothing there. There were a few other places like that in the black zone and when he sent the sword rain there, it was the same thing. The blades shredded through the protection but there was nothing there.

He floated in the air, his wings beating behind him as he glanced around. But he couldn't see James anywhere. Had the vampire somehow managed to turn invisible?

He doubted that James had this ability but he also knew that the vampire was still inside the black zone. This had to be one of the abilities of his ghosts!

"Come out, coward!" Ezra yelled. He knew it wouldn't work but it was worth trying. Besides, he had something better to do.

He blanketed the whole zone in his darkness and began sucking the vitality out of everything. "If you won't come out, I'll smoke you out."

That was when his senses pinged on two significant sources of vitality. The first was Nicodemus' coffin and the second was an unidentified source moving around rapidly as if afraid to stay in the same place for too long.

"Bingo."

He abandoned Nicodemus' coffin and followed the source. His darkness wrapped around it and turned solid, encasing it entirely.

Whatever it was tried to struggle but Ezra didn't stop. He lifted it into the air and kept sucking out the vitality of it.

Another source popped out of it and zoomed towards Ezra who stood as if he had no idea what was going on. Just as the source reached him, he ducked and his hands snapped out, grabbing hold of it.

He activated his chimera's thieving ability even as he sucked the vitality out of whatever it was. As his ability locked on what he was holding, his attention was caught by a perception ability and he claimed it for himself.

Michelangelo's ghost popped and James entered into his awareness.

"No!" James snarled even as he struggled with the shadows but whatever he tried wasn't enough as the darkness kept sucking the power out of him.

Ezra took a moment to study the perception ability as his darkness worked. After studying it, he chuckled. "You were using the ability wrong." He said.

He stepped forward and darkness formed a platform under his feet and moved him upwards to meet the struggling James. He gestured and the darkness stood James upright.

"Well, well, well." He said as he looked upon James.

The man struggled, not saying anything.

"When I was coming to claim the key, my mind went through what would be the perfect punishment for you. Do you want to know what I settled on?"

"Just kill me and be done with it." James spat, glaring at him in defiance.

"No." Ezra said simply. "Death is too much a luxury for you. No. You'll suffer in the exact same way you made Nicodemus suffer. In agony until your body is forced to cannibalize your soul and you become little more than just a beast."

"No." James whispered. "No. No! NO!"

"Yes, James." Ezra laughed, raising an open palm. "That is your punishment."
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Then, he dropped his hand.

His darkness went to work, carving away chunks of James' flesh. His body tried regenerating the damage but his darkness kept working, sucking off its vitality.

Finally, the regeneration stopped and the darkness carved until only his heart remained. He stretched out his hands and his darkness placed the heart on his palm.

As long as a vampire's heart existed, he could be revived. With a final nod, Ezra placed the bloody heart inside his pocket dimension. That was where it would stay for now.

Until Ezra builds its prison.