From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 511 Battle Inside the Palace
Kazador's palace features a classic Gryffindor color scheme—red and gold.

But this mansion did not display any glory or courage; instead, it exuded a hysterical morbidity and terror.

Perhaps this atmosphere is inextricably linked to the stench of blood on the hardwood floors, the red wallpaper printed with gold emblems, the dark-colored staircases, and the various luxurious velvet furniture.

Ivy passed through the wall and entered a spacious banquet hall. Countless purple candles burned on the golden lamps, and the incense mixed with the sticky smell of blood spread throughout the space.

In front of Ivy was a magnificent high-backed chair, upon which sat a slender, black-haired man dressed in fine clothes, observing with great interest the performance taking place in the banquet hall.

Almost all the guests invited by Gadzador died, and those who survived were used as entertainment.

The vampires and werewolves in the hall seemed very curious about whether the guest who was trying to stuff his intestines back into his stomach would survive.

As for Ivy, who came through the wall, she was completely ignored.

Ivy raised her staff, and thunder, which usually only resounded in the heavens, erupted from before the Heart of the Mountains gem, hurling the high-backed chair in front of her, the black-haired vampire on it, and all the other furniture around the chair into the air.

"How could this be..." The vampire lord, flying in mid-air, was filled with shock and anger. He never imagined that he would be attacked in his own palace.

Spells that can cause thunder damage are more powerful in enclosed spaces. Coincidentally, because of its fear of sunlight, there are no windows in Qazador's palace, so what look like windows are actually just decorations.

The thunder echoing between the walls not only tossed Kazador and the furniture beneath him high into the air, but also plunged the other monsters in the room into a state of fear and shock.

The thunder traveled through the wall to the other side, and Gale opened the portal in time. The first to jump out was Asdalon, a prisoner and slave of Qazador.

Before landing, the vampire lord transformed into a pool of blood mist and reappeared in the middle of the banquet hall, glaring at the strangers who had appeared on the platform reserved for the main guests.

"Who dares to trespass on my banquet! The palace of Kazador Zar!" The vampire lord shifted his gaze from Ivy, for he noticed someone else who caught his attention.

"Look who this is!" The vampire lord's rage turned into amusement and surprise. "Could it really be our dissolute spendthrift son?"

“Don’t put on that listless look in front of me, boy! Don’t you have any self-respect?” Gazador said in a condescending tone, as if he were the one standing on the steps.

"Look at you, you abandoned your family and then slunk back here. You should beg for our forgiveness!"

Asdalon drew a dagger from his waist, the rage and fear welling up within him forcing him to meet Qazador's bloodshot eyes: "Forgive? You will never forgive anything. Every mistake, every clan will be punished!"

Ivy directed the Flame Fist and Harpist who appeared from behind the portal to spread out to the left and right. The longer the family conversation in front of them lasted, the less likely the vampire lord would be to complete his ritual.

“That’s because I strive for perfection in everything—even for imperfect beings like you.” Kazador seemed completely absorbed in the delusion of the ascension ceremony’s success, showing disdain for the increasing number of outsiders in the banquet hall. “Unfortunately, despite all my efforts, you are still so insignificant.”

"No! You fucking bastard!" Asdell's rage erupted. "Everything you've done to me is nothing but a pile of dog shit! You're an arrogant, incompetent idiot who can only hide in your own latrine like a rat, ordering your slaves to serve you! I'll kill you, so that your dog-fucked face will no longer have any contempt or smile, only fear and despair! I'll make you experience everything I've ever experienced!"

Asdallen could no longer tolerate empty words, so he drew his dagger and charged forward.

Kazador opened his palm, and a thick, blood-red mist surged and instantly transformed into a scepter shimmering with crimson light. Two red rays shot from the eyes of the gargoyle crouching at the top of the scepter, transforming into runic shackles in the air and firmly locking Asdairon in place.

“It’s unbelievable, Asderon. After I bestowed upon you the gift of immortality, I thought you were truly lost in the illusion of sunlight and freedom.” Kazador carved a wound on Asderon’s face with his sharp nails, savoring the blood of his own creation. “It seems my shaping of you has been very successful. You’re not an ungrateful person; haven’t you obediently returned to my side?”

"Today, your pathetic life will be elevated; you will burn, and I will ascend." After the vampire lord's cruel declaration, he turned his long, narrow, scarlet eyes to the nearly assembled Flame Fist and Harpist. "You've brought many friends, boy. Perhaps they can serve as my first meal after my ascension..."

Before Kazador's threat was over, a dazzling golden ray flashed from each of Ivy's eyes as the opening act of the battle.

"Ah—" Kazador's shrill scream echoed through the hall, and half of his body turned black and gray under the blazing beams of sunlight bursting from Ivy's eyes.

As a vampire lord, Kazardor is not a true king of the night; he cannot enter flowing water or be exposed to direct sunlight.

In Ivy's eyes, he was nothing more than an undead creature with many weaknesses. And Ivy's spell list contained far too many spells that could deal with him. Even setting aside the dark magic he found in the Forbidden Library of Hogwarts specifically for dealing with vampires, the two evocation spells, Sunbeam and Dawnlight, which were considered to be sunlight, were enough to keep him in check.

Therefore, when preparing the [Gaze Spell] this morning, Ivy deliberately abandoned his most commonly used Avada Kedavra and Disintegrate spells, and instead used two sixth-ring Sunbeams.

The [Gaze Spell] allows Ivy to activate all the spells stored in her eyes within a single round, thus the two rays struck the patriarch of the Zar family one after the other.

As a sixth-circle Evocation spell, Sunbeam deals only 6d8 damage, which is even less than the third-circle Fireball in terms of expected value. However, in addition to being regarded as sunlight and causing blindness, Sunbeam has the property of being able to be triggered multiple times within a minute. Before the spell ends, dazzling particles of light will flash continuously in Ivy's eyes, and it can also provide bright sunlight illumination within a radius of 30 feet.

Therefore, firing two beams of light was not Ivy's limit. In the next minute, the evil creatures in the banquet hall controlled by the vampire lord would be subjected to a continuous barrage of beams of light.

"Kill them all!" the vampire lord roared, his voice distorted. Dense shadows emerged from every corner of the banquet hall, clinging to his body as he shook off ashes.

Besides the vampire lord, the dark creatures in the hall included his clones and the werewolves he enslaved. They left trails of shadow in the air, their crimson eyes leaving a visual afterimage in the warriors' eyes. The werewolves landed in the golden light provided by Ivy's eyes; beneath their gleaming fur were clearly defined muscles. Although often mentioned alongside vampires, werewolves did not fear sunlight like vampires.

Led by Shadowheart, the Flame Fist soldiers raised their shields, formed a shield wall, and advanced, protecting Ivy, the spellcaster, in the middle.

Kazador's vampire clones dared not step into the light's range, so they could only stand at a distance and throw magical attacks or let out howls to distract the warriors.

However, Jahira's harpists were not to be trifled with. As spies operating in the shadows, undead and other undead creatures were their frequent enemies. Therefore, the harpists had prepared holy water projectiles before launching their attack.

The fragile glass bottles shattered in every corner, and the skin of the proto-spirits that came into contact with the holy water immediately felt as if it had been corroded by strong acid, revealing foul-smelling subcutaneous tissue. The terrifying howls they emitted instantly transformed into piercing screams.

The spinning, flying adamantine shield struck a werewolf who attempted to attack from above. As Shadowheart caught the shield, she also loudly invoked the power of Serene.

Moonlight penetrated through layers of barriers, coalescing into fluttering spirit angels around the half-elf girl, aiding her followers in resisting the enemy.

"Ignorant worms! You have no idea of ​​my power!" Kazador's scorched body had been restored by the shadows that had sprung up everywhere. Now, he raised his crimson staff high and threatened loudly, "I will drown you all in darkness and blood!"

The sound of flapping wings began to echo in the windowless room with its doors tightly shut, and pairs of scarlet eyes emerged from the darkness, coldly staring at the enemy below.

The next moment, countless bats descended from the sky, and countless rats emerged from the shadows of the luxurious furniture and curtains, like tentacles reaching out from the darkness, determined to completely extinguish the last glimmer of light.

The radiant particles that had appeared in the void condensed again in Ivy's eyes, and a dazzling ray of light suddenly burst forth, mercilessly piercing through the wave of bats and rats, leaving only ashes and debris on the ground.

Having stopped using the Arcane Gate and focused intently, Gale finally completed his own spell. Hailstones, as hard as stone, fell from the sky, indiscriminately striking all the creatures around Kazador.

The biting cold brought by the hail made the vampire lord increasingly worried and anxious, but not about his own situation, but about the vampire clone he had locked in place.

In the vampire family, the offspring must unconditionally obey their creator. Although the mind flayer tadpoles in his brain granted Asdalon temporary freedom, even the mastermind wearing the Karthus crown on his head could not control him when he faced Kazardor.

Therefore, the vampire lord was well aware that his weak avatar was very likely to fall directly in this round of attacks. Neither the previous beam of sunlight nor the current ice storm seemed to be deliberately avoiding him. If he was unlucky, Kazador would have to capture another living person on the spot as a substitute and have enough time to inscribe Mephisto's Hell Contract on him.

The vampire lord's search for the derivative body failed, and even the crimson binding spell he used to trap Asdalon was dispelled.

He was the third mage in the crowd, Floric.

While Asdallen was having a family talk with Kazador, Ivy had already given instructions on the upcoming battle plan.

Floric had little to do but help Asdalon apply vaporization while Ivy launched her attack.

The vampire's gaseous form gains resistance to physical damage and an advantage on all physical attribute saving throws. It was this convenient third-circle spell that helped Asdalon survive the relentless onslaught.

"Raise your spears!" shouted the leader of the Ghurs, a capable, white-haired female warrior who had brought with her the few remaining fighters among the Ghurs.

As the only humans to have attacked and survived the Kazador Palace, these monster hunters had long ago coated their weapons with special poisons.

The spear, gleaming with an eerie light, pierced beneath the werewolf's bulging muscles, instantly turning the blood a chilling dark brown.

Unable to break through the shield wall formed by the Flame Fist soldiers, and having lost a great deal of strength due to Shadowheart's divine magic, the spears thrusting from insidious angles became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

The werewolf's roar was no longer terrifying, Khazador's avatar servants no longer launched ranged attacks, and even the rats and bats he summoned no longer launched fearless attacks.

Everything was heading towards the worst possible outcome, and everything was beyond Kazador's expectations. In fact, from the moment he met Asdalon, things were no longer under the vampire lord's control.

A foul-smelling whirlwind surged from all directions of the dark corners; Gadzador had already made up his mind to run away.

The people in front of him were well-equipped and tactically adept, but he knew absolutely nothing about any of them.

Even his former alter ego has slipped out of his control.

Seven thousand souls await his sacrifice, and the grand undertaking of ascending to vampire status is within reach. Kazador believes he will not fall on the eve of success.

He didn't utter any threats, nor did he launch another probing attack. Instead, he transformed most of his body into bats, while the rest became a thin red mist that flew close to the ground, escaping amidst the red carpet and the blood of the guests.

But from the very beginning, Ivy had no intention of leaving him any room for maneuver.

A golden dragon phantom emerged from the mithril staff, roaring and dissolving all the darkness summoned by Kazador, not even escaping his stealthy red mist.

(End of this chapter)