Pact of Blood
Vlad looked at his blade, then at the horde of his own soldiers closing in on him.
He realized then that they had never been the heroes of this story. They were the pawns who had accidentally knocked over the king. "I won't let him have you," Vlad said, his voice hardening into a final, brutal resolve. He didn't strike at Kaelen.
He slammed his blade into the floor of the command deck, channeling the entirety of the Pact’s remaining energy into the fortress’s foundations.
If the fortress couldn't be a sanctuary, he would turn it into a bomb. The room exploded in a flash of absolute darkness, tearing the reality of the fortress asunder.