Kace ran through the streets to where he had abandoned Sophia. Seeing that she was still there, he scooped her up in his arms and ran with all his might towards the castle. There only chance of survival would be if the castle housed any secret escape passages. Kace thought that it would be highly likely that it did. So he dared not to slow down and give the heroes any chance of catching up to him.

He felt a strong gust as Dao and Josh arrived beside him. Seeing that he had not given up, they had decided to follow him in the hopes of surviving this mess. There was no point trying to save anyone who could not bring themselves to even attempt to escape or fight. They would only slow them down.

As they dashed through the streets, Kace realised that Josh's crew was missing, which caused him to raise an eyebrow. Josh smiled in response and pointed behind them. They could see the front gate from here, and there was his crew manning the walls.

"We needed a decoy to buy us some time,??? Josh said casually as if it ere no big deal.

Kace, on the other hand, was flashing him a big thumbs up in his mind. It was possible that they would buy them just enough time to find the queen and escape from here. As Kace thought about it, he was sure the heroes would be overconfident and arrogant. Especially with that ability of Zornok's.

So they would likely take their time and clear out all of the vampire's that were unable to resist as they checked every house in the city. It would be similar to a grid search to ensure that they left no survivors and no place to hide. This should definitely buy them the time that they needed.

Sophia was still a blubbering mess wrapped up in his arms, but for once could not bring himself to hate her for it. If he had not undergone his evolution recently, he would have probably ended up in a similar state. Kace was glad that almost everyone was rooted in the spot they had stood in when the heroes appeared.

It meant less traffic to dodge along the way. As they passed deeper into the city, they soon found themselves joining onto crowds of nobles. Obviously, their stronger rank allowed them to move unhindered but it also probably meant that there would not be a single commoner besides Dao who could escape.

It would take the vampires centuries to recover from this setback. Kace watched as all of his plans involving the vampire race went up in a puff of smoke in front of his very eyes. They soon found themselves inside the castle and searching for the queen in all of her favourite rooms. They had no idea where she should have taken Raven to heal him.

They eventually exhausted all of their ideas which only left a single option! Her bedroom! Since Kace was to be her apprentice, naturally he knew where it was located. This was purely in case of emergencies. Without reserving any dignity for any potential occupants within the room, Kace kicked the door straight off its hinges and barged into the room.

To his relief, Sonja was sitting on the edge of the bed. Her hand grasped Raven's tightly to her ample chest. Kace panicked when he realised that the captain was no longer breathing. 'Oh, fuck me. Talk about horrible timing!' Kace did not have the time to be polite, though. Even if he did, it was not exactly his strong suit.

"Your majesty! Is there a passage that will allow me to get your daughter out of here safely?"

"Yes, of course. What kind of a queen do you take me for?! Just pull that book over there then duck through the fireplace." Sonja replied with a rather calm voice.

Kace had expected her to actually be grieving but who was he to judge? It was more important to use every second running than worry about the emotional state of others. Kace flashed her an expectant look as he followed her instructions revealing the hidden passage. She simply replied with a wave that ushered them to go ahead without her. Kace even began to wonder if she intended to die here and be with Raven, even in death.

He sighed dejectedly as he hunched down, still cradling the sobbing figure of Sophia in his arms. Their feet made what seemed to be impossibly loud noises against the stone floor, but this was probably just Kace's paranoia. It probably did not help that they were running for their lives either. Dao offered to take the lead for the group. For which Kace happily let him.

It was difficult to keep his balance and follow the tunnel properly while heaving Sophia's dead weight around with him. They made faster progress after Dao took to the front of the group. Kace could have sworn that he could hear the city being demolished above them from time to time. If that were true, the tunnel must lead them to somewhere beyond the city limits.

They could only hope that it would turn out to be somewhere safe. With how their luck was going, it was highly possible that it would take them out, right in the heart of the hero army. Now that really would be a sad end for them all, one which Kace did not even want to consider right now.

Now that he had gotten a glimpse of the kind of powerhouse that stood near the summit of his enemies power Kace knew that he still had so far to go. He would have to dedicate even more time to his training and gaining as many useful skills as possible. Otherwise, when the time came that he could not tuck tail and run a powerhouse like that one could wipe the floor with him for breakfast.

'There's nothing else for it! We have to get off of this world..'