(A/n : In the previous chapter of Sanguis Rex)

Sanguis Rex : "*out loud* Argh!!! *In his mind* Holy crap he hits hard', he thought to himself as the force of the punch had knocked him backwards onto a wall, breaking it upon impact before indenting himself onto another one as The Duke was walking towards him with a sadistic smirk.

(A/n : Play this music)

(A/n : And now the continuation)

(A/n : Just like that, but replace Kazuya Mishima with The Duke.

Apologies for the gif's bad quality, I couldn't find anything better)

Meanwhile the Duke's body was undergoing a mysterious change.

The part of his left hand where his metallic prosthetic used to be located at had started sprouting neurons, blood vessels, bone tissue, bone marrow, muscle and skin tissue, like a wild flower at the spring season and started forming a hand.

His body had started growing bigger, ripping apart clothes and prosthetics off of his body alike as his bones, muscles and organs started to shift and morph, changing places and rearranging themselves like pieces in a grotesque puzzle.

The Duke's skin had started to lose its fair skinned pigmentation, gaining a more pale, scaly appearance as at the place where his tailbone was a tail started to form.

His limbs got longer and his legs got a second bending point, making the monstrous transformation to get a more serpentine appearance as at the end of his fingers and toes, claws the size of switchblades started to form.

His neck started to elongate slightly as his head started to transform to an appearance that was something between a dragon and a demon. His face turned into a dragon like snout and his tongue was forked, his human like teeth increased in numbers and became sharper as horns sprouted from his head, completing his transformation.

(A/n : The Duke of Hell : True Form)

The Dark Sphere, Tenebrae Anima - or Dark Soul in Latin wasn't sought by the Obsidian Cult only because of the fact that it was one of the strongest artifacts, but also because of its power.

It's a dark artifact, dating back to the Age of the Olympians, more specifically to the Siege of Olympus by the King of Monsters, the equally monstrous Typhoon, the Lord of Destruction and son of Gaia and Tartarus as Gaia's last act of revenge towards Zeus and the Olympians for entombing her children, the Giants and the Titans within her body, planet Earth itself.

Legends say that when Typhoon had fallen at the hands of Zeus and the Goddess Nike, the Goddess of Victory, before he was banished to Tartarus, drops of his dark blood had washed the ground beneath him, corroding it like the strongest of poisons.

These drops with the passing of eons where turned into crystals that held within them immense power. Those who sought said power were driven to madness, but those who managed to resist, had gained in their hands vita aeterna, the elixir for eternal life, but at the expanse of losing something.

The Duke for example, gained vita aeterna, but in return, he lost his left hand and eye, but due to his greed of coming in contact with such a raw force of darkness, he became a monster.

Now, the one standing before Sanguis Rex was no longer a man.

The Duke had long since died.

This was the awakening of The Duke of Hell.

His true form.

Sanguis Rex : "I suppose that this isn't your idea for a scally onesie.", he said as he charged at the Duke of Hell, moving his fist towards the enormous, twelve foot tall behemoth whilst the latter roared wildly and swung its massive, scaled fist towards him.

Their fists clashed and the resulting shockwave was enough to shatter all windows in the Basketball court and severely damage the walls of said building.

(A/n : Just like that but replace :
- Mahoraga with the Duke of Hell and
- Ryomen Sukuna with Sanguis Rex)

Sanguis Rex : '*in his mind* I need to move fast since if this building falls, there's nothing that'll guarantee that all of the hostages will be safe.

That unfortunately includes my mother, but I can't save them all with this buffon being like a wall between me and saving them.

If only there was a way to help them without having to withhold this monster.', he thought to himself gritting his teeth, but he saw from the side of his eye that's someone had came.

Police Officer : "What the hell is that thing?", he stammered and he along with the other officers were about to shoot until...

Mr. Hatzigeorgiou : "Don't shoot!! There are innocent hostages here.", he ordered.

Sanguis Rex : "You took the signal a bit too late, didn't you?", he asked the police officer whilst parrying another attack from the Duke of Hell.

Mr Hatzigeorgiou : "It wasn't that easy given the fact that you had put one of our officers into some kind of trance.", he remarked stoically.

Sanguis Rex : "Whatever, just save the hostages already and leave this big boy to me.", he ordered.

Police Officer #384 : "Watch your tone boy!", he barked.

Mr Hatzigeorgiou : "He's just giving us time to save them, just comply and move!!", he stated as they had moved trying to save the hostages which was them basically carrying them away.

After that, seeing that there wasn't anyone else close by, Sanguis Rex had went for another exchange of blows, this time fiercer due to the fact that he had managed to adapt further.

(A/n : Just like that, but replace :
- Jin Kazama (The one in the black outfit) with Sanguis Rex and
- Kazuya Mishima (the one in the white outfit) with The Duke of Hell)

The force behind each punch - although neither of them found their target due to being narrowly dodged- was strong enough to level down the entire building, shattering it apart as if it was a lego building nearing the dreaded durability drop test, knocking dust and debris away.

Sanguis Rex : "Impressive... this might be the only time where I have to physically exert myself in this night.

Too bad that I'll have to cut the f...", he stated, but didn't manage to finish what he said as the Duke of Hell reciprocated him with a ferocious uppercut, knocking Michael's head clean off of his shoulders, but unfortunately for him...

(A/n : Just like that but replace Muzan Kibutsuji with Sanguis Rex)

He wasn't the only one who could regenerate, given the fact that almost immediately, Michael had regenerated his head and went for a headbutt exchange with the monster.

(A/n : Just like that, but replace :
- Superman with The Duke of Hell
- Wonder Woman with Sanguis Rex)

Unfortunately for him though, the lack of significant height advantage in combination with the raw strength advantage that leaned heavily in favour of the Duke of Hell, he wasn't capable to win this contest, having him to be stunned in front of the massive behemoth.

The Duke of Hell on the other hand had capitalised on his adversary's weakness and proceeded to grab Sanguis Rex by the face, knocking him to the ground and dragging him along it before smashing him against a wall of another building.

(A/n : Just like that, but replace :
- The blonde haired guy with The Duke of Hell and

- The dark haired guy with Sanguis Rex)

The Duke of Hell had continued his combination of attacks by repeatedly pummeling Michael from every direction.

(A/n : Just like that, but replace :
- Panda with the Duke of Hell and
- The dark skinned curse with Sanguis Rex)

Sanguis Rex on the other hand was spitting blood as he was being repeatedly pummeled between a wall and the Duke's punches, gasping for air as his ribcage was being torn apart and then regenerated almost immediately only for that circle to continue.

Regeneration, a blessing and a curse depending on the situation. In other cases it could make the difference between life and death whilst in others, such as fighting an opponent many times stronger than you are, it only means that you could become an ever mending, fleshy punching bag.

Once he had seen that his adversary had enough, the beast was about to roar loudly in a triumphant way, but it had immediately stopped and growled loudly in annoyance since there were two people who either foolishly or bravely - however someone sees it - had tried to save Sanguis Rex by either shooting or trying to stab the beast.

Neither did anything to it so much to Michael's horror the beast had retaliated, swinging his tail at the both of them. The lady was the closer in relative proximity to the monster's muscular tail which meant that she had taken the greatest brunt of the attack.

Mr. Hatzigeorgiou : "HELEN!!!", he shouted towards her, eyes wide in worry.

Helen : "P-Peter... I-I c-can't feel my legs...", she whimpered since unfortunately for her due to being the closest in proximity to the monster, its tail had struck her with such force that messed her spinal cord badly, rendering her paralysed from the legs and down.

Helen : "PETER LOOK OUT!!!", she shouted as the beast's tail was coming down towards the Chief Police Director, but thankfully enough he had managed to barely dodge the tail, but losing his hand in the progress to the bladed end of the tail.

A bladed end so sharp to the point if it wanted, it could penetrate adamantium alloy like how a hot knife would cut a butter.

The bladed tail had torn through skin, muscle, tissues, blood vessels, neurons, bone and bone marrow as if it was nothing more than a fleshy cake, ripping Mr Hatzigeorgiou's hand from the elbow and down, having the man to howl in pain like a wolf caught in a hunter's bear trap.

Michael's eyes had widened in horror at what the monster had done.

The people it hurt was Helen Kalopoulou, his mother and Peter Hatzigeorgiou, his uncle.

At that moment he could have sworn that something had broken inside him...

(A/n : Play this song)

He could have sworn that at that moment, he started seeing red.

As the monster had went towards Mr Hatzigeorgiou and Helen, wanting to finish what it started, he could sense something eerie behind him...

Something so eerie to the point it started feeling a sense of dread down its spine.

Sanguis Rex : "I'm your opponent, not them", he said to him and to everyone's surprise he was standing up, fully healed.

Helen : '*in her mind* I know that voice... Michael?', she thought to herself with her eyes wide in surprise realising who the mysterious vigilante is.

Meanwhilst Michael was in no place to care if his mom figured out who he is, given the fact that the monster was charging towards him aiming to land a punch towards him.

To the Duke's surprise, Michael didn't dodge the punch, he took it head on on his left cheek and turned to look at the Duke, his red eyes locked with the Duke's purple ones.

(A/n : Just like that, but replace :
- Super Saiyan Blue Goku with Sanguis Rex and

- Golden Frieza with The Duke of Hell)

Sanguis Rex : "I have been calling you many things in our encounter...

Fiend...

Monster...

Demon...

Etcetera...

Projecting the negatives of myself onto you when I've realised one thing.

I'm a monster as well.", he stated to him monotonously as he proceeded to punch the monster away from him with such force to the point where silvery scales were separated from the Duke's body like glass shards from a broken window.

(Just like that, but once again replace:

- Tai Lung with Sanguis Rex and

- The flung back Rhino Soldier with the Duke of Hell)

The recoil of the punch was strong enough to create a small shockwave and send the monster away from Michael, back at the ruins of the Basketball court.

Not giving the Duke of Hell any time to react, Michael had dashed after him, sending a powerful punch at the Duke's gut, forcing him to drop to his knees.

(A/n : Just like that, but replace :

- Super Saiyan Goku with Sanguis Rex and

- Full Power Frieza with The Duke of Hell)

Sanguis Rex : "My entire life I tried to hold back, not knowing when my powers were going to awaken or not...", he said to him, stepping down on the Duke's head, indenting the ground beneath him, forming a massive crater.

(A/n : Just like that, but replace :
- Cid "Shadow" Kagenou with Sanguis Rex and

- The Sword Saint, Beatrix with the Duke of Hell)

Sanguis Rex : "I was treating everything around me as if it was made out of glass and paper.

If I used to much force it could crumble...", he stated to him, waiting for him to stand up and once the Duke of Hell had tried to attack him, he pivoted his head out of harm's way and gut punched the Duke, hearing him growl in pain.

(A/n : Just like that, but replace :

- Jiren with the Duke of Hell and

- Ultra Instinct Omen Goku with Sanguis Rex)

Sanguis Rex : "But against you, I don't have to hold back....

Because when the world wanted a hero to save them from what they couldn't understand...

They got a monster...", he stated to him, proceeding to kick him away.

(A/n : Just like that, but replace :

- Ultra Instinct Omen Goku with Sanguis Rex and

- Kefla with The Duke of Hell)

The Duke had managed to soften his landing by using his claws, as sharp as the bladed end of his tail, in order to grab on the concrete and asphalt of the road.

It wasn't easy due to the fact that his claws were sharper that the concrete's and asphalt's durability, but it was manageable.

The Duke of Hell was growling and hissing like a wild animal and looked towards Sanguis Rex witnessing something.

(A/n : Just like that, but replace Ainz Ooal Gown with Sanguis Rex)

His magic presence...

When did it grew so much?

It's like there's no ceiling to how high it could grow.

All supernatural beings from the vampires to the werewolves, from the demons to the dragons, to even the mutants of the world and the Deities that overseed all had a magical presence hidden within their very being.

Only other supernatural beings or mutant beings could see the magical presence of another supernatural being.

And Michael's Presence was extraordinary, something that made the Duke's own to pale in comparison, like comparing a scorching inferno to a match flame.

But that wasn't the only thing that infuriated the Duke of Hell, it was something else something familiar...

He could see flashes of it from time to time, but now he recognised it...

That presence...

That bursting authoritative presence that was basically oozing from the male before him, it was similar to someone he knew from five centuries ago...

That presence...

Reminded him of the one who confined him inside his previous, human body five hundred years ago...

(A/n : Just like that, but replace the white dressed Anos Voldigoad with Sanguis Rex and the royal dressed one with the picture I'll show you later)

That presence reminded him of...

(A/n : Vladimir Dracula Tepes (remember him well, he'll play a pivotal part later on))

Of Vlad Dracula Tepes... the first Typhonean Vampire.

Now you may ask how did the mythological Typhoon connected with Vladimir Tepes, even though the latter was the king of Wallachia?

Because a lot of years ago, back when Vlad Dracula Tepes was roaming the earth with his name known as Vlad The Impaler being what haunted everyone who lived within and outside of the borders of the Kingdom of Wallachia, the rumours about him turning into a vampire weren't false, just miswritten.

Because back then, when Vlad the Impaler was a proud part of the Order of the Dragon, trying to protect his people from the Ottomans, he had used a powerful relic, one hidden within his castle since days of old.

That relic was another Tenebrae Anima, another Dark Soul that contained a piece of the currently imprisoned Typhoon's power.

Wanting to save his people, Vlad Tepes sought more power than he already had, a power that would make swords and man made weapons useless in front of him.

That's what Typhoon had exploited, presenting himself in Vladimir's dreams as either a friend or a prophet, trying to persuade him.

Vladimir had tried his best to not fall victim to the whims of the Banished One, but at last, he bend knee when the enemies surrounded his castle.

Using a dagger, he broke the sphere and thus his body underwent a change.

A change that made him into Vlad Dracula Tepes, the first Typhonean Vampire.

After Dracula had saved his people from the Ottomans, he continued to rule Wallachia, but one day he was summoned again, this time now not by Typhoon, but by Hades himself.

In the beginning he was surprised as to why did the God of the Underworld of a long forgotten era wanted his services, but he had learnt that a corrupt demon from Tartarus had escaped and needed the demon's soul to be returned back.

The demon was none other than the Duke of Hell, the Obsidian Cult Leader's True Form.

After their long and bloody fight the Duke of Hell was defeated and his soul was entrapped back within a Dark Sphere, hidden within a relic made by Hephaestus himself.

The Dracula had spared the Duke, seeing that without his demonic powers he wasn't that big of a deal, but little did he knew that Duke and the rest of the people loyal to him had made a corrupt organisation called as the Obsidian Cult with the sole purpose of scouring the world until they found the Dark Sphere that contained The Duke's Dark Soul in order to restore him back to his glorious days.

But little did Duke also knew that the Fates had a poetic game fine tuned for him.

A game that brought him to today...

To his current fight with Sanguis Rex, else known as Michael Caligo...

From a Typhonean Vampire he had lost his powers...

To a Typhonean Vampire he was going to lose his life...

Ending the cycle of his hybris towards Gods and monsters...

The Duke of Hell had roared wildly, his eyes being bloodshot red as he charged against the vigilante, knocking away any panicking civilians as if they were fresh autumn leaves during a windy day, mouth agape as he tried to finish everything in one bite....

Or so he thought, until....

(A/n : To be continued to the next chapter)