The one who had sent out the message to Leo was none other than Xander from the tenth. He didn't know what situation Leo would be in, but it was an urgent matter to contact the others. Since they weren't fully aware about who might be around the Blind Swordsman, the content of the message had been vague enough to not leak any secrets or the family's identity.
Paul had ordered Xander to consistently check if the communication channels might open up, and eventually, seemingly out of nowhere, they started to work. The oddest thing was that it had happened in the midst of the attack from the Dalki and the masked forces.
Nonetheless, Xander immediately informed Paul about this discovery. Due to the situation at the tenth castle being far better than anywhere else, the Vampire knight had been able to simply give out commands without having to go in personally. Once notified, he immediately headed back inside the castle to safely talk to the others.
It was then that Paul was informed that the Cursed ship had been trying to get into contact with them for the longest time. The Vampire knight didn't hesitate to reach out to Sam on the off-chance that the communication might get cut off again at any moment.
"Paul, you finally called us back! We couldn't get in contact with you for a while now, so we thought something had gone wrong!" Sam sounded panicked on his end.
"That assumption isn't necessarily wrong. Things haven't exactly been smooth here." Paul replied and gave the other a brief overview about the situation in the Vampire World. The thing that neither of them could figure out was why the communication devices had so suddenly started working again.
"But you're saying that the teleporter is still out of commission?" Sam questioned, which the other confirmed. "That's too bad, I had considered sending some people through the other teleporter. The special one Logan created, but for some reason it seems to be offline as well. … we just got news ourselves…"
"If the Vampire World wasn't in chaos, I was about to request your help." Sam then went on to explain to Paul what exactly the Cursed faction was facing at the moment. Both sides were in a pickle, and neither one really afford to go out and really help out the other. However, there was one person they needed to inform about the dire situation, because it was up to him on how to deal with it.
"Let me be the one to notify him, but before that I have to ask whether you've received any news about Linda's and Fex's arrival? Before it went offline we did manage to send the two of them over to your side to check up on the Dragon."
There was silence on the other end, though not because the communication had been cut. No, Paul needed to ask Timmy and Xander if they had heard such news, yet neither one did. The two from the Cursed faction were supposed to be here secretly so it would make sense if they hadn't revealed themselves. They tried to contact them via their masks that should always be with them, yet there was no response.
"Nobody saw them and it's not possible to reach them over the masks. Until we know what happened to them. Let's get in contact with Quinn and see what he wants to do." Paul suggested. Agreeing to this, Sam proceeded to give him a call.
It was at this point and time that Quinn and the others had finished their trials and had received the call from Sam, obtaining the bad news about the Vampire World.
"If the tenth castle is in trouble, I'll travel to Linda immediately and help out there. I can get back to you guys immediately, while those two can travel back to you once the teleporter works again." Quinn immediately volunteered.
Sam wanted to say more, since he still hadn't fully explained the situation with the Cursed Faction yet, but before he could, Quinn had already attempted to find the connection to Linda. However, he was unable to connect to her shadow at all.
'Why can't I connect to her? Has she turned it off completely? That's strange... where exactly is her shadow? I can still feel the others, so there should be no problem on that end. I didn't get any system message either so she shouldn't be dead, but it's almost as if completely disappeared.' Quinn thought.
Still on the call, he asked the one person that might know a little more.
"They should be in the Vampire World, but according to Paul they were unable to get into contact with them. We were thinking of sending a team through to see if they were okay but the teleporter there isn't working either."
This only made Quinn think that perhaps the two of them had been caught, and the teleporter they had come form might have been destroyed. Linda was currently the only one on the vampire planet with the Shadow ability. Without her, his Shadow link was useless.
"Quinn before you decide anything, there's something I need to tell you. I didn't want to do this, but the Cursed faction is facing a problem of our own right now." Sam reported while Quinn was still thinking about what to do. "The Cursed planets… the one that Helen and her sisters are on… it's under attack by the Dalki."
"We are unsure about the size of their forces since we only got a report recently, but our guess is it's a big one. The teleporters are still online there, so we can go, and if you use your Shadow link to travel back here you can do as well."
It was the worst timing, the Cursed faction and the vampire settlements were both in trouble, but it was then that Quinn also realised something. Quinn could get to the Cursed planets relatively quickly since there were plenty of people with the Shadow ability, but the same wasn't true for the vampire planet.
However, right now he was quite close to it. Travelling by ship it would take him a few hours to get there, but if he left with his Shadow link, there was no way for him to get back. He had no idea about what had happened to Linda, so there was no way to tell when the connection to her would appear again.
And for some reason he wasn't able to connect to Arthur's shadow. Even if he could, at this point and time jumping right where he would be wasn't a good call.
Should he choose to help the Cursed faction out, then there was no way to tell if he would make it back in time to help out the vampire settlement.
"Quinn." Sam spoke up. "Do you remember what that Bliss person said? That there would be a time where you had to choose. I think this might be it. I think she was telling you that you would have to decide between either saving the Cursed planet under attack or stop Arthur from killing the other Dragon tier beast."
"I think you know what the right choice is."
The problem was, Quinn really didn't know what the right choice was at the moment. The tenth family wasn't in any immediate danger, but it sounded like Arthur's revenge was taking its toll on the entire vampire settlement, not just Bryce and the others. The Punisher seemed to no longer care about the means for achieving his goal.
While in the middle of thinking this, a system message had appeared.
[Hostility has been detected in the fourteenth castle]
[The fourteenth castle is in danger]
With a lack of answer, Sam knew Quinn's struggle, and thought he needed to give Quinn a push.
"Quinn, I think only you can help the vampire settlements. Since that's the case, me and the others will go help out Helen and the others at the Cursed faction. We will fight and hold the Dalki back for as long as we can. Go help the others while we wait."
It was a tough choice, but Quinn needed to believe in the other cursed faction members.
"Alright. I'll go to the Vampire World then. I have a way to get there. I might not be able to use my Shadow travel, and I might be a little late, but I'll be there to stop Arthur!"
*****
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