As the arena was engulfed by the tenebrous crimson mist, crippling fear rippled through the bystanders.
Damian Bright and Liz Snyder, along with most of the instructors who jumped down from the VIP stand, were now ensnared within the moving blood cloud.
Even those unfamiliar with the morbid spell hesitated to approach the spreading crimson mist.
It was almost as if everyone intuitively knew that the danger it posed was far beyond their mundane imagination.
The mist, as everyone suspected, held a perilous touch. Even Liz's spell-nullifying dome struggled to fully contain it and soon broke.
As soon as that happened, the blood cloud began to expand through the arena again, threatening to devour everything.
Cadets staggered backward, instructors shared the same unease, and the air was punctuated with a litany of startled, fearful screams.
Taking advantage of the intended confusion, the vampires stopped fighting and lunged forward.