Fire reigned down from the heavens as the great city of Khemri endured its 83rd day of siege. Having struck a terrible bargain to sign his and his family’s bloodline to the Great Necromancer in return for his late wife’s revival, the mighty Vlad von Carstein led wave after wave of his most elite and loyal troops against the walls of the solar city only to be pushed back or slaughtered by a chariot, warsphynx or hierotitan counterattack.

As Vlad’s armies died over and over again, his own bannerman Estroth the Silent having died and been resurrected almost 300 times since the siege started, the Great Necromancer hovered overhead in his dark pyramid that blotted out the desert sun for Vlad’s vampires bringing comets, thunder and flame down on Khemri’s doorstep. As the desert practically tore itself apart, the High King of Nehekhara had no one to blame for this predicament but himself. It was Settra who’d taunted Nagash here in the first place, he’d made no secret of the fact he had found and kept two of Nagash’s tomes, sacred fonts of knowledge that the Great Necromancer would need should he ever be able to manifest his godly powers into this world. In fact, not only had he made no secret of it. The King of Kings appeared proud of his actions, for what greater prize could a king who had all he could possibly want demand than to hold leverage over a god, the God of Death no less?

Back and forth the tides of war flowed as both sides replenished their armies in minutes. Yet through all this devastation nobody knew as much heartache as Vlad himself. He’d sacrificed both his life and the lives of all he loved to see his treasured Isabella again and now that she had returned to undeath, she no longer even recognised him. This was cruel, even by Nagash’s standards, for he’d resurrected Isabella but only with memories of her combat and magical prowess. Beyond that she was an empty shell: unknowing, unloving and uncaring.

Vlad’s heart hardened slightly more each time he watched his bannermen die, each time he heard Nagash’s raucous, haunting laughter from the pyramid above and every-time he had to pass the woman he loved who seemed to merely look through him. He wanted nothing more than to go up there to the Black Pyramid and put an end to the Undying King right now and all the other mortarchs present on the battlefield; Ushoran, W’Soran and Melchior knew it. Yet they all knew just as well that any move against Nagash would result in the immediate unmaking of Isabella von Carstein, essentially signing the deeds for her soul to be dragged back down into the howling jaws of oblivion for all eternity.

And so the war continued, again and again with no clear victor in sight as the war entered its 126th day of sieging until finally, an opportunity revealed itself. One of Nagash’s comets had struck a hierotitan which in turn had fallen onto the battlements of the city’s eastern ramparts. Normally the many liche priests and necrotects would patch such damage up immediately but on this occasion, the hierotitan’s wreckage was actually blocking them from mending the wall with haste.

Vlad saw no moment to waste and took to the field for what felt like his 500th charge, though he’d long since lost count. Vlad rode toward the city walls at top speed with a mixed unit of Drakenhof Templars and Knights of the Red Death, two elite regiments of Blood Knights, at his back while vargheists and terrorgheists flew overhead. The blood knights charged through the breech and smashed through the Tomb Kings ranks. Onward and onward they rode, slaying all tomb guards and skeletal horsemen who made a stand against them until suddenly a long blade stretched round a corner and sliced through the front legs of Vlad’s horse.

Vlad woke moments later, his face and hair covered by sand after finding himself lying on his stomach. He rose to his feet and finally came face to face with his enemy; the mighty High King of Nehekhara, The Hawk of the Heavens, the Emperor of the Shifting Sands, the one and only Settra the Imperishable!

And just as Vlad saw his enemy, so too did the king of a hundred titles who gripped the reins of his Chariot of the Gods and ordered his horses to circle round and strike their foe one final time. The Chariot advanced toward the Von Carstein patriarch, its rider gripping his blade-spear like a lance, as Vlad took to his feet, charging toward the chariot on foot with his legendary blade the Blood Drinker in hand…

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The chariot charged at the dismounted vampire lord at full haste yet Vlad never wavered for a second as the thought of his beloved’s unjust status filled his mind and filled him with rage. And so, just as the horses at the front of the chariot were about to collide with him, Vlad whirled his blade such that it struck through two of the chariot’s four skeletal horse’s skulls, breaking them instantly and causing the chariot to swerve. As the chariot turned on its side Settra took control of the reins himself in an aim to steady the remaining steeds only to be blasted from behind by Vlad’s gaze spell. Now removed from his chariot, Settra stumbled up from the ground, readying his Blessed Blade of Ptra to parry the enraged vampire’s next charge. Their blades clanged against each other and Settra briefly gained the upper-hand through his greater size but Vlad’s ferocity allowed him to force Settra back as he began to flail madly with his blade so fast that Settra could scarcely see the blade’s swipes. Most of the swings were hasty and unpolished, causing them to simply bounce off Settra armour but despite that seeming downside, it only contributed to Settra’s inability to predict the vampire’s next attack.

Finally, with Settra’s distracted by the blade Blad grabbed his chest and pushed him to the ground before placing his blade against Settra’s throat.

“Yield!” Vlad roared through grizzled fangs.

“Settra does not yield!” the high king responded.

• Love React: Vlad slashed his blade the Blood Drinker straight through Settra’s body, breaking bones and causing the King of Shifting Sands to finally disintegrate.

With Settra destroyed, Vlad went on to raid his pyramid’s vaults for the tomes his new master desired.

• Laugh React: Vlad twisted his blade and promptly proceeded to lob Settra’s head off. He knew well enough that Settra’s body would reform from such a minor decapitation but figured this would give him plenty of time to raid Khemri’s dungeons for those tomes before Settra could stir once more.

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The chariot charged toward the dismounted vampire lord and promptly trampled him beneath the hooves of its many horses before circling around for another attack.

Vlad rose before being struck once more, the blade of its wheel slicing through his armoured greaves and smearing the wound in holy flame. Now in serious pain, Vlad ran toward Settra and tackled him off the back of the chariot before it could turn around again.

The two lords, the Count of Sylvania and King of Sands tussled in the dirt, beating each other as both slowly rose to their feet to properly use their weapons. Vlad swung first but Settra parried and aimed the shaft of his blade toward Vlad’s hands, smacking them loose and thrusting his blade through Vlad’s chest.

The vampire groaned, a gulp of someone else’s blood foaming at his lips, before pushing Settra back and stabbing his own blade through the Tomb King’s chest. Having impaled each other, the two continued to struggle, aiming to hack their way through each other’s bodies so much that their spine would dislocate and part their forms in two when suddenly, Settra pulled a trick.

Almighty Ptra, the Sun God of Nehekhara imbued Settra’s arms with a radiant glow before suddenly igniting in searing light. The vampire shrieked in terror, accustomed to sunlight through all his years of experience but unable to cope with the sudden burst before him.
Vlad fell back, growling loudly as he crawled into a ball on the ground, desperately attempting to burrow beneath the sand to cover himself as his skin set alight and burnt under Ptra’s wrath.

• Wow React: As Vlad lay defenceless on the ground, screaming in agony, Settra yanked the Blood Drinker from his chest and threw it to the ground before calmly pacing over toward Vlad and severing the vampire’s head with his blade.

Another day, another failed attempt. The legions of Nagash gathered outside the walls of Khemri for another invasion only this time the Breaker of Djaf’s Bonds was waiting for them. Wearing the Von Carstein over his bony fingers and with the Blood Drinker sheathed at his side, the Great King of Nehekhara sneered before throwing Vlad von Carstein’s head from the ramparts.

Let Nagash come, Settra stands!

• Sad React: With Vlad mewling in agony, Settra approached to sever the vampire’s head from his body once and for all when suddenly another vampire leapt into the fray. Isabella von Carstein ran toward him from behind and plunged her Runefang into Settra’s back. Combined with the Blood Drinker, which Settra hadn’t yet had the chance to remove, the two swords cursed the King of Sands, sapping all his animated energies, before tearing him apart.

As Vlad rose to his knees, attempting to recover from his burns, Isabella ran toward the vaults of Khemri to claim Nagash’s tomes for her master. Unfortunately, this meant Nagash wouldn’t need to uphold his deal with Vlad on this occasion since the vampire lord had in fact failed his mission. Isabella would continue to look through Vlad, never truly recognising him and certainly not feeling any love for him.

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• Angry React: Vlad and Settra clashed in an almighty duel that lasted not minutes, not hours but days! The battle went on for so long in fact that even Nagash grew tired. As such, he ordered his personal mortarchs (W’Soran, Melchior, Isabella and Ushoran) to vacate the battlefield before deciding that if he couldn’t claim his tomes for himself, Nagash would make sure nobody could own them. He directed the Black Pyramid to fly high, high above the city of Khemri and then set it to fall as he temporarily withdrew his soul from his skeletal body back to his Realm of Death.

The Black Pyramid of Nagash fell, gaining speed and burning up like a meteor as it did so. Vlad and Settra briefly broke up their fight to gaze up at the impending shadow but it was too late to escape or do anything about it as their doom came hurtling down. Finally the Black Pyramid smashed into the city in a great blaze of burning glory and everything in a 10 mile radius either was crushed, burnt or crumbled. By the time Nagash’s spirit returned to his body, he was the only being left in Khemri, alive or undead.