"Here they come," Leo muttered as a large group of survivors, with Frank in the lead, stepped into the town square. Everyone had their weapons drawn, their wary eyes watching him, and the horde of Voidlings behind him.

They stopped far away, only letting the Fallen leader approach. He snorted and stood up, nodding at the frowning man.

"Nice group, you got there," he said, glancing at the people in the back. "Thirteen Ascended Humans and..." He paused as he continued counting. "Five Fallen. Not bad at all."

"Aye, they are the best we got," Frank muttered, his gaze still glued to the horde of Voidlings. "Say... I thought this place would be cleared out. Why are those fuckers standing like it's some school assembly? Or a better question: How?!"

Leo chuckled, as he indeed placed all of his minions in two rows, each with fifteen Voidlings in it. "This is one of my skills or rather techniques. It lets me control up to thirty Voidlings if they aren't too strong."

The Fallen Human blinked and then blinked again. "Hold up a damn minute! Did you just say control? Like you can tell them all to lay down and let us kill them."

He shrugged. "Pretty much. But please wait with the killing for now. It took me almost two hours to gather them all here."

"That's what you're worried about?!" Frank shouted, looking at him as if he had lost his mind. "Motherfucker! You can control bloody Voidlings! That... How..." He shook his head. "No, that should be impossible."

Leo let the man ramble for another minute before finally cutting him off. "All right, that's enough. I know this is a surprise, a big one, but get a grip, man. Your little squadron is watching."

"Bloody hell." Frank sighed, taking a few deep breaths. "Okay, fine. This is still fucking mad, but okay, I'm good, I swear." The man then looked at him again. "How?"

As with anything related to him and Void, Leo recited his made-up story. "It's an ability unique to me—to an affinity I gained back in London. I can't tell you how or why I got it. Trust me, it's best that no one knows the details. All I can tell you is that this ability cannot be taught or given. I am the sole user."

"Shite," Frank said after a moment of silence as he walked in circles. "That's a bloody lot to take in, you know that, right? We saw your shadow affinity and what you can do even without it, but this? This is madness. I don't even know what to tell you. Tony would be much better for this. Fuck... Does he even know about this?

He instantly shook his head. "No. You are the first in Wolford. I thought a demonstration would be a good way to begin explaining."

The Fallen snorted, again glancing at the monsters in the distance. "That's a hell of a demonstration, Hale. Bloody fuck... All right, just got to accept the impossible and just move on. Simple like that," he muttered to himself before looking up. "Right… First things first. Are you sure you are the only person in the world that can control Voidlings?"

"No. My skill is unique, but I bet there are plenty of other methods of controlling weak beasts, be it directly or indirectly. I won't lie, though. What I have possesses the potential to outgrow them all."

"Of course it does. Why wouldn't it?" The man mumbled, shaking his head. "Ah fuck it, whatever. What's the plan then? I thought we would just do some sparring, but well..."

And here's the Frank I know. Ignore the bullshit and go straight to the point.

"The small horde behind me will be a warmup. I want to see how you all fight. Afterward, we can do whatever you've planned. Sounds good?"

Frank nodded after a moment. "Aye, we can do that. Just one thing before we begin. Are we allowed to kill them?"

Leo grinned like only a dragon could. "Yeah. Go wild. I will be up there." He pointed to the building behind the horde. "Scream when we can begin."

With that, they separated. Frank walked back to his squad, already screaming orders, while Leo jumped onto the roof and settled on the edge, waiting for the signal.

It took a couple of minutes before the Fallen screamed, but when he did, the entire horde rushed forward. The humans answered in kind, the warriors stepping in front while a pair of assassins went for the flanks. Rangers and mages—Dylan included— settled in the back, their glowing arrows and elemental techniques already sailing toward the running Voidlings.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

A few monsters fell before they even reached the warriors, which only enraged the rest more. Leo focused on the tiny connections in his mind and ordered a few Voidlings to ignore the heavy frontline and push for the backline. He also warned the entire horde of some of the incoming attacks.

He couldn't make it too easy after all. Not that commanding over two dozen Voidlings came without any disadvantages. Even without giving orders directly, his mind could barely handle so many links at the same time. And now that he took an active part in the battle, his head hurt more with each second, bringing forth the mother of all headaches.

Guess that's another reason for the limit on Takeover. Leo massaged his scalp while working on sending more orders to his minions.

Yet even with his help, the horde began to dwindle. An assassin would always come to intercept any Voidling that got past the warriors, and then a ranger would assist them. The humans fought well, and with Frank at the front, a monster died every few seconds.

They know to cover their backs and have more firepower than I expected...

Even with only pure Essence and some low-level techniques in their arsenal, the mages could obliterate a Voidling in as many as two hits. The same went for the rangers, whose ability to manipulate and enhance arrows was quite impressive. Hell, even the warriors could one-shot a Voidling with a well-placed strike.

Moon Slice, Leo reminded himself as another man released an arc of white Essence from his sword. It cut right through a Reaper's arm, leaving behind a bleeding stump. A glowing arrow then came out of nowhere, exploding the moment it hit the beast's head.

With that, the final Takeover link in his mind disappeared. At the same time, his headache calmed down. He let out a deep sigh and jumped off the roof, clapping his hands.

"Well done!" He shouted, freezing everyone in place. "You guys don't even look too tired. You got a decent squad here, Frank."

The Fallen turned away from a woman Leo recognized from his trip to London, and grinned. "I fucking trained them. If we failed against a horde this small, I would have drunk my piss and become Clara's slave."

Oddly specific but okay. You do you, I guess.

"Any injuries?" he asked, deciding not to acknowledge what the other man just said.

Frank looked between his people and shrugged. "A few cuts, nothing else. You had them pull their punches, didn't you?"

"A bit." Leo nodded. "I would rather not be responsible for any deaths during a training session. Don't worry, though; I cut off twenty percent of their power at most."

"Very well," the Fallen said and turned to his group. "Groups of three, just like I told you, maggots! Move!"

Instantly, everyone broke from their frozen state and followed the order. Within a minute, six groups of three survivors stood before them, all waiting for the next step.

"Good, you're going first!" Frank shouted, pointing at the squad closest to them. "Remember everything I told you and do your best. Everyone else, back off!"

As they did that, Leo scanned his first opponents. Two warriors and a mage. All level twenty-one. He narrowed his eyes. Huh, those are the people I rescued back in the Ice Wasteland.

"Ready, Hale?" Frank asked, stopping his observations.

"Always." He grinned. "Just one question. How hard should I go on them?"

"As long as they remain in one piece, I don't care. Do whatever you must to show what they can go up against in London. And I'm not talking only about Voidlings."

Leo nodded, the grin disappearing from his face. "You got it."

After exchanging a few more words with the trio, Frank walked away, joining the others on the side. Then, he put his hand in the air and shouted, "Begin!"

All three humans ran forward, raising their weapons. The mage stayed behind, already firing pure Essence spikes at him. Leo leaned out of the way, watching the projectiles pass him almost in slow motion.

Two Moon Slices headed at him next, and this time, he let them hit him right in the chest. It barely hurt. A sting from a mosquito was more annoying than the discomfort left by those attacks.

The warriors noticed it, too, and stuttered in their step. This was probably the first time someone tanked their skills and walked away from it without any scratch.

My turn.

Before the group could close the remaining distance to him, tendrils of shadows exploded out of the ground. They swallowed the humans whole, leaving only their heads peaking out at the top. It all happened within seconds, and Leo had to stifle a chuckle seeing their bewildered expressions.

"Affinities are powerful. They can affect the entire battlefield with little effort," he said, his voice filling the entire town square. "Approaching as you did might work for a weaker Voidling, but a Nightmare, another person?" He shook his head. "You will die before you can blink... Always study your surroundings and look for any inconsistencies."

With that, he canceled Resonance, ignoring the gasps as his shadows slithered over the ground back to him. Instead, he let his Essence go back to sleep and extended his blade.

"Let's go again, shall we?" Leo looked the trio dead in the eyes. "This time for real, without my affinity."