789 muttered an air spell that cast a barrier around Simon. He might be a weaselly git, but he was an unarmed civilian with not an ounce of combat skill. It was a henchman’s duty to protect the innocent. But the walking corpses were gathering around them in a formation that blocked fast exits, even if they were dragging their feet at a slow approach.

“Parasia Magia: Vast Eye - Clear!” 669 ran two fingers across his eyes, which were swelling with his virya energy and magic. This activated a shared vision ability that allowed everyone to not only see at the speed of sound, but also adjust their casting and abilities to also flow with the same speed.

From their shared inverted vision, they counted a full complement of the mansion’s servants. About twenty in total. If they still carried their previous body strength, they should be easy to overcome.

“But…”

A foul tune from a flute reverberated around the room and their senses. The corpses snarled and rushed for them with primitive hand combat attacks. Fortunately, the light was sparse in the area. With 669’s Vast Eye spell, they had an advantage.

777 cocked his guns and released bullet rounds to vital parts of the corpses’ meridians, hoping to disconnect the boys from the virya that was controlling them. But his impact shots to the napes, spine center and chest middle only slowed them down, made them pause before resuming their rush for them.

“The virya is being manipulated by the flute sound.” 669 as he cupped his ears to block as much of the horrible shrilling the instrument was making as possible.

A corpse got excited when he managed to grab at his arm and sink his teeth into his shoulder. 669 cut off the corpse's hand with a few dagger slices, and kicked back the body that had knocked down a line of approaching corpses.

“Are you alright?” Detective Morse asked.

“Peachy.” 669 flashed him a wry grin then shoved a green pill in his mouth. It was a detox healing pill 789 had made for them. In a few minutes any resin would be dissolved and cleared from his system. But he had to hold on and fight through the healing effect as much as possible. That could be a challenge, when he would suffer vertigo (nausea, off balance and blurred vision), in the process. And there was another challenge.

“Oh… shoot.” He gulped when his Vast Eyes spell died off. “Whelp, you’re on your own now.”

“Not a problem.” 789 smirked as she tossed a dagger at a corpse and had it moving circles through the body, before using her virya energy to stabbing into the next corpse puppet.

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“I’m going after the flute player.” Emelia said as she ran up the stairs.

“Damn it, Constable get back here.” But Morse had seen it was too late, with her form moving fast up to the next level.

“I’m on it.” 669 groaned, still feeling groggy. But that woman was gonna get herself killed but barging into enemy territory without scoping out the dangers first.

He sprinted down the main hall of the second level and turned a corner to see Emelia standing still at the center of a hallway.

“Emelia?” He slowly approached her and yelped when the horrid flute music came at his senses, like scratching on his brain and stabbing needles to his ear drums.

“Royal Guard and Henchmen. All scum.” A distorted female voice said among the flute playing. “Now die.”

The music become louder hitting his body and senses like tidal waves he couldn’t control. His bones felt like breaking.

“Pa… Para… sia Magia: Virya… Lock.” He manged to say a spell he rarely used and tried to avoid.

Black particles, from the dirt off the ground and walls, gathered about his body to cake his skin. He moved his hands in a clumsy motion to activate the flow and target for the particles. Like black smoke, the particles flowed away from his body to attack the flute play and interrupted their tune. The harder they played, the air became thick and heavy to dampen the tune’s flow and gradually muffle sound.

Suddenly, the music stopped. There was a crash of glass as the flute player made an escape by smashing their way through a partially opened window. It was likely their prepared backup plan should situations go wrong for them.

“She… got away.” Emelia huffed as she came to her senses. She had been unable to move while the music had been playing.

669 panted and whizzed for breath. He had used most of his magic that it drained a lot of his virya reserves. “Don’t worry, I’ve marked her.”

He collapsed to the ground as the sounds of running footsteps approached his back.

“Good work.” Detective Morse patted his shoulder.

“Right.” 669 closed his eyes unable to hold on to his consciousness.

777 smiled and pulled out the small wing device 789 had given him. “Looks like I’m carrying him home.”

“Better you than me. Besides, remind him he pays for our drinks having lost a bet he didn’t know he made.” 789 laughed. She had managed to quell the remaining corpse puppets with a mighty blast from a pill bomb. At the same time, the flute music had stopped playing.

“Let’s call it. I’ll meet you at your barroom in the morning.” Detective Morse said and helped Emelia recover more of her strength with healing pills.

Everyone dispersed to return to their bases.

“Royal Guard, Henchmen. You’ll pay for butting in with my business!” A woman gritted her teeth as she discreetly watched the group leave the mansion from the cover of bushes.