"Let's get started," Chloe spoke coldly.

As I was the closest to the door, I opened it and went outside. Only to be met with a sky filled with numerous fire orbs zooming toward our vehicle. Lorn had followed behind me and casually held out a hand toward the approaching projectile.

A glyph appeared on his open palm. With it, an air blast destabilized the orbs, breaking them into embers.

*Impressive.

I exclaimed inwardly.

*So, this is the power of a glyph warrior?

Chloe walked next to me and spoke in a barely audible voice :

"I gave Sebas the wrong timing for the attack. I told him that it would be tomorrow like you advised."

"So he still believes that he is part of this mission...Now let see whether we can catch him lacking."

"If he is involved in any way..." She didn't continue, but her eyes shimmered with a severe light.

During this time, the others had exited the vehicle. Seeing their first attack coming to nothing, the enemies seemed to have decided for a more hand-to-hand approach.

Various shadows sped toward us. Some ran on all fours while others seemed to barely touch the ground. We adopted a circle formation while waiting for the imminent battle.

Lorn held his sword forward. He suddenly had the vibe of a knight of old. Kelia spread her palms facing forward, a red mist surrounding her figure. Arum was wearing nothing under his Crimson's uniform. His rippling chest muscles, exposed for all to see. The tattoo on his chest glowed softly.

The twins shifted into two huge tigers. One had white fur and black stripes while the other had black fur with white stripes. They were impressive in stature. As tall as humans, even in animal form.

The enemies reached us and chaos erupted.

I couldn't see the others anymore, as we were separated by the tide of enemy surging from everywhere around us.

A vampire tried to gouge my eyes with his claw-like nails. Sadly for him, he was too slow. I simply moved back by a step and punched his chest. The impacting strength blasted him away. He crashed onto other fellows following behind him, inflicting severe damage.

*Hmm? this vampire must be a young one.

The wicked fang of a coyote shifter entered my sight as he tried to bite my calves. I spun and gave the shifter a rotational kick on the snout. I ducked instantly avoiding an ice needle cast by a mage.

Raising my head, the paw of a bear filled my irises. I stepped inside before the blow landed, and trusted my palm in its gut. It came back holding the still-beating heart of the fell beast. I casually let it fall on the ground.

This gave pause to the assailants. I had the time to observe them. I was handling 9, now 8 by myself. From what I could see and hear in the distance their total number was more than 5 times that. The others were handling the rest.

*For an average sup group, I guess they are sufficient as defense measures. For the cabal of soul-stealing bastards though, it is lacking. Sure, there is a lot of them but I have yet to see a true heavy hitter.

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*Are they canon fodders? Is something else waiting for us after getting rid of them?

As I was pondering on the enemy's hidden means, I was taken by surprise. Suddenly, the night was lit up by a flash so brilliant it seared my eyes. Then I was blown backward. While in the air I scrutinized my surroundings, uncomprehending.

*Ah. I see...He must be the one who attacked us with a huge number of fire orbs at the beginning.

In the distance, atop the wall surrounding the factory, a mage had stepped forward while reciting an incantation. He had then raised his hand, calling a lightning bolt from the sky upon me. It was so instant that I couldn't even dodge.

*If there was a hierarchy among them, I would say that this mage was the 'guards' chief '

The smell of ozone was thick in the air and I was on my back. Everything felt numb from my neck down. The must-have believed that I was done for because one guy, the vampire I had punched before, blurred toward my neck, his fang fully extended.

For me, it was all incredibly slow. His motions, everything. I had been told on numerous occasions how attractive my blood was to vampires. I guessed this vampire wanted to have dibs on me. It explained his recklessness.

*Does he think, that I am now a fish on the chopping block?

I wondered idly.

*Or is he just impulsive?

*In any case, I should get serious.

My body rose from the ground, seeming to ignore all rules of physic. It was quite creepy, to be honest. The attackers who thought I was done for, collectively exclaimed in surprise. I could see the eyes of the vampire widen in horror. Sadly, he couldn't stop his momentum.

I was in an oblique position, still rising fully to my feet. Despite that, my head turned toward him. I couldn't move my facial muscles but I did my best to transmit schadenfreude through my eyes.

Suddenly, without any prior indication, he caught fire. It was spontaneous combustion. He opened his mouth in a silent scream before he was burned to ashes. His comrades were rooted. The shocking scene had short-circuited their neurons.

My body finished its recovery by then and I righted myself fully. It had all happened in a matter of moments, from the bolt that heavily wounded me to the combustion of the vampire and my subsequent recovery.

"So gentlemen, I admit the sneaky spell was on point. If it were an average supernatural, he would have been killed or thoroughly incapacitated. Sadly, it is me we are talking about here. Though it did heavy damage, even paralyzed my body, I wasn't killed on the spot." Though this last fact was due to the Crimson's uniform.

"I must confess, now that we are on speaking terms...I don't need to use physical prowess to get rid of y'all." The words brought a chill to them. The situation was already chaotic with the battles happening all around us. Flashes could be seen from time to time, followed by one of their associates' screams.

I would bet that Chloe's squad members were making quick work out of them.

As for the mage who was responsible for the lightning bolt, he was already focusing on the other battlefields. Which meant my team wasn't pulling their punches and the casualties were worrisome.

*I was wrong in the way I approached willpower before. I had used it like it was a type of telekinetic energy. Even the way I conceptualized and used it was too detached. Similar to the difference between a tool and one's hand.

*I understood numerous things while facing Arum. More accurately, while struggling against his impenetrable aura.

Willpower didn't need to explode out of me, be projected, or follow a path to affect my enemies. It was an ethereal concept. It didn't have a presence in reality, as such, it should be free of its constraint.

*There were a few times where I used it properly in the past, such as when I confronted the group of werewolves hired to kill me, setting them on fire. Or when I used it to empty the oxygen against the warrior from Aso. Or even when I gained this power for the first time and contacted Chloe who was in another city...

I simply needed direct intent and a target. No grand gesture or meaningless processes. Simplicity was the best policy.

*This realization was the key to more efficiency. Like this...

When I reached that point in my thoughts my gaze fell on them. The attackers seemed desperate. They could hear their comrades perish and their bizarre enemy(me) filled them with fear. I could read their expressions like a book.

Before long, they decided to jump me. And so they did. They came at me with an energy that could only be brought by desperation.

I raised a single brow.

*Collapse

I watched in macabre fascination as they all exploded in showers of blood and gore. Like a perverse firework. Some were still alive though. Like the vampire, he still had his head, neck, and torso.

I casually walked toward their writhing form on the ground and crouched.

*Sigh. I am too kind after all.

"Let me alleviate your pain."

*Stop

Their brains instantly stopped functioning, permanently. Their muscles were still spasming but they had already passed away.

*Burn

The corpses combusted into flames.

I turned my attention toward my team and noticed that the other fights were also coming to an end. With the number of corpses on the ground, I could finally see the crew. Chloe fell her last opponent by ripping his head off, she had neither used her scythe nor her blood power.

Around Arum, there were only several butchered corpses. The twins were still in their tiger forms, only small pieces of their opponent remained. They seemed to have taken a bite out of each enemy.

As for Lorn, the corpses at his feet seemed to have been sliced up like legumes on a kitchen board. There were no corpses around Kelia. Astonishingly, not even a single drop of blood. She stood there, in a pristine state.

"Well, I guess everyone is done." Chloe constated after we were gathered.

"Yes, I believe so. though, the mage who was throwing spells from there..." I pointed at the top of the wall. "...dipped. I believe he will alert those inside if the battles didn't already." I said informatively.

"I see who you are talking about. What an annoying guy." Vina, one of the twins spoke.

I was startled because I didn't know they could speak in this form.

The noise of an alarm blaring broke our discussion. The factory or at least our perception of it shifted.

Instead of a decrepit series of buildings and warehouses, a cubical white structure appeared. It was quite futuristic. Complicated lines were running on its walls.

There was a single gate leading inside what looked to be the true appearance of the enemy HQ.

"What the hell?" I exclaimed.