Chapter 86: Storming the Manor

In the All-room of the Vault, Darius gazed at his hand, watching his veins pulse rapidly. "Seems I am getting sentimental in my old age, or is it my youth?"

Stepping into the beast-farm, his aura darkened, flames flickering violently. "Gather!"

Immediately, the ground began to tremble, branches broke and trees snapped. Haku's enormous body crashed through the tree line, and Neko flickered onto Darius's shoulder with a crackle of lightning, 'home!'

As Haku skidded to a halt before them, Neko sensed the mounting pressure and leapt onto Haku's head, chirping nervously, 'Mad at Neko? Big brother did it!'

Unaware of Neko’s accusation, Haku scowled, "what’s happening?"

Darius’s aura intensified, his hair bristling with the surge of his killing intent, the fire tattoo on his stomach pulsing brightly. "You two are coming with me. I need your help killing someone."

Haku and Neko exchanged a quick glance, their auras igniting—a storm of lightning and fire responding to the command. Haku bared his fangs in fierce agreement, "Yes, big brother."

----

In the shadowed alleyway across from Hershel's manor, Darius lurked, now donned in the disguise of a skinny man in scruffy clothes and a ragged beard. He absently scratched at the spot where he'd drawn the concealing array, erasing his work. 'Did he seem pretty mad?'

'Oh yeah.' Haku, cloaked in his ghost-form, a mischievous grin on his ember-fox face, 'let's just say Percy looked like he was about to crap himself.'

After first leaving the alley using the one way portal to the Vault, Darius made his way back through the Kinneman house, navigating unseen with the help of his Arcane Gaze. During this process, he dispatched Haku to check on Marcus.

'Hopefully he'll understand. As long as everything goes according to plan, he shouldn't have much to argue about.'

'He better understand! Isn't this the kind of mage we agreed to target? You did tell him, right?'

'It's a bit more complicated than that,' Darius thought as he surveyed the street, his gaze piercing through the manifold protective layers encircling the manor. 'But yes, you're right—this is precisely the kind of mage we're meant to put down.'

Signaling for Haku to follow, they moved to the edge of the manor's boundary wall, concealing themselves in the shadows along its side.

Darius scrutinized the runes etched into the wall. 'There are at least twelve different arrays here, not to mention the mana nodes visible inside. This guy must be extremely paranoid.' He furrowed his brow and focused intently.

Haku watched, understanding the gravity of silence in this moment. He tried to make sense of the wall before him, his head tilting slightly as he puzzled to himself, 'What am I even lookin for?'

Darius's eyes glowed softly in the shadows, scanning the area with increasing intensity. A deep frown marked his features, and suddenly, his eyes widened with realization. 'Get ready. Once I give the signal, we leap over the wall. Stay close, but don't touch it, and land directly on the other side. Stay still once we're over.'

Haku grinned, nodding briefly before tensing, 'Ready when you are.'

'Whoever set this array overlooked a blind spot,' he explained, tracing a complex rune in the air with focused mana. 'I'll create a temporary redirection in the fourth array. It'll open a passage just above the wall. We'll have just a second to make it through, so move quickly and don’t hesitate.'

Since reaching the second stage of the Celestial Beast Soul Mantra, Haku had grown significantly stronger even in his normal form. His small muscles pulsed with mana, ready for action as he crouched, ears alert.

Darius completed the rune with a precise motion. It glowed briefly before he blew softly, sending it into the wall where it merged and disappeared seamlessly.

'Now.'

In unison, they leapt. The maneuver looked like they were almost walking over the wall, skillfully bypassing the barriers. They landed quietly on the other side, barely disturbing the air around them.

Both paused and squinted, holding their breaths for a tense moment before exhaling in relief as they crouched low. Glancing at his companion, Darius smirked. 'You’re already invisible, idiot.'

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Haku, slightly embarrassed, grinned as he stood up. 'Where to next?'

Darius surveyed the newly visible arrays and the intricate runes woven into the mana surrounding them. 'Give me a moment to work this out,' he instructed, his gaze intent. 'Stay alert.'

Snapping to attention, Haku's nose twitched as he took in their surroundings. The manicured lawn and precisely trimmed hedges framed the house perfectly, everything appearing serene and orderly.

However, his olfactory senses painted a different picture. Closing his eyes, his vision was flooded with clouds of color. The five elements were rampant, swirling energetically around the protective arrays, but a persistent, murky grey cloud hovered at the edges.

'You’re not going to like this,' Darius’s voice broke into his thoughts.

Haku opened his eyes, confused. 'What?'

'Your Ghost-form will be useless here.'

'That's fine, I still don't understand why we don't just attack. I could tear through that house like it's nothin.'

'It's not that simple. This mage is too careful, too paranoid. We can't predict what escape spells he might have ready. Bursting in blindly when there's an array blocking my sight? That’s reckless. He could slip away before we even spot him.'

'So we chase him.'

Darius shook his head. 'There's more at stake. Attacking someone in the city? That’s a crime. It could draw unwanted attention from forces we aren't prepared to handle right now.'

'So, what’s the plan then?' Haku sat down, his gaze fixed on the manor, frustration clear in his posture.

'The whole plan was based on your ghost-form enabling a stealth attack. But it looks like Hershel's had a scare recently—there are two layers of runes.'

Haku tilted his head, puzzled. 'Is that gonna be a problem?'

Darius sighed as he traced a rune in the air, his fingertip blazing with a fiery glow. 'Most of these arrays seem to have been set by the same person at the same time. However, one stands out—it's newer, likely added after they discovered a vulnerability. Its runic language is unique, designed specifically to deal with invisibility.'

'But you're the smartest human I know, are the runes really that hard?'

'The window for meddling with the arrays is narrow, and any changes I make must be subtle and precise. I'm not strong enough, so I can only produce a rune to manipulate one runic language at a time, which means we can't circumvent both. Fortunately, the last array doesn't trigger feedback; it simply nullifies the concept of invisibility inside the manor.'

Darius completed the rune and flicked it forward. The symbol emitted pulses that visibly distorted the air as it soared forward. 'Climb onto my back, quick.'

Without hesitation, Haku leapt up, draping his front paws over Darius's shoulders.

They moved swiftly, following the runes path and appearing instantly against the manor wall. Haku hopped down, eyeing a window, his thoughts racing with anticipation, 'now how do we get in?'

'I had to reach the manor itself first to deal with the array blocking my vision. Once I bypass that, I'll figure out our best way in.'

Haku nodded, his nose twitching as he scented the air around the house. 'That dark smell is getting worse.' He pressed his nose close to the wall and ground, sniffing deeply before jerking back sharply.

Kneeling, Darius began scribing a rune into the ground, his smile wry. 'The more I decode his language, the more evident it becomes that corners were cut—perhaps he didn't like his client.'

Growing impatient, Haku nudged, 'Can we go in yet?'

'Almost,' Darius grinned. 'The arrays on the house are interconnected, all drawing from a singular source. Disabling one would destabilize the balance, immediately alerting the other arrays.'

Haku frowned. 'I know you're enjoying this, but get to the point.'

Darius nearly missed a stroke in his rune, his tone dry, 'I need to adjust the concealment array enveloping the house to extend just a meter beyond its current boundary. The power source is robust, so the mana fluctuation caused by this adjustment should be negligible.'

Completing the rune on the ground, Darius positioned himself between it and the manor, then crouched to trace a minute rune in the air. 'Stand close.'

Haku aligned himself beside him. With a final gesture, Darius blew softly, sending the rune towards the wall. After it dissolved into the structure, a faint tingle swept over them, signaling the concealment array had expanded to envelop their presence.

As the house's interior became visible to Darius, he instantly spotted several auras, all internal and belonging to Hershel's slaves.

"Where is he?"

Finding no mage's aura, Darius's gaze dropped to the ground, and a slow grin spreading across his face. 'He's here, in the basement. Deep below in a large room. And that faint aura beside him must be the boy.'

Growling softly, Haku bared his fangs, 'what’s our next move?'

'We need to secure the area first,' Darius replied, settling to the ground. He placed his fingers against the earth, channeling his fire mana into the dirt. Slowly, he began to scribe a comprehensive formation array, designed to shield their actions from outside observation, the runes spreading like a fiery web around the house.

Using part of his mind to tap into the Immortal Beast Codex, 'Neko, get ready, just like we talked about back at the farm, okay?'

Within a realm of golden clouds, Neko swam among a pool of shimmering crystals, his grey and turquoise fur sparking with purple lightning as he chanted, "watch...Neko...watch...Neko!" With a burst of energy, he leaped from the crystalline waters, landing with an electric crackle.

Darius switched his thoughts to Haku, his pulse quickening. 'I can’t fully secure the area against teleportation, but I can breach his arrays and make them blind to us to get inside. We need to act immediately once we’re in. He’s an insta-caster, Haku, so don’t even let him move.'

Haku’s excitement was palpable, his paws twitching in anticipation. 'And the finale? Are we still on for that?'

'Absolutely,' Darius replied with a large grin. 'We can’t pass up the chance to shake things up.'

The ember-fox watched with a grin as the runes Darius had scribed encircled the house, glowing faintly like serpents in the night. They soon solidified into a faint line that pulsed before vanishing into the ground.

'The window up there should work,' Darius eyed the dark pane above them. 'Once I give the word, we'll break through it—I’ll carry you.'

With a mutual nod, Haku leapt into Darius’s arms. Quickly drafting another rune, he flicked it into the house’s façade where it merged seamlessly.

Crouching briefly, blue lightning crackling from his eyes. Darius then vaulted powerfully, shattering through the window into the dim interior.

Hitting the ground on the second floor, "Ethereal Steps!" Like a crack of thunder, they shot forward, Haku materializing as they zigzagged through the halls. His speed never faltered, feet barely leaving the ground as he dashed down the stairs, his form a blur of blue flames and lightning.

Haku, clinging tightly, smiled with his tongue hanging out, exhilarated by the speed and precision.

On the first floor, they continued his relentless pace, eyes locked on his target. He zeroed in on a bookcase, his gauntlet drawn back and muscles strained.

With an explosive crash, he punched through the barrier, descending the hidden stairs like a comet. His fist burst through two more hidden passages before reaching the bottom hallway. Through all of this, from window to here, only three breaths of time had passed.

Seeing no major movement from Hershel's aura, Darius drew Haku back like a spear. In mid-sprint, he hurled the fox forward like a flaming meteor.

Bursting into flames, Haku's form expanded as he smashed through the door, its frame splintering. The giant beast began to fill the room, his eyes locked onto the old man grabbing his robes. Swiping his growing arm at the mage, Haku's roar shook the room like an explosion.

Bursting in, Darius felt a large pulse of lightning slam into his chest. A loud yelp echoed down the hall as he tumbled back across the stone floor. Without missing a step, he instantly charged back into the room, his focus locked on the unconscious child laying behind the screaming mage.

Sliding under Haku's enormous body, the beast snapping his jaws around a crackling barrier Hershel erected, he reached the twitching boy, singed and bleeding from Hershel's initial attack.

Scooping him into his arms, Darius didn’t slow as he leaped and crashed against the back wall, feet planted against it as he looked up. Just as a continuous bolt of purple lightning pushed Haku aside, Darius's leg muscles bulged, and he shot like an arrow through the open door into the hallway, the roars and explosions behind him fading as he tore back upstairs.