El Acerbia was no longer the same boy who asked me to check his coursework. Obsession and frustration with the gods’ many mismanagements in Phantasia is changing him.

I can no longer stay on the Isle of Knowledge. What was once the gathering of idealistic young minds was being corrupted into a coven of war profiteers, ideological bigots and technology hoarders. Even my proudest student, Christy, began letting bitterness get to her. How long will it last? The Divine Fists and their divine masters possess a tyrannical numbers and powers because of the Mandatory Recruitment Order, but remain willfully blind to their folly.

My brothers; murdered by their foolishness. My mentor; ridiculed by their ignorance. I nursed my dying parent in my decimated hometown, listening to the cries of despair. Those bloated fools and their minions will be the end of us. I can foresee the future as plain as day; blindly fighting a stupid over a pointless title, bleeding each other and trampling countless lives below them.

Foolishness. Do they believe keeping the mass an ant make them a giant? People weren’t insects. All of them have a choice. Who would be foolish enough to be brutalized under their boot? How can I blame anyone for finding a path away from the grinder? The downtrodden will make a choice. They won’t care who offers them salvation or power for vengeance. A World Enemy. A power-hungry avenger who desired to burn civilization. One little push and Phantasia would sink to depravity like a domino.

The people need a symbol. Something worth believing to stop them from slipping into evil.

That was why I sank into obscurity and moved Aquamarine — my underwater research facility — far from the gazing eyes of Acerbia and those fools on their paper throne. The world needs a protector they could believe in.

For this reason, I will create my magnum opus — man-made Intelligence — an eternal guardian to protect this flawed and beautiful world.

…

Mamacia Cocogarh had blitzed past the entire mustering zone and found a hiding place; one of many abandoned cupboards that contained several dusty tools. The mustering area was originally meant to be a testing room for invention with many consoles and storages cupboard for easy access to the tools. A quick shoddy remodeling remade the area into a flat testing-site, but still left several traces of its former function behind.

Mamacia scanned the entire file on her globe and gulped.

If it were ever released, Alcra’s research would be deemed heretical by the gods. He was researching on how natural phenomenon like flames and rocks gained sentience. Many religious and divine organizations considered the subject of Mana and formation of spirit sacred. Even the Isle of Knowledge didn’t dare dip their hand into it.

According to Alcra’s theory, all-object that absorbed Mana had a certain vibration-signature. Almost imperceptible molecular vibration that strenghtened with time they spent accumulating Mana. In the end, this signature became similar to cerebrum activity and object attained self-recognition.

Alcra had concluded, after many observations of spirits and some forbidden texts on Necromancy, that he discovered the real anatomy of soul and the method to create an artificial one.

Mamacia nearly dropped the crystal-globe. She knew the gods will smite anyone with these knowledges, but she couldn’t stop reading. Alcra didn’t create a golem of thought or an artificial Spirit like Orwell Mehest. He created a mother-fucking life that could think and believe on its own. Mana entities that could learn, love, adapt and have opinion.

But Alcra Shaxter needed more than soul. He needed an organized, adaptable guardian who could protect Phantasia forever. So, he began testing for material. He forewent all elemental bodies and focused on minerals. Then he went further.

This was the part Mamacia gulped.

Alcra wrote that proper arrangement in material might influence how the artificial consciousness developed. After a year of trail and error, he discovered a proper arrangement of quartz and specific material to create high intelligence after a long trail of manufacturing consciousnesses ranging from braindead to poodle.

That was the baby-steps before running into a rock. Not every material was equal. Alcra tested many things. He even discovered that quartz joined with a mineral component available in the market can be built to house and amplify soul, but he claimed those discoveries were still far inferior to his two greatest masterpieces concluded as a superior intellect of his dream.

They were born from material Shaxter’s categorized as Cybertium coated in certain quartz-Mana blueprint. Cybertium isn’t an ore but a material that could generate complexes Mana-signature. One was a rare type of natural gem — only three of which were discovered in Phantasia. And the other is…

“A certain ancient gall-stone dated back to the era of the Ancient,” Mamacia spoke.

Alcra said both treasures had almost identical composition, but he couldn’t explain the natural gem required a brainwaves’ blueprint to catalyze the consciousness development — a flaw easily fix. Meanwhile, the gall-stone readily developed a new consciousness much earlier. He believed it got something to do with its an organic origin.

Alcra Shaxter gave Z-1, the gall-stone’s consciousness, the guardian he created for Phantasia, the honor of owning the project name.

PALISADE

…

Artos Sevar swung his sword with a speed of river rapids. Two quick slashes followed a by a rapid cut and a stab. The vampire whistled, dodging each move and stomp his foot, creating a rippling pulse of red blackness, repelling the elf backward.

The vampire grinned and throw a punch at the coming wave of Holy light.

He smirked at the opponent assembled to battle him.

33 Stars, the leader of the next generations, all lining up to be defeated as an evidence of his superiority.

“Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!” The vampire laughed with glee and magically produced a sheath long sword from his coat. “Truly, this is a worthy occasion for me to draw my blades. Very well, be honored, pawns of the gods, because I — Edward Balorian — will give you the privilege of my time. You will now witness the strength of the fifth-in-line to Blood Queen Mariette Balorian.”

Aryssa Holyworth growled.

“That whore fifth son, huh. The son of the converted George H. Wells.”

“Oh, you know my sire. My mother said he was quite a stallion. A former Captain of the Balperia is quite a catch. My mother attend him herself.”

“Yes, the Inquisitor executed him. You will pay or what you did to Captain Wells.”

“Funny, isn’t it church who murder him? We lost quite a valuable property.”

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“Captain Wells was already dead when he got captured by you deprave rapist. We simply free him from suffering as your slave!”

Aryssa yelled at the smirking Edward. If the vampire felt any lost for his father, he didn’t show it. It was as if the murder of his father meant utterly nothing to him. In contrast, Aryssa was furious at the creature in front of her, pouring the blame of an entire misery into an existence that she believed compose entirely of sin.

“You monster. If you weren’t born, Commander Wells would never have been executed!”

Edward snorted and performed a quick draw that took a slice up half the room from robots to the struggling survivors.

“Foolishness. My mother grant that stallion the privilege of joining our court. She acknowledges his strength and prowess. I am the living proof of that. And yet you insist, I murder him by just by exiting my mother's womb. Pathetic. Your church executes your own without a single hearing, and claims we are the monster! Your hypocrisy is astounding!”

Aryssa lifted her staff and fire five holy balls of light, which were sliced in half by Edward’s swordplay. Amitate and Emily showered the vampire with a tower of fire and ice. Sevar exploited that opening, rushing back into the fight by surrounding the bloody creature with countless blades of raining light. Peppered by all sides, Edward got caught completely open by an sniping attack by Magnolia. An almighty blast of freezing storm carried the vampire off into another chain of a giant bull of lightning launched by Sorin Enma.

Frozen and Electrocuted, battered by many injuries, Edward looked up to see Sun Senwei dove — surrounded by the dragon of torrential winds. The dragon bit into a vampire, while Sun Senwei unleashed rapid fist of martial art beating. Edward grimaced as his brutalized body ate punches and palm-strikes. The vampire’s skin bled, muscles ruptured. He felt several bones shattering, caving in under the barrages of blows. At some point, his sword dropped.

Sun Senwei kicked the vampire into the metal ceiling with a force to leave behind a crater. Edward felt his entire head ringing until a staff coated in holy light — courtesy of Aryssa Holyworth — impaled his chest and crunched into the metal behind him.

“Hah, so this is a vampire noble,” Sorin Enma chuckled. “Seriously, how come you folks cannot eliminate something that…”

“Heh, heh, heh, heh,” the creepy laughter echoed from the ceiling. “Wow, you 33 Stars are quite something. I must admit my eyes are officially open. I can’t believe mere teenagers unleashed the attack that actually hurt. My god, this is good.”

The holy light on Aryssa’s staff flickered and faded.

“Impossible!” Aryssa Holyworth yelled. “That is [Blood-Suppression Spell]! No vampire should be able to undo that seal under a direct hit.”

Edward leaned from the ceiling, sliding his chest, length-wise, up the staff, leaving behind a trail of acrid red on the blood-strain shaft. Edward stood, hanging upside down from the roof by the power of his malicious blood, and smiled. His body was battered by bruises, frostbites and burns, but the killing-intent remained overwhelming like a tumultuous toxic cloud.

He produced a blank talisman and waved it inside the group, while his wounds started disappearing as the vampiric regeneration went over time to fix his injury.

“Yes, no vampire could undo that seal, but we aren’t in the world with only vampire, aren’t we? Oh, you blind fool, pets of Divine Fist and angels, do you believe you can execute every single soul touched by our fang incurring no ill-feelings? Wake up, hypocrite! The world is fucking tired of your hypocrisy! Those unsealing talisman bought — lawfully by-the-way — under a thousand credit is a solid proof even those you claim to defend want you gone!”

Edward slammed his foot, unleashing the torrent of blood on top of the 33 Stars.

…

Artos Sevar was multi-tasking. He confronted that natural predator, braying for blood with one hand while guiding his spirit, Hermione and Penelope, to defend the crowd. It was a tough job. The survivors managed to form a front to defend against the drones.

However, as ancient often insisted, when it rained, it poured.

Newly arrived drones quickly deposited a canister that started spewing out dangerous looking gas, and Edward Balorian stopped taking his time.

The first to go down was Sorin. Edward was fast; appearing in mist of blood and sucker punched Enma in the face. The divine-blood beastman refused to go down. He swiped with a claw of thunder, but even his divinity and vigorous body could not keep up against the noble vampires. Sorin got tagged with three painful fists in the exchange. Sorin ignored the bloody mark on his body and opened his mouth, gathering tremendous lightning Qi. But in vampire-certified speed, Edward snapped Sorin’s mouth shut with an uppercut.

Press to desperation within mere seconds, Sorin prepared to activate [Divine Beast Raiment].

“Explode,” Edward commanded. Throughout Sorin’s body, spots marked by Edward’s punch detonated with kinetic force simultaneously—riddling Sorin with internal damage.

Enma’s clan [Divine Beast Raiment] might flip the table on any fight, but it also put a strain on the body. A body with massive internal bleeding — such as the pulverized Sorin — wouldn’t be able to activate it at all.

Edward brushed himself as he turned to face the remaining six people capable of putting on a fight. With Mamacia gone, Salazar disappeared and Sorin Down; only two Aztellic, two elves, one priestess and one martial artist remained to take on the vampire.

“Did he just take out the physically strongest of us in seconds?” Amitate asked his sister.

“Don’t get close! Watch his movement!” Emily commanded.

Aryssa — as the most vampire savvy of the group — realized where the Aztellic twin were standing; namely next to blood-color sword

“Look out!”

Edward clicked his fingers, commanding his disarmed long sword to rise and slash both brother and sister pair in the back, before flying into his waiting hand.

“Shitty-“

“Explode.”

Emily and Amitate felt it. A force akin to a truck blew inside the cut, turning the originally worrying but tolerable injury into a devious, bloody wound beyond what their Stats could cash. Both demons fell like a sack, groaning in pain.

Only 4 remained

“Interesting,” Sunwei spoke. His body surrounded with winds. “Care to test my marital art, lord Balorian.”

Edward brandished his swords.

“It will be an honor. Oh—”

Balorian dodged Aryssa’s light beam.

“Interrupting a duel isn’t quite honorable, but then I shouldn’t expect much from a member of the Holy Church,” Edward tossed a ball into the air. “Luckily, I am prepared against you.”

The ball exploded, revealing a dragon diagram of five elements, burning with a grudge. The dragon dove toward Aryssa, penetrated through the dome of light the priestess summoned to defend her like vapor, and engulfed her in torturous light.

Aryssa's screams hung on the air like an agonizing howl of animal being fray alive in a firepit.

“Must be painful,” Edward said. “Remember the Yangfei family? Ally of the Deathless clan when your hypocritical, self-righteous morons helped drive them to extinction. I know you don’t, but they sure as hell remember you enough to spend years concocting an anti-Church measure and sold it to us with 30% discount.”

Artos couldn’t believe how horrendous the situation has become. It shouldn’t be possible for one vampire to beat them this badly. Aryssa was an expert in fighting them for heaven-sake. Suddenly, Artos felt a gigantic bastard sword rested by his neck.

“Magnolia, kill Sun Senwei or else Artos die,” Salazar Aztellic dropped out of a stealth technique with Artos right beneath his blade. Despite his size, the ogre was an incredibly sneaky fighter. One-third of his victories were won with a surprise attack from behind.

Magnolia froze like a deer in a headlight.

“Magnolia, don’t listen to him!” Artos yelled at his partner before turning attention back to the demon who got him a checkmate. “You realize you are helping the vampire, right?”

“Yes, and I wouldn’t even butt-in if you are winning, which you are not,” Salazar nodded to Edward. “Hope you understand my position.”

“No need,” Edward shrugged. “I understand your circumstances. I already tell you; strength is everything for us monsters. With our reputation, if we aren’t winning, we couldn’t blame our ally from side-lining.”

Before the decision of a lifetime, Magnolia froze stiffed. For a girl whose resolve was built on the teaching and approval of Lucian Drakokia, she never felt gravity of life or duty. For Magnolia, world events were all game to please dear old dad. Suddenly, with lives she cared about pending to her decision, she was completely paralyzed with fear.

“Trai..to..r!” Aryssa howled from being burnt alive. “Here-“

A palm of wind blasted down on the priestess.

“No need to force my surrender, Salazar,” Sun Senwei looked bore instead of panicking. “You aren’t the only one who is waiting to toss our ‘allies.’”

This turn of event rippled amongst the crow.

“Why?” It was the Magnolia who reached out to Sun. The girl was on the verge of a breakdown.

“That masked woman is right,” Sun Senwei mused. “You all research nothing behind the image present in front of your ignorant little eyes. Do you know why and what pushes me this far? Simple. I hate all of you. True, vampires are mother-fucking plague, but at least they aren’t an active self-righteous ass.”

“Here-“

Another wind blast landed on Aryssa.

“Funny. For me, the heresy is how your inspectors crippled my sworn brother and punished my village for being the victim. Elves. Church. Vampire. Demons. The only things that change is the name. I stop caring about the indistinguishable asshole in charge a long time ago.”

Edward doubled over laughing, but that was when a sword protruded from his chest.

Joshua and a woman in a wolf-hoard leather gear appeared out of an illusion.

“Got you,” said the fool-hardy second-in-command. “Your stupid blood-suckers always left your back open, while laughing.”