With bloodshot eyes and blood streaming from his nose and mouth, Clarence looked positively feral.

"Would you mind taking me to your father?" He growled through clenched teeth, panting heavily.

Aurora felt herself recoiling in horror.

When she moved too quickly, the scant clothing her father had dressed her in would slip around, threatening to expose her. She held it in place with one hand while trying to look normal.

"Okay, come this way," Aurora said.

She started to walk towards the guard house. While Clarence had saved her, it would be pointless if he then killed her.

He might be having some sort of psychotic episode. It would be good to restrain him so that the doctor could examine him.

"That's not the direction of your father's mana. You're not lying to me, are you?"

Aurora flinched. Even a mad mage was still a mage, she supposed.

"I don't know. He was there last time I checked. Which direction are you sensing him from?"

Clarence pointed in the direction of Aurora's father's study.

"Take me there, now."

Aurora hesitated. If she took Clarence to her father, Clarence might attack him or something.

On the other hand, her father had some strong artifacts that could protect him. In his state, she couldn't tell when Clarence might snap and decide to attack her.

Instead of waiting around defenseless, it would be better to take him to someone who could deal with it.

"Alright, come with me," she said. This time, she took him on the right path.

"Hurry it up."

More blood was running down Clarence's face.

Aurora started walking faster.

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By the time Aurora lead me to her father's study, I could barely see.

I threw open the door and locked it behind me, then cast a soundproofing barrier around the room.

Aurora's father, Matthew, looked incredibly surprised to see me, especially covered in my own blood.

"How are you here? You-"

As an expert businessman, Matthew recovered quickly.

"You look sick! What happened? I'll call a doctor!"

"Cut the bullshit. You know exactly what happened," I said.

Matthew continued to try to explain. I approached, surrounded myself with anti-magic, and severed one of his fingers.

He looked at his artifacts in confusion and horror, not understanding why they were failing to activate. Through tear stained eyes, he started to stammer.

"W-What are you doing?? It wasn't supposed to be like this! I was only looking out for my daughter! Nobody was supposed to get hurt."

"You mean I was supposed to take the blame for raping your daughter. After you had us both violated through this stupid drug. I don't know about you, but I consider that as being harmed."

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"But how are you here? It's supposed to make you unable to resist acting on your strongest impulses! Are you fucking gay or is there something wrong with your eyes?"

"I'll give you a hint," I said. The room was turning more and more blurry and it was getting harder to think. "There's nothing I hate more than being manipulated or controlled."

"What does that have to do-"

"So, what do you think is currently my strongest impulse?"

I thought I saw understanding dawn on him as I ripped off his currently suppressed protective artifacts and pinned him down.

Then I heard him screaming and felt myself tearing into his flesh as the last dregs of my rationality were swept away.

By the time my sanity returned, he was barely alive.

"Please, stop!" He gasped, "I'm sorry! I'll do anything! Just let me live, please!"

My vision was still a bit blurred, but it was slowly coming into focus.

Apparently, I had done a reasonable job with mangling Matthew's body in my unconscious fit of anger, because he really looked like hell.

Fortunately for him, even reduced to almost an animal, I instinctively knew not to aim for vital areas if I wanted it to last. So, he was still alive.

At some point, the anti-magic had become deactivated due to the reduction of my intelligence, and Matthew had managed to use magic to light another stick of incense he had pulled from somewhere unknown.

The smell was helping clear my head. It must have been the antidote to whatever he used to drug me.

My hands were covered in blood.

"Anything?" I asked Matthew.

"Well... We can negotiate. This situation isn't good for you either. I'm not a nobody. Kill me here and you'll be in jail for the rest of your life."

For someone who was sobbing in agony, he was putting on a pretty brave front.

"I have an alternative proposal. Your life was forfeit from the moment you drugged me. Now, if you don't give me conditions I like, I'll torture you to death before killing everyone in your household and disappearing. I'm certainly angry enough."

That was a lie—he was the only one I was considering killing—but Matthew had no way of knowing that.

"You better hurry, because I don't think your drug has entirely worn off yet," I added, "I'm still feeling a bit like continuing where we left off. I was in the process of removing the skin on your chest, right?"

"What would you have me do?"

That was easy. While extensively researching how to avoid becoming a victim of mind and behavioral control spells, I had obviously learned how to cast them as well. There's no better way to understand a spell than to directly familiarize yourself with the mana structure.

Mental spells were strange because they operated on more abstract concepts, such as will and belief. Essentially, the structure had to form a sort of resonance with the mental energy of the caster and the target. The mechanics of how it worked weren't entirely understood. However, for the strongest control, a true name and consent were both needed.

He coughed up both as soon as I started torturing him properly, on the condition that I not directly hurt his family. If they attacked me first, that would be a different matter.

"Don't forget that your life is mine. As soon as you stop being useful, I'll kill you, so work hard," I helpfully reminded him.

Now, I basically had one of the largest distribution networks on the continent as my bitch.

Dealing with people like him is so convenient.

For now, I asked him to find me an elf. Considering his personality and the fact that his daughter was being chased by highly trained professional killers, it was likely that his company had some underground connections.

Either way, he should have access to a good information network. Elves were hard to find outside their territory, but all I needed was one.

I also got him to ship my ancient sample from the ruin to an analyst. He would get back to me with their findings later.

Matthew worked faster than I anticipated. Soon, he brought me news of an elf being held captive in the house of a wealthy nobleman.

It's not like I had any qualms about breaking into someone's house.

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"I have a plan to bring the Kingdom of Iron under the control of the Temple of Light, but I will need your cooperation. Would you be willing to assist with this?"

"Let's hear it first, hero," said Lenore, "If it's truly as you say, you will have our full support."

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"General Carlan, we have news from the hero's home world."

The general turned around to look at the assistant. Silhouetted against the void, Carlan was striking. She had the air of someone in a difficult position who was incredibly good at their job.

"What news?"

"It's just as you thought. There were anomalies."

"Are you trying to prolong the story for the mystery of it? Finish your report."

Her assistant radiated a feeling that could be interpreted as amusement, but was ambiguous enough to not be a reprimandable offense.

"Despite it being a barren, worthless world with no mana, there were traces of transmissions to it from the core. Based on the intensity, they were probably mainly information."

"Fuck. Any details with regards to the source?"

"It seems there were multiple. We picked up signatures associated with our native alpha-class entities."

Carlan swore again.

"If it's somehow involved, this operation will likely be more treacherous than anticipated. Push the invasion forward."

"That will cause a substantial strain on our resources."

"It doesn't matter," replied Carlan, "It's game over if this fails and we run out of energy. The containment barriers must be maintained at all costs. Tell them to do whatever they have to."

Her assistant saluted and left.