"Come at—" Stormblade's words were drowned in the chaos summoned by the Gravitational Singularity Glenn threw at him. The latter refused to waste even a single second questioning the Thorn's Church presence in Howard's entourage. He already wasn't fond of the household anyway, but for them to also be in cahoots with these accursed cultists?

"Unacceptable!" Glenn clamored as he consumed half of his Mana reserves to power the Gravitational Singularity. Stormblade's rank five Aura flared up, the vine-monster clashing with the spell. The gray, dead vines began disappearing one after the other, crushed by the Singularity's attraction. Glenn moistened his lips and flicked his fingers, "One less Thorn's Church bastard in this world. Excellent."

The Gravitational Singularity finally collapsed, engulfing Stormblade in a blinding explosion. Glenn let himself be thrown back by the shockwave, using Gravity Manipulation to control his flight. He watched in satisfaction as Howard's Manor collapsed entirely, leaving only a huge pile of rubble and dust behind.

"Well, that was anti-climatic," Diamanes remarked, slightly disappointed, "I thought it would be a little more entertaining, considering his rank-five Aura and Divine powers."

Glenn shrugged and dusted his hands off, "Can't say I'll complain about that. He was just an obstacle on my path to get rid of the actual problem, the Baron."

The rubble trembled and collapsed further, before sinking into the floor, revealing the underground passages below.

"Hrm, I don't want to disappoint, but I did not receive a single soul, Glenn," Nelg cleared his throat awkwardly. Glenn frowned and glanced at the place where the explosion took place. He couldn't see the hateful dead vines nor a hint of Stormblade's presence.

"...Well, it's a little worrying, but I don't exactly have the time to look into it, do I?" Glenn muttered before shaking his head. The nearby sound of machinegun fire was echoing, coming from Liam's position.

“Wasn't he supposed to be a sniper? When did he build himself a fucking machine gun...? ?” asked Glenn under his breath, confused. He shrugged and dived underground, dashing for the teleport gate. He was already quite late, given the initial predictions. Stormblade was a little stronger than he remembered, but not an impossible opponent. He was certainly not as strong as the orc Decimius. Which was strange, given that Stormblade was a rank 5 aura user. But perhaps he had also taken advantage of the artificial power that allowed him to have a superior aura but not compensate for a lack of skills. Since even the guards seemed to have received these unnatural enhancements, it wouldn't be surprising if Stormblade benefited from them too.

...And there was also the fact that he was a Thorn's Church goon.

"Now, the plans, I need to remember the plans..." Glenn muttered as he ran in the dark underground hallways.

***

"AHHH! I WASN'T EXPECTING TO ACTUALLY FIGHT!!!" Janica screamed as she unloaded freely her machine's gun ammunition on the literal horde of thralls running at them. The second Liam shot one of his Blumar bullets at the vampire bothering Sahro and Liara, these goons had come after them. Liam ignored the sweat pealing down his forehead and reloaded his handgun just in time to pierce a lunging thrall's head with condensed fire Mana.

Their weapons could fire two types of projectiles: physical projectiles, such as lead, brass, or even Blumar, which required a special coating to fire. The other option was magical, mainly using the user's Mana, or blood in the lack of it, and was the product of a condensation of elemental Mana synchronized with the Shards used on their weapons. Liam used only a single fire Shard, be it with his sniper or handgun, while Janica had combined fire and water Shard for her machine gun.

All in all, both of their products had their strengths and weaknesses, such as incredible penetration power for Liam's sniper, or impressive area of damage for Janica's machine gun. They made for quite a powerful combination. Sadly, that combination wasn't exactly prepared to face endless hordes of zombie-likes thralls with superhuman speed and strength.

"Shit, the more I kill, the more they come!" Liam roared as he emptied the equivalent of a magazine on a particularly tough thrall. Janica clenched her teeth and kept on relentlessly mowing down the enemies with her machine gun. Her skin was getting increasingly paler as she consumed more and more blood instead of Mana. She wasn't a Mage yet after all.

Liam gulped and pressed his hand on his chest. If the push came to shove, would he have the strength to use that last resort? If it was to save Janica...Liam's expression hardened.

Yeah, if it was to save Janica, he had all the strength in the world. He put down another thrall, biding his time when Janica's fire suddenly died down. The girl had lost consciousness, the loss of blood too important for her to handle. Liam gritted his teeth and took a step forward, his artificial heart beating with a violent, powerful pulse. He looked at the endless horde of thralls and drew a deep breath.

"...Sorry, Janica. I won't be able to see you enter Exan's University..." He muttered as he jumped forward, moments away from activating the self-destruction of his heart. At the last second, a hand pulled him back away from the horde, and a man stepped in front of him, wearing a white suit with an oh-so-recognizable red cross pattern. Each part of his skin was covered in bandages, and he was wielding a long, threatening-looking scythe.

"Don't go dying off just yet," Veil laughed, "Trust me, life is much fuller of possibilities. Death is so..." He clenched the hilt of his scythe tighter as strips of black satin rose from the ground around him, "...Definitive."

***

"Hmm...He was weaker than anticipated," One of the Black Heirs following Nohre remarked as he wiped his blade off his victim's corpse. Nohre wanted to retort something clever but he could only agree with his colleague's thoughts. The mage that had been guarding the Teleportation Gate should have been a remarkable master of space-type spells, possibly at the Fourth Circle, which would have made this operation only a hit-and-run, but instead, he had been pitifully weak. To add to the injury, the mage barely fought back, letting them cut him apart like a piece of meat.

"Whatever, our mission is done. Now, feel free to wreak as much havoc as you want!" Nohre grinned as his Aura flared up once more, "Remember only one thing; our lives are more important than anything, understood?"

"Who do you take us for?" The other Black Heirs laughed it off as they all dashed in pairs of two, with one staying with Nohre. The latter glanced one last time at the mage's corpse on the floor, and stabbed his sword in the Teleportation Gate, ruining it definitively. If they trusted Maron and the Devil's Hand words, creating a new one would take another space mage, a lot of resources, and even more time.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Nohre and his companion were about to follow the other Black Heirs in their plundering, only to both freeze in fear. Their back became drenched in cold sweat, and the only thing they could hear was the loud footsteps of someone approaching them in the distance. Nohre gritted his teeth and forced himself to turn around, discovering two individuals coming out of a hallway. One was as silent as a shadow and had red hair and eyes, the same as Giselle's. His forehead was adorned by a white, faded mark, and his skin was the same tint as Nohre's. The other was dressed in elegant clothes but had a mad, almost beastly feel to him.

'Callum!' He realized as he tightened his hold over his sword.

"You...animals..." The beastly man hissed furiously, his fists clenched tightly. His sharp, yellow canines peeked out of his mouth, and the darkness seemed to wrap other him like an ominous cape. Nohre's eyes widened and he instinctively jumped back, pulling his frozen companion with him.

"Since things have come to this..." The beastly man looked down, his nails growing longer and darker and his limbs trembling threateningly. Callum beside him looked emotionless, his hands clasped behind his back as he respectfully followed behind his crazed master.

Nohre gulped and made his decision, throwing his companion on his back and dashing away. Their lives were the priority, and right now, his instincts were screaming at him to run away.

So run away he did, only to suddenly fall face first. His companion rolled over, the shock suddenly waking him up. His Aura flared up as he raised his twin short swords, only to be swatted away by a shadow. The beastly man stood above Nohre, his nails—no, his claws dripping with fresh blood. Nohre tried standing up, only to realize his legs were both pinned to the floor by solid blood stakes.

"It's been a while since I meddled with you Black Heirs," The Baron spat hatefully, "Hopefully you taste a little better than before." The vampire reached for Nohre's neck, only for said hand to be swatted away by a crackling flash of blue lightning. The blood stakes pinning Nohre to the floor shattered, freeing him. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was that mechanical arm, hissing with steam and covered in destructive red lightning.

Sahro glanced back at Liara, who had successfully captured Callum and held him into place with her Telekinesis. Thankfully, Giselle's grandson wasn't fighting back, his eyes empty and soulless. Nohre and his companion had both been overwhelmed by the Baron and were out of commission. Additionally, the vampire seemed to have done something to them; they looked sickly pale, and their lips were blue.

"Fucking ruh sayiya, what did you do to them?!?" Sahro shouted, pointing his sword at the vampire.

The latter looked at his nicked claws and frowned, "Weren't you also there during my last Harvest? How did you also grow that much stronger? What power did you use?"

The Black Heir gritted his teeth and nodded at Liara. She nodded back and dashed away while picking up Nohre and his companion's corpse, carrying them alongside Callum. Telekinesis certainly had its advantages. Baron Howard watched them with a smirk and shook his head, "It's no use. That wretch is my thrall now, the only way he can escape his fate is death!" He snorted, "...And that is the one thing he is scared of. Not like that last imbecile, I had my eyes on..."

Sahro scoffed, "Who, Liam?"

Baron Howard froze and his bloodshot eyes widened, "...How do you know about him—no, you remember seeing me taking him away during the Harvest," He reasoned. Sahro moistened his lips and grinned widely, "Oh, no, he was alive and well a few hours ago. Ripping his own heart out and replacing it is quite the way to go, honestly."

The vampire's jaw hung slack, "Impossible! I saw him die myself!"

Sahro gritted his teeth and prepared himself, "Maybe you should have checked better, beast!" He lunged forward in a thunderous flash of red lightning, striking the vampire squarely in the chest. The latter conjured a shield of blood at the last moment, barely blocking Sahro's assault. The Black Heir's mechanical arm suddenly shone with bright light, and a ray of powerful, red lightning shot out of it, pulverizing the vampire's head into dust.

The Black Heir waited a few seconds as the searing metal chilled down, before spitting on the vampire's remains, "Tsk, that was easy. I'm sure Glenn will be quite disappointed he didn't get to have his revenge, though..." He shook his head and turned away, "Let's join Liam and the others at the rendezvous point, we should be fine."

"Rendezvous point...Ah, that house the Cleaner's Workshop gave you...Interesting. Ah, and there even is the Devil's Hand sister there, right? Excellent," A voice spoke from behind, freezing him on the spot. Sahro slowly turned around, watching as the Baron wrote something in a small notebook, unharmed.

"...How...?" Sahro blurted out in disbelief, his Aura and Mana flaring up once more. Baron Howard grinned and opened his arms widely, "What, don't tell me you forgot you were in my domain?" His expression hardened and he pointed a sharp claw at Sahro, "You're in my house. So please, entertain me, Black Heir!"

Sahro raised his sword again, his teeth clenched. Something was wrong, he knew it. But the only thing he could do was cut his enemy down.

No matter how many times it was going to take.

***

"Turn left...right...ah!" Glenn went back on his steps, finally arriving at the Teleportation Gate. He had been forced to take detours due to the hallways collapsing. He could have cleared them with Gravity Manipulation, but he risked destroying the place further and never finding his way to his objective. It was already hard enough to kill all of these thralls on the way there without destroying the underground complex, he wasn't going to waste his Mana on a pointless venture.

'I think the whole issue could have been solved if you had just trained by yourself, reached the Sixth Circle, and thrown down an Archmagi spell at the Manor, obliterating it,' Diamanes grumbled, annoyed.

Glenn rolled his eyes, "Why are you displeased? I had a relatively satisfying fight and also destroyed the Manor, even if it took more than a few spells. And I couldn't risk killing Callum, could I?"

"Excuses, always more excuses..." Diamanes groaned aloud, refusing to listen to Glenn's explanations. The latter suddenly paused, the thick metallic scent of blood overwhelming him. He continued forward with careful steps, his back drenched in a cold sweat. Something was terribly wrong, but he couldn't guess what. It was as if the whole environment had changed, transforming into another world, another dimension—

"Ah!" Glenn suddenly stopped and slammed his fist in his hand, "Diamanes? Nelg?"

As expected, nobody replied to him. Glenn sighed and activated Mana Sight, frowning deeply. He called to the power of illusion he took from Milena some time ago, trying to use it to verify his theory. The world seemed to shift and twist, trembling unnaturally.

"...It really is becoming way too easy to realize I'm in illusions. I won't complain though, it does mean it's easier to get out of them or resist mind magic..." Glenn muttered as he extricated himself out of the illusion effortlessly. It took barely a bit of Mana and the use of Milena's power to find a flaw and get out of the trap. Glenn was still standing in the hallway, clenching Nelg tightly in one hand and Milena's spell in the other.

"Ah? Was that an illusion?" Diamanes asked curiously. Glenn nodded, to what Nelg grunted in awe.

"Fuck illusions. Fuck anything that put me in another world, as a matter of fact. I hate these spells. I might start to hate Milena."

Glenn frowned, "Don't. I'm sure she would love you. And don't forget she isn't a fan of using mind magic after all."

Nelg returned to his lonely corner without replying, annoyed. Glenn shrugged and willed for the weapon to change to its greatsword shape, ready to Cut & Pull.

"Let's see now, why is there an illusion in this place...?" Glenn asked as he finally entered the Teleportation Gate room. He stopped dead in his tracks as he found Nohre's team, Sahro, and Liara, all lying on the floor, unconscious. Callum was watching them with his hands crossed behind his back, while Baron Howard was sitting on top of Liara, his sharp canines reaching for her throat as he licked his lips.

At that moment, something snapped in Glenn's mind.

And Baron Howard couldn't help but shiver.