"FOR FUCK'S SAKE!!" Glenn's voice echoed amidst the sounds of spells and swords clashing against each other. Sahro gritted his teeth and deflected a sword coming for his thigh, before cutting his attacker's wrist followed by a stab through his neck. The Black Heir turned his head just in time to see his idiotic friend jump in the ominous Rift/Gate, his body distorted as it traveled through Reality's fabric.

"...You're shitting me!" Sahro cursed, the white mark on his forehead gleaming powerfully as he kept on channeling his Aura and Mana, destructively combining the two powers. His sword, originally wrapped in crimson Aura, was now infused with the power of his thunder arm, crackling with red lightning. Sahro drew a deep breath before cutting horizontally, slicing through three incoming knights and cutting them in half.

Clang! Clang!

"Sahro, I won't be able to hold much longer!" Milena shouted, before distorting reality in front of her, successfully stopping two knights from stabbing her. She sled forward and used her knife to stab the first knight in the neck, right in the interstice between his armor and helmet, before rolling away and pressing her palm against the second knight's chest. His torso suddenly bent unnaturally on itself, the bones breaking and the organs rupturing in a gore fountain of blood.

"This is not how it was supposed to...damn it!" On one of the highest balconies surveying the theater-like "Summoning Room", a slightly fat man with bald spots and squeaky eyes was biting his nails. He wore luxurious, expensive-looking clothes, and held a crystal glass of wine in his other hand. Said hand trembled slightly, the wine contained in the glass threatening to pour out at any moment. Besides him, two massive knights the size of giants were standing guard silently, watching the fight going on through the slit in their helmets.

A red-robed individual leaned onto the balcony, chuckling with an arrogant tone.

"Don't worry, my dear collaborator, these are only minor hiccups our Forlorn Knights are more than capable of taking care of. Of course, I thank you on their behalf for bringing so many archers just in case, huhuhu."

The slightly fat man kept on chewing on his nails, failing to notice there were none to chew anymore, biting into his fingers' flesh and tasting the blood within. He turned suddenly, his eyes bulging out of his head as he threw his glass at the red-robed man. The glass stopped in mid-air, but the fat man didn't seem to care.

"Are you aware of how much I am risking for this shit? Didn't you tell me the illusion trap was unbreakable? I knew it was insanity not to put at least a few guards at the entry point!" He shouted, pointing his finger angrily at the red-robed figure. The glass floating in mid-air, still full of wine, slowly drifted toward the red-robed man's hand.

"Well, no one should have even found the house to begin with, nor should they have found the right combination to free themselves from the trap," The red-robed man admitted as he sipped on the wine. The slightly fat man heaved heavily, beads of sweat pearling on his balding forehead.

"Nonetheless, we prepared enough forces to take care of such eventuality. After all, even your Master is interested in this ritual, isn't he?" The red-robed man turned toward the angry fat man, his evil grin the only thing visible under his hood. The slightly fat man suddenly took a step back as his face drained of colors, before turning away and looking back down at the fight. Sahro was the main center of it, surrounded by a dozen Forlorn Knigths, all trying to cut him down and failing miserably. Green Aura was flying everywhere, hitting the walls and the ground, but never the Black Heir.

Every attack aimed at him was either dodged or parried. And each time, a flash of red lightning struck through the ranks of the Forlorn Knights, killing them by the dozen. The bald man couldn't help but worry as dread began to creep over his heart.

What if they failed? What if the Black Heir was the Black Swordsman of the recent stories? What if his friend, who went through the Summoning Gate, was the Devil's Hand?

After paying a hefty price to know who might come to threaten his business, he learned that these two bastards were the most dangerous variables to his Master's plan. He should have killed them before, but they arrived at the worst moment!

"Why do these things happen to me...?" He muttered through his teeth as he grabbed the balcony's ledge with chubby hands, the knuckles of his fingers whitening with how hard he squeezed. The red-robed man laughed, his voice echoing over and over in the theater as more arrows flew down from the balconies, almost all of them missing their targets.

Above them, listening silently to the conversation, a shadow with pale, almost transparent skin stood, his eyes empty of emotions and his bowstring drawn to its maximum capacity. Black Aura covered his arrow's sharp tip, devouring the light voraciously. Javier didn't waste another second and let the arrow fly, piercing straight through the red-robed man's throat. The red-robed figure didn't expect the stealthy attack and flew over the balcony, falling to the ground and the fight going on there.

The two silent, massive knights drew their swords expertly, shooting emerald-colored Aura toward the direction the arrow came from, but it was useless. Javier was already long gone, continuing his job to disrupt the enemy's backline. The two knights traded a gaze, before grabbing the frozen-in-fear fat man and running away.

Sahro grunted and blocked a sword by using his thunder arm, shocking its wielder to death, before slipping away in a flash of red thunder right next to Milena. The fallen Noble was gasping for air, covered in blood but no wounds. Nonetheless, it seemed like she would collapse any time soon, and he wouldn't take long to follow her. Using the Red Lightning, the combination of his Mana and Aura, made him twice as powerful but burned twice as much energy and Mana.

"...Hah...I thought I would be able to reduce their numbers, but they keep on coming," Sahro heaved as he looked at the Gate.

'Glenn, what is taking you so long?'

He didn't get another second to catch his breath as a particularly large amount of the scaled armored knights jumped down from the balconies, seemingly to try and finish them off. The Black Heir glanced around, failing to find the silent hunter, only noticing a dark-Aura-covered arrow flying here and there, killing the knights with a single shot. These enemies weren't particularly tough and didn't defend themselves, but their attacks were all very threatening, forcing him to block or dodge all of them.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

A single hit, and he could lose another limb.

He couldn't risk that.

Milena dropped her knife on the ground and fell to her knees, pushing both of her hands on the floor.

"...Per potentiam hereditatis meae, ad voluntatem meam inclina, et in velo tuo protege me..." She muttered with a calm voice, her raven-black hair rising in the air and her brown eyes lighting up with a mystical might that even Sahro couldn't decipher. Well, it wasn't like he was a magic expert, anyway...

Nonetheless, he still understood that the lady was preparing a huge spell, so he made it his duty to protect her in the meantime. He could already feel the world trembling under his feet from Milena's influence, dust rising slowly as power flowed. The knights seemed to recognize her as the main threat and charged with their swords covered in green Aura, but Sahro pushed them away, his sword covered in crackling red lightning.

"You're after me, bitches," He taunted, smiling cockily. The knights didn't reply, only attacking him to try and reach Milena. The lady suddenly slammed her hands against the ground and a ripple shook everyone off their feet. Sahro rolled backward and planted his sword on the ground, struggling to stand on the shaking ground. He gazed at Milena and saw a thin stream of blood coming out of her nose, but she seemed like she could hold on for a few more minutes.

The scaled-armored knights tried to stand and use the occasion to attack Milena, but their swords turned to their comrades. A knight's head flew off, beheaded by another knight bearing the same colors. Under Sahro's bewildered eyes, the knights began killing each other in a bloody mess, their weapons slipping away from their hands and piercing friendly throats alike.

"...Fuck, couldn't you have used this before?" Sahro asked with a whisper, shocked. Milena grunted, before collapsing and letting go of the spell.

"Cough..." She spat a mouthful of blood, before wiping her mouth, "...That's my last resort, I had to wait for the best time to use it..." She struggled to say as her eyes closed by themselves. She fell face first, drained entirely of all of her strength. Sahro smacked his lips, looking at the dozen or so knights that remained, wounded but still much too eager to cut him and Milena down. The archers had long stopped shooting their arrows, their throats pierced by Javier's deadly projectiles.

The Gate suddenly gleamed brightly with crimson light, projecting a burning heat wave over its surroundings. Sahro fell to a knee, feeling his skin heating up and the tip of his hair burning off. A figure came out of the Gate, rolling down on the ground for a few seconds before stopping. The frozen members of the Church of Onnea suddenly fell to their knees, Glenn's magic dispelled away by the Gate's heat.

Sahro felt his hopes being extinguished away, knowing pertinently he wouldn't have the strength to deal with them, but then he saw their eyes.

Eyes filled with terror who were far from mind-controlled, or whatever that previous business was. They struggled to push themselves up as they coughed their lungs out, the power of Glenn's Nitrogen Wave still lingering around.

They glanced at the Gate thumping like a beating heart, and hurriedly grabbed the weapons of the falling knight, ready to make their last stands. Sahro chuckled as a weight was lifted off his chest, and felt more confident than ever. If he wasn't wrong, that figure that was thrown out of the Gate was Redan, and Glenn would soon follow behind him.

Hopefully.

"Javier, we're almost there!" The Black Heir shouted to nowhere in particular, knowing the silent hunter would hear him. As expected, another figure jumped out of the Gate, creating yet another wave of heat. This time, Sahro was prepared and he fended it off by covering his whole body with crimson Aura. He also protected Milena by standing in front of her, knowing she'd rather not get roasted alive if she could.

"Glenn, grab Redan, and let's get the fuck out of here!" Sahro shouted. The figure who jumped out of the Gate glanced at him but didn't reply. Strangely, he didn't look like Glenn. Also, he had clergy clothes, from the Church of Onnea... Who was that guy?

The priest looked at Redan on the ground, before picking him up and throwing him on his shoulder. He hurriedly ran away from the Gate, slipping through the remaining knights and heading for the kids wrapped in fabric.

"Well, I don't know who you are, but thanks for the help!" The priest grinned, a man who could have probably been considered handsome, had it not been for the mean scar splitting his face in two. He had brown hair tied in a ponytail, and an unsheathed white sword hanging off his waist. He threw Redan next to the kids, before falling on the ground and gasping for air. The Church of Onnea's forces, who were previously too busy getting rid of the effects of the Gate's heat wave, suddenly noticed him. They opened their mouth to say something, but the Gate rippled one more as Glenn shot out from it, bringing with him yet another heat wave.

This time, the Church of Onnea stopped the heat wave entirely, their faces covered in soot as they did so. One of the paladins ran toward the priest that came out of the Gate, his eyes bulging out and his longsword gleaming threateningly. The Priest looked at the paladin and pointed his finger at him, terrified.

"Shit, that one's still mind-controlled!" He blurted out, before hurriedly unsheathing his sword. Sahro didn't have the time to express his doubt that the Priest expertly dodged the paladin's attack, before beheading him with a swift strike. The priest shook the blood off his blade before sighing, relieved.

"Phew, that was almost dangerous..."

The Gate trembled as nothing kept it stable anymore, and closed down without a sound. The scent of rotten eggs disappeared, and the room's temperature dimmed down slightly. Nonetheless, Sahro still felt as if something was very, very wrong, almost as if he had missed the most important detail.

Glenn coughed heavily, struggling to push himself up. His short passage in Hell, or whatever that place was, seemed to have messed up his insides quite a bit. Nothing he couldn't treat with C.P.R., he was sure, but still, that hurt. And yet, he practically couldn't feel that pain. His mind was still filled with the dead kids, their bellies ripped open and their faces tortured under immense pain, their eyeballs gone.

This was a sight Glenn would never forget, he already knew that. He summoned Nelg from within his soul, using the sword as a cane to push himself up. The sword was back to its normal appearance, a boring, plain longsword. The young man glanced at his surroundings and his eyes widened when he saw the absolute bloodbath. There were more dead knights than he could count, all lying down in their blood, cut to pieces. There were a dozen or so still standing, but they were fighting with the remnants of Onnea's Church, who had somehow come out of his Nitrogen Wave.

He quickly found Sahro, alongside Milena and the Priest he found in Hell. Redan was lying down next to the kids...Wait.

'Glenn, are you...are you sure they're kids?' Diamanes questioned hesitantly.

"...I would have thought most of them would be..." Nelg stopped, echoing Glenn's emotions, "...I thought the ones in Hell was all of them. It would have made sense when seeing their sheer numbers..."

The young man didn't reply, his gaze stuck to the kids wrapped in fabric. They were moving slightly, proof of their liveliness, but not once he had confirmed them to be kids. In the urgency of the moment, he had just pulled them out of the cultists' range.

But now...now that he had seen what he had seen...

Rip!

The Priest cut through one of the fabric bags, grinning widely as he did so.

And from it, something shot out, aiming for the white...bone-like longsword. From so far away, Glenn had a hard time telling, but it looked eerily similar to the "faces" Sahro's friends gifted to him back so they could enter the Skinner's Black Market.

Human skin.