Jane stepped out into the fading sunlight and as she looked up at the sky streaked with red light as the sun had almost set, she had to admit to herself that the interrogation had gone better than she had expected.

After arriving at the city of Xois, the God Squad had reported the destruction of the bridge by Ulkry as one of his many twisted plans to break the faith of the world so that demons could slink in and take the world and corrupt it. While the story had been mostly a lie, Jane had felt that the essence of their report was based in truth. Something that the officials of the city had seemed to determine either through magic, God Relics or simply the fact that they had been trustworthy enough that they couldn’t believe that the God Squad would lie.

The fact that Jane had managed to contact Rin so that the Empire of Geb would be the one to fix the bridge at their own cost with Xois not paying a cent had probably helped with the political matters. Not to mention that despite the war that the Arthurian Empire had been dragged into, they were still powerful enough to reach across the Nile River and erase Xois from the map and, given enough time, even from history. So the officers of Xois had chosen and taken the route that would let them escape from the political minefield that existed in this nightmare constructed by a demon king.

Turning around, Jane saw that her fellow God Squad members were following after her with a variety of different expressions. Aleister had one that was the most conflicted, his innate nature of a seraphim probably rallied against the lie that he had been forced to tell not to mention his own convictions, yet in the end he had bowed to the wisdom of the lie and its simplicity. Edward had his face hidden, but Jane knew enough about him to know that he had similar, conflicting feelings about the stories they had spun. More so, she knew that when the officers had forced him to reveal his face, the fact that they hadn’t even blinked at his so called deformities, had sent Edward’s mind reeling.

And finally as Jane shifted her line of sight to Grey, she could see that the madman hadn’t even had a second of doubt about untangling the works of a demon. An irony that Grey probably had long since gotten used to, that the irony that the servants of Heaven lie to save the world, while demons tell the truth to destroy it.

Seeing that the madman was watching the city with wandering and unfixed eyes, Jane turned to inspect the city as well. The city truly brought the weight of its history to bear for anyone that stood within its walls. For the city was filled with statues, holy figures and other constructs that made it abundantly clear that this city had been created during the age of the gods when hundreds if not thousands of gods roamed the world creating and destroying order, and begetting infinite legends. Statues dotted the city and the market that was in front of the God Squad, a market in the process of packing up for the night. But the statues of the gods that had once stood and uplifted the Dark Empire of Osiris were nothing compared to the fact that even walls seemed to have the imagery of the Sun God, Ra coming out of them.

While there were statues of Bast, Osiris, Isis, Anubis and a host of others, the truth of the matter was that Ra seemed to be the patron of this city if you went by the fact that his imagery and statues decorated everything of even nominal importance. From the entrance ways to the walls themselves, the falcon headed god was emerging from all the walls and seemingly watching all that resided in the city, a notion that might very well be truth.

Turning her attention from the statues and busts of the gods, Jane looked at the people that milled around in the fading sunlight. Some were the standard definition of human with their bodies the normal composition, yet others were just as altered and distorted as Edward was. Their bodies were different. Some clearly were hiding physical distortions while others wore them out in the open, the most prominent being the fact that a large percent of the population seemed to have cat ears and tails growing out of their bodies in the appropriate places. Glancing back, Jane could see that Edward was shocked, as his purple eyes seemed to waver as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“Alright,” said Jane as she turned back to her fellow God Squad members, “we’re going to stay here over night and when the sun rises we’ll head off into the Wormwood.”

“Why?” asked Aleister as he focused in on Jane before him, his mind unsettled from being inside a place clearly dedicated to the pagan gods that Heaven was meant to condemn.

“Because the Wormwood is a place where dragons and dragon related creatures dwell and we do not want to go there in the dark. Even if we can see perfectly, the truth of the matter is that if these monsters are nocturnal we’re going to be disadvantaged. Not to mention, I would like to sleep in a bed before we head out,” said Jane with a helpless shrug, a faint warm smile upon her lips.

“I would actually like to stay here as well,” said Edward as he looked around, something in his eyes conveying the wonder and longing that this city invoked in him.

Seeing this, Jane nodded her head as Aleister gave his brother a supportive pat on the back.

“How about you, Grey?” asked Jane as she turned to where the Gray Knight had been standing only to find that the paladin was gone.

Stunned at the swift silent movement from the Mad Paladin, the rest of the God Squad turned about themselves searching for a clue to where Grey Silverman had gone. Seeing Edward stop stunned, Jane and Aleister focused their attention in the same direction as Edward and saw much to their shock that Grey appeared to be trying to catch a cat, that in turn seemed to be playing with Grey by constantly just jumping out of Grey’s reach. Watching with stunned expressions, the three magic users watched as Grey chased the cat down an alley, screaming about answers and questions he had for the feline.

Once the Mad Paladin had disappeared from view, the three remaining members of the God Squad shared a look before turning away in search of an inn to stay the night in. Marching along, Jane let herself feel the waves of heat and mana that emanated from around the area and once she was sure of what she was sensing, Jane started to walk in the direction that she had been told to walk when the officers had recommended an inn.

Arriving at the doors of the inn, the Curious Cat, Jane smiled at the title and had to wonder if the name was based on the legend that all cats were eyes and spies for the Goddess of Cats, Bast. Signalling to the two brothers behind her, Jane walked into the inn pushing the doors apart so that the three of them could enter together. Stepping inside, Jane had to smile, for the inn was filled with warmth, heat that was neither dry nor wet and one that was set perfectly so that those that wandered in could feel comfortable and not so hot that it was too much of a shock to their system. Yet Jane could feel, and in a certain manner see, that the effect was not created from keeping the room heated using fire but mana. Jane was willing to bet that hidden behind the wooden floors and beams were oak wood that not only was generating mana but also producing the heat that made the room so comfortable. Stepping up to the counter, Jane signalled that she wanted to pay for rooms. Seeing her arrive, one of the female waitresses stepped up behind the counter and smiled with a mischievous little grin that was reflected in her cat ears, eyes and tail that swished about, as if awaiting fun.

“How can I help you?” asked the Waitress as she leaned forward to show off her cleavage to the three that stood before her.

“We would like some rooms,” said Jane back, not bothered at all by the display of flesh that was going on before her.

“All three to one room?” asked the waitress questioningly at the same time making sure that it was obvious that she was implying that the three of them were involved together.

“No thanks. One for me and one for the brothers behind me,” said Jane as she returned a smile that was all razor wires and malice, her hair flickering with tendrils of flame.

Seeing the warning for what it was, the cat waitress leaned back, but the smile didn’t leave her mouth nor did her tail stop swishing around at the notion that something fun was commencing.

“Can I interest you in anything to eat?” asked the waitress with a smile as she gestured to the tables arrayed around the common area.

“How much?” asked Jane, not because she needed to eat, but more because she genuinely wanted to know so that she could make a decision.

“For the food or the room?” asked the waitress coyly.

Instead of getting upset, Jane simply arched her eyebrow at the waitress knowing that the waitress was either trying to upset her or was angling for something else.

“How much for either?” asked Jane as she leaned forward to get a quick glance at the money tabs that had been written in the books.

A habit she had learned from her days living in the alleys of the great holy city of Albion, so that she could know if she was being swindled or not, especially since Jane had no way of knowing what the local prices were like. Realising what Jane had done, the smile on the cat waitress didn’t go away, instead she seemed even happier than normal as if she had found a toy that actually entertained her.

Listing the prices, Jane found that they were similar enough to what she had seen so she looked at Aleister as if saying to pay the woman. Aleister realising what she was asking for quickly looked at his brother who had been alternating between watching the patrons of the inn eating away and paying attention to the cat girl before them. Edward, realising in turn that everyone was watching him, reached in his cloak and fished out the purse that he had kept on his person. Handing over the required amount, the waitress smiled before pausing as she changed pages of the book chronicling the guests and their payments and names.

“Names, please,” said the waitress as she looked down at the book waiting to write their names down.

“Jane Burnout,” said Jane nonchalantly, while at the same time scanning over the waitress to see what her response would be.

However the waitress didn’t respond, instead she wrote down the name and waited for the next two.

“These are Aleister and Edward Maw,” said Jane as she gestured at the two brothers who had gone still at the mention of their names.

Yet when the waitress didn’t respond either negatively or positively, they both relaxed at not having to deal with either sycophantic adoration or condemning hatred that their ancestry occasionally brought out in others.

“Oh and one more,” said Jane, after a pause, “he might not turn up, but he is a member of our party, so if he does turn up please send him up to either of our rooms.”

“Ok, name please,” said the waitress, her ears and tail swishing around as if she was happy and uncaring.

“Grey Silverman,” said Jane evenly, all the while watching over the waitress to see what response she would get.

A tactic that paid off as the waitress’ tail stopped moving and after a while she looked up at the Fire Mage before her.

“Really? The Paladin of Vengeance is here. I admit I wasn’t expecting that, nor that he would be in your company… or theirs,” said the waitress as she looked up at Jane and then at the brothers behind Jane, her eyes filling with a vast and terrible amount of knowledge that made Jane reaffirm her suspicions that whoever this waitress was, she wasn’t a normal being or even one that was still in her first millennium of life.

Finishing writing down the names, the waitress added the addendum that Grey would be directed to their rooms if he came in. Packing the book away, the waitress ushered the God Squad over to a seat around a table at the far end of the inn, away from the others present.

Choosing a seat, Jane understood why the cat girl had been acting the way she had. News about them had probably spread since they had arrived and the hosts of this inn were currently uncertain whether they should be serving them, and what trouble they would bring.

Sitting there, Jane looked at the walls with the same sand colour that lined everything in this city and as her gaze wandered they were drawn to the pictures hanging on the wall. Seeing these pictures, Jane had to admit that the inn was most likely truly wealthy as the pictures seemed to move and dance about as if showing forever repeating scenes from a play or story. Something clearly created from magic and not something a commoner could acquire with a normal income.

Noticing that Aleister was staring at his brother who was returning the same stare, Jane had to stop herself from chuckling because of how obvious it was that the two were having conversations in their minds.

“You two want to share your concerns?” asked Jane as she looked back and forth between the two, seeing that something was making them worry.

“No, it’s not anything major, it’s just how will I eat?” asked Edward, his magical voice distorting as if it was failing to be powered or controlled properly.

“You can eat right?” asked Jane as she focused in on his mouth, remembering what it looked like beneath the cloth that hid it from the world around them.

“No, I can eat, it’s just that, what will they think,” said Edward as he glanced around, the small amount of his face that Jane could see showcasing the uncertainty about how he felt in this new situation.

“The girl has cat parts growing from her and it’s entirely possible that she wasn’t born that way,” said Jane as she eyed some of the other patrons that were quietly trying to overhear their conversation.

However, before Edward could continue the conversation, a new patron walked in the inn, his cloak covering his body while leaving his head out for all to see. Sensing that he was potentially dangerous, Jane kept an eye on the man as he walked straight over and took a table next to the God Squad completely unmindful of the tension that was around the inn.

The man was nothing too spectacular. His face was unfailingly human while at the same time weathered from work beneath the sun and from the smell of him working with fish. Yet what put Jane on edge was the way that he walked, a surety that made it all but impossible for a trained eye to miss, a stance of a warrior or even a knight who had survived hundreds of battles and accumulated numerous combat experience. Realising the same thing, the three members of the God Squad sat in silence waiting to see what would transpire, as did the rest of the denizens of the inn as they watched, some with cruel smiles, others with faint traces of worry, while others looked for the first sign of conflict so that they could leave should the tension escalate into a full on bar brawl.

Waiting in silence the three of them finally had their food delivered, an assorted mix of deep fried fish and potatoes that had small bowls of other liquid pastes next to it so that they could dip and flavour their food. Seeing that the food was actually pretty decent, Edward sighed knowing what was to come and removed the cloth that covered his lower face and began to eat while trying to hide his face as best as possible. Seeing this, Jane wanted to try and intervene, but before she could get a word out another deep masculine voice echoed through the room.

“So your kind can be ugly,” said the man at the next table, his eyes tracing over the exposed deformed jaw and teeth that Edward possessed.

Reacting almost instinctively, Aleister went to respond, but Jane stopped him simply by sticking her hand out with a brief flicker of flame causing Aleister to pause as Jane turned around to stare at the man who watched back with steely, grey eyes.

“If you want to say anything, now’s your chance,” said Jane as she watched back with her own green eyes, searching for some clue that might give away the reason why the man was acting the way he was.

Reaching out to grab his drink from a passing waitress, one endowed with purple hair that had initially made Jane use her mana to check for poison when she had delivered their food, Jane saw that the man’s arm was marked with glowing cyan veins. Recognising the mana and the reason for such alterations, Jane knew that this was no fisherman. Instead, she was staring at a knight and one either powerful enough or backed by someone powerful enough to get him a Blue Implant. Jane knew that Blue Implants were parasitic, artificial, magic mushrooms that could survive by integrating themselves into human flesh thereby allowing the human to not only generate mana but also do so on a level much faster than normal non-augmented humans could.

This implant also allowed those that were willing to use it full access and control to the mana that they generated. In fact, the main reason that wizards had created this implantation method was so that they could finally wield their mana without having to use tools and devices. The only real flaw that the Blue Implant possessed was that it couldn’t store mana inside of it, meaning that its users had to resort to other body modifications to be able to store mana. However the one thing that Jane knew about such implants was that knights, those great defenders that were willing to cast aside their own bodies to safeguard their oaths of justice and protection, were often hesitant in getting such body modifications at least in the Arthurian Empire.

“You don’t have to take your anger out on him,” said Jane sternly, yet at the same time remaining unruffled by his harsh demeanour.

“I’m not. I’m just making an observation,” said the Knight as he continued to look over Edward as the younger Maw brother seemed to hang his head. “Ever since the seraphim started to take ground and control over the continent of Geb, many humans have tried to get into their good graces by purging anything that they consider to be inhuman, hating everything that isn’t seraphim perfection.”

“Not just humans,” said Edward in a voice that would normally be too quiet to hear, but in the silence of the inn something everyone heard.

Hearing Edward’s response, the knight shifted his gaze to the brother fuming next to him and then to the mage sitting across from him.

“Knights, like myself, are considered monsters for being willing to forsake our human bodies in order to uphold our oaths,” said the Knight, his tone softening as if he could somehow see that his cold rage was misdirected at Edward.

“Your Blue Implant is perfectly acceptable in the Empire of Geb, as are mechanical and telesma based prosthetics,” said Jane, making it perfectly clear that the alterations to his body were not enough to justify his attack on Edward.

Grimacing, the knight shifted so that he was sitting forward his back not touching the chair he sat upon, and once clear of the chair his cloak was thrown off of him by six kraken tentacles that were grafted into his back.

“How about these then?” asked the Knight, his tone leaving it quite clear that he was beyond reproach.

Shocked, Aleister seemed to sway back. While Jane didn’t even flinch, for she had seen what necromancers could do, the monster that they could create by smashing together a variety of different corpses and even some still living beings, to create towering monstrosities. In face of those grotesque things, Jane barely saw six tentacles as anything even worth a second glance. Yet the one who responded differently from what the knight expected was Edward. He didn’t look at him with fear, shock or indifference, instead Edward leaned forward with a gleam in his purple eyes, one not of admiration but kinship. Seeing that the black garbed being before him actually looked at him with affinity, the knight seemed to pause as if he hadn’t considered that that was the response that he would get. Swinging a tentacle, the knight picked up his cup and took a drink more as a means of giving himself time to process than because he was thirsty.

“I don’t know what you heard,” said Jane, not willing to give the knight the time he needed to adjust, “but under Arthur the empire is changing, and with the addition of Ivan Stein and Argon Krieg, those that have similar body modifications are allowed to walk around with them, out for all the world to see.”

Shocked, the knight seemed to flinch when he heard the names that Jane treated with such casual familiarity, clearly seeing something more in both names than Jane did. A sentiment that both the knight and everyone else in the room expressed and shared, as the room whispered to themselves the names ‘Ivan’ and ‘Argon’ over and over again. Choosing to ignore that both names meant something to the locals, Jane looked back challengingly at the knight waiting to see what he would do and if he chose wrong, whether to ignite the situation into something even more intense.

“I didn’t know,” said the Knight as he backed down, obviously thrown that the empire, he had imagined as something that would exile him for his modifications without a second thought, was something different.

“It is not there just yet,” said Edward with sorrow. “They aren’t as accepting as Jane is making them out to be, but hopefully one day it will be.”

“No, the idea that they can and are willing to change is enough,” said the Knight, a brief glimmer of relief shining through his demeanour.

Glancing around, the knight nodded his head which caused several of the other patrons to draw back or reveal their own modifications.

“Most of us are altered in one way or another. But for those of us that are permanently modified, the Empire of Geb is something that shines with horror. For should they ever cross the Nile we have always believed that we would have to flee, the same way as some of our ancestors did in the past from the kings that came before Arthur,” said the Knight as he explained his behaviour, clearly both relieved and a little guilty for his actions. “Seeing you, a seraphim, with the same sort of alterations that we possess, just well, screamed of hypocrisy.”

“I don’t blame you. The same way I don’t blame anyone else that reacts the way you do to this,” said Edward, as he waved his hand over his face. “Regardless of why, everyone reacts with hate. But I must thank you, I think you’re one of the few that have ever apologised for the hate,” said Edward with a genuine warmth running through his demonic voice.

“You are a credit both to your race and to all of the clerics that I have ever met,” said the Knight with a respect for Edward that ran deep.

And while both Edward and Aleister were touched by the man’s words, Jane could see from what he had said that he was probably a high up official in the city of Xois. Seeing that Cedric and Edward were getting along most of the other patrons started to gravitate towards the God Squad asking them questions, all of them shocked and delighted to find out that their different factions were not only working together, but they were thriving. As the night went along, the four of them talked about the different cities they had grown up in and how their lives had been changed and improved through their lifetimes. Seeing the warmth that floated through the room even as the windows darkened, Jane had to wonder in the back of her mind, ‘had the God Squad been constructed to do this’? ‘Had Argon and Ivan planned this’?

Hearing a fragment of conversation, Jane returned to what was happening to see that Aleister and the knight had swapped their own stories. With the knight revealing that his name was Cedric Wolfheart, his last name being a play on the fact that his grandfather had transplanted wolf eyes, but in the end had chosen to be named Wolfheart instead of Wolfeye, because it sounded better.

“Wait so you don’t inherit the powers?” asked Edward as he cut into the conversation after hearing this titbit of knowledge and realising that Cedric didn’t have wolf eyes.

“Yeah pretty much, unless designed that way, we don’t pass on our modifications. I mean despite what your clerics might say we’re not werewolves, and we’re not monster infused with monstrous auras,” said Cedric as he used his kraken tentacles to cut apart his meal with a knife and fork, all the while using another tentacle to hoist his drink, with clear and deft practice.

“Then you don’t believe you will be barred from Heaven because of your transplants,” said Edward, his voice cracking slightly as he looked down, clearly burdened by the possibility that he would suffer a similar fate.

“No, I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I don’t care,” said Cedric with an offhand nonchalance that made the Maw Brothers’ heads whip around in disbelief.

Seeing the response he got, Cedric smiled sadly.

“I’m fully aware that by putting these kraken tentacles into my back I risk corrupting my life-force, my chi as the westerners call it, into that of a monster and that I will possibly be damned to the afterlife of Purgatory, a world filled with nothing but war, fighting, death and sex. But at the end of the day I don’t care if I can’t get into Heaven, and from everything about Heaven that the clerics describe, I would probably be bored out of my mind,” said Cedric watching as both the Maw Brothers stared uncomprehendingly at the man who sprouted what to their ears and sensibilities was nothing but heresy. “Besides which if it’s true that I am barred from Heaven as Rho and his ilk claimed, then, so long as I don’t fall to Hell, isn’t that a small price to pay for being able to uphold and be the source of justice and honour that a knight is meant to be.”

Hearing this Jane had to smile, a smile filled with respect and admiration for a man that would throw away his afterlife to ensure that this life was filled with justice and honour as he saw it. To make sure that the world that he lived in was one worth living in.

“By the way, who seated you here?” asked Cedric as he glanced around at the masses that had swarmed around the God Squad and the Knight of the Nile. “I only ask as this is my usual seat and normally most out of town guests are given seats in the more respected areas so they aren’t offended by our oddities.”

“That was the cat eared waitress,” mumbled Aleister as he seemed to be trying to process Cedric’s logic.

“Bastas,” said Cedric as he frowned before looking over his shoulder to try and see if she was nearby.

Seeing that she wasn’t anywhere to be seen, the knight shrugged but seemed to have a contemplative look on his face.

“You know something about her?” asked Jane, knowing that there was something important about the way that Cedric had grown silent.

“Yeah rumour is that in another life she was the head priestess of Bast and even a vessel for the goddess at times,” said Cedric as he shared a look with Jane, a look that Jane returned as they both had to wonder if the seven gods that remained on this world were trying to start something up.

Hearing the laughter and smelling more food coming, the knight and the mage turned back to the rest of the group and resumed the festive nature of the dinner. Yet in the back of their experienced minds, they had to wonder what was really happening in this city.

~~~

Standing in a dark and broken alley filled with the ragged and unconscious cats, Grey Silverman seethed. It was his first time in a city with such a large a concentration of cats and Grey was going to use every moment of it to ring out as much information as possible from them as he could.

“Why won’t you answer me?” snarled Grey as he looked down at the cats littering the ground, the madness in his eyes bleeding out into the air around him.

“Perhaps because we don’t know or want to,” said a new voice in the quiet of the dark.

Turning, Grey looked at the cat eared being before him and with a deep laugh Grey knew he stood in front of someone who had the answers he sought.

“You will tell me about who and what I seek,” said Mad Paladin as he looked at the cat eared woman. “Your cats litter the entire world and you know and see and hear everything that every cat in the world does. Most importantly since cats have nine lives these lives are harvested by those seeking to avoid death and they are therefore allowed into places that they really shouldn’t be.”

“Your point?” asked the woman with a swish of her tail.

“Then you have knowledge of it, and you will tell me or at the very least tell me where to start looking,” said Grey through clenched teeth.

“After you hurt all my feline brethren,” said the maid with a grand gesture to her fellow cats.

“I only rendered them unconscious, not dead,” said Grey with barely withheld impatience.

“Fair,” said the woman as if considering something.

“Then-,” said Grey, before he was cut off.

“Oh, not today. But maybe if you entertain me, I will give a few hints.” said the cat eared woman with a smile filled with mischief, before bouncing back and forth between the walls of the alley until she was up and out of sight.

“Finally Bast herself,” said the Knight of Vengeance as he leaped upwards.

~~~

Sitting in her room, Jane looked at the two brothers who were going over the details with her about what they would be doing tomorrow and how they would meet up and/or find Grey depending on what sort of shenanigans he was getting up to. The brothers were also talking about how they would have to travel to the Wormwood Forest and how they were going to navigate to the witch’s house. But in truth Jane just wanted to sleep, and to that end she was sitting there waiting for the brothers to wind down enough so that she could send them to their room.

“Are you paying attention?” asked Aleister as he noted that Jane hadn’t spoke for a while, his voice tinged with ire.

Quirking her eyebrow at his tone, Jane took the opportunity to speak.

“No, I’m thinking about Cedric,” Jane said back, her voice tinged in turn with the faint roar of flames, flames waiting to consume all in their path.

A tone, Aleister felt more than heard and one that told him his ire had been noted.

“Sorry that was rude,” said Aleister, once he had realised he was venting on Jane. “It’s just that everything he said threw me for a bit.”

“It’s okay, and I didn’t bring him up to irk you,” said Jane, understanding how it would feel to come across someone who threw your entire world views into question.

“Were you thinking of how hot he is?” asked Edward of the Fire Mage, as he watched from the side, his demon voice distorting the joking tone he had intended the comment to be.

Looking at the Maw brother in disbelief, the two other occupants in the room blinked in shock, before Aleister spoke up.

“Did you just make a joke?” asked Aleister as if he had just seen the impossible.

“Yes, I’m sorry if it wasn’t very good,” said Edward abashedly, looking down and starting to blur into the shadows.

“Yes, it wasn’t very good,” said Jane with a small smile, “but keep practicing and I’m sure you’ll get the bite of it.”

Blinking, Edward looked up at Jane as he stopped fading into the shadows, a small smile trying to appear on his distorted mouth, while Aleister’s mouth flopped open and shut, as if he wasn’t sure whether to be offended or not. His confusion only increased by the mirth he sensed from his brother.

“No, I was thinking about his Blue Implant,” said Jane as she remembered the fact that the more mana a person had in their body the slower they aged until they simply stopped.

Realising what Jane was thinking about, Edward also lost the light of laughter that had appeared in his eyes.

“He mentioned that his grandfather was run out of the empire by Rho,” said Edward, clearly aware that that meant that Cedric’s grandfather had been alive three to four hundred years ago.

“He also mentioned that his grandfather could turn into a wolf, just from having a wolf’s eyes replacing his own,” said Aleister as his voice betrayed that he was still coming to terms with the knowledge that there were people who didn’t want to get into Heaven.

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Seeing the burden on the brothers’ shoulders, Jane knew that if she didn’t get their minds off of their worries then they would burn themselves out fretting over something they had no control over.

“Edward, do you still have my Mirror Scroll?” asked Jane as she switched to a different topic.

Looking up in response, Edward nodded his head clearly thinking that he had done something wrong.

“I want you to go over something that I have stored on the scroll,” said Jane once she saw his confirmative nod.

Fishing the Mirror Scroll out of his robes, Edward handed the mirror over to Jane before looking a bit down as if he had lost his favourite toy. Grabbing the scroll, Jane kept it extended in front of Edward and channelled mana into it so that the Mirror Scroll came alive with brilliant, cyan blue light, the light of mana. Seeing the light and the images shift and change as if thousands of books were being swiped across the screen that was before him, Edward looked on, his natural curiosity overriding his momentary bout of sadness.

Finally resting on a single image, Jane extended the Mirror Scroll back towards Edward who looked up in shock at Jane before taking the Mirror Scroll back. Looking at the virtual book bound within the mirror before him, Edward’s eyes widened in surprise as his mouth opened wider whether in surprise or to ask a question, neither Jane nor Aleister found out.

Edward sat back down looking at the screen before him, all the while tapping away at the mirror with his right hand, with the faint purple glow of his prana emulating the mana that should have been the only thing capable of controlling the devices created by the Elemental Guard or any other mage. Curious and concerned about what would put his brother in such a good mood, Aleister walked over to look at what his brother was reading with such rapt interest. What Aleister found was a book detailing the 24 Runes created by Jupitor Soulstorm, a book about how to use them and how to write with them, so that the user of the runes could program them to deal with a variety of different situations.

“You can’t be serious,” said Aleister as he turned to look at the Fire Mage who sat peacefully on her bed as Aleister’s anger barely made her stir.

“I am. I saw how your brother fights, and I think that adding runes to his telesma geometrics will enable him to perform magic beyond what we could do individually,” said Jane as she looked back at Aleister tranquilly.

“That’s not what I mean,” said Aleister as his eyes grew both distant and concerned. “The clerics already want to get rid of him one way or another, and you’re giving them even more reason to hate him.”

“Oh how so?” asked Jane as she looked at Aleister with questioning eyes.

“If they find out that his power allows him to wield both telesma and mana then they might consider him a true abomination that would throw Heaven’s existence into jeopardy,” said Aleister, his face an image of self loathing for having to say let alone think these things.

“I’m giving these runes to your brother as I have seen your brother fight and his battle techniques are a mixture of speed and static defences, and with the runes mixed in then he will be able to not only expand on what he already can do, but at the same time create brand new techniques and battle styles,” said Jane going on a tangent from Aleister’s initial conversation.

“Your point?” probed Aleister slowly as his mind raced ahead to see what she was getting at even if he couldn’t actualise the idea.

“If he shows how using the two powers intertwined can do true miracles then not only will your brethren be more lenient, but his existence will prove what Arthur has been saying for the last two hundred years. That if we unite our powers we can create something that this world hasn’t seen before,” said Jane, her voice perfectly calm and constant, while her eyes burned with a sudden release of energy.

Hearing this, Aleister had to admit that he saw the logic behind it. Nodding his head, Aleister went to sit down only to find that his chair had moved. Seeing Aleister’s bewilderment, Jane had to smile as she quickly tucked her hand away so that Aleister wouldn’t see what she had done.

“Now I know that we need to plan out what we have to do tomorrow, but unlike you seraphim, I need sleep,” said Jane as she tried to suppress her yawn.

Looking at Jane suspiciously, Aleister seemed to consider whether or not to call Jane out when Edward stood up, his hands clutching the Mirror Scroll like a child might clutch a new toy or teddy bear.

“Alright, we’ll leave,” said Edward as he walked towards the door before stopping and turning to look at Jane with narrowed, purple eyes. “First can I ask something that’s been bothering me?”

Smiling tiredly, Jane shrugged her shoulders as if to say ‘why not’.

“Can you control other elements than fire?” asked Edward of the Fire Mage.

“Huh, most people don’t figure that out until it’s too late,” said Jane with a proud smile, one that caused Edward to beam with joy. “Yes, I can use and control mana to manipulate other elements not to mention control and use pure mana, but it takes at most half as much mana to control fire than it does anything else.”

Nodding his head, Edward tried to smile but only ended up looking even more demonic than normal as he left the room with Aleister in tow behind him. Aleister’s face was a maze of confusion as he tried to figure out how his brother had realised that mages could use their mana to control multiple elements, even after they had supposedly specialised in a single element.

Seeing them out of the room, Jane lay down on her bed and as the blessings of sleep came to take her mind away, she was aware that she could keep herself awake with mana. Yet, Jane chose instead to sleep so that she could be free from her worries and concerns for a few hours at least.

~~~

Standing before the Curious Cat Inn, the God Squad waited for Grey Silverman to rejoin them as they discussed amongst themselves what path the Maw Brothers had decided for the route they would take to reach the witch’s house. Snapping to attention, Jane saw Grey’s gray armour in the crowd walking towards them, his face a vicious mask of rage that clearly indicated to everyone, not only how foul a mood he was in, but also whatever he had been doing last night had been unsuccessful.

“You’re late,” said Aleister as a greeting for the Mad Paladin.

Turning to give Aleister a baleful glare, Grey seemed to realise that Aleister was on his team and someone he respected, and once he realised this Grey seemed to swallow his anger and rage, causing his face to turn into an expressionless mask.

“You find out what you need?” asked Jane as she greeted Grey.

His expressionless mask seemed to slip as he glanced at the Elemental Guard before starting to walk away towards the western most gate.

“I can never figure out what he’s going to do from moment to moment,” said Jane to Edward as the two robed beings stared after the armoured mass of madness as he cleaved his way through the streets, the rest of the citizens of Xois getting out of Grey’s way.

“I know,” said Edward as he fished the Mirror Scroll out of his robes to give back to Jane only for her up raised hand to stop him.

“No, it was a gift,” said Jane with warmth. “I can also always get another one, besides I doubt you finished learning about runes in one night.”

“Thank you,” said Edward, his body language conveying how touched he was at receiving a gift that had been given to him freely and not for any other reason.

“Now then, let’s go before Grey tries to murder the bridge for information,” said Jane with a wryly smile.

Nodding his head, Edward drew up his robes and walked along beside the Fire Mage. The two of them discussed different ideas about how to use runes and the various different substances and creatures that use mana and how much mana could be stored in gems and jewels.

As the God Squad walked out of sight of the Curious Cat with Aleister and Grey in front and Edward and Jane lagging behind, they all failed to sense a distortion to the world, one born not from magic but the power of science, the power of an esper. Standing in an alley that the God Squad had just passed by, a pirate had appeared from the twisting of reality. Straightening from the disorientation of suddenly teleporting from another location to the back alleyways of Xois, the pirate reached into his shirt and pulled out an alchemist stave and planted it into the ground so that its alchemic energy, energy harvested from a specific esper, could be used as a beacon for the same esper to teleport to. Checking to make sure it was secure, the pirate walked out into the milling streets and looked about, just failing to spot the God Squad’s retreating backs.

Turning to the inn, the pirate walked in with a jolly bounce in his step that made the normal patrons of the inn barely take notice of the new comer until he was standing in front of Bastas. Looking up to see the pirate before her, his tricorn hat raised to give full view to his face, Bastas froze before quietly and quickly pressing a button so that it would alert those in charge of security that someone dangerous had just entered.

“Hello Bastas,” said the Pirate, his voice a resounding deep one that conveyed both his strength and his warmth and kindness, or at least gave the impression of warmth and kindness. “Sorry to drop in on you, but I need to find a group of people calling themselves the God Squad. They’re from the Arthurian Empire and their names are Jane Burnout, Grey Silverman, Aleister and Edward Maw.”

Hearing this, everyone in the inn went quiet as they turned to hear what the pirate had to say as he intentionally made his voice loud enough to hear across the inn.

“I will give a bag of gold for anyone who brings me information about them,” said the Pirate with a smile that was terrifying both for its sincerity, levity and the implied danger it brought.

“I’m sorry, but we don’t have anyone named that here,” said Bastas with a mischievous smile that mirrored back the pirate’s own razor wired smile.

“Oh Bastas, you need to learn to lie better,” said the Pirate, shaking his head with disappointment.

“She’s not lying!” said Cedric, his voice cutting into the conversation like an avalanche or tidal wave.

“Oh then either they were here, are staying under another name or passed through,” said the Pirate with pleasure at having deduced this information.

“What are your intentions?” asked Cedric as he looked at the pirate, his kraken tentacles twitching, waiting for the moment to strike.

“Oh just to do what the Mirror of Reality paid me to do,” came the reply in a tone that made it seem like the pirate didn’t care about the implied death threat he had just levelled at those not present.

“Well then, I can’t let you do that,” said Cedric as he readied himself for combat.

Eyeing the knight over, the pirate simply smiled before letting his hand slide down to his flint lock pistol.

“If we’re going to do this, no hard feelings about what happens,” said the Pirate, his entire body posed ready to strike.

“Hawk, don’t,” said Bastas with something that resembled a plea.

Instead of responding to her, the pirate simply started counting down when he would strike at the Knight of the Nile.

“Three… Two… One…”

~~~

The Wormwood Forest was named for the fact that the forest was infested with numerous different creatures that had been spawned from the magic of dragons or simply been created in their image. The name had been derived from the most monstrous of creatures, the vurm, a race of parasitic beings that mutated and merged with their hosts to make them something draconic.

However, the creatures that dwelt in the forest weren’t the only reason that the forest had earned its name. The trees and plants also possessed unusual natures that made them twist and turn into something barely resembling the trees most humans had seen and were used to, trees that radiated danger and malice. Deep within this canopy of trees and darkness and monster stench, the God Squad marched along searching for their destination hoping that they were not getting lost in a maze too vast to comprehend.

Looking around, Jane had to admit that she would be happy setting the whole forest on fire and burning away the horrors that lived there. Yet even as she idly thought about how these strange trees would burn, Jane knew that the idea was far from wise.

“Are we there yet?” asked Jane wearily and not to annoy, but because she genuinely wanted to be out of this forest.

Hearing Jane’s question, the rest of the God Squad grimaced before looking about as if trying to get their bearings. Grey had been in a bad mood since he had left Xois, but in this forest Grey’s madness had seemingly been magnified especially with the infrequent contact the God Squad had had with the various monsters thriving within the forest.

The Maw Brothers on the other hand were spooked from the unfamiliar nature of the wilderness, but they also had an air about them that suggested that they were just as thrilled to be seeing something new. Edward stood at the front of the group, his purple eyes seeing in the darkness and the gloom of the forest better than any of the others, at least without them using magic which if used seemed to draw creatures to them if only out of curiosity.

“We’re in the right area, it’s only a matter of finding the right clearing,” said Edward as he scanned around for anything that could be a threat to the group.

“We could always ask directions from the nymphs and dryads in this forest,” snarled Grey, his madness leaking out, all the while knowing full well that if they did find the Daughters of Hekate then they would most likely do unspeakable acts to the lot of them provided the God Squad didn’t kill them first.

“Or we could find some satyrs. I hear tell they like some male variety in their endless orgies,” replied Jane, her voice laced with burning coldness, while a small smile played across her lips made it clear to the others that looked at her in shock, that she was joking.

A joke that Grey also picked up on as he seemed to try and reel back his madness and other dark moods that had made him lash out.

“Sorry,” said Grey, his voice now laced with a mixture of self hatred and a loathing that he had allowed his madness to run wild.

“I’ll tell you what,” said Jane as she walked next to Grey, his large gray armour making him seem to dwarf Jane. “We get through all of this. I’ll help you find a nice demon to kill.”

Stopping to look at Jane, Grey seemed to mull her words over before grinning with a savagery that made Aleister, who was watching, flinch back. Yet Grey’s grin didn’t even seem to faze Jane.

Seeing the two humans talking, bickering and possibly flirting, Aleister let out a pent up breath. Breathing out deeply, Aleister had to wonder to himself why and how he had ended up here, when he walked into the back of his brother who had gone still. Looking first at his brother and then at the surroundings, Aleister saw what had stopped his brother up short. In the distance, down what could only be called half a path, five ghouls had wandered out of the denser bushes and other shrubbery.

Aleister knew what they were the moment he laid eyes upon them, for every single seraphim knew to fear the ghoul, the vampire, the revenant, the three Scions of Blood. For these monsters were created by Alucard, the Immortal King of Blood who had lived since the time of Svar and was considered to be one if not the oldest, living, human based beings.

Looking at the undead before him, Aleister could not help but think back to his lessons as a child where he had been told to either kill or flee from these undead. Vampires, who died to the purifying light of the sun, sought to drink in telesma to free themselves from their limitations. With the birth of the seraphim race, which had telesma in their veins, vampires found that they were one bite away from freedom from the sun.

Quickly returning his attention to the ghouls before him, Aleister waited to see if they had sensed his presence or not, his telesma waiting to be summoned forth to battle these accursed undead. But unlike regular ghouls that wander randomly in search of human meat to eat, these five ghouls had a distinct purpose as they turned and headed further down the path. The first and foremost of the ghouls briefly glanced down toward Aleister with crimson eyes burning with intelligence. Yet under the baleful glare of the ghoul, Aleister saw that the creature had no desire or intent to interfere with him.

Watching the ghouls head off in the direction of Lillian Darkseed’s last known location, Aleister turned around to tell Jane and Grey to hurry up and follow the ghouls, but by the time he had turned around they were both gone. Turning back around, Aleister barely caught a glimpse of his brother’s black, purple edged robe, as it disappeared into the undergrowth of the forest as he moved with inhuman speed after the ghouls.

Running after his brother, Aleister knew that he had wandered into something just as horrible as his encounter with the Demon King of Faith except this time instead of his soul being at risk it was his flesh and blood body. For ghouls only moved and acted with such precision when they were being controlled, either by their more intelligent kin or by those that controlled the dead: necromancers.

Hoping that Grey and Jane had the presence of mind to not attack five ghouls who looked to be under the control of a vampire, Aleister caught up to his brother quicker than he thought he would. Sinking down next to Edward, the two brothers watched through the swirling darkness of the Wormwood Forest, as the ghouls marched into a small clearing where the sunlight was strong enough to actually be called sunlight. Halting at the edge of the clearing, the ghoul with intelligence in its dead eyes stepped forwards and opened its mouth, but instead of speaking, a fine, crimson, blood mist began to pour forth.

Opening his mouth in shock, Aleister let his mind send his shock through his mental connection with his brother, as the words seemed to echo through their heads, a simultaneous question formed by both brothers’ minds. “Are you seeing this?”

“Definitely, but how? Ghouls are the mindless dead, dead humans that have been given vampire blood or humans that have been bitten by other ghouls, they shouldn’t have any intelligence to speak of, let alone the power to breath blood mist,” said Edward, his mental communication filled with the shock that seemed to match Aleister’s.

Yet before either could come up with ideas explaining what they saw, the blood mist seemed to become more solid as the last vestiges poured out of the ghoul’s mouth and consolidated into the figure of a scantily clad woman. And she was beautiful in a way that only a vampire could be. Her skin was milk white as if she had never been touched by sunlight, while her hair, which by vampire norms should have been white, was a pink colour that seemed to enhance her beauty rather than detract from it. But what truly caught Aleister’s eyes was the fact that she was only wearing what appeared to be red silk. Silk that covered less than a third of her body and left it open for all to see her soft, smooth curves and pristine flesh.

Again Aleister remembered his lessons. He remembered how vampires were shapeshifters and monsters that devoured blood to live, but he had never been told that vampires could become mist or if he had Aleister in this moment of panic had forgotten the fact. Yet Aleister knew for a fact that regardless of whether he had been told that vampires could turn into mist, he had never been told that vampires could hide in the bodies of ghouls. A thought that Edward shared wholeheartedly with Aleister through their mental bond as Edward’s purple eyes were wide with shock at seeing something completely unknown.Feeling a wave of desire pour through his mind, Aleister shared a look with his brother, both of them wondering if it was the other that had felt and transmitted this rampant lust.

Standing surrounded by her ghoul slaves, the vampire seemed to beckon to the other side of the clearing where a small lopsided yet strangely beautiful cottage sat. Striding through the door another woman appeared, also with minimal clothing. Yet where the vampire’s lack of clothing was engendered to produce an overwhelming aura of beauty, this lack of clothing was more as a means of allowing the witch to move about with unhindered grace. Feeling his brother’s intake of breath, Aleister saw a small light dwell in Edward’s eyes, one that he had never seen there before, admiration and awe.

“You boys, you know it is rude to spy on people,” said a female voice that echoed through their minds with startling clarity.

Sharing another startled look with his brother, Aleister knew that their faces reflected the same untempered shock that they were no longer alone with each other’s thoughts. For while Ulkry had corrupted the mental bond between them to get into Aleister’s mind, Ulkry had only been able to do that because he had distorted and corrupted what had already been there. Instead, Lillian had just created a new link to their minds that allowed her to enter their minds, a link that the brothers could still feel in their minds showing them that they were no longer alone. Seeing the shock in their minds, Lillian stared directly at where the two brothers were hiding, with her bronze, vertically slitted, dragon eyes shining with amusement as she brushed away a small tendril of blue hair that had fallen across her face.

“Lillian,” said the vampire woman as she walked forwards to get a better view of the dragon woman, yet she stopped short of the falling rays of sunlight, as if she was instinctively afraid to touch the solar light.

“Carmilla, what can I do for you?” asked Lillian with amusement sparkling in her eyes, as she switched her attention to the vampire across from her beyond a wall of sunlight.

“It’s not what you can do for me, but what you can do for my master,” purred Carmilla, as she swayed seductively in front of the still bemused Lillian.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but your seduction won’t work on me,” said Lillian, more puzzled than offended.

“I’m not trying to seduce you,” replied Carmilla with an ice cold laugh.

“You have a proposition for me, a known vampire hater, if not hunter,” said Lillian with a tone still filled with mirth even if her body tensed.

“Yes, a certain exiled alchemist from a certain empire has made a certain city called Mitternacht to the north of us,” said Carmilla, her voice emphasising the importance of what she was saying by switching her tone to a more normal voice rather than the sultry slur that she had initially spoken with.

“In the Wastelands of Gozec?” interrupted Lillian with surprise filling her voice.

“Yes, and he has given us vampires such treasures that are beyond compare and so we follow him,” replied Carmilla as she breathed deeply, her chest rising and falling quite distractively. “He is gathering to him all those that are willing to walk beside him to create a new world, one where nothing and I mean nothing is denied. A world of freedom, where we can grow unfettered, and he has sent me to extend his hand of welcome to you,” said Carmilla, her voice breaking as if she was thrilled to be even a mere cog in her master’s plan.

Raising her hand, Carmilla let the sunbeam hit it as she extended it towards Lillian Darkseed, bringing a gasp from the five people watching the scene unfold. Stepping forwards, as if to bring even more dramatic effect, Carmilla passed into sunlight, her red eyes matching perfectly with her pink hair colour.

“Daywalker,” said Lillian at last as if she had just remembered some old titbit of information that she had forgotten. “Where did you get the angel blood?”

“We don’t need it. The foolish God Emperor of Geb allows so many people in his little fleeting kingdom to wield telesma. The stuff of angels which grants to us the daywalking powers,” said Carmilla as she seemed to dance in the sunlight, the illumination of her skin sending a wave of dark desire through Aleister. “He did this all by himself. He mastered the process and now offers us the SUN without even having to bow to him. He gives us freedom, freedom from the sun and even himself.”

“So?” said Lillian as if that wasn’t the point that Carmilla was offering.

“Don’t you want it?” asked Carmilla. “He is offering to make you whole and you don’t even have to bow to him. He is willing to fix your broken mind and grant you freedom from the chains that bind you down in this shell of human flesh.”

Lillian seemed to pause at that, before Lillian breathed out as if disappointed not with the offer, but with herself.

“Perhaps, but I am not naïve enough, for me to think, that He won’t take something from me,” said Lillian in response to Carmilla’s question. “After all dragon blood gives vampires invulnerability doesn’t it, oh sorry, only true dragon blood which has the magic of dragons running through it, not my measly, incomplete blood. Besides which, I think I have another offer on the table.”

Carmilla’s face, which should have been filled with unease at the fact that her master’s plan had been revealed or that Lillian hinted at another recruitment, never stopped smiling as she shifted her curving, alluring form to allow her red garments to maximize her exposure.

“Sure the master, the great, great master might take a small vial of blood from you. But he is powerful enough to make more from just one donation. We follow him, because he can give to us oceans of blood and never have to touch a single human or any variant thereof, a fact that you should be overjoyed to hear. Not to mention it is an endeavour that you should help support, knowing what happens when we vampires are left with minimal blood,” said Carmilla as she looked at Lillian as if expecting a certain response to her words.

Hearing this comment, Aleister and Edward had to flinch in sympathy as the documentation supplied by the generals had made it clear that Lillian had lost her mother because of a vampire’s bloodlust. And the way that Carmilla had chosen her words made it clear that the vampire had meant it as a plea to help prevent the same from happening to others.

“Why are you acting that way?” asked Lillian finally as Carmilla seemed to preen over her enthralling body while all but spinning in the golden rays of sun that had broken through the clouds and forest covering the clearing.

“Because silly, those two blushing virgins in the bush are trying to see the magnificence that is me,” said Carmilla in a manner that reminded Aleister of a small child, happy to be praised by an adult.

Yet Aleister was painfully aware that this vampire could be millennia old and that her physical form was the product of her shape changing powers. Realising that Carmilla was speaking about them, Aleister shook his head as he came to the conclusion that something was fogging up his mind with an unnatural desire. Closing his eyes to try and focus, Aleister opened them again to find that Carmilla was peering down at him over the bush that the Maw Brothers were hiding behind.

Feeling the same shock emanating from his brother’s mind, the two of them practically tumbled backwards in an attempt to escape from Carmilla’s immediate reach. Trying to put distance between the vampire and themselves, the brothers realised that the forest prevented them from using their speed and ranged attacks to get away and fight the vampire standing a few metres before them.

Laughing at the antics of a pair of, with what appeared to be in Carmilla’s eyes naughty children, she stepped through the bush and reached out to the closer of the two boys. Tracing a finger up Edward’s chest to the cloth he had wrapped around his mouth, Carmilla smiled as she hooked her finger over the edge of it which rested directly above his hideous maw and below his left eye.

Feeling Edward stiffening slightly, Carmilla smiled before she pulled the cloth off to reveal his full face. From her position behind Carmilla, Lillian saw the mouth filled with hideous teeth and didn’t even blink as if there was nothing wrong with his face. However the effect on Carmilla was much more prominent for instead of jerking back in fear or disgust, she let out a breath of admiration before stepping forwards as if she was willing to embrace Edward with her entire being, her own mouth revealing fangs that should not have fit inside of her mouth.

Seeing the same thing his brother did, Edward shot backwards away from Carmilla so fast that Aleister, who was used to Edward’s inhuman speed, lost track of him. Turning around in concern to see that Edward had pressed his back against a tree while having summoned forth his purple, energy swords, Aleister could feel through his mental link the embarrassment and stirrings of desire that had coloured his face as red as blood. Turning back to look at Carmilla, Aleister all but yelped as he realised that while he had been distracted by his brother’s emotion he had left himself open to attack from Carmilla. Except instead of attacking, Carmilla was standing before him, her arms behind her back causing a very, very distracting scene beneath his nose.

Yet unlike Edward, Aleister had dealt with such things before, as such he was not so lost in lust to realise that the woman before him filled him both with flaming desire, a desire as hot as a funeral pyre, as well as a deep and chilling fear, a fear as cold as the grave. Summoning forth his telesma guns, Aleister levelled them at the vampire before him, as he tried to back away from the vampire without letting his guard down, all the while hoping that both Grey and Jane would come to their aid.

“You two have the smell of discord upon you. You,” said Carmilla as she looked at Aleister, “have the grace of an angel and smell like one stained in shadows and darkness, but hidden beneath all that is the beautiful musk of a dark dragon. And you,” said Carmilla as she reached out to coquettishly beckon to Edward, “you smell of life itself, a beautiful bouquet of different magic all woven into a perfect harmony that makes you just as delicious, if not more so.”

Seeing the stunned response from the two Maw Brothers, Carmilla smiled like a cat that had gotten into the world’s largest, cream tub.

“Would you be willing to come with me to my master’s court?” asked Carmilla, her red eyes incredibly wide and filled with innocent yearnings, that would have flustered the boys more if a semi-enraged and semi-fearful Jane Burnout hadn’t interfered.

Casting a flame with her mana, Jane made a spiralling vortex of flame appear in front of the vampire who instantly moved backwards as her natural instincts were to flee from the horrific effects that fire produced when interacting with vampires. Leaping back to the safety of her Ghoul Corpse Army, Carmilla looked towards the location where Jane had emerged from the trees. Standing there her staff clutched in her trembling hand, Jane stared with dark eyes that were filled with an intensity that promised incineration should the vampire make a wrong move.

“You will leave them alone,” said Jane, her voice resonating with mana as she looked towards the vampire with eyes that streamed flames while her hair crackled with heat.

Wonderstruck, the Maw Brothers realised that the charm that Carmilla had been applying to them had disappeared and that she was, while still beautiful, not as alluring as she had been before. Levelling their weapons at the vampire, who glanced back at them with unconcerned eyes, both Carmilla and the Maw Brothers paused as from the other side of the clearing opposite Jane, Grey Silverman emerged with his armour alight with golden energy. Quickly checking around herself, Carmilla realised that she was not only boxed in, but there were at least two beings here that had natural advantages against her base nature.

Seeing the storm that was gathering on the horizon, Lillian Darkseed scrambled to overcome what would be a fight to the death, one that would most definitely render her house a smoking ruin.

“The lot of you, if you’re going to fight then I suggest that you all take it elsewhere as I have no desire to see my cottage set alight,” said Lillian, her voice filled with a majestic authority that eclipsed her appearance, a majesty that made Aleister feel like he was back before his grandfather’s gaze, back before Arthur Exaltia who sat upon the Crystal Throne with Excalibur rising from the backrest. “And if you remain, be civil or else you’ll have to fight against a witch in her place of power.”

Hearing this, the God Squad and Carmilla exchanged a look before lowering their weapons with the exception of Jane who had turned her gaze filled with an untempered inferno upon the ghouls that remained stationary, uncaring of what was said.

“How did you make those?” asked Jane as she pointed her staff at the undead who stood passively waiting for their master’s orders.

“Oh, I found them and had one of my fellow vampires alter them until they are what they are,” said Carmilla as she looked at Jane with a new, almost seductive respect.

“Don’t try to seduce me vampire,” said Jane, her words seeming to take the air out of the clearing. “I’m more experienced with the world than those brothers. I recognise your tricks for what they are.”

Standing straighter, Carmilla frowned at Jane for having seen through her tricks that had been able to fool the Maw Brothers with simplistic ease.

“Anyway,” said Carmilla as she turned back to Lillian who watched back with a mixed expression, “I have delivered my message. If you ever feel like joining us, you know where our home base is.”

“So do they,” said Lillian softly as she gestured at the four members of the God Squad.

“True, but you see I don’t fear the Arthurian Empire. They are transient motes of noise that will fade to nothingness and only be remembered by historians,” said Carmilla with a certainty that made the Maw Brothers pause as if she was predicting the future.

“You’ve delivered your message,” said Lillian with a flick of her hand that filled it with blue, dancing flames, “and you know my answer.”

“Hahaha, the lot of you have been quite fun, but I think that if your answer, Lillian, is no, then I should be on my way,” said Carmilla as her body dissolved and turned to red mist which streamed towards the closest ghoul and passed into him through his ears, eyes, mouth and nose, in effect possessing the ghoul.

Not really having looked at the ghouls before, Aleister was struck by a realisation that they were all relatively intact with only the paleness of death marring their flesh. A paleness that could be found an hour after death, and while their eyes were filled with cataracts they otherwise showed no sign of decay upon their flesh and even weirder was the fact that all five of the ghouls were dressed in black military uniform that mirrored exactly the uniform that the Arthurian Army wore. Yet, this sudden fascination with the ghouls and what they wore disappeared when the ghoul that Carmilla had possessed opened its eyes to reveal red cataracts. It twisted its mouth into a smile that was identical to the one Carmilla had worn when flirting with Edward.

“As for you, Fire Mage,” said the Carmilla-possessed-ghoul using her voice, “I would be careful about what you say from now on, and who you challenge, as you may never truly know how far you are outmatched by your opponents until you lie dead upon a pyre of ashes. Of course, your opponent might be like me and do things to you and your exquisite, exquisite body that your soul will never forget no matter how many times you are reborn upon this world,” said Carmilla as her meat suit ghoul’s eyes traced the outline of Jane’s curves all the while filled with a twisted longing that would give even the most seasoned war veteran waking nightmares.

“I’m not impressed,” said Jane as she returned a burning look that was filled with a similar desire to set Carmilla alight and watch the creature of night die as she burnt bright.

Twisting her mouth into another laugh that didn’t match the ghoul’s empty dead face, Carmilla raised a hand and thousands of bats tore through the air sweeping around the five ghouls obscuring them from view before they raised upwards into the air, carrying aloft the ghouls and the daywalking vampire, Carmilla. Watching Carmilla disappear through the upper branches of the Wormwood Forest, Lillian turned her bronze dragon eyes towards the three confounded people in the clearing before her and a rather unimpressed, stoic Grey Silverman.

“So this is the God Squad I’ve overheard so much about,” said Lillian, a faint smile upon her lips as she flicked her gaze from person to person as if she could see so much about all those present with just a single glance. “Welcome to my little corner of the world, would you like to come in? Grey Silverman, Jane Burnout, Edward and Aleister Maw.”

Hearing her question the three members of the God Squad all shared a look, while a smile twisted Grey’s lips, a smile that didn’t touch the madness in his eyes. Instead of responding, the God Squad stood silently, unsure how to break the silence as they had to wonder how much Lillian Darkseed knew about them and their mission, not to mention how in this isolated place far from civilisation Lillian was still able to learn about their endeavours.

“This world may be vast, so vast that even with a thousand lifetimes you would fail to find out even a tenth of a single percent of this world, yet communication is fairly easy if you but know how to tap into the right communication systems,” said Lillian as she offhandedly explained how she knew about them and what was happening in this world.

Narrowing her eyes, Jane looked at Lillian before surveying her cottage with mana only to see that Lillian hadn’t been lying when she had said this was her place of power. For while the ground had no natural forming Ley-Lines here, a quick active search of the area revealed that Lillian was a competent enough witch that she had created her own, or more specifically she had created several that all spiralled towards her cottage. And as the Ley-Lines overlapped and created a swirling pattern, they made it all but impossible to see that thousands of different Ley-Lines existed around the witch’s house. Realising that they were already well within Lillian’s sphere of power, Jane signalled to her fellow squad members to follow her.

“We’ll come in,” said Jane as she drew herself up, trying to match the queen-like majesty of the other woman in the sparkling sunlight.

Feeling unease, Aleister followed his companions into the cottage all the while wondering about what Carmilla had said about how they both reeked of discord.

Far to the north of the glen where Lillian Darkseed’s house resided, a single ghoul sat in its uniform, the uniform a twisted dark reflection of the one possessed by the Arthurian Empire’s army. This was not something that had been done by accident. In fact, it was something that the founder of the city Mitternacht had specifically designed into their uniforms. Something that had been done to intentionally rib the empire should they come to blows with the alchemist who had defected from their empire.

The ghoul itself was just as strange as the uniform that it wore. For while the stench of undead flesh kept monsters from wandering near, there was something other about the creature’s nature. The thing reeked of death greater than what a normal ghoul should. In fact, the unnatural stillness of the mindless, soulless undead made things that would normally have attacked such an abomination steer clear.

With a sudden lurch the ghoul looked up, its normally dead, cataract covered eyes flaring red as it was possessed by another being born from the Immortal King of Blood. Quickly pouring out of the undead ghoul so that she could stand in the brilliance of the sun, Carmilla deposited into a flesh and blood being standing a few metres away from the ghoul she had appeared inside of.

Waiting for the rest of the ghouls to arrive, Carmilla surveyed the forest and once she was sure that nothing nearby would attack her or spy on her, she turned her mind to the still motionless ghoul that she had just emerged from as a crimson mist. The ghoul had been altered not only so that they could regenerate, but so that inside where a normal, human heart should be was something else, a piece of flesh that was not made from matter, and something that did not function as proper, three dimensional materials.

Instead, it was something stranger, a piece of flesh that had been cultivated until it was something that could exit in multiple locations at once, what Carmilla’s master called Schrodinger matter. Matter that both existed and didn’t at the same time, which when crafted into flesh allowed for a semi-portal-like existence that vampires could use to move from host to host, provided they were in the correct range.

Carmilla knew that this meant that all of her ghouls shared the same body piece so long as they were in the same location. And that as long as she inhabited this twisted matter, Carmilla would also exist within all of the hearts at the same time, meaning she was perfectly safe as long as at least one ghoul remained.

Frowning at the ghoul, Carmilla pulled out a small skull and placed it on her palm, looking at it with mixed feelings. The skull was only the size of a rat’s head and had a similar appearance, but at the same time it also had elements of a raven, a canine and other animals mixed in to make the skull look unearthly.

“Connect me to Sepet,” said Carmilla to the skull with hesitation, not from using the skull but from the fact that she would need to talk to Sepet.

“Helllllloooo,” said a cheerful, teenage-like voice that echoed out of the skull which now had a strange, green xenon light emanating from it, that made the skull appear extra ominous.

“It’s Carmilla,” said Carmilla knowing full well that only vampires, necromancers and other living dead could use this skull and only a few had them.

“Oh wow, it’s been, like, so long since we caught up,” said Sepet through the skull in Carmilla’s hand, her voice high and nasally.

Resisting the urge to destroy the skull in annoyance, Carmilla instead breathed deep to calm herself, despite not needing the air.

“I’ve made contact with both Lillian Darkseed and the rumoured God Squad,” said Carmilla, reporting what had happened and the outcome of the interactions between the three parties.

“Oh my gosh! So you failed,” said Sepet with scornful surprise and light-hearted severity.

“Sepet, take this seriously or I will…” said Carmilla in warning.

“Noooooo, she’ll tell on me,” said Sepet with mock despair, all the while faint traces of laughter could be heard by Carmilla, laughter that would normally be impossible for anything but a vampire’s ears to hear.

“When I get back, I’ll destroy Yorick,” said Carmilla, referring to the constructed and modified, undead, multi-armed creature that was used as a communication relay hub for all the skullphonic devices.

“You biatch, how dare you threaten my little baby pumpkin,” said Sepet with the same nasally ditzy voice that she used to show that she wasn’t taking the threat seriously.

“I met Jane Burnout in the God Squad,” said Carmilla finally, before smiling at the sudden silence on the other end of the connection.

“Did she recognise my creations,” said Sepet with a deeper voice, one no longer laced with mirth.

“Not sure,” replied Carmilla, “But if you don’t report this properly then I will let not only Jane get at you but also tell Vald how much you might have jeopardised our labour.”

Hearing nothing but silence, Carmilla knew that Sepet was weighing this threat much more seriously than the ones she had levelled at her before.

“Affirmative,” said Sepet at last before terminating the connection to the skullphone.

Quirking her eyebrow at the skull, Carmilla used her control over the other undead to shrink the skull down to the size of her fingernail before hanging it from her ear as if it was a piece of simple jewellery. Turning to see that the other five ghouls were arriving on a wave of bats, Carmilla had to admit to herself for all Sepet’s tomfoolery, she was an extremely competent necromancer and that her ghouls were truly impressive.

Rotating to march north, Carmilla had to wonder if she would end up fighting the Arthurian Empire when the two empires expanded and clashed with each other and if so when she did fight them, would the God Squad still be alive?