“It’s insane how they’ll let anyone down there. One wrong turn and you’ll be a slave yourself.”

Autumn sighed as they joined the crowd.

“Everyone’s free game once you’re down there. Hit a dead end or walk into the wrong room and that’s enough for you to become a slave. I don’t have to tell you not to inhale or eat anything in this town.”

“They will go that far to ruin a person’s life?” Deiman wondered.

“A Shell shouldn’t have morals. Don’t sound like you’re the better person here. That’s how it is.” Mae sighed.

“We play by their rules.”

Autumn’s heart wrenched.

She didn’t show this. It was damning to see that Grandis was the same even in the Bellum Empire. During her travels she had heard the stories of Brandar; the Nex Megalopolis, and other wonderful places.

Grandis had no chance of being redeemable.

“What would Frost say?” She asked herself, causing Mae to twitch her head in Autumn’s direction.

Where had she heard that name before?

Deiman wondered why he felt like their norms were not normal at all, and Mae couldn’t shake the feeling of her heart being caught up in her throat.

There was nothing for Autumn to think about any longer. And so, she patiently waited for their turn. She noticed that there were inhuman figures that oversaw the trade. They were dressed in funeral suits and had masquerade masks enchanted with [Illusion] Magic to conceal their faces.

[Total Concealment – Body Segment], a Tier 5 spell. It shouldn’t have mattered to her since there were bound to be people who wanted to keep their identity hidden. But the fact that they only observed raised red flags.

Not to mention that there were so many. Autumn could use Tier 3 magic at best. Tier 5 magic was at the level of Greatmages, and with such proficiency she had to wonder if they were potentially Archemages, or Court Mages of the Bellum Empire.

That was not the strangest part. Amongst them was a figure that vaguely resembled a human. An outsider would not have bat an eye, but she could hear the churning of gears beneath its blue, weighted robes.

Mae seemed to notice this as well, her face turning pale like had just seen a ghost. Before either of them could make sense of their situation –

“Ha… Hahaha!”

– A heavy hand suddenly clutched onto Autumn’s shoulder.

“To think that if I had drunk myself till I blacked out I would have missed you!”

The gruff voice belonged to someone she knew. She quickly turned around to face the hulking, two-meter figure. Several fingers were missing from the hand on her shoulder, yet it felt like all fingers were present due to his immense grip.

“The August Manus? Aren’t you supposed to be at Aquagale?”

The man who stood before her was Gustus, the leader of the present Division of the August Manus.

“Oooh. So she remembers us!” The man laughed sarcastically as others donned in giant, grey metal armor appeared, each with a hand mangled due to their roots of crossing with the Solemn Paw. “Strange of you to find yourself all the way here. Last time I heard –!”

Suddenly, Autumn braced herself for impact as she held out her staff, just barely blocking a punch to her gut.

“– You were with a Blessed!”

“Tch – What the fuck are you talking about!?” Autumn shouted, trying to rouse as much attention as possible as Mae instinctively took a step back, her throat gripped by an invisible hand. “Blessed!? You… Wait, is this about that Court Mage!?”

The space surrounding them instantly cleared up. But rather than trying to stop them, they were urged to spill each other’s blood for reasons they didn’t even know. They noticed Deiman and Mae, and immediately assumed it was for ownership over the coveted blonde-haired Demi-Human.

“Court Mage? I’d believe you if you didn’t disappear from Aquagale. But you were with them! Where are they, Apprentice Mage!?”

He struck again, but she was prepared for it and pushed herself away with a blast of wind magic – [Repellent Wind]. It was chanted the moment she stopped talking, for she had anticipated an escalation.

There was no such thing as talking it out in Grandis. Her eyes moved to Mae, asking for help but Mae’s eyes were locked on the cloaked figure.

“She was a Blessed!? What makes you believe that I would know that!? Fuck! You know what’ll happen to you if you so happen to leave a bruise on a member of the Patron of the Highways!” Autumn warned, holding out her staff offensively like a spear as the gemstone at the tip glowed red.

Her proclamation should have caused the crowd to back down. After all, the Patrons of the Highways had vast connections to the likes of the Potion Makers, who could find any and all perpetrators no matter where they hid.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

However, her voice was not only suppressed by their chants for blood, but those who did hear it paid no heed.

“You… how the fuck did you even get here so quickly?” Autumn was certain that she left for Frost way before he did.

They even took a shortcut through the mountains.

He laughed alongside his battle brothers before his eyes steadily landed back on her.

“My prayers were answered by the Ones Who Wear Skulls!”

It was taboo to worship the Corpse Snatchers, and yet his proclamation was not met with judgement. All the crowd wanted was for them to fight. She slowly backed towards her companions, gripping Mae by the collar.

“Run with Deiman. I’ll handle this.” She whispered with intensity. “We’ll meet later. I don’t know why you’re holding back, but there has to be a reason, right? Which one of them are you afraid of?”

“… The Clockwork Prophet.” Mae whispered back. “I had no idea you two were so wanted by them. If I knew… If only I knew… Fuck… Deiman.”

“Yes?”

“See the elevator shaft? That’s our ticket outta here. Autumn, I hope you understand that I can’t help you.”

“I just need –!”

“A message from another deity has given us a prediction that those Scripts cannot possibly compare.” The man’s voice cut Autumn off before she could respond. “And all it took were a few spare Demi-Humans to turn into gears.

You’re travelling with an accursed Demi-Human and a Demon. You’ve stooped low for a human. No one can judge us here, but as you can see, I was blessed with the right to judge impure humans like yourself. You truly did arrive.”

Autumn couldn’t run. She immediately knew that the masked men were with him. The mention of the Clockwork Prophet did not make sense to her, but if Mae – who was undoubtedly stronger than her – feared them, then what could she do?

The best course of action was the simplest.

“Mae. Take care of Deiman.” She whispered moments before pointing her charged staff at the ground. “[Windball]!”

[Windball]; a Tier 2 Elemental spell kicked dust into the air, concealing them entirely. She used this to her advantage to move through the crowd as she heard Deiman’s voice.

“Autumn!?”

“Keep it down, fuzzy ears!” Mae shouted, dragging him by the collar as she barged straight through the crowd with enough force to break bones. They folded like fern leaves. “Autumn bought us precious time! Let her fight her own battles! You and I got bigger problems! Wanna turn into a fucking Gear!? Want an insane lunatic with white hair to feed you a golden seed!?”

Mae threw him into the shaft. Luckily, the platform had just reached the top. Various hands tried to drag Mae away, but she was far more powerful than them. She lobbed dozens of hands with a single swipe of her arm.

“Hope that you don’t die along the way down!” She shouted, throwing a body at the winch, causing it to jam and release the wooden platform. It entered a freefall, and Mae took this opportunity to grab onto a disappearing coil of rope. “Autumn! You… tch, never mind! No point in telling someone that’s gonna die!”

“… Yeah. No point in saying goodbyes.” Autumn grit her teeth, maneuvering through the crowds until sudden –

“There you are!”

– A hand grabbed her from behind. Just before she could even begin a chant, the world was flipped upside down, and her body flew through the air. She followed through with the chant, casting another [Repellant Wind] to break her fall.

However, it was not enough to spare her from the sheer impact of her landing. She skidded on the sandy floors of the central arena, her arms scraping against the coarse sand. By the time she could bring herself to her knees, the leader of the August Manus had broken through the fencing of the arena.

“Autumn. From the moment I saw you I knew you did not belong to Grandis. I had thoughts of selling you off because of those red eyes, but the Potion Makers… No, the Atelier Act X would have promised divine punishment!”

He recited like he had received his words from a higher being, his mangled hands reaching towards something above him.

“But I have seen the divine! A true prophet with flesh of gears! Not those who tug on strings! I was chosen! The Ones Who Wear Skulls! They approached me with a mission that aligned with my thoughts. To hunt down broken thorns, those with red eyes and blonde hair, and I knew precisely who to hunt!”

Insanity.

Autumn watched in agony as the cloaked being – the Clockwork Prophet – that Mae feared drifted towards the well, as did the followers of the August Manus. The black-masked individuals remained and merely watched for what she could only presume was for entertainment.

“Gagh…!” She clutched her chest. A rib had broken after her fall. “You’re… batshit insane if you believe them! Those things… they’re Corpse Snatchers…!?”

Her eyes moved to a weapon’s rack. Spears, swords, and knives freely hung, and they began to move to an invisible wing. The man’s arms were lowered. His guard was down, and Autumn purposefully kept herself on the ground to keep him from recognizing her as a threat.

“Only the greatest of the great. Calm yourself, Autumn. Unlike that Demi-Human, I won’t break you down. You are human. You therefore deserve the dignity of one –!”

Suddenly, a barrage of weaponry flew his way. Spears rattled as their tips broke the moment they made contact with his armor. Swords shattered as he swung his gauntlet. Daggers were easily caught and had their handles crushed before Autumn’s eyes.

However, that did not mean she couldn’t control the blade part of it.

And in that moment of weakness, she jammed one of the blades into his visor.

“AAAAAAGH! AH! GARGH! AH!”

Autumn hopped onto her feet, telekinetically moving pieces of wood to further hammer in the knife as he clutched his eye. He bashed the wood away before dragging the blade out.

“No. You’re a dog in the shape of a human!”

He raised his hand and with one swift movement, the blade was thrown at such a velocity that it cleanly passed through Autumn’s stomach.

“FUUUUUCK! A-AAAAAAAAAH! Ghhk!”

She had tried to make it to another weapon rack, but the injury caused her to collapse. A Mage could only take so much physical damage before they were out of commission.

Autumn was no exception.

He closed the gap before she could even rush to close her wound. In the next moment, she felt a boot press against her hand.

She knew what was coming next.

“You seemed close to that Demi-Human. Be at ease, Autumn. You won’t die. I can guarantee that. As a human, it’s only fair that we try you on the basis of an eye for an eye.”

She screamed as he pressed down.

“A-Ahaha! A Demi-Human befriending a human. I could tell they were not your slaves. I’d like to see how that Demi-Human reacts when he finds you as nothing more than a bloody – AAAAAAGH!”

Autumn’s telekinetic range was larger than he anticipated. This time, a dagger was shoved into the opening of his gauntlet. She didn’t know why she made it so much harder for herself, or why the mention of Deiman had caused her to react so violently.

“Demi-Humans. Demi-Humans. Demi-Humans. DEMI-HUMAAAAAAAANS! Look at how they poison humans! You could have come out of this unscathed! But you began this string of fate by chasing that Blessed like they were not the enemies of Granids!”

*Crunch*

She lost her hand under the immense weight of his boot. Autumn did not whimper or cry. She powered through the pain, gritting her teeth as she stared up at him defiantly.

“Go ahead. Believe she is an ally of yours. Your Teacher has already left for the Rodan Trade City.

No one is coming to save you or your friends, as it has been predicted.”