At first, it was hard to hear those who were talking. The voices were unclear, and the battle overshadowed them. They were there and invited Mila to come closer. They were calm, if somewhat exasperated.

This did not bode well. The lack of urgency in the enemy's voices indicated their plans were flowing smoothly. Despite the attacker’s best efforts, it didn’t appear they had managed to do anything decisive and generally were just nuisances.

Mila was here to change that. She felt the temperature rise as she slinked closer to voices. Her attention switched from trying to understand them to keeping her spell that kept her presence hidden at full power.

At least Mila didn’t suffer a mana shortage, and the lack of other spells in her repertoire meant she could focus her whole being on keeping herself safe, unseen and moving forward.

Were these enemies waiting for her? Mila couldn’t help but wonder. Was she walking into a trap?

It was hard to tell. The previous infiltrating party had managed to get a bit further inside. Mila stepped into another room filled with pipes and mana veins pulsating with power. It seemed the whole interior of this building was filled with these. The corridors she had walked through before had been just the periphery of this place - empty and meant for defence.

Mila studied the air and tried to see the formed mana lines that served as the schema for the ritual. They were there but barely discernible with the thick mana interfering. And from what she could recall from the dream, she needed to be closer to the centre of this ritual.

“-dead. Our-”

The voices became clear. When the building stopped trembling, Mila could make out the words now. She was close. These people were not trying to be discreet, so it was maybe a room or two between them and her.

“-reliable. Focus on-” There was a heavy impact somewhere above. “-retreat. You promised-”

The voices were getting more heated. Those were good news. Mila stopped at closed metal doors. They were not locked, but she had received a warning - there was a trap waiting for her if she was not careful. She had finally penetrated the facility deeper than anyone else.

“-cannot! Let them-” Once of the voices argued back.

“You are not-” The ground shook, and the heavenly hymns became clearer before retreating to the background.

“-done. The threshold has been established. With this-”

Mila didn’t get to hear what they had accomplished. But she didn’t need to. The angelic songs were almost entirely cut off. Only the voices of the inquisitors persisted and tried to keep them going. They had cut off the outside world.

“Where?” Mila's tired gaze struggled to find the trap. The illusions didn’t impact her mind directly, but they were still annoying.

There was a feeling of hesitation and offer brushing against her mind. Mila slumped against the wall. “Be quick…”

—

The enemy had prepared the perfect opportunity for him. Aaers once more had the control of an actual body. For a split second, he enjoyed the feeling of breathing, seeing, hearing and more. Even the pain felt like an old friend to him.

Back in his days, Aaers had spent days and weeks in states worse than Mila was now. But to be fair to her, he also had more strength and ability to keep himself moving.

All things considered, Mila was doing amazingly well. He had expected her to collapse much sooner, forcing him to make a move.

Aaers spent a moment diagnosing Mila’s state and doing his best, directing mana towards the problematic places.

Internal bleeding, cracked bones, torn muscles, concussion, cuts, and more were ailing this body. Aaers couldn’t put the girl back together anew, not without doing damage to Mila’s being. But he could deal with the worst in the short time allotment he had before the body suffered from allowing the much more potent soul to have control over it.

In the end, the damage was nowhere as bad as when Mila had faced that otherworldly abomination. Aaers evaluated the situation once again. She would be fine. He was more worried about Mila’s mate.

Isabel had suffered something even Aaers struggled to comprehend. The way the boy had used his emotions was illogical and strange. Aaers doubted Mila’s mate could be healed with conventional means. But perhaps he was wrong. Again, he could not understand how the boy had conjured those whips and what their effect was.

With Mila’s body rapidly healing, Aaers returned his attention to the immediate problem. The trap was an issue for Mila, but for him, it was nothing.

There was a more dangerous issue Mila had not been privy to. She had been marked two times. Once, upon passing through the weird shield spell that kept this place safe. Getting rid of this mark was simple but would likely make the girl nauseous.

The other one, though… Aaers hesitated to touch it. The caster was someone with deep knowledge of the world and would notice if the mark vanished from Mila. He would have questions to which she had no answers. No. He could not remove this mark. And from what he could tell, that group had not been malicious and truly were interested in his tiny disciple.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

They could not have Mila, but Aaers would not mind if they taught her for a while.

Aaers shrugged. That was an issue for the future. For now, they were not interfering. Even the woman who had been sent along had left Mila alone. He didn’t believe the ‘Sage’ had sent her to watch some cowardly kid. No, she was likely gathering information about what was happening. At least, if he had to guess. There was too little they knew about the mysterious group.

With a flick of Mila’s sleeve, Aaers sent a pulse of energy at the insidious trap. It was full of poisonous gasses and an evil curse.

The mana Aaers had used transformed into a thin needle that hit the trap’s mechanism, disabling it. He didn’t even disturb the illusions that surrounded the piece of trash.

Now, Aaers had to decide what to do about the trio of experiments that were trailing Mila. He let the girl’s body trip and support herself against the doors, pushing them open slightly.

While doing so, Aaers played with Mila’s dagger. It was a good weapon, but not quite enough to kill the terrible mistakes he had allowed to fester in this world.

How had he missed pieces of those experiments? How had there been enough remaining for them to be revived? Aaers did not know. He had been throughout. The purge should have killed everyone who knows about the twisted dream of creating the perfect soldier. The following search should have destroyed every piece of research and note that had been made.

But apparently, Aaers still had missed some pieces. His heart was filled with regret. He should have done better, but the war… He simply lacked everything back then. Time, resources, people, strength, connections, supplies… Everything.

Mila’s forehead rested against the doors as they slowly opened. He made the girl’s body twist slightly to see what he was dealing with.

The horrific approximations of humans were much smaller than the ones Mila had seen previously. Aaers noted how their minds were stabler, bodies leaner, and movements smoother.

These felt almost human if not for the blood seeping out of their pores, covering them in the sticky substance. The red soup slowly hardened, forming another coat of defence over their decaying bodies. They even had armour and weapons.

But…

Aaers felt their lifespan being burnt at an alarming rate. These experiments would not see the light of morning. Their increased performance came at a cost. Aaers guessed they had been let out of their cages not long ago. Maybe an hour or two before. They would live an hour or two longer.

It was too short of a time to be useful in prolonged engagements. It was a waste of lives and resources. But for the short amount of time they lived, they were potent weapons.

And that’s why Aaers had to stop this madness. It was too sinful. Too horrid. It was an affront to nature… And the experiments had not been so far gone back when he had cleansed the world of them.

Aaers studied the bodies as they stalked closer. He had a good idea why there were more advanced versions of the experimental soldiers.

These horrors smelt of something familiar. The way the blood hardened and the limbs thinned and elongated… They reminded Aaers of the otherworldly being he had faced before.

Of course, these three were nothing like the ‘Corruption’ as it had called itself. They were much weaker, with no light of thought of their own. They lacked the presence of ‘wrongness’, and the world didn’t try to vanquish them where they stood.

But perhaps that was because the world had been cut off. Perhaps they could roam this place for the same reason Aaers could.

Whatever the reason, they had to die. Aaers flicked the dagger, hiding it beneath the cloak. There was no need to ruin the weapon by ramming it into these carcasses. Magic would do just fine.

Luckily, Mila’s mana pool had grown substantially. All the hardships and killing the girl had gone through had netted her a decent amount of power. Once she found a moment of peace, she would be able to consolidate her newfound prowess and grow in strength immensely.

But that was not now. Aaers raised Mila’s hands in the air as if stretching. There was not much time left for him. Any longer, and to avoid damaging Mila’s soul, he would have to burn his essence. And he needed that for a bit later if things turned bad, which they likely would. In addition, he could not use Mila’s mana. There wasn’t enough to properly get rid of these three monstrosities on short notice.

Which was why Aaers did something impossible. He ripped mana out of the air and moulded it to his liking. The surroundings were ripe with energy for him to take. He grabbed more and more, only stopping when Mila’s body began showing signs of breaking down.

The impossible thing was not something Mila’s body could bear. Aaers knew how destructive this ability of his could be. He had struggled his whole life to contain what he took.

This was just a simple application of his talent. Aaers didn’t take the mana into Mila’s body and manipulated it in front of her. He smiled sardonically, imagining how the gods would react if they could sense what he was doing here.

But they couldn’t. Aaers finished the purging fire. He didn’t need to exterminate these pitiful creatures the same way the ‘Corruption’ had to be. They were not tenacious and insidious.

All Aaers needed was to…

Blade after blade of transformed mana struck the three incoming threats. Each blade was impossibly thin and infinitely sharp. They passed through their bodies without resistance and vanished in the distance, cutting walls and defences in pieces.

This would open the path for reinforcements. Aaers could feel the conflicted boy’s bonds sniffing around, looking for entrance. They would now have one. Mila could use some help, even if she thought she didn’t.

The hubris this girl had was her worst enemy. But Aaers did not fault Mila for that. This self-assurance served greatly to propel one towards greatness. He would guide but not try to change his little pupil's mind. She would need her pride if she wanted to achieve her dreams and… By extension, help him achieve his.

But for the moment, Aaers had to retreat back to where he had come from. He spent another moment feeling the air and the world around him, limited as it was with the ritual cutting the place off from the vaster plane.

Aaers could not forgive. He followed the intricate lines of mana intermixed with mismatched additions and guesswork.

He would not forgive.

The ritual hung high above their heads. But Aaers knew, just as Mila did, there was a way to change it from here. Just a few rooms ahead, there was a place where they could influence this ritual.

Aaers would try to kill the culprit himself. This insult… This heresy… He would not allow it!

This ritual… This matrix…. The wishes put into the magic… The memories…

They were being trampled on by fools who deserved to be killed in the most horrific ways.

Aeers would not forgive…