Ne'em observed the scene behind his hiding place as a shower of flames and ash was blown across the walkway due to the aftermath of the explosion.

He could do nothing but watch as the brave officers put their lives on the line in a desperate sacrificial attempt, one which made his usually calm heart wince.

His fingers clenched into obvious fists, digging into his palm as bright red blood trickled down his arm.

He felt powerless in the situation, demoted to a simple observer who could only stand by and watch as brave men were butchered mercilessly for his sake.

The resolute expressions on their faces as they faced an unavoidable death were as painful as it was admirable as if they found their death worthwhile if they could save just one more person.

'This feels like crap... This honestly feels like crap.'

The smoke settled on the walkway as Captain Edmund observed the end result, hoping that the explosion would have taken out most, if not all of the assailants.

His breathing had become laborious and his face pale, owing to the sheer amount of effort he had put in throughout the short but grim battle.

He could do nothing but fall to the ground, gasping for air as the flame Totemic Tattoo lost yet another segment, leaving just one small piece remaining.

'Hail Mary is such a pure and destructive Runic Invocation. I doubt any of them would have been able to survive it, especially from such a close range.'

Captain Edmund turned to look at the strewn bodies all across the trail with a heavy heart.

The fleeting smiles of his subordinates were perfectly reflected in his tired eyes, causing him to look down at his badge and sigh with fatigue and agony.

He strained his body to get up before limping towards Ne'em's hiding spot.

He was well aware that the explosion would draw the attention of the invading group still present in the main villa so he had to do his best to lie in wait for the incoming reinforcements.

He could do nothing to help the situation in his present state as his entire body was now riddled with injuries and his mental energy was vastly depleted, so he decided to rest up while ensuring the safety of the young Sapphite in hiding.

This way if anyone did come to track them down he would be able to fight and sacrifice himself to give the young man a better chance of escape.

'The responsibilities of an officer I guess.'

As he dragged his weak body along he suddenly paused and turned around with wide eyes, as he could hear a series of footsteps coming beyond the smoke.

Two silhouettes emerge from the curtain of ashy dust, their bodies bloodied and bruised. They were riddled with injuries of ghastly degrees, making them appear as zombies who had clawed their way out of hell itself.

One of the two was missing half of his skull while the other was without an arm and a leg, but those severe injuries did nothing to calm the malevolent aura of dread spreading out of their body.

They looked even stronger than before as if their bodies were burning through their life force and intense hate to keep them alive.

The entire walkway became intensely suffocating, as Captain Edmund could do nothing but crumble to the ground at the sight of the haunting figures.

'In the end, did our sacrifices mean nothing? Can we not win the battle even after putting our lives on the line?'

'Alas, this is what it has come to huh.'

Captain Edmund gazed at the slowly approaching figures, his expression shifting from urgency to confusion and finally, to resolve.

He looked like he had finally accepted his death and was ready to sacrifice himself in order to take both of them down, a sight which made Ne'em's heart wince once again.

GONG!

All of a sudden a grand and illusionary bronze gate materialized in the dark sky above the villa, showering the entire estate in a rain of intense heat and light.

The sight of the gate caused a flicker of surprise to move across Captain Edmund's face, while the remaining two assailants could only look up in wonder and confusion.

They were sure that Captain Edmund had already previously used his King's Armory Invocation and would not be able to call on it once more, at least for the next 20-24 hours.

So how come they were now seeing the Rune's signature bronze gate appearing once again, a sight which caused a palpable sense of tension to settle over their hearts.

Creak...

The onlookers could only watch on as the gate slowly creaked open, releasing a much more intense wave of heat and pressure than the one before.

A dark polished polearm slowly extended out of the gate, its mere sight overwhelming the entire night sky.

Its tip shone with a subtle glow and its surface was as daunting as it was majestic.

Immediately the assailants caught sight of the spear it seemed like cold water had been poured over their bodies, causing them to exchange a quick glance and lunge towards Captain Edmund, even with their severe injuries.

No one had to inform them of the identity of the spear as their entire organization was made up of people who had ample interests in war and weapons craft.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

This was why they had immediately recognized the spear at a glance, as the pole arm was quite popular in arm and weapon spaces for its relevant history and identity.

The spear was known throughout history as Gungnir, a polearm that was notorious for never missing its target!

Gungnir suddenly locked onto one of the robed assailants, whistling through the air as it swiftly impaled him through the throat.

He was given no time to react and was dead within a second, causing Captain Edmund to hold his breath in amazement.

'So powerful...'

The other assailant with only half of his skull remaining could do nothing but watch as his partner was brutally murdered, as he himself could also observe a hazy silhouette rapidly take form within the smoke right in front of his lone left eye.

The smokey silhouette swiftly grasped his neck and spun it to the back, misaligning its natural direction while causing him to die without effort.

The entire massacre hadn't exceeded more than two seconds, leaving both Ne'em and Captain Edmund stunned as they could only watch the misty silhouette glace at them before dissolving back into smoke with Gungnir in hand.

The duo was both alarmed and speechless, as the actions of their savior were as domineering as they were scary.

...

Yves was locked in a tight battle, as holding back two stronger opponents appeared to be a much more grueling task than she had initially anticipated.

The assailants weren't giving her a single chance to catch her breath, as they inflicted attack after attack in quick succession on her makeshift frozen armor.

This forced passiveness annoyed Yves, as she was the type that preferred to be on the offensive rather than being forced to defend.

She was raised with the idea of attack being the best form of defense, causing her usually reticent face to break out into a frown.

Emotions of anger and annoyance slowly seeped into her mind, and her mood became unstable, leading to a lot of mistakes in her evasion of incoming attacks.

A blade chipped into her icy armor, leaving a ghastly wound on her thigh which slowly bled out.

'Not good. It seems like these two have an ability that can passively affect the mood of those around them, causing them to make mistakes as their emotions flare up.

'I can't afford to pacify my emotions in such a dire situation, as diverting some of my attention away from the battle would lead to a lot more repercussions as opposed to just letting these emotions play out.

'Sigh... It's such a pity that my proficiency over the royal bloodline is still too low, if not I'd have been able to freeze my emotions in place just like Sister Adele.'

Yves froze an ice column as a makeshift wall to deter an incoming attack, before delivering a swift kick which was blocked by the second attacker.

They both worked in perfect coordination, balancing their lethality with decisiveness and quick thinking.

This became even harder to deal with after they received a command a few moments prior, as the intensity of the attacks had almost tripled with the increase of their daunting aura.

Lying around Yves were numerous broken ice swords, a testament to how many cold weapons she had run through so far.

Even with all that she had only been able to lightly damage her opponents, as both their stamina and strength didn't seem to be stalling, but instead increased with time.

'This isn't good. If this keeps up I will continue to remain on the wrong foot.'

She placed her hand on her injury, freezing the wound as an act of temporary first aid.

She was about to think over what to do next when a silhouette appeared behind one of her opponents in a flash, its form perfectly blended into the smoke.

A swift punch was delivered to one of the unknowing assailants, causing the individual to be hurled down the ablaze corridor.

The other robed attacker was quick to react but could do nothing to stop the spear that stabbed into his chest at point-blank range.

His eyes instantly narrowed in shock, as he could have sworn that their unknown opponent was just behind his colleague a few moments prior.

This meant that his opponent had changed his location in the blink of an eye, transversing a distance of almost 10 meters in under a second!

He turned round but could no longer see this unknown assailant, his eyes meeting only a swirling cloud of smoke that dissipated into the surroundings.

This reminded him of one of the Runic Invocations synonymous with Ash Priests of the Echelon of Ruination, one that gave them almost nigh-omnipresence in any area dominated by fire and smoke.

It was the Rune of Smoke Transmission!

Immediately this thought came to mind he smartly tried to leap out of his immediate area, but was aghast to see that the entire corridor was essentially covered in smoke due to the burning flames.

A tragic yelp pulled his attention back to the situation, and he was shocked to see his teammate being overwhelmed by a barrage of swift kicks and blows from a hazy phantom drifting through the smoke.

His teammate could do nothing but take the blows with his body, as his opponent made sure to swiftly change his location immediately after he attacked, leading to an endless succession of unpredictable incursions.

Punches capable of pulling down concrete walls were delivered swiftly and successively, leaving the confused opponent with a smeared face and numerous broken bones.

The situation was so shocking that even Yves was confused, as she could only watch as one of the opponents who was previously giving her such a tough time was reduced to a bloody pulp.

The other assailant decided to take this opportunity to attack Yves while she was distracted, as he made the logical decision of reducing the number of enemies as it would be too much for him to go against both the ice princess and the unknown Ash Priest now that his teammate was dead.

BOOM!

The thought hadn't even settled in his mind when he heard a humming sound, and his eyes could only take in the trail of a whistling Gungnir flying in his direction.

He took advantage of the physical reinforcement of Bloody Berserker, absorbing all the intense emotions of rage and fury from his body which slightly helped him to avoid the path of the polearm.

This put great strain on his body, causing the thick cloud of hate around him to lessen greatly.

He had just regained his footing when he saw Gungnir abruptly change its direction in the air, skewering him through the head in the time it took for one to blink an eye.

Bright crimson liquid dripped down his deformed temple, as his last sliver of consciousness remembered one key detail about the unique polearm before his death,

Gungnir could never be dodged!

...

In the main hall, Princess Adele was making light work of her opponents, as she already had one pinned to the ground by numerous frozen spikes while the other was already coming close to death.

Even while being besieged by two relatively strong opponents her neutral expression didn't change one bit, as it even seemed like the two people going against her were being severely outclassed.

Her dress was still spotless and without tear while her opponents on the other hand were riddled with ghastly wounds all over.

Even after getting the permission to use Bloody Berserker the situation didn't change, as the entire battle looked like a flock of chicks trying to catch an eagle.

She grasped the whip being lashed at her and pulled the severely wounded opponent into a chokehold, before releasing icy pressure into his lungs.

She aimed to freeze the air going in and out of his lungs, inducing suffocation which would be the quickest way to end the fight once and for all.

The scar-faced man looked at all of this with a neutral expression, before sighing as he watched his subordinate asphyxiate to death.

'What an embarrassment. It seems like I'll need to personally take charge of this.'

As he was about to drift down and take on the battle-ready Princess Adele, a spear rippled through the air towards his location, spinning towards him with frightening intensity.

He just barely managed to put up his arms as a shield, protecting his head as the spear went through his guarded arms.

A figure drifted through the smoke and was then outlined at the entrance, revealing the cold and indifferent face of Professor Windsor as he calmly surveyed the scene.

He willed Gungnir to return to him, before placing his gaze on the scar-faced leader of the group.

"That should normally have killed you. How unlucky."