Six months later, Wraithos City

“It has been nearly half a year since the E-Rank Realm the Kavala Wastelands mutated. The Four Great Families have finally made a breakthrough. They have pushed back the tides of monstrosities pouring out of the gateway. Today, the four families will each send one of their best into the realm to explore. There is no proof but speculations say that its new rank could very well surpass A-Rank.”

  Lara Windsor turned off the television. She also unplugged her phone line. She was receiving countless calls from Young Masters of prominent families with marriage proposals. She was also receiving calls from business partners who were making inquiries about the Kavala Wastelands. It was draining to say the least.

  At merely eighteen years old, Lara was someone with both beauty and intellect. She had strawberry-blonde hair, deep sea green eyes, and a figure that suited her well. She wasn’t overly voluptuous, but neither was she overly skinny as if she was afraid to eat food for fear of gaining weight. She was the ideal image of a woman. But only she knew how hard she worked to achieve her perfect figure, and the burden behind it.

  As the only heir, or should it be said heiress of the Windsor Family, she didn’t have the leisure time to waste her life away like other children of prominent families. She had to maintain her image as the perfect heiress of her grandfather. While others children were still finishing their education and learning to wield their powers, she had already finished her education and even took over the family business. Her parents were both dead due to unknown reasons. Her only true family member was her grandfather. All of her distant relatives were vying for pieces of the family business. She had no relation to them; they were simply leeches that wanted an easy life.

  She had now essentially become the next Head of the Windsor Family. Grandfather Windsor still helped out occasionally, but for the most part he retired.

  The rest of Wraithos City saw her as the perfect woman. She was the perfect marriage candidate with a dowry that they wanted, the Heavenly Wind Auction House. But only she knew how hard she worked to achieve her good looks by eating right and exercising, as well as getting her eight hours of sleep wherever she could. Only she knew how much harder she had to work in order to inherit her grandfather’s position at eighteen years old. There were times that she thought she would suddenly die of exhaustion.

  Now, she still didn’t have it easy. Between the marriage proposals and running the Heavenly Wind Auction House -as well as the other companies under the Windsor Family-, she was tired. Among all this she still had to deal with “shadier” things in the underworld, where she must put up a strong front without a shred of weakness.

  Now to add onto her ever increasing pile of work there was the Kavala Wastelands. Some unknown realm which was E-Rank and had been the same for over a hundred years was mutating. It was a realm that was under the Windsor Families jurisdiction, and as such it was her responsibility to find out what in God’s name was happening inside. She had already lost contact with her B-Rank scouting team from the moment they stepped through the gate to investigate.

  No matter the rank of the realm, thanks to mixing science and magic, new technology was created. It monitored energy levels, radiation, and countless other variables involving gates using both scientific and supernatural means. Even if that realm was E-Rank, it was still monitored.

  Six months ago, suddenly data readings spiked out of nowhere before settling down. Then it was as if the gates of Hell opened. The data exploded to unheard of levels. Immediately, Lara called for the gate to be locked down and sent in her B-Rank team that was used for only one purpose, scouting. They were talented in the art of stealth and speed. But the moment they entered, she lost contact with them. Their inter-realm communications devices, I.R.C.D’s, malfunctioned.

  Hours later, the first signs that beasts were about to invade made even her panic. Alarms were set off, and not only A-Ranks but also S-Rank Hunters were called in. For the past six months they had been fighting in front of the gate as beasts poured out, unable to make headway. Even a few S-Ranks died.

  While it wasn’t a stain on the Windsor Families reputation since no one would ever think of an E-Rank Realm mutating seemingly beyond A-Rank is possible, the eyes of everyone from the public to the great families were all on the Windsor Family… on her. They wanted to see how she would react in a dire situation.

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  Too bad for them, she didn’t lose herself to panic. Lara calmly analyzed her options. There wasn’t much she could do. Eventually she settled on one option. With the aid of the four great families -and her vast wealth-, four S-Rank Hunters would be armed to the teeth and sent into the portal to explore. All the SS and SSS rank Hunters were busy in other realms dealing with threats that could spell the end for Earth if they were to invade.

  Turning on her computer, Lara sat at her office desk as she watched a camera feed. One of the best from the Windsor, Graves, Hellflame, and Silvermoon Families were all standing outside the gate. Each one of them had their own personal equipment, but also the best life-saving items that Lara could get her hands on in the past few months.

  The representative of the Windsor Family, a young man she grew up with who had showed talent which could describe him as nothing short of a monster looked up at the camera. He knew Lara was watching. He felt extreme loyalty towards Lara as well as respect because she had accomplished so much at such a young age. Being five years older than her, he felt as if she was the elder and he was the junior.

  Waving at the camera with a smile, the young man unsheathed his massive sword. It was nearly three times the size of his body. Turning on his I.R.C.D, he entered a channel that linked directly to Lara’s computer.

  “Alright, Young Madam we are entering the gateway.”

  Taking the lead role, he entered the gate first, followed by the rest of the party. For five minutes, she heard nothing then finally, the young man’s voice came through.

  “We’ve made it. We appear to be in some sort of canyon. It is a straight shot, almost like a ramp. There is nothing here, I can’t sense anything.”

  “Alright, move forward with extreme prejudice.” Lara heaved a sigh of relief. This was the first good thing that had happened in the past six months.

  The group in the canyon moved forwards. Although her representative no longer was speaking, Lara could hear what was going on since the communication channel had now been opened.

  It was quiet. She heard the even foot-steps of the group. They had regulated their breathing, they were calm. All was going smoothly, too smoothly. Lara felt a lurch in her stomach suddenly. For six months, an army was pouring out of the gate. Now that they entered the gate there wasn’t even a single sign of life?

  “Squad Leader you need to retreat, something isn’t right.” Elena said quickly. In moments like this, she could not hesitate at all or it would cost her people their lives.

  “Young Madam it’s alright. We are almost at the canyon ridge, about to see the outside world… The information we gather will all be compiled…”

  Boom!

  Lara didn’t hear the rest of his sentence, all she could hear was static. An unexplainable heaviness took over her body. Her stomach hurt, and she felt a lump form in her throat forcing her to swallow. Tears threatened to flow.

  She was right in saying they should retreat. But it was too late. This was the second time she sent people to their deaths and not knowing why they died. It made her feel horrible.

  Turning off her computer, Elena slumped back in her chair within her office. It was a quaint space; it was not grand at all. It was quite simple, contrary to the enormous wealth and reputation the Windsor’s had.

  Just as she lost herself in self-deprecating negative thoughts, the door burst open. A maid rushed in bearing news.

  “Young Madam, the I.R.C.D of our hunter codenamed Atraxia has reestablished power! We are picking up its signal from the other realm! Although it is weak, we should be able to link into the wavelengths within the next few minutes.”

  Lara didn’t have any more time to wallow in self-pity. She immediately stood up and rushed out of her office to the Communications Department. The entire department was locked down. Only she, the maid, and the department head were in the signal room.

  Using a computer, mana coils, and other pieces of equipment –both scientific and supernatural-, the department head was finishing up linking to the frequency. Once he was finished, he didn’t dare turn on the channel. He looked at Lara; his expression easily betrayed what he was silently asking.

  Lara nodded, allowing the man to connect them to the channel. With a click of a button they linked to the channel. For a few seconds there was only static. Then out of nowhere, they heard thundering crashes before the voice of a young man resounded through the room.

  “Hey! I’m trying to fix this useless piece of junk you damn lizards! Hey… no! Don’t throw boulders at adults who are busy working to make a living! Didn’t your mother ever teach you manners?!”

  Everyone in the room was stupefied. This was not what they expected. There was someone who sounds quite young on the other end. They were alive, and quite boisterous. But just as Lara was about to connect her own I.R.C.D to the channel more thundering crashes could be heard.

  “God damn it! Stop throwing boulders at me you stupid Kysansha. Where the hell did your species intelligence go?! Aren’t you supposed to be scholarly? Right now you are just an overgrown child throwing a tantrum!”

  Another crash was heard. Multiple hisses similar to that of a snake or other reptile arrived through the channel link.

  “AH! That’s it! Every single one of you is dead! You hear me, dead! If this I.R.C.D breaks permanently, I will annihilate your entire species!”

  After the raging voice stopped, there were no more loud noises coming through. Suddenly, there was a slicing sound which clearly sounded like a sword cutting through something with the consistency of butter. Then everything went silent.

  Lara stared at the microphone on the table for a long time before she picked it up and fastened it to her head. Holding down a button, she hesitatingly spoke, “H…Hello?”