“Seth… What happened?” Isaac realized he had fully healed.

“The rebels found you. You had gotten buried underground. Your red magic kept you alive. I arrived in Shroud City a few hours ago.”

Isaac remembered what had happened. 'Right. Reptoids attacked me, and I had to fight with all my power. In the end, the underground parking lot collapsed on us.'

“What about Erika? What happened to her?”

Seth sighed. “Do you mean the water mage? She was dead when they found her. The reptoids too.”

Isaac focused on his mana flow. “I lost a lot of mana in that fight.”

“Yes, you're only at 200 mana points now. But you’ll be able to get more soon. Many people die in wars, but let’s make sure that it’s our enemy's side that does.”

Seth stood up. “Now, I believe you had a way to open the gate between Shroud City and Northeast City?”

“Oh, I noted down the gate’s password.” He showed him his watch with the password written in his notes.

When Stephen's team had hacked into Tech-Think, they found that the executives had stored all the gates' passwords in the company's buildings, and one hacker managed to decrypt them.

Seth walked through the door. “Let’s go open it. The rebels and I have already taken command, but none of the old gatekeepers were willing to open it, so we were having trouble.”

"At least I can be of some use…" They had done all the work while he was asleep.

…

Ejiro's advanced squad had arrived at the gate. It was nighttime. They camped above a building with a direct view of the colossal gate to Karl City in the second layer.

“Infiltrating a main gate is much more difficult than the ones between cities in the same layer. It might just be taking them longer than predicted,” said Ejiro to his comrades. The rebels on the other side were supposed to send a signal, but it had never come.

The dark magic soldier who could grow wings analyzed the gate, holding binoculars with his black gloves. His name was Bryan. He had many gadgets attached around his waist and even more in his backpack.

“I didn’t find any weak spots. They’re watching the gate tightly on our side, and their mana sensors are on.”

Ejiro frowned. The mana sensors could detect the faintest trace of mana someone used and trace them. It would be hard to infiltrate without magic, as the slightest mistake could get them caught, but they weren't supposed to do that anyways. That was the rebels' job. “Let’s contact the rebel team on the other side. They were supposed to have deactivated it. Something must have gone wrong."

Ejiro touched a button on his earplug to switch channels. “Karl City, come in.”

They waited and waited.

No response.

Ejiro repeated the message, and they waited five more minutes.

“Why aren’t they responding?!” Cried Adia, a dark mage in a gray camouflaged suit. Her hood covered her short black hair. She was a southerner like Ejiro. Her power was making sticky, elastic strings like a spider.

At the same time as Ejiro opened his mouth to speak, a deep voice came from their earphones. “Are you Ejiro Sani? I’ve heard your light magic isn’t as powerful as it used to be, that you’ve become a vampire.”

He did not seem like one of the rebels. It made Ejiro shiver at the thought. Something had happened. "Who are you?"

The strange man laughed. There were distant noises, screams, begging, people dying. “We’re your worst nightmare.”

“What a silly line.” Ejiro mocked him, but they all understood what had just happened. The rebels had failed to take hold of the gate and had gotten slaughtered.

“The gate’s opening!” A blonde-haired woman interrupted their thoughts. She was one of the wind mages twins on Ejiro's squad, a man and woman in their forties. Ejiro thought that they were lucky to both still be alive. He hadn’t had such a chance with his friends, Seth’s other direct disciples.

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The metallic structure slowly opened in two, and the patrol guards moved away. Twenty reptoids had entered the first layer. They were ready to fight, fully armed with hard spears, magic guns, and other weapons.

The reptoid spoke again. There were many wounds over his naked body, a massive scar across his chest, and an eyepatch on his left eye.

“What will you do now, Ejiro Sani?”

What was even more frightening, Bryan saw in his binoculars. "He's looking straight at us!"

…

The following day, Lycanport City, third layer.

The werewolf alpha, Christopher Fireblood, came to visit Gabriella. They ate breakfast at a luxurious steakhouse. Most werewolves ate meat three times a day. Gabriella and Christopher both had their pair of bodyguards around the table.

“I’m bored. We haven’t had a chance to fight like you promised,” Christopher complained as he chewed on his bavette.

“You will now. We lost contact with the rebels stationed in Karl City, one of the second layer’s largest cities. It houses the closest gate to the second layer from the Western Alliance's entry point.” Gabriella had only ordered a glass of orange juice. As it was closed off from the rest of the world, the Obscure Guild's restaurants were limited in their menus; the outer world’s numerous breakfasts had ruined her appetite for flesh in the morning.

“So you want us to see what’s happening in Karl?”

“Yes, and I want us to take over the city. It will reinforce the third layer’s main gate in Ulkan. There is only one city to defeat between Ulkan and Karl."

The werewolf alpha grinned. “This is easy enough. But, isn’t there a big fight upcoming where I could participate?"

“Do you mean the enemy reinforcements coming from the Topaz Guild?”

He leaned forward. “Yes. I'm sure my werewolves could crush them.”

“Let’s get this first job done. We’ll talk about this other matter later. I’ll be coming to the second layer with you." Gabriella succeeded in acquiring his help. She hoped that Ejiro was safe; no one had been able to contact his squad either.

…

At the rebel camp near Lycanport's gate to the second layer.

“You can't trust him!” Aaron looked at Gabriella. He was worried.

She turned her back to him. “The werewolves’ help will be very beneficial.”

“The Alpha's just in it to spill blood and conquer more land. He could backstab you at any time! Aren’t the werewolves and vampires at odds with each other?”

“He wouldn’t get anything from doing this right now since we clearly have the advantage over the Seats. But if he attacks us, the fourth layer will retaliate.”

Aaron walked in front of her. “No. Actually, the fourth layer could be sandwiched!” They both knew the fifth layer, supported by the inner layer's army and the third layer's werewolves and human magicians, would be enough to overwhelm the vampires' layer.

“You’re worrying too much. I’m sure Stephen has a Plan B for such a scenario. Now, keep watch over the new rebels for me.”

In the end, Aaron had to let her go. ‘I keep feeling like something bad is about to happen. Whatever’s happening at Karl City’s main gate right now isn’t relieving my stress. I hope she’ll be safe.’

He walked all day, partly to meditate but mostly to look for anything suspicious. Lycanport used to be a harbour city long ago. Many rivers passed the Obscure Guild's territory before the Seats chose to build the walls. The waters quickly dried up, so all the rivers and lakes had to be artificial. Boats didn't transport merchandise on the water anymore since other means of transport had been established, and going overseas was out of the equation.

The harbour had become a public attraction. However, the roller-coasters on the other side of the river were much more popular. Aaron walked all day, analyzing the city's layout and understanding its history.

It didn't look different from most cities in the third layer. Lycanport was dark even during the day, and the streets were old. Some graffiti art prettied them up, but most of the graffiti was typical tags which served only as a distraction.

Overall, Aaron did not see any unique traits about this city. He hadn’t seen anything to confirm his strange feeling. “After observing all day, I couldn’t find anything suspicious. There’s a street gang here, but they don’t come out much. I also saw a few werewolves, but most of the strong ones have gone North to fight.”

However, it was the lack of werewolves that made him uneasy. The number of cursed in the Obscure Guild was already low. The inner layer was the sole exception, having one for every three humans. In the third layer, most werewolves were guards, police officers or soldiers. They had their own uniforms that distinguished them from humans.

“If there are barely any werewolves, then who’s protecting the city?! The rebels?”

He received a call on his handgun. It was one of his soldier friends.

“Aaron!”

“Alexandra?"

“Run away! Reptoids are here! They were hiding among the reb- argh!”

Aaron heard a loud crush followed by a devilish laugh. "Alexandra? Are you okay?!"

There was no answer. Aaron didn't have time to worry as he noticed something was approaching him!

"What?!” Aaron turned 180 degrees and avoided receiving an elbow to the head as he dashed away with wind magic. It was a reptoid.

"Shit!" He quickly aimed his pistol.

-Bzz!

He was about to pull the trigger when another person tased him from behind.