Shadows creeped towards the house in silence as Dia watched on from afar, the mana in her body ready to lash out. Her role here was the interceptor of would-be escapees, to hit them hard right when they thought they were safe.

Her eyes glanced at Farah and Risti, who were busy moving the elites of Farah County into strategic points, and she relaxed slightly. Schwarz was now babysitting with Lloyd, just so that the little kid wouldn’t be lonely. However, Dia was now worried that the idiot would cook too much good food and spoil the kid, so…

“Well, at least it’s better than not feeding her, right?” Dia muttered, before fixing her eyes on the house. It was quite large for an estate in Farah County, and from Risti’s earlier probes, it would seem that the kidnapped men are in the basement.

Why men?

There were so many different possibilities that Dia didn’t even want to think about it too hard, but the kidnapped people all shared similar characteristics.

They were either burly or were mana-users, so Dia couldn’t help but think that these fellows were being put to physical labour or something. Still, given that Farah County was an agrarian one, the women here were also stronger than their city counterparts, so why did they go for men only?

Maybe it was something else instead, but every other option led her to think of stuff that if her father knew that she knew, would probably faint - but she would need to verify with a gender census of the Shadowed Ones first. Still, the moment the kidnapping incidents targeted one gender only…

“Pwah.” Dia wanted to wash her mind of the adult scenarios that had popped up. “Hurry up and crack that open, you two…”

Maybe it was because grabbing men who were making their way to or from the fields was easier. Apparently, men liked to do their work alone, while the women who headed out usually went in groups. Was the gender choice just an outcome of the situation?

Dia allowed her thoughts to run wild while the elite folders of Farah County got into place. The plan was simple; once all the thirty-six folders were in position, they would activate the artefact in their hands and enclose the targeted area. It would also slow anyone in the field done, unless they carried another artefact…

It was amazing how strong artefacts could be. From her understanding, this artefact was made with a skill called Slow Field, which simply created a zone where all movement was slowed down.

Sighing, she fiddled with her sword and waited for the signal.

After around another two minutes, mana arced upwards into the sky and detonated with a deafening explosion, and Dia got to her feet. A moment later, mana surged up from the ground around the estate, enclosing it in a dome of light. At the same time, the estate itself blew apart, releasing innumerable fragments of stone, glass and whatever other things that made up the house, and three shadows surged out.

The barrier was never meant to capture them, however.

Without any suspense, the three shadows punched through the barrier, spreading out in different directions. Mana, which had been coiled up in Dia’s legs, surged once as a shadow flew in her direction, and the small rocky outcrop she had been perched on shattered completely.

The black shadow didn’t even have a chance to react as she seemingly appeared next to it.

Dia winced as the flat of her blade smacked the shadow from beneath, enduring the pain that came from the impact. Before the force could bat the shadow upwards, she twisted savagely, following through with the rebounding force acting on her blade and smashing it against the top of the shadow this time.

The guttural roar that was in its infancy died away as the shadow plummeted to the ground below, with Dia following suit a moment later. A sickening squelch followed as the shadow smashed into the earth, throwing dirt up upon impact.

She landed on the ground a second later, dropping into a roll to bleed off the excess force. At the same time, tri-coloured light descended from the skies, and the shadow in the crater froze up entirely.

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“…Was there a need to make me do all this, then?” Dia wondered out loud.

The others raced over a moment later, but the various mana-users of Farah County didn’t need to do anything. In the instant that light fell, a tri-coloured person had stepped out of thin air…and everyone in Farah’s employ apparently had a good measure of their own capabilities. In the end, they returned to the mansion, where there was some dodgy, weird set-up going on.

“You hurt?” Risti asked. “I have lots of remedies and skillsticks, so sound off if you don’t feel well! Mana-users we may be, but our bodies are still very fragile.”

“I’m fine. Just a bit sore,” Dia replied.

“Okay, so just stand still for a moment while I get rid of the pain,” Risti replied, pulling out a bunch of skillsticks.

“Wait, don’t go wasting th—uwaah.”

The comfort that followed cut off her words, so she could only shake her head at Risti. It was a waste to use that on her right now, since those skillsticks were definitely worth a fortune.

“Feeling better?”

“Thanks, but don’t be so wasteful next time,” Dia replied. “These skillsticks are going to run out one day, and every one used on a small muscle strain is one that’s going to vanish forever.”

“…I’ll think about it.”

“Oh, come on.” Dia shook her head, and then looked at the Moon Emissary, who was happily bundling his Dark counterpart up. “What are you going to do with that fellow?”

“Interrogation.”

“Even though we’re all in a ceasefire now?” Dia asked. “I mean, what he did isn’t really what anyone would call an act of war, right?”

“We’re bringing in this Dark Herald on the pretext of harming humans,” the Moon Emissary replied. “His masters must pay reparations…and one must wonder just what they were up to.”

The Moon Emissary paused. “Follow me.”

The three of them trailed after the Moon Emissary as it approached the ruined estate. The basement had been blown open, along with the rest of the house above, revealing a rather intricate set-up that Dia couldn’t quite understand.

None of the others could, either.

“This might be up Lily’s alley, though,” Risti mumbled.

“Uh, she uses bombs, though?”

“True,” Risti replied, seemingly to herself. “This is a contraption that runs off not mana or lifeforce, but by pure physical strength. I am not sure what this is supposed to do, though.”

Dia looked at the setup closely. A bunch of men had fainted on odd machines. They were seated on these machines, and their feet were strapped into small footrests that were linked through rods to a weird box. These footrests all varied in positions from person to person, so they were mobile ones that moved in a circle or something.

“Mhm. That central box linked to those pedals seem to drive something else,” the Moon Emissary noted, and a flash of light forced Dia to squint. When the light next died down, the floor of the basement had been removed, revealing a bunch of weird circles that had spokes. These spokes were linked to each other, and—

“Gears.” Risti muttered. “Mhm. Well, they are still used for some things, but this is quite the complex set-up.”

“Gears?” Dia repeated.

“I’ve read about them before. They are a way in which physical forces are transmitted…anyway, it seems that the great Dark wanted to power something here,” Risti muttered. “All the gears seem to point at this box.”

Another flash of light followed, and Dia had to force her eyes open again. There, in the middle of the box that was the central point of this entire convoluted set-up, was a blue, eight-pointed crystal.

The last gear in each line of gears had a weird metal rod connected to their centre. The rod itself had two fins, which were positioned in the middle of two curved surfaces, which was then linked to a box.

From these boxes came thin metal wires, which led to the blue crystal in the middle of it all.

“What’s all this?” Farah asked.

“Don’t look at me, I’m not sure either.” Risti paused. “Someone get those fellows off these machines first. After that, try to move those…pedals there,” Risti instructed.

“No need,” the Moon Emissary replied. “I understand what is going on now.”

“You do?” Risti asked. “Ahem. I mean, can you enlighten us?”

The Moon Emissary glanced at Risti once, and then said, “The Dark is attempting to use mortal means of generating energy. This thing should be a generator. Physical activity generates a power called electricity, which is channelled into this crystal for storage.”

“…Electricity?” Farah asked.

“I’ve read about it before,” Risti muttered. “The technologies that predate the Second Godsfall, right?”

“The most rudimentary of secrets, sourced from the Celestia Ruins,” the Moon Emissary replied. “However, what are they hoping to do here? And why resort to this?”

“Doesn’t make sense, true.” Dia folded her arms. “It’s not like it’s a ritual that takes lives, right? In fact, it’s dependent on physical labour. One could probably hire people to do the physical labour, instead of taking such a weird method. And there’s the risk of discovery too…”

“Yeah.” Farah folded her arms. “Well, we’ll study this first and see what we can get. Any issues with that?”

“…No, not really.” The Moon Emissary shimmered. “I will go and interrogate my counterpart first.”