Loyalty is about trust. If you don’t trust them all the way, then your loyalty is just a façade. Few are brave enough to be loyal.

~Lugh, God of Battle and Craft

Nin had people surrounding the luxurious manor. Even Crow admired the architecture and wondered if the man inside had the place built or stole it. Most of this side of the town had nice houses, but this was on another level. It even had walls surrounding the place with an open lawn approach, so it was impossible to sneak in without getting noticed.

Crow and Nin stood on the rooftop of a nearby building and observed the place. Lily had disappeared, presumably to scout, but Crow didn’t pay too much attention to what she was doing. After all, he was just a spectator.

Song Lin was with another group, but once more, Crow wasn’t sure what part she had in all this. Nin organized everything, and all his wives helped her. It almost felt like he was unnecessary, but he agreed to let her handle it, so he couldn’t say much.

Nin jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck, and planted a kiss against Crow’s gaping mouth. He was so surprised that he wasn’t sure what was happening at first. Grabbing her by the waist, he lifted her up so she wasn’t hanging and her legs wrapped around him. When she was done, she cheekily pat him on the cheek and hopped down.

“Good boy.”

“Do it again,” Crow growled. “And I’ll take you here and now.”

Nin laughed, and her eyes danced with merriment. Crow could see it clearly. She was begging for that to happen, and he flushed as he wasn’t as bold as this little dragon was. However, other things were happening, and it wasn’t good to get distracted.

“It is about to start,” she told him.

“Where’s Acco?”

“Not sure. I sent him a while ago to check on Mara. Can he really teleport into any place he wants?”

“Don’t think so. Some formations will still attack him, and he must be aware of things when passing through the void. There are risks, and as we climb the tower, we’ll be exposed for the foolish bumpkins we are. I’ve also noticed that I can sense a slight disturbance when he’s appearing, which would make him vulnerable.”

“You sure that isn’t because of the Constellation?”

Crow thought about it and couldn’t answer that for sure. Part of why he could sense it was his Sage’s Mind. It allowed him to pick out minute changes in his surroundings. Add in the Three-Headed Crow and the Silver-Eyed Crow, and he was suddenly omniscient. The only reason he avoided using those things was that he didn’t want to rely on them to hone his combat awareness and danger sense. They might be part of him, but he still treated those abilities like outside tools, which meant they were a potential liability.

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Plus, it was a hassle activating the auras and the various visions.

As he was thinking about things, Nin’s people launched a head over the wall. Crow watched as it bounced across the lawn and rolled to a stop a dozen meters from the stairs leading up to a patio. The man patrolling nearby stopped and approached the object. Because of his deviation, others responded appropriately as well.

Grabbing the head by its hair, the guard pulled it up and turned it so he could see its face. Immediately, the guard paled in fear and almost dropped it. In fact, he wanted to kick it away and pretend he never saw it. Carrying it was already a death sentence as far as he was concerned. He recognized the man as one of the councilmen the syndicate controlled. Regardless of what he wanted to do, he kept a firm grip on the head. His eyes scanned the section of the wall where the head came from.

He almost fainted when another head came sailing over the wall. It was an action that finally woke everyone up from their stupor. Armed men and women came out of every building ready for battle. They filled up the lawn between the manor and the wall, but most were confused about why they were called to arms.

Nin giggled as the grand finale played out. Crow’s mouth dropped open as almost a dozen heads were launched over the walls all at once. It was impossible to miss, and even the locals were watching now. Nin laughed even harder.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“You don’t recognize the faces?”

“No?”

“Those are the figurines you carved. Your Soul Carving is extraordinary. Even I didn’t know half of those people were on the take, but I could find them by the aura of those little carvings. I didn’t miss any of them.”

“Every one of those was a real person?”

“Yep. Now, I bet you are still wondering where sister Lin is and how she is going to aid us, right?”

Crow looked a little guilty. He knew he had underestimated her a little and felt terrible for doing so. Even women had their pride.

“Behold…” Nin whispered.

Pop. Pop. Pop…

The heads exploded, and a pink mist permeated the area between the building and the wall. Crow shuddered upon seeing it and knew nothing good was about to happen. The syndicate members convulsed and collapsed to the ground. Their backs arched painfully as their limbs scrambled and clawed as if they each were autonomous beasts.

Foam frothed at their mouths. It was tinged pink, and Crow suspected it was just as dangerous as the mist still settling in the air.

He swallowed hard upon seeing the scene. In his heart, he knew this was Song Lin’s work but just couldn’t picture seeing his soft and innocent Song Lin doing this. It felt wrong.

“Don’t worry, they aren’t dead. It’s a paralytic and some other mumbo jumbo stuff I didn’t understand. She said it’s painful, but they’ll all recover in a day or two—unless… you massacre them first.”

Boom!

Before Crow processed one thing, another was already happening. Otto, now twice the size of an ordinary man, charged the front gates with a massive stone hammer. It was more like a boulder affixed to a tree, but either way, it was impressive. The gate didn’t just crash open—it was blown off. Part of the wall collapsed along with it, and the unlucky bastards on the other side were turned blood streaks across the lawn. They didn’t even have an intact corpse.

“Let’s go!” Nin clapped, and Crow grabbed her as he leaped down from the building. They charged through the missing gates and followed after Otto.

Crow felt it was a bit weird. Everything had gone too smoothly. There was little to no fighting, and everything outside was resolved in less than thirty minutes.

They reached the large wooden door that was the entrance to the manor hour in time to see Otto wind up his fist. The giant didn’t use anything but raw power, but the instant his fist hit the door, wood splinters blasted into the foyer. The outer wall cracked, and the glass in the side windows shattered. That strange ability Otto got from the Sweet Onion was crazy. Even Crow wasn’t sure he could survive a full-powered strike from Otto now.

Inside the house, Crow saw plenty of corpses. None of these were killed by Otto.

“What is going on, now?” Crow asked as he looked at Nin.