Sorry for the delay, everyone. Blame the admins.

Crashing

"Kill them all!" Ragar shouted with a swing of his arm.

As one, the Profane charged towards Noah and his friends. The party had been a delightful get-together, but without some violence and bloodshed, it just wouldn't be a complete evening. Then, lo and behold, the perfect entertainment had arrived. These ghouls would soon be proven wrong in their assumptions.

Seraph jumped forward, swinging his hammer while wrapped in a burning holy aura. Attached to the back of the hammer was a rune-scribed diamond, similar to the Star of Sylphtoria, and when Seraph struck the ground, he unleashed a might burst of holy energy in all directions, projected and augmented by that diamond. The light washed over the mob of Profane like a tidal wave of acid, melting their flesh and drawing howls of death and agony while the ground beneath their feet was consecrated, undoing Andromeda's Cursed Earth. The only reason she was spared from the blast was that one of her servants leaped in front of her and sacrificed himself, using his body as a shield.

Despite the deaths of their comrades, more ghouls rushed forward to attack. If Seraph was allowed to continue setting off huge explosions like that, they had no chance of winning. They had to intercept him and keep him from swinging his hammer. That said, he was far from their only concern. Noah and his friends were in tight formation, utilizing everyone's abilities to their fullest. He, Seraph, Valia, Roc, and Foley were on the front line, taking on the ravenous ghouls.

Foley, with his shield, was in charge of bearing the strongest attacks aimed at their group, be they physical or magical. The ghouls attacked him with all of their strength, but the shield of his family was not simply for show, nor was the man who wielded it. No matter how hard they battered his defenses, they could not break through or even push him back. The tile floor was polished, but it was like he was rooted to the ground like a tree. Their claws broke against the shield, their arms painfully reverberated from the reflected force, and their frustration built without limit. He wasn't even using magic at this point, yet he remained and impenetrable wall.

To Foley's right, Valia hacked and slashed his elven grace and merciless precision. Few of the ghouls had thought to bring weapons, and without Tysinger attending the party, she wondered if there were any swordsmen in the mansion who could give her a proper fight. Her blade wasn't imbued with any kind of holy power like Noah's, but the aura of silver mana burning on the edge allowed her to cut through her foes like they were blades of grass.

Noah was using his invisibility/clone combo to slaughter all of the ghouls coming his way. By simply concealing the actual movements of his sword arm, he could strike the Profane from any angle, completely bypassing their guard, and by separating from his clone and using it as a decoy, he could behead the ghouls from behind without them ever knowing what happened. Even as ghouls devoid of magic, they were born to be apex predators, with their physical attributes making them superior to the mortal races.

However, despite their unholy gifts, one simple fact remained: they couldn't hit what they couldn't see. It didn't matter how many mighty warriors they had killed in ages past, how many people they had devoured, or how long they had lived; once Noah's invisible sword met their necks, nothing mattered. No amount of skill, strength, or magic could save them. They died, as simple as that.

On Foley's left, Seraph was sending ghouls flying through the air, only for them to the hit the ground as a muddy mess of ash and blood. Each swing of his hammer inflicted death, and despite his many humbling moments over the past few years, he couldn't help but feel confident and unstoppable. He was Light's Emissary, second only to Adwith Tarnas as the world's greatest holy warrior, and here he was, facing a legion of unholy monsters who screamed in pain simply from coming to close to him. This was it, what he was born to do, what he had waited his whole life to accomplish. These monsters were born to die by his hand, and he was born to exterminate them. Noah had gotten Lupin out, so he was safe. All Seraph had to do was finish his work here, and he'd finally see his brother again.

Nearby, Roc was making sure he pulled his weight in the fight, and then some. He was in constant motion, hammering the approaching ghouls with skeleton-shattering kicks, while his hand, wrapped in mana, carved through flesh like a sword. The ghouls thought he was weak because he only had one arm, and that was an opportunity he would not waste. Noah had taught him proper breathing techniques for extended battles, so even against this army, his strength wouldn't falter. With Seraph fighting close to him, he couldn't allow himself to fall behind. He'd surpass Light's Emissary and prove that a trained hand was stronger than a holy one. He was even keeping score, just so that he might brag later.

Behind the front line, Alexis and Shannon served as the bishops on their chessboard. Alexis mowed down the ghouls with magic attacks, launching mana bolts at them like a machine gun spraying lead. Shannon's arrows were imbued with acidic and explosive payloads, ripping the ghouls apart and melting their flesh just like Seraph's holy attacks. Their knight rings were loaded with as many arrows as they could store, meaning that they could shoot until their fingers bled and not run out of ammo. For them to be fighting here was cathartic. Both of them had lost their homes to the Profane invasion, so to take the fight to them, to invade their stronghold and rob these monsters of any semblance of safety and security, felt like well-deserved payback.

In the center of the formation, under the most protection, were Sophia and Daniel. Whenever someone was injured, Sophia would send a blast of healing energy their way, or if they faced a difficult opponent, she would apply a blessing. Daniel was using his Mood Music to give everyone a boost in abilities. If either of them fell, the tide of battle could shift in an instant, so they had to stay alive and support their friends. All of their fighting up to this point had been instigated by others, bringing conflict to their doorstep. Neither of them was a warrior and knew their role was to stay in the back, but here they were, having marched into enemy territory, finally seizing their destinies.

Behind them, Cyrilo and Cynatas offered magical support, dispatching any foes that tried to attack from above or sneak around to attack from behind, as well as neutralizing enemy spells. These women had spent their lives behind closed doors. Cyrilo had some combat experience dealing with violent incidents at the Knight's Sheath, but Cynatas had lived a most violence-free life. However, the former princess found that it came naturally to her. The air was her ally and her weapon, a gift she had been forced to smother limit while in Duravound, but now, it felt like she was free to use her power to its maximum potential. Working together, the two of them felt like victory was already in their grasp.

Thought vastly outnumbered, this formation made them all but invincible, and formidable as the Profane were, they were not at their best. Most people couldn't use magic, so even when they became ghouls, they didn't receive any powerful spells. Their strength, speed, endurance, and stamina were greatly enhanced, but the same could be said fiends, who also received hulking bodies and long claws and fangs. Most of the party attendees fell into this category: noble in attire but common in strength. They tried to overwhelm Noah and his friends, but broke against their formation like water on rock.

Outside of the great hall, Bella heard the sounds of battle and flashed a wicked grin. It was time to make her Darling proud. All of Andromeda's servants and guards were wondering what was going on and wanted to rush to her side, but Bella cut them off. She zoomed through the mansion corridors, laughing maniacally as blood spilled off her blades. She carved the ghouls down one at a time, many dying before even realizing who it was that killed them. Those who tried to resist and fight her off found themselves utterly overpowered and met their end with the taste of betrayal and blood on their lips.

Soon enough, she came upon the two ghouls she wanted to kill most of all. Aro and Ora, seeing Bella and the Profane blood that soaked her outfit, lost their mocking smiles as they faced her in a corpse-riddled hallway.

"What are you doing, you crazy bitch?!" Aro shrieked.

"Being my true self. Isn't that what you weaklings keep prattling on and on about?"

"You'll pay for this! In Mistress Andromeda's name, we will end you! Ready, Aro?"

"Ready, Ora!"

The twins joined hands and then separated, but remained linked together by a series of threads stretching between their fingertips, stronger than steel and sharper than a razor. They zoomed towards Bella with inhuman speed, but she simply stood still with her arms extended, daring them to attack. They sprinted past her, catching her with their threads and slicing in her half at the waist with five cuts. They came to a stop and looked back, astonished to see her still standing. They had felt their threads slice through flesh, muscle, and bone, and simply looking at her maid uniform, it was clear that their attack had landed, yet there was no wound present.

Bella's head twisted around 180º, and she grinned with eyes full of madness. "You brats are going to have to do better than that.

She lunged for them, ready to slice the twins apart with her blades. Aro and Ora scattered, running and jumping through the corridor with masterful speed and acrobatics. They danced around Bella, always keeping her between them and staying out of her reach. Again and again, they sliced her with their threads, clotheslining Bella from all angles and at all parts of her body, but it soon dawned on them that she was healing even faster than they could inflict damage. The moment their threads broke the skin, it healed over them, and it didn't matter where they attacked. Even when they carved through her skull, splitting her head into slices and chopping up her brain like a tomato on a cutting board, she didn't slow down or even pause for a moment, healing instantly.

Yet despite the monstrous speed Bella had shown earlier, she was moving leisurely in her pursuit of the twins. It wasn't due to fatigue or weakness; she was simply playing with her food. She wanted to give them the chance to try every trick and attack they had so they'd realize how utterly doomed they were. After how much they had teased and annoyed her, she wanted to inflict a terrible despair upon them. They inevitably realized that this was a battle couldn't win. They both knew it was time to escape without needing to speak a word, as if communicating telepathically. Unfortunately for them, Bella sensed their decision to escape, and decided it was time to finish them off.

As the two turned to flee, Bella appeared in front of them, moving so fast that it was like she had teleported. The fear in their eyes satisfied her to no end, and she grabbed them both by the throat, raising them off the ground.

"Well, well, look what I have here. A pair of misbehaving brats who need an attitude adjustment."

"Stupid whore!" Ora grunted as she struggled to breathe.

"Lying traitor!" Aro gasped, likewise fighting to get air through.

"You know, from the very moment I met you two, I've wondered something: which twin would suffer the most, having to watch the other one die. After putting up with you for so long, I finally get to find out."

Aro lashed out at Bella, trying to rip her face with her nails. In response, Bella opened her jaws and devoured Aro's hand in a lightning-fast bite. Aro screamed in agony as black blood sprayed from the stump of her wrist.

"Leave her alone, you bitch!" Ora shrieked.

"Ooh, I like your reaction. Let's see how she responds." She then pulled Ora in close and sank her teeth into her torso, rippling out a huge chunk of flesh and making her scream like her sister. "So, who suffers more? Who?" She bit Aro on the leg, ripping out her calf muscles and making her scream. "Who?" She bit Ora on the shoulder, crushing the bones between her jaws like they were crackers and nearly ripping off the entire limb. "Who?" She sank her teeth into Aro's right breast and tore it off. "Who?" Aro's ear then met the same fate. "Who?" Ora's cheek. "Who?!" Aro's eye. "Who?!" Ora's hand. "Who?! Who?! Who?!" Bella cackled, continuing to rip off chunks of the two ghouls and relishing their screams of agony.

Eventually, they were reduced to two shredded strips of roadkill, barely alive shuddering in agony as their wounds slowly healed and tears poured down their cheeks. "Hmmm, I can't decide. You both seem to be suffering equally, so I guess it doesn't matter which one dies first. Oh well, I guess I'll just be merciful and let you both die at the same time."

She then pressed the sides of their faces together and began to rub them like she would her palms. Harder and harder she squeezed them together, faster and faster she ground them, with friction doing the work for her. The two ghouls continued to scream as skin tore against skin, muscle frayed against muscle, and bone was sanded against bone. They desperately tried to hold each other and make eye contact, wanting to comfort each other as they approached their deaths, but nothing could alleviate the pain of their flesh or their souls. All they could do was keep screaming until finally, their skulls caved in and their heads were crushed between Bella's hands like rotten melons.

Bella dropped their mangled corpses and shuddered in bliss and satisfaction. "People love to call things better than sex. Killing you two didn't even come close, but it was pretty high up there. Now, where is that smug asshole butler?"

Back in the main hall, Andromeda was once more on her feet, sporting a nasty burn on her cheek from Seraph's earlier blast. Her once beautiful face was further twisted by a snarl of fury as she watched her fellow Profane being slaughtered by Noah and his friends.

"You bastards dare come into my home, attack my kin, and steal my possessions! You'll never leave this place alive! Writhing Torment!" she cast, sending bolts of black lightning shooting from her fingers at the invaders. Noah and the others on the front line received the attack, struggling to stay on their feet as every nerve ending in their bodies was targeted by unholy power. Daniel's magic was protecting them from most of the damaging effects, but while they were occupied by the pain, the Profane were closing in.

"Chain Shot!" Alexis cast, swinging her bow and launching a wave of mana bolts at the Profane, pausing their advance as those in the front were mowed down. At the same time, Shannon launched three exploding arrows at Andromeda, but they were stopped in midair before they could reach her, caught by Harrigan's telekinesis. A barrier of wind then encircled the group, courtesy of Cynatas, and Noah and the others were liberated from Andromeda's attack. Other dark spells were thrown at the barrier, from black flames to corrupted water that burned like acid, but Cynatas's power was absolute.

Noah, shaking off the lingering effects of Andromeda's lightning, held out his hand. "False Arsenal."

An illusory machine gun appeared in his grip, and Cynatas opened up the barrier so he could spray Andromeda and the other Profane with mana bullets. Unlike before, when his bullets could only stun with a momentary feeling of mortal peril, the upgraded version of the spell, now with it's name unlocked, allowed him to inflict pain just as he could with his phantom blades. This was one attack that Harrigan could not stop, and he and Andromeda were hit with numerous rounds, along with their fellow Profane. No wounds were inflicted, but the pain was as livid as could be, and Andromeda, who got hit in the shoulder, could not move her arm. Harrigan ushered her past the ranks of her fellow Profane to Ragar's side, trying to keep her safe.

"We have to split them up. They're too powerful to deal with all together," she said.

"Damn it! That's what they should be saying about us!" Ragar growled. "I know you consider this a faux pas, but I need to curse the ground here in your mansion."

"Do whatever you have to. You distract them, and I'll work on separating them."

Ragar tore into his wrist with his fangs and splashed the floor with his blood. "Restless Battlefield," he cast.

A dark aura swept through the floor, undoing Seraph's consecration and once more leaving the ground cursed. The aura spread to the slain ghouls, those killed by fighters other than Seraph, and a deathly groan passed their lips. As one, they all began to rise, getting back on their feet despite their wounds. There was no sign of the identities they once possessed or the thoughts that used to run through their heads. They had become mindless puppets, and upon seeing Noah's group, this assembling of living beings, they were possessed by a renewed instinct to kill.

"Ah shit," Noah muttered. "If I have to slog through yet another goddamn zombie apocalypse...."

The undead swarmed towards Noah's group. They lacked the same abilities and coordination they had when they were alive, but they were no less driven by their murderous desires. As the battle entered this next phase, a new advantage for the enemy revealed itself. Whether the undead ghouls were slashed, beaten, or burned, they didn't die. Noah would slice their heads off, and they'd keep walking. Roc would break their bones, and they'd crawl after him. Shannon and Alexis would cut them down with arrows, but they'd just get right back to their feet. Even their severed limbs would continue dragging themselves forward to keep fighting. Though weaker as undead, these ghouls were now far more tenacious.

What's more, Noah realized that his illusions weren't affecting them. Mana bullets did nothing, and even when he was invisible, they could still detect his exact location. Either Ragar was immune to Noah's magic and could control the undead's movements, or they were guided by a very unique kind of spiritual awareness, allowing them to pursue their targets regardless of their physical senses. It seemed that not even Noah could deceive the dead.

"Seraph, clear the board!" Noah shouted.

Seraph raised his hammer and swung it down for another light explosion, but when he struck the ground, his power didn't spread in all directions and eradicate the undead scourge. It was pulled like water down a drain, flowing past the zombified Profane and into Voraith's gullet, standing behind their ranks.

"He, Prince, it's been a while," he then said with mocking laughter.

The Profane crowd had been thinned, with the foolish and weak diving headfirst into battle and meeting their end, but the powerful and wise had hung back to observe their foes. Now that the pawns had been wiped out, it was time for the key pieces to make their move.

"Guys, we've got trouble," warned Seraph. Cynatas tried to create a wind barrier to ward off the undead, but Voraith devoured her magic just as he did Seraph's. "It won't work! He can eat spells!"

"That's why I made these for him," said Noah through his clone, as, while invisible, he tossed two bombs towards Voraith.

They were designed similarly to grenades, made with segmented metal casings that guaranteed shrapnel damage. Wrapped in his man, they landed at the ghoul's feet without him noticing, but their explosions certainly caught his attention. Hit by twin flaming shockwaves and storms of metal shards, he was knocked off his feet with his body shredded. Fellow Profane around him were likewise mangled by the explosions, yet as they lay on the floor, expecting their wounds to heal, they were only met with increasing pain.

The bombs were loaded with various drugs, and while the Profane were resistant to most toxins and poisons, they didn't grant them total immunity to all chemical warfare. Hallucinogens, allergens, and clotting agents were leaving them unable to move. With Voraith temporarily neutralized, Seraph again brought down his hammer onto the ground, vaporizing the undead army with a burst of light and once more cleansing the ground of its Profane curse.

Everyone was forced to shield their eyes against such blinding light, but in that moment, an explosion reached the ears of Noah and his friends. Seraph hit the ground, wrapped in smoke and spraying blood. Around him were the shards of Shannon's exploding arrows, the ones Harrigan caught and then apparently shot back. He gave them no time to rest, using his telekinesis to pick up cutlery from the party and launch it at Noah's group like a giant blunderbuss.

"Whirlpool Shield!" Foley cast, projecting a wave of mana. All of the flying cutlery changed direction in midair, shooting towards Foley's shield instead of him and his friends. With Foley offering cover, Sophia went to work healing Seraph. He was close to death, but if she could just stabilize him, then his own healing powers would kick in.

Near Harrigan, Miasmarda ripped off his black garb and inflated his lungs. "Death Mist!" he cast with his gangly voice, before sending a black cloud of poison surging towards Noah and his friends.

"Cleansing Breeze," Cynatas countered, meeting the ghoul's breath with a blast of enchanted wind, purging the air of his toxic malevolence.

Several ghouls charged forward, and with each step, their bodies grew in size. Their clothes were torn to shreds as their muscles and skeletons seemingly doubled in size with each passing moment. They towered over the group like the ogre fiends from Voraith's entourage. One of them swung down his mighty fist, and Foley intercepted with another spell. The ghoul's fist struck his defenses, and he was repelled by the immovable object. In that moment of distraction, Noah, Roc, and Valia broke free of the formation and went on the offense. Noah slipped past the giants' guard and slashed their ankles while Roc attacked from above, striking their faces with his kicks and helping to bring them down to Valia's level, who severed their massive heads with mana-imbued slashes.

As the fighting continued, Andromeda escaped the great hall, searching for one of her servants in particular. He was the groundskeeper, and she needed his powers. She could sense his location in the mansion, but wondered why so many of her other servants had seemingly vanished from her awareness. It became clear to her when she stumbled across their butchered corpses.

"Langdon! Maria! Penelope!" she exclaimed, falling to her knees beside the slaughtered butler and maids.

With everything that was going on, she tried to remain strong, but her tears would not obey her will, falling from her lashes and mixing with the blood that soaked the floor. They had been by her side for centuries, unflinching in their love and loyalty, and this was the reward they got? As she tried to understand how this could have happened, Bella's deranged cackle echoed through the corridor and reached her ears, filling her with burning rage.

Now it all made sense. When she caught Bella in Lupin's room, it wasn't because they were reminiscing about Colbrand or she wanted to eat him; they were planning his escape. When she first arrived, she remembered Bella mentioning something about her Darling, and someone said she had a connection to Noah. She and Helena didn't cross paths by coincidence; Noah sent her to infiltrate the Profane and help him free Lupin. All this time, she had a spy living under her roof, and now her beloved servants were suffering for it.

"Noah, Bella, you will pay for this!" she growled before getting back to her feet.

She followed the signal of her groundskeeper, soon finding him in much the same condition as everyone else. Bella had already slashed him to pieces, and not even his Profane powers could hold off death much longer. While most of her servants wore prim and proper uniforms, he was garbed in the attire of a working man, one who knew the soil and had cultivated the land surrounding the estate. Yet to Andromeda, those modest clothes were like a suit of polished armor, magnificent and dependable.

"Lemark!" she tearfully exclaimed as she crouched beside him, clutching his hand. It was the only limb still attached.

"My Lady," he coughed, struggling to breathe with only one lung and a mouth full of blood.

"Hold on. There is still time to help you. If I can just get you some food to recover your strength...."

"No, My Lady, it is too late for me. Even we, who dwell in darkness, cannot fully escape the shadow of death."

Andromeda tearfully chuckled. "You were never a very strong healer. Tough as an ox, but you might as well heal like a human. Your hands were always so rough and callused from your work. The rest of us, our flesh heals so quickly that we never get calluses. But your hands would never forget their labors." She pressed his palm to her cheek, wetting it with her tears. "I always loved these hands."

"And that is why I can die, knowing I lived a good life, because I devoted it to making you happy."

"I'm so sorry, Lemark. You don't deserve to die like this, and I don't deserve to ask anything for of you in these moments, but for the sake of everyone who still remains, I must. Please, I need your help. I need you to use your powers one last time."

Lemark gave another bloody cough, with the last of his strength fading from his eyes. "That is beyond me now. There is nothing I can do in this state. But my powers are yours to use, just as they've always been. Everything I am, everything I have, belongs to you, just like the rest of us. If even in death, I can assist and serve you, then I am truly blessed. Do whatever you must, My landy, and know I got to spend my final moments with a smile thanks to you."

He then closed his eyes and released his final breath. Feeling the last flickers of his life turn to smoke, Andromeda could no longer hold back her pain and tears, and granted herself just a few moments to wail in her grief, letting her cries echo through the halls of her home, and her tears fall without restraint. However, time was of the essence, and she could not succumb to her pain just yet. She had to save the rest of her peerage, no matter the cost. She placed her hands on Lemark's cold cheeks and channeled black lightning into his brain.

Since she was the one who turned him, she still had some access to his magic by using his body like a scroll. He possessed and incredibly powerful ability, only usable within the confines of her Profane territory. When she turned him, she had no idea he would manifest such a remarkable magic, but as the groundskeeper, it seemed fitting. This would be the last time it would ever activate, and under these circumstances, she couldn't hope to control it or unlock its full potential, but she was going to use it for all it was worth. Seraph had sanctified the ground in the great hall, removing it from her ownership, but she'd just have to force the spell.

"Domain Shuffle!" she cast, sending black lightning surging from her and Lemark.

Throughout the entire mansion, thunderous streaks of dark energy arced across open spaces, reminiscent of a ferocious monster looking for a way out. Back in the great hall, the battle had momentarily paused as what seemed like an entire thunderstorm was roaring to life above everyone's heads. Noah and his friends, and even the Profane, instinctively crouched down and shielded themselves as the black lightning struck and exploded all around them. Even Cynatas's wind could not protect them, and it felt like at any moment, the entire mansion would explode. Everyone closed their eyes, anticipating their fiery intitiation into oblivion, only for the noise and lightshow to suddenly cease.

Slowly, everyone stood up and looked around, realizing they weren't where they were used to be. Everyone in the mansion, where Profane or not, had been teleported elsewhere, scattered randomly through the estate. Noah found himself living alone in the attic, dizzy from the sudden shift. He had anticipated the Profane trying to divide and conquer, but a spatial technique went beyond what he was prepared for. Andromeda's Cursed Earth was also blocking his spiritual senses, so he could detect the mana signatures of enemies or allies. At least he knew the layout of the mansion.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a compass, with the needle pointing forward and down at an angle. He had given everyone a similar compass, each one pointing to a tracking stone that Lupin received. Even if they were separated, they'd just follow their compasses to find Lupin, and they'd all be reunited. The Cursed Earth may have blocked his senses, but the compass still worked. He managed to find the ladder leading out of the attic, but as he dropped down into the corridor below, he found himself facing his first obstacle.

"Noah, the Wandering Spirit, I presume?" Harrigan asked.

"That would be me. You must be Andromeda's butler. I must say, this mansion is quite beautiful, and not a speck of dirt to be found. You do an excellent job of maintaining the estate."

"Even from an uninvited guest, such words honor me."

"You deserve it. I can sense the strength of your loyalty to your predecessor. Do you enjoy your work?"

"With every fiber of my being. Some tasks are more menial than others, but there is no cause more noble than serving my Lady, whether it be sweeping the floors, doing the laundry, or, in your case, taking out the trash." Along the walls were several weapons on display, everything from swords to halberds. They were pulled off the wall by telekinesis and floated around Harrigan. "You're going to pay for setting foot in this sacred place. In Mistress Andromeda's name, I will kill you."

"No, you're already dead."

"What?" Harrigan cursed.

He launched several blades at Noah, but they all passed through him as if he were made of nothing but air. Before Harrigan could even ponder what was going on, his head slid off his neck, removed by a decapitating strike. He fell to the floor, and the real Noah appeared behind him. With a syringe in hand, he stabbed Harrigan in the eye, piercing his venom gland. Genuine venom would make an excellent component for anti-Profane weapons, and he had a whole mansion full of Profane, just waiting to be harvested. As he extracted the venom, he noticed that his holy sword had cauterized Harrigan's neck.

"You won't even let your blood dirty the carpet. As a butler, you are worth your salt, sir."

A few floors down from him, Valia woke up to find herself in a bathtub. "What in the world?" she muttered. Fortunately, she still had her sword, but she was all alone. "Noah! Shannon!" she called out. She didn't hear any responses, but did sense movement. Several hurried footsteps were approaching, and their gaits did not belong to anyone she cared about. Several ghouls, snarling with bloodlust, swarmed the bathroom door, eager to attack the isolated elf, but with a flurry of swings, Valia sliced them to pieces, spraying their black viscera in all directions.

Valia ran out of the bathroom and down the corridors. "Noah! Shannon!" she called out again. Though the mission was to rescue Lupin, her lovers were always her top priority. Down the hallway, she spotted a ghoul garbed in heavy armor, likely taken from a display stand, witht eh matching mace. Spitting her approach, he charged towards her, moving faster than any human could under such weight. He swung at her with the mace, and she intercepted with her sword.

"Zodiac: Bombit!"

She let her sword get pushed back like the hammer of a gun, causing the blade to glow with mana as it absorbed the force of the ghoul's attack, and she unleashed that force in a vertical slash, carving the ghoul in half straight down the middle. Up ahead, more ghouls and even some firneds were rushing towards her.

"Zodiac: Udan! Teez!"

Boosting both her speed and cutting power, she abandoned the floor, running on the walls and ceiling to avoid the slashes of her foes and deliver several cuts of her own. Her sword severed limbs and heads, and as she reached the end of the corridor, their lifeless bodies dropped. She continued running, now following the sound of an explosion nearby, and discovered Cynatas. She was surrounded by guard dogs, as evident by their collards, and each one was imbued with a parasite, giving them powerful bodies and more ferocious fangs and claws. Snarling in fury, they lunged for her again and again, but with a single flick of her wrist, she'd send them flying with a blast of air. Valia zoomed over and helped finish them off, turning the corrupted beasts into mincemeat.

"Lady Zodiac, good to see you," Cynatas sighed in relief.

"Same to you. I woke up in a bathtub. What about you?"

"I found myself in someone's bedroom. I don't even know who it was, but it stank of sex and the mattress was sticky and damp. It seems like a few people had some fun before the party."

"You didn't wake up on the mattress, did you?"

"No, thank the gods. I would have had to burn my clothes and hair. My first trip outside of Duravound, and you and your friends take me to the most interesting place."

"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet. Anyway, let's go. This place is huge, but not so big that we can't find everyone."

"Don't worry. Soon, you'll all be reunited." Valia and Cynatas looked down the hallways to see Ragar approaching. "But I doubt your friends will like the condition they find you in."

"Hello, Sados," said Cynatas.

"It took you long enough to figure it out."

"I knew you had a bad air around you, but thinking back, it seemed like there was always someone in the royal court with that nasty aura. You're surprisingly adept at wigs and makeup."

"Adaptability is one of life's greatest attributes. Just as a hermit crab discards its old shell and attains a new one to survive, I discard old names and faces and attain new ones to blend in. If only you knew how far Vandheim has developed thanks to me. I am one of the cornerstones of this country, helping to turn it from a gaggle of warring clans scrounging among rocks into an empire.

"All so that you could destroy it when the time is right," said Cynatas.

"No, not destroy. Vandheim will be a part of something great, something divine. There is still a place for you in it, Cynatas. You could join us. You as well, lady Zodiac."

"Thanks, but I've already tried the whole Profane thing. Frankly, I found it disappointing," Valia shot back. "Cynatas, cover me."

She then charged towards Ragar, ready to take his head, but as she approached, he held out his arms, revealing the blood dripping from his wrists. They emerged from behind him, a swarm of undead, and try as Valia might to hack her way through their ranks and make her way to Ragar, she could not inflict a fatal strike on any of them. Anything she cut off would gain a mind of its own, while the main bodies would continue to lunge for her, regardless of their wounds.

Valia was forced to activate her steel body enchantment to protect herself from their gnashing teeth and seizing claws. When they started grabbing onto her, she boosted her strength to shake them off, but soon, it was like trying to fight against a mudslide, and she feared being pulled into the undead's midst. Cynatas came to her rescue, sending blasts of air shooting past her and tearing through Ragar's legion.

"Macabre Craftwork," Ragar cast, pressing his bloody hands together.

All of the shredded strips of undead tissue and coagulated blood began to gather, merging together into new shapes and forms. The Profane guard dogs that Valia killed earlier were similarly cannibalized, joining into a growing mass of reanimated flesh. Ragar stepped back, and the mass absorbed him, serving as a mobile bunker to protect him. A mouth opened up in the mass, filled with clawed hands in place of teeth, while the eyes of all of the slain Profane gathered across what could loosely be called a face, all staring at Valia and Cynatas and making their skin crawl.

A barrage of tentacles then reached out towards them, serrated with the spinal columns of dead Profane and spikes made from their bones. Valia severed the tentacles, and Cynatas shoved them back with a blast of air, but they simply rejoined the central mass. Cynatas continued firing air blasts with greater and greater power, punching holes into the undead mob, but they all closed instantly. Shaking the walls and floor, this undead abomination began to crawl towards them, filling up the corridor like a train rushing down a subway line.

"If you will not join us in life, you will join us in death!" Ragar roared from within his new monster.

While Valia and Cynatas were tangling with Ragar, Seraph was waking up in the kitchen. Bad enough that he got warped away from everyone else, but when he rematerialized, he did so in midair and ended up falling, striking his head on the edge of a counter. He managed to heal the wound, but was unnerved by how close he came to dying, and that was on top of his injuries from the exploding arrows. He slowly got to his feet, trying to wipe away the blood, only to look around and stagger. The cooks were all missing, but their unfinished dishes remained, waiting to be completed and served. Humans, beastmen, and dwarves were being butchered, seasoned, sauced, sautéed, baked, blended, chilled, and so on, all to prepare a grand feast for the attendees of Andromeda's party.

Everywhere Seraph looked, he saw heads, muscles, entrails, and peeled skin next to all manner of bloody cooking tools. He spotted dead child hanging by her wrists so she could be drained of blood. Unable to hold back any longer, he fell to his knees and retched onto the floor. How long had this been going on? How many innocent people have been brought to this place and hacked to pieces atop these cutting boards? How many men, women, and children had been tortured, killed, and devoured by these heartless monsters.

Seraph grabbed his hammer, struggling to control his frantic breathing and trembling hands. He could not allow this horror to continue. It wasn't enough to simply kill the Profane; he couldn't allow this place to exist. He swung his hammer with a mighty roar and brought it down onto the table in the middle of the kitchen, setting off an explosion of light. Holy magic wasn't suited for physical destruction and damage, but Seraph put all of his strength into the impact, and the kitchen was obliterated in the explosion, with all of the remains of the dead reduced to ash.

The light faced, leaving Seraph standing in a crater, gasping for air. It wasn't enough. He had to level this entire mansion, burn the rubble into ash, and scatter the ash to the far corners of the planet with an even bigger explosion, all to erase the evil that polluted the land. But as he stood there, gripped by horror and disgust, a voice reached his ears.

"Hello? Is anyone there? Can anyone hear me? Noah!"

Seraph sprinted out of the wrecked kitchen, following the voice, and soon stepping out into a hallway.

"Lupin!" he exclaimed, seeing his brother.

"Seraph!" Lupin shouted in return.

Seraph ran over and the two brothers grabbed each other in a powerful hug, neither of them able to hold back the tears of joy. After everything that had happened to them since they last met, everything in Welindar and the death of Nell, everything in Colbrand and the horrors of the Profane, both Seraph and Lupin had been through so much, pushed to the absolute breaking point, but finally seeing each other again erased all that pain.

"I thought you were dead! I thought you were dead!" Seraph cried in relief.

"I knew we've meet again. All this time, I held onto hope that you would find me!" Lupin laughed, overwhelmed with joy.

"It's been so long! So much has happened! Father, Galvin, you... I thought I was the last of our family.

"Never! The sons of Uther are reunited once more!"

They then separated and looked at each other, and Lupin laughed in disbelief. "Are you really Seraph?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've really grown, little brother. I barely even recognize you from the last time we were together. I can see it in your eyes; you've grown to be a fine man."

"Seraph shook his head with a smile. "No, I haven't, not yet, but I will. I have a lot of sins to make up for, and with Lumendori as my witness, I will redeem myself and save this world. I'm finally on the right path."

"If Father could see you now, he would be so proud. There is so much to talk about, so much I want to tell you and so much I want to hear, but it'll have to wait."

"You're right. We're still in the very middle of this rescue operation. We have to find everyone and get out of here."

"Looks like I'm not the only one who heard that explosion," said Lupin, looking past Seraph and seeing a crowd of Profane appear at the other end of the hallway.

"No kidding," Seraph added, looking over Lupin's shoulder to a second horde. The two turned around, standing back-to-back. "Are you strong enough to fight?"

Lupin brandished his chain and began swinging it to build a charge. "I just need to shake off the rust. Ready, Brother?"

"Ready."

"FOR UTHER!" they both shouted, separating and running towards their foes.

Lupin continued swinging his chain as he and the Profane approached each other. The first in his reach leaped through the air, his face a perfect portrait of the bloodlust and hunger he felt. After spending so much time around the voracious cannibals, trying to ignore their blatant desire to rip him limb from limb, Lupin was ready for payback. He swung his whip, slashing the ghoul across the waist and cutting him in half.

The second lunged for him, claws bared, but Lupin grabbed his arm with a chain and then stabbed him up through the chin with one of the spikes at the end. He grabbed the spike and then turned and stabbed a third ghoul in the temple while threading the chain through the lower jaw of the second. He pulled hard on the chain and kicked the second ghoul in the chest with all of his strength, succeeding in ripping his lower jaw off. Even for a ghoul, such an injury could not be ignored, and he collapsed from the wound.

Lupin turned his attention back to the third ghoul, disoriented after being stabbed in the skull. When she was a human, she was probably quite lovely, but all he saw was a monster to be put down. He grabbed his chain, doubling it up to increase the weight, and swung it to build a mana charge. He then smacked her in the temple, unleashing enough force to completely pulverize her skull.

Several other ghouls circled him, hoping to attack from his blind spot while saying out of his reach, but they vastly underestimated his skill with the whip. He began swinging it above his head, gripping it from the middle with mana flashing and sparking within every gap of the chain links and between the two ends. He swung his whip at another female ghoul, striking her with both ends to behead her and cut her in half at the waist. A male lunged for him, thinking that he was no defenseless after attacking, but with his chain still in motion, Lupin ran his fingers along the length until he found the right point and pulled hard, reversing the direction the swing without sacrificing any of his accumulated momentum, hitting the ghoul in the side of the head with both ends and splattering his brains across the floor.

Lupin once more swung the chain above his head, but let it unravel to its full length. Faster and faster, he engorged it with more accumulating energy, with the chain spinning in his hands like a polearm. When the ghouls all lunged for him, he lashed out with the chain, slicing all of their heads off. More came at him, attacking from different angles, but he mowed them down.

Lupin was sweating and panting from the exertion, painfully aware of how much he had atrophied since he was captured, but it surprised him how easily the chain obeyed his will. He had expected his skill to deteriorate with his strength, but it was second nature of him, coming as naturally as breathing. Words could not describe how much he had missed the feeling of wielding his chain in battle, and it felt like the chain had missed him as well.

He did not consider himself a warrior or someone who took pleasure in violence and combat, but having struggled with powerlessness his entire life, when he wielded that chain, he felt like he was truly in control of his own destiny and not bound by his mortal limits. When he felt the mana crackle up the links, felt the powerful as he swung his whip to build up a charge, felt that brief pause between the attack and the impact, he felt like he truly could use magic, like he had unlocked a power that went beyond the simple strength of the flesh or the sharpness of the mind.

He took a second to look over and see how Seraph was faring. His brother was slaughtering the ghouls one after another, his light-wrapped hammer turning blood into fire and flesh into ash. He had never seen Seraph so in his element before. Lupin was accustomed to watching him dominate fights against trainers and sparring partners back at the palace, always letting his ego get the better of him, but this felt so much more natural, so right. It was like Seraph had truly found his purpose in life. Lupin also cherished this opportunity they both had. There had always been plenty of animosity between them as brothers, and now, here they were, finally fighting together against the enemy of Uther. For Lupin, it felt like he had been waiting all of his life for this.

"Well, well, looky here. If it isn't the royal brats." The mocking voice reached them as the last ghoul fell. Seraph and Lupin both turned as Voraith approached, having recovered from the plethora of drugs used in Noah's bombs. "You need is that third brother fro a full set. What was his name again? Galvin? Yeah, that's right. Where is he? Oh, I remember, he's dead, murdered by his own kin. Good old fratricide. How does it feel knowing that your little reunion will never complete because one of you murdered the third brother."

"You're right, it's sad that he's not here. I can tell you and him would have been best friends, thick as thieves," said Seraph, walking over to stand beside Lupin. "After all, you're broken and twisted inside like he was."

"We'll take him down together," said Lupin. "I still have to repay him for Welindar."

"Agreed. But stay behind me. I have an idea."

Seraph then began to approach Voraith at a steady pace and with unflinching eyes. What's this? Not going to just charge in swinging?" Voraith asked. "But I so enjoyed your desperate flailing last time." Seraph said nothing and continued his advance. Voraith's face twitched. "Very well, then."

He opened his jaws and began sucking up all of the ambient energy, causing frost to accumulate on all of the surrounding surfaces, but Seraph amped up his powers and began radiating holy energy. He continued his slow approach, with it becoming a contest to see if he could put out more energy than Voraith could absorb. With a flash of annoyance in his eyes, Voraith augmented his own gluttony, stuffing himself with all the energy he could. Seraph stood in front of Voraith, glaring at him while burning like a human bonfire. He was barely visible to Voraith, whose vision was blocked by the swirling torrent of power.

Then, without warning, Seraph suddenly stepped to the side, and the end of Lupin's chain shot past him like a bullet. Seraph had been the distraction, approaching Voraith while venting as much power as he could to block the ghoul's sight, while behind him, Lupin swung his chain to build up power. It was glowing with mana, and because of that, it fell under the effects of Voraith's black hole, accelerating it further. Voraith could only eat objects when imbued with active mana, but he was absorbing so much energy from Seraph that the added power of the chain could not be consumed, meaning it would hit him full-force. Seeing the spike shooting towards him, Voraith tried to dodge, but wasn't fast enough, and it pierced him through the neck, pulling the chain through like a needle and thread.

During that moment of pain and distraction, Seraph swung his hammer and struck Voraith in the side of the head. Seraph had used up all of his holy energy keeping Voraith occupied, so he couldn't imbue any into his attacks, but the impact still left Voraith tasting death and struggling to remain conscious. Voraith was about to fall over, but Lupin gave a flick of his wrist, and the chain, already running through him, looped around his head, forcing his jaws shut. A second flick bound his arms, leaving him helpless when Lupin dragged Voraith right into the path of a punch from Seraph, hitting him in the solar plexus and making him vomit blood.

Seraph grabbed the chain, freeing up Lupin to jump forward and slam his knee into Voraith's lowered face, making him stagger back. Voraith tried to pull away, but the chain's hold on him was firm, and he couldn't even raise his arms to defend himself. Seraph dragged him over and slammed him in the throat with his arm, knocking him onto his back. From there, Lupin and Seraph beat and kicked him without pause or mercy, unleashing all of their pent-up anger and frustration on their deserving target. Though painful, Lupin's blows didn't deal significant damage to Voraith, but he was struggling to endure Seraph's bone-breaking attacks. He couldn't open his jaws to steal their mana, and the longer this went on, the closer to get got to death.

Soon enough, Voraith managed to wrench one of his arms free and reached out with his Death Touch, only for Seraph's hammer to break his wrist, nearly ripping his hand off in the process and exposing the jagged bones of his forearm. In a moment of desperation, Voraith swung his arm, splattering Seraph with his blood and blinding him, the kicked his hand so that he'd let go of the chain. He pushed off from the ground, kicking Lupin in the process, and managed to land out their reach. He unwrapped the chain around his neck, freeing his jaws, then took all of the power he had gathered and prepared to shoot it back at Seraph and Lupin.

"Malicious Gift!"

The moment he fired, Seraph's thrown hammer struck him in the forehead, sending him staggering back. The beam of black energy was released, firing straight up and carving through every floor above him, continuing up into the sky and severing the clouds. Before Voraith could reset himself, Lupin closed the distance with the other of the chain and stabbed the ghoul in the eye, then kicked him into Seraph's path. He charged towards Voraith and jumped into the air with his hammer raised high. He had been steadily regaining his spent holy energy and channeled all he had gathered into his hammer, causing it to glow. Watching with his one remaining eye, Voraith realized that he couldn't escape, nor could he survive the hit. Once that hammer struck the top of his head, it was over.

Seraph brought down his hammer, but instead of aiming for Voraith's skull, he targeted his shoulder. In that instant, his right arm, leg, lung, kidney, and pretty much everything else on that side of his was body were obliterated. Voraith collapsed, racked with pain, and now merely half a man. The two brothers stood over him, and Lupin yanked the chain out of his neck.

"Finish him," said Lupin.

"No, and you won't either," Seraph replied, shocking Lupin.

"What?! After all he's put us through, you're going to grant him mercy?!"

"That's not what this is.

"Trying to prove how pure and noble you are?" Voraith painfully chuckled. "You won't kill an enemy who can't fight back, and you think that makes you a good person?"

"The opposite. I'm sparing you because, despite my efforts to reform myself and be a good person, I'm petty and full of hate. There is still so much pain for you to experience. With my last hammer strike, do you think I missed? I aimed for your shoulder to cripple you, so you couldn't get away after. Those limbs aren't growing back anytime soon, and your Death Touch isn't much to worry about when you can't even stand up."

"Torture, huh? Well, by all means, extract your pound of flesh. I'm lying right her, utterly helpless, just like you wanted. Give in to cruelty and sadism. I'll gladly offer my life so the two of you can immerse your souls in blood and darkness!"

"Once again, you misunderstand. I'm not the one who will be punishing you. I'm pretty sure my brother and I could inflict plenty of pain and suffering upon you. We could beat you, stab you, slash you, and burn you until dawn, then toss you outside and let the sunlight finish you off, but you'd probably just get off on it, and it would still be just a drop in the bucket compared to what's coming." Seraph then crouched down. "Do you have any idea what you did in Wahr Village? What you've unleashed upon yourself? Because of you, Valon Zodiac was able to escape from us. Do you know what that means? You got in Noah's way. His best hope in breaking free of his curse, but you got in the middle of everything and fucked up his chances.

You see, I made the mistake of earning Noah's wrath. It was Galvin who committed the crime with our friends, but I had the chance to stop him and didn't Do you want to know what he did to us? I suffered for it in ways no words can possibly describe. I was shattered, broken in body and mind, begging for death, and yet he called it a slap on the wrist. He went easy on me because I was still young and my powers could be used to help people, but you?" Seraph grabbed Voraith's hair and lifted his head up, staring into the ghoul's eyes with his own eyes bleak as memories of trauma came flooding back.

"Noah's going to rape your fucking soul. I'm not sparing your life to be merciful, or so that I can torment you to vent my anger. I'm sparing your life because Noah specifically told everyone that he was the only one allowed to kill him, and believe me, you will beg him to, just so that your pain will end. That is how my brother and I get our vengeance on you, by giving Noah his chance to get his. Not killing you now is the cruelest thing I could possibly do. May Lumendori forgive me." Seraph then stood up and turned to Lupin. "Come on, let's go."

Lupin wasn't sure about letting Voraith live, but hearing Seraph's words and the pain in his voice, he decided to trust his brother. The two of them left their vanquished rival there and took off in a run. The sooner they reunited with everyone, the better. They sprinted past a row of windows overlooking a large courtyard. What they couldn't have known was that Roc was out there, lying amongst the flowers.

"What in the world?" he muttered, slowly sitting up and rubbing his head. He didn't know how he ended up outside, only remembering the flashes of black lightning. Perhaps there was some kind of explosion that jettisoned him out through a window. Considering how sore he was, it seemed feasible. Roc got to his feet and looked around the dark courtyard. "Cynatas! Noah! Anyone!" He was alone, or so he thought.

"You should be more mindful in enemy territory.

The deep voice echoed from directly behind him, and Roc felt a sharp claw poking him where his spine met his skull. Acting on pure frightened instinct, Roc launched himself forward with his wings and spun around to face this new foe. He was a fiend, shirtless and shoeless like Roc to accommodate his beastman traits, from his clawed feet to his wings. Rather than feathered, his wings were dark and made of a fleshy membrane, and he was covered in black fur. He wore a blindfold over his eyes, and had a pair of large pointed ears that resembled horns. He possessed a muscular physique, but Roc knew his power went beyond brute force.

"Ah, that swish of the air, you have wings as well. How interesting."

"Who are you?" Roc asked.

"My name is Umbra. My master, Curcio, sent me here because he wanted to show off his masterpiece, but parties aren't my thing, so I thought I'd relax out here and enjoy the quiet evening. However, it seems some entertainment has finally arrived."

"Then I take it you have one of those parasite things attached to you?"

"Correct."

Umbra turned around, showing Roc the parasite on his back. It looked different from the one Theo had used back during the Red Revelry, encased in a hard carapace and fused with Umbra's spine, seeming less like it had been attached and more like it was growing from him. For a warrior to show his back to an opponent like this, he was either extremely foolish or rightfully confident, and Roc knew it was the latter. His spiritual senses weren't well-honed, but his instincts were screaming at him that this opponent was like none he had ever encountered before. When the Profane attacked the Colbrand arena, Roc had been nearly killed by the corrupted Ingram, and yet he could imagine, with terrifying ease, this new foe ripping Ingram in half.

"Now then, since you came here looking for a fight, I suppose we should find an answer to the most pertinent question: how fast will you die?"

One moment, Umbra was standing away from Roc with his back turned, and the next moment, he was right in front of him. Roc barely had any time to react before Umbra knocked him aside with the back of his hand. He was sent flying through the air, having blocked the attack and pushed off with his wings to lessen the force, but his arm was numb, and before he could think, Umbra appeared above him, dropping a kick that slammed Roc into the ground. He was just lucky he hit soft dirt instead of the stone walkway, or else he would be dead. However, time was still a luxury he did not have, and he quickly rolled to the side, narrowly dodging Umbra as he shot down and punched the earth where Roc had been lying, releasing enough force to send his weight in dirt airborne.

Roc got to his feet, but Umbra was already upon him, raining down blows with his clawed hands and feet. Roc tried to stay out of his reach while blocking and dodging attacks, but they were coming faster than he could evade, and just because he blocked didn't mean he wasn't being wounded. At best, he could lessen the damage he was taking, but blood was pouring freely from his injuries, growing in number with each passing second.

Playing defense wasn't getting him anywhere. He had to attack and try to break Umbra's rhythm. In the briefest moment, what could barely even be called an opening, Roc channeled as much power as he could into his leg and jumped up for a roundhouse kick, aiming for Umbra's temple. The fiend grabbed his ankle and threw Roc like he was weightless, sending him bouncing and rolling across the ground. It took all of his coordination, but Roc used his momentum to launch himself into the air and take flight. He circled the courtyard, trying to spot Umbra, but he was gone.

A shadow then eclipsed Roc, and he looked up to see Umbra hurtling towards him from above with the moon at his back. Roc narrowly avoided Umbra's dive bomb, but he wasn't done, flying back and striking Roc with a kick. Roc managed to block the attack, and receiving it in midair lessened the force, but his bones were still on the verge of shattering like glass. Knocked aside by the blow, Roc spread his wings and tried to escape Umbra, just until he could come up with a plan, but though the fiend was fast on the ground, he was even quicker in the air. He delivered a punch straight to Roc's jaw, sending his brain rattling and knocking him out of the sky, crashing once more into the flowerbed below.

Roc lay there, unable to move or even form a thought, racked with too much pain. However, where his conscious mind had failed, his subconscious mind was still trying to keep him alive, and driven by instinctive fear with all the grace of a newborn fawn, he scrambled out of the way of another attack from Umbra, turning the flowerbed into a crater. Umbra stood up and slowly approached, wanting to give Roc a chance to collect himself. Roc continued to ungracefully stagged and crawl away from Umbra with blood dripping from his mouth, but as he caught his breath and regained his clarity, he got back on his feet and began gathering his strength.

"Monk Spear!" he cast, while also wrapping his legs in mana.

He launched himself at Umbra, attacking with all of the speed and ferocity he could muster. His flattened hand slashed like a blade, while his legs swung with the force of sledgehammers, but Umbra dodged and blocked every attack with ease, nor receiving a single injury.

"I can tell from your movements that you only have one arm. How noble to you to continue down the warrior path with such an injury. Foolish, but noble," said Umbra. He grabbed Roc's wrist and pulled his arm up, then kneed Roc in the gut, making him vomit blood. He tossed Roc to the side, leaving him writhing on the ground, struggling to breathe. "That said, considering my own handicap, perhaps it's fitting that I am your opponent," he then said, pointing to his blindfold. "I lost my sight as a child, but by honing my other senses, I made myself a mighty warrior. Then, to reach even greater heights, I joined the Profane, on the condition that my eyes not be healed. Now here we are, a pair of winged beastmen, fighting to overcome their opponents and their own weaknesses. It's more than fitting; it's providence.

"At least I didn't sell my soul for power," Roc panted. "I don't have a disgusting, demon-spawn parasite feasting on my blood. I don't let some madman use me as a test subject for his experiments." Roc slowly got to his feet, though he struggled to stand up straight. "I'm the only warrior here. You're an abomination."

"Big words from someone about to die."

"At least when I die, I'll still have my dignity, unlike you," Roc shot back.

Though his tried to sound brave, his desperation was mounting. Tenacious as he was, he knew that the idea of winning this fight was laughable. He was really regretting turning down Noah's Carthace blades. If there was someone nearby who could help him, he needed them to hurry up and make an appearance. However, he wasn't the only one thinking that. Back in the mansion, Sophia was having the same thoughts.

She was standing in a hallway, watching Foley hold back Miasmarda's poison gas cloud. He had blocked off the hallway with his shield magic and was preventing the dark vapors from getting by, but he couldn't move while he was doing it, and it was only a matter of time before it started to seep in from elsewhere. The foul ghoul stood just on the other side of the barrier, scraping it with his long, bony fingers, and glaring at Foley with dead fish eyes while toxic breath continued to flow past his long, tentacle-like tongue. To Sophia, he looked like something from a nightmare. Every time a child worried that there was a monster under their bed or in their closet, this ghoul was what they were imagining.

In a way, she and Foley were lucky to be facing him. He was a shield bearer, and she was a healer, so in terms of combat potential, they weren't exactly formidable. They had the cutting edge of a butter knife. However, their luck ran out when several ghouls appeared at the other end of the hallway. They spotted Sophia and their eyes lit up with hunger.

"Foley, we've got company," Sophia muttered.

"I'm a bit busy at the moment, if you haven't noticed! I drop this barrier and we'll be dead before those fuckers sink one fang into our asses! The air is already starting to taste bad, so we need to make some serious decisions soon."

Foley was stuck where he was, so Sophia would have to deal with the ghouls, slowly approaching as they savored the hunt. Sophia took a deep breath and assumed a fighting stance. As the group healer, it was her responsibility to avoid combat and prioritize her own life so that she could save the lives of others, but that plan went out the window, and she had to improvise. Besides, she was not helpless. Roc and Seraph weren't the only ones Noah had coached in martial arts. Both he and Alexis had been helping to train Sophia to defend herself, adding to what she had already learned at the knight academy. It was time for her to prove she was more than just a beautiful rose, to everyone and herself.

One of the ghouls charged towards her with a bloodthirsty grin and reached out with a clawed hand. She caught his wrist and struck him in the shoulder with her palm, sending a burst of holy magic into him. Muscle fibers, veins, bones; she could see it all her mind's eye as she though back to everything Noah had taught her about biology. With that knowledge, she used her power to attack the ghoul on a near-cellular level, and with just a flash of light, the ghoul's shoulder was destroyed. Pain and fear filled his eyes as he lost the ability to feel his arm, but before he could react, Sophia delivered a slap across the face, sending another holy burst into him that melted his face and brain.

As the slain ghoul fell to the ground, his compatriot lunged with a downward slash of his claws. She stepped back to avoid the slash, then reached out and boxed his ears while. Frying the inner canals. He dropped to his, having lost the ability to maintain his balance or tell up from down, and Sophia kneed him in the chin, finishing him off with another burst of light. A third ghoul attacked, and she was fast enough to avoid his claws. She received five deep cuts on her arm and staggered back in pain, hitting the wall and slumping to the floor.

The ghoul stood over her with a look of fury, raising his leg to stomp her to death. She caught his foot and sent a bolt of holy energy into his leg, attacking every joint and ligament and tearing the limb to shreds. He fell back, howling in pain, and slumped to the floor just like Sophia had. She quickly got to her feet and kicked him in the face, unleashing as much holy power as she could. His skull was crushed like a pumpkin under her stomp, and she ended up getting eviscerated brains all over her foot.

"Oh, yuck!"

In that moment of distraction, a fourth ghoul zoomed over and punched her in the face. It was mostly a graze, with the majority of his Profane strength wasted, but the force she received was still comparable to a straight punch by a human, and Sophia was once more knocked down, her brain bouncing around in her skull and her inner thought scrambled by pain. The ghoul grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off her feet.

"Now you die!" he snarled.

Sophia struggled to gather her magic power, but she was still disoriented by the punch she had received. All of her strength was being spent trying to get air, but the ghoul's cold fingers were like iron around her throat. In seconds, she'd black out, and then death would follow. With that though in her mind, she focused all of her desperation to one last-ditch attack, kicking the ghoul in the testicles. Even with his Profane pain tolerance, such an injury made him seize up in agony and let go of Sophia. She dropped down, barely staying on her feet as she gasped for air.

She couldn't fully catch her breath before her enemy recovered, and when attacked, she gathered what little magical strength she could muster into her palms and shoved the ghoul in the chest. She imagined his organs, ribs, muscles, and arteries, sending her power running through his flesh like electricity through a wire. It was only a small bit of magic, but the ghoul's innards were nearly turned to dust by her precision. He fell to the ground, unable to breathe and having no pulse. Had he simply been stabbed repeatedly, he could have endured and even healed, but these holy wounds could not regenerate, and his death was a painful one.

Sophia, still trying to get as much air into her lungs as she could, leaned against the wall while healing her arm and her head. Combat was truly a painful and exhausting ordeal, and she couldn't understand how Alexis endured so much. At the other end of the hall, more ghouls appeared, as wrathful and ravenous as the first group, and they all had their eyes on Sophia.

"Alexis, I hope you're having a better time than I am," she muttered before standing back up and once more assuming a fighting stance.

Alexis was thinking the same thing about Sophia, or she would, if she weren't so preoccupied with her own confusion. She was on the stage in Andromeda's opera hall, fully lit by the candle stage lights. Once moment, she was fighting alongside everyone, and the next moment, she was here.

"What in the world just happened?" she asked nobody but the open air.

She wondered if she was dreaming, as the whole situation was familiar to her, except this time, she wasn't naked, the seats weren't filled with everyone from the knight academy, and she wasn't about to play a role she hadn't prepared for alongside the giant, sentient version of the statue from the Veres estate dining room.

"What the fuck just happened?" she then heard.

Alexis turned around as the curtains behind her parted and Bella stepped out onto the stage. The two locked eyes.

"You!" Alexis shouted in fury.

"You..." Bella muttered in annoyance.

Alexis loaded an arrow into her bow and charged it with mana. "I'm going to end you, Bella! I'm going to avenge the king and everyone else you killed! Burst Shot!" She released the arrow at Bella, who caught it in her mouth, holding it like a lollipop. The arrow exploded and her cheeks suddenly expanded like the throat of a frog, but then returned to normal.

Bella spat out the arrow and looked at Alexis with a smirk. "You could shoot me with every single arrow in the world, and you still wouldn't be able to kill me. You barely survived when you had that elf and all of those knights fighting with you, so what do you think you can do alone?"

Alexis put her bow away and brandished Noah's Carthace daggers, glad she had swallowed her disgust and brought them with her. "I'll do what I've always done: my best."

She than charged towards Bella and lunged for her heart. Bella stood still to let it happen, ready to laugh at the futility of Alexis's actions, but the moment of the daggers touched her chest, she realized she had made a mistake. The tip broke her skin, and instantly, her flesh frothed and boiled like water exposed to hot steel. The pain was unlike anything Bella had felt before, similar to holy damage, but darker, like she was attacking herself. She leaped back, covering the wound with her hand. She had escaped before the blade could even reach her sternum, bit it looked like the wound had been splashed with acid, and even worse, it wasn't healing.

Bella stood up straight and extended her bone blades, glaring at Alexis with icy eyes. "I was told not to hurt you, but you've gone and pissed me off. I'll just kill you and say another Profane did it, and Darling will never know."

Before Alexis could wonder what she was talking about, Bella lunged, swinging at Alexis with her bone blades. Alexis parried the attack and slashed at Bella, but she was quicker than the last time they fought and managed to avoid the attacks. Regardless, Alexis pursued her, slashing and stabbing with her blades, only managing to cut through the air. Bella dodged her with inhuman speed and agility, countering with her blades and the talons on her ankles. Alexis used her daggers to deflect, and despite receiving a cut on each shoulder, she managed to land a lucky hit on Bella's leg, making her his in pain and retreat. Like the wound on her chest, what should have been a shallow incision looked like a slash from a rusty saw, and the blood showed no signs of slowing.

Bella once more pounced on Alexis, the two of them slashing and stabbing with their blades colliding over and over again. Alexis was fighting with everything she had, digging deep into the strength and skill she had honed from all of her training, but try as she might, she couldn't possibly hope to match Bella in strength, speed, or agility. What's more, it was clear that Bella had grown more adept at combat. When they first fought, all of her movements were animalistic and driven purely by instinct, with no sense of planning or style, but her skills had greatly improved while serving the Profane. If Sophia was there with Alexis to heal her and wounds and apply blessings, keeping up with Bella would be possible, but as it was, she was starting to feel like she had bitten off more than she could chew.

"You know, I've always despised you," Bella said after slashing Alexis across the stomach with her ankle talon. "You come to the Knight's Sheath acting like you're better than all of us, acting like we were holding you back." Alexis ignored the flesh wound and charged, unleashing another flurry of attacks, but Bella fended them off. "You had nothing. You were disavowed by the knighthood and doomed to rot away in a cell, but Cyrilo saved you, and all you did was complain."

Bella then jumped into the air and kicked Alexsis in the side, knocking her through the air and almost sending her sliding off the stage. Though her ribs hurt, Alexis rolled to the side, narrowly dodging a downward stab from Bella that ended up piercing the floor of the stage. Alexis desperately reached out and managed to scratch Bella's cheek with one of her daggers. Bella snarled in fury and kicked Alexis again, once more tossing her through the air. She blocked the attack in time, saving her sore ribs from being shattered, but it still ripped the breath from her lungs. She hit the back curtains of the stage, causing them to fall on her. Bella approached and began stabbing into the curtain, trying to find Alexis.

"You strutted into the Knight's Sheath, acting like the queen bitch just because you were good at throwing assholes out into the street! You and that redhaired slag! Suddenly, Cyrilo had two new favorite pets to play with!"

She felt her blade pierce flesh, and a scream of pain reached her ears, making her grin. She ripped open the curtain, revealing Alexis, once more holding her bow with an arrow loaded. "Burst Shot!" The arrow hit Bella in the center of the chest and exploded. Though the damage was minimal, she was tossed through the air away from Alexis, landing gracefully at the edge of the stage. Her uniform was shredded, so she cast it aside, choosing to fight naked as she had before.

"And Cyrilo spoiled you two rotten, protecting you from every client while the rest of us were on our backs. I bet taking three cocks at once would have fixed your shitty attitude. Every girl who showed up acting like she was a goddess would change her tune after being made airtight. If you haven't worked until your asshole bleeds, then you just haven't worked!"

Alexis drank a healing potion as Bella charged towards her, pouncing like a lioness. Alexis dodged her attack by rolling to the side, but Bella wouldn't let her get away so easily. She went after Alexis, hacking and stabbing, with Alexis doing her best to survive, but receiving one cut after another. Alexis's back hit the wall, and Bella brought down her blades, forcing her to block. The two of them were locked together, with Bella pushing down just hard enough that Alexis could barely endure.

"Why my Darling put up with a self-righteous princess like you, I'll never understand. If you were offering your body to him at the academy, that would be one thing, but no man is good enough for you, right? You're nothing more than a waste of his time an energy, but once you and all those other bitches are out of the way, he'll be all mine. You can't have him!"

With a roar, Alexis kicked her in the stomach to knock her back and then slashed her across the right breast, drawing a shriek of pain. "As if I would ever fight with my life on the line for something as ridiculous as a man's affection! I thought I made it clear that I will end your life to avenge my slain countrymen and put your bloody madness to an end! You're a rabid dog, Bella! That's all this comes down to, and I'm going to put you down like one!" Alexis went on the offensive, attacking with her moves augmented by fury and frustration.

"You just don't understand! Darling and I are in love!" Bella argued as she dodged and blocked Alexis's strikes.

"I am so goddamn tired of your obsession! Darling this! Darling that! Get over it! He doesn't love you!"

"Yes, he does!" Bella screamed, giving in to her rage and missing Alexis with a clumsy attack, one she countered with a slash across the stomach like the one she'd received earlier. "He told me he loved me and we'll be together forever!"

"You may not know this, but Noah's magic is literally the power of lying, you stupid bitch! He kept picking you because of that discount you gave him!"

"That's not true!" In the moment Bella shouted back, Alexis stabbed her in the arm, replacing her anger with agony. When her relationship with Noah was called into question, she was distracted and vulnerable. It was clear to Alexis how to win, though it left a bad taste in her mouth. Ironically, it was the precise kind of method Noah would use.

"You know what you are? You're nothing more than a pair of tits and the mind of a demented little girl who pulls the legs off spiders while wondering if her crush likes her! Noah only ever saw you as a toy!" Bella, blinded with fury, lashed out with both blades, but Alexis dodged the attack and slashed her wrists, sending blood spraying onto the floor. "Why do you think he didn't bother to tell you he was leaving Colbrand? It's because he had used you up and was done with you! Face it, Bella!"

Bella didn't even bother to rebuke her, just howled in fury and attacked once more. Her movements were feral, but her abilities were at their peak, and Alexis was fighting for her life every single second. She wasn't strong enough to block or fast enough to dodge. All she could do was try to stay out of her reach, but her own blood was joining Bella's on the floor.

"You don't know him like I do! He loves me! He cares about me! You're nothing!"

Alexis saw an opening and rolled past Bella while slashing deep into her thigh, leaving her limping. She turned around, and the two women glared at each other while gasping for air.

"Besides Sophia, Noah is my best friend, and I like to think I am his. I know how kind he can be, how supportive, how knowledgeable, and why you always want him at your back. But I also know just how cruel he can be, how easily he can manipulate and hurt people, and how he can step on every sense of morality and honor without a second thought. For gods' sake, I'm fighting you with the harvested body parts of the last Profane woman he tricked into love him. Seriously, how did my life become this weird?" Alexis paused to gather her thoughts and return to her original point.

"Noah is a terribly flawed person, but I know those flaws. He and I have shared secrets, memories, and trials, but you? What do you actually know about him? All you two had was sex, but I bet there were no actual conversations. You'd moan and grunt at each other, but much did you actually talk?"

Bella didn't respond, unable to think of a good counter. Finally, she stood up straight and retracted her blades. "Darling loves me, and I'll prove it." Then she spun around and took off.

Alexis was left stunned for a moment, then chased after her. "Get back here!"

While Alexis was sprinting through the mansion, Daniel was in the opposite condition, unable to move a muscle. "Someone, help me, please!" he shouted in the darkness, only for his voice to bounce back and hit him in the face. It felt like he was in a coffin, and thoughts of being buried alive were making him panic. "Oh God, I've got to get out of here! Let me out!" Was this some kind of Profane spell? A flash of black lightning, and then the next thing he knows, he's lying in his own grave beneath six feet of dirt? "I can't die! Not here! Not now! Not like this!" he sobbed.

Then one side of his enclosure opened up, and he fell out onto the floor.

"Daniel?" Shannon asked, standing beside what looked like a dwarven grandfather clock.

"Oh my God! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" he cried, crawling over and kissing her feet in gratitude. She nervously stepped back before he could start humping her leg.

"Don't mention it."

"How did you find me?"

"Well, I thought I heard the wailing of a child, and I went to investigate, thinking it was some prisoner being kept alive for food. I assumed they were hiding in this contraption. I never thought you'd come tumbling out."

"Well... that certainly hurts my pride. Do you know what's going on?

"We've been separated from everyone by some kind of Profane magic, scattered through the mansion, it seems. I ended up in a linen closet one floor below. There are also plenty of ghouls running around, and I had to cut my way through them. They're certainly tough, one-on-one." She then looked inside the clock. "Hey, is that your guitar?"

"Yes, thank God." He pulled out the guitar, noticing that all but two strings had snapped. "Well, there goes the rest of my pride. What now?

"Now we have to reunite with Lord Noah. You still have your compass, don't you?"

"Yeah, I have it."

"Good, then let's get going."

"You're not going anywhere," a cruel voice said. They turned around, seeing Andromeda approach with one hand wrapped in black lightning, and the other gripping a sword. "None of you filthy vermin are leaving this place alive."

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