Back Above, Glauderia felt it first.
Her playful expression disappeared instantly.
They had just arrived at the guild.
It had been destroyed as a large crater was at the center with a hole going deeper.
"…Owen." she murmured
Zach froze mid-step, lightning crackling.
"How can one bare so much…"
Lucius' golden eyes narrowed.
"Hatred"
The crater at the center pulsed violently.
Then suddenly...
BOOOOOOM.
An explosion tore through the square.
Debris shot skyward.
Shockwaves cracked windows across the district.
As the dust settled,
Three figures stood at the edge of the crater.
Hooded.
Still.
Glauderia stepped forward slightly.
"Civilians?"
One of them reached up.
Slowly.
Removed the hood.
Zach's pupils shrank.
"…You've gotta be kidding me."
Glauderia's gaze sharpened into something lethal.
Rovan.
Alive.
His eyes glowed faint red.
But they weren't mindless.
They were aware.
Cold.
Controlled.
He rolled his neck once, as if loosening stiff muscles.
Then looked directly at them.
"My master said…"
His voice was steady.
"…not to let anyone pass."
Back in the temple of despair,
the first mercenary moved.
Then all of them did.
Not charging wildly.
No screaming.
No chaos.
They moved in formation.
Owen's eyes tracked everything in an instant.
Front line lunged low.Second line jumped high.All while the third line was already chanting.
"Tch."
He vanished.
Not fast.
Not flashy.
Just gone.
A blade of black cut through the first row before their cores could even flare. Seishi hummed as it tore through reinforced mana skin like silk.
Two bodies dropped.
No blood.
Just red cores flickering erratically.
A fist came from behind.
Owen twisted mid-air and drove his heel into the attacker's jaw. The impact cracked stone on the far pillar.
Three more surrounded him instantly.
Chains of condensed mana shot toward him.
He flickered as scattered Images of him started appearing.
Five Owens appeared in different directions.
The mercenaries hesitated for half a second.
Wrong half-second.
Black arcs carved through them from three different angles. The real Owen reappeared mid-spin, blade dragging sparks against stone as he slid to a stop.
More were already coming.
Cyrus watched calmly from above.
"Good. Struggle."
Owen exhaled slowly.
Darkness tightened around him like armor.
He wasn't rampaging.
Not yet.
Meanwhile on the entrance, Rovan moved first and fast.
Lightning cracked under his feet as he shot forward.
Black lightning.
Zach grinned instantly.
"OHHH you copied me? That's cute."
Their blades met in a violent explosion of black electricity that split the cobblestones.
The shockwave blew apart nearby wrecked walls.
Zach slid back, boots skidding.
Rovan didn't smile.
He pressed.
Their swords blurred, sparks flying with every clash.
Black lightning streaked through the square like living serpents.
Behind them, the other two hooded figures attacked.
One launched spears of condensed crimson mana at Lucius.
The other charged straight for Glauderia.
Lucius didn't move.
The spears hit and shattered against a thin golden barrier.
He exhaled softly.
Golden light erupted behind him.
Wings unfolded.
Not fully.
Just halfway.
A halo ignited above his head.
The ground beneath him cracked under divine pressure.
"Don't mistake restraint for exhaustion," Lucius said calmly.
He stepped forward.
The hooded figure flinched.
A single thrust of Lucius' blade and a beam of compressed light pierced through the attacker's shoulder, vaporizing part of the street behind him.
Meanwhile, Glauderia yawned.
Her opponent swung wildly, enhanced strength shattering pavement with each strike.
She dodged lazily.
Barely moving.
A step left.
Tilt right.
Back lean.
Each motion minimal.
"Is that it?" she asked playfully.
The hooded figure roared and slammed both fists down.
Glauderia disappeared.
She reappeared behind him.
One finger pressed against his spine.
Lightning gathered.
Green.
Blinding.
"Try again."
BOOM.
The blast launched him through three buildings.
Dust exploded into the air.
Glauderia cracked her neck as if she was just getting warmed up all over again.
As back underground, Owen's breathing deepened.
Three hundred bodies down.
Five hundred.
Seven hundred.
They weren't slowing.
And the chanting from the back lines was reaching a crescendo.
A massive sigil lit up beneath Owen's feet.
He looked down.
Too late.
A gravity field crushed downward.
The floor shattered.
Stone collapsed.
The chamber caved in beneath him.
Owen fell.
Straight into darkness.
Debris followed.
Above, Cyrus smiled faintly.
"Phase two. Meet one of the ones that accepted the offer."
The remaining mercenaries stepped to the edge of the massive pit.
Red cores glowing brighter.
Below, Owen landed on one knee.
Stone shattered under impact.
He stood slowly.
Something moved in the deeper dark.
Heavy breathing.
Cyrus' voice echoed down the shaft.
"Let me show you what you're missing out on."
Two red eyes opened in the abyss.
And the ground began to shake.
Back on the surface, Zach was laughing mid-fight.
"Can you hit harder?"
Rovan didn't answer.
Their blades locked.
Black lightning exploded upward like a pillar.
Lucius glanced over briefly.
And his expression shifted.
The hooded figure Glauderia blasted earlier stood back up.
Chest regenerating.
Core glowing brighter.
Glauderia clicked her tongue.
"Oh?"
All three hooded figures suddenly stepped back at once.
Rovan raised his blade toward the sky.
Black lightning spiraled upward.
Connecting.
Synchronizing.
The red cores in their chests pulsed in unison.
Lucius' halo flickered brighter.
"…They're linking."
The air pressure spiked.
The sky above Stonehaven darkened unnaturally.
And from the crater, a second explosion erupted.
Far larger than the first.
Dust and debris shot into the sky—
And from within the smoke—
A massive, distorted silhouette began to rise.
Zach's grin finally disappeared.
"…That's not normal."
Glauderia's eyes sharpened.
Below ground, Owen stared into the darkness.
The red eyes lowered toward him.
A voice, not Cyrus', echoed from the creature itself.
"Owen… Manaless."
The beast stepped forward.
Its body was layered in fused cores.
Half-human.
Half-prototype.
Completely wrong.
Owen tightened his grip on Seishi.
The blade hummed.
It moved.
Not lunged.
Not dashed.
Moved.
And it was already in front of Owen claws already coming down
Owen twisted barely in time, the claws scraping past his shoulder and tearing through stone like paper. The shockwave alone slammed him into a broken pillar.
He coughed.
Blood.
"…So this is the refined version."
The creature didn't roar.
Didn't posture.
It simply stepped forward.
And vanished.
Owen's instincts screamed.
He forced mana into his legs and flickered sideways just as the ground where he stood exploded upward. The creature's claw carved a trench dozens of meters long.
Fast.
Too fast.
They clashed.
Seishi met reinforced claws.
The impact detonated the underground chamber. Mana burst outward violently, cracks spidering through every wall.
Owen's boots dug into stone as he was forced back.
The creature overpowered him.
Again.
And again.
Each clash heavier.
Each strike sharper.
It slipped past his guard once and claws raked across his ribs.
Second time, its knee crushed into his stomach, sending him flying.
Third time, it vanished and reappeared above him, slamming him into the ground hard enough to crater the floor.
Owen lay there for half a second.
Breathing hard.
"…If I keep fighting like this… I'll die."
The creature tilted its head.
Almost curious.
Owen closed his eyes.
Mana wasn't something you hold.
It wasn't something you hoard.
Reinhardt's words echoed faintly.
It's an extension of you.
Owen exhaled.
And let it flow.
Darkness bled out of him like mist.
He poured it into Seishi
The blade hummed deeper this time.
Resonating.
Calling.
The creature lunged again, Owen parried cleanly.
For the first time, the clash didn't push him back.
Their eyes met.
"Mana Art…"
His voice was calm.
"Dark Slash."
The air folded.
"Spatial Sever."
A horizontal black arc erupted from Seishi.
It didn't travel.
It erased.
Stone.
Air.
Light.
Everything in its path split until it faded into specs of spatial mana in side the walls.
The underground temple above destabilized instantly. Pillars cracked. The ceiling groaned.