"Haa…"
As he felt the mana dance at his fingertips, a wave of ecstasy surged through him. The sensation, this overwhelming, indescribable power, was everything he had longed for.
He looked down on the pitiful figures beneath him with disbain. Only now could he truly see how weak he had been… and how powerless these people were in comparison.
With a single thought, a giant golden magic circle appeared behind him, glowing ominously.
'No, I can do more.' With another thought, several circles filled the air, spelling despair for anyone around. It was even more so as chains of various sizes began crawling out of it, until—
Crack…
"Urgh…" Pain shot through his chest as the circles fractured like glass and faded away.
'I haven't fully stabilized in this realm yet,' he realized, clutching his chest with blood spilling from his mouth. Still, it made sense, he had just broken through two full ranks in a single leap.
Roarrrrr!
The roar of dragons echoed in the distance, drawing closer.
Reinforcements had arrived.
'Tch, I can't stay anymore.' The older deplorable frowned and brought out a scroll.
"Insects… today's my victory. I'll return and get my revenge for today." With those final words, he tore the scroll and vanished, fading like smoke in the wind.
'Yes, just like the plan… come back,' Baines thought, letting a small smile cross his lips as the tension in his body finally released.
To everyone else, it felt like a bitter loss, and they had to swallow it.
Their enemy had already broken several of the church's rules by kidnapping and performing experiments on their holy ground, he had also grown stronger and escaped. And they could only helplessly watch it unfold.
But to Baines, it was a victory far greater than he could imagine. Originally, he had planned to draw in the underground organizations, but he wasn't certain because of the variables in the battlefield, so why not just prepare against them?
He first told the branch leader to request support from the main family. Then he went along with the flow until, he saw the effects of the blood orb. A clear picture formed in his head.
What would a person who had suddenly acquired power and wanted to take revenge against two armies do? Simple. Gather allies.
Though he'd anticipated heavy casualties, thankfully, the enemy needed time to stabilize his mana, which reduced the death toll.
His eyes closed in satisfaction as he collapsed.
Soon, I'll see my family again…
...
Baines's eyes fluttered open, and he found himself in an infirmary's bed.
He got out of bed, checked his body for any injuries. Next, he checked the state of his core, but,
"Sir Jin," someone called.
He turned to see a knight in armor.
'Hmm, I didn't sense him.' He noticed the knight was a sword master like him.
He was here to protect this room and,
"Your presence is needed in the meeting room."
Baines nodded without surprise and followed him out. He had largely been the reason this incident happened and ended the way it did.
The first thing he saw was a tall black tower.
'We returned to the branch family.' He looked around.
They were now at the Darkan branch, and they weren't alone. The knights and priests of the church and reinforcements from both the main family were here.
'Looks like they plan to stop the deplorable mage.' He and the knight passed by several tents set up around the branch family.
Soon, they reached the same meeting room.
Including the familiar faces he had seen, there were now unfamiliar faces.
Among them was a middle-aged man surrounded by church knights. Baines recognized him instantly, despite the circumstances they had previously met.
The Head Priest.
But now he had been healed by the church priests.
"Sir Jin, I've heard of your actions," he said with a light smile.
Beside him, Branch head Roderick smiled, nodding his head.
The division leaders dispatched by the darkan also raised their voices to praise his actions. They had already heard of his actions in the last front, and if they could just get him on their side, their position in the family would skyrocket.
"…"
The room was filled with words of thanks before it died down.
"Jin," the Darkan branch head called out, "we'd like you to recap everything that has happened so far."
Baines scanned the room slowly before speaking his mind,
"The older Deplorable is preparing to attack. What preparations have we made?"
His straightforwardness and bluntness silenced the room.
It felt more like a superior reprimanding subordinates than a lower-ranked soldier reporting in, and Baines didn't care.
Faces turned to anger, and as they were about to reprimand him,
"If he succeeds, he'll unite the underground within Darkan territory. His fame will explode, and soon, he'll be knocking at the main family's gates."
"Seriously…" the 5th-star in Tasha's team murmured, clearly stunned, not by the words, but by Baines's tone toward those technically his superiors.
But Baines continued, undeterred.
"The older deplorable will begin by kidnapping civilians to take their blood essence. Since he wants to take revenge now, he has likely begun. He will also gather those underground organizations with grudges against you and share the orbs."
Everyone listened and gulped. The situation just began to sink in for them. The branch head had already told of how the younger used a temporary to rise to the peak of the next stage, and how he and Roy had almost died in the fight.
Looking at their serious expressions, Baines nodded and continued,
'Eye'
[FIRE IS KNOWN TO BE THE WEAKNESS OF BLOOD]
Eye gave a full description on how to counter their blood use, and he disclosed it to them.
"...and with the church and dragons with us, we can form a purified fire to combat their blood methods." He concluded.
The room went silent for a while before,
"Are you saying they are probably kidnapping civilians?" The head priest asked in fury. It seemed that after having his blood essence taken from him, he detested the method.
'Considering I had collapsed over a day, he should have been able to settle it to some extent.' Baines thought.
At that moment,
Bang!
Someone burst into the meeting room shouting,
"Reports just came in, people wearing masks are suddenly kidnapping civilians all over 'Dolon'"
Eyes widened in surprise, looking at Baines.
'Seems they've moved, huh?'
However, not everyone just looked,
"What are you waiting for?" The head priest stood and shouted, "Those traitors to humanity are committing such acts; they've declared war on the church. We would see to their demise."
"Mhm, dragon knights, we are going on a search to find them." The branch head stood and moved towards the exit, his eyes flashed red, "Kill any captor on sight."
Slowly, the picture Baines wished to paint was forming.
A civil war had begun.