The battle inside the catacombs had reached a fever pitch, where the spilled blood had created a thick layer across the floor. Within it, both Ducanor and Benia were facing the former inhabitants of the city, now turned into monsters.
"Why are you hesitating? They aren't like you, Ducanor. They have completely fallen to the corruption; they will kill not only you but us as well!" Benia roared, seeing that Ducanor's attacks were trying to be non-fatal.
Meanwhile, Ulrika had already begun a massacre. Ducanor had never seen the power of a mortal lord before, and now he was witnessing it: dozens of monstrosities had died from a single attack.
"Second chakra, Void Fire," Ulrika had said, before being wreathed in a cloak of black fire that destroyed any opponent she fought.
Her sword was also engulfed in black fire as she faced another unfortunate soul who had undergone the metamorphosis, transforming into a kind of insect similar to a centipede. Its head exploded into a mass of black flesh while its jaw and spine extended out of the neck cavity, moving chaotically. Each of its vertebrae transformed into bone blades that shot out at high speed toward everyone present in the catacombs.
"An entomorph," Ulrika grunted. As she looked around, she added, "It's not the only one."
In the distance, several people had transformed into insectoid or wolf-like monstrosities, much like the lycans she knew well. But the entomorphs were far more disturbing to look at than the lycans themselves.
In response, the black flames clashed with the bone blades of the humanoid centipede, dispersing briefly before Ulrika moved at blinding speed. She pressed against the entomorph's still-vulnerable body, piercing its chest using one of its own bones, before cloaking herself in a mantle of flames that devoured the creature as it let out a final shriek of terror.
Meanwhile, Ducanor and Benia faced the fly-men who, unlike the humanoid centipedes, spat acid from their limbs, forcing both of them to attack from a distance.
"Ice Bullet," Ducanor muttered. Dozens of small ice cylinders manifested in front of him, shooting out at high speed and piercing their opponent's chitinous body before exploding, dissolving its internal organs.
"Evocatio, tonitrus." Benia's hands trembled as orbs materialized in her palms, streaking through the air before impacting their targets, sending them flying or completely carbonizing them.
But before she could finish, an enormous roar echoed in the room as a colossal figure tore through a group of the few surviving candidates.
"That is..." Benia grunted in surprise, watching their new opponent with a mix of terror and shock. Ulrika and Ducanor could only step back slightly in its presence.
A true monster stood before them.
Breakthrough and the Beast
Ducanor vomited blood, feeling his body constantly beginning to change for a reason entirely beyond his will. This is a poison. No, what kind of poison would do this? he thought to himself while dodging one of the few survivors in this place who had already lost all signs of their former sophistication and hedonism.
He felt his strength increasing at a steady pace; his muscles and bones began to emanate a supernatural force beyond his ordinary limits. Subconsciously, his body was taking the first steps into the first stage of chakra.
"No, no, no, I won't become a monster again." He tried to suppress the change that was being forced by something unknown. He didn't know what it was, but he couldn't bear it.
Dao Epithet, he thought to himself, dazed and surprised, feeling his spiritual energy continue to rise to a strange limit, far beyond that of an ordinary cultivator at the Dao Gate stage. He had spent weeks trying to reach that level, yet hadn't achieved it despite spending dozens of hours every day training his breathing. But now, he had done it.
The first step of the Dao Gate was "Opening the Gate," which practically meant connecting the dantian with the eight meridians. The meridians, like the dantian, were non-existent, ethereal organs without physical form that allowed the passage of passive spiritual energy through the body. But by connecting them to the dantian, a mortal's spiritual energy reserves increased considerably.
And right now, Ducanor was connecting eight meridians to his lower dantian, and the success of this had a name: Dao Epithet. It meant that the Dao gestating in Ducanor's mind and spirit was finally born.
But then, the shadow of a pair of claws over two meters tall moved toward him. He barely had time to react before it was already in front of him. But it was enough; although weakened, he remained quite aware of his surroundings, and his reflexes had only heightened at this point.
A quick motion of his hands allowed him to rapidly materialize a mist of ice using his second dharmic rune.
"Solidify," Ducanor growled, and at his thought, the mist took the shape of blades that quickly sliced through the air, meeting resistance as he retreated to a corner.
But the fleshy bone arm didn't aim at him; it aimed at the ceiling of the room. In an instant, screams of surprise filled the air when suddenly, not only was the ceiling and wall shattered, but the gigantic figure caught someone extremely familiar to Ducanor in its claws.
"No, impossible, how can you...?" yelled Intermezzo, as his body began to grow within the grip of the giant reptilian creature's claw.
"You will not," the beast growled fiercely with a high-pitched voice, pressing Intermezzo between both claws in front of its snout before spitting on him.
The only things left of Intermezzo Omeya—his second damn father—were bones and burnt flesh.
The Guards Converge
Dazed, Benia felt that the figure tearing the lycan apart was familiar. When the dust suddenly cleared, the beast shrank in size, revealing a tall, slender figure.
"Sigrid," Benia said in surprise as she stood up groggily amidst the remains of the corpses. The figure was completely revealed.
It was a girl with bright scarlet hair long enough to reach her waist, and a pair of horns on her forehead. And, of course, she was completely naked, simply covering herself with a pair of flesh-colored wings that wrapped around her body.
"Benia, damn it, what are you doing here? If it weren't for the fact that we were here on our own mission, you would have died," she said furiously as she rushed toward her, glaring.
"Don't bother the child," a voice suddenly said behind her.
Alert, she turned around, only to be embraced by the soft and warm body of an affable and kind-looking woman—well, she would be, if it weren't for the fact that she was covered in blood.
"Asara, you're here too?" asked Ulrika, who had also walked over.
"And not just me. My sister and Redsu are also here, along with several other Guards. I've already contacted your brother; they've entered the city and are carrying out a purge with their men, but..."
Asara's expression clouded slightly in that moment. She had bright golden hair and tanned skin, and was quite tall and sturdy, like a true feysir. Even so, that natural liveliness couldn't hide the worry on her face.
"We haven't heard from my sister in the last few hours. I fear the worst," she grunted with concern.
"Relax, Asara, everything will be sorted out," Ulrika proclaimed with a kind smile.
And as they spoke, the spilled innocent blood dried beneath them. Completely unaware of the disappearance of someone right from their midst.
The Missing Princeps
In the city of Cnut, Magister Iaspis's forces had entered with strength and resolve. The city was largely unfortified, and the few defenders were crushed by the forces of the Petrian Wing, one of Magister Iaspis's largest military regiments in the eastern continent.
All were mounted on dragon-horses and velocipedes, making it a massive cavalry force equipped in gleaming red armor. Under the express orders of the Hegemon, leading these forces was the Magister Filiad of Princeps rank, Derin.
He was a healthy-looking young man with lush green hair. He wasn't a feysir, but a feynir, carrying a kind of scepter and wearing a loose three-colored tunic that displayed his position as a red filiad. Like every filiad, he was forbidden from wearing anything metallic, so no forged metal ornaments adorned his body.
"Filiad Derin, the city's forces have fallen. They've retreated from the castle and fled. It is practically unoccupied," said the army's prefect, even though Derin was technically the one with the highest authority.
The de facto leader of the Petrian Wing was the prefect, who led the entire regiment of five thousand men, half of whom were here.
"And where is Magister Jagger? Wasn't she on site?" Derin asked, astounded.
To which the prefect replied with an equally bewildered expression: "We haven't found any trace of her, nor of hostile forces from the temples. The castle was completely empty."
As if those words were a trigger, an invisible pressure suddenly pushed down on both Derin and the prefect. Surprised, they looked up to see a tall, robust woman approaching, dressed in heavy armor that only left a blue ponytail exposed.
"Miss Redsu, what are you doing...?"
But before Derin could attempt to calm the terrifying woman in front of him, she simply unsheathed her massive hammer, striking the ground with it and making the nearby horses rear up in panic.
"Where is Alana?"
Feeling as though something very bad would happen if he stayed quiet, the prefect simply confessed what had transpired. As if those words had caused a bomb to go off, Redsu's figure vanished into the distance, leaving behind nothing but a shattered crater in the stone.
"The Guards are too terrifying," the trembling prefect muttered.
He left Derin speechless—who, despite being a filiad himself, could also be considered a Guard.
"I hope nothing bad happens," Derin finally said, before returning to his duties and successfully securing the city of Cnut.