Avery and Percival were on top of a tall building opposite from the terrorist's direction of attacks. The stationed soldiers here were thin and most of them were just helping to find more civilians to bring them to the shelter.

These soldiers were also hurrying as they could see that cracks were starting to appear from the barrier activated to protect the whole city. They know how precarious their situation was.

"Die!"

Avery waved her hands as a flood of red liquid started to gush out from the grimoire. Percival watched the liquid as it started to cover him from all directions.

'Good! Be arrogant about your tough defense... Think of it as a weak corrosive magic spell that you can easily break through anytime you want! Your own pride will kill you!'

Avery grinned seeing that Percival allowed the red liquid to surround him. He was probably testing the limit of her magic spell to know if it could seriously damage him. This would allow her to successfully execute her plan without spending too much effort...

'But I still have to be careful... Being dubbed as the Strongest Mage in the City is proof of his strength...'

"And it will also be your weakness! Come! Acid Waves! Focus Blast!"

The red liquid that suddenly appeared from the grimoire emanated a different sinister aura as it tries to swallow Percival who was relying on his Mana Shell to protect his body. Aside from that, the scattered rain that was slowly corroding the powerful magic barrier of the city suddenly focused its direction on a single point!

"Evaporate..." Percival whispered as the surrounding mana suddenly thinned. The Acid Waves was still there and it only weakened for a bit.

He frowned at this since the effect that he expected did not happen. This time he repeated his cast but with more power behind it.

"Evaporate!"

The Acid Waves made of red liquids slowly evaporated. But this is only a small portion of the gushing waves.

"You're not using your own mana!"

Avery had suddenly noticed that the headmaster's two attempts to evaporate the spell she cast was only using the first stage of mana affinity.

"You're really underestimating me!"

Although it would be to her advantage, she felt a bit annoyed that he wasn't using his Mana Reserves to cast a spell. Apparently, Percival achieved an unprecedented level of Forceful Manipulation.

There were three stages of mana affinity, Forceful Manipulation, Inducement Control, and Arcane Link after receiving the baptism. Although achieving Arcane Link would not stop you from using the 1st and 2nd stages, it can be said that using them was only limiting yourself to greater heights. After all, exploring the limit of Arcane Link was still fruitful in strengthening one's self rather than using the crude method of controlling mana.

"No, I'm not underestimating you... It's the opposite, I'm taking this seriously..."

Percival, without any sign of using a Mana Artifact, opened his palm to confront the waves of remaining red liquid coming at him.

"Haaa!" He merely shouted and suddenly, the waves stopped coming at him and were scattered everywhere destroying some buildings around.

Avery only grinned at this as she thought that she could just regain her control on the liquid that was scattered around. She planned to buy more time for the other team to get their objective but to her surprise, the mental connection she had with it was no longer working.

"What did you do?!"

She used a Sealed Mana Artifact to materialize the liquid... It shouldn't be defeated so easily. Percival did not answer as he approached the lady.

"The artifact you have is strong... but you still needed some time to learn how to use it..." Percival said matter of factly.

"You're the one who needs to learn!" Avery gritted her teeth as she poured more mana to the grimoire she was holding. Soon, a part of the barrier covering the city shattered, and the concentrated rain coming from the sky headed towards Percival.

She saw him not caring about the Corrosive Blood Rain from the sky and seems to be very intent on disabling her. It was natural, the headmaster was most likely thinking that disabling her would also stop the spell she cast using the grimoire.

"Hmph! Let's see what other tricks you have!"

***

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of explosions were heard as soon as the six mages from the Black Knights arrived in the vicinity of the building. Anti-Aerial Craft Turrets, Elemental Turrets, Heavy Machine Guns, and different models of Automatons welcomed their arrival.

Everyone was expecting this as they activated their superior magic defense and enhancement spell.

"Myriad Shield!"

"Frenzy Time!"

As soon as they activated these spells and were covered by its protection and amplification, they all jumped to the 5th Floor breaking the window glass in the process as they successfully infiltrated the Headquarters of the Golden Trident Group.

The building was quite high as it has 21 floors and the top floor was their target. Although they couldn't jump up to the 21st floor, the 5th floor was not bad since they believe that they avoided a strong resistance force from the lower floors.

'They should be expecting us to enter from the first floor... I guess you guys just wasted your defenses there... You're not aware that we know where the cores are hiding!'

The leader laughed internally as they move hastily to the upper floors. They haven't encountered any magicians yet and were only being stopped by a couple installed minigun turrets and automatons that only have a strength of a beginner Battle Mage. Confronting six Adepts in a narrow space would end them in mere seconds.

"Halt!"

As soon as they reached the 20th floor. The leader felt something different. From the 5th to 19th floor, they never encountered any magicians and only fought with controlled artifacts and weapons. Although it wasn't hard, it wasn't that easy as they had to maintain their defenses at all times since they were not aware of where the attacks will come from.

He took a glance at his communicator to check whether he missed a notification from Avery or Avarice. After all, they have an agreement that if ever the Headmaster of Leonhearts Academy or the members of Lucent Force was unoccupied, they have to inform him so they can make a tactical retreat.

These are the only magicians they were afraid of within this city. The Phantom Squad or that suicide squad should still be holding on against the forces of the City Mayor. Now that they are a few meters away from their objective, he suddenly felt that this was too easy.

"Did they just give up like that?" The leader couldn't imagine that the strongest security company would have no backbone and be easily scared by six peak Adepts.

"Are they planning to just place a weak defense to ensure that we'll take the cores and tail us?"

"Maybe, they want to find our headquarters?"

The leader was listening to his member's words and it somehow made sense. But they are prepared for this.

There was no way that they will back out so he just reminded everyone to cast all the spells they needed to protect themselves and remain focus on their objective. As soon they stole it, they will immediately scatter and rendezvous in a prearranged location after a couple of days to ensure that no one followed them.

As soon as they stepped on the next floor, they were greeted by a single magician blocking their path. It was the female president of the Golden Trident Group who once visited Wallace's place when he first ordered his security package, it was President Eun.

***

"Hey! I still don't understand!" They started to complain to Kenneth as he keeps making them on the edge.

'Man, why couldn't you just tell us directly.' Everybody thought but they still went along with him.

"What do you mean? What's the connection of the Sealed Mana Artifact's similarities?"

"That's right! Do you mean that there's another similar level of man artifact being hidden here? So... does the terrorist group waged war to the city to take it?"

"Not really... I actually find this absurd at first but as you noticed... all the Sealed Mana Artifacts seem to be named to some parts of the body." Kenneth said this as he glanced at his sister Katherine implying for her to continue instead.

Katherine only rolled her eyes as she let his brother explain. In truth, everything they are about to tell was only their conjecture after hearing rumors and some insider information.

"Sigh~ Alright! Listen, it is rumored that all the Sealed Mana Artifacts were made from a human body... But not a normal human body you are thinking of... it probably came from a Celestial Being! A powerful transcendent being that only lives in the northern continent!"

Kenneth took a deep breath before continuing.

"The thing that the terrorist was looking for was most likely to be some drops of blood that came from this Celestial Being..."

Kenneth sighed after completing his words. He was expecting that everyone would just laugh at the conjecture he made with his sister.