Standing alone in alleyway nestled between two buildings, a figure with a bag slung over his shoulder toiled away in the shadows. His hands moved, painting a brick wall with some strange substance.

“Hey!” A man wearing several rings shouted at the vandal. “Hey, old man?! Fuck off, would you?”

“Old man?” Casper snapped back, stepping out of the darkness.

“That’s a little rude, I mean sure, it’s a little grey, but still...” He murmured to himself.

Wearing a grey jacket, a plain white shirt, black pants, and black sneakers, there was nothing especially strange about Casper, at a glance. However, looking at Casper’s pale face and mostly grey hair was enough to put the man on alert.

His rings twinkled with a dim light as his eyes narrowed, blanketed with suspicion.

“Those are artifacts, right?” Casper questioned.

“Shit!” Apparently smarter than he looked, the man immediately called for help, one of his rings blinked rapidly which sent a signal to some unknown receiver.

The recent raids conducted by Sleeping Lion had put pressure on the New Era members stationed on the Emerian Island, so it was only normal for him to react so quickly.

A mass of blood coalesced in the air before coiling around the man and crushing him. With a short scream, his body gave way to the tension and he died just like that.

Casper approached him and pried the rings from his fingers before letting the miasmic flames destroy the corpse. He turned to look over his shoulder and glowing blood rune he drew had begun to work. A loud explosion ripped through the air as a wave of heat brushed past his face which caused him to shut his eyes.

When he opened them, a large hole exposed the interior of the seemingly abandoned building. Inside, dazed members of New Era were stumbling to their feet.

Donning the Ivory Warden’s Armored Skin, Casper stepped into the crumbling entrance, activated his Spirit Vision and looked around, spotting someone who was likely class-5, the strongest one among the bunch.

A woman with a longsword came bearing down on Casper, her blade crashed into the blood spear and pushed him back by a few steps, but he held his ground.

‘Is she really a class-five?’ He wondered.

Just as he thought her gift only provided additional strength, her body split into two and he was faced with two identical attackers. Her division hadn’t lowered her strength at all, in fact, he seemed to have doubled. He found himself being pushed back as she kept his spear at bay.

While her main body pressed down the blood spear with her blade, her second body lunged to his side and thrust her sword.

The sword scraped across the surface of his armored skin, and sparks went flying, but Casper hadn’t been harmed.

The rest of the New Era members had begun to move, lifting all sorts of enchanted weapons into the air before sprinting toward him.

“Jules!” A man shouted as he charged with a battleaxe in hand.

“I have him!” The woman shouted as her body multiplied once more and three identical forms surrounded Casper.

The two additional copies raised their weapons and performed simultaneous strikes, but their swords bounced off of Casper’s body once more.

Jules took a deep breath and replicated herself again, her face becoming visibly strained as her strength increased once more. Keeping Casper from moving was hard enough, but three powerful strikes slammed down on Casper and a luminescent barrier covering the surface of his armored skin became visible.

“Kill him!” The axe wielding man ignored Jules and swung aggressively as he attacked Casper.

Jules felt an eerie chill and looked into Casper’s eyes, seeing that he wasn’t panicking at all. If anything, he seemed to be waiting for something.

“Move!” Jules shouted as she forced her body to move backward.

The others who had just arrived were too late and could only watch as Casper’s body exploded into numerous crows with tinges of red decorating their feathers.

As they silently spread out, the ground began glowing. The entire time Jules thought she had him cornered, Casper had covered the ground in runes. Miasmic fire shot up from the ground like a violent geyser engulfing those unlucky enough to have been caught between.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the crows began to dive toward anyone they saw and exploded into a bloody mist upon making contact. The blood that stained their clothes transformed into binding runes which momentarily obstructed their movements.

Casper reformed and made full use of the opportunity granted. He gripped the spear in his right hand and pierced through a man’s skull, while he waved his left hand and sent a narrow wave of blood outward. It swept over several people before receding, drawing them inward. The scarlet wave then began to take the shape of a large sphere that entrapped four struggling individuals.

With a clenching motion, the sphere hardened, killing those within, before exploding, causing blood to splatter across the room like rain.

A man holding a battle axe grew in size as he arrived at Casper’s flank. Even with his increased size, it took some effort to lift the axe which showed its enchantment had something to do with its weight.

He brought it down, hoping to cleave Casper in half, but hit nothing but empty air as Casper became incorporeal. His ghostly form darted around the man before he rematerialized and stabbed out with his blood spear.

Piercing flesh and bone, the sharp head of the spear emerged from the other side, leaving the man dumbstruck. Writhing tendrils appeared along the staff of the spear and began tunneling through his body though they were met with resistance as the muscle they sought to tear through was too compact.

“Royce!” Jules shouted.

“Fuck off!” Royce shouted at Casper. While ignoring the pain of his wounds, he reached for the spear, intent on snapping it in half.

As Royce's hands tried to wrench the spear from his attacker, a wave a miasmic fire appeared along with it, causing Royce to cry out unable to cope with the searing pain. Even the tendrils that struggled to tear through his muscles had caught fire, inflicting what felt like endless agony onto the man.

“Stop!” All four of Jules’ forms rushed toward Casper but he raised his hand and they came to a halt.

‘The Authority of Blood, huh?’ Casper recalled his time in the Drachen Arch, attempting to recreate the same phenomenon.

The blood that covered her body from the fight allowed him to restrain her without drawing ‘bind’ runes, but it was difficult to hold her. His arm trembled and cracks appeared along his armored skin as she fought through his control. Even though he had managed to withstand several direct attacks, it appeared as if using the authority of blood caused more damage than his enemies could. Seeing the splintering of his armored skin spreading toward his shoulder, he finished off Royce.

The blood pooling on the ground moved, gathering into a thickened pool of red that gathered into the shape of spikes that launched themselves at Royce.

“Ah,” A singular exclamation left his lips as the blood spikes punched holes through him. His vision dimmed as he looked toward Jules who began screaming, but her voice grew fainter when the last vestiges of life departed from him.

At the same time, Casper’s arm creaked, the armor covering his forearm began to shatter in several places, releasing spurts of blood from the cracks. As Jules forced a fifth copy of herself to manifest, he could no longer hold her. His arm burst underneath the strain, leaving a badly mangled limb to hanging at his side.

Unperturbed by the development, Casper absorbed blood into his body and repaired the damage. However, it left a large enough window for Jules to attack, all five forms moved in sync and aimed for Casper’s head, arms, and legs respectively.

A wall of blood was erected between them to slow her charge and it succeeded for a few moments until she broke through by demolishing it in a single blow.

‘This could be bad,’ Casper thought lucidly, giving a fair assessment to her current level of strength.

Blood orbited his body as he leaped into the air, avoiding the five swords that came crashing down. He twisted his body while airborne, drawing the Spectral Bow with greater ease. Tugging his fingers on the pale bowstring produced an arrow which he fired without hesitation. His hands moved deftly as he fired two more in quick succession.

Like that, three of Jules’ forms had been struck, fading from sight soon after the arrows passed through them.

‘She’s like a glass cannon then!’ Casper realized, her strength might have increased, but her defense would lower in turn. Otherwise, it would be strange if she hadn’t managed to withstand one arrow.

Jules lurched forward, expelling blood as her insides churned, but she kept her footing and moved toward Casper in tandem with her remaining copy. One ran left and the other sprinted right, hoping to behead Casper the moment he touched the ground.

Since she had hedged all of her bets on the moment he touched the ground, Jules threw all of her weight in strength into the attack.

The moment Casper landed, he augmented his strength, using his forearms to accept the blows. The spirit barrier immediately shattered and the blades pushed a few centimeters in before being stopped. Jules was caught off guard, but even more so when two scarlet blades pierced both of her bodies.

“You…” Jules coughed as her second form faded, leaving her stuck with a scarlet blade through her chest.

“Who are… you?” She mustered up the strength to ask.

Casper willed his helmet to disappear, revealing his face.

“Casper Clay... You should know me right?”

“...Yeah,” Jules weakly spat out. “Grier told me to look out for you… You son of a bitch.”

“Speaking of…” Casper looked toward a service elevator. “Is he down there?”

Jules laughed before spitting a clump of blood at Casper.

“I’ll find out either way,” He spoke calmly before stabbing her once more.

She groaned as strength left her body, but she kept a defiant gaze as she stared into Casper’s eyes.

Undaunted by the hatred being delivered to him, Casper tossed her aside and entered the elevator. As the doors shut, his helmet returned, covering his face while lending him a solemn air.

…

Creaking downward, the noise of the elevator filled the basement floor.

The hushed breathing over dozens of individuals filled the low-lit hall as they raised their weapons. Crossbows that shone with a magical luster, as well as staves thrumming with magic, were pointed, waiting for the arrival of a possible enemy.

“You think its Sleeping Lion?”

“Quiet.”

Tension ran through the air, allowing for growing apprehension to take hold which sparked several reactions.

“W-We should leave.”

“Shut the fuck up!”

“The lift is nearly here.”

“We still have time, we should at least–”

“You say another fucking word and I’ll kill you.”

“It’s here!”

A loud bell sound reverberated as the elevator creaked open, revealing a dark interior.

Through squinted eyes, a man searched for any recognizable shape he could find but found only darkness. The stifled breathing only grew louder as seconds passed, feeling more like hours.

A light bulb shattered, painting the hallway in even more shadows. For some, that sharp sound was enough to put them on edge and arrows and magic went flying before the hall was illuminated with blinding lights.

“Stop!” A shout was drowned out by the consecutive impacts.

“I said stop! God damn it, stop!”

Eventually, the air settled and what was left was a scorched elevator with no sign of life, but strangely enough, blood began pooling, slowly making its way toward the improvised firing line.

“What the hell?” One man furrowed his eyebrows, touching the dark red liquid with his hand.

“It’s blood–” he just barely managed to say before the blood reacted. It quickly pierced through him, draining him of his vitality before growing in mass and expanding.

“Shit!”

“Move, move, move!”

“Get out of the way!”

Screams filled the air as the situation changed dramatically. A twisting mass of blood continued to grow, extending its reach outward, killing whoever it touched without fail.

The number of living people fell drastically as they retreated the opposite way.

“Wait–” One man came to a halt, seeing a figure standing behind them only a few meters away.

Beneath a flickering light, a single figure was revealed between the brief flashes.

Unknowingly, all those who had been running came to a stop, forgetting the mass of blood behind them as it stopped pursuing and pooled on the ground once more.

The figure moved slowly, a weapon forming in its grip as it stared at the small crowd before it. A violet flame burst to life, cladding the tip of the blood spear which cast a light on the skeletal mask covering Casper’s face.

No one could move, whether it be from fear or caution, their enchanted weapons would need time to recharge so those with weaker gifts could only wait for the stronger ones to react first.

“Should I go first?” Casper asked calmly.

“Aaaah!” A man wielding two batons ran out, however, Casper was frighteningly quicker which allowed the first attacker to greet the tip of the blood spear with his head.

Casper kicked the body away sending it back toward a pensive group who took a few steps back after seeing how fast one of their own died.

“If the rest of you won’t go, then I’ll have to,” saying so, Casper took a step forward causing the group to retreat a step backward. Right then, the corpse they overlooked in their haste exploded into a thick blood mist, obscuring Casper’s movement.

Horrific screams filled the hall as the bloody mist grew heavier, so much so that iron could be tasted in the air, but no one had time to pay it any mind. The cramped space and quickness of their enemy left many to find themselves stabbed through.

In the end, no one managed to escape or fight past Casper, leaving his ivory armor stained with blood that quietly dripped onto the floor.

Surveying the area with his spirit vision, Casper found no survivors or hidden individuals so he cleared away the armored skin and began walking toward the furthest room.

The reason he brought a bag with him in the first place was to collect whatever artifacts he found on the way. Scanning through some memories revealed the existence of something referred to as the ‘Healing Goblet’ which could produce a powerful regenerative liquid once per day. It wasn’t especially great, but seeing as New Era was suffering constant losses on the Emerian Island made it crucial. If their strongest gifted were to die from their wounds, it would mean their influence and presence would soon completely fade.

Knowing that Casper was more than eager to steal it and anything else he could find. Adding it to his duffle bag before heading back upstairs.

“Hmm?” Casper diverted his attention from looting corpses to the ringing of a phone.

He walked over to Jules’ corpse and pulled the phone from her pocket, quietly exclamation at the fact the contact name was ‘Grier.’

“Jules!” A serious voice was heard from the other line.

“Try again,” Casper replied.

A moment of silence fell between them before Grier spoke.

“Don’t fuck with me right now, asshole.”

“Aw, in a bad mood?” Casper mocked, but Grier was unreceptive to his jeering attitude and began cursing with more aggression.

Casper hung up when it seemed man would only continue rambling but was a bit surprised when the phone rang once more.

“Hello–”

“It's you, isn't it? Casper? You better pray that I don't get my fucking hands on you, you son of a–”

Casper sighed, pulling the phone away from his ear as Grier continued his ranting.

‘I guess he’d be on edge if New Era gets pushed out of the Emerian Island. After all, it’d be embarrassing for Ezekiel to declare war on everyone just to lose footing a few months after,’ Casper figured.

The first thing to be done once New Era was rooted out would be to announce it to the world. Doing so would diminish morale for the group, so Casper’s assessment was fairly accurate.

“We'll see each other at some point, Grier,” Casper said into the phone, crushing it in his palm before throwing it across the room.

Casper returned to filling his bag to the brim before he set the pooling blood ablaze. A normal fire rose up and quickly spread throughout the building as Casper made a hasty exit accompanied by the sound of a bag full of artifacts clanging together, creating an odd symphony.