Leon leaped to his feet, almost pushing Elise to the floor in his haste. However, with armed figures surrounding his and Elise’s new home, he wasted no time with apologies as those could wait. Before anyone could say a word in shock at his behavior, Leon called upon his power, bringing his sword and armor from his soul realm.

At this sight, both Emilie and Jordan released their own magic senses, believing that Leon wouldn’t be acting like this without reason. As soon as they saw the figures approaching the villa, they responded much like Leon. In less than a second, they were on their feet with their armor on and weapons drawn.

Both of them were equipped as well as Leon would expect, given their positions in Heaven’s Eye, and seeing Emilie’s glittering form-fitting golden armor and Jordan’s bulky black armor encouraged him quite a bit.

“What’s happening?” Asiya asked in shock.

Valeria and Elise were curious as well, but despite both being fourth-tier mages, it was the third-tier Alix who responded next. She rose from her seat and calmly asked, “Weapons?”

“Training room,” Leon replied, pointing to the northeast corner of the villa.

Alix needed nothing more, she ran for the door.

After the cold realization that Leon wasn’t playing around sent a shiver down their spines, Valeria, Elise, and Asiya quickly followed. Valeria was the calmest among them, but all three were terrified of whatever was happening. None had the battle experience of Alix or Leon, but they were still third and fourth-tier mages, so once they got moving, they no longer hesitated.

“There are fourteen in total,” Emilie said. She was the strongest of those remaining in the living room, so she gave them the information she could glean with her magic senses with a lack of hesitation that quietly impressed Leon. “The strongest one is seventh-tier. After that are five sixth-tiers, two fifth-tiers, a fourth-tier, and the rest are third-tier.”

These people themselves were all dressed in black to blend in with the evening environment, though from how little bulk there was to their clothing it seemed they were all unarmored. They all had hoods concealing their faces, but the unenchanted cloth in their attire wasn’t enough to stop Leon, Emilie, and Jordan’s magic senses. They could see the pale features of these fourteen people, as well as the blades in each of their hands.

“Eclectic combination of power levels,” Jordan muttered, his voice steady and lacking concern.

“Doesn’t matter. They’re here, that’s what they are,” Leon said as he resigned himself to a hard fight. His new sixth-tier power was about to be tested much sooner than he’d thought.

Fortunately, as the invaders closed in on the villa, they passed the stable without incident. The agitated Anzu was still scratching and chirping at the door of the stable, and Leon didn’t know what he’d do if they had stopped to harm his griffin. At least he could now conduct himself knowing that Anzu was fine.

In the last few seconds before they reached the villa gate and the back door, Leon wondered who these people were. He had no shortage of enemies, from whoever had been targeting his family, to Tiberias Decimius, to even Octavius given how much the Prince seemed to target him whenever they shared a room. But even then, there was still one thing, one possibility that stuck in Leon’s mind. For all that these people looked like invaders, this might’ve just been a huge misunderstanding.

It was a possibility, however unlikely. Still, right before everything kicked off, Leon tossed a lightning mine spell at the foot of the front door. The villa had little more than a quality of life enchantments, so if the invaders wanted to get inside, there would little to stop them; the stone and wood of the villa would melt before them like snow before a fire mage.

The hostile intent of this group was proved, and Leon’s caution was vindicated as soon as the villa’s gates were blown apart with a fireball and seven of the figures spilled into the courtyard. Simultaneously, the back door was blasted open with another gout of flame, and four more invaders rushed into the living room. The remaining three attackers remained outside, keeping an eye on the villa just in case one of the occupants escaped through one of the many windows in the place.

The four invaders who burst in through the back door were the pair of fifth-tiers and two sixth-tiers, and they found themselves against the seventh-tier Emilie and another pair of sixth-tier mages in Jordan and Leon. No time was wasted between the three left in the living room. They held a great advantage in magical power, and they weren’t going to wait around for the rest of the invaders to break into the house and negate that advantage with vastly superior numbers.

Leon acted first, his lightning magic giving him unparalleled speed amongst everyone present. He lunged forward, choosing the first sixth-tier mage that entered his home as his opponent—his left shoulder lit up in pain in a brutal reminder of the last time he truly fought for real, but it was hardly debilitating, so he ignored it. Emilie likewise attacked, her limbs glowing with light magic and moving just about as fast as Leon’s were. She attacked the other sixth-tier mage, leaving the final two fifth-tier mages to Jordan, who followed his two compatriots and stepped forward to engage his opponents.

Leon, Emilie, and Jordan fought like demons. These people had invaded Leon’s home and the home of the other two’s daughter. Their killing intent was so intense that their combined auras caused the drinks still on the table to begin to freeze.

Golden lightning erupted from Leon’s blade, and when he brought it down upon the attacker in front of him, who barely managed to raise his own blade and block with extreme difficulty. Leon’s attack came with such force that the attacker cried out in surprise as he was forced to take a couple steps back, revealing his sharp fangs.

As the vampire blocked, golden lightning arced out of Leon’s blade and singed his hands. The vampire didn’t much care, and his hands ignited with demonfire to block Leon’s magic.

The demonfire didn’t help him, though. Lightning exploded out of Leon’s legs, scorching the vampire’s legs and tossing him back a couple of steps. But Leon wasn’t done, lightning continued to surge out of his legs, blinding the vampire with golden light. The vampire released his magic senses almost instantly, but the microscopic delay was enough for Leon to lunge forward once again, impaling the vampire upon his sword before the monster could react.

Leon had poured enormous amounts of lightning into his sword, and the Adamant metal held it all with ease. When the blade pierced the vampire’s heart, all of that stored lightning exploded into him, ripping the vampire apart from the inside out while demonfire erupted from his soul realm, his demonic master taking what he could while the vampire yet drew breath. When Leon removed his sword from the vampire’s chest a moment later, the monster was dead, his corpse charred and smoking, and Leon spared him no more attention.

When he turned to Emilie and Jordan, he saw that they had killed their opponents at about the same time as he did. Jordan made both of the fifth-tier vampires a head shorter, while Emilie had sliced her adversary in half at the waist with a blade of light. The rest of the living room, however, had been completely trashed. Most of the furniture was now just splinters of wood, tattered leather, and cloth, while more floor tiles were broken than weren’t. Still, Leon hardly cared about all that, especially when there were still more enemies nearby.

The three exchanged a quick nod, acknowledging each other’s skill in defeating the others in such a short time.

A moment later, the four ladies who had left to retrieve weapons stepped back into the living room. Elise had a rapier, Alix an arming sword, Asiya a short saber, and Valeria a spear. All were training weapons, though, and thus had limited lethality.

“That was quick,” Alix observed, not perturbed in the slightest at the sight of the dead vampires and the slightly trashed living room. The other three, however, weren’t so casual, and Elise especially pointedly didn’t look at the four dead bodies.

“They were clearly not used to fighting trained mages,” Jordan said with a confident smile. “Peasants in the country don’t put up quite as much resistance as Legion knights or Heaven’s Eye guards…”

“Keep a level head, don’t get overconfident,” Emilie warned.

Leon agreed, but he simply turned toward the front door. After seeing the demonfire, he knew exactly what was happening; these were servants of Amon, and they were after him. With his magic senses, he could see the seven vampires out in the courtyard pause at the front door. They probably knew their comrades were dead and were hesitating, but he was certain that they would find their nerve.

“Where's the local Legion when you need them…” Asiya bitterly mumbled as she prepared herself as best as she could for the first real battle she’d ever been in. Her hands were shaking, and she felt a bit weak in the knees, plus she was already regretting eating as much as she did during Elise’s party with how much her stomach was starting to turn, but she was more than willing to kill to protect herself and her friends.

Valeria was another thing. After the initial shock, she’d calmed down immensely, and like Leon, she now faced the door, ready to fight whatever came through. Her killing intent wasn’t as intense as Leon’s, but it was certainly far stronger than Leon was expecting, which he wasn’t too happy about, but now wasn’t the time to contemplate that.

Alix, in line with her experience and attitude, was as calm as Valeria, and she was more than ready to fight.

The only person who seemed significantly out of her element was Elise. She was terrified, and she had little idea of what to do with herself. She had been lightly trained for battle, but she was the daughter of a Heaven’s Eye Tower Lord, she never expected she’d have to swing a blade in anger in her entire life. Now, her life, her new home, her boyfriend, her parents, and her friends were all in danger, and she was almost crying from the fear.

She shook like a leaf in the wind, and she didn’t start calming down until Leon took a few steps closer to her, standing at her side. Elise was about out of her mind from terror, and Leon wasn’t going to let that happen.

“I’m with you,” he whispered.

That one statement was enough to cut through the darkness in Elise’s mind. She looked at him, saw his calm, collected demeanor, and it brought her back to herself. She took a few deep breaths, readied her weapon, and nodded to Leon.

“I-I’m ready…” she croaked.

“I won’t let them get past me,” Leon said, taking a few steps forward until he was between Elise and the door. He was very worried about the others in this situation, but his priority was to protect Elise.

After a couple of minutes of hesitation, a woman’s voice cut through the silence and reached not only to the vampires outside but to those within the villa as well.

“GET IN THERE!” she bellowed.

The weaker vampires in Leon’s courtyard must have been much more scared of her than of him and his guests, as they immediately sprang into action. What was more, the woman and the other two who had been keeping watch on the outside of the villa began to make their move.

The front door that opened into the courtyard was made of unenchanted wood, and when a sixth-tier vampire hit it with a gout of plain red-orange flame, it instantly shattered and exploded inward. The vampires in the courtyard spilled in after that, but the lightning mine that Leon had thrown over there a few minutes before detonated. The sixth-tier vampire that led the way wasn’t killed, but most of his body was severely burned after being inundated with countless arcs of lightning.

Leon charged once his mine went off. He led by slamming a bolt of lightning into the ground at his feet, annihilating many of the floor tiles beneath him and exposing the stone foundations of his villa, but the vampires in the lead could count a few more injuries after being thrown back. Leon, not wanting to lose this momentum, continued by channeling lightning into his sword. It crackled and sparked, and when Leon slashed at the sixth-tier vampire in the lead, lightning burst from the sword and slammed into the vampire.

He tried to block the lightning, raising his arms into a defensive posture when he saw Leon’s slash coming and conjuring a screen of bright red fire, but fire was no barrier to lightning, and the bolt was powerful enough to rip most of the skin on his left arm off and hurl him back through the door into several of his comrades.

All of this happened in a matter of seconds, and the others in the room charged once Leon began to move. Emilie conjured hundreds of tiny lights in the air, about as big as the stars seemed to be in the night sky, and began to fire them into the open doorway, peppering the charging vampires with light magic. They couldn’t handle magic from a seventh-tier mage, and most of them were killed on the spot, including the sixth-tier vampire that Leon had injured. Jordan slammed his leg into the ground, and his shadow bent into a long tentacle that rose up and slashed what was left to ribbons.

It was over so quickly that Asiya, Valeria, Alix, and Elise hadn’t the opportunity to join the fight, not that anyone really cared, they were all just relieved to see the fight going so well.

But the fight wasn’t over. Sensing the seventh-tier and sixth-tier vampires walking through the ruined gate, Emilie said, “Head to the docks!” She was confident that she, Leon, and Jordan could handle this, but if the others stayed, they could be caught in the fight and killed as quickly as she had killed the weaker vampires.

Asiya, Valeria, and Alix responded immediately, running toward the back door. Elise, however, stared at Emilie with a look of terror, unable to say anything except, “… Mom…”

“We’ll be all right, Butterfly, just go with your friends,” Jordan said with a wide smile.

Elise’s eyes turned toward Leon, and he said, “We’ll be right with you. This shouldn’t take long.”

Elise wanted nothing more than to stay, as did the others, but she was completely outclassed. She couldn’t argue on this point, and with only one last look back, she followed her friends.

The huge backyard was bare of just about everything except grass and a few trees near the edges, so it was easy enough for Elise to sprint toward the private dock on the river a few hundred feet behind the villa. With every step, she fought back the tears of fear and shame from leaving, but when she joined her friends at the dock, they had turned to tears of anger and frustration. On her birthday of all days, in her new home, threatening her friends and family. That, she couldn’t abide.

But there was nothing she could do about it now. Back in her home, she could hear the battle begin. Even from outside, she and the others could just about follow the battle in its entirety, with flashes of golden light and earthshaking thunder answered by great gouts of dark red demonfire.

After about thirty seconds, Jordan was hurled through the stone walls of the villa by an explosion of demonfire, and Leon and Emilie retreated through the hole he created. They were pursued by all three vampires, and from what those at the docks could see, they had come out on the losing side of the fight, despite their armor.

Leon, Emilie, and Jordan recovered in the backyard, but the vampires weren’t going to give them any time and attacked after following them outside. Elise and the others had to watch as Leon, Emilie, and Jordan’s attacks did very little damage to their enemies, and while they didn’t seem to be sustaining too many serious injuries beneath their armor, they were still being forced back step-by-step.

These vampires, it seemed, were far more comfortable fighting stronger opponents than their subordinates had been, and even Leon was forced onto the defense by the speed and power of the sixth-tier vampire he was fighting.

The three were forced back almost to the docks themselves, and the vampires didn’t seem to be stopping. Demonfire had almost completely consumed the villa and the entire property, and every magical attack Leon, Emilie, and Jordan tried to make melted away in the heat of this demonfire.

There didn’t seem to be anything they could do, and the four at the docks readied themselves to fight. Jumping into the river wasn’t an option in any of their minds, so if the vampires pushed the other three the rest of the way to the docks, then they would join Leon, Emilie, and Jordan in battle. The Naga River behind them was wide and deep, but slow-moving, and all of them could’ve swum to safety if they had to, but none of them was going to leave when the battle was still undecided.

Finally, Leon’s boot scraped against the wood of the dock rather than the dirt and grass of the expansive yard, Jordan was thrown backward fully onto the dock, and Emilie was only a step or two away from the wood. It seemed like the end, but none of them were going to give up under any circumstances.

So transfixed was everyone with the fight that they didn’t notice the water rise behind them in a great, stationary wave, as if something extremely large was rising out of the huge Naga River, but the vampires certainly did, and they quickly backed off in shock. Leon, Emilie, and Jordan had been so on the defense that none of them pursued, even though Leon very nearly did, and he had to fight to stop when he noticed the other two weren’t doing the same.

The ‘bump’ of water in the river suddenly burst, revealing a tan woman, completely naked and possessed of beauty that no one could deny. She was tall, with light brown hair, and blue eyes that shone like all the world’s oceans flowed through them.

Despite everything that had just happened, Leon’s heart sank into his feet at the sight of her. He had a long list of people he didn’t want to see even under the best of conditions, and her name was damn near at the top.

The woman was Naiad, and she smiled back at Leon like a predator eyeing a delicious meal.