“What is this place? I’ve never seen architecture like this” said Eileen to Leona as they moved through the empty corridors with caution. There were no guards, no servants, nothing. The whole place seemed empty, almost abandoned.

“I don’t know… I don’t sense any guards either. This seems like an old unused building, a laboratory of some sorts, why were we brought here?”

“Look!” Eileen points to an arch made of stone in the middle of a large room by the end of the corridor. It was just active, finishing closing up as the magic within it was deactivating.

“That man must have used that to go somewhere else. But why would he leave us like that?”

“I don’t know, something must have happened”

“That’s an odd behavior for a kidnapper, but we must press on, the exit must be close now, let’s go Eileen.”

The door to the streets was a large one and was locked by the inside with a chain. Leona easily cut through it, opening the door.

As they moved outside, they were quite shocked. A very large city opened up to their sights, unusual buildings, pavement seemed made of a single rock. There were several posts every now and then on the street with a lantern attached to it.

But what most surprised them were the people and the carriages on the streets. The city was busy, many citizens walked by with bags and products. On the streets, the carriages moved without anything pulling them. They seemed magically driving. Inside these carriages, they could see nobles wearing very pompous and large dressings and big hats through small glass windows.

On the streets, walking about their daily lives, were normal people wearing much simpler clothes. No matter how they looked at them, they were clearly Allardians, Norsemen, Islanders, and even Beastmen.

Eileen and Leona quickly caught the eye of the people there, their unusual vestments and especially, their weapons on display. After all, nobody else was armed.

Leona quickly pulled Eileen into an Alley and away from the eyes of the main streets.

“We need to mingle, we need to find new clothes to cover ourselves better” Leona looked around to see if anything was hanging or set to dry. But there was nothing, even the alleys were crispy clean of anything. There was no trash, dumps, or even the eventual latrine, so commonly found in any other city.

Eileen looked through a window and pointed to a large cabinet “In there, we should find something inside that dresser”

Leona nodded and forced the window open with ease. They picked up some clothing from the house before anyone noticed and resumed their movements to flee the city.

Harmon Skaralt walked in fast pace through his mansion, he ignored his servants and locked himself in his office. Impatiently walking from one side to the other until he finally went to the door once again.

“Cossack! Send an order out, I want the Orders in this city right away, all knights! Everyone that holds any military title, summon them right away!”

“My lord, that’s unheard of, they will not be able to come in such...” Cossack came quickly, a small old man.

“It’s a command from their ruler! Those who do not comply will be expunged from their titles, land, family name, and any right to soul transferring or lifetime expanse.”

“Yes! My lord! As you command” Cossack rushed from the corridor to spread the news to all.

Harmon once again locked himself in his office and walked around in a very impatient manner. Memory of his death was trapped in his mind. The fact that if he had attacked that man, he’d be dead by now was deeply affecting him.

“Why didn’t he attack?” questioned Harmon to himself.

From time to time, by the corner of his eye, he begins to notice a figure observing him, but as he focuses on the spot, it vanishes without a trace.

“So it’s following me now, watching from the shadows. He must know I’m gathering people to fight, why don’t he stop me? Are you listening? What are you waiting for?”

Silence, not a word of response from anywhere.

Harmon walks a couple more rounds around his office and finally stops. He notices something by the corner of his eye. He closes his eyes and sees himself quickly shooting a spell on it.

The result shattered all his expectations. Despite any action he does, he sees himself being attacked, and no matter how he tries to counter he always ends up the same way, torn apart, bleeding on the floor, dead. there was only one course of action he could take.

Harmon opens his eyes and laughs out open-heartedly. “I will not be undone by this thing! I just need to prepare properly”

He glanced at an orange crystal at a cabinet, nodded to himself, moved to pick it up and set it on a communication pedestal.

Instantly, the image of the greater shadow appeared, the master of the Twilight Council.

“Master Harmon? What do I owe the...”

Harmon Skaralt was clearly agitated “You, I must give it to you. You played me like a fiddle and I didn’t even realize it, congratulations.”

“I, I don’t understand”

Harmon laughed “I knew I shouldn’t have trusted outsiders. I should have done it myself, given the importance of it. But you see, it was a secret project of mine and I didn’t want anyone else to know what I was doing. But well, now is too late to regret it, isn’t it? I should’ve known better. I underestimated you, after all, even someone like you, when faced with something so extraordinary, would be able to make something out of it. But no, I believed you’d be too much of a fool to realize what you were really doing. I was wrong, so I applaud you now, bravo, splendidly done.”

“Master Harmon, please. I don’t understand, we have done nothing but obey and follow your orders”

Harmon interrupted “Enough with the charade! Just tell me, how did you create that thing? Was the knowledge of it on the real artifact? How did you fit it inside that necklace? How do you even control it?”

“No my lord, what are you talking about? This has to be a mistake, we’d never...”

“I SAID ENOUGH! I know you set me up from the beginning! Casually letting the information out, little by little, first was the mention of the necklace, then the Allardian princess in its possession, and then, finally, you sent her my way. And I sprung your trap like a starving beast going heads on the hunter’s trap”.

“Master Harmon, I told you everything as we were discovering it, I’m sure if there is a problem we can sit down and...”

“I swear on my ancestors, I will deal with that demon, and then I will hunt you down, you and that council of yours. And I will do it personally. I will not rest or stop until all of your souls are trapped inside a soul prison where I can torture you, over and over again until your very soul breaks apart!”

The shadow lord went silent, realizing there was nothing he could say at that point.

“Run, flee, hide… make this interesting for I am coming for you, very soon”

The communication is cut off. Harmon screams in anger and moves out of the room shouting “Cossack! Did you deliver the message? When will the Knights arrive?”

Harmon hears a small laugh from the corner of the room, as he turns, there is no one there.

On the other side of the device, the orange crystal was shattered on the ground and a man walks and sits on a chair by the corner.

The shadows gather at the council room. The master shadow waits for the remaining two members to appear, looking at all the empty seats there now.

“Master,” said both shadows greeting him.

“Where is the artifact now? Where is the princess?”

“We are not too sure master, last information was that the princess was in its possession and that she was escorting a merchant through the plains with her group.”

The great shadow continued “The frontline? Why would he mention the princess and the necklace, unless... Dahmer of the Dragon Eye is in charge of the fortress. A mage of his capabilities, it isn’t strange that he’d find and capture the artifact rather easily. I see, everything starts to make sense now, he must have used that to attack Harmon and pin this on us. But why would the princess go there? Could it have been Dahmer’s plan all along? Someone like him could have been monitoring us and we’d never know” he spoke to himself.

“Master?” said Sadon’s shadow

“Listen to me, and listen to me well. You will drop everything you were doing, you will end everything nonessential to our order. Erase everything that can link you to it and then hide, burrow yourselves deep and remain there until further notice.”

“What happened?” asked Ghadora.

“Something we didn’t anticipate. We took someone else's fall and now we will suffer the anger of the High Priest of Death, he vowed to be coming for us.”

“No.. that can’t be. If he waited just a bit more, I’m certain that we’d get the artifact. Maybe that will appease him?” said Ghadora, quite frightened with the news.

“No… there is no turning back. The artifact is now irrelevant since he believes we betrayed him.”

“But we were so close, are you sure we should give up on it? Can’t we use it somehow?” said Sadon.

“No, something is very wrong with all this story, until we discover what it is we must stay away from the princess and the artifact. That’s were Harmon will look first”

“But master… What has happened to create such a situation? Why would Argos turn on us like that? What do they blame us for?”

“I don’t know for sure, all I heard is that they managed to capture the Allardian princess. After that, it seemed they were attacked somehow.”

“Attacked? Something that could trouble even the great priest of death himself? The Great Harmon Skaralt? What the princess could possibly do against him? Even with that artifact, she’d still not be any concern to someone like Harmon” said Sadon.

Ghadora shadows flicker “What if…” she says with a concerning tone. Both stop and wait for her to complete her sentence.

“What if we were wrong all along? Do you remember what Thessai said about the princess? When Astos fought the great Magus back in Thanes?”

“He tried to protect the princess and the artifact, it was an empty threat as I recall,” said Sadon quite plainly.

“No, what were his exact words?” she asks.

“If you take the princess you will unleash a power beyond you, something in those lines” Replied the great shadow.

“Yes, that’s it isn’t it? What if we got it wrong?” said Ghadora.

“What wrong?” asked Sadon.

“What if he was not talking about the artifact, what if he was talking about something else we didn’t see… What if the Argonians kidnapped the princess and this something else was unleashed upon them?”

“But what? There is nothing, we’d know about a hidden enemy by now. Besides, there is nothing in this world that could even pose a threat to Argos.”

The shadow lord stops the conversation “Enough… we will get more details once all this calms down. For now, while Harmon is occupied with whatever it is happening, do as I said. Clean everything up, cover all the tracks and wait for my instructions” The master shadow disappears, the man is back to his room, sitting on his chair at the corner of his office.

He leans forward, wiping a cold sweat from his forehead. “What could make someone like Harmon Skaralt so angry? What could possibly pose a threat to the great priest of death? Dammit, our ally turned into the most terrible enemy possible!” he hits the chair’s arm with his fist.

Suddenly the words of Ghadora came back to him “Could it be? No… we would’ve known by now of such an existence”.

He pondered in silence for a few moments and glanced at his cabinet to the side. He quickly stood up and walked in fast steps towards it.

Inside of his cabinet, he picked up a skull of a large bird and a bottle with a small transparent crystal inside. Looking at the crystal, a white dot sparkled in the middle of it from time to time.

He brought both to his table and pulled a dagger from the drawer. He cut his hand, dripping the blood on the wood in a circle, putting the skull in the very middle of it.

“Thessai’s soul shard,” He says looking at the crystal. “I was supposed to use this to threaten him in case of betrayal, but now… well, I suppose this is the best use for it.”

He opens the bottle and puts the crystal under the skull. The eye sockets shone with its light.

The man speaks a few phrases in Argonian and then stops “Now, show me the last moments of this very soul and the mage named Arstos”

A light shines from the skull eye sockets on the man sending him into a trance.

He sees Thessai’s shadow floating behind Arstos as the Great magus lays on the floor, deeply hurt and bleeding profusely.

Thessai’s shadow was on its limits after using a lot of its mana on the previous attack. Noticing he’d run out of time, he asks Arstos to take the Allardian Princess back for him.

The great Magus began to laugh, coughing blood but laughing nonetheless.

Both Thessai and Arstos found it curious, “Have you gone mad now that your death approaches?” said Arstos with his usual overconfident tone.

The shadow lord looked at Maximilian through Thessai’s eyes, the magus seemed way too relaxed, despite the situation he was in, his tone was almost of mockery “You have no idea what you are doing, do you? Haharg…” the pain stopped him from continuing.

The shadow lord of the Twilight council didn’t like the way he said those words.

Both Thessai and Arstos had the same thought, the magus had gone insane.

The great magus continued “Cough You are messing with the only thing that you shouldn’t, if you harm that girl, you are all dead! Hahaharrgg Cough”

“Do you think empty threats will save you? I thought the great magus had more dignity than that” said Arstos.

“Take it as you will, but if anything happens to the princess, I guarantee that you will regret it.”

The shadow lord listened with care and watched Max’s expression carefully. And he could tell, those words weren’t an empty threat, he knew Maximilian quite well to say it, those words were genuine warning.

Tessai began to flicker and disappear. “Finish this, I’ve spent most of this shadow’s mana already. Find out what he knows about the item before you kill him.”

The man behind the twilight council returns to normal as the skull loses its spell. He hit the table with his fist, knocking the skull on the ground, the crystal was gone from beneath it.

“Damn you, Max, always confident and always arrogant, even at death's door you rejoice in the fact you are one step ahead of us.” The man pondered in the very words the Magus chose to speak.

He sits down on his chair, pours a glass of wine for himself, and sighs “I really hate it when he acts like the smartest man in the room. But at least now I have a lead on this, Ghadora was right, there is something else going on and he knew about it… but how come we missed it, what could it possibly be?”

He sips on his wine while deep in his thoughts “The princess is done for since Harmon captured her, all it remains to explain this mystery is the great Magus. But right now I can’t go after him, the best bet is to cut our losses and lay low so Harmon doesn’t find out where we are. Luckily, with time… we will get our answers”

The two shadows remained in the room as their lord disappeared.

“What will you do now Ghadora?” asked Sadon.

“I will do as ordered, cut everything that can link to me. Do you know anything that could be an issue, Sadon?”

“One thing that comes to mind is that Arstos and Thessai have died abruptly, maybe even before they could dispose of the evidence that could compromise us or the council.”

“They wouldn’t be so careless. Besides, Arstos place was ravished already, all his books and soul research is gone. If he kept records of identities we’d be exposed by now. And you know Artos, he was not the type to use underhand methods to get the things he needed anyway.”

“But what about Thessai?” asks Sadon.

“That viper? He probably has lots of documents and journals with all our names, possessions and identities, all cataloged on a pretty book”

“I had the same thought, good thing is that his main hideout is still intact in Iris, maybe we should go there and make sure there is nothing there that compromise any of us”

“Iris? I can go to Iris, I have a good life there. I won’t mind hiding in that place”

“Good, let’s meet on Iris then Ghadora, we will wait for this storm to pass drinking the best wine and listening to the nobles complaints”

“So, do we have an agreement then? We will watch out for each other in Iris?”

“Each other and the master, right Ghadora?”

“Of course, and the Master”

“Shouldn’t we be helping? Are you sure these few people will be enough?” Asked Therese as they found one of the Argonian Camps after the frontlines, they were extracting iron from a small mine.

“Just look” Arthas pointed forward, three cloaked ones rushed forward. He then looked at Attia and Bellica “Scout the area around here, tell the others to keep spreading as needed to cover the ground. Remember the master's orders, no one escapes, we will remove all Argonian presence from this land.”

Attia and Bellica moved fast. Therese just watches amazed by the speed those two can achieve at such a young age and all the coordination Arthas had with the people there, just a few words and everyone was able to act, they all knew exactly what to do and how to do it. Showing her that they had a great experience together doing these types of missions.

A moment later, Arthas and Therese approached the camp themselves. She then could see firsthand how the cloaked ones operated.

Fast, silent, and deadly. With a coordinated attack, they hit multiple spots of the camp at once, disabling the soldiers and the undead in instants. They certainly showed years of experience.

“Arthas!” Called one of the cloaked ones once all Argonians were dealt with. The lion approached him as he pointed to the body on the ground, he removed its helmet to show something to the lion.

“A beastmen?” Said Therese surprised.

“The others?” asked Arthas. The other cloaked ones removed the enemy soldiers helmets and looked at him confirming it.

“Any slave crests or control stones nearby?” asked the lion.

The cloaked ones shook their heads. “Not that we could find”

“What does this mean?” asked Therese.

“I don’t know yet, we are deeper in Argonian Territory than any beastmen usually go. So, either these men are converted Argonians or slaves.”

“I can’t see how the proud Beasmen would ever serve Argos, they must be under some spell, like Leona was”

“That’s possible. Master would be able to tell if he was here. But in any case, let’s keep moving. We must catch up with him” He turns to the one guiding the group. “Are you sure these are all the Argonian camps? We can’t miss a single one.”

“Of course, the best hunters know them by heart, we know which areas to avoid you know,” said Galan looking around quite surprised on the efficiency of the attack force, he looks down at the corpse of the beastmen wearing the light Argonian armor “I never imagined these guys were not Argonians, well, we never messed with them to begin since they never leave their camps, we never had to.”

“Ok, let’s keep moving, with this done, all camps should have been done by the other teams by now. Let’s move to the city!”

“Harmon? What happened, why did you call everyone?” Dahmer appears in his battle robe and with a large bag attached to his waist.

“The pawn has arrived… at least you are ready to battle it seems, good.” Harmon was clearly angered. He was standing in front of a stone altar pouring a dense, velvet liquid on a bone bowl on top of it.

“What are you craft…” Suddenly, a sharp pain in his dragon eye afflicted the mage, tears of blood began to flow rapidly. He forces his eye open at the direction it pained him, catching a glimpse of something in the corner of the room. A man covered by a dark hood, standing there wrapped in dark shadows. All he could see from beneath the hood was a wicked smile targeted at him. The moment Dahmer focused to give him a second look, it was gone.

“Harmon! I saw something… someone was here just now!”

“I know”

Dahmer was confused, he tried to use his eye again, but he could not find it anymore. “Who was that man? Why didn’t you kill him?”

“Because it would be foolish to attack that thing without a proper weapon. That’s what I’m doing here”

“Thing?”

“It’s some kind of mana being, I never seen anything like it but I will deal with him soon enough” The velvet liquid began to turn transparent and solidify as Harmon added his mana to the mixture.

Dahmer looked around frightened “Mana Being? That can’t be, don’t tell me… the necklace?! It came out of the necklace? Dammit, Harmon, I told you it had to be confined! I told you it had a large amount of power stored into it!”

Harmon turned to him with eyes full of anger and disappointment “Maybe you should answer that yourself? Because how could it not be free? If it could rip apart your damn barrier like it was nothing! You clearly overestimated your capabilities and oversold that thing, Dahmer.”

Dahmer shook his head, he didn’t want to believe it, but since his own barrier was also broken before his own eyes he had to conform himself. “How can it be that the Creator and the Creature can break my perfect barrier?” he said to himself quite concerned before turning to Harmon “Then… the girls, we must find the girls before the master arrives. Where are they?”

“Why would they be of any relevance now? The damage is done, the creature is freed on our domain, all I need to do is to deal with it” the substance condensed into a small, perfect icosahedron crystal that Harmon took and put in his pocket.

“You do not understand, there is a strange connection between the necklace and its creator, the owner of that mana is coming for those women and he is a powerful man Harmon. It would be unwise of us to not use those two as leverage when he arrives”

Harmon looked at him and shook his head “Its creator may be dangerous, but it is still a human. But a mana being on the other hand. Can you imagine what something like that can find inside our Skaralt Acre? Do you understand why Dahmer?”

Dahmer finally realized what Harmon meant, “The Well of Souls! If something of pure mana reaches it...”

Harmon moves to a cabinet nearby “I’m sure it must have sensed it the moment he stepped into this city. I believe that’s the reason it’s passively watching us.”

“Harmon, It’s a matter of time for something like that to find its way into the well.

Harmon picks up a very old book from a special cabinet, it was fixed on a metal holding with a chain and the key to the lock was Harmon’s mana itself. He picked up the book and attached it to his waist on a special holder. “Cossack!” he shouted

A man quickly comes inside “Yes, my lord?”

“The knights must be arriving shortly, send them all to guard the entrance to the Well, nothing shall go through it.”

“All of them sir?”

“All of them!” Harmon begins to move and leaves the room. “I need to prepare, I will meet you there Dahmer”

Dahmer nods and speaks to himself “Still, there is another threat on the way that we can’t forget. My best chance is to secure those girls for when he arrives, I can definitely use them”

“Is it me, or there are a lot of people here from other kingdoms? And they are all walking the streets, carrying things and working on the city like they belonged here. Managing the stores, cleaning the streets, repairing the buildings... as if this was their own city, I can barely see any Argonian.” said Eileen.

“And where are the guards and soldiers? I didn’t see any so far either” replied Leona concerned.

“For a city this big, not a single patrol, not a single guard station, I’m not understanding this” agreed Eileen

Leona nodded and wobbled, intentionally bumping into an incoming girl on the sidewalk, she was holding a few boxes.

The girl was a young Allardian. With the bump, the boxes fell to the ground and opened revealing clothes and products. Leona smiled apologetically and helped her to pick the things up. The girl smiled back “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention” she said in the common Allardian tongue and nodded back at a very surprised Leona, continuing on her way.

Leona watched her go “I don’t know how, but I think they are being controlled somehow. Still, I couldn’t see her wearing a collar”

Eileen looked around at all those people on the streets “All of them? Could it be slave crests then?”

“They certainly seem to be the labor force of this city. It’s very possible to be a slave crest”

“But… I never heard of anyone from Allard or the North being captured. And this many people would certainly be of notice, there would be an investigation or something. There must be thousands of them here”

“Neither the beastmen or the Norsemen would let their brethren be slaves here,” said the wolf.

“Then how? Where did all these people come from?”

Leona just shook her head “Anyway, our priority is to escape, let’s find the gates to the outside and leave the city, the closer we get to the beastmen plains the better.”

They set their course and after a while walking on the sidewalks, one of those carriages suddenly pulled over them, startling the two and breaking abruptly.

The man in the front started to shout at them “Are you blind?! Didn’t you see we were coming to enter the gate here? Get out of the way!”

Leona glanced at Eileen.

“I’m sorry, we weren’t paying attention” Replied Eileen as both quickly made way.

A voice came from within the strange, horseless carriage asking in common tongue to the driver “What’s the delay?”

He replies back very politely “Two laborers were blocking our way, my lady”

“Just run over them, I’m in a hurry to get back. If someone complains, buy them new ones”

He nods and the carriage just accelerates, without any regard for the pedestrians' safety. Luckily Eileen and Leona were already out of the way, so the carriage quickly passed them and went inside the property through a gate that opened on its own, moving towards a house in the back.

They look at each other in confusion “Let’s go, the sooner we get out of this crazy place, the better”.

After a few streets, they reached a large plaza. An open square made of smooth, light-shaded stones set on the ground in many formats, the most recognizable one was a large circle that went bordering the squared plaza. Several stones went from the center to the border of the circle forming a spiral from both sides. In the middle of it, there was a small square building with a large metallic door on one of its sides.

Eileen and Leona quickly noticed that despite the large open space, absolutely nobody was walking on top of it. The people there were making sure to stay away from the circle, only walking on the outside square.

“Let’s do the same,” said Eileen as Leona agreed

As they were moving with the people, a commotion started within the main circle. Many gateways began to open on their own and knights in dark armors stepped through them. Dozens of knights now stood in the center of the plaza.

The citizens going about their life quickly changed their attitude, they immediately began to run away from the place.

“It seems the military is finally coming in, let’s do the same” added Leona but as they turned around to run with the others, there was already someone watching them, just a few steps away.

His smile was stopped by a sharp pain in his red eye. “Did you think you could escape me? Even if you hide, I’d still be able to see you.” he points to his eye. “Now, let’s go, I have much to do before your friend arrive”

Leona glanced at the plaza and all the knights there “Of all times, it had to be here.”

“We don’t have much choice, we can’t go with him. We have to fight, so watch out for those quick gates, we can’t be caught in them again”

“I know”

Dahmer pointed to the skull of his staff and the girls promptly jumped away, escaping the quick portal that had opened beneath them.

“Good reflexes, I thought you weren’t as agile” he complimented them “But now is not the moment for this, I don’t have time to lose so be a good girl and stand still for a moment.”

Leona glanced at Eileen and moved quickly to the right side, she was very fast but the man was able to follow her movements with ease.

“And now the real attack from the blind spot” without even looking he moved effortlessly avoiding Eileen’s sword. “You two are out of your minds if you think you can win against me, I can see through everything you do.”

But Leona was not done yet. She used the opportunity created to approach him as well, she tried to be faster than his reaction. That was her only chance of a successful attack.

But still, she wasn’t fast enough. The mage was just forced to block her sword with his staff.

Clang a massive dent on the staff surprised the mage.

“Outstanding, so the sword is not just for show, it is really part of the set isn’t it?”

The loud sound of the clash caught the knight's attention that began to gather around the ongoing fight. Strangely, they didn’t seem to want to interfere.

“Lord Dahmer! Were you summoned here too?” Said one of the knights in Argonian Tongue, approaching the mage.

“Not now Revier, I have an important business to take care of, I believe you have a duty as well. So why don’t you tend to it?”

“Indeed” He looks at the knights and shouts “Take position, nobody shall get close to…” the knight stops in his speech and points to the center of the square. A man in a dark hood was putting his hands at the door, probing it open. “Kill that trespasser, this is a holy ground. Only the blessed by the High Priest can stand in here”

Eileen and Leona looked at the man, his mannerism seemed familiar. Leona looked at Eileen, “Could that be…” Eileen shook her head as she looks at the necklace, the blue arrow was bigger, but still pointing to the east.

The knights began to move and take position, The White Lilly took the north side border, the Vultures took the east, The Holy Crest took south, the Eternal Vigil took west, and the order of the Raven the very middle.

All knights wore similar dark armors, but each order had a different design and size to it. The White Lilly was the lightest of them all while the Vultures were the heaviest armored of them all.

One of these heavy armored knights approached the man by Revier’s command “I’m Kuzam of Lass, from the Order of the Vulture, Third Initiate by the High Priest. And you are hereby sentenced to death for entering this holy place, your soul shall be removed from your body and scattered over this holy ground. Rejoice for your death will be swift” He raised his hand at the cloaked man to grab him which finally got his attention. The cloaked one turned to the knight.

The uncaring and condescending posture of the man sent waves of anger and heat throughout the knight’s body. “You insolent worm” the knight went for the grab.

The man’s eyes turned bright red beneath the hood, stopping the knight on his tracks, dark clouds gathered upon the city in a few instants.

Kuzam couldn’t take his eyes off him, something was clearly wrong with that man. Not only him, but Kuzam himself felt a bit disoriented for a moment, he felt like something was inside his head, poking at his memories.

Getting a hold of himself, the knight gathered his mana in his hand and promptly pointed it at the cloaked man. He was about to kill him when a single lightning hit the ground nearby and caught him by surprise, startling the knight.

Kuzam finally notices the dark clouds in the sky, swirling rather rapidly, he notices a smoke where the lightning struck and turns to it.

A dark hole had formed on the ground, pitch black. From it, Kuzam could see a humanoid figure making its way out of it, clawing and climbing the dark walls until the surface, a humanoid creature with a gray-silver skin.

Hairless and wearing very old rags that were still wrapped on its body. A slim creature with long small fingers and jagged teeth on an unusually largemouth. It had no eyes or ears; they were just dark holes. But the moment it stood straight up, outside of the hole, it looked straight at Kuzam, knowing exactly where he was.

That stare sent chills down the knights' spine. Cold sweat on his forehead, he swallowed hard. He raised his hand at the humanoid and quickly shot his spell on the thing without a second thought.

A black sphere rushed against the being, hitting the being and wrapping around it, holding it inside of its center.

Its pale body begins to crack inside the spell as it powers up changing color to a dark purple. It seemed to be sucking the enemy dry from whatever it was made of. Once it finished, it released it on the ground disappearing on the air. The humanoid was left down, withered and cracked

Kuzam was breathing heavily and expectantly watching the strange being.

But to his complete surprise, the thing twitched, again and again until it began to slowly get up. It then turned once again at the knight and simply dashed towards him.

Kuzam's expression didn’t hide his concern. Nonetheless, he prepared for the incoming enemy.

The knight swings his fist at the incoming humanoid, hitting it in full at the torso. The being didn’t even attempt to dodge it. The knight's armored fist blasted through the body with ease, revealing it was a completely empty shell, there was nothing inside of it.

The knight desperately shoves it off from his arm throwing it to the ground nearby.

But the enemy just twitches and stands up once again, even with his chest open, it was still willing to fight.

Kuzam looked at the cloaked man, he was clearly concerned but forced himself to smile, pretending superiority “Is this the best you can do? A single husk won’t be enough to save you”

The cloaked man looks at him sideways, revealing a wicked smile beneath the shadow of the hood. The knight could swear he saw the man shaking its head ever so slightly, right before several more lightning bolts began to fall down.

All knights tensed up as one portal appeared after the other after each lightning. And from the portals, several of those beings began to crawl off them.

The knights of the White Lilly were the first to rush into combat.

“Wait!” Kuzam shouts, but it’s too late. The first knight attacks the husk with its sword, but it gets stuck into its strange body. Another husk comes to attack him from the side, forcing him to use his magic to defend himself, one after the other, they kept coming until the White Lilly knight was overrun and covered by the enemy.

“Fool! Don’t you know you can’t just charge against that many Dark Husks?!”

Kuzam watches as the knight of the order of the White Lilly disappear amongst a pile of Husks. He shakes his head compulsively as if trying to wake up from that nightmare.

Dark husks should be legends, monsters from a past long gone. They shouldn’t be real, nor be there.

The one Husk closest to him finished the hole in its chest and looked at the knight once again.

Terror began to fill the Knight’s heart, “I don’t want to turn into one of them! We can’t win against this enemy! We must flee!” shouted the knight clearly shaken.

All the dreadful stories he heard when he was young were surfacing, the voice of his mother narrating the stories of these beings came to his mind, freezing all the knight's actions, just as the Dark husk rushed against him ready to strike.

Swoosh

Revier swung a massive polearm imbued of a green aura, shattering the husk that was about to attack Kuzam out of existence, not even the dust of the husks body remained once the swing was over.

He looks at the knight “Get yourself together Knight! If you can’t deal with this issue, join the White Lilly in the contention on the outer ring. They may look like Dark Husks, but I assure you, they are nothing but a poor imitation of the real thing” he points at the overrun White Lilly knight, showing that he escaped by phasing out of danger.

“He escaped? But dark husks should be able to get him through the Ethereal Walking”

“As I told you, despite their appearance, these are not Dark Husks” Revier turned to the cloaked man that was back analyzing the door.

“Now this is getting more complicated than anticipated, Lord Dahmer! The target can use summon spells like I’ve never seen before, how do you wish us to proceed?” Asked Revier.

Dahmer cast a spell into an incoming group of Husks that targeted him, a green liquid was launched at them, melting their bodies in instants “Harmon is the one preparing to deal with him. Our role is just to prevent him from getting to the Well!”

“As you wish!” Revier was facing the enemy, still not quite believing that the High Priest himself would join the battle soon. That man must be really a greater danger than he anticipated.

Dahmer turned back to the girls, and to his surprise, the Husks were even attacking them. It seemed that they were mindless beings, with no sense of friend or foe. “Good, they are busy for now, I can tend to the gateways”

“Stay with me, Eileen! My sword can cut them to pieces but their numbers keep increasing! I need you to make some room for us to attack” Eileen stood back to back with Leona while more and more husks appeared. The rapier was no good against such a foe but the regular sword made on Riou’s village was able to get through the bodies of the husks, not as smoothly as Leona’s sword, but enough to allow her to fight as well.

Didn’t take long from the husks numbers to increase so much that threatened to break the knights containment, the city would fall into chaos if they were allowed to roam free through the streets.

“Shugat!” shouted Dahmer casting his spell. A mirage began to appear in the distance, large doors could be seen and inside of it, the bottom part of an obelisk with a single rune written on it. From behind the obelisk stone, a large humanoid bull steps to its side, revealing a ritualistic robe and a large hammer to his hand.

He pulls the hammer back and hits the obelisk side with full force sending a wave of energy through the doors expanding rapidly and covering most of the plaza. Closing all portals caught in its way.

Dahmer then turned his attention back to the girls, they were holding off quite well against that enemy. They surely had experience dealing with such situations.

Suddenly a wave of power is felt, everyone’s attention turns towards the cloaked man.

He had both hands on the door and was gathering an absurd amount of mana, enough to send pulses through the place.

“Stop him!” shouted Dahmer as the knights stopped their fights against the husk to rush towards the man.

CLANK

They were too late, before they could make way towards him, a heavy clank was heard, the door crumpled by the power of his hands. Without the locks holding the door properly, he was able to pull it and toss the thick metallic door out of his way.

“No! Everyone! Stop that thing at once! Don’t let him open the Well” Shouted Dahmer to the knights.

But it was just too late, the cloaked man was already inside.

The whole plaza then began to shake and move on its own. The stone circle from the outside of the plaza began to emerge while four large pillars pushed it up and formed an abode ceiling. The other stones began to move to the sides, creating a stairwell that went down.

Everyone quickly moved back and away from the place, a few husks that remained, fell down the holes that the moving stones created.

The central square turned into a single massive pillar that went down. The stones inside the plaza were moving and forming a staircase around the pillar downward. On the top, to the 4 sides of the square, stone bridges were formed, allowing access to the central staircase.

Eileen looked down the massive hole on the plaza and noticed the spiral of stairs going down and eventually into a blackish, thick liquid that could barely be seen from that distance.

The well was certainly massive in size and depth and the liquid was far away from the top.

Suddenly a bell rings close by, getting everyone's attention once again. Dahmer smiles “Finally, took you long enough”

The Bell rang again. “Knights! Brace yourselves!” shouted Dahmer expecting something. The knights all put up their protections.

The bell then rang for the third time, and with it, ghosts left the bell flying in all directions, screaming, wailing, and moving after everything that remained in the plaza or nearby it.

The remaining husks that were out of the plaza had no chance against them, the moment the ghosts touched them, they just turned into dust and were blown by the wind.

The ghosts moved against the knights and Dahmer, but stopped in front of them and then moved away.

They also went towards Eileen and Leona, but differently than what happened to the knights, the ghost screamed at them and went for the attack.

They swung the swords against them, but it just went through without any damage. But suddenly a green aura involved the ghost that suddenly disappeared before them. Both looked around and noticed Dahmer smiling at them “I need you alive” said the mage protecting them from all subsequent Ghosts attacks.

In a few moments, all remaining husks were gone.

Harmon steps into the bridge that leads to the central pillar and staircases getting everyone’s attention “Death Knights! Before you are the biggest threat Argos has ever faced. We must stop this being at all costs! Help me in this effort and your legend will be forever written in the walls of Argonian history!”

All knights raised their weapons and saluted the high priest, rushing to the stairs and bridge trying to surround the cloaked man. Dozens of knights armed with the best armors and weapons Argos could create.

“Let me help set the stage, dear brother,” said Dahmer waving his staff, a massive barrier appeared covering the hole of the well, not only preventing the cloaked man from going down but also allowing the knights to move freely around the enemy.

“Eskarah!” shouted Harmon, a lance of violet energy was instantly shot, so fast that it hit the cloaked man on the chest without any chance of reaction, throwing it to the side with the impact.

Everyone watched amazed, the famous spell of the High Priest which no one can escape. Victory was assured “It’s done? Nothing can withstand the high priest spells!” said one of the knights close to the enemy ecstatic after watching such a spell.

But Harmon remained silent, watching the enemy.

And as it stood up, the High Priest was not surprised. Harmon pulled his book from the chain in his waist, the knights swallowed hard and stepped away from the enemy.

Revier addressed the high priest “My lord! Will you use the sacred book already? Allow us to take a turn, we will certainly take this down!” “Very well. Ready your knights to attack at my command! I will prepare myself for support”

“Yes, my lord!”

Harmon flicks through the book slowly and with care. The pages were thin, the book was very old and any wrong move could certainly damage its pages.

He finally stops and begins reading the page to himself.

The cloaked one was already standing again, looking at Harmon in the distance, he then smiled at him and waited. Harmon could feel the mockery in his actions. “Attack Knights!”

Revier and the others rushed the enemy from all sides, attacking him with their weapons ready for the kill.

But the strange cloaked man just dodged, all their attacks one after the other, with uncanny movements and by a hair’s length.

Once Harmon finished the chant, he raised his hand to the skies and then pointed to the cloaked man. “Move Knights! I will deal with it now!”

Fast as lightning, ethereal chains fell down from the clouds in the sky and latched to the cloaked man's arms and legs, quickly restraining and pulling him off the ground.

Harmon then puts his hand on the page of the book and closes his eyes. “Reinten” mana rushes through the chains and through the body of the enemy, enforcing the chains at his wrists and ankles. The chains moved as a whole, pulled down immediately after the spell, as if very heavy weights had just been added at those points.

The book then sucks some essence from Harmon’s hand as compensation. The high priest feels it but recovers quickly to order the knights “Attack now that it is restrained! Give it nothing but your best attacks!”

And so the knights rushed the chained enemy, one after the other they attacked with their best skills. Slashing and piercing the enemy without mercy. The cloaked man’s head hangs low, it’s body was ravaged, torn open by the many attacks and spells that hit him.

Revier prepared, he would be the one to put an end to the attack.

He positioned himself in front of the chained enemy, his poleaxe glistened with an even larger green aura. He spins it and advances, swinging it with all his might at the side of the body of the cloaked one.

A full direct hit, the chains held the body in place otherwise it would be sent flying.

The poleaxe lodged deep within its body. The Knight pulled it and hit it one more time for good measure.

Revier then watched closely, approaching the cloaked man to verify it’s death.

The moment the knight looks inside the hood, he sees vivid red eyes looking at him with a smile on his face. The chains are broken with a simple movement of his arms and legs with sheer raw power.

The cloaked one grabs the knight by the armor that immediately activates all defensive enchantments. But the knight could not escape it.

With his bare hands, the cloaked one crushed the chest piece of Revier that screamed in pain as the metal being torn damaged his chest as well.

Green thorns rain down on the cloaked one and Revier, they miss the knight but hit the enemy many times, forcing him to let go of the knight captain.

Some of his men quickly rush in and grab Revier, pulling him away from the enemy.

The cloaked man turns his head and sees a knight of the White Lilly casting the thorn spell. In a blink of an eye the cloaked one vanishes, the knight feels something in the bottom half, also he feels like falling down. And looking down he realizes that half of his body was gone and he is indeed falling to the ground.

Behind him, the cloaked stood watching the enemy die.

“What!? Why didn't the Armor react? The White Lilly can’t be killed like that!” shouted one of the knights.

“On guard! Don’t rely solely on your armor defenses! The enemy is too fast for that!” advised Dahmer preparing a spell as well.

“Do not waver Knights! Your bodies may fall, but as long as your soul remains, you will return…” Revier ends his phrase to see a member of the Raven’s Order being caught, raised to the air and his very soul sucked out of his body, held in the enemy’s hand and then destroyed without any hesitation.

A chilling sensation runs down the knights' bodies. The enemy was terrifying, to say the least, to be able to do such a thing, it surely had to be at the level of the great High Priest.

Dahmer finally finishes his preparations and glances at Harmon that was once again looking through the book pages. “Seems like restraining is not an option, that thing attack power didn’t reduce one bit. I must contain it, at least for a while!”

He pulls from his bag a vial full of white dust. He throws it on the ground and it moves on its own, drawing a mana circle on the ground close by. Dahmer then aims his staff at the enemy and a portal opens instantly beneath the cloaked one with the exit point above the circle of magic.

It was instantaneously cast and covered a larger area, to make sure that not even the enemy could escape it. But as he looked again, the cloaked one was not caught by it and Vanished from Dahmer’s sight.

“What? Impossible! How can it be faster than my eye?”

“Dahmer!” shouted Harmon casting another instant Violet Lance that lands right by Dahmer.

The mage runs away after the impact and looks back to see the cloaked hit by the lance once again, realizing that the enemy was dangerously close.

“Why… why could that spell hit it and mine that was just as fast couldn’t? How was my eye not able to see him moving?” asked Dahmer, raising his staff at the enemy once again.

The cloaked man began to move once again. Dahmer focused his dragon eye on him with all his power, determined to hit him with his prison spell to hold him at least for a moment.

He could see perfectly all the movements of the cloaked enemy, they were very fast but Dahmer was already calculating a location to cast his spell to hit him.

But suddenly, the speed increased, again and again. Soon, not even the eye of the dragon could keep up with him.

Dahmer became desperate once he lost sight of the enemy again and cast a barrier around himself.

Booom a violet lance hits the barrier

“You fool! You lock yourself with him!” shouted Harmon shooting more and more lances in the hopes it would hit the enemy the moment Dahmer undo it.

Dahmer turned very slowly, the man was standing behind him with his head down, as if waiting for him to realize it.

“Very well…” said Dahmer slowly and suddenly raising his staff to cast another quick spell.

But before that could happen, the cloaked one grabbed the staff, holding it in place as Dahmer was trying to raise it further up.

Crack the staff begins to crack on the large dent caused by Leona’s sword. The bone and the stone began to crack and then crumbled, breaking the hole staff in many pieces.

Dahmer watches the round dark stone on the top fall to the ground, stunned by the power displayed by the enemy, he slowly raises his eyes at the enemy in front of him.

“Undo the barrier you idiot!” he hears Harmon shouting in the back. Getting a hold of himself, he quickly releases the protection.

At the same time, a White Lilly knight suddenly phases on top of Dahmer, pulling him into the ethereal realm and away from the enemy as a rain of spells of all kinds falls down on the cloaked one.

Harmon puts his hand on the book and feels his very life being drained through his hand into the book, the stronger the spell, the greater the price was.

“Ancestors of old, heed my call. Come forth from your slumber, And aid us against the enemy of our people!”

A sunlight opens a path through the clouds, from it, descends three spirits, two men and a woman. They were taking form and becoming physical beings as they descended. And by the moment they reached the ground, they looked completely alive. The woman and one of the men wore armor while the third one had just a very old fashioned robe.

The knights looked in awe, the previous high priests had been summoned from the great beyond.

The cloaked one watched carefully the spell and waited patiently for their move.

The three took position, mana rushed through their armors beautifully displaying the intricate patterns of runes and craftsmanship put into them. Those were clearly superior to the equipment used by the knights there.

The first to move was the woman, she was fast and closed the large gap in an instant. The cloaked one dodged but from the sword swing, an energy blast followed after the swing after him, chasing the evading foe.

He turned and dodged the blast that went on forward hitting one of the houses in the distance, cutting it without effort where it hit.

The other two moved to attack together, the armored man went first and face to face with the enemy while the mage took the side to flank with a spell.

But as the two took position to attack, the cloaked one moved even faster, he went for the mage first and before his spell was ready he attacked it with his palm to his chest. Blood gushed out of his mouth and it vanished into the air.

The cloaked one then turned to the armored man farther away. The spirit instantly cast a massive spell at him: A blue energy that swirled violently full of heat and power, like a large beam of raw energy.

The cloaked one just took a stand and positioned his hands to redirect the spell against some of the knights that were on the sidelines watching. The spell hit them fully, destroying their armor and burning their bodies completely.

He then looked at the armored spirit and pointed his finger at him, shooting a similar beam of energy, much faster and much smaller. It hit the man's forehead, he burst into nothingness right after.

“That cannot be… we have to find a weakness,” said Dahmer as he started gathering his mana above his head. A sphere of violet pulsing energy formed and grew larger and larger. From the sphere, a tendril emerged and whipped at the cloaked man, hitting him on the arm.

His arm turned gray after the touch, several adverse effects began affecting him. The cloaked one lost its strength and fell down, shivering and twitching on the ground.

“Haha! I knew you couldn’t be all-powerful, something must be able to affect you” Dahmer pumped up the mana on the spell and continued whipping him with the large tendril, one after the other, several times over a few moments.

Purple Smoke oozed from the fallen cloaked one. Despite everything, he was once again standing up.

“And for the grand finale!” Dahmer threw the sphere itself against the enemy. Hitting him head-on, evolving it on that substance. Tendrils appeared and wrapped around his body, constricting and damaging him more and more.

Dahmer was certain of his victory. That spell was created to apply all kinds of magical and physical effects on a target, a sure proof way to find a weak point and exploit it.

Once the spell was over, it dropped the cloaked man that fell on the ground, completely still laying there.

Dahmer approached it when Harmon shouted “Get away from it!!” said the high priest, foreseeing his brother’s death in his next step.

Dahmer stops and moves back, the cloaked one seems dissatisfied and just stands up on his own, dusting off his cloak. “The bastard is playing with us, but let’s see if he can play with this” Harmon puts the hand on his pocket and pulls the icosahedron.

Holding it on his palm, Harmon closes his eyes and begins chanting a long spell very quickly. The icosahedron began to float and spin. The cloaked one watches Harmon without doing anything else.

The icosahedron begins to go faster and faster, sparking until it's covered in white light. At that moment, a massive light circle appears on the ground, a faint image of the icosahedron forms on top of it having the cloaked one on its center.

A light blue mana erupts from the border of the circle of light covering the icosahedron. Slowly at first, moving on filling the whole circle, the closer to the center the blue mana got, the quicker it moved up until it reached the very top.

A chiming sound and the blue mana quickly moved to its center, erupting in a blind and deafening white explosion.

As the flash settles down, Harmon looks at the enemy location. To his surprise, the cloaked one was still standing, but his cloak and clothes were torn apart and he was seriously hurt.

“Isn’t that Riou?” asked Leona looking at the man’s face. Eileen looked at him. He did look like him, but not quite. He seemed older than the boy she once met, but was also much younger than the current Riou she knew. “It looks like him, but it is not him”

“It sure looks like him though, he was winning so easily until now, but seems like the last attack got him, should we help?”

“No, I’m not liking this, we should try to escape” she glanced to the side, but many knights were still remaining, luckily they were also watching the fight and not coming for them for now.

Leona looked around searching for an exit. “We are trapped here, let’s try to move to the other side, let’s go through the bridge.” Eileen agreed.

Harmon smiled looking at all the damage the being took “I knew this spell would be the most efficient against something like you. Revier! Take the opportunity to attack! Don’t let him recover! I will prepare one more spell to settle this once and for all!” He ordered the knight. Revier raised his weapon and one after the other the knights joined him for another round of attacks.

Harmon picks up the book and flicks the pages until the very last one. “This will be the end of you.”

As the knights approached, Riou’s image seemed to get angrier and angrier. As the knights jumped him to attack from all sides, a massive mana wave blasted all of them away and the shadows gathered around him.

The darkness covered his body whole, turning into a dark armor. From his back, dark wings of a fiend, from his head, shadow horns appeared. He looked at Harmon with eyes beaming with a dark red light.

Eileen and Leona were through the bridge as they saw his transformation.

“It’s too late! My spell is complete! This will be your end!” Harmon inspired deeply and closed his eyes, his hand was holding on the last page of the book.

But then he stops rather surprised. “Very well, this other spell then…” he flicks the book a few pages back and stops. Soon going for another page and then another.

His foresight was showing his death for every spell he chose. The mana being would counter everything he’d throw at him. Until he reached the first page of the book.

Smiling he glanced at Eileen for a moment and began to chant.

“You who possess false life, You who was not born, but created. Soulless being who wanders the land, Accept this gift and leave, Return to the empty void you came from”

A rose made of a dark red mana appeared in front of Harmon, it flew towards the winged enemy at great velocity, he stood ground and prepared to receive it, pulled his arm to the side and hit the rose, changing its way to the side.

It was too fast, the rose was going straight at Eilleen’s direction.

As the red rose was about to hit Eileen, from the necklace emerged Nemesis. Blocking the Rose with her left hand. The Rose exploded in many petals and red dust on the guardian, then moving on its own and attaching itself on her arm that turned red.

Eileen was surprised at what happened and looked at Nemesis with care. She wasn’t fully formed, her whole left side was foggy, not taking shape completely. She seemed very weakened and damaged.

Eileen noticed the arm covered in red was starting to vanish and the dark red substance was moving forward towards her body.

“Stop that thing!” Suddenly shouted Dahmer, getting the girl's attention to change once again. They all turned to Riou’s image who was forcing open the barrier on the ground that separated him from the well below.

Eileen and Leona picked Nemesis up and ran to the closest bridge so they would not fall down.

After a few strokes with his hands, he broke the barrier that vanished completely all around the well. The knights quickly moved to the borders and bridges to avoid falling down, they knew too well that nothing could survive falling into that liquid.

Riou’s image was about to move down when a spell hit him. A skeleton hand, holding him in place and pulling him up above the well entrance.

“Harmon! I can’t hold it for much longer!” Shouted Dahmer.

“It will be long enough! He smiled and turned to the last page once again “Shallow Grave!” shouted Harmon, his skin color immediately changed, he became pale, his cheekbones appear as he became much thinner now. Those spells were consuming him greatly.

A skeletal apparition raised up and flew quickly at the winged enemy, but before it could hit him, Riou’s image broke free from the holding spell and quickly flew upwards, the white apparition turned after him.

Harmon was exhausted and fell on his knee. He noticed someone standing before him. Glimpses of his death began to pass through his mind, his foresight spell was going overboard and showed him thousands of different scenarios, one after the other in quick succession. Didn’t take more than a moment but felt like an eternity for him.

But then the enemy just steps to the side, the white apparition passes by him and hits Harmon that falls dead on the ground.

“NOO!” Shouted Revier, rushing towards Harmon’s body. But as he approaches, the winged one conjures a dark sword and pierces his chest on the cracked armor.

Dahmer falls on his knees as well, desperation fills his mind as both Revier and Harmon have fallen “How can Harmon be dead? He who was blessed with the foresight skill, he who could glimpse into the imminent future and chose the best outcome, how could he die so easily?”

Dahmer turns to the girls on the bridge “You… if it wasn’t for you and that freakish man, we would have conquered everything! We may lose here today, but I will still have my revenge on him for all he will find when he arrives, will be your corpse!”

The death mage screams and gathers all his remaining forces, the swirling clouds shoot violet bolts of lightning that cross the skies in response to his increasing mana.

On his hand, a blue deathly flame appears, slowly burning in a cold flame. He aims it at Eileen and blows it towards her.

The cold flame gains speed and size as it moves, Leona stands in front with her weapon ready. She swings, hitting the flame precisely on its center. But the flame just moved over her weapon and continued on, Eileen was it’s target.

Surprised that the spell passed by Leona, Eileen braced herself for impact, but Nemesis once again moved quickly and in front of Eileen, receiving the blast of the fire on her own body.

She smiles at the princess.

“Nemesis!” Shouted Eileen very concerned, seeing the already damaged guardian receiving another heavy blow.

The white fire begins to spread on her body, Nemesis moves away from Eileen as the princess tries to reach her to help. Nemesis shakes her head and moves to the rail guard of the bridge. Eileen steps towards her, but Nemesis shakes her head at Eileen, she smiles tenderly one last time and amidst the white fire she closes her eyes and falls over the rail.

Eileen rushes to the bridge side, she sees Nemesis falling down in a bright white light that was still consuming her left side. Even after she dived into the dark liquid, her light could still be seen, vivid and strongly pulsing in a white-gold color.

The whole black liquid seems to light up with her until she vanishes completely inside the dark thick liquid.

Noticing what happened to Nemesis, the dark Riou image desperately dashes forward, with all his speed towards the well. But when he was on the very border, he suddenly stopped.

Someone just appeared in front of him, blocking his way. With his arrival, a storm followed, strong winds moving around with great speed.

“What are you doing out? Now I know why so much mana was being pulled” Hearing that voice Eileen that was protecting her eyes from the wind, turned around.

Looking sideways to his dark, winged image. Standing between it and the well

The dark Riou looked angered and readied his hands while expanding his wings, ready to attack.

Riou looked down the well and then narrowed his eyes at him “You dare to bare your fangs against me, again?” an aura of sheer mana expands from Riou hitting everyone and everything in the plaza.

The dark image immediately stops and looks down to the side, Riou could still sense the defiance in him.

Riou stands before him, looking down at him, waiting.

The winged Riou suddenly jumps back and open his wings and arms, gathering all his power to himself he turns into a black mass of smoke. From him, several different monsters began to emerge and rush over all directions. As if the Abyss itself was opened and everything was left to run amock in that place.

In an instant, the whole place was taken, the whole city would be overrun shortly if that continued.

Riou looked at the chaos and closed his eyes, another wave of mana was launched from him. The mana covered everything in an instant, the monsters caught on it, turned into dark smoke, and vanished instantly.

Riou then walked towards his black image that turned back to normal.

“Kneel!” Riou commanded him.

His dark image lowered his head and obeyed, slowly kneeling down. “You abused the connection and left Nemesis to starve, and now this?”

Riou shook his head disappointed “Stay here and do not move” he said before turning around and rushing towards Eileen.

“Are you alright?” he asked her.

“Yes, I’m fine, but Nemesis, she… she saved me, and then she fell down” she points down the well. “Let me see the necklace” Riou picks the necklace up and opens it, the name of Nemesis is gone from it, he sighs and closes his eyes for a moment. Shaking his head at Eileen.

The dark image of Riou notices his master’s attention was elsewhere and uses the opportunity to act. He rushes forward and down the well, desperately trying to reach the dark liquid below.

Riou sighs and grabs the necklace tightly, gathering his mana on his hand casting a spell on the necklace “Artificer’s Regret” he says calmly, a blue light shines inside the necklace brightly and briefly

The dark image of Riou begins to disappear amidst blue sparks, vanishing completely, as he was about to reach the liquid in the well.

He opens the necklace once again and all inscriptions, enchants and runes are all gone. All mana on it, completely erased.

Riou takes a deep breath, he could feel his mana returning to him now the connection had been severed. He then returns the necklace back to Eileen “Now this is just a trinket… I’m sorry Eileen”

She could see he blamed himself for all that happened, but the princess just smiled at him.

Suddenly Riou raised his hand and put up a barrier, immediately blocking and absorbing a strange flame that was coming in their direction. He turns to see Dahmer unbelieving eyes set at him.

“How… Your mana, how did you recover so much of it so quickly? What kind of monster are you?”

Riou looked at his own hand, displaying a show of pure mana gathering on it. “The worst kind,” he says pointing that hand at Dahmer. The mage feels something holding on to him and as Riou clenches his hand tightly. The mage feels a rush of foreign mana disrupting all his mana paths inside his body, he shakes and convulses before falling to the ground unconscious.

He looked at the knights that watched everything in great surprise, their duty, and their fears were clearly conflicting on their minds, they didn’t know what to do.

Revier was heavily damaged, but awake. Noticing his knights were faltering, he mustered the strength to speak. “We have no choice but to continue fighting… Lord Dahmer and even the High Priest are gone. We are the last stand between them and the destruction of the Argonian Empire! Take your weapons Knights, today we will make them meet our god!”

The moment the knight finishes his words, a silver portal opens very close to Harmon’s body. A man with dark hair and an old fashioned robe walks through it and looks around the place with curiosity.

He then locks eyes with Riou and smiles, slightly lowering his head complimenting him. “Ah, finally, finally you arrived,” said the man in a joyous tone.

“So, you are Harmon Skaralt?”

“Me? No, he is…” he points to the dead body next to him. “And if you allow me”

The man snaps his fingers and Harmon’s body and head float over into the portal behind the man. He then turns to Dahmer and does the same.

“I apologize if these two caused you trouble, you know how kids are. They never know their place and time. But don’t worry, I will give them the proper talking and scolding later… for the others” he looks around “Do what you will, I don’t really care about them” he then waved his hand and began walking back towards the silver portal.

“Until we meet again, mon ami”

Riou widened his eyes in utter surprise after hearing those words. As the man steps over the portal, it closes up. Leaving Riou full of questions.