Dia was snoozing away happily when someone knocked on the door rapidly. “Count Daybreak’s men found something!”

She jolted awake immediately, as did Risti, and the two of them pulled on their clothes in a hurry. Strapping a few swords onto her belt, along with a cloak that had loops and pockets which held a bunch of artefacts, she pushed the door open and entered the doorway.

The sounds of assembling guards filled the air, with a steady, slow chime above the din.

“Good,” said Count Daybreak, “you two are up. Now, where’s the Holy—”

The door to Nero’s room opened a few seconds later, and Nero popped out. Like them, he had a cloak draped around him, but this time, a club was hanging off his back. The rough-and-tumble weapon seemed a little at odds with his overall elegant pose, but Dia wasn’t in the mood for aesthetics right now.

More importantly, where had that club come from?

“I’m here,” said Nero, glancing at the count once. “What’s the situation like right now?”

“Three of our guards discovered the target some twenty kilometres north of the city, almost at the area where the Moon Emissary died,” said Count Daybreak. “I was intending on heading there with you guys.”

“Well, we did tell you to inform us immediately,” said Dia, “so I won’t complain about the rude awakening just now. Still, it’s really dark out. Wouldn’t t be a problem to pursue our target under such conditions?”

“It can’t be helped,” Count Daybreak replied. “We’re still waiting for Half Moon, after all. And besides, even in the day, we probably couldn’t have seen much. The dome surrounding this place grows ever darker by the passing minute; it’s possible that we’ll be plunged into darkness before long.”

Risti nodded. “Still, it’s quite dangerous to charge in without proper planning. We don’t know what the enemy is planning, nor do we know what’s this dome for. What’s the point of all this?”

Before anyone could reply to her question, a bout of screams tore through the night.

“Edward just vanished!”

“I saw it too! Someone find the count! Hurry! Never mind, I’ll do it myse—”

“Bruce vanished too! Hurry and find the co—”

Count Daybreak looked at the hallway’s end, and then broke into a sprint. Dia and the others followed suit a moment later, and the four of them crossed to the end of the hallway and burst through the double doors there.

“Silence!” Count Daybreak hollered, before pointing at a pale guard. “You there, what’s going on?”

“Two of us just vanished into thin air!” The pale guard pointed at two places. “Bruce and Edward were just—”

A chill ran down Dia’s spine a moment later, as the scared guard simply vanished from existence.

“He’s…gone.” Dia stared at the place where the guard had been standing at earlier. “Moons. What’s going on here?”

“I don’t know, but it’s almost definitely something to do with the culprit’s plans tonight.” Nero gestured once, prompting blue light to surround the four of them. “I’m not sure how this works, but there’s something in the air. Like poison, but different. I’m guessing that after breathing in a certain amount of this thing, it’ll vanish you.”

“What, some kind of dust-based teleportation that works after enough is accumulated in the body?” Count Daybreak asked.

Nero nodded. “Something along these lines, I guess. Look at the boundary. It’s covered with some silvery dust, just fine enough that they’ll need to be in small clumps for you to see. From how we and my barrier isn’t teleported yet, it seems like there’s a second trigger — I think it’s probably contact with a living thing.”

“We’re safe here, then.”

“Only because I’m using mana to filter off these particles. At the same time, the four of us might have some of these particles in our body already, so it’s possible that we might teleport at any time,” said Nero.

“That’s scary.”

“Yeah,” Nero acknowledged. “Let’s get out of the palace. We need to ascertain the scope of this attack, and its purpose. Maybe it’s an agent of the great Dark trying to screw everyone over or something with a blood sacrifice.”

“Another blood sacrifice?” Count Daybreak cursed under his breath. “Let’s handle the asshole before something else happens, then. I understand that there’s a risk here, but it seems that my entire county will be wiped out come sunrise.”

He took a deep breath and bowed. “Please. If not for me, at least help my people. They don’t deserve to die like this.”

Nero glanced at Risti, and then at Dia, before sighing. “We don’t know who the enemies are, nor their number or their strength. The only thing we know is that there’s at least one Bearer of Destiny running around. I don’t think this…current situation is from an Absolute skill, since Absolute skills probably don’t need conditions to trigger. This dust thing is probably from an artefact.”

“So we need to figure out where this artefact is, where people affected are being teleported to, and then defeat the people responsible.” Risti rubbed her head and then glanced at the bowing count. “So? What should we do?”

“…I don’t know about you,” said Dia, who was staring at the clouds of dust that was stuck on the film of mana surrounding them, “but I think one of the fastest ways to deal with this situation would be to walk into the trap.”

“The trap?”

Dia let out a sigh. “Please get up, Count Daybreak. Let me ask you, how much of a risk-taker are you?”

The count straightened his body. “Risk-taker?”

“Yeah.” Dia pointed at the clumps of grey dust. “You’ll be teleported there in an instant if you…I don’t know, breath in all this dust.”

“I think splattering them on his body would do,” said Nero. “Of course, the dangers are very real. It might not just be teleportation; it might be one that’s designed to fracture the body or kill the people in transit outright. Either way, however, that’s the fastest way of getting to the culprit.”

“So?” Risti asked. “Are we going to head north, or use this dust-based teleportation-slash-suicide method? Your call, count.”

“I’ll pay you three times the agreed amount,” Count Daybreak muttered. “We’ll use the dust.”

“It seems that you’ve made a decision…but I can guarantee safe passage for a higher sum,” said Nero. “I can protect everyone’s body and mind in transit with a certain skillstick, but we’ll be down by one trump card, and that skillstick is not cheap at all.”

“...How much do you want?”

“How much do you think the lives of your people and yourself is worth?” Nero asked back. “Ponder on that question, and then give me an answer when we’re done with the problem. For now, let’s get down to business.”

He let out a long sigh and retrieved a skillstick. “This here is a skillstick that contains a skill that will get us out of this pickle. It’s expensive…and it’s from a skill family that everyone knows quite well…”

Nero paused, and then looked at the three of them. “Any discomfort?”

Dia blinked. “No, why?”

“Please continue,” said the count. “And make it quick.”

Dia glanced at the silent Risti for a moment, but before she could think about it more, Nero had continued his words.

“Anyway,” said Nero, “this skillstick contains Perfect Integrity. It’s the second highest derivation of the Integrity skill line, and…never mind. I’ll talk about the Perfect prefix later. Anyway, this thing will protect us with the strength of an octo-folder for thirty seconds.”

“An octo-folder…”

“Yeah, an octo-folder.” Nero eyed the count. “You better think about the right price when we’re done with this. Anyway, once we arrive, we’ll be in tip-top condition. Don’t be surprised, kill anyone who’s obviously an enemy, and then if we’re separated, try to group up. I’m not sure how, but causing a huge commotion should work.”

“Okay,” said Dia.

“The two of you…just try to survive.” Nero rubbed his nose. “Prioritise ending whatever nasty ritual is underway. Me and the count will try to find the culprit.”

“Roger.” Risti let out a long sigh. “Fair fortune be with you.”

“Thanks.” Nero toyed with the skillstick. “Get ready, then. I’ll release this barrier, and once I see the teleportation begin, I’ll snap the skillstick. Everyone else, place your arms on me somewhere, so I can spread the effect out.”

The odd sight of three people placing their hands on Nero’s shoulder followed, but the discomfort didn’t last long as the blue boundary rippled and vanished. The dust that had been separated from them immediately settled onto Dia’s shoulder, and a force began to tug at her.

“See you on the other side, then,” said Nero, discarding a broken skillstick. Nine-coloured light covered their bodies, right before the pulling force strengthened by over a hundred times.

The world around Dia vanished a moment later.