The first anomaly popped up when the mad, ranting Bearer of Destiny’s words began to slow down. Within seconds of that happening, the mad expression the Holy Son of the Red God wore began to twist with fear, and his words turned into incomprehensible utterances.

Count Nightfall took a step back, his guard up, while Caroline shifted to a defensive position. Of the five of them here, he and Caroline were the only ones who didn’t know about Nero’s skill, Black God’s Gaze, so the two of them had reacted accordingly.

In that small pause created by these movements, however, the Red God’s Bearer of Destiny let out a horrified shriek and fled. His suit tore up at the seams as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop. Dia emulated his movements a moment later, but she was no match for Nero, who had already landed on a rooftop two seconds after the Red God’s Bearer of Destiny fled.

The four of them chased after the fleeing, frightened fellow, bounding from rooftop to rooftop to save time and energy. The fear their target was emanating continued to increase with every passing second, and his escape turned more and more frantic.

Before long, they arrived at the city walls, but the madman simply tore a hole through the net that covered the sky. Bells rang madly as the torn net shook and quaked wildly, and Dia jumped onto the ground.

The guards rushing out of the guardhouse recognised her immediately. As the others jumped into the hole that the Red God’s Holy Son had created, she looked at the guards and said, “Count Nightfall and the Seekers of Life are chasing an assassin. Stay on guard and patch that hole up as soon as possible.”

Without waiting for their response, she ran out through the city gates, chasing after the Red God’s Bearer of Destiny. Count Nightfall was flying through the air, exchanging blasts of raw mana with their target, while Risti and Nero were running after the duo on foot and doing absolutely nothing else. Caroline had stayed behind of her own accord, before taking over command of the guards that Dia had spent five seconds to brief.

The explosions continued towards the north for a few seconds, but that delicate balance was soon broken as the Holy Son of the Red God unleashed three attacks that missed entirely. Two discs whizzed out with unerring accuracy, arcing through the sky and smashing their target into the ground.

Dust surged to the heavens, and Dia made use of this time to catch up. She arrived just as Nero and Risti finished off two people, their figures turning into wisps of mana that scattered into the air.

An unnatural calm followed as everyone looked at the dent in the ground. Count Nightfall had smashed the Holy Son of the Red God with that last hit, but Dia was almost certain that a barrier had taken the brunt of the damage.

“Black. God’s. Gaze. I see. It’s you.” A figure got up from the small crater, pointing at Nero.

“Yes, it’s me, Mendas. I’m glad you finally remembered the person you attacked,” Nero replied. “It’s a shame you took so long. I mean, we crossed paths ten days ago, and you didn’t even notice.”

The Red God’s Bearer of Destiny, who also doubled as His Holy Son, froze, and a mad expression appeared on his face again. “I see. Is this retribution? Unfortunately, if you were there, you must know what skills I have, right?”

He pointed a middle finger at Dia and the others.

“Familiar Spirit Descent, activate.” A red glow gathered around him, and a set of illusory red wings wrapped around his body. Mad laughter followed as a red sword appeared in his hands, and with another gesture, he said, “Absolute Confinement.”

A hemisphere rose from all around them, trapping them in an arena. At the very least, however, Dia did learn what the name of his Absolute skill was, but…

“I’m glad you people decided to chase me all the way here.” His left cheek rippled once, before bursting apart into clumps of maggots and other insects. “Today, I can finish this sacrifice. Not just with you, but with your entire city after I’m through with you.”

“You’re mad…no. Whatever you are, you must be stopped,” Nero muttered. “You’ve been touched by that, haven’t you?”

“Isn’t it great? You forced me into this state! I ran out of mana, suffered a backlash from the ritual you destroyed, and was chased by the Moons! I’m so glad I’ve turned into this abomination, because this thing is the last thing you’ll see in your life!” The radiant crimson blade in his hands pointed at Nero. “And now, you’re done for. You, and the poor innocent people of this city. And it’ll all be your fault.”

Something seemed to freeze in Dia’s heart, and she looked directly into his eyes. “You done?”

A wave of surprise stirred everyone.

“What’s my monologue got to do with you, bitch?” The red light surrounding the mad Mendas rippled crazily. “You want to die first?”

Dia, who was not the sort to posture for more than one sentence, simply activated a certain skill. Without warning, thousands of swords appeared within the dome itself, with the rest appearing outside Mendas’ Absolute Confinement, each of them glowing with a pale blue.

Another icon on her top right dimmed a moment later, and the world shuddered as something impossibly huge smashed into the hemispherical cage that had everyone trapped. The ground buckled, sending everyone sprawling onto the ground, but that was no issue to Dia.

Air whistled as the swords generated by one of her forbidden skills, Domain of Swords, locked onto the Red God’s Bearer of Destiny and charged at him tip first. Mendas screamed as he pushed off into the air, his hands a blur as he tried to ward off the incoming weapons, but each of them boasted of the mana of a tri-folder.

Sharp fragments of solidified mana flew as the first wave of swords shattered or self-destructed, tearing into Mendas’ body and drawing blood. The screams grew increasingly weaker as the following waves continued on without any hesitation whatsoever, and after twenty-two seconds, the familiar spirit that had joined up with Mendas had faded away, torn into pieces.

Three seconds afterwards, two arms flew up in rapid succession, and the remaining weapons plunged themselves into the mad Holy Son. His body shook over and over again, but another wave of divine might swept out, blasting Dia and the others away from the fallen Holy Son.

“He still can conduct a Descent for His spirit clone?” Nero forced himself up. “Impressive.”

Dia spat some dirt out of her mouth. “The remaining swords are all gone, though.”

“Thankfully, His spirit clone was forced to expire after healing Mendas back up, but he now only has one skill left. I doubt he had much time to gather skill media either.” Nero steadied his breathing. “And his body can’t take another descent anytime soon. He’s on his ropes now.”

The crimson glow around the mad Holy Son died away, and the sight that followed made Dia reel. The stumps that had Mendas’ arms once were now growing out with slimy maggots, but…

“What’s with those things?” Dia muttered.

“That’s what happens when one tries to use mana without any more mana left,” Nero muttered. “Your body stops using mana on its own when it runs out, not because it can’t draw anymore mana, but because of its self-preservation instincts. Mendas’ current state is due to him consciously ignoring these limits.”

Dia wanted to ask more, but there were more important things to deal with first. “Kill him. Then get answers.”

“We can’t let him live now,” Nero agreed. “Nightfall, charge with us.”

“You, kill me?” The crazed Mendas laughed. “I’ll never let you have the satisfaction of killing me.”

Something cracked, and an immense suction arose from Mendas himself. Dia could vaguely feel her mana tear away from her body in a mist of blue light, and she wasn’t alone either.

“Mana implosion!” Nero yelled. “Run!”

Dragging Dia and Risti along, Nero fled away from the glowing Mendas, whose body was transmogrifying entirely into a mass of scales, squirming maggots, horns and other organs. Count Nightfall followed suit, his left hand snapping a bunch of skillsticks into two to conjure up a bunch of barriers.

“That madman,” Nero spat. “Is the Red God’s Church this crazy? What did his teachers tell him? By no accounts are we supposed to draw power from Limbo, nor cause a negative mana reaction! Clarissa would go insane when she finds out…I better tell her.”

“Limbo? Negative mana reaction?” Dia exchanged confused looks with Count Nightfall, and then jolted once as she took in Risti’s reaction.

“Yeah…it’s not supposed to be spread around willy-nilly,” Risti replied, nodding her head once. “But there are indeed crazy people everywhere, I suppose.”

A series of sharp, small explosions rocked the air, the mere sound of it shaking Dia’s heart as they raced towards the edge of the grey dome. Piling themselves up against it, Dia took out all the defensive artefacts on her and activated them too, and a thick wall of distorted air surrounded them.

“Brace yourselves,” Nero warned. “Three, two, o—”

Dia’s eardrums shattered halfway through Nero’s words, and the world turned dark.