Arya moved in the darkness, silently sneaking towards the hall. Soon she reached a large hall and found a wizard engrossed in his studies. Arya took a peek to see the wizard constantly muttering strange words and would occasionally curse out.

Without hesitation, Arya moved and attacked with her dagger.

The dagger struck an invisible force field, but Arya was now rushing forward and threw several more daggers at the surprised wizard.

Several strikes hammered on the force field, and it finally cracked. With several other daggers striking it, it finally broke, and the last daggers pierced through the force field and struck the wizard on the neck.

The wizard stumbled back as blood continued to spill down to the floor. The wizard was struggling to talk.

“Wh-why…?”

Arya moved closer and sheathed a short blade.

“For my father…” Arya declared as she stabbed down.

But as the sword struck the wizard, the illusion ended.

A red light flashed all over the ground, and Arya was in the center of a magic circle.

Several magical chains appeared and bound Arya.

The daggers that Arya threw had struck the empty wall behind the illusion of the wizard working on his table.

“Wha-what?!” Arya was shocked.

“Your father? I don’t know you! Nor did I harm your father.” An annoyed and detached voice appeared.

“But since you might have been responsible for killing Nabal… then I guess you must be the descendants of the weapons I asked him to procure. Are you the daughter of the blacksmith Render Blaze?”

“You…!” Arya was stunned as she heard those words.

“Oh… So you must be the living survivor. I heard Nabal failed to kill one. Arya Blaze, if I recall…” The wizard now had a bored expression.

“That sword that your father created… Do you know what form of the jewel he attached to produce the fire for his Flamberge? That was a Firestorm Star Ruby! The strongest fire jewel! It could help mages like me learn fire arts and develop fire bolts easier! And to think it was used to make a pitiful sword!” The wizard complained.

“You- you…!” You killed my father for a jewel?!” Arya was shouting in anger.

“The sword was a plus. The real reasons why the Serpentari wanted him dead were numerous. For one, your father is a blacksmith of great skill. And he wanted to leave the Serpentari. Without my desire for that sword, he would have been killed anyway.” The wizard laughed.

“What?!”

“It's a good thing that King Ciroel didn’t yet notice your family. Otherwise, it would have been difficult for us to kill him. Anyway, this night is quite annoying. First, Jaden survives, and now I have learned that Nabal is dead. Oh well… I guess having a slave as beautiful as you will do. I might get more artifacts if I offer up the assassin of Nabal!” The wizard laughed.

It was then he felt a strange sensation on his chest.

“What? What was…?” His upper torso slid down and fell to the floor.

“My… my… body!” The wizard was shocked as he began to crawl. His lower body had also stumbled down. The slice was so clean and sharp that he didn’t even feel it until he realized his body had fallen.

“See, Arya? I told you that the real culprits of your father's death don’t end with Nabal. It doesn’t even end with this sicko.” Dyne laughed.

“How…? How did you walk in undetected?”

“Martial Formations sure is tough even like this. You still have a chance to survive, huh? The answer is simple. The moment I stepped into your room, I felt the magic ripples. The floor is like a large quiet lake. Even the slightest movements can create ripples. Too bad it couldn’t detect or show you who it was. After taking a dip in your room, I moved back and sent Arya.” Dyne smiled as he stood over the wizard.

“I knew you’d prepare a trap, so I told Arya to attack and try to kill you, knowing she would fail. Still, quite an impressive show. You have quite a number of items that enhance your ability as a wizard. Well, technically, you’re still a mage. If it weren’t for all these items, you wouldn’t have achieved what you could do. Is it the Serpentari? Or is it the Afarit who gave you such gifts?” Dyne mused as he ordered Grim to slowly retrieve the wizard's necklace.

The wizard saw Grim in its Gimard form and realized what had happened.

“Soul weapon!” The wizard was stunned.

Even Arya was shocked at the sight of Grim standing.

“My Lord… You used this creature?” Arya asked as she noticed that Grim was floating.

“Yes. This Seru can float. So when you went in to fight this man, I waited until this he was distracted. I hoped on top of the Gimard and floated to ambush the wizard. Because of his enchantment, he had assigned no soldier to move inside this floor. This way, he can tell if someone else would walk in. He must have given a stern warning in hopes of catching the assassin. As he said, he planned to give you to get another artifact. This guy's only real power is sucking up to the big brass.” Dyne laughed as he observed the necklace.

The necklace was a strange object that had the shape of a small coffin.

“Is this it? This looks like an artifact from Heroes 3. Interesting. Most people here wouldn’t be able to sense it. But a Soul Cultivator can easily do that. So what’s in this coffin? It feels like the Chicken King and Golden Compass. Did a god bestow its power in this? No! To malicious! A devil, perhaps? Is this how you bestow vampiric powers on others?” Dyne asked.

The wizard’s eyes grew larger as he heard it.

“You still have several interesting things in you. I can see it. You’re quite loaded.” Dyne reached down and began to take items in the dying wizard’s robe.

“A spell scroll? But this looks different. Ishreth gave me a spell scroll to cast, but I knew it would lose its power when I cast it. This one feels like a monster-crafted artifact. I get it! It’s a spell scroll that is also a Legacy artifact! Some powerful being that knows soul cultivation instilled his mind in this!” Dyne analyzed.

“Is this how a mage like you can cast magic that only wizards can? But that doesn’t make sense. You still need mana. Oh… here it is!” Dyne found another strange orb-like object.

“Powerful Mind Energy gathered. But just by activating the trap to capture Arya, you already lost one-half of this. Still… this is a great way to recover MP.” Dyne held on to the orb.

“Hrm? Is it absorbing mana? Wow. So this automatically refills itself. So that’s how you do it! Who gave you all this stuff?” Dyne asked.

The dying wizard just looked at Dyne defiantly.

“Still have some fight in you, huh? Let’s see… Jedo. Draw out the dark energy in him. Whoever gave him his power also left thick dark energy around him. If he had a seru, we wouldn’t be able to do that. But since he doesn’t have that, it’s possible right?”

“Forcibly absorbing the Death energy that makes up his body will give him excruciating pain. It’s like we’d be peeling off his skin.” Jedo frowned.

“I know.” Dyne gave a cruel smile. Behind this smile was immense anger.

Strafe sighed and shook his head. Why did this wizard talk about selling Arya, one of Dyne’s greatest hang-ups in the real world, as a slave to perform sexual deeds?

Dyne grabbed the wizard by the neck to stop him from squealing.

“Do it,” Dyne ordered Jedo.

Jedo began to gather the dark energy and absorb it. The process was similar to a Ra-Seru trying to absorb a slain Seru.

“MHHHHHHHHH!” The choked scream of the wizard resounded as he felt the death energy draining from him.

Dyne walked towards Arya and stomped his feet at the magic circle.

The circle immediately collapsed by hitting the precise point where the magic circle was created and sent out the magic with Brimstone.

The wizard began a pile of dust as the dark energy was siphoned from him.

“Lord Dyne… What happened?”

“This wizard is practically dead. What a weird magic.” Dyne smiled without explaining in detail.

“Let’s go. We still have a lot to kill. Arya… It seems that we might end up doing something similar to this.”

“My life is in your hands, Lord Dyne.”

“Still, I need to find which of these artifacts in his room is responsible for passing on the vampiric powers. Just what source did this scamming wizard use?” Dyne began to search around the room.

After looking around and taking in any items of interest, Dyne decided to close his eyes and search for them using Soul Cultivation.

Dyne sensed the area and found a strange, powerful death source on the top of the very center of the room.

Dyne laughed.

“What genius. To make it look like he was the source of this darkness, he placed it right in the center of the chandelier. Since he would perform the Arc Knight turning ritual right in the middle of the room, the knights wouldn’t notice.”

Dyne glanced up and looked at the chandelier.

There he found a familiar object.

“I knew it. Legacy of Kain’s the Heart of Darkness!”