The cold air of the night sky whooshed against the two black figures that were sprinting through the alleys, concealed by the darkness of the shadows of the walls and buildings. The lanky black figure seemed to be completely relaxed, contrary to the rigid demeanor of the shorter figure that was following behind the lanky figure.

"Master, I'll keep an eye out for potential threats, so please calm down."

"Thanks Choronzon."

The shorter figure relaxed visibly, and his movements seemed to become somewhat smoother and more efficient. The entirety of the city's outer districts was fast asleep, except for several shops and inns that continued to operate throughout the night.

"Where are we going?" Asura asked. Khara had seemed to be heading towards a certain direction, and Asura had been following behind, and had remained silent since climbing out of the mansion walls.

"In case you haven't realised, we're unarmed, and I'm sure as hell not fighting against an 8th Level Warrior without my twin broadswords. We're going somewhere to get weapons," Khara replied as he continued sprinting forwards.

As the pair sprinted through several corners of the alleys at top speed, appearing as black blurs, it was close to impossible to see the black mist that was wrapped around the right hand of the shorter figure.

Finally, they stepped out of the alleys of District 13, arriving at a spacious plaza, with several pavement food stalls that were still open for the night, and some lovers that were too busy making out under the starry skies to notice the two black blurs that had popped out of the alley.

Khara continued to sprint towards the other end of the plaza, before slowing down to a walk as he approached a stone pavilion with a dome roof. Its stone platform was littered with foliage and dirt that had accumulated throughout the season.

Khara stood at the middle of the stone platform, and made a two fingers gesture, pointing towards one of the stone pillars, which Asura had just noticed was somewhat odd. Compared to the other stone pillars, it seemed to be just a little thinner than the others.

"Susam hapur!" A yellow ball of light shot out of Khara's fingers and hit the stone pillar, causing the yellow ball of light to disappear into the stone pillar.

Asura was about to ask Khara what he had just done, when he suddenly hear the creak and rattle of gears and chains coming from below the stone pavilion. With a low rumble, the stone pillar started to sink downwards into the stone platform. Alarmed at the sudden commotion, Asura checked his surroundings but it seemed that no one had heard the noise.

Looking back at the stone pillar, he found that it had been completely buried, and a hole had appeared where the pillar had been at.

"Follow me," Khara beckoned with his left hand, before jumping into the hole. A second after Khara had disappeared into the hole, a soft thump was heard. Making sure that no one was watching Asura peeked through the hole but it was took dark to see inside.

With a sigh, Asura jumped in, allowing the darkness within the hole to swallow him.

.....

"Lord Coran, the Four Horsemen are ready," a black robed man stood before Coran, who was in his usual military general uniform.

"Excellent. Ho'Vah, deploy scouts around the borders of the Kingdom of Griamor, so that even if by some chance, the royal family finds out about the attack, they will not be able to escape from us," Coran snickered as he poured red wine into two silver goblets. Picking up both of the silver goblets, he walked towards Ho'Vah and handed one to him.

"Ho'Vah, we've been in a partnership for over a year. At last, our plans - no, your plan will soon come to fruition," Coran smiled as he raised his goblet, before emptying his goblet in one gulp.

"Haha, you don't have to give all the credit to me. Without your power, we wouldn't have been able to accomplish all this. Besides, you even brought back perfect test subjects from the White Serenity School, or we would not have been able to create the Four Horsemen," Ho'Vah sipped on his goblet before continuing, "I've something to show you. Follow me."

Ho'Vah put his goblet down on a nearby table before leaving the chamber, with Coran following behind. They had just left Coran's study, and were heading towards his basement, which was out-of-bounds to everyone except Coran and those he permitted to enter.

As they stepped through the basement hatch, a stench hit them, an abhorrent, loathsome, reek of decay, which overpowered every other sense. The stench of death was so strong that even the battle-hardened Coran could not help but grimace. However, it seemed that Ho'Vah was not affected by the stench.

As they went deeper, the horrendous smell got even worse. Finally, they reached the deepest level, and Coran's eyes narrowed at the sight that greeted him. In the middle of the makeshift dungeon was a haggard-looking man who seemed to be in his fourties, and was standing as still as a rock. Looking closely at the man's face, he could see that there were countless scars and scratches, and his tattered robes was soaked with blood and there were even bits of flesh sticking to the longsword in his right arm. But it was not the sight of the man, but rather, the mutilated state of the bodies that were scattered all around the blood soaked man that shocked Coran

"Lord Coran, my teacher found this man twelve years ago. Back then, he was an 8th Level Warrior, even though he seemed to be in his late twenties or early thirties. My teacher, who had noticed his genius, tried to recruit him was refused flatly, alas. Out of fear that this man would grow into a Deva, my teacher decided to bind him with a soul binding spell. However, it seems that he still retains a tiny portion of his rationality, as he keeps mumbling the name of someone he knew. Probably his wife."

Coran's eyes were filled with fear at the mention of soul binding magic. He had heard that Ho'Vah's teacher was a Deva, but it was the fact that his teacher could use soul binding magic that frightened Coran. He had never heard the likes of it before. Looking back at the blood soaked man, he felt somewhat relieved that he was not the enemy of Ho'Vah's teacher.

"Ho'Vah, when did you bring him into my basement?"

"Lord Coran, he was brought along with the prisoners of the White Serenity School. But that is not important. The question you should be asking, is why. Well, let me show you."

With a wave of his hand, five balls of white flames appeared in front of Ho'Vah, before flying towards the blood soaked man. Looking at the five white streaks that flew at the speed of sound, Coran gulped at the thought of fighting against Ho'Vah, an 8th Level Magus, or otherwise known as a Grand Magus.

As the five white streaks neared the blood soaked man, he suddenly jerked his head towards the incoming spells. With a loud roar, the crimson longsword flashed through the air, causing a huge gust of wind to change the trajectory of the five white streaks.

The blood soaked man suddenly jerked his head forwards, causing his long black hair to cover his scarred face, and a sound in between a moan and a whimper escaped from his cracked lips.

"Myyyleeriaaa...."

[Author's Note: So sorry guys, could only release one chapter today, as I had to prepare for a demonstration on Tuesday. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Didn't have time to proofread, so let me know if you spot any mistakes.]