I chipperly ate away at a pile of junk food while Alexandra tapped her foot not too far away. Oliver was free of the Drachen Arch’s control, but his condition was unstable. The arch helped preserve the physical condition of those who were in it, in addition to both Oliver and me having gifts that bolstered vitality. The problem occurred when Oliver was released, as his body no longer had the benefit of having his life force preserved.

Although he had been freed, Alexandra seemed less than enthused in spite of what I assumed. As I told her of my experience with Oliver, she seemed to grow angry, even. It was obvious that she wouldn’t forget or forgive his actions, but that was something for them to work out.

I, on the other hand, needed to catch up with everything that happened while I was unconscious.

The biggest news by far was that Evanora had revealed the existence of witches and was in the process of establishing an official guild on the island. It was a huge step for them, but it didn’t have much to do with me, especially since I had no plans on joining them. Guilds and guild politics were rough, but I recalled the only way to operate as a gifted in foreign countries was to apply and receive permission or be in an internationally recognized guild.

The next thing I discovered was countless emails from guilds all over the world in my inbox. From the small powerhouses who kept those with rare and eccentric gifts to huge guilds like Sleeping Lion and Eternal Sword.

I soon figured out what Andreas meant when I stumbled on the analytic profile that detailed my abilities extremely accurately. It was almost scary, which made me realize why the creator of the article, ‘TheLookingGlass,’ kept themselves anonymous. Knowing what I know, it would be odd if no one attempted to get their hands on him or her using forceful methods. Knowing the exact type of gifts someone had at a glance was an invaluable skill whether it was one hundred percent accurate or not.

“What a crazy world,” I muttered, tossing away the plastic wrapper of a chocolate bar as I stood up. I’m just glad that only a small portion of the news affected me. Having to worry about New Era was already too much.

As Alexandra said before, New Era was now being targeted by the Emerian government who solicited the help of Sleeping Lion. Overall, it meant that the Emerian Island was seeking to establish closer ties to the US which could be a good or bad thing depending on how it was looked at. Ezekiel was adamant on retrieving his brother which he alleged was held captive in the US. To tie ourselves close to the latter meant we’d likely run into the former.

“How is your condition?” Alexandra suddenly asked.

Oliver was still recovering, so she left him to his rest. Though, I suspected that she would end up smothering him in his sleep if she stayed near him.

Her frustrations aside, I checked my body.

“Uh–” I shook my hands and bounced on the heels of my feet before nodding. “I’m good.”

“Great, then we won’t have to delay our trip to the Hell Gate. Everyone joining us has been practicing, but without you present, we couldn’t account for how you’ll affect our approach. If you’re free, I hope that you’re open to running a few smaller ruins as a training exercise. It's nice to have a feel of your allies abilities”

“Fine by me.” I shrugged.

It was an opportunity to test my reach and apply what I had learned. The matter of the demon princes hating me wasn’t something I felt too concerned with… but it was still wise to prepare.

“Hey, if you don’t mind, I need to go grab some stuff.”

“Sure,” Alexandra replied with a distant look.

It was clear her mind was moving elsewhere so I took my leave. Or... I would've if it wasn't for a question.

“Oh, by the way, where is Andreas?” I asked.

“Him? His engineering team arrived on the island with his armor and weapons so he went to greet them.”

“Engineering team?” I repeated.

“It’s a hassle for him to armor up without assistance seeing as his equipment is all top of the line. You'll see why they call him the Panzer Knight,” Alexandra said, chuckling to herself soon after.

…

I made a short trip to the downtown area and retrieved the Guardian’s Armor before paying for the services of a hauling truck. The entire time, the penumbra seemed to be dormant, or at least, restrained, since it didn’t stir even as I physically examined the guardian’s damaged armor. I wasn’t sure how the penumbra would consume the artifacts, but I guess I would figure it out once I arrived back at my apartment.

“Sign here.” The driver handed me a paper with all the eagerness of a man who wanted to get away quickly.

I didn’t blame him, seeing as most people assumed artifacts were either something great or something extremely dangerous. He seemed to be in the latter category and since he did this as a profession, I suppose his pensiveness was understandable.

I quickly read over it before adding my signature to the bottom line. After getting it, he quickly left just as expected and I stood alone in front of the apartment with several large black crates. I glanced toward Hope’s small garden and discovered all the plants had been uprooted.

“Alright, lift with the legs.” I strengthened my body and carried it into the complex and left them at the base of the stairs.

As I headed up to unlock my door, I paused.

‘Hmm?’

‘Danger lies beyond you.’ The ring whispered.

I realized it a step faster than the ring, but I didn’t have time to revel in that fact. I quickly activated my Spirit Vision and blinding lights filled my vision. Just beyond my door were several significant presences as well more than enough weaker ones.

‘Wait, this isn’t even my door.’ I noticed it looked similar, but there was no way they could break in without disturbing the runes I left behind. They must’ve destroyed it entirely and replaced it.

That aside, I looked around the entire building and saw that it was totally devoid of life. Given the silence, it made sense, I just wondered how they manage to get rid of the other tenants. Whatever they did, it had to have been after the witches left.

I inhaled deeply and my blood began to stir violently yet maintained its controlled rhythm. And then, Form of Bones caused ivory to emerge from my skin before covering my body.

Raising my hand, I softly knocked on the door to see how they would react.

The presences inside began to move, setting themselves up in positions that were prearranged while a weaker one moved cautiously toward the door.

I waited until they arrived directly in front of the door before I thrust my blood spear, and impaled the unfortunate person. I couldn’t see them, but the garbled cry of a man in agony was a signal I didn’t miss. The blood spear acted as a stinger, and I gained control of the dying man. It would take a single thought to make his corpse explode.

I took a step back and breathed deeply before becoming formless. My body became corporeal and I quickly moved through the walls like a ghost, stopping once I arrived in my own room.

“He’s there!” A loud shout was the first thing that greeted me.

Luckily, it was directed toward the entrance rather than my bedroom. My small diversion worked, so I stealthily exited my own room and moved to flank them.

Stepping into the living room, I saw several men and women focused on the front door with wielding swords and bows. In front of them, there was a group of weaker people armed with basic rings and weapons.

Blood spread out from my body, silently contorting as it warped and expanded behind me.

“Ehem,” I cleared my throat.

The first person to face me was a man in his twenties, he turned and showed an instant look of panic. Before he could shout that I was behind them, a tendril of blood sprung forward and impaled, him lifting his quivering body into the air right after.

“Aaaah!” He let out a painful scream as more tendrils stabbed into his body.

His companions were already too late to save themselves as they found themselves being impaled and raised into the air.

A man who was lucky enough to have a barrier ring had gone untouched and instead rushed toward me with a sharpened dagger ready to pierce my heart. I shot wide arcs of blood toward which he responded to by rolling to the side. It was too bad that when he recovered his footing I was already in front of him.

I grabbed his face and blood gushed from my palms, covering his head before I invoked the flames of miasma. He screamed as everyone else had so far, but it was only for a moment as I slammed his head into the floor, ending quick.

“Fuck it!” A woman cursed as she spat blood. She raised her hand and a brightly glowing amulet was revealed. With a cruel smile, she shook it and the light grew brighter.

I forced my body to enter the breathless form, and once I became incorporeal, I allowed myself to fall down through the floor below my apartment.

When I rematerialized, a muted explosion shook the entire building and dust fell onto my face as the ceiling above me cracked.

“That was insane.” I dusted myself off, returning my breathless form and leaping up.

Again, I returned to physical existence, finding the explosion had scattered and stunned most of the remaining members of New Era. One of the stronger ones were directly injured by the blast, which meant my workload had significantly decreased.

I waved my hands through the smoke and walked over to him. A scarlet blade extended from my forearm and pierced his chest. He writhed around for a few moments, before going still and I moved onto the next one.

Rather than killing it felt as if I was cleaning up after someone else’s mess.

“Shit! I'm calling Grier! The fucking plan failed!” A woman shouted as she rushed toward the front door… stepping over the corpse I left behind.

Another explosion went off, but rather than the sound of a detonation, the air was filled with a fleshy crunch and viscera and bone went flying. The blood within the body expanded like a net before hardening, blocking the entrance while carving the fleeing woman into pieces.

I looked around to the few remaining people who were too frightened to even continue.

To begin with, they were the weakest of my would-be ambushers.

‘Hold on… don’t I know some of them?’ I scanned over the cramped faces and felt a sense of deja vu.

To confirm my suspicion, I quickly peeled through the memory of the woman who blew herself up with the amulet.

A tattooed face appeared in my mind, Grier was apparently his name. Just as he said, he didn’t plan on making things easy for me just because I let him go. He didn’t come personally because of the pressure Sleeping Lion began to put on New Era, but he sent the ones he could spare as well as those who failed to defend an old factory used as a front for smuggling… It was the factory that I had raided by myself, the ones I let survive were meant to personally identify me, but that was clearly a lie. Rather than that, they were supposed to be cannon fodder and obstruct me, while the main group focused on killing me.

‘So it came back to bite me?’ I let out a hollow chuckle as I looked down at their pitiful faces.

“P-Please…” One man crawled toward me.

“I can tell you anything! Just let me live!” A woman covered in soot cried out, a constant stream of tears poured out of her eyes.

“She doesn’t know anything! I have a friend– he’s right below Grier in terms of rank! You let me live and I can get you info!” Another man spoke while nursing his broken arm.

“My gift is decent enough to help you! Heavy lifting, muscle, whatever you need!”

Their shouts continued to grow more desperate, each one seeking to make themselves more appealing than the other. My gaze could only darken as I watched them, it seemed as if they would start fighting amongst them if I didn't interfere.

“It’s okay,” I spoke softly, but my voice was heard by all of them.

They turned their eyes toward me, hopeful but hesitant, wanting to grasp at any straw available.

“Really, it’s okay,” I said again, lessening the tension.

A stream of relieved sighs filled the air and that’s when I moved. A red crescent sliced through the air and took their heads…

It was painless. I couldn’t help but clench my fists when seeing the strained smiles still present on their faces, but I didn’t look away.

I made a mistake when I let the stragglers at the factory leave alive. My reluctance to kill people who, prior to surrendering, had the intention to kill me would be a bad habit if I continued to indulge in it. I accepted that I was wrong to let them go and the slightly bitter feelings attempting to crawl their way up to my mind were a part of the price I had to pay.

'You can't afford to be nice,' I told myself.

In an effort to get over the rather empty feeling creeping up on me, I narrowed my eyes and drew in the blood that had been spilled. The fresh corpses were dragged along with the receding tide of vermillion. I raised my hands and conjured the miasmic flames which ate away at the remains, dissolving flesh and bone with frightening tenacity. The liquid covering the floor turned dark, almost black, but the iridescent red hue it carried reminded it was blood. It surrounded me, twisting and growing before I absorbed it into me.

When it had finished, I closed my eyes and felt as if there was a turbulent strength hiding in me. I subdued it and compressed it until I was certain it wouldn’t be wasted. I was carrying around a small storm inside of me and whoever it was unleashed on would be caught by surprise.

My apartment was a mess, but there were only traces of battle, no actual carnage remained. I headed back into the hall and carried up the crates and then finally, I sat down.

I took a breath, realizing that I didn’t have many opportunities for breaks. I decided to sit down and think for a minute in order to gather myself before moving again.

‘What a crazy world,’ I thought.

I raised my head and stared listlessly at the ceiling.