‘Hmm… This could be troublesome…’

Selt remarked from within Sett’s mind, not that Sett needed his words to understand how dire the situation was. The moment after the black crystal, which Sett reckoned was another part of Selt, reach the centre of the room, runes lit up and the great hall began to shake like the end of the world was upon them. Let alone troublesome, this could spell death for all those that were present in the great hall.

‘Can we stop it?’

Having seen a pattern, Sett held out hope that the situation could still be salvaged by his connection to the artifacts that Selt and his believers had left behind.

‘It cannot be done, mine kindred. The purification protocol was only supposed to be used in the most heinous of situations and the last attempt at survival. It was never meant to be stopped once the process had begun. I recommend that we leave this place with the utmost haste, lest we will be buried in these once hallowed grounds.’

Sett paled for what felt like the fiftieth time today. He had to get out of here. But how? He did not even know which direction the exit was. In addition, he felt bad for leaving all these people behind.

“Crusaders!” Crusader Thomas bellowed loudly, instantly gaining the attention of his fellow crusaders. “Grab the prisoners, discard your weapons if you must, and retreat to the entrance immediately.”

Sett had been about to yell to the crusaders to warn them about the impending doom, but Crusader Thomas had done so ahead of him. Thankfully, the crusader had figured out the complexity of the situation and decided that he could not fight it.

As expected of seasoned and disciplined crusaders, the crusaders quickly overcame their confusion and followed Crusader Thomas’s words without complaint.

The vampire master, Elias, had long since fled using the destructive force of the purification protocol to create a distraction that Crusader Thomas could not ignore. He had been trying to waste time. He had waited and delayed the crusader until the moment Lady Elaine had gotten Jess and not a moment longer.

It was likely that he knew he was bound to be defeated at the crusader’s hand from the moment the golden construct fell.

Crusader Thomas might have been able to catch up to the former master vampire in the corridors that connected to the great hall, but he had evidently decided that saving the lives of the former blood vessels and his men was of more importance.

Sett was thankful, not only for his fellow sacrifices but also for himself. He might have been able to run, unlike the other sacrifices, but he still had no idea where the exit was beyond the great doors that laid on the other end of the great hall.

A large number of the sacrifices had already been evacuated during the fight between the vampire’s leader and the crusader’s leader, with only around three hundred or so remained on the platform out of the original thousands.

Still, there were only around one hundred crusaders. To any sane person, the logistics would not work out, but the crusaders were not normal people. They were half ascendants, roughly on the same step as Sett, and were not to be underestimated. They might not be able to produce magical wonders, but they could use their enhanced bodies to produce extraordinary results.

Without a second thought, the crusaders discarded their shields and weapons, weapons that they had relied on to live and fight, and grabbed a prisoner in each hand.

Soon after, every former sacrifice had been grabbed hold of and was well on their way to the entrance. Every single one of the sacrifices but Sett.

Had they forgotten him?

Sett had only just asked himself that question when he heard a heavy body land behind him.

“So there was someone who was awake, huh?”

The person who had arrived behind Sett was Crusader Thomas. His tone of voice was lightly tinted with confusion and it was far from amicable. It was clear to Sett that the leading crusader was looking at him with distrust and weariness.

Sett could not even fault him. Why would he not look at him with suspicion? A random person had appeared among the sacrifices they were supposed to save, and that person had easily wiped out a massive construct that could easily wipe himself out. How could such a strong person become imprisoned in the first place? It was plainly too lucky to be possible.

The crusader proceeded to stare at Sett’s back for what felt like many minutes. Though he did not convey his thoughts, Sett knew that he was considering whether or not to take him with him.

Sett for his part, thought crazily how to appear as harmless as possible. This was not a simple matter to joke around with. The man before him could probably burn him to a crisp faster than the orphanage matron at the orphanage would scold you when you did not clean up after yourself.

‘Back in the days when I was a god in my prime, if you wanted to display that you meant no harm, would expel your energy with your arms facing upwards and say, ‘I appear before you without malicious intent and mean no harm’.’

Sett brightened up at Selt’s words. Sure, his last advice had brought him a lot of trouble, but he was the only one that he could trust at the moment.

‘Are you sure that this will work?’

Erring on the side of caution, Sett timidly asked Selt.

‘No.’ Selt was frighteningly blunt. ‘The method is an archaic custom from the civilization that worshipped me. That civilization existed countless thousands of years ago. In addition, the vampires never appeared before me without malicious intent, thus I cannot ascertain whether or not the humans have adopted the tradition.’

A sigh subconsciously escaped Sett’s lib. Selt simply could not be relied upon to guestimate such things. Still, Sett hardly had any choice. Furthermore, the method in off itself did seem rather appealing.

While they were conversing, a pressure began to build, working in conjunction with the shakes to make Sett feel even worse.

Without much choice, Sett turned around and stretched his hands out towards Crusader Thomas, ensuring that the palms of his hands were turned upwards at every turn. Crusader Thomas, for his part, wearily looked at Sett while he did this, his hand on his sword and ready to defend himself if need be.

Forcing all the essence that existed in his body in the direction of his hands, Sett began to expel the essence. Despite the small amount of essence that escaped his body, Sett felt more and more horrible the more time that passed. He felt his face drain of colour, turning completely pale, and his breathing turned erratic. Towards the end, his vision even blurred.

The essence that escaped barely even took a form, only lightly resembling a faint black smog that gathered on the palm of his hands before disappearing mere moments later. Compared to the power that Sett knew existed within the crusader before him it was pitiable.

“I- I appear before you… without malicious intent… and mean no harm.”

Sett barely managed to complete the sentence through his clamouring teeth before he fell to his knees, completely out of strength. Sett realised why the method was so successful as to be adopted by Selt’s worshippers. It was not only symbolic but also a very effective show of submission. Expelling one’s entire supply of essence was akin to throwing down one’s weapon. It rendered you almost completely harmless.

In Sett’s and Crusader Thomas’s case, the display was entirely symbolic. Whether or not he had drained all of his energy, Sett did not stand a single chance at victory against the crusader.

“This…”

The crusader mulled for a couple of seconds. The seconds felt far too long to Sett, seeing as the shaking had gotten so bad that he felt his skull rattling inside his head. The sickening feeling from essence drained blood veins certainly did not help the situation either.

“Could you perhaps be of the Shadow Squad under the council? No that should not be possible. You are far too young, and your power is not even close to the right level…”

Even while Sett saw his life flashing before his eyes from the loss of essence and continuously worsening conditions, Crusader Thomas continued to mutter words with meanings that went far above his head.

The air turned thinner in the great hall as another set of runes lit up on the walls. There really was no time for the crusader to keep guesstimating unless he wanted to guess the affiliation of a corpse.

“Lord crusader…” Sett mustered up his courage in the face of death. “I really… am not… an enemy. Please… take me away… from here… I will tell you… anything you wish to hear… Just take me away… please.”

Sett managed to mutter the words, even while his lungs were almost devoid of air. He had even ensured that his words were as formal as possible, even addressing him in the same way that the orphanage matron had sternly instructed him to address those of a higher status when she had taken them out to a charity event.

If he had to beg and grovel on the black stones of the great hall for the crusader to save him, Sett would do it. Even if he had to reveal his secrets afterward, he would gladly do it to be rescued.

Finally, it seemed as if the crusader had taken pity on the dying innocent child that grovelled before his feet. Sett would never have imagined that it would take this much effort to convince that man that he himself had saved to rescue him in turn.

Being picked up by the scruff of his clothes, Sett finally relaxed. He barely registered as he left the ground and the space surrounding him turned into a flurry. They ran the entire length of the great hall in only a matter of seconds. Perhaps Sett would have to grateful to be delirious, considering that he would almost certainly have thrown up from the rough ride that he was getting.

They soon joined the other just outside the gates of the great hall. The moment that Sett felt the pressure of the great hall disappear and the strong arm that held on to his clothes let go, he fell on his knees and puked up last night’s dinner.

He was left heaving from the experience. It was too much pressure and pain. At the moment when adrenaline of staring death in the face poured through his veins, it did not hurt too badly. But now, afterward, the pain came pouring back with a vengeance.

It was a shameful display to discharge the former day's dinner before the crusaders, but Sett did not care. He had enough on his plate trying not to collapse into the puddle that laid before him.

He could faintly hear voices talking around him, but he did not care to listen in, nor did he have the energy to do so.

Sett spent many minutes like this, trying his best to regain some sense of stability. Then he remembered and felt like a fool. He was part of a magical world now, he should not only try to relieve his muscle pains, but also recharge his drained blood veins with essence.

While feeling like a fool for not figuring it out earlier, Sett began to greedily absorb essence from the world around him. Even though the density of essence in the air was far less than Selt’s sanctum, the effect was still immediate. He felt as if drunk five cups of coffee, allowing him to instantly quirk up.

Sett shivered in pleasure as he basked in the feeling of essence coursing through his veins. Now, the thought of not having essence in his body was a terrifying one. Then and there, he agreed that he would never willingly discharge his essence in such a fashion ever again. The loss of essence was too horrible of a feeling to ever have happened again.

Spending many minutes just recharging his energy, Sett finally found a smile surfacing on his face.

He was finally free from the vampires’ grasp. It was finally over.