Adrian woke to pain.

His head felt as if it were splitting, and his body's Etheric balance was in chaos.

On the bright side, he no longer felt as if he were being roasted. Now, he was just back to being burned from within. Which was, admittedly, not much better. But at least, this pain he was used to, and he could bear with it. Even now, his Blessing worked to knit together his flesh and regenerate from the damage, though it would be awhile before the balance would be restored.

He pushed himself up in a fit of coughing, and when he was done he realized his hand was stained with crimson.

Adrian stared at the blood for a moment expressionlessly before wiping it away on the inside of his robe.

Struggling to his feet, he immediately tried to take in the current situation. He was now on a pile of rubble at the bottom of the crag. It seemed like he had been pushed away by the surge of power when the barrier expanded, though fortunately, his Aura had protected him when he fell.

The barrier core was working with increased intensity at the peak now, and he could still feel a connection with it, as if a portion of his awareness hadn't fully come back from the flow of Ether in the spell. Part of the barrier was now shifted west to cover the entire region of Erad. The modifications, however, put a heavy strain on the core, so it couldn't last forever. But it should last long enough at least for reinforcements from the Order arrived…At least now, the undead would not be able to spread further inland.

But it also meant that Erad would also soon be a land of the dead.

Adrian sighed. He felt no guilt, only that it was pity. Unfortunately, there was only so much he could do. He had gone out on a secret outing with only two of his most trusted knights, so he did not have an army that would follow his commands. Not to mention, by the time they had arrived and sensed something amiss, the fortress was already doomed. He needed to cut the losses for the sake of the Empire.

"Your Highness!"

His knights rode towards him, leading along the horse he had abandoned further downhill. It seemed like the modifications to the barrier core had shrunk the region impacted by the condensed Ether, so they rushed up after the barrier expansion had hit.

"Your Highness! Are you alright?" Cael said, looking him over in concern. "What happened?"

"I'm fine," Adrian laughed, brushing off the dust that had gotten on him. "Don't worry. What did I tell you? It was a success."

"So that wave of Ether earlier was caused by you?" Gavin frowned. "Was that the barrier?"

Adrian nodded.

"Let's go," he said, vaulting onto his horse. "Let's see if we can find any survivors left to evacuate before the undead start to spread."

"But…are you sure you are feeling fine, Your Highness?"

"How many times do I have to say it, Cael? I'm fine as I could be."

Gavin and Cael exchanged worried glances.

Adrian frowned. "What? What is it?"

"Your Highness, your hair…" Cael said uneasily.

"My hair?"

Gavin nodded grimly. "Your Highness…it's turned white."

Adrian looked down at his chest. Only now did he realize that the strands of his originally blonde hair were now a platinum white.

He stared at it as if it were a viper.

"Already?" he whispered, clenching his fists until the knuckles were white. But he quickly released them and collected himself. Expressionlessly, he pulled up the hood of his cloak.

"It's nothing," he said. "It must be an effect from the core. But apart from the color being different I feel fine." He kicked his horse into a trot back down the mountain. "We have more things to worry about than my hair. Lets go."

Cael seemed to still want to press further, but Gavin put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head before following. After a sigh, Cael soon followed as well.

They rode off into the night.

***

The balance of Ether in the area was still unstable, and the mental connection seemed to have been broken. Fleur could no longer contact the undead that had been under her command. Nor could she send out the specters she carried with her, since the residual divine Ether would still weaken them. She was on her own for now.

Still, she had her instincts. As a vampire, she was a natural predator. Not to mention, she still had a vague idea of where the settlements were from her time in Erad; as the fiancee of the lord, it was a trivial matter to get her hands on a map.

She started to head towards the settlements in search of surviving humans.

Unfortunately, it seemed like most were already empty, and she could only find a few stragglers. They were all weak as well, barely putting up any resistance before being snatched into the dark. One had even run to her on his own, thinking that she was a fellow survivor, not knowing that he was essentially walking into a lion's mouth. It was easy pickings. But with so little vital Ether, how many will she need to be enough?

"This is annoying," Fleur growled, as she glared at the five enthralled humans that sat around the clearing, their eyes dull and glazed. "This isn't even close to being enough."

After putting them under her control, she had drunk some of their blood to help sate her hunger, as well as to gauge how much Ether they had for her needs. But as expected of normal humans with no magical training, they were weak. So weak that they couldn't even count as a snack like those knights earlier. And so weak that their vital Ether would barely have any effect in covering her own. At this rate, she would need at least fifty or more of them.

But were there even fifty humans surviving in the region?

In frustration, Fleur tossed away the human she had been feeding on, who then naturally crawled back to join the others as if nothing had happened.

If I ever find out who modified the barrier, she thought viciously. I swear I'll tear out their throat.

Fleur sent out her sense again out into the woods. The residual effect from the Etheric surge earlier was finally starting to settle, so her ability to manipulate corrupted Ether was returning as well. Her specters were also out searching the area, looking for other survivors.

"Hmm? What's this?" Fleur narrowed her eyes. "These humans seem stronger at least. Surviving knights?"

She couldn't see them yet, but according to her Etheric sense, they seemed to be approaching in her direction. For now, she had gathered the humans in one of their old settlements for lack of a better option. Perhaps those knights were also looking for survivors?

Well, regardless, from what she could sense they were strong for humans, but still only slightly stronger than the knights at Erad. And there were only three. One of them even seemed to be injured, since his Ether seemed to be in chaos.

They shouldn't pose any threat to her. In fact, right now she'd welcome them.

Still…it wouldn't hurt to be careful.

Fleur studied the enthralled villagers then started to adjust her control over them. At first, she had just made the control crude, but if she would like to use them to deal with the knights it would be better to make it more subtle. After all, there was no need to make things difficult.