"What's the situation?" The Emperor asked as he was dressing up. His fancy attire got ruined during the collapse, not to mention the fire that came after.

"Yes, Your Majesty," one of the Dark Cloaks answered. Apart from being great assassins, they were also good at quickly gathering information. "It would seem that the prisoners somehow escaped the dungeon and are now wreaking havoc in the city. It seems they took the soldier's uniform, so it is almost impossible to discover them from afar."

The Emperor grumbled in displeasure. "I assume it's the same place where Gerald was being held?"

"… Yes, Your Majesty." There was no point hiding the truth. It was clear as day that Gerald was somehow responsible for this disaster, especially after what he did with the courthouse.

"But how?! How?! I have seen him wearing the Void Cuffs with my own eyes! He didn't have a single drop of Focus in him. He was just a weak cripple!" the Emperor exclaimed as he finished putting on his red coat with golden trim.

"… He was most likely faking it from the start. It seems some of our information wasn't completely accurate."

"Damn it! And where is he now?"

How could such a simple plan have gone to shit so damn quickly? He let his youngest daughter leave the Empire to experience the world and get her rebellious nature out of her system, and all they had to do was bring her back after a few months together with some poor sucker to be blamed for it all.

They would have a viable excuse for war, and now that Myrtana got fucked up by the beasts, they would just swoop in and clean it all up. Why waste manpower when some dumb monsters could do the job for them? They didn't even need to mind control them, not that it worked on anyone stronger than a common Orc, but still…

But they just had to pick the one person that was a fucking abnormal freak! Might as well kidnap King Robart himself, surely he would be less of a headache than this?!

The Dark Cloak didn't dare to even think about what was hiding behind the Emperor's grim expression as he quickly reported what he knew.

"He has been spotted entering the secret lab. We aren't sure what happened afterward."

"What?! He just entered?! And the guards, are they blind?! Why didn't they stop him?!" the Emperor raged as they swiftly made their way toward the room in question.

"Well, he was… disguised as one of the commanders," came the reply.

"For heaven's sake! And they just let him enter?! Just like that?! What about the old man, was he blind too?!"

"Err, well… no. They realized he was not who he seemed and attacked, but…"

"But what?!" The Emperor was honestly losing patience. He foolishly thought he had gathered competent people to serve him, but clearly, some braindead worms made their way in! Like this Dark Cloak for example! Wasn't he supposed to be a deadly assassin with a stoic expression at all times? Then why was he sweating so much while dancing around the topic like some emotional teenager?!

"It's… It's best that you see it for yourself, Your Majesty!" the man timidly stammered.

"Oh, for fuck sake!" Enough was enough! Emperor grabbed the man by the collar, stuffed him under his arm, and squatted as soon as they came to the open.

And then he jumped. He jumped high in the air, and with such intensity that his luggage nearly lost it.

"I'm feeling sick…" the Dark Cloak under his arm quietly complained as the G forces made his head spin.

The landing was just as harsh, as the Emperor landed with an audible 'boom', before taking off immediately after.

"What the hell happened here?!" the Emperor exclaimed after they finally came to their destination. The walls and stairs were pained red with fresh blood, and human skeletons were strewn about the place.

Bleagh!

The Dark Cloak finally couldn't take it anymore, and as soon as his boss let him go, he also let go of something. Namely his lunch.

"I can see you in there! Open up!" Emperor ignored his underling, and instead shouted and banged on the front door. He could also use Magic Eyes, or whatever they called it in the Empire, and was as such perfectly able to see Gerald rummaging through the place without a care in the world.

"Open the door you damn bastard! I just want to rip you to pieces!"

His words were accompanied by a lot of banging, but the magic seal on the door prevented it from taking much damage, even from him. And as such, his words remained unanswered.

"Shut your mouth, you freaking animal…" Gerald grumbled inside the chamber. Good thing he locked the front door, or he would have an angry, mentally unstable giant pounding his ass right about now. And he didn't swing that way, no sir!

He quickly scanned the Ring and wore the armor he received from King Robart III sometime ago. It was for one of the good deeds he had done in the past, but he couldn't remember which one it was anymore. He had never before even considered wearing it since the metal, despite being enchanted with Runes, was weaker than his own skin. There was no point in wearing it.

However now he wore everything he could find. The Emperor outside didn't seem to be the type to just give up. And he definitely wasn't going to let him charge up the Ice Age Lance again, of that he was certain.

Boom! Boom!

There he went again, banging on the door like some lunatic. Gerald rolled his eyes. The Emperor was now in full combat attire. A full plate armor made from what seemed to be Mithril, and he was banging on the door with a massive freaking mace.

No matter how powerful the magic keeping the door locked, it was bound to give out sooner or later after such abuse.

Frustrated that he didn't find anything telling him how to operate that machine in the middle of the room, Gerald made a logical decision…

"Fuck it!"

…and did what every gamer worth his salt would do when stuck in a game: Aggressive random button-mashing! Or in his case, he was turning dials, pulling levers, and button mashing.

He must have tried thousands of different combinations in just a few short minutes, however, the circular machine remained mute and showed no reactions.

That was until he noticed a crystal with an indentation of an upside-down palm. When he placed his hand on it and sent a bit of Mana inside, the structure came to life with a low hum as the energy inside all those crystals swirled to life.

"Oh! Here we go!" Gerald then continued his random keystrokes, and every once in a while, something would happen. A spark here, a low hum there, a bit of light over yonder… Soon he was surrounded by swirling lights of all kinds, but that was about it. The machine didn't seem to do much even though he tried so many different combinations of weird letters and numbers.

"What is this even?" he quietly complained and kicked the stone machine. "Work damn it, work!" He spun the dials, pulled the levers, and pressed any button in his reach, all until he suddenly froze mid-action.

However, his ceased movements came all but naturally to him. In fact, he stopped because that was the only thing he could do… or couldn't. He couldn't move a muscle, heck, he couldn't even refocus his eyes. The sensation wasn't unfamiliar, but it was something he experienced only once before in his short life.

'No, no, no! Not again!' he shouted in his mind, but the machine didn't care. It hummed loudly as if powering up, and all Mana gathered inside it burst forth at once.

'Noooooo! Stop it, you son of a bi-!'

Mid-thought, he disappeared in a flash of light, never to be seen again.

Boom! Boom! Crack!

Boom! Boom! Crack!

The ruler of the Burronian Empire struck the door over and over with his mace, and he was making some progress as well. The reinforced wood was already cracking and releasing shrieking pleas of surrender.

However, suddenly he felt something change in the room. The usually calm environment became chaotic as the machine inside came to life.

"Oh, no you don't!" The Emperor activated his strongest Combat Arts and sped up his attacks. The wood splintered and the metal cried, and yet, it was still not enough.

"Stop it! Turn it off, you bastard! It's not stable!"

His shouts, true or not, fell on deaf ears as Gerald continued his battle with the unknown machine inside. All until a few keystrokes sealed his fate… forever.

There was a flash of light as a Mana wave went through solid matter and pushed everyone away from the epicenter. The momentary whiteness that blinded everyone was then gone just as quickly as it came, leaving the area completely silent. You could even hear a pin drop if you listened carefully. Or hear the blood pumping through the veins on the enraged Emperor's forehead. Either one worked.

"That... bastard!" Emperor roared as he saw the insides of the room through a hole in the door he just made. He then kicked the wood, finally tearing the door off its hinges. He and the Dark Cloak beside him started at the empty room in momentary silence.

"It seems… he used its full power…" the Dark Cloak said after a bit.

"I can see that!" hissed the Emperor through gritted teeth. "That son of a bitch stole my Portal Nexus! I swear I'll tear him limb from limb when I find him!"

He then stormed out in a fit of rage. There was still plenty to do, such as capturing the escaped prisoners. However, he was in no mood to simply capture a few rats. That time was long gone! No, this time, he was going to paint the streets with their blood!