Seth Rayn’s manor was big enough to house ten families, and even then, they would only occasionally come across each other.

However, apart from his servants, instead of lodging families, Seth Rayn used it as an orphanage where he would seek kids with a great talent and determination for magic.

As such, it had a classroom, a wide luxurious refectory, rooms allocated to training and a park.

Aaron, Isaac, Gabriella and Ejiro followed the retired magician into his manor.

They were greeted by a beautiful entrance hall. Two stairways to the sides led upstairs, and an entrance to the front showed further inside. A golden crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, lighting up the expansive red-orange carpet on the floor.

Despite all this, Aaron, Isaac and Gabriella were unfazed. They had other things on their mind. Aaron was reflecting on his goal to retake his guild, Gabriella was being held captive, and Isaac thought his father was dead,

Ejiro tried lightening up the mood. “Master is one of the wealthiest people in the world. He owns the entire district! Isn’t that awesome?”

Gabriella raised her head at the word ‘master.’

“There are barely any master-rank magicians in the world. Are you one of them?” she asked Seth.

The elder looked at her with a blank expression. “Come, follow me.”

…

They were now outside in the backyard. They followed a gravel path leading to a dark wooden gazebo. Behind it, a water stream flowed from beneath rocks into a pool surrounded by vegetation. There was also a green enclosed park which continued for a kilometre. 2 kilometres away was where Titan city’s skyscrapers stood.

Despite being in Titan City, they were in a relatively secluded area. Everything around the manor was a tourist attraction, such as Titan City’s statues. The majestic sounds of nature deafened the distant polluted noise from the city.

In the pavilion, Seth waited for everyone to sit. “Let’s start here. The Tremblay Guild has been taken over this morning. Rumours are that the head of the guild is your brother, Aaron Amon.”

“Rico is? Right, he did say something about that.” Aaron was on the bench opposite him.

Next to him, Isaac rubbed his hands, “Why didn’t the DA help the Tremblay Guild? They could have prevented this.”

The elder glared at him. “No, it wasn’t that simple. The Topaz Guild is conspiring with the Obscure Guild. Both guilds waged war on the continent at the same time. We could only send most of our forces to the south to protect the Wandering Lands. However, it didn’t go so well.”

Ejiro suddenly thought of something. “Wait. Don’t tell me that-”

His master looked at his staff as he admitted, “Yes, they died in action. Every single one of them has died.”

Ejiro’s eyes widened as he looked into space. “No… We all learned from the best. From you. How could they just… die?!”

“I think ‘They’ made their move.”

The master-rank magician held his cane tightly.

“We sent an investigation team: the whole area had been burned to the ground, tens and tens of kilometres of wastelands, and hundreds of thousands of corpses. Not one survivor amongst ours and the enemy’s army.”

“Then, you think-”

“Yes.”

A shadow crept up Seth Rayn’s face.

“It’s the Dark Faction. They’re back.”

Aaron and Isaac were surprised. Mostly Aaron, since Isaac was already aware that the Dark Faction had survived the second war.

Gabriella’s face remained unfazed.

…

At the borders of the Wandering Lands. One day ago.

On the ground level, armies of humans and robots clashed in the vast plains. Swarms of humans from the Wandering Lands and the West DA led by experienced magicians proceeded to advance, pushing away the Obscure Guild’s forces.

The enemy’s big heavy machines threw rockets at the DA’s numerous aircraft.

One particular line of aircraft, supersonic X-54 jets, flew behind their talented young Air Force general.

“Luo, what should we do?” asked his associate seated next to him.

“Come on, Jenna, guys, let’s blast them!” Luo’s aircraft rushed straight at the launchers, flawlessly dodging the missiles going his way.

Others followed behind.

“Drop the explosives!”

Jenna pressed a button, dropping a cylindrical device out of the aircraft. Other X-54 jets did the same.

What followed was a massive explosion. The enemy’s main attack power had gotten reduced to ashes.

“Yeeeah!” Luo and his team celebrated as they flew away.

However, looking into a binocular device, Jenna spotted something strange. She tapped Luo’s shoulder.

“Wait, Luo, there’s weird something flying over there!”

It was a strange human-like being floating in the sky. Round face, wide red eyes, no nose and spiky hair.

It grinned.

It rose its arm.

It lowered its arm.

As simple as that.

“What?”

Suddenly, the sky turned red.

A beam came out from the effortless movement. It was hundreds of metres wide and quickly extended toward both armies.

“SHIELD!!!!” Jenna screamed at the top of her lungs as Luo and the others sped away faster at supersonic speed.

The wide crimson-red beam engulfed the vast lands.