‘Calcium?’ Nana inspected the pale white mineral that covered Ishihara's body.
The woman in question shredded her burnt military police uniform, showing her semi-naked body to the world. Pale white minerals covered most parts of her body, resembling that of a crustacean’s, spikes and all. Her left hand endured the most burn, thus, it was fully engulfed in pale white bio armor. Despite being resistant against the mutation caused by the fire, the bio armor is warped and twisted, as if it were melted and dried over, evident of its struggle against forceful mutation.
“Demonic fire is extremely effective in burning flesh-and-blood. It is the bane of ‘unarmored’ beings in general, which makes it incredibly powerful.” Ishihara reported her quick findings. “It seems that this was their trump card in hunting vampires…”
“I sense demonic power within the flames…” Larissa said as she showered Ishihara with her healing blessings. “The strength within the flames are too pure to be produced by a lesser demon.”
The three traded glances before looking at the ruin of what used to be an old house. Grass or other biologicals are mutating in demonic ways after being ignited by the crimson fire. The earth turned dark red as it suddenly produced a sulfuric stench. As for what survived? The dark crimson flames had difficulties burning non-biological things such as the metal rebar, rocks or concrete.
“It was only a single burst of fire.” Nana voiced her observation as the flame dissipated just as quickly as it arrived. “How are you feeling?”
Ishihara waved her left hand, after which the bone plates immediately retracted. It took a few more seconds for the hand with the warped armor to revert to a human form. “I’m fine. What’s important is that we’ve found justification for a request to the Secret Division. Our investigation will be supported by an Inquisitor.” She then asked both Larissa and Nana, “Anyone guessed what we’re dealing with? I’ve never encountered this type of fire before.”
“It has similar characteristics to something known as Demonplague Chaos Dragon Flame.” Nana elaborated. “The Association has gathered information regarding Elemental Radixes and ranked them in order. Amongst the uncountable number of Fire Radixes across Morgen World’s Astral Supercluster, Demonplague Chaos Dragon Flame is considered to be one of the top 100 fire radixes, in terms of lethality… It has an extremely potent demonization power not only against biologicals, but even non-biologicals. It is known as one of the most powerful terraforming flames, from one of the Demon Worlds, being the one governed by the Demon King of Grand Strategy. However, it seems like your defensive methods are highly effective against the flame’s corruption, maybe I was wrong.”
“No, you’re probably correct.” Ishihara replied. “It’s just that, my bio-armor is special, and the flame’s power is merely at rank 0.”
“Are we… dealing with a soon-to-be demonic incursion?” Larissa couldn’t help but raise an inquiry. “Are we not dealing with a vampire hunter?”
The police sergeant shook her head “It seems like our vampire hunter is a demon…”
“The order is wrong…” Nana interjected. “Demonic incursion typically begins with demon worshipers using blood-and-soul sacrifice, followed by the formation of a demonic cult, before the arrival of demon warlocks. Only then, true demons would start appearing under the summon of the warlocks. In the first place, Demonplague Chaos Dragon Flame can only be produced by Demonic Dragon or Chaos Dragon. Perhaps… this is the work of a demonic dragon worshiper?”
Just as Ishihara was about to deny that accusation due to the lack of evidence, a silvery gray wolf bigger than a horse trotted towards them. The wolf sniffed everyone, as if trying to track what’s left of the remaining traces.
“This is… Lupusrazor. It’s way bigger than I was told.” Ishihara commented in amazement.
“I’ve been feeding him with precious resources dailly. Of course he’s getting bigger.” Larissa retorted. “Now then, what did you find?”
The giant wolf communicated with Larissa through a telepathic link. As quickly as Lupusrazor’s arrival, Larissa frowned. “I stationed several puppets, my Fenris Wolf Broodlings, in several key areas the moment I decided to join this investigation. They are mechanical puppets that are extremely hard to replenish. However, three of them were assassinated, their mechanical corpses stolen.”
Larissa expressed concealed anger. “Our enemy is not someone that can be taken lightly. They have the power to kill rank 1 puppets in a flash.” She then noted the locations and gave that to Ishihara.
The military police officer quickly reported the locations towards her subordinate through her mobile phone. Very swiftly, military police officers swarmed the locations and made an investigation.
“We need more information. Can I access the archive to dig around?” Nana asked. “I’m sure I’ll be able to provide more support if I have your clearance, our situation might be far more dangerous than we thought.”
Ishihara thought for a moment. “Alright, let’s go back to my office. I should be able to grant you access to the Military Police’s archive… under my supervision.”
The group then left after explaining the situation to the officers on the field.
…
Nana blinked her sapphire-blue eyes as her gaze navigated the computer screen. Most rank 1 mages would be dizzy when they scrolled down at such speed, yet Nana acted as if it didn't bother her. Her focus has been crystal clear this whole time, despite the lack of rest.
Seated behind her is Sergeant Ishihara, donned in a new military police uniform. She’s currently sleeping with her feet up on her desk, her face is covered by her cap. It was obvious that the sergeant could not keep up with the speed of which Nana took in information.
After all, almost all mages have photographic memory, and it seems like Nana’s sea of consciousness is more robust than other mages.
“Miss Nana, have you found something useful?” Larissa inquired while sitting on a sofa. In front of her lies her chainsword, lying obnoxiously across a coffee table in a disassembled state. Her hands are dirty, enveloped in special transparent oil that’s used to ensure the chainsword wouldn’t jam during activation.
Nana suddenly closed her eyes and massaged the spot between her eyes. “The Military Police’s archive is quite incomplete. I need more time.”
Larissa glanced away from her chainsword for a moment to engage with Larissa as Nana suddenly dropped her hands and made eye contact with the hunter-priestess.
The two seemed to enter a staring contest, with the muscle of their face making the slightest amount of movement, from twitching their cheeks to blinking in a rhythmic pattern. It wasn’t enough to make any sound, but it was enough for silent communication.
After three seconds, Nana returned her eyes to the monitor screen, her suspicious actions barely missed by Ishihara who woke up abruptly.
When the sergeant saw Nana’s hard working attitude, she raised her evaluation of her further. “Hey, aren’t you tired? You can take a break, you know. It’s been a day since you’ve started and you never once took a break.”
“It’s fine. I have two brains, one of them is sleeping right now.” Nana tapped her right chest as she replied. “In any case, I’ve found a lot of clues, I wanted your opinion on my findings.”
“Oh?” Ishihara was genuinely surprised. “I was prepared for a three day wait. What did you find?”
“The possible vampires hiding in Elestra city.” Clack! Clack! The lore expert’s finger deftly dances on the mechanical keyboard, showing her experience in using technological tools. After switching windows, she started to elaborate.
“In the last twenty four years, there have been three cases of different vampire sightings; all suspected vampires ended up ‘dead’, thanks to the interference from the Secret Division. Well, it was that or the Sacred Alliance enforcing ‘justice’ in our lands.” Nana shrugged her shoulders, implying that she doesn’t want to touch that subject.
The screen now showed three digital pictures of different vampires.
“The Bloodscourge descendant, known for their blood explosion arts…” Nana tapped the left one. “I hope I am wrong because they are one of the most volatile vampire clans in the Seas of Eternal Winters.”
“Honestly, same.” Larissa added, her shoulder shuddering at the thought of encountering one. “Bloodscourge vampires are explosive, both in temper and their bodily fluids.” Ishihara wordlessly nodded, not desiring a more thorough explanation.
“The second one is the Haemodominari clan. Most of their bloodline abilities revolve in enslaving, bewitchment or enthrallment. The practice of sucking the victim’s blood through their neck should be the result of low-rank Haemodominari vampire thralls. Compared to them, other vampire clans aren’t as fond of using thralls..”
“Enslavement-path, then?” Ishihara queried.
“Correct. Blood-enslavement is their forte, which means Haemodominari vampires wouldn’t be found alone. There will always be lesser vampires in proximity to them.” Nana replied.
“But that doesn’t explain their ability to one-shot my Fenris Wolf Broodlings.” Larissa interjected. “In the first place, my Broodlings aren’t just normal puppets. They are my gains from plundering one of the myriad Great Archmage’s Minor Inheritances. Surely you understand their value…”
Ishiahra frowned. The Great Archmage was a 4th Generation Brave whose primary path was refinement. Any puppets left behind by him wouldn’t be simple puppets. Their worth often spiked by over 1000% compared to others of the same rank, sometimes being so large that they couldn’t be bought with money. Mordred pushed the refinement-path of Morgen World to a new height. “Those puppets… are extremely difficult to replenish indeed. So difficult that it would be almost impossible.” She subtly expressed her inability to compensate for their destruction to Larissa.
“There’s no need for you to worry about them.” Larissa shook her head. “I participated in this investigation for my own purposes, it is an acceptable loss. What I want to know is how they could eliminate my Broodlings.”
“Haemodominari vampires can enslave other beings. They might make a thrall out of a strength-path cultivator, or an assassin. There are countless options since Elestra City is a big city, filled with diverse cultivators.” Nana added. “I am more worried if my first two deductions are wrong.”
“What do you mean?” Ishihara inquired, sharing Larissa’s sentiment.
“If our vampire is not a Bloodscourge or a Haemodominari, then they should be… a pureblood vampire, the Nosferatu.” Nana recited slowly, frowning.
“Please, elaborate.” The sergeant asked.
“Where do I start…” Nana scratched her chin, “The Nosferatu is revered as the ‘pureblood’ vampire because they are the original clan that gained the favor of the Grim Reaper three thousand year ago during the 3rd Calamity…”
“Those blood elves…?” Larissa raised her eyebrows, accusing one of the most important actors in the 3rd Calamity.
Nana nodded, wordlessly expressing Larissa’s accusation. “However, the chance of a Nosferatu vampire in this city is low. Nosferatu vampires are almost extinct, there should only be a handful of them currently alive, living in their own sub dimension to escape the prying eyes of the Sacred Alliance. The odds of us being killed by a whale in the Land of Sand and Fire is higher than meeting a Nosferatu vampire.”
“Then, we should only focus on the first two.” Ishihara added. Seeing the two’s reaction to the word ‘Nosferatu’ has given her enough information on how frightening each of them are. “Which do you think is the one in Elstra city right now?”
“My money’s on Bloodscourge vampires.” Larissa voiced her opinion. “My Fenris Wolf Broodlings are durable enough to be able to survive almost every same-rank sneak attack, thanks to their craftsmanship. If they can be assassinated instantly, then our Vampire Hunter is prepared to end a Bloodscourge vampire before they were given a chance to fight back.”
“I beg to differ.” Nana replied. “Your puppets are powerful, but they are not invincible. You are underestimating the Haemodominari too much, they also have powerful abilities that would put Bloodscourge vampires to shame. If you leave a Haemodominari vampire unchecked, they’ll be able to bewitch allies, turning an orderly hunt into a chaotic civil war.”
The two realized that this argument would devolve into unproductive debate. They turned their attention towards Ishihara, asking for a 3rd person’s perspective.
“Hmm, both are correct. One is explosive, and the other is enslaving. If I am a vampire hunter, I would definitely do the same thing because both are problematic in their own way.” She glanced at Nana, “But the near-hundred mortals being murdered in the past month should be a provocation to the Haemodominari vampire, not the Bloodscourge.”
Nana smiled smugly, showing a bit of her competitive triumph over Larissa. The sergeant picked it up, but instead of thinking of her being naive, she thought it was a bit cute.
“We have the potential victim and potential murder weapon. If we narrow it down, then our suspect would most probably be a demonic dragon worshiper or a demon warlock who had strong motivation to kill the vampire.” Ishihara touched her chin as she retracted her focus on the task at hand.
At this moment, the door to Ishihara’s office is knocked. Kurata entered with a stack of files once more.
“How did our request go?” The sergeant asked.
Kurata smiled, he dropped the files and picked up a letter from his breast pocket and gave it to Ishihara.
“The Secret Division realizes its mistake. The appearance of a Demonic Flame amidst a mortal residential district has raised suspicions of your case’s relation with the Necromancer organization, the Requiscat in Pace.” She read the letter.
“Who the fuck named their organization as ‘rest in peace’, while they disturb the peaceful sleep of the dead?” Larissa inquired about the irony of the name.
Ishihara shrugged. “Due to the sensitivity of the case, the Secret Division is dispatching Inquisitor Irae who is specialized in dealing with undead.” She continued reading the paper. “We are expected to report to Inquisitor Irae in three days time…”
The paper immediately combusted in a harmless fire after Ishihara was done reading it.
“Alright, we have real support from the Secret Division now. Let’s prepare for our meeting with Inquisitor Irae.” Ishihara smiled, joy gleaming in her eyes.
…
Three days later.
“This is my first time… entering a mage tower.” Larissa asked, “Can you tell us about our Inquisitor?”
Ishihara, Nana, and Larissa are the only three which were allowed to enter the Mage Tower. They are now walking within the main hall of the tower. Within this busy facility, there are various apprentice mages or even official mages walking back and forth doing mage business from transactions of magic materials, research results, or even puppets.
But even then, the security is quite good.
“If I recall correctly, then Inquisitor Irae should be an expert in tracking undead. Her expertise is passed down from her mentor, Lord Inquisitor Erebus.” Ishihara replied as if it wasn’t a secret. “When compared to the Association’s role assessment, she should be a five red star [Specialist]...”
Larissa whistled in amazement, “Five red stars… She truly is skilled!”
“Indeed, that’s why an inquisitor's support is extremely valuable in our investigation!”
“Is it okay for you to blabber this information freely? Isn’t the Secret Division supposed to be the Kingdom’s Intelligence department?” Nana enqueried.
“It’s fine. Inquisitor’s name are all codenames. The entity known as Inquisitor Irae must have been switched a few times in the last decade, but her codename is still being used. To begin with, named Inquisitors are the face of the Secret Division. There are unnamed ones that worked in the back. Even I, a sergeant of the Military Police, are not aware how many of them are there.”
"Cool." Larissa replied.
The three soon arrived at the door guarded by magic machinery puppets. It has a tall frame reaching 3 meters from top to bottom with an Armored Knight-like humanoid figure. The puppet's arms held an assault rifle, its barrel consisting of two metal rods bound together by rings. The weapon is a railgun, gleamed in the color of blue lightning. Naturally, the hand-held rifle is not the only weapon in its arsenal, but the others were well hidden.
“I’ve seen their designs before, these are Galatreon Military Standard Railgun, used by replicant soldiers in the extreme south...” Nana made an observation. “To be able to get them… This 'Tactical Horde' Mage Tower truly has excellent security.”
“We’re here to meet Inquisitor Irae.” Ishihara shoved a piece of paper onto the sight of the armored puppet, ignoring Nana’s comment.
The knight-like puppet scanned the paper with its mechanical lenses. After a few beeps, the knight allowed the three to pass. “Authorization accepted.”
The high tech door opened, and the three went in. The next room was quite similar to the Mage Tower’s interior in general, but it was more personalized according to Inquisitor Irae’s personality.
Metallic skeletons are the primary theme of this room. Ranging from the bio-metallic spine of a reptilian beast originated from the Land of Sand and Fire known as Gepanzerte Bestie, scraps of raptor-like mechanical puppets, to a real humanoid magic machinery puppet still active, they are all being used as room decor.
In the center of the room, there was an operating table with a mechanical wolf being dismantled by a robed woman.
“You’re…” Larissa instantly understood the puppet’s origin on the operating table. It was hers.
“The craftsmanship of the Great Archmage has always been the best in this world… but to think that he overcame the limitation of materials by sheer engineering. No wonder the Jaegers of Kaiserreich are split into two factions…” The robed woman muttered by herself, fascinated by the puppet’s scraps. "The man is an absolute genius."
“Inquisitor Irae, we’re here to report our findings!” Ishihara stated her purpose, making the trio's presence known.
“Your arrivals are expected.” Inquisitor Irae turns to the three, her face is covered by a mechanical skull mask, an artifact that rendered most investigative methods useless. “Is this your puppet?”
“That’s right.” Larissa answered respectfully. Inquisitor Irae is a member of the Secret Division, it would be best if she has a cordial relationship with the inquisitor.
“Do you understand the worth of your puppets?” Inquisitor Irae inquired once more. “The artificial muscle fiber is extremely fine, like a real biological organism but without the constraint of being made from flesh-and-blood. Furthermore, the crystal processor of the wolf seemed to be installed with a wireless module that would allow them to connect towards a secret frequency…”
“That’s the [Brood Pack] module. With it, my Fenris Wolf Broodlings would be able to gain pack intelligence. In simple terms, the more Fenris Wolf Brood units are active in the field, the higher their intelligence, allowing them to make more complex tactical decisions faster…” Larissa explained willingly. One only needs to examine further, it wasn’t a secret which needed to be kept.
“I will give you an inheritance in this Mage Tower of your choosing for the Inheritance that you have.” Irae offered. “Even if it is the Legendary-rank True Inheritance of this Mage Tower, it is still possible for you to have it.”
“That’s impossible.” Larissa instantly rejects without hesitation. “My Fenris Brood Minor Inheritance’s main content is Lupusrazor, he is the Heroic unit of the Fenris Wolf Brood. Without the heroic unit in control, my wolfpack is no better than mere mass-produced puppets. Furthermore, I have no interest in deepening my understanding of enslavement-path.”
“What a shame.” Inquisitor Irae shook her head in disappointment, but she was rational enough not to pick a fight with one of the most prominent Hunters in Elestra city, especially since she’s a law-abiding Hunter. She led the three to her desk. "My sources indicate that one of you understands what we are dealing with.”
“Yes, Inquisitor.” Ishihara nudged at Nana.
“The flame radix is known as Demonplague Chaos Dragon Flame. The fire has-” Nana’s words were cut off by Inquisitor Irae.
“I know what the fire does. I want to know where it came from.”
“Un.” The lore expert nodded, not offended by the Inquisitor's rude interruption. “The last known user of Demonplague Chaos Dragon Flame is the Chaos Dragon Lord of Infernal Plague. He was last reported going towards a Demon World ruled by the Demon King of Grand Strategy, Paimon. There are no more reports regarding the chaos dragon’s movement, and even if there are, I am sure that I am not qualified to read them from the Hunter Association’s extradimensional logs.”
“Hmm.” The Inquisitor sat on her chair. With a wave of her right hand, a digitized artifact similar in nature to Galatreon’s Omni-gear appeared on her left wrist. With her manipulation, the artifact produces a holographic screen in which she typed in the Chaos Dragon Lord of Infernal Plague on the search query.
“Let’s see…Chaos Dragon Lord of Infernal Plague… He has no known worshipers in the Hartina Kingdom, not even in the Land of Autumn Rain.” She glanced at Nana, “Are you positively sure that he’s the only one who uses this fire?”
“It can be a flame burst, a fire wall, a fireball, or any other countless variations of flame attack, but the flame will have the same property.” Nana replied. “Dragons… especially chaos dragons, are extremely ferocious and aggressive, it is almost impossible to deconstruct their elemental radix and copy them unless one has exactly the same life accumulation that the dragon did. In any case, the lesser version of the fire can only be produced by those who had received the Chaos Dragon’s favor.”
“I see.” Inquisitor Irae touched her chin. “While you have the information regarding the missing homeless people, I also received reports of dead cattles. Most of them are rank 1 beasts cultivated for the resources they produce.”
Ishihara frowned. This was new information for her. “May we get a glimpse of the condition of the dead cattles?”
“See for yourself.” The Inquisitor waved her hand, the holographic screen showed multiple images of dead cattles.
Of the 13 pictures, all of them have one similarity.
“Their body is dry, as if all moisture has been robbed out of them.” Nana raised an inquiry. “Blood-path expert?”
“We had our own investigators deducing the clues, their conclusion is not too far off from yours.” Inquisitor Irae said towards Ishihara. “There might be a possible vampire hunter trying to smoke out a vampire through this method of provocation. Well, whatever it is, it’s not good for us.”
“Why is it so?” Larissa asked innocently.
“The Sacred Alliance.” Inquisitor Irae quickly answered, her eyes concealed a glint of hatred and rejection. “If they get a whiff of this, they’ll send forth a Paladin and their religious entourage. The Secret Division is doing our best to conceal this information from spreading. It’s best if we tidy up this case before existences far worse than Paladins came to ‘solve’ the problem in our lands.”
Nobody likes their territory being entered by foreigners, especially if the natives knew the foreigners didn't have good intentions to begin with.
“I see.” Larissa nodded understandingly.
Just as they were about to continue their conversation, a suppressed sound of distant explosion reached the room. Even with the defensive measures of the Tower, the room lightly shook, the skeletons draped throughout clattering in a symphony.
Inquisitor Irae hussed everyone, perking up her ears. “The silent alarm has been sounded. The Mage Tower is under attack.” She quickly trotted towards the only exit.
“Wait!” Ishihara chased after her. “We might be able to help.”
“No…” the inquisitor instantly answered, but she hesitated. “Alright, you are allowed to go with me since you are technically under the Military Police, but you two will have to stay put.”
Larissa and Nana glanced at each other, then shrugged in understanding.
“We’ll be back for you. This is just a precaution so that the Mage Tower doesn’t descend to more chaos.” Irae left the room followed by Ishihara. The door then locked itself, with the two remaining people not knowing how to break or unlock it.
“Phase 4?” Nana asked in a low voice, wary of the internal monitoring system of the room.
“That’s right.” Larissa blinked her eyes, answering Nana’s question with something akin to morse code. She wasn’t that confident in her methods of enforcing localized sound suppression. “I don’t know how you infiltrate the Mage Tower’s Intellectual Core, but with it being suppressed, the Mage Tower wouldn’t be able to respond normally.”
“This is an enslavement-path Mage Tower, the easiest method would obviously be ‘decapitation tactic’.” Nana faced Larissa. “I’ve shut down this room’s monitoring, you can speak normally. Phase 5 should be the switch, right? Are your Shadow Stalkers nearby?”
“They are… around 3 blocks away? They’ll be reaching us in less than three minutes because the Mage Tower’s puppets are aiding us.” Her eyes gleam in amazement. “You really are a master of infiltration, espionage and subterfuge.”
"Electronic warfare." Nana tapped her skull. “Their combat resources are temporarily mine, but I still need you to buy time until the last Phase. I am unaware of how Inquisitor Irae would fight, but you should be able to handle Ishihara.”
“Any details I should be worried about? Any information would help my Shadow Stalkers.”
Nana turned serious. “Her bloodline should have originated from a type of Mantis Shrimp beast. Excelling in extreme short-range combat, her fist is her most lethal weapon. Be advised as your Shadow Stalkers would probably be unable to ambush her as she can see 12 spectrums of colors… or more.”
“How… the fuck are you so clear on her information? Did you know her beforehand?”
“That’s not possible.” Nana denied. “Through bone induction, I’ve inspected her physiology when she touched my head. Besides that, I don’t know her precise fighting style.” She added as she touched her dimensional storage ring.
What she takes out from her storage ring is a body similar to her in form and aura, even the tiniest detail like soul and spirit undulation. The only difference is, the body that she took out seemed to be sleeping.
“Kill her and destroy her body with your Demonplague Chaos Dragon Flame. Leave the barest minimum of her brain for identification.” ‘Nana’ ordered, pointing towards the sleeping Nana.
“Wait, you’re leaving some clues for them? You know there are techniques to extract memories from a dead brain, right?” Larissa retorted.
At this point, Morrigan, Mordred’s contracted Lightning Elemental, came out of the back of ‘sleeping’ Nana’s skull, flying towards ‘awake’ Nana's chest. Unlike Morrigan’s original reptilian purple wings, what’s on her back is two pairs of butterfly’s wings. She produced pink lightning sparks with each of her movements.
“Not a problem. Her memories have been altered in her ‘dream’, I’ve erased any inconsistencies. Those who pry too much detail would instead trigger a soul-path ‘demonic’ trap that I set in her sea of consciousness.”
Larissa’s worries instantly went away. “Okay.” She raised her hand as it instantly ignited in dark crimson fire. When she tossed the fire onto the sleeping Nana’s body, the poor lady spasmed intensely, her small mouth producing a suppressed sound of torment. Her flawless white skin slowly turns into the demonic red scales under the contamination of the flames, but not every scale’s alteration is perfect.
Some would fail in its mutation phase, they exploded into a thick and smelly yellow pus, toxic to even the most formidable necrophagous beings. What made it worse is it’s happening all over her body.
Boom! While waiting for sleeping Nana’s body to be completely destroyed, the wall of the room exploded. It opens up a path to the other rooms in the Mage Tower. The cause of this was a 2 meter tall mechanical puppet tinged with the power of a demon.
“The first batch of Shadow Stalkers are here, you can go now.” Larissa said, passing her dimensional storage ring to the ‘Nana’.
‘Nana’ accepted the ring, her body quickly undulating as her body became taller. The small frame of a feminine lady is no more, what’s left is a tall handsome man with a pair of heterochromia eyes. “What about the Ice that I wanted, have you fulfilled my request?”
“Don’t worry, I’ve inserted sufficient Chronophagous Hoarfrost essence for you to freeze an entire city. I’ve also put Lupusrazor there, as you instructed.” Larissa answered.
“Great. I’ll be seeing you in a bit… as Lord Inquisitor Erebus.” The man left through the path made by the Shadow Stalker, breaking a smile that quickly became unnoticeable as his visage merged with the darkness. Not a single investigative method could detect his presence if he’s seriously wanted to hide. Not even one that considers the axis of time.
“Now that he’s gone, let’s get to work.” Larissa muttered towards the Shadow Stalker. “Let’s give them a good show.” She activated her Mage Armor and draped herself in countless blessings.
Boom! Boom! Boom! The ‘demonic’ puppet clad in Demonplague Chaos Dragon Flame is now engaged in an intense combat with a chainsword-wielding knight-like figure of transparent ice.
Soleil At this point, I'm just going to accept that I have no time to actually write and post consistent update. Between my fulltime job, the time to commute, my master's class, being social and six hours of sleep... I only have a limited amount of mental energy to write. I'll use this chance to inform all of you that my updates would probably be erratic like this one, especially when I'm nearing my thesis. Lieber Gott, Ich möchte jemanden umbringen, am liebsten mich selbst. Special thanks to Engie who still assisted me proofreading... and also Reinya-sama whose comment gave me motivation to keep on going. Also, am sorry for leaving a rant behind almost every chapter.
Proofreader: Engie
‘Calcium?’ Nana inspected the pale white mineral that covered Ishihara's body.
The woman in question shredded her burnt military police uniform, showing her semi-naked body to the world. Pale white minerals covered most parts of her body, resembling that of a crustacean’s, spikes and all. Her left hand endured the most burn, thus, it was fully engulfed in pale white bio armor. Despite being resistant against the mutation caused by the fire, the bio armor is warped and twisted, as if it were melted and dried over, evident of its struggle against forceful mutation.
“Demonic fire is extremely effective in burning flesh-and-blood. It is the bane of ‘unarmored’ beings in general, which makes it incredibly powerful.” Ishihara reported her quick findings. “It seems that this was their trump card in hunting vampires…”
“I sense demonic power within the flames…” Larissa said as she showered Ishihara with her healing blessings. “The strength within the flames are too pure to be produced by a lesser demon.”
The three traded glances before looking at the ruin of what used to be an old house. Grass or other biologicals are mutating in demonic ways after being ignited by the crimson fire. The earth turned dark red as it suddenly produced a sulfuric stench. As for what survived? The dark crimson flames had difficulties burning non-biological things such as the metal rebar, rocks or concrete.
“It was only a single burst of fire.” Nana voiced her observation as the flame dissipated just as quickly as it arrived. “How are you feeling?”
Ishihara waved her left hand, after which the bone plates immediately retracted. It took a few more seconds for the hand with the warped armor to revert to a human form. “I’m fine. What’s important is that we’ve found justification for a request to the Secret Division. Our investigation will be supported by an Inquisitor.” She then asked both Larissa and Nana, “Anyone guessed what we’re dealing with? I’ve never encountered this type of fire before.”
“It has similar characteristics to something known as Demonplague Chaos Dragon Flame.” Nana elaborated. “The Association has gathered information regarding Elemental Radixes and ranked them in order. Amongst the uncountable number of Fire Radixes across Morgen World’s Astral Supercluster, Demonplague Chaos Dragon Flame is considered to be one of the top 100 fire radixes, in terms of lethality… It has an extremely potent demonization power not only against biologicals, but even non-biologicals. It is known as one of the most powerful terraforming flames, from one of the Demon Worlds, being the one governed by the Demon King of Grand Strategy. However, it seems like your defensive methods are highly effective against the flame’s corruption, maybe I was wrong.”
“No, you’re probably correct.” Ishihara replied. “It’s just that, my bio-armor is special, and the flame’s power is merely at rank 0.”
“Are we… dealing with a soon-to-be demonic incursion?” Larissa couldn’t help but raise an inquiry. “Are we not dealing with a vampire hunter?”
The police sergeant shook her head “It seems like our vampire hunter is a demon…”
“The order is wrong…” Nana interjected. “Demonic incursion typically begins with demon worshipers using blood-and-soul sacrifice, followed by the formation of a demonic cult, before the arrival of demon warlocks. Only then, true demons would start appearing under the summon of the warlocks. In the first place, Demonplague Chaos Dragon Flame can only be produced by Demonic Dragon or Chaos Dragon. Perhaps… this is the work of a demonic dragon worshiper?”
Just as Ishihara was about to deny that accusation due to the lack of evidence, a silvery gray wolf bigger than a horse trotted towards them. The wolf sniffed everyone, as if trying to track what’s left of the remaining traces.
“This is… Lupusrazor. It’s way bigger than I was told.” Ishihara commented in amazement.
“I’ve been feeding him with precious resources dailly. Of course he’s getting bigger.” Larissa retorted. “Now then, what did you find?”
The giant wolf communicated with Larissa through a telepathic link. As quickly as Lupusrazor’s arrival, Larissa frowned. “I stationed several puppets, my Fenris Wolf Broodlings, in several key areas the moment I decided to join this investigation. They are mechanical puppets that are extremely hard to replenish. However, three of them were assassinated, their mechanical corpses stolen.”
Larissa expressed concealed anger. “Our enemy is not someone that can be taken lightly. They have the power to kill rank 1 puppets in a flash.” She then noted the locations and gave that to Ishihara.
The military police officer quickly reported the locations towards her subordinate through her mobile phone. Very swiftly, military police officers swarmed the locations and made an investigation.
“We need more information. Can I access the archive to dig around?” Nana asked. “I’m sure I’ll be able to provide more support if I have your clearance, our situation might be far more dangerous than we thought.”
Ishihara thought for a moment. “Alright, let’s go back to my office. I should be able to grant you access to the Military Police’s archive… under my supervision.”
The group then left after explaining the situation to the officers on the field.
…
Nana blinked her sapphire-blue eyes as her gaze navigated the computer screen. Most rank 1 mages would be dizzy when they scrolled down at such speed, yet Nana acted as if it didn't bother her. Her focus has been crystal clear this whole time, despite the lack of rest.
Seated behind her is Sergeant Ishihara, donned in a new military police uniform. She’s currently sleeping with her feet up on her desk, her face is covered by her cap. It was obvious that the sergeant could not keep up with the speed of which Nana took in information.
After all, almost all mages have photographic memory, and it seems like Nana’s sea of consciousness is more robust than other mages.
“Miss Nana, have you found something useful?” Larissa inquired while sitting on a sofa. In front of her lies her chainsword, lying obnoxiously across a coffee table in a disassembled state. Her hands are dirty, enveloped in special transparent oil that’s used to ensure the chainsword wouldn’t jam during activation.
Nana suddenly closed her eyes and massaged the spot between her eyes. “The Military Police’s archive is quite incomplete. I need more time.”
Larissa glanced away from her chainsword for a moment to engage with Larissa as Nana suddenly dropped her hands and made eye contact with the hunter-priestess.
The two seemed to enter a staring contest, with the muscle of their face making the slightest amount of movement, from twitching their cheeks to blinking in a rhythmic pattern. It wasn’t enough to make any sound, but it was enough for silent communication.
After three seconds, Nana returned her eyes to the monitor screen, her suspicious actions barely missed by Ishihara who woke up abruptly.
When the sergeant saw Nana’s hard working attitude, she raised her evaluation of her further. “Hey, aren’t you tired? You can take a break, you know. It’s been a day since you’ve started and you never once took a break.”
“It’s fine. I have two brains, one of them is sleeping right now.” Nana tapped her right chest as she replied. “In any case, I’ve found a lot of clues, I wanted your opinion on my findings.”
“Oh?” Ishihara was genuinely surprised. “I was prepared for a three day wait. What did you find?”
“The possible vampires hiding in Elestra city.” Clack! Clack! The lore expert’s finger deftly dances on the mechanical keyboard, showing her experience in using technological tools. After switching windows, she started to elaborate.
“In the last twenty four years, there have been three cases of different vampire sightings; all suspected vampires ended up ‘dead’, thanks to the interference from the Secret Division. Well, it was that or the Sacred Alliance enforcing ‘justice’ in our lands.” Nana shrugged her shoulders, implying that she doesn’t want to touch that subject.
The screen now showed three digital pictures of different vampires.
“The Bloodscourge descendant, known for their blood explosion arts…” Nana tapped the left one. “I hope I am wrong because they are one of the most volatile vampire clans in the Seas of Eternal Winters.”
“Honestly, same.” Larissa added, her shoulder shuddering at the thought of encountering one. “Bloodscourge vampires are explosive, both in temper and their bodily fluids.” Ishihara wordlessly nodded, not desiring a more thorough explanation.
“The second one is the Haemodominari clan. Most of their bloodline abilities revolve in enslaving, bewitchment or enthrallment. The practice of sucking the victim’s blood through their neck should be the result of low-rank Haemodominari vampire thralls. Compared to them, other vampire clans aren’t as fond of using thralls..”
“Enslavement-path, then?” Ishihara queried.
“Correct. Blood-enslavement is their forte, which means Haemodominari vampires wouldn’t be found alone. There will always be lesser vampires in proximity to them.” Nana replied.
“But that doesn’t explain their ability to one-shot my Fenris Wolf Broodlings.” Larissa interjected. “In the first place, my Broodlings aren’t just normal puppets. They are my gains from plundering one of the myriad Great Archmage’s Minor Inheritances. Surely you understand their value…”
Ishiahra frowned. The Great Archmage was a 4th Generation Brave whose primary path was refinement. Any puppets left behind by him wouldn’t be simple puppets. Their worth often spiked by over 1000% compared to others of the same rank, sometimes being so large that they couldn’t be bought with money. Mordred pushed the refinement-path of Morgen World to a new height. “Those puppets… are extremely difficult to replenish indeed. So difficult that it would be almost impossible.” She subtly expressed her inability to compensate for their destruction to Larissa.
“There’s no need for you to worry about them.” Larissa shook her head. “I participated in this investigation for my own purposes, it is an acceptable loss. What I want to know is how they could eliminate my Broodlings.”
“Haemodominari vampires can enslave other beings. They might make a thrall out of a strength-path cultivator, or an assassin. There are countless options since Elestra City is a big city, filled with diverse cultivators.” Nana added. “I am more worried if my first two deductions are wrong.”
“What do you mean?” Ishihara inquired, sharing Larissa’s sentiment.
“If our vampire is not a Bloodscourge or a Haemodominari, then they should be… a pureblood vampire, the Nosferatu.” Nana recited slowly, frowning.
“Please, elaborate.” The sergeant asked.
“Where do I start…” Nana scratched her chin, “The Nosferatu is revered as the ‘pureblood’ vampire because they are the original clan that gained the favor of the Grim Reaper three thousand year ago during the 3rd Calamity…”
“Those blood elves…?” Larissa raised her eyebrows, accusing one of the most important actors in the 3rd Calamity.
Nana nodded, wordlessly expressing Larissa’s accusation. “However, the chance of a Nosferatu vampire in this city is low. Nosferatu vampires are almost extinct, there should only be a handful of them currently alive, living in their own sub dimension to escape the prying eyes of the Sacred Alliance. The odds of us being killed by a whale in the Land of Sand and Fire is higher than meeting a Nosferatu vampire.”
“Then, we should only focus on the first two.” Ishihara added. Seeing the two’s reaction to the word ‘Nosferatu’ has given her enough information on how frightening each of them are. “Which do you think is the one in Elstra city right now?”
“My money’s on Bloodscourge vampires.” Larissa voiced her opinion. “My Fenris Wolf Broodlings are durable enough to be able to survive almost every same-rank sneak attack, thanks to their craftsmanship. If they can be assassinated instantly, then our Vampire Hunter is prepared to end a Bloodscourge vampire before they were given a chance to fight back.”
“I beg to differ.” Nana replied. “Your puppets are powerful, but they are not invincible. You are underestimating the Haemodominari too much, they also have powerful abilities that would put Bloodscourge vampires to shame. If you leave a Haemodominari vampire unchecked, they’ll be able to bewitch allies, turning an orderly hunt into a chaotic civil war.”
The two realized that this argument would devolve into unproductive debate. They turned their attention towards Ishihara, asking for a 3rd person’s perspective.
“Hmm, both are correct. One is explosive, and the other is enslaving. If I am a vampire hunter, I would definitely do the same thing because both are problematic in their own way.” She glanced at Nana, “But the near-hundred mortals being murdered in the past month should be a provocation to the Haemodominari vampire, not the Bloodscourge.”
Nana smiled smugly, showing a bit of her competitive triumph over Larissa. The sergeant picked it up, but instead of thinking of her being naive, she thought it was a bit cute.
“We have the potential victim and potential murder weapon. If we narrow it down, then our suspect would most probably be a demonic dragon worshiper or a demon warlock who had strong motivation to kill the vampire.” Ishihara touched her chin as she retracted her focus on the task at hand.
At this moment, the door to Ishihara’s office is knocked. Kurata entered with a stack of files once more.
“How did our request go?” The sergeant asked.
Kurata smiled, he dropped the files and picked up a letter from his breast pocket and gave it to Ishihara.
“The Secret Division realizes its mistake. The appearance of a Demonic Flame amidst a mortal residential district has raised suspicions of your case’s relation with the Necromancer organization, the Requiscat in Pace.” She read the letter.
“Who the fuck named their organization as ‘rest in peace’, while they disturb the peaceful sleep of the dead?” Larissa inquired about the irony of the name.
Ishihara shrugged. “Due to the sensitivity of the case, the Secret Division is dispatching Inquisitor Irae who is specialized in dealing with undead.” She continued reading the paper. “We are expected to report to Inquisitor Irae in three days time…”
The paper immediately combusted in a harmless fire after Ishihara was done reading it.
“Alright, we have real support from the Secret Division now. Let’s prepare for our meeting with Inquisitor Irae.” Ishihara smiled, joy gleaming in her eyes.
…
Three days later.
“This is my first time… entering a mage tower.” Larissa asked, “Can you tell us about our Inquisitor?”
Ishihara, Nana, and Larissa are the only three which were allowed to enter the Mage Tower. They are now walking within the main hall of the tower. Within this busy facility, there are various apprentice mages or even official mages walking back and forth doing mage business from transactions of magic materials, research results, or even puppets.
But even then, the security is quite good.
“If I recall correctly, then Inquisitor Irae should be an expert in tracking undead. Her expertise is passed down from her mentor, Lord Inquisitor Erebus.” Ishihara replied as if it wasn’t a secret. “When compared to the Association’s role assessment, she should be a five red star [Specialist]...”
Larissa whistled in amazement, “Five red stars… She truly is skilled!”
“Indeed, that’s why an inquisitor's support is extremely valuable in our investigation!”
“Is it okay for you to blabber this information freely? Isn’t the Secret Division supposed to be the Kingdom’s Intelligence department?” Nana enqueried.
“It’s fine. Inquisitor’s name are all codenames. The entity known as Inquisitor Irae must have been switched a few times in the last decade, but her codename is still being used. To begin with, named Inquisitors are the face of the Secret Division. There are unnamed ones that worked in the back. Even I, a sergeant of the Military Police, are not aware how many of them are there.”
"Cool." Larissa replied.
The three soon arrived at the door guarded by magic machinery puppets. It has a tall frame reaching 3 meters from top to bottom with an Armored Knight-like humanoid figure. The puppet's arms held an assault rifle, its barrel consisting of two metal rods bound together by rings. The weapon is a railgun, gleamed in the color of blue lightning. Naturally, the hand-held rifle is not the only weapon in its arsenal, but the others were well hidden.
“I’ve seen their designs before, these are Galatreon Military Standard Railgun, used by replicant soldiers in the extreme south...” Nana made an observation. “To be able to get them… This 'Tactical Horde' Mage Tower truly has excellent security.”
“We’re here to meet Inquisitor Irae.” Ishihara shoved a piece of paper onto the sight of the armored puppet, ignoring Nana’s comment.
The knight-like puppet scanned the paper with its mechanical lenses. After a few beeps, the knight allowed the three to pass. “Authorization accepted.”
The high tech door opened, and the three went in. The next room was quite similar to the Mage Tower’s interior in general, but it was more personalized according to Inquisitor Irae’s personality.
Metallic skeletons are the primary theme of this room. Ranging from the bio-metallic spine of a reptilian beast originated from the Land of Sand and Fire known as Gepanzerte Bestie, scraps of raptor-like mechanical puppets, to a real humanoid magic machinery puppet still active, they are all being used as room decor.
In the center of the room, there was an operating table with a mechanical wolf being dismantled by a robed woman.
“You’re…” Larissa instantly understood the puppet’s origin on the operating table. It was hers.
“The craftsmanship of the Great Archmage has always been the best in this world… but to think that he overcame the limitation of materials by sheer engineering. No wonder the Jaegers of Kaiserreich are split into two factions…” The robed woman muttered by herself, fascinated by the puppet’s scraps. "The man is an absolute genius."
“Inquisitor Irae, we’re here to report our findings!” Ishihara stated her purpose, making the trio's presence known.
“Your arrivals are expected.” Inquisitor Irae turns to the three, her face is covered by a mechanical skull mask, an artifact that rendered most investigative methods useless. “Is this your puppet?”
“That’s right.” Larissa answered respectfully. Inquisitor Irae is a member of the Secret Division, it would be best if she has a cordial relationship with the inquisitor.
“Do you understand the worth of your puppets?” Inquisitor Irae inquired once more. “The artificial muscle fiber is extremely fine, like a real biological organism but without the constraint of being made from flesh-and-blood. Furthermore, the crystal processor of the wolf seemed to be installed with a wireless module that would allow them to connect towards a secret frequency…”
“That’s the [Brood Pack] module. With it, my Fenris Wolf Broodlings would be able to gain pack intelligence. In simple terms, the more Fenris Wolf Brood units are active in the field, the higher their intelligence, allowing them to make more complex tactical decisions faster…” Larissa explained willingly. One only needs to examine further, it wasn’t a secret which needed to be kept.
“I will give you an inheritance in this Mage Tower of your choosing for the Inheritance that you have.” Irae offered. “Even if it is the Legendary-rank True Inheritance of this Mage Tower, it is still possible for you to have it.”
“That’s impossible.” Larissa instantly rejects without hesitation. “My Fenris Brood Minor Inheritance’s main content is Lupusrazor, he is the Heroic unit of the Fenris Wolf Brood. Without the heroic unit in control, my wolfpack is no better than mere mass-produced puppets. Furthermore, I have no interest in deepening my understanding of enslavement-path.”
“What a shame.” Inquisitor Irae shook her head in disappointment, but she was rational enough not to pick a fight with one of the most prominent Hunters in Elestra city, especially since she’s a law-abiding Hunter. She led the three to her desk. "My sources indicate that one of you understands what we are dealing with.”
“Yes, Inquisitor.” Ishihara nudged at Nana.
“The flame radix is known as Demonplague Chaos Dragon Flame. The fire has-” Nana’s words were cut off by Inquisitor Irae.
“I know what the fire does. I want to know where it came from.”
“Un.” The lore expert nodded, not offended by the Inquisitor's rude interruption. “The last known user of Demonplague Chaos Dragon Flame is the Chaos Dragon Lord of Infernal Plague. He was last reported going towards a Demon World ruled by the Demon King of Grand Strategy, Paimon. There are no more reports regarding the chaos dragon’s movement, and even if there are, I am sure that I am not qualified to read them from the Hunter Association’s extradimensional logs.”
“Hmm.” The Inquisitor sat on her chair. With a wave of her right hand, a digitized artifact similar in nature to Galatreon’s Omni-gear appeared on her left wrist. With her manipulation, the artifact produces a holographic screen in which she typed in the Chaos Dragon Lord of Infernal Plague on the search query.
“Let’s see…Chaos Dragon Lord of Infernal Plague… He has no known worshipers in the Hartina Kingdom, not even in the Land of Autumn Rain.” She glanced at Nana, “Are you positively sure that he’s the only one who uses this fire?”
“It can be a flame burst, a fire wall, a fireball, or any other countless variations of flame attack, but the flame will have the same property.” Nana replied. “Dragons… especially chaos dragons, are extremely ferocious and aggressive, it is almost impossible to deconstruct their elemental radix and copy them unless one has exactly the same life accumulation that the dragon did. In any case, the lesser version of the fire can only be produced by those who had received the Chaos Dragon’s favor.”
“I see.” Inquisitor Irae touched her chin. “While you have the information regarding the missing homeless people, I also received reports of dead cattles. Most of them are rank 1 beasts cultivated for the resources they produce.”
Ishihara frowned. This was new information for her. “May we get a glimpse of the condition of the dead cattles?”
“See for yourself.” The Inquisitor waved her hand, the holographic screen showed multiple images of dead cattles.
Of the 13 pictures, all of them have one similarity.
“Their body is dry, as if all moisture has been robbed out of them.” Nana raised an inquiry. “Blood-path expert?”
“We had our own investigators deducing the clues, their conclusion is not too far off from yours.” Inquisitor Irae said towards Ishihara. “There might be a possible vampire hunter trying to smoke out a vampire through this method of provocation. Well, whatever it is, it’s not good for us.”
“Why is it so?” Larissa asked innocently.
“The Sacred Alliance.” Inquisitor Irae quickly answered, her eyes concealed a glint of hatred and rejection. “If they get a whiff of this, they’ll send forth a Paladin and their religious entourage. The Secret Division is doing our best to conceal this information from spreading. It’s best if we tidy up this case before existences far worse than Paladins came to ‘solve’ the problem in our lands.”
Nobody likes their territory being entered by foreigners, especially if the natives knew the foreigners didn't have good intentions to begin with.
“I see.” Larissa nodded understandingly.
Just as they were about to continue their conversation, a suppressed sound of distant explosion reached the room. Even with the defensive measures of the Tower, the room lightly shook, the skeletons draped throughout clattering in a symphony.
Inquisitor Irae hussed everyone, perking up her ears. “The silent alarm has been sounded. The Mage Tower is under attack.” She quickly trotted towards the only exit.
“Wait!” Ishihara chased after her. “We might be able to help.”
“No…” the inquisitor instantly answered, but she hesitated. “Alright, you are allowed to go with me since you are technically under the Military Police, but you two will have to stay put.”
Larissa and Nana glanced at each other, then shrugged in understanding.
“We’ll be back for you. This is just a precaution so that the Mage Tower doesn’t descend to more chaos.” Irae left the room followed by Ishihara. The door then locked itself, with the two remaining people not knowing how to break or unlock it.
“Phase 4?” Nana asked in a low voice, wary of the internal monitoring system of the room.
“That’s right.” Larissa blinked her eyes, answering Nana’s question with something akin to morse code. She wasn’t that confident in her methods of enforcing localized sound suppression. “I don’t know how you infiltrate the Mage Tower’s Intellectual Core, but with it being suppressed, the Mage Tower wouldn’t be able to respond normally.”
“This is an enslavement-path Mage Tower, the easiest method would obviously be ‘decapitation tactic’.” Nana faced Larissa. “I’ve shut down this room’s monitoring, you can speak normally. Phase 5 should be the switch, right? Are your Shadow Stalkers nearby?”
“They are… around 3 blocks away? They’ll be reaching us in less than three minutes because the Mage Tower’s puppets are aiding us.” Her eyes gleam in amazement. “You really are a master of infiltration, espionage and subterfuge.”
"Electronic warfare." Nana tapped her skull. “Their combat resources are temporarily mine, but I still need you to buy time until the last Phase. I am unaware of how Inquisitor Irae would fight, but you should be able to handle Ishihara.”
“Any details I should be worried about? Any information would help my Shadow Stalkers.”
Nana turned serious. “Her bloodline should have originated from a type of Mantis Shrimp beast. Excelling in extreme short-range combat, her fist is her most lethal weapon. Be advised as your Shadow Stalkers would probably be unable to ambush her as she can see 12 spectrums of colors… or more.”
“How… the fuck are you so clear on her information? Did you know her beforehand?”
“That’s not possible.” Nana denied. “Through bone induction, I’ve inspected her physiology when she touched my head. Besides that, I don’t know her precise fighting style.” She added as she touched her dimensional storage ring.
What she takes out from her storage ring is a body similar to her in form and aura, even the tiniest detail like soul and spirit undulation. The only difference is, the body that she took out seemed to be sleeping.
“Kill her and destroy her body with your Demonplague Chaos Dragon Flame. Leave the barest minimum of her brain for identification.” ‘Nana’ ordered, pointing towards the sleeping Nana.
“Wait, you’re leaving some clues for them? You know there are techniques to extract memories from a dead brain, right?” Larissa retorted.
At this point, Morrigan, Mordred’s contracted Lightning Elemental, came out of the back of ‘sleeping’ Nana’s skull, flying towards ‘awake’ Nana's chest. Unlike Morrigan’s original reptilian purple wings, what’s on her back is two pairs of butterfly’s wings. She produced pink lightning sparks with each of her movements.
“Not a problem. Her memories have been altered in her ‘dream’, I’ve erased any inconsistencies. Those who pry too much detail would instead trigger a soul-path ‘demonic’ trap that I set in her sea of consciousness.”
Larissa’s worries instantly went away. “Okay.” She raised her hand as it instantly ignited in dark crimson fire. When she tossed the fire onto the sleeping Nana’s body, the poor lady spasmed intensely, her small mouth producing a suppressed sound of torment. Her flawless white skin slowly turns into the demonic red scales under the contamination of the flames, but not every scale’s alteration is perfect.
Some would fail in its mutation phase, they exploded into a thick and smelly yellow pus, toxic to even the most formidable necrophagous beings. What made it worse is it’s happening all over her body.
Boom! While waiting for sleeping Nana’s body to be completely destroyed, the wall of the room exploded. It opens up a path to the other rooms in the Mage Tower. The cause of this was a 2 meter tall mechanical puppet tinged with the power of a demon.
“The first batch of Shadow Stalkers are here, you can go now.” Larissa said, passing her dimensional storage ring to the ‘Nana’.
‘Nana’ accepted the ring, her body quickly undulating as her body became taller. The small frame of a feminine lady is no more, what’s left is a tall handsome man with a pair of heterochromia eyes. “What about the Ice that I wanted, have you fulfilled my request?”
“Don’t worry, I’ve inserted sufficient Chronophagous Hoarfrost essence for you to freeze an entire city. I’ve also put Lupusrazor there, as you instructed.” Larissa answered.
“Great. I’ll be seeing you in a bit… as Lord Inquisitor Erebus.” The man left through the path made by the Shadow Stalker, breaking a smile that quickly became unnoticeable as his visage merged with the darkness. Not a single investigative method could detect his presence if he’s seriously wanted to hide. Not even one that considers the axis of time.
“Now that he’s gone, let’s get to work.” Larissa muttered towards the Shadow Stalker. “Let’s give them a good show.” She activated her Mage Armor and draped herself in countless blessings.
Boom! Boom! Boom! The ‘demonic’ puppet clad in Demonplague Chaos Dragon Flame is now engaged in an intense combat with a chainsword-wielding knight-like figure of transparent ice.
Soleil At this point, I'm just going to accept that I have no time to actually write and post consistent update. Between my fulltime job, the time to commute, my master's class, being social and six hours of sleep... I only have a limited amount of mental energy to write. I'll use this chance to inform all of you that my updates would probably be erratic like this one, especially when I'm nearing my thesis. Lieber Gott, Ich möchte jemanden umbringen, am liebsten mich selbst. Special thanks to Engie who still assisted me proofreading... and also Reinya-sama whose comment gave me motivation to keep on going. Also, am sorry for leaving a rant behind almost every chapter.
Proofreader: Engie
