A streak of lightning grazed Ebube and his eyes widened a moment before an annoying buzz went up his spine. It felt like being electrocuted as a child. It didn't necessarily hurt, but it was enough to give a slight spasm.

In front of him, Aiden was already face to face with the still staggering guard that he was fighting. In an impressive display of athleticism, the guard threw a kick from an awkward angle. Aiden jumped high, tucking his legs in to lift himself over the swinging leg. He hit the ground almost soundlessly and followed up with an attack. The guard moved only for a spasm to go through him as one of the random flashes of lightning struck him.

It delayed whatever he was trying to do.

Then Aiden slapped him.

The blow sent blood soaring through the air and had the guard staggering straight into a wall. He hit the wall and Aiden abandoned him.

Ebube stepped back, spear coming up in worry that he was next. Aiden proved uninterested in him once more. Aiden's hands came together in a blur of motion and Ebube's interface flashed in front of him once more.

[Enemy has used Enchantment of Lesser Gravity]

[You are under the effect of Enchantment of Lesser Gravity]

[You weigh more than you should]

What the—

Ebube's legs trembled beneath him and he almost dropped to his knees. On the other side of the room, the guard pinned to the wall was charging forward. The fight was so chaotic that Ebube hadn't even noticed when the man had freed himself from the wall. But Aiden had been very aware.

When the enchantment took hold of the guard, Ebube saw it. The man's steps faltered. His stinger slammed straight into the ground. It forced him to stagger forward and the enchantment dragged him down.

His face came falling to the ground, but it never met the floor. It was halfway down when Aiden threw himself at the man. Aiden threw a flying knee into the man's face. The blow hit so hard that it felt as if the pain reverberated through the entire house.

Blood splashed as the man's head snapped back up, rising even under the downward pull of gravity. Aiden, for his part, blew past the man. When he hit the ground, his hand was already picking up his sword. Turning, he threw the weapon. It went through the air, straight as a thrown spear.

Ebube's eyes left Aiden, following the sword. Panic flared through him in an instant. Fear at losing sight of Aiden flooded him, and his eyes snapped back to where Aiden was.

Aiden was gone.

The sound of metal clashing drew his attention, and he turned in time to find the guard with spikes protruding from his skin slap the sword aside, but Aiden was fast behind the weapon. He came to an abrupt halt and sidestepped a downward blow. The guard overextended for no reason, but Ebube's legs, supporting his weight, reminded him that they currently weighed a little more than they were supposed to. Gravity had forced the guard to overextend on the strike.

Aiden slipped beside the man easily and punched him right in the eye with a quick jab. The blow sent the guard staggering off balance.

Hands blurring again, Aiden stepped into the man's reach and Ebube's interface flashed once more.

[Enemy has used Enchantment of Lesser Binding]

[You are under the effect of Enchantment of Lesser Binding]

[You are bound]

The air around him grew heavy and black chains reached out of the air to wrap themselves around him. Ebube struggled quickly, ripping away from them. They shattered with each tug and pull, evaporating into the air. Still, they kept coming. With the gravity enchantment still pulling him down, it was a struggle to keep them off him.

Aiden, however, still ignoring him, charged forward. His hands blurred again, and Ebube realized that each time his hands blurred, worry filled him.

His worry was justified.

[Enemy has used Enchantment of Lesser Slow]

[You are under the effect of Enchantment of Lesser Slow]

[All movement speed has been decreased by 25%]

One of the chains wrapped around Ebube's wrist, and he didn't rip it as quickly and easily as he had done with the others.

What the hell is he?

The words slithered through his mind in panic.

We can't fight him.

Bloodied and expressionless, Aiden had already abandoned the man with spikes all over his body. Unarmed, he darted towards the man with the scorpion-like stinger. The guard was struggling to get back on his feet. He suffered the most from the gravity enchantment because his stinger remained pinned to the ground. It left him unable to move from where he was.

The chains from the air bound the scorpion-like stinger to the ground, fastening the man in place.

He thrust his hand forward, fingers together in the fashion of a spear head. Ebube recognized the move. It was a simple spear stab if the guard's hand were a spear. The action cut through the chains that tried to bind him as if through wet paper.

Aiden slipped beneath the stab and weaved around the man. He grabbed his other hand, twisting it behind him, kicked the back of his leg, forcing him down to his knee, and pulled his head back. He placed his hand on the man's forehead as more chains wrapped themselves around him, black as night with hues of deep blue, and Ebube thought he saw his finger blur in motion.

Please don't—

"Pain," Aiden said, voice undulating in something terrifyingly otherworldly yet emotionless, "is not the enemy."

His voice was what Ebube thought the endless abyss should sound like if it had sound—void.

Aiden stepped away from the guard once his words were done and light slowly came to life within the man. The guard's mouth fell open in a wordless cry and light spilled from it. His eyes shone a bright yellow that illuminated the space. His head became nothing but a jack-o- lantern as golden light spilled from his mouth, nose, and eyes.

His skin bubbled as he cooked from within, light spilling from it. Then he erupted in a cacophony of fire.

He made no sound as he died, burned alive from within.

Terror struck Ebube then. It was a cold thing. It filled his heart and fastened his legs to the ground. His knees buckled beneath him, and he crashed to the ground. His eyes trembled in their sockets as he watched a man burn alive.

[You have been struck by a vast amount of fear]

[You are terrified]

…

[You have been struck by a vast amount of terror]

[You are afflicted by a negative self debuff Petrification]

[You are petrified]

In front of him, the second guard watched as his companion burned quietly. Ebube watched all hope die in the man's eyes. Eyes that had always been empty and immune to everything now carried despair.

All because I wanted something, Ebube thought.

"It is possible," Aiden said, voice hollow yet seeming to echo as he walked up to the man, "to die before you die. It is in the despair."

He walked as if he counted his steps. Blood still dripped from his wounded hand, staining the floor. He had a cut along his cheek that had leaked enough blood to cover that side of his face. He was covered in a tattered coat stained in rivulets of blood.

He had been outnumbered and out leveled. But he was the only one still standing. Behind him a guard burned to death on his knees. To one side of the room, a guard lay on the ground dead from a stab wound to the back of the neck that continued to spill blood. In front of him, a guard covered in spikes did nothing to fight against the chains that now bound him to the ground and kept him in place on his knee.

Aiden stopped in front of the man, looked down at him.

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Ebube felt the chains around him bind him. They weren't any stronger than they had once been. If he tried, he could rip them off. But his body was weak and trembling. Fear held him in a gentle embrace. It stroked his spine lovingly and whispered promises of terrible nightmares come to life.

"The people of Mba-Chukwu believe that death is not the end," Aiden said, standing in front of the last guard alive. "They believe that it is merely the start of a new journey."

The guard looked up at him. Despair remained in his eyes.

Aiden had told him the truth. Like many tribes and religions back on Earth, the people of Mba-Chukwu believed that death was not the end. Standing in the chaos and death he had created, he offered the guard one last moment of peace.

"You believe that death is not the end," Aiden repeated, placing his hand on the man's forehead. The guard did not struggle against his touch or the chains that bound him. Aiden met his gaze. "You are wrong."

Mist spilled from the man's mouth and eyes and ears, green as the swamps Ebube knew. The man choked on it as blisters grew all over him. His metal spikes seemed to rust. It did not take long for him to die where he was.

"Why?"

The words slipped out from Ebube's lips in nothing but a whisper, yet Aiden turned to look at him as if he had heard the word and had suddenly remembered that he was there.

Aiden walked over to him in the sea of his own chaos. His steps were gentle and simple, belying the monster that he was.

When Aiden got to Ebube, he squatted in front of him. For a moment he looked past him, possibly to the chaos outside the house—to the battle raging. It was only for a moment before his eyes returned to Ebube.

Aiden's eyes were black, as if someone had taken them out and replaced them with an empty night sky.

"Why?" he asked.

Ebube activated his manifesting skill, [Clairvoyance]. Its passive effect indicated when something drastic had taken place. Its active effect showed him every existing path to escape and survival.

He saw all the paths available to him.

"Why have you done this?" he asked. "What did we ever do to you?"

Aiden took in a slow breath and let it out. "You scared my friend and made him feel helpless and unable to protect the only person he cares about. You almost made him fall into despair. That is your sin."

All because I wanted something, Ebube thought.

"You are from Earth," Aiden added. "So, I would've liked to punish you less. But you led this. You were in charge of this. You will die as the one responsible."

Aiden placed a finger on Ebube's head, and Ebube felt the finger tracing lines and curves on his forehead. He felt Aiden enchanting him. He had expected this, [Clairvoyance] had shown him all his paths to escape and he had seen none.

[You have been enchanted with Enchantment of Lesser Madness]

[You are currently being used as the power source for Enchantment of Lesser Madness]

Poetry claimed that death was peaceful. It lied.

There was no peace here.

Pain swallowed him whole.

Ebube did not know when he died. He knew pain. His life was pain.

Then his life was nothing.

…

Aiden watched Ebube. The boy remained in place, bound by chains, mouth open in a wordless scream, and madness claimed his mind. He would die from the shock and the pain.

Aiden watched it all and worried for himself.

Everything he had done in this fight, he had done without remorse, without conscience. He had done it because he had deemed it to be done. That worried him.

[You have slain Ebube Lvl 63!]

[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]

[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]

[You are now Level 72!]

[Level 70---> Level 72!]

Killing the three steel-boned men had granted him a total of twenty levels, all in one go. Aiden was stronger now, far stronger than he had been before entering the fight. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Ebube had gone from being fourteen levels above him to being seven levels below him.

He had always known why murder was the greatest taboo on Nastild, but this, this made him truly understand it. He had killed people in his past life, but the benefits had never been this great. He had never gained so many levels from killing people before.

This was… unhealthy.

The burst of energy. The thrill. Someone like him could start finding excuses to kill people. The power was as alluring as it was terrifying. The three guards had been in their level seventies, yet he had dispatched them with all his advantages.

[Enchanted Void], he thought to himself.

He had never heard of a skill like it. It was strong, powerful. Every time he used [Enchanted Weave] it fueled the mana around him, that in turn fueled him. It was a great advantage in combat.

Then there had been the thing with the sparks the first time he had tried to use [Enchanted Weave] after activating his manifesting skill, and the notification he had received.

[You do not meet the criteria to affect the world]

He looked at his red hand. What were you trying to do?

Shaking the thought and leaving it and the gains from this fight behind, he continued on his path out of the house. He could feel [Enchanted Void] dwindling away. Unlike normal manifesting skills that simply ended, [Enchanted Void] seemed to shrivel, dying out.

Aiden could feel its reaches, petering away as it shrank all the way back to him, his mana lost in the ambience.

We best finish this quickly, he thought as he left the house.

He would save the city if he could. But that was only if he could.

For now, his priority was those he had brought here with him, Zen, and Zen's sister.

He finally stepped out of the house and into the muffled chaos of the battle raging outside. He was beginning to pick out everyone's position when he heard a voice from nowhere.

"There you are."

The voice shook something at his core, reaching into his heart to unmake him. Pain filled Aiden's chest, and he felt his hold over his own manifesting skill waver. He dropped to his knee, clutching at his chest. Deep in his heart, he knew where the source of his pain was coming from—who had spoken.

Gritting his teeth against the pain, he raised his head and met his opponent from across the battlefield.

A humanoid creature fully outfitted in a knight's armor stood unflinching in the battlefield. Its helmet had a broken horn protruding from the left and an injury on the right where a second horn should've been. Its armor was a filthy white, as if someone had taken the cleanest white and washed it in nothing but mud. On its hip was a sword red as lava at the heart of a volcano.

The creature, whatever it was, stared at him from across the distance. From its body flowed a mist of darkness. Aiden recognized the mana with the certainty of a man who knew his own name.

It was pure dimensional mana—demonic mana. He had never felt anything so pure. Then the creature let out an ear shattering roar.

[???? has used trait skill Challenger's Declaration]

[Defend Your Void]

Aiden choked on the air, forcing himself to his feet.

Ahead of him, the creature in the broken armor started moving.

…

King Brandis sat behind his table, tired and struggling.

"I almost have it," he muttered.

"It's been more than a month," the [Sage] pointed out. He wasn't scolding, Brandis knew this, only pointing out that Brandis had been making the same statement for a few weeks.

"It's at the tip of my fingers," Brandis said. "I know it."

"It is. That's why—"

Brandis raised his head from the small drop of [Liquid Life] on the table at the [Sage]'s abrupt silence.

"Are you still with me?" he asked.

The [Sage] was clearly not.

The old man's head was turned to the east. Even though a wall stood right there, he seemed to look into the distance as if at a far away place.

A grotesque frown marred his face.

"What," he said balefully, "is that thing doing here?"

Brandis was very confused. "What thing?"

…

Jang Su ducked a casual swing of the [Sage]'s cane, treating it like a sword. He came up beside the [Sage] quickly only to have his feet kicked out from under him with a simple tap of the same cane that he had just avoided.

"You need to learn awareness," the [Sage] said, standing in his flowing robe.

Off to the side, Yul Kwen, the princess of Nel Quan, stood in quiet observation of their training. Tonight was one of the few nights when the [Sage] allowed it.

Jang Su moved to a seated position like a samurai and bowed at the waist. "I understand."

The [Sage] gave him a flat look, the same way he always did when Jang Su did this.

"I would chide you for your actions," the [Sage] began, "but I know that you will not—"

Jang Su looked up at the [Sage] in his abrupt silence.

"Master?"

The [Sage] did not answer him. Instead, he had his attention to the west, a frown on his face. He stood like that for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was solemn and small.

"Has the time come?"

…

Selim dusted off the tabletop, even though there was no dust on it. Here, the lady of the castle liked everything spotless. She did not complain if it wasn't, she simply changed the maid responsible, replacing her with someone else entirely. People loved the lady of the castle for her kindness and gentleness but feared her for her silence. If you offended her, she made no fuss; she simply sent you away and replaced you, and that was the end of it.

The problem was that you wouldn't know what you had done wrong.

It was every maid's hope to work within the main building as they were paid considerably better than the rest. Coupled with the fact that the lady of the castle was sitting in the same room with her, Selim could not shirk her duties.

Done cleaning, she turned to the lady who was seated carefully on her bed.

"Will there be anything else, My Lady?" Selim asked.

The woman said nothing, staring out the window. After a moment, she let out what sounded like a worried sigh. Selim was suddenly scared. Had she done something wrong?

Selim took a very careful step forward, hoping she had done no wrong.

"Lady Melvet?" she asked quietly.

Lady Melvet did not turn her attention away from the window as she spoke. "The world is about to become a horrible place." Her voice was solemn and worried. "I do hope that Valdan is alright."

…

"Fenebat has been captured," Torat reported.

The [Master of the Order] nodded absently. "Is he dead or alive?"

"Alive."

Torat didn't like it when games were being played. If the [Master of the Order] wanted to fight against the [Sage] in Bandiv, he simply had to do so. He couldn't understand the games.

In truth, Torat wanted to face the [Sage]s, not all of them, but he knew enough about the one in Bandiv to know that the man would be a worthy opponent.

More annoying was the fact that when he revealed to the [Master of the Order] that a [Sage] had taught him how to fight, thus breaching the agreement between the Order and the [Sage]s, the Master had not even seemed bothered.

He was missing something, and Torat didn't like missing anything.

"Are we still to go to war?" he asked.

The master shook his head. "I reckon the [Sage] will come and negotiate." He sat back, reclining on his chair in thought. "The Brandis family has been something of a pet project of his for a while now. He would not simply give it up."

"And we will allow the king to walk free after breaking a rule set by the Order?" Torat asked. "What could possibly be negotiated against the weight of the Order's decision?"

The master smiled. "[Sage]s have far more knowledge and things than anyone alive could possibly imagine. The [Sage] of time might have something to offer… especially now that time has been a bit… distorted."

"And Brandis will walk free?" Torat asked. "What happened to no one being above the laws of the Order whether they be [Sage] or gods?"

"Brandis will still be punished," the master said simply. "It would probably just not be through death. We could probably take one of the things that make him king—his ability to declare [Sight-bound]. That would be a heavy blow. There could also be—"

The [Master of the Order] frowned suddenly, eyes turning westward.

Torat approached him immediately. "Is everything alright?"

"No," the master snapped, rising from his chair with a smile on his face. "Someone has a lot of explaining to do."

"I'm confused."

"Don't be." The master's eyes moved quickly in their sockets, vibrating for a moment before coming to a stop. "Wait one hour, then send anyone above level one hundred and fifty to Dentis."

"There is currently a battle going on in Dentis," Torat answered. "Are we to save the city?"

The [Master of the Order] made a dismissive gesture. "It was always destined to fall. Besides, we have no use for it."

"Then what is the purpose of the mission?"

"We have a guest."

Torat's brows furrowed. "A guest?"

"Yes." The master smiled. "An [Heir] to the Demon Throne has come to Nastild."

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