From what Enna explained afterward, William knew the exact locations of all three spots Craiena picked for this occasion. One of them was buried under a collapsed section of the estate, so realistically, they shouldn’t have been there if they’d had accurate intel beforehand, but it was still safer to check.

  The real issue, however, was the mountain of rubble blocking the way to the supposed entrance of an underground cellar.

  Luckily, we had a Windseer.

  “Move aside,” Airina said with a smug little smile, magic coiling around her fingers.

  Once the spell formed in her mind, she clenched her fist and released it, revealing a small whirlwind spinning in her palm, a miniature storm she promptly hurled at the rubble before… nothing.

  “Impressive,” Enna said, her voice dripping sarcasm. “Truly. We’ll get your statue commissioned right away.”

  “Oh, shut up and wait,” Airina clicked her tongue, shooting her a glare before placing her hands on her hips like she’d planned the anticlimax.

  For a moment, it looked like we were collectively stoically posing in honor of Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, but then a single pebble rolled down the rubble pile.

  “It begins,” Airina warned. “Take a few steps back.”

  We did. Because the moment the pebble moved, larger stones started to tremble, shift, then lift, slowly at first, then rapidly, spiraling into a growing cyclone.

  “Wouldn’t it be wise for you to step back as well?” I asked, watching Airina stand right beside the storm like she had no concept of self-preservation.

  “My own wind won’t harm me,” she said with a shrug, not even glancing at me.

  My concern wasn’t the wind; it was the flying wall-sized debris that could crack her skull like a walnut, but apparently she really was safe. No rock dared touch her. Her own wind would not allow it. Instead, the rubble spun higher and higher until it hovered above what remained of the mansion’s roof.

  The wind was vicious even where we stood, though, forcing Enna to cast a barrier to stop us from being dragged into the chaos or from being brained by a stray half-ton of stone.

  “Now… where should I throw this?” Airina mused, tapping her chin as if she had all the time in the world.

  If she let that whirlwind grow any stronger, it would devour what was left of the mansion.

  “Just throw the bloody thing already!” Enna screamed.

  But before Enna’s temper could ruin the situation further, Airina turned, gaze catching movement in the distance. More House Barta soldiers were flooding into the back gardens from God knows where, rushing to reinforce the opposite wall.

  “There they are,” Airina giggled childishly.

  She raised her hand and closed her fist as though tugging an invisible string. The cyclone obediently tightened under her control. Then she whirled it like a damn lasso before releasing it upon the approaching unfortunate souls.

  The tons of rubble shot across the garden, descending upon the unlucky soldiers who realized what was happening only at the moment of impact.

  The sound was… like stepping on a snail during a thunderstorm. A sickening crunch.

  My eyes shut on instinct as I swallowed hard, forcing down the bile threatening to ruin Enna’s white dress.

  “Phew,” Airina exhaled, turning back with a triumphant smile, gesturing at the newly revealed cellar door at her feet. “Please, welcome to my humble abode.”

  They were not there.

  So after picking up some dried fruit and starting to munch on it, we moved back to the ground floor, headed straight for the second spot in the still-standing part of the mansion.

  “Enna, I’m curious,” I said, ignoring the fever that was making me feel dizzy again, “How do you know where to go?”

  “I remember the layout of every building I walk into, Your Grace,” Enna replied casually, ignoring the sound of battle and William’s booming laugh in the distance, “At the High Temples, everyone who lives there has to help clean every single nook and cranny of the damn buildings. You learn to remember where things are, or… where you can hide and sleep safely while the others clean.”

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  “Touche,” I shrugged, impressed by the skill.

  Enna turned toward me, frowning, “What’s a touche, Your Grace?”

  “It means fair point,” I sighed, my brain feeling as if it were melting for some reason.

  Perfect moment for more shit to come my way. No?

  “Someone’s coming,” Silvien’s ears perked up as she said that, turning toward a singular door to our left.

  At her words, Enna and Airina started gathering magic at their fingertips, only for Silvien to stop the two.

  “Don’t. The steps are too soft to be from someone dangerous.”

  Poor lass was making the corelation between noise and rage to real danger, not realizing that things such as assassins were also a possibility. Which didn’t deter the two women, or me for that matter, from preparing for any outcome.

  But the moment we rushed into the door, swords, staff, and magic at the ready, we almost sent two of the maids to the afterlife as they were trying to hide themselves for safety.

  They yelped, screamed, then proceeded to pass out. But luckily, we were able to stop in time. One of the two maids was the young girl who took me to the Duchess’s quarters a few days ago.

  And after a bit of water on their faces and covering their mouths from biting and yelling, they recognised who we were and calmed down.

  “It would be safer if you were to come with us,” said Enna, a warm smile on her face, one that only a proper priestess could wear. The issue was that she wasn’t a proper priestess, making Airina and me grimace at the bipolar change in her.

  Still, I cleared my throat, “Yes, stay behind us and make sure to keep up, understood?”

  At the energetic nods from the two maids, I took my feverish hands away from their mouths and helped them to their feet before I turned to Silvien.

  “Could you care for them?”

  “I-I can,” she stuttered with a light nod, prompting me to place a hand on her shoulder as thanks before we started moving again.

  Ten minutes later, Enna’s proud statement turned out to be straight ass.

  “Pray tell, oh perfect memory priestess,” said Airina, after we checked every single room in the supposed second spot, “Where the fuck are we?”

  Enna cleared her throat, sheepishly mumbling to herself as she kept looking around each room we passed.

  From what William told her, we were looking for an entrance to a hidden room. The problem was to first find the correct room in the approximate range William gave her, before looking for the secret entrance. Easier said than done.

  Especially so since the situation outside started sounding more and more like proper mayhem with more and more soldiers pouring from the city. Even explosions of magic and sudden flashes of light robbed my vision for a moment as we kept on searching.

  William and his Second Legion seemed fine still, but they must surely reach their limits.

  Speaking of limits, however, I felt closer to Julia at the moment, feeling my mind astral projecting to the Gods themselves. That’s how fucked my mind was now. Not only was I visually hallucinating. But the woman humming in my head was constantly bugging me. Even more so than my proper mental illness.

  ‘My favorite Schizophrenia, how bad is my mind at the moment?’ I asked in my head as we moved to yet another room.

  [...]

  ‘...’

  [...]

  ‘Ephe?’

  [...]

  [Ephe has a name.]

  Was this really the moment? Whatever.

  ‘Forgive me, Ephe. Please tell this lowly one, how bad is it?’

  [That’s more like it.]

  Bitch.

  [Initializing Stability Check.]

  [Subject: Elio Welchia]

  [Mental State: Deteriorated; Possibility of Permanent Damage: 10%]

  [Possibility of Auditory and Visual Hallucinations: 97%]

  [Elio Needs Rest.]

  ‘Quick question. Is the door that flew open, and the man sprinting toward me with a knife in his hand still a hallucination?’

  [Warning!]

  [Danger!]

  [One Lifeform Approaching Elio.]

  [Intent: Kill.]

  [Species: Human.]

  [Age: 26]

  [Reigncraft Classifications Detected: Seed]

  [Recommendation: React!]

  But I couldn’t really. I was dizzy.

  Enna and Airina were looking in another room as we were approaching their location when that man sprang out. I knew him as yet another cousin of Stevin’s, a more distant one.

  I couldn’t react in time even if I was fine. No time to speak Veilstep into existence or use Law of Separation.

  “Your Grace!” Silvien yelled as the two maids panicked, seeing the man’s frightening approach.

  Yet for some reason, I wasn’t scared. Maybe it was the fever finally crumbling my mind into numbness, or the strangely beautiful hum ringing in my ears. Or… maybe it was the shadow in my clothes reacting to the danger, assuring me, on some instinctual level, that I wouldn’t die.

  But then, just as the shadow slipped from my clothes, something unexpected flashed past me.

  Silvien, the terrified, trembling Silvien, had lunged forward, thrusting the sword I’d bought her straight toward the incoming man, letting his momentum and her instinct combine the two into one brutal strike.

  The woman who was terrified of killing was ready to kill to protect me.

  It all happened in half a heartbeat: Silvien’s blade sank into the man’s chest, his knife stopping inches from my own. And then Relia materialized, her hand snapping around his neck before twisting sharply, ending him with a single flick of her wrist.

  Somehow, despite the gore, the sight warmed my heart.

  That warmth evaporated the moment Enna and Airina came rushing into the hallway, only to find A true Vampire, a corpse with Silvien’s sword buried in his chest, Silvien herself whimpering in shock at what she’d done, two maids that had fainted yet again thanks to Relia, and me, hallucinating, dizzy, and standing right in the middle of the entire fuckery.

  What a day to be alive, am I right? …No?

  …

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