"You must have one warp gate here then" Ezra smiled.
"Surely" Elisa replied.
"Huu…" Ezra exhaled and lowered his head.
"I have a request"
Silence came into play for a long while.
"Alright" Ezra's head shot up.
"No, not yet. Tell me, what is your plan"
"It's like this…"
—--------------
Ezra explained his plan all through, and by the end of his talk, two hours had expired.
Elisa nodded, her expression far better than before.
"Alright, but how are you sure of this?"
"I'm not, but it's better to be safe than sorry"
Having reached an agreement, Ezra headed out with haste.
The enemy could arrive at any time, so he certainly could not get careless.
—----------------
Seven mercenaries soon graced the fortress with their presence, each one being Expert-rank.
Ezra knew them to be the reinforcements Fredrick sent his way in hiding.
Meanwhile, four cloaked figures laid in the forest nearest to Gattiste.
"This is the place?"
"Yes, the source is confirmed to be here"
"So, now we wait?"
"Now we infiltrate. We must make preparations for the leader's arrival"
"Make sure to not draw attention"
"Don't tell me what to do!"
-------------------
The next day saw Niton plunge into chaos.
The swarm of infected humans had come running, and they numbered hundreds of thousands.
Fredrick, Raven and Iris took the helm, burying the infected as they arrived on Nitonian soil with their power attacks.
But it was not enough. As thousands died, many more came running.
Jebas, Getraham, Deneris and the Emperor were also stuck protecting Iris - or more importantly, themselves- from the siege of five other Grandmasters.
With the enemies holding the poison lethal to Grandmasters, the Emperor and co had no choice but to be on the defensive, thereby giving the enemies the advantage.
-------------------
While this was happening, three figures arrived at Niton's capital, Kingsmere.
"You heard the leader, we move covertly" said Suramir.
"Yeah, we know. Let's get this over with"
"Not just yet. We wait a bit"
------------------
Two days later…
Situated at the farthest end of the chamber floor of the castle was the chamber of the head researcher.
"Wonderful" said the man, taking out an organ from the corpse in front of him.
The Emperor brought trophies from the great war, namely in the form of Grandmaster bodies, and handed them to him for research.
One was the body Valin, the former king of Avilla.
Then you had the two Grandmasters that injected poison into the Emperor's body, and the fire mage that died trying to achieve mutual destruction.
It was a pity the Emperor didn't have Leerstrom's body, for Jebas had taken it.
Over the past years, the researcher had been fumbling about the poison the Emperor was afflicted with, trying to develop an antidote for it in case of future emergencies.
In time, he discovered the poison's origin.
From this, the Emperor got to know that demon worshippers were active once more.
Yet, the researcher hadn't gotten any closer to creating an antidote.
Regardless, he was having the time of his life.
When else would he be so free to experiment on Grandmaster corpses? He'd learnt a lot from them.
While grinning like a monkey, someone knocked on the door.
"Go away"
*Knock*Knock*Knock*Knock*
Annoyed, the researcher reaches from the door…
*Chuk!*
He was puking blood before he could even register the attack.
His face went downwards to see the object running through the door and out of his stomach.
Everything went cold and the researcher fell to the floor, dead.
The door hinge was broken and the killer walked in, his tail retracting from the man's wound while he made sure to step over the blood.
"This is too easy"
With the Empire in massive unrest, most of the guards had been pulled to the frontlines, leaving a sparse few to protect the castle.
As such, Infaas had an easy time getting in.
He nodded at seeing the corpses lying around.
"This will do, this will do nicely"
Quickly, he gathered the bodies within his space ring, taking the space ring off the researcher's dead body as well before exiting.
But just as he stepped out…
"Identify yourself"
A guard arrived.
Infaas turned, digging his feet into the ground, and ran past the guard, cutting his neck off with his rhombus shaped tail end.
At his speed, the guards were immediately alerted, prompting them into action.
"Tch" he clicked his tongue.
'This has become troublesome'
With a few tricks, Infaas got out of the castle, sprinting into Kingsmere.
But then…
"WHO DARES?!"
*Boom!*
A large gale of wind flung Infaas off balance.
Steadying himself, he saw the sentinel, Kogar, floating in mid-air with his staff in hand.
The moment both parties locked eyes, Infaas's real form was seen through.
"You actually dared come here?! I'll have it that you won't be leaving"
The old man was enraged.
A stomp of his stamp had Infaas flung through several buildings.
Kogar rushed towards him…before suddenly halting.
He turned around.
Behind him were three boys with menacing auras.
Kogar stared for a few seconds before bursting into glorious laughter.
"Hahaha!"
His glee was too apparent.
"Since you've all gathered, I'll make sure I serve you well"
His aura exploded, and the winds took to his will, becoming enraged.
"We're not here to fight" said Akanos.
"You two hold him down while I get Infaas"
They nodded.
Large amount of evil energy shot forth from both Volbrin and Suramir, exuding an aura of crimson black.
"You're with us" they said, leaping like a carp through the dragon's gate as they set forth a chain of attacks.
But…
"Hmph"
Kogar was not to be trifled with.
Gusts of winds and mini cyclones formed, pushing the boys away.
Akanos moved with haste, dodging the attack.
Kogar sought to hold them all back, but the two boys wouldn't let him.
Then…
*Boom!*
From the opposite end of the city, two ferocious auras rose to the skies.
"How annoying" said one, yawning.
"Is anything ever not annoying to you?"
They were Master-ranks of Black Jaws stationed in Kingsmere.
"Whatever. Let's get this over with"
With that, both men entered the brawl, greatly alleviating pressure off Kogar.
Those in the surroundings had taken to their legs the moment the battle began, while a few unlucky ones lost their lives.
A battle of epic proportions erupted.
—-----------------
Ezra was dealing with problems of his own as Benjamin called in an emergency.
He left the siblings cultivating and took a walk to the healing bay.
On the way, he saw most of the students he'd recruited were training.
'I thought them well' he nodded.
Reaching the healing bay, a healer approached them, a young man with fair skin and yellow eyes.
"Sir Kellogs, Sir Ezra, please follow me"
Walking into a room, they found several people, ranging all ages, sleeping.
"Yes?"
Ezra couldn't understand the matter.
"It started two days ago" she lifted the shirt of a boy, and on his body were red marks.
"I do not know what it is, nor can I discern its cause. We had to put them to sleep to stop their screaming. I wanted to ask for your thoughts on the matter"
Ezra stared, subtly quivering.
'It can't be'
It was a sight he knew all too well.
'But that's impossible' he repeated, but he knew what it was, and it could only be one thing.
'Demons? Here?'
His head was already hurting trying to understand the situation.
"Where were these people found?"
"Um…this city"
"What district?!"
Quickly, the name of the district was spilled.
"Sir, is there a problem?"
Ezra rushed out of the bay, one word constantly ringing in his mind.
'Demons, demons, demons, demons'
At the end of the long mantra was a question.
'How can they be here?!'
Wiping sweat off his face, he told Benjamin to bring cold water.
A splash on his face helped him regain his rationality.
'Demons…no, it might not be them. They haven't arrived yet'
In which case, there was only one other possible cause.
'Demon worshippers!'
'How are they here?' he shook his head.
'Why are they here?'
He touched his neck.
'Could they have come for me?'
It could certainly be so.
But…
'How do they know who I am?'
He stayed in the castle for twelve years, so he'd only been out one year.
Moreover, there was nothing linking both parties…at least for now.
He had plans to get rid of them, but not at the moment.
So…
'What is going on?'
He pulled his hair back in frustration.
'Things are getting complicated' he thought.
'No' realization hit him.
'No its not'
Either it was a demon worshiper, or just someone connected to them, and regardless of whether they came to attack him or not, he would just get rid of them like he originally planned since spreading poisons.
If nothing else, they didn't come with good intentions.
'Moreover' he smiled.
'They don't know that I know of their existence yet'
Demon worshippers had faded into legend as tales of the golden age.
But he knew better.
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