Florian stood waiting as the Rhino led the monster caravan through the castle gates. With a metallic creak, the gates closed behind them.

  Florian descended the stairs in a blur, landing beside Rhino. “You’re a mess,” he said coldly. “Don’t tell me those savages did this to you. Useless.”

  He didn’t spare another glance at Rhino and instead moved to inspect the cargo. He scanned, touched, and even tasted some of the contents.

  “Hmph. Nothing of value,” he muttered, until something caught his eye.

  At the rear of the caravan, a large armless body floated in a glass container.

  “What’s this?” he hissed, instantly appearing beside it. He scanned the body, eyes gleaming.

  “Oooh… this one gave you trouble, didn’t it? Not bad. The core’s gone, but the body’s still good. And it’s a Master level. Divine!” Florian cackled, his voice raspy and broken.

  He floated back down to Rhino and, without warning, jabbed a syringe into his neck.

  Rhino grunted in pain as a green liquid surged through his veins, rapidly repairing his injuries and even enhancing his strength slightly.

  “Your reward,” Florian said. “But next time, be efficient. You should be able to handle early and mid-Master levels without issue.”

  Rhino grunted again and bowed, his expression unreadable.

  “Bring everything to my chambers,” Florian ordered. “More of your brothers will be emerging soon. Hahaha!”

  He floated back up the stairs, laughter echoing behind him.

  Rhino stood still, fear and madness flickering through his warped mind.

  ***

  Kai and the group soared across the sky, heading toward Florian’s location.

  “Eira, are you sure you’ll be able to handle this?” Kai asked, concern in his voice. “It’s okay if you want to stay behind once we get there.”

  “No, I’m fine,” Eira replied coldly, her eyes fixed on the western horizon. “I need to go through this. I need closure… and I want vengeance.”

  Kai nodded, understanding how she felt and didn’t want to push anymore.

  Behind them, Nerva flew beside Lucius.

  “Lucius, I need you to be careful and decisive,” Nerva said. “We don’t know what kind of monsters will be waiting for us. Don’t try to be a hero, you hear me?”

  “I know, Master,” Lucius sighed. “I’ll focus on the weaker enemies and leave the rest to you.”

  “Have you thought more about how to use your light mana, like I instructed?” Nerva asked.

  “I’m still figuring out how to best use it with my fighting style,” Lucius admitted. “Templars use it to fight demons, and Paladins to heal themselves and their allies. I want to do both, if possible.”

  “Good, good. The strength to attack and protect is essential, just like your master,” Nerva said with a smile.

  Lucius blushed slightly. Nerva had always been his inspiration, which was why he chose to train in the shield arts. He wasn’t following his family’s path; he was forging his own.

  “Everyone, we’re almost there,” Eira called from the front. They had been flying for hours after all.

  The group tensed, readying themselves, but saw nothing.

  Zara flew up beside Kai. “What? Where? I don’t see anything,” she said, confused.

  Liliya chuckled and flew to Kai’s other side, Umbra gliding beside her.

  “Scry, do you see it?” she asked with a knowing smile.

  Scry nodded. “Yes. It’s a strong illusion spell. But if you know what to look for, you can spot the irregularities.”

  Liliya pointed. “See that dead land and the canyon surrounding it? The air above it is twisted. The mana doesn’t flow naturally. Something’s hidden there.”

  Zara squinted, still seeing nothing.

  Xarion chuckled from behind. “She’s terrible with magic. But yes, they’re right. It’s a very advanced cloaking spell, but not a normal one. It’s powered by a magetech artifact, I feel. A spell wouldn’t last this long.”

  “Exactly!” Scry added. “I’d love to get my hands on that artifact.”

  “We’ll talk about that later,” Kai cut in, his mana flaring, cold and wild.

  Liliya shivered. She still wasn’t used to this side of him. When he looked like that, it felt like he was someone else entirely.

  Umbra noticed her unease and called out, “Hey, mage girl! Ready to watch me destroy our enemies? Hehe.”

  Liliya snapped out of her thoughts and laughed. “I can’t wait!”

  “Everyone, we’re going down,” Nerva ordered. “We walk the rest of the way. Stay sharp.”

  They dove toward the ground.

  “Liliya, if you would,” Nerva added.

  She nodded and cast an illusion spell, cloaking the group in invisibility.

  “Oho, nice spell. I’ll remember that one,” Scry said with a grin.

  ***

  Slowly, the group advanced until they were close enough to sense the distortion in the mana.

  “Let me open a path,” Eira said. “I still have the permission engraved in my mana. Once the breach opens, you need to move fast; don’t waste time.”

  Everyone readied themselves as Eira stepped up to the illusion barrier. She touched it with her silver-white hand, and the surface rippled, recognizing her presence.

  A passage opened, and the group rushed through without hesitation.

  They moved swiftly through the mana tunnel as it closed behind them, sealing like a wound being mended.

  After a few minutes, they emerged inside the illusion. The landscape looked the same, except now, they could see the lair of the Soul Forger.

  An ominous dark castle shimmered under the sun, its presence warping the air around it. Mana twisted and contorted like it was in pain.

  Grey monsters patrolled the castle walls like mechanical sentinels. The walls were thick, pulsing with dark mana, and the only visible entrance was a massive, metal-studded gate that radiated indestructibility.

  “So… how do we get in?” Lucius asked, his heart pounding at the sight of the fortress.

  “Zara, Umbra,” Nerva said, “can you two stealthily take out the guards on the walls and raise the gate for us?”

  “No problem,” Umbra replied confidently, and Zara nodded in agreement.

  “If there are any stronger creations in the yard, don’t engage. Escape immediately,” Kai warned. “We don’t know what he’s made since last time.”

  The two vanished into the shadows, moving swiftly toward the walls.

  They climbed silently, pulling guards into the darkness and dispatching them without a sound. Wherever their shadows passed, lifeless bodies were left behind, silent, efficient assassinations.

  While Umbra finished off the remaining guards, Zara slipped into the empty courtyard and pulled the lever that opened the gates.

  As the gates creaked open, Eira led the rest of the group inside. They regrouped with Zara and Umbra, who had completed their task without a trace.

  “Well done, both of you,” Nerva praised quietly.

  The two smiled, awaiting their next orders.

  “There should be a back entrance used by minions,” Eira said. “If we go that way, we might avoid running into any of his newer creations.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “I say we break through the front and make a show of it,” Umbra suggested with a grin.

  Kai shook his head. “No. We go through the back and take out as many enemies as we can, silently. If we get surrounded in there, we’re done.”

  “You read my mind, boy,” Nerva said with a smirk.

  Lucius scoffed quietly. He didn’t like how close Nerva had grown to Kai. Despite living on the same estate for four years, Lucius had never received that kind of praise. It stung.

  Still, he said nothing. He knew Kai was ahead of him in many ways. All he could do was train harder, push himself to catch up to the strong peasant he both admired and resented.

  “Let me go in first,” Eira offered. “If they see me, they shouldn’t react immediately. That’ll give you a chance to strike from behind.”

  The group nodded and followed her lead, veering left toward the hidden back entrance.

  ***

  Eira pushed open the doors and strode in like she owned the place.

  After two hundred years, she knew the place like the back of her hand after all.

  A pair of grey minions shuffled aside, hauling containers down the hallway. They paused as she passed, sniffing the air.

  Though newly spawned, they recognized the scent of their master clinging to her and bowed instinctively. She carried the aura of a higher one.

  Eira smiled, as if it were just another ordinary day.

  She walked past them, her steps light and deliberate. The greys resumed their work, but the temperature in the corridor plummeted without warning.

  Frost crept along the walls.

  Eira stopped. Her expression was unreadable as she exhaled a breath of pale blue mana. The greys barely had time to react before the icy mist swept through the hall, freezing them mid-motion.

  In a blink, she lunged forward and struck. Her fist shattered the frozen statues into glittering shards, leaving nothing but jagged remnants of the monsters behind.

  The rest of the group watched from the shadows, stunned. None of them had ever seen Eira fight. The display was both mesmerizing and terrifying.

  She moved like a predator, yet her icy blue hair and silver-hued skin gave her the ethereal beauty of an angel, an angel of frost and death.

  Liliya and Scry stared, unblinking.

  “That was a bloodline ability of a Silverheart Viper,” Liliya whispered. “And she used it with such elegance.”

  “I see what Kran sees in her now,” Scry murmured.

  Eira turned to them and smiled warmly, a gesture that somehow made the scene even more chilling.

  “Let’s go. This is handled,” she said.

  Lucius watched her silently, then followed the group. I’m supposed to protect her? he thought. Protect her? Ha... I’m not sure who’s protecting who. He sighed inwardly.

  They exited through the back hallway into a vast, dark chamber. The only illumination came from the crystals embedded in the walls, casting eerie reflections across the polished floor.

  “Where to?” Kai asked.

  “We should check the chambers designated for the higher ones,” Eira suggested. “Deal with them before we confront Florian.”

  “Indeed. Let’s go,” Nerva agreed.

  ***

  The group moved swiftly, dispatching the few greys they encountered with practiced ease. Everything was going smoothly until they reached one of the main halls.

  Inside, Longhorn had just returned from a hunt, dragging behind him several containers filled with spirit beasts. They were intended for Florian’s next merging ritual, a twisted fusion with the goods recently delivered by Rhino.

  Longhorn’s fractured mind barely registered the intruders at first. He caught the scent of his master on Eira and hesitated, confused. But before he could react, a pale white lizard lunged at him, two red blades seething with fire mana.

  “Leave him to me,” Xarion said confidently. “You guys move forward.”

  Nerva didn’t hesitate; he knew Xarion’s fighting style well and had no doubt he could handle the goat like monster with ease.

  “Let’s go. Leave this to him,” Nerva ordered.

  Zara winked at Xarion as she passed. “Go get him, dear,” she said playfully, before following the others up the nearby staircase to the second floor.

  But halfway up, another threat emerged.

  Lion, fresh from Florian’s laboratory, was on his way to retrieve the remaining containers Longhorn had brought, following his master’s orders.

  He paused when he spotted the group ascending the stairs, and behind them, Xarion engaging Longhorn in combat.

  With a guttural roar, Lion’s blood-red mane flared like fire, his spiked spine bristling with fury. Without warning, he unleashed a crimson beam of energy toward the group.

  Nerva reacted instantly, leaping in front of the blast and deflecting it with practiced precision. The redirected beam tore through the nearby wall, blasting a massive hole that let sunlight stream into the corridor, casting long, eerie shadows and bathing the scene in a surreal glow.

  “This is getting complicated,” Nerva grunted, eyes narrowing as the dust settled.

  He turned sharply. “Zara, Umbra, can you handle the lion?”

  There was no time to waste. With all the noise, who knew what else might crawl out of the shadows?

  “Leave it to us,” Zara nodded, her voice calm and confident.

  But before she could shadow-step, Umbra was already upon the beast. Her sleek, metallic armor shimmered in the scattered sunlight pouring through the broken wall, a blur of motion and menace.

  Zara smirked and vanished into the shadows, reappearing behind Lion in an instant. Her blade slid across his back, releasing a poisonous aura that seeped into his flesh.

  Nerva didn’t look back. He led the rest of the group swiftly up the stairs, trusting the women to handle the threat.

  “Be careful!” Kai sent through their link to Umbra as he followed Nerva upward.

  ***

  Florian was deep in his work, hunched over the shattered body of his newest creation, the late Chief, who had once dared to challenge Rhino. The corpse had already been reshaped: tiger-like arms, sinewy and powerful, had been grafted onto the torso.

  Gods know where Florian had harvested them.

  The body was nearly complete. All that remained was to insert a new soul and core, then finish the process with Florian’s sacred alchemical fluid.

  Then came the noise.

  A distant crash. An explosion. The unmistakable sound of battle.

  Florian’s eyes narrowed. He extended his consciousness, merging it with Longhorn’s, a new ability he’d gained by fusing his own blood into his creations. Through Longhorn’s eyes, he saw a white Dracorious wielding twin red blades, attacking with deadly precision.

  Florian frowned. “Who is this now?”

  He shifted his mind into the Lion’s body next. Through his eyes, he saw Nerva holding a shield, standing firm. But behind him, Kai and Eira.

  “Yooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu… aaaaaaaaaaaargh… You dare come into my home?” he shrieked, voice cracking with rage and madness.

  “Time to die and become mine! Hahahaha!” he roared, his laughter echoing through the chamber like a broken violin.

  “Rhino! Mamba! Intruders! Go deal with them!” he commanded, his voice laced with venom and glee.

  Then, as if the chaos below were nothing more than a passing storm, Florian returned to his work. The enemies this time were many, and he had a few good fighters left.

  “Once I finish this baby,” he whispered, caressing the stitched flesh of the Chief’s reconstructed body, “I’ll deal with the dragon boy myself.”

  He laughed again, high-pitched, unhinged, and full of promise.

  ***

  Rhino stirred from his slumber in one of the adjacent chambers. Florian’s command echoed through his fractured mind: Intruders!

  With a deafening roar, Rhino launched forward like a missile. He didn’t bother with doors or corridors; he tore through walls and barriers, his massive frame crashing through stone and steel until he burst onto the main hall of the second floor, silver aura already radiating from his body like a storm.

  He charged toward the sounds of battle, ready to unleash devastation. But just as he prepared to strike, his eyes locked onto a figure ascending the stairs.

  Something stirred within him.

  “Urrghaa…” he groaned, voice broken and strained, trying to call out.

  Nerva, mid-run, heard the distorted cry and instinctively turned. His eyes widened. His heart stopped.

  “No… James?” he whispered, voice cracking.

  On the other side stood a hulking, metal-clad monster. The only trace of humanity left was its head, and the face was unmistakable. It was James, the king’s brother. Nerva’s friend.

  His rage surged, overwhelming him.

  “What did he do to you!?” Nerva cried, voice trembling.

  Kai, hearing the heart-wrenching scream, scanned the creature. His expression darkened.

  This… this is Lisa’s father? he thought. Fucking Florian. Unforgivable.

  “Nerva,” Kai said gently, “he’s not James anymore. It’s not the same as with Eira. He’s a new creation.”

  Tears streamed down Nerva’s face. He nodded solemnly.

  “I know,” he whispered. “Please… let me handle this. I MUST be the one to put him to rest.”

  His aura steadied. Twin shields materialized around his forearms, their dagger-like spikes gleaming with deep silver light. With a burst of speed, he vaulted over the railing, dashing toward Rhino, who had already fallen back under Florian’s control and was roaring once more.

  The clash was inevitable.?

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