After her chat with Hedish, Fiona had reached out to the Seear’s squad. Rafael Reid, her fellow Parliamentarian, responded and explained how they were all headed to the Hoia-Baciu forest with the Seear.

  “Did he provide any orders for us?” Hedish asked.

  Fiona nodded. “They want us to fortify the city.”

  “And the Palace?”

  “That’s the last message I received before he told me that they were having some trouble teleporting into the forest.”

  “Darn it! I should’ve gone with them.”

  Quickly thereafter, they rushed to fortify the City of Ayn and the Regal Palace. The City Guard was on high alert already. Supported by Parliamentarians, Sokidus, and Zaatsus, they spread out and covered as much of the border as they could, fortifying Ayn on three sides: south, west, and east.

  Two contingents of selected Zaatsus and Mystics then deployed to the northern edge. One hid itself inside the Palace, waiting to ambush anyone who dared enter, while the other one remained at the city entrance behind the Palace.

  Security looked tight. The citizens wondered but were not given the details of the imminent threat. Borders were sealed off, businesses and schools were closed for the day, and academies of Martial Arts were emptied with all able arcanists deployed to the borders. All hospitals and clinics remained on high alert while the public was told to leave the outer districts of the city and move inward.

  The border defence waited patiently under the calm leadership of the 37-year-old Mystic, Master Fiona Bennett, while the Palace was fortified under the command of the 62-year-old Mystic, Master Hedish Norma himself – the two highest ranked Martial Artists the city of Ayn had at its disposal at the time.

  Elsewhere, inside the Hoia-Baciu, a senior wizard of the Devil’s Hearth approached Derek.

  “Sir, if I may…” He hesitated.

  The Alchemist nodded. “Go ahead.”

  “We are just over a thousand in total. Ayn will fortify its borders with the entire might of the Parliament, Zaatsus, and Sokidus, still thousands more than us.” He shook his head. “We won’t get in. It will be a miracle if we even touch the border.”

  “Don’t worry.” Derek smiled as he looked away. “We have a plan.”

  He walked over to Ambris. “My Lord,” he addressed the Basilisk, bowing. “The wizards doubt their numbers. They think they might not succeed to penetrate the Eye’s defences.”

  The brute looked over. “Why are you telling me this, Derek?”

  He looked up. “We have worked at Pyrenees these past few years.”

  “Pyrenees?”

  “Yes, my Lord. We have extracted large amounts of Demonic Ki from the leak at Lombrives.”

  “Aaaa, very nice.”

  “With the Outsiders out of the equation, the place remains unattended. We kept a low profile and kept the extractions going.”

  “So?”

  “Ah…” Derek gulped. “We will have to make a detour, my Lord.”

  “No.” Ambris shook his head and looked away. “No need for a detour.”

  “My Lord?”

  “Did you use proper reservoirs?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Then I’ll summon it here. Tell them to be ready…” After a pause, Ambris looked over. “What else did you accomplish at Pyrenees?”

  “Hidden settlements, my Lord, inside the cave and in the valley next to it, extraction circuits for gathering demonic Ki from the leak, and of course, necessary ritual sites.”

  “Could they not even sense you in the valley?”

  Derek chuckled. “You killed all the Seekers, my Lord…”

  “Oh, of course.” Ambris nodded.

  “But we weren’t alone in the valley.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes.” Derek looked down, nodding. “Some of the tunnels were blocked, my Lord.”

  “Blocked?” His gaze narrowed. “What do you mean?”

  “Not to worry…” The Alchemist gulped. “We… ah… we found enough space to form reasonable settlements underneath.”

  “Who blocked the tunnels, Derek?”

  “Not sure. Looked like Cultists, my Lord. They had these large generators there.”

  As Derek explained, a smile began to appear on Ambris’s face.

  “Occasionally people came in to refill the diesel,” the Alchemist continued. “But the generators kept running. They weren’t powering anything per se. They were just running.”

  “They created a humming sound, these generators, yes?” the Basilisk asked. “Matching the vibrations of the demonic Ki…”

  “Ye… yes, my Lord.”

  He nodded, grinning. “Very nice.”

  Suddenly, the maroon sphere pulsated like a heart pumping blood. Derek looked. He noticed that all those trapped inside got wounded.

  Ambris shook his head as he chuckled. “I love it when the prey thinks it can escape the hunter’s cage.”

  The Seear and his associates had attempted to unleash a Ki wave to break the walls of the sphere to free themselves. But the Ki got rebounded and struck them instead.

  “They still think they can escape?” Derek mused, smiling. “Are they really that oblivious of how Demonic Ki interacts with their own?”

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  “They’re just trying to act strong, that’s all.” Ambris giggled and moved a few steps closer to the sphere. “O Renekom… how you’ve been intoxicated by the legends of Ambris Ferrer. You have been vexed by your desire for a power comparable to your superiors. In your puny, pathetic, pitiful fucking lifespan, you have witnessed some truly strong beings and oh how you long for such strength. How you wish to have that. And how you long to be on the top.”

  The Alchemist smiled, saying, “I think it was the same lust that led to him destroying the Outsiders…”

  “Oh, it most certainly was.” He stared at Renekom and said, “You and your entire group opposed Yang and forced the Outsiders to fight us alone. And by the time the dust settled, the Outsiders had lost so much manpower.” Looking back at Derek, he asked, “That must have made his job quite easy?”

  He nodded. “Yes, my Lord.”

  Ambris turned towards the Eye’s leadership once again. “What the fuck were you thinking? You took down your own defensive lines.”

  “He even put sanctions on the City Guard, my Lord.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, my Lord. They remain resentful of his regime even to this day.”

  “What a fool! You’re a child, Renekom. You’re a child in a man’s world. You try to act tough and violent. That’s not how you become a man, you puny runt!”

  Glancing back at his subordinate, the Basilisk added, “It almost feels like this trip back to the living isn’t going to be worth it. Destroying these imbeciles won’t even be a challenge now!”

  The wizards gathered around them joined in as they all laughed at the Seear and the Martial Artists.

  Shaking his head, Ambris continued, “I came all the way back from the dead and the competition has already been removed. Now all I’ve got to do is thin out the Cultists and then go to war with the Order… piece of cake.” Looking at the wizards, he asked, “Isn’t that right, my Hearth?”

  They all chanted and laughed with him.

  After a few moments, Ambris turned around to face the maroon bubble. “Derek,” he called. “Prepare the Hearth while I summon the gathered demonic energy here. We will move to attack right away.”

  The Alchemist bowed. “Yes, right away, my Lord.”

  He signalled. The wizards moved away.

  “Anything else I should know?” Ambris asked. “Is there anyone left from the olden days?”

  “None except for Mustaqeem, my Lord.”

  “Oh, that old fool can’t do much more than tell hollow prophecies.”

  Hesitantly, Derek moved a step closer. “My Lord…” he said softly. “There is… ah… there is one more…”

  Ambris did not turn around. The faint tilt of his head was the only permission Derek was given to continue.

  “Ah… there is a Zaatsu, my Lord. I’ve faced him. He is… different…”

  “Who?”

  “Hugo, my Lord. Hugo Baylis.”

  Ambris glanced over his shoulder, his expression hardening at the name, then turned back as if disgusted by the memory.

  “You faced him?”

  Derek finally looked up. “Yes, my Lord. He has the spirit of the Outsiders in him. He countered my alchemical magic comfortably. It did not bother him at all. He uses Cultist magic as well, my Lord, and even used expert level wizardry.”

  For a moment, Ambris said nothing. The air around him tightened, his jaw set as though he were crushing something unseen. Then the tension vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

  “Leave,” he said coldly. “Prepare what I asked.”

  Derek bowed and rushed off.

  As soon as he left, Ambris whispered, “Baylis… seems there’s still fun to be had.”

  With arms stretched wide, the Basilisk then began to charge his Ki. His control over Demonic Ki was unlike anyone in the world. An expert Magicist and an apt Mystic, he could perform Demonic rituals with ease, bend and manipulate Demonic Ki better than anyone, and even use ritual sites such as the one in Hoia-Baciu as large receivers and emitters of Demonic or Celestial Ki. And he was ready to strengthen his army.

  The wizards observed from a distance. Dark maroon coloured fumes rose from Ambris’s body. Soon, the ground shook gently. Small pebbles, fallen leaves, and specks of dust began to rise as the entire ritual site began fuming. Derek too moved out of the circle and rushed to the shade of trees. They could all feel the pure Demonic energy radiating.

  Ambris’s stance widened as he brought his arms closer to his body and while the ritual site kept fuming, the fumes rising from him stopped.

  They all looked up. It was as if the sky itself was getting darkened. All the demonic energy was getting sucked up into the night sky. All the wizards of the Devil’s Hearth practiced black magic and had all dealt with Demonic Ki. But this was intimidating even to them. How could one man command so much of it? Their hearts pounding, chills running down their spines, the wizards gawked in silence.

  Until it stopped. For a few seconds the wizards looked around wondering what was going on. But then they felt it.

  Ambris screamed with his arms raised atop his head.

  A huge weight fell atop the wizards.

  All the extracted Demonic Ki from the Lombrives Cave rushed to the forest and dropped on top of the Devil’s Hearth.

  The energy crushed the wizards for nearly an entire minute. When it subsided, they felt a power unlike any they had ever felt before.

  “Oh my Lord!” a wizard exclaimed, wide-eyed. He looked at Derek. “What is this?”

  All wizards glowed bright red. They were stunned. It was always their plan to strengthen themselves with the extracted Demonic Ki. But the boost they had just received was much more than anything they could have conjured on their own.

  A raw roar echoed through the forest – a surge of animal hunger, torn from them by the sudden flood of power. Ambris watched in silence. What thrilled them had cost him no effort at all. His control over Demonic Ki was simply unreal. The Ki had latched on to the wizards’ Ki networks like it was their own.

  Wide-eyed, Derek stared at his own hands. “What power…”

  He could not fathom how a man could possess such immaculate control over a foreign Ki. He had never seen anything quite like that. “What control…”

  The Alchemist rushed to the Basilisk and fell down on his knees. “My Lord…” he prostrated in front of him.

  “Fetch me my clothes, Derek,” Ambris said. “Then leave and summon the serpents.”

  “As you command, my Lord.”

  “I will lead the Hearth to the same spot at Baikal…”

  Derek raised his head smiling. “Seven miles from the Palace?”

  “Yes. Meet us there as soon as you are able. In the meantime, send your generals to me.”

  The Alchemist quickly summoned two senior wizards of the Devil’s Hearth and then teleported away. They hesitantly approached, bowed.

  “Do you know any teleportation charms to get us to the Regal Palace of the Eye?” Ambris asked as he observed the prison still holding strong. “And can you visualize the location clearly?”

  “Yes, sire,” one wizard said.

  The other added, “It will use our entire life force to get us all there, but we will gladly make that sacrifice for you, Master.”

  “I only asked about the charm.” Ambris placed a hand on the prison bubble. “We have some subjects here with ample useless Ki.”

  The wizard explained, “It will only take two, my Lord…”

  It was a mistake he should not have made. An invisible claw grabbed a hold of the man’s throat and lifted him up. It squeezed tightly.

  “I don’t remember asking you.” Ambris never looked back.

  The other wizard stepped back and looked on in horror as his partner fell to the ground with a crushed neck, lifeless. Seeing the blood drip from his open mouth, the wizard quickly rushed to the wizards and began instructing them to prepare for the teleportation ritual. All the wizards gathered inside or close to the ritual site.

  Ambris half-smiled as he poked his fingers on the right hand into the maroon bubble. Ki from within the bodies of Zaatsu Hannah Campbell and Mystics Amara Becker and Rafael Reid started leaking out. He targeted the three with the largest Ki reserves amongst the group.

  Rebecca stared at the maroon barrier, her mind circling a single thought she could no longer outrun – this had been avoidable. Rafael wanted to regroup and assess before acting and it was him who had become a convenience for the Basilisk now. In fact, all three were about to become unnecessary casualties.

  Their skin began to go pale. Slowly then, their organs began to fail one after the other. Eventually, when all their Ki had been drained, Ambris jerked his left hand. Lifeless bodies of all three Martial Artists got thrown out of the bubble.

  As Ambris retracted his right hand, the extracted Ki began to leak out. He directed it towards the wizard general who was now standing ten feet away from the brute. Seeing the Ki gather around him, he quickly began to recite the teleportation enchantment...