Lionel walked through the streets of the fallen city, not ruined by Night Kindred or the undead or even the workings of the Abyss.
It was done by the hands of man.
Corpses scattered across the snow-covered streets, their faces twisted in despair and madness as their blood stained the pristine white with a crimson hue that seed ominous when lit up by the rays of the bloodied Nighteye.
His expression was grim, as though he’d tasted sothing bitter and perhaps he had but not in a physical sense.
Out of a whole city of almost five hundred thousand, only a few thousand were spared.
He trembled as his Mind’s Eye continued to relay everything his swords detected.
The sights, the cries, the wanton destruction... It was gut-wrenching even for a Saint.
"Master." His Homunculi assistant, ever present as she was, kept a short distance away from him, her expression impassive though her eyes struggled to stay dry.
"Has the rescue begun?" Lionel inquired as he bent down to gaze upon the opened eyes of a dead woman.
Her entrails were scattered about and what appeared to be a fetus remained immobile beside her.
"Yes, master."
Lionel nodded. "That’s good to know."
"Master."
"Yes?"
"There is nothing you could have done."
A self-deprecating chuckle escaped the Saint’s lips. "It was the sa thing back at BoneHaven. I watched those Whisperers decimate hundreds of innocent civilians, unable to save them as much as I tried."
"Master..."
"If we cannot even prevent such things, how are we to stand strong against what is to co?" Lionel inquired as he reached out to close the dead woman’s eyes.
She seed pitiful even as a maniacal smile lined her lips.
"Master..."
"I know," Lionel muttered. "I am ant to be a pillar, but I find myself struggling to remain upright when I see just how difficult it is to prevent those that are not ."
Letting out a sigh, he looked above intending to feel the soft touch of snow on his skin only for his expression to shift as he noticed an anomaly.
"When did the clouds turn red?" Lionel instinctively inquired even as he used his TrueSight to scope the true cause of the color change.
It was a huge risk considering he risked seeing the true nature of the Nighteye but he was careful enough to focus only on the clouds.
His Homunculi assistant glanced up as well and that was when they saw it.
A monstrosity that had no reason to be in their world yet had sohow found its way into it.
Lionel’s expression shifted even further as he trembled.
"Send word to the others, only Saints and Homunculi are allowed to look up. Also, inform BlackWatch. There’s a 1st-class Otherworldly in the sky."
"... As you wish, Master."
***
"It’s impossible to reach up there by yourself. Perhaps an airship would be able to brave the currents." Lucille pointed out as she and Aiden had also noticed the creature lurking above the clouds.
Aiden nodded. "I doubt it would allow an airship approach, even as it is rely a shadow. Despite being first class, it seems unwilling to receive any form of damage."
"The malevolence it carries is unparalleled."
"It is. Reach out to BlackWatch, and inform them that I am calling a eting of all the Family Heads."
"What about the Ruins?" Lucille inquired.
Aiden sighed. "In my desire to ensure the Great Disaster doesn’t repeat itself, I have ended up becoming lax with other matters. This can’t continue. We must deal with the source of this problem before it’s too late."
"I understand."
"You will remain here. Ensure the outpost remains standing. Understood?"
"As you wish, Master."
Satisfied with her response, Aiden once again glanced above and for a mont, t the gaze of the abomination lurking in the clouds.
It said nothing, yet it seed to speak volus.
Aiden took off.
***
"There’s a veil," Veronica confird once she pulled away from the telescope.
She turned to face Lucia causing the last Bloodrose noble to back away in fright.
Veronica frowned. "What is it?"
"Your eye..." Lucia muttered fearfully while gesturing with her hand toward her eye causing Veronica to frown.
Glancing at a mirrored surface at one section of the wall, Veronica imdiately noticed the issue.
Her right eye which she’d used to scope the Highlands had turned completely dark, corrupted by whatever force pervaded that region.
Without hesitation, she reached in and pulled out the eye before tossing it to the ground and smashing it with her foot.
"Whatever set up that veil is aware of trying to investigate," Veronica muttered with a frown.
"What now?" Lucia inquired, willing to offer support though she was unsure of how she was to help.
"That..."
Veronica was cut short by a sudden earthquake that caused the building they were in to sway dangerously.
"What was that?" Lucia asked, her heart palpitating as she tried to conjure blood wings only to discover the anti-magic runes preventing Will Exertion from working.
Victoria, on the other hand, moved toward a staircase that led to the roof.
On the highest vantage point within BlackWatch, she managed to see the source of the chaos.
The Mountain range that had separated the Highlands from the Empire for so long was being torn apart, separating into two halves, revealing a dark space in the middle.
But that was hardly the end of it as out of the portal, wicked things, dastardly things, and terror-inducing things began to erge, letting out screams of joy as they surged toward BlackWatch.
Veronica couldn’t even gather herself enough as she imdiately turned and exclaid at the top of her lungs. "Prepare for battle!!!"
***
It was cold, a bit too cold.
It was the kind of biting cold that went further than just the skin, that touched your organs and wished to encase them in a perfect crystal.
Such cold would leave most humans and even Cryptids no choice but to fall prey but not Adelia.
No, such cold was ant to be where she thrived after all, she had picked the one creature that controlled the domain of Frost.
Others called her foolish but there was sothing about the Wolf.
It was a regal creature with so much grace behind those fearso eyes.
Regardless, due to that decision that set her on the path of mysticism, Adelia was able to awaken from her temporary unconsciousness to find herself bound while being pulled toward what she could only describe... as a town claid by winter.
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