The hero, the former goddess and the AI sat in the room. No. The goddess was actually working her ass off at the alchemy set.

“Dammit,” Cytortia peered at the complex chemical formula Ehto showed her. “Why must it be this complex? I need to readjust the chemical refinement method or else we would be here for weeks.”

“Can it be done?” Rem asked.

“Yeah, it will be migraine inducing, but I can reverse engineer and adapt PALISADE’s Control Liquid formula to work with Ehto as planned.”

PALIADE was controlling the drone through the use of Control Liquid that allowed PALISADE to imprint his consciousness into a crystal core inside magical machinery. That was where Horizon Dawn’s battle escalated. Yes, Rem could walk to PALISADE’s control-chamber and emptied his magazine, but that would cause deactivated the life-support of the facility. Hell, they were lucky the rogue AI still placed significant value on the ‘specimen’. Scenario of PALISADE cutting losses and simply switching off the wards and enchantment making the base livable still haunted Rem's mind.

The solution was simple. They needed to take the facility and the hostage away from the villain's grasp, but they must do so subtly, allowing PALISADE to think it didn’t need the light out button even when the entire underwater facility flew to freedom land.

To make matter worst, PALISADE’s control was active.

‘This meant you cannot shut him down instantly with Arrival of Dream,’ Central made her opinion known from Rem’s mental world. ‘You can’t project a Deus Ex Machina to cheese the problem and the range limit on [Territory] meant you must directly try to mount an attack on PALISADE. And you know for a fact if PALISADE deemed you a serious threat, it won’t hesitate to off the hostage to get rid of you.’

Stay equaled failure. Attack meant gambling lives. Being a smart man, Rem knew he must bargain with the price of action.

Central chimed in.

‘Er, my lord, you know your mind might not handle the Center Force’s erosion if you perform multiple manifestation with Arrival of Dream. I recommend you succeed in one shot.’

Rem realized he couldn’t. That why he need a teamwork.

“Ehto,” Rem asked the orb suspended int the cylindrical container. “I need two favors.”

“What favors?”

“Can you directly stop PALISADE’s main consciousness with outside help?”

“Depending on the help, yes.”

Rem trusted the artificial mind’s confidence.

“Good, can you show me Shaxter’s teleporter.”

“I recommend against what you are thinking,” Ehto said. “PALISADE already locked down the entire teleportation network and the teleporter link had been severed for years.”

“Yeah,” Cytortia scribbles down a complex carbon skeleton and noted the alchemical formula to achieve. “If PALISADE is smart, he will greet you every firepower in his arsenal the second you touch down.”

“Oh, trust me, he will see me coming. And he won’t be able to do a thing about it.”

…

In the sky above the ocean, the battle between the elf and the demoness raged.

Beast Luxinna filled the sky with multiple barrages of electromagnetically accelerated projectiles. Her assimilation with Luxinna reached such an alarming point. Not content with peppering Melody with sharp object, the berserk True Magic added in a column of Ion beam, tracing a path of scorch cloud and the ozone scent as she tried to drop Melody from the sky.

Thankfully, Melody’s aerial combat experience and [Heavenly Eyes] still kept her thriving. The demoness curved through the air, evading flashing glass weapons and narrowly evaded the plasma beam. She gathered the flames in her hand and returned fire.

The radioactive fireball splashed against the waiting lotus shield. Flames vaporized the ocean into a cloud of steams.

Melody caught her breath. But in less than a gasped, massive swarms of glass tentacle shoot out of the plumeof steams. Melody bit back a curse and resumed evading. She dodged two tentacles, ducked out from another, and rolled past several more. She gritted her teeth. Those were some long tentacles. Wait. Why were those tentacles glowing with Mana?

Uh oh.  

Throughout those tentacles’ humongous length, light glowed and golden sparks erupted like spores covering the entire sky in a golden mist before discharging with breath-taking voltage of electricity. Melody, realizing her times was up, dove from the sky like a crimson meteor, plowing into the golden platform of glass Luxinna stood.

Tower of water burst from her landing, rising high in the sky and filling the air with the salty smell of the ocean. The domes of fire expanded from the epicenters, charring the very air as temperature spiked.

…

In the mustering chamber, Hikma stumbled into another question.

Now that he suppressed Edward. How should he deal with him? How to ensure that the vampire and the sorry bunch behind him wouldn't devolve into another grudge match the moment his back was turned. They couldn’t afford to execute their only lead to the vampire, and the opportunity to end the costly interspecies war for good.

Hikma was so absorbed into his introspection that he didn’t realize the troublesome priestess had awakened.

Aryssa Holyworth witnessed the conclusion of the duel. Or more realistically, a therapy that was sincerely needed but never given. Now that she witnessed the result, her flames of rage and hatred refused to snuff. Aryssa simply didn’t get what happened, nor did she care. What was so special about a monster stopping its rampage? What was the point of talking to a natural predator of humanity? Everything the helmet man did flew against the doctrine preach by the Holy Church.

No mercy for the vampire.

Serina also prepared to finish of Edward, but predictably Hikma stopped her with a simple grabbed on the wrist.

“I know you want another way out,” Serina glared at the man. “But there is no rewinding what he did.”

“One lesson of history is that the term monster isn’t as black and white as it seems. Sure. I accept that sometimes blood must be shed. But the question should become by who and how. Killing a man who already lost his will to fight for the sake of vengeance is simply self-degrading. Do you want to go there? And I am talking to both of you.”

Aryssa paid no quarter to Hikma’s question, gulped down high-grade Mana potion and lined up a perfect shot at Edward and fired a holy ray that was easily absorbed by Hikma’s [Aegis].

The Holy Priestess was surprised. She believed she masked her Mana and killing-intent.

Hikma De Darwin spoke to Aryssa calmly.

“You might mask everything, but I can feel your hatred burning like an inferno. Do we really need to go there? I would rather not beat up everyone in the room.”

Aryssa didn’t bother. She leapt to attack. The Mana potion won’t restore her power forever. She must strike now that she got a chance. That mysterious man successfully defeated Edward Balorian, a noble vampire. He must be stronger than her, but Aryssa wasn’t afraid of death.

[Holy Scripture: Angel Sword]

Aryssa summoned a 10 meters long holy sword of light and bought it down on Hikma.

“[Aegis],” Hikma responded with a holy attack of his own. “[Holy Genesis]”

100-meters long eastern-dragon of Holy light emerged from Hikma’s [Conceptual Construct], effortlessly batted the glowing sword, snapped Aryssa up in its jaw and slammed her into the floor. Aryssa struggled to break free, but the dragon refused to budge as Hikma strolled toward the powerless girl.

“Holy too?” Emily gasped. Sure Aryssa was on the blink of falling like a house of card, but one-upping the Holy Church ace in Holy element and downing her in a single attack wasn’t something that just happened.

“Wait, so that guy has lightning, earth, fire, some weird mastery with barrier and now holy attribute,” Amitate did a double take. “Three is insane, but four. Only one in a century with that is…” He turned toward Magnolia.

“[Electro Gift]” Hikma enchanted Aryssa with paralysis. “This would stop you from moving for quite a while. And you should give trying to attack our prisoner, while my back is turned, miss.”

Serina ignored Hikma and plunged the sword made from scarlet sand at Edward’s head, but an ice golem rose from the floor and intercepted that attack with its chest. Her weapon sunk into the ice sculpture, but failed to matter. The air before Serina chilled, and a layer of frost began creeping up her arm.

Serina bitterly destroyed the layer of ice on her arm and warily turned toward Hikma. The snowflakes dropped soundlessly on to the floor in that suspense, marking Hikma's step above common sense.

“Ice too?” Artos couldn’t believe it. “This means he completely outclass Magnolia.”

The said recipient at said outclassing simply dropped to her butt, too stun at her obliterated importance. The spec she was so proud of was smashed. Her ability as a mage was already battered during her first clashes with Hikma, but now the mysterious being just use another 2 elements. The only solace she could rest on was the fact Hikma didn’t have more contract spirit than her. Not that spirit would balance their difference given how he defeated Artos so easily.

“So, he didn’t even take us seriously,” Emily muttered. “Amitate. I know you are…”

“I am not pissed, Sis,” Amitate gulped the way Hikma dispatched Aryssa with the ease of stepping on a cockroach and finally admitted to the overwhelming evidence of the danger pose by the calm young man. “Trust me. I get it. Trying to argue with that guy won’t end well. Not when we are this wasted.”

Serina’s hearing was good. She heard Hikma’s resume being spoken by the 33 Stars and reached the same conclusion. She might discover the secret to unlimited power, but after the beating she suffered from that golden monster, she stood no chance of surviving the fight with whoever was under that helmet. Even if the entire room united to help, it was a forgone conclusion with them so weakened.

This meant no one could kill Edward Balorian as long as the Chronicler defended him. However, it was the beneficiary who was the most baffled by this development.

“Why do you go this far for me?” Edward picked himself up to confront Hikma. “None in Phantasia would go so far to help my kind. Why?”

Hikma stood silence.

“Answer me! Why!?”

“I lost my father too,” Hikma finally spoke. “All the time, I try to imagine what it like to have the person responsible for my mercy. Then I realize I don’t have it in me to kill for revenge. Yes. I am angry. I ask myself, why? What pushes them to do something so terrible? For a long time, I wonder if that is my weakness, but after seeing the depth a man will sink for vengeance, I am glad for being incapable of sinking that low.”

Hikma looked at Edward in the eye.

“That is why I save you. I don’t have it in me to watch other be lynched and butchered even if the world and common sense say they deserve it when I can do something. Sure, you will probably be right back to killing. I know that risk, but if there a chance you own up to your crime and try to be better, I want to believe that.”

“That is foolishly trusting.”

“I know. I am trying to find the compromise between reality and my ideal, but that won't change the fact I don’t want anymore blood to be shed. It is just who I am.”

“A person like you won’t last long.”

“That only happens if I lost,” Hikma smiled beneath that helmet. “If we fail, we are the fool. If we win, well, I believe we can change the world.”

“We?”

“Oh, nothing much, just an order of self-proclaim fools who believe in everything everyone here seems to forget.”

“And what have I forgotten.”

“That power doesn’t make a man,” Hikma pointed at his chest. “It is this that gives power meaning.”

Edward sneered. Serina averted her eyes.

“You are speaking a position of superiority. You are more powerful than any of us here!”

Hikma smiled.

“Why do you think I was guided to attain this power? It is one of the first lesson Empress shared with us. Even the greatest dragon starts off as an egg. Trust me. There is always a better way.”

“You should know you are talking to a monster who consumes other for strength.”

Hikma never once lost patience.

“Are you sure? Surely, there is an alternative.”

“Even if there is an alternative, the vampire race is hardly monolithic! Even if I miraculously talk the entire Balorian clan into a reform, assuming my siblings don’t interpret my suggestion as a sign of weakness, the Bathory will never change unless they are forced. As for the Neferia, they will fight to the last man to uphold their sacred traditions for the sake of reaching Atavism.”

“I see,” Hikma was telepathically relaying this information to Rem. This was a breakthrough. Personal account from inside the vampire society rarely happened because the hostilities and the Holy Church’s no-mercy doctrine. “That, and the external threat, pretty much to ensure the situation — from eugenic to slave trades — are enforced.” 

Hikma suddenly felt a suggestion from Rem.

“Does drinking blood granted you power?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“Did you ever work out why? And why blood? Why not other fluid?”

That one caught Edward by surprise and essentially gave Hikma all the information he needed.

“I see. Your society continues its tradition without understanding the underlining theory. Like how ancient civilization bred crops to select appealing characteristic without understanding natural selection. With the common conception about vampire, anyone studying your genetic for sake of explaining it would be akin to study devil-worshipping at the height of the witch hunt.”

Hikma knew what to do next.

“Right now, you have a choice. I know someone who have ability to decode the secret of vampire genetic and the willingness to do it. I can help you find the way out. But if it works, I want you to change yourself. It will be long and hard. A mountain of obstacle will be huge. But I want this to be a first step toward the light of hope. I ask you to put your fate with me.”

For a second, Edward’s expression flickered. Hikma was getting through to him, and knowing how an interruption often ruined this, Hikma decidedly took measures.

“And to anyone trying to pull a cheap shot,” Hikma conjured a massive [Surtr]. “Quit it.”

Sorin Enma compared the [Surtr] blanketing the room to his puny fist, aptly respected the warning and sat down like a civilized gentleman.

“Thank you,” Hikma replied once the message sank.

“I need something more,” Edward bargained. “The Balorian might be cordial to business partners, but I need something to get something back from this mess. And I need to increase my power to compete with my siblings if I want any chance of swaying mother’s opinion.”

(Un)luckily for Hikma, Rem had a telepathic suggestion. One he particularly felt ill thinking about, but given the project’s scope, he admitted they need every expert they got. Even one that was a mass murderer. On the bright note, Hikma was confidence Edward could be kept straight with him around.

“Well, good news, I know where to get both. There is a man who hold secret to an alternative path of magical method. He is ambitious, powerful and dangerous. His partner is an S-rank threat. Last I saw him, he escaped authority to create his own faction, and we estimated he will probably surface to recruit underground human resources. Although we fought and disagreed, that guy shared our values of honor. If you tell him our agreement, I believe he will probably pitch in as well. Trust me, if there is anyone who can crack the secret of vampirism and solve it, this is the guy. Given his accomplishments and fames, I believe your mother will be rubbing her hand with glee the moment you inform her about your newest trading partner.”

Edward didn’t need to see under the helmet to know this mysterious someone and the helmet-knight shared a history. Judging from his tone, it leaned more toward mutual grudging respect than friendship.

“Who is this man?”

“You know him. Everyone here does after he dropped that headache inducing barrier on Venistalis. Tell Orwell Mehest that Samadi and Chronicler is offering a conditional truce with this agreement. Trust me, he will accept. None of us want to repeat Venistalis.”