"This will have consequences, Morwag," Hela says.

The demon only shrugs, ignoring her completely, as he continues wiping blood from the lumoran man’s face.

"Consequences," Morwag mutters, then shoves the bloodied handkerchief into the lumoran’s mouth, forcing it closed. While staring at the man, he continues, "You say it like it is a bad thing."

As he turns toward Hela, the lumoran spits out the handkerchief and starts vomiting, which Morwag ignores. "We have been challenged, Hela, and we will respond without being bound by the rules others set to control the powerless."

"Don’t tell me. You know I don’t care. I’m only in it for the items."

"I guess you are. But is it good enough to risk your life for?"

"Rumors are already spreading, so I can tell you. The Eternal Court found an ancient armory on the 4th floor, filled with high grade arcane items, some even ranked as high as low pristine. It’s incredibly old, and may have belonged to some Ruler’s companions, possibly one of the earliest Beyond explorers. Half the guild died just to bring out a few pieces."

"Why not sell them or bring them out of the tutorial instead of wasting them on hiring people to start a guild war?"

"There’s a pristine item, a strong one. It requires a great many demon hearts, powerful ones. The guild master is desperate to use it. Which means you’re being hunted now."

"I can’t imagine you’re the only one they’ve hired."

"Not at all. The Eternal Court are already in talks with other guilds to help explore the armory in exchange for a share of the items. I think they’ve contacted Bloodline and Frontier, especially." She nods toward Luan.

The thylarin next to Sophie keeps his face unreadable, but Sophie’s expression makes it clear she didn’t know this at all.

"Good. I will let you leave this time," Morwag says with a smile.

Hela just snorts. I think she shared this information because she just doesn’t care, and also because she knew Morwag would "reward" it. She doesn’t seem to be afraid of him, but she feels like the type who prefers to be prepared before getting into a fight.

"The trip... twins?" she asks, and the two lumorans twitch at once.

Morwag thinks for a second before waving it off.

In the next moment, Hela grabs them by the arms and pulls. With one step, the air in front of them twists, and all three of them vanish.

"Luan, you sneaky, sneaky thylarin bitch," Morwag says, though Luan’s expression remains calm.

Without waiting for a reaction, Morwag heads out of the restaurant.

I tear apart my connection to Sophie so it can’t be used for any sort of tracking, then follow closely behind Weslin and Morwag, who doesn’t even seem to care enough to hasten his steps. He strolls through the streets while looking around curiously, sometimes at the shops, sometimes at the people passing by.

After a few minutes, he’s the first to speak. “Weslin, are you able to detect Hela?”

“I cannot,” Weslin admits. “At most, I can keep up the field around me so I know when she’s nearby, but it wouldn’t be very useful against her.”

“That’s true. Well, do your best, or you will die. Don’t think she’ll hold back just because you went on a few expeditions together. Her skill allows her to warp her presence and body. It’ll either look like she is in a different place than she actually is, or it’ll seem like she’s not there at all. She can also use it for teleportation. That oaf of a woman even kept leaving the restaurant when I tried to scare her a bit, and half of the time she only seemed like she was there with us.”

“I thought it worked like that, but she’s improved quite a lot.”

Morwag snorts. “Child’s play. Relying on tricks instead of fighting properly, but I guess it’s handy for birthday parties, and cowards.”

“I guess. But I wanted to ask. What if, because of what you did, the Black Tower’s master allows the guild war to go into a second or maybe even third stage? What if Luan decides to help them, uses the opportunity to join Hela, and fights you?”

“Weslin, in that case, I’d just kill them both.”

“You can do that?”

“Yes.”

“You are bullshitting.”

Morwag laughs and puts his arm around Weslin with a bright smile. “No, I’m not. You think Hela’s skill or Luan’s fragment scares me? Me?”

“I think not being scared and being capable of winning are two very different things. But let’s say you die. What then?”

The demon seems to give it some thought and then smiles unapologetically. “Then you guys would have a pretty big problem, wouldn’t you?”

----------------------------------------

The moment we arrive at the guild branch, the security lady vyssari is already waiting for me. This time, no words are directed at me at all. Instead, she instantly throws dozens of questions at Morwag, with some complaints too. The entire guild is on full alert, defensive arrays have been activated, and the guards have been tripled. Some of the less secure sections have been entirely evacuated, and people have started gathering in safer zones.

Yet the people from the guild don’t seem panicked, it’s more like they’re just shifting their behavior to fit the situation. Many of the demons even look excited, and without asking, I can bet some are already using Beyond stay tokens to extend their time here so they don’t miss out on the fun.

Soon after, a vyssari man arrives at our branch. He doesn’t look all that strong, yet the branch leader immediately shows him respect, greeting him as a servant of the Master of the Black Tower. That vyssari wears a plain white suit with a brooch shaped like a black tower, a copy of the one in the middle of this outpost.

Morwag, fully uninterested, leaves for the basement to hand the Doc whatever item Nyssa has sent for him. The branch leader nearly panics while apologizing to the vyssari in the suit, calming down only when Weslin joins the conversation and begins explaining what happened and the background behind this war and the recent breach of the rules. At first, I listen, curious about what will be said, but it quickly turns boring, so I sneak away.

As I walk down the hallway, I wonder what kind of item would need so many demon hearts and why the Clown Council would pursue it like this. Could the guild master not get them from the tutorial? Or from some lonely attendees? How many does he even need? Ten? A hundred? A thousand? Maybe he’s stuck on a floor where demons don’t exist, but in that case, could he not post quests for others to gather them in the tutorial and bring them to him without starting a war?

Is it possible that demon hearts from the natives of the tutorial aren’t as good as those of attendees? Could it be that they discovered the armory months ago, and tested the item, and, faced with no other options and the pull of greed, decided to take this path so that he could use it before the tutorial ends? It is not like he needs to be remembered as a nice guy in Beyond once he’s back on his own planet with a dozens other problems.

If I were a cowardly, greedy, weak man, I would probably hire Bloodline or another top 5 guild for protection. I would offer them items from the armory in exchange for help exploring it. Then, if I were an asshole, I would start a war. But that item would have to be a true find. Still, it being pristine, in a class of item a Champion might use, is very possible.

I can imagine him staying in Beyond for the rest of his tutorial under the protection of a powerful guild. He would only need to get the item working and then return to his planet, likely securing his place as top dog there, securing his position as an Absolute for a good while yet.

Laid out that way, it makes a little bit of sense, doesn’t it?

There’s also the chance that Hela twisted the truth, and the heart he really wants is Morwag’s or Nyssa’s rather than any of the others.

Another option is that the item requiring the demon hearts isn’t meant to strengthen him directly, after all, they may be using it for something else entirely.

Ahhh, it’s all just so fun, isn’t it?

Near my room, I run into Talon waiting for me. He often does this when something happens, hoping to gather information. In exchange, he usually helps me finish some annoying tasks or shares some of his own information.

As I tell him what happened, his face turns sour and he curses multiple times. A few dozen counts as multiple, right? Most of those curses come when I mention that Bloodline or Frontier might be involved in this mess, along with possibly more powerful attendees for hire.

"You still haven’t realized one thing, Nathaniel," he tells me once I’ve shared most of it. "If that armory really does hold a pristine item, the resulting mess is going to be huge. You don’t care about items all that much, but fuck, some assholes here would commit murder over a low arcane. If it’s like Hela said and the rumors are spreading, the 4th floor will be a fucking disaster of a mess. I wouldn’t be surprised if people from the 5th floor rush there too. Eternal Clowns members will be hunted down, all of them, tortured in an attempt to force the location of the armory out of them. The top 10 guilds will form coalitions, and Bloodline will cut a deal with the Eternal Clowns. Everyone’s going to want a piece of it."

"I mean, pristine items are nice and all, and you can make shards, but in the end, it’s just an item," I counter.

He stares at me without blinking. For a moment, I think he might pull that black bow off his back and try to beat me with it, but instead, he just sighs and walks away.

What a weirdo.

Finally alone, I head into my room and drop onto my bed, staring at the burned section of the ceiling. While I study the charred wood, I think of ways to locate Hela. I pull the things I’ve seen her do from my memory and compare it to the way Ruby used to teleport, since it feels similar, along with the other abilities I’ve seen with similar effects. In some ways, it resembles Ruby’s warp-type teleportation, but it’s likely been mixed with another skill like [Projection] or [Replacement].

I still find it fascinating how different people find their own ways to grow powerful, even though we all started from nearly the same point, just two starting skills, with everything snowballing from there.

While I think, I continue to accumulate mana in the halo over my head. So far, it’s been the simplest and easiest shape to maintain. I can make it look like a crown, but right now, it’s less efficient and requires more effort. Still, once I improve it, I will.

My new skill should also let me store primordial energy in the halo, but so far, I’ve only used mana. Mana can be turned into kinetic energy through my heart, and my Ignition Heart can pump enough thermal energy into me to kill me, so there’s been no need to accumulate it there.

But mana? I need more. I am starving.

I'm literally suffering from severe mana deficiency.

I let my mind wander while focusing on the shape of the burned ceiling. At the same time, I form a few evil pyramids that float around me as I continue with my daily mana-shaping exercises.

I bring up my status screen and reread the description of my newest passive.

Mana Wave Predation (Unique Arcane) - You’ve become the natural predator of all mana. Your body and senses are refined to predate upon, seize, and bend all wavelengths of mana you can perceive to your will. This passive’s strength is directly tied to your mana usage, and the more you channel or consume, the stronger the effect of the passive becomes.

I really need more mana.