"All of them?" Austra's voice was thick with disbelief, as if needing confirmation. She sat in a high, dark brown wingback chair, the kind that screamed luxury with its ornate design.
In front of her, the fireplace crackled, sending out occasional embers that drifted into the air before dying off just as quickly. The rest of the room was bathed in shadow, elongated and flickering as the flames shifted. Yet, even from those fleeting glimpses, the sheens of fine fabrics, golds, and intricate embroidery on everything, down to the carpets under her chair, made it clear this was a place of opulence.
This wasn't Austra's home. In fact, most vampires didn't own property in the human sense. They gained control, wealth, and everything else they desired through their near-undetectable hypnosis ability.
For Austra, the place she was staying belonged to a noblewoman. The woman had been separated from her husband during a trip to Arlcliff City, with the influx of monsters and mana beasts cutting off routes. Alone and with just enough wealth and influence to make her worth targeting, Austra had hypnotized her easily, feeding off both her wealth and blood for months. It was a common story for vampires in Arlcliff City.
Unlike humans, who cared about who owned what land and which bloodline held the most providence, vampires could obtain all that by simply choosing the right human. The humans they controlled were, for lack of a better word, Mind Slaves—a status symbol as much as a tool. Thanks to them, vampires could hide in plain sight, using the authority of others to keep their existence secret while being well-catered to.
Even Nightborn typically had at least two Mind Slaves.
But for someone like Austra, a Hierarch, her list of high-positioned Mind Slaves was extensive. A seasoned noble familiar with Arlcliff City's elite would be shocked by the reach she had. The only reason vampires didn't control entire regions was that those powerful figures often crossed paths with knights or mages. A knight's sixth sense or a mage's sensory magic could pick up on the lingering traces of hypnosis, exposing them.
It was much like the way they ran the Jackal's Branch of Nightshade. Humans took on all the risks and did the menial work while the vampires benefited, using hypnosis and fear to keep their subjects in line. A race built to thrive in the shadows, controlling the world from behind the scenes.
Now, the same vampire who had reported to Austra about Magnus defeating the two vampires outside Arlcliff City was back, sharing the outcome of their ambush at the park in the Upper City.
The vampiric man, bowing in the shadows behind Austra's chair near the door, cleared his throat before continuing, "Based on what the Ravens have reported, all of the Nightborn we sent to deal with the human have failed. They seem to have been captured somehow. Just like before, all attempts to communicate with them or recall them have failed. We-"
Austra raised a hand, silencing him before he could finish.
"Enough. I'll check for myself," she muttered.
At their core, vampires were living energy, and that energy gave them access to a range of abilities. Even though at its core it wasn't magic, the manipulation of energy, when mastered and expanded upon, could create all sorts of phenomena. One of the most common abilities among vampires was the emission and reception of electromagnetic waves. Frequencies that went unnoticed by ordinary humans, and even knights and mages when properly masked, allowed vampires to turn their bodies into something akin to radios. This is how they could communicate and sense each other, even over long distances.
As a Hierarch, Austra's abilities went even further. She could force Nightborn to obey her commands.
In that moment, the vampiric man behind her felt it: her presence rushing over him like a wave, expanding at the speed of light and sweeping over the entire city and beyond. A quiet moment passed before Austra opened her eyes, her brow furrowing. She hadn't received any response, which meant the news was true—her thirty Nightborn had been defeated and sealed away, just like the first two.
That human boy... How did he do it? When I faced him, he was hardly a threat. Even a single Nightborn could have taken him out. Yet now, he's already cost me thirty-two of my own. At first, I thought it might have been the Archmages' intervention, but the Ravens never mentioned anything about that. Which means... he somehow became that much stronger in such a short time? No, that's impossible. Such rapid growth, even for someone exceptionally talented, would be unheard of. There has to be something else—something I'm missing.
She sat, lost in thought, trying to piece together the puzzle with the incomplete set of clues she had. But the weight of a looming threat pressed on her mind. Losing two Nightborn had already been a costly mistake—one her Lord would certainly punish her for. But now, nearly all of them were gone. The thought sent a chill through her as she stared into the flames, imagining what would happen if this news reached him before she dealt with the human.
She would be mutilated. Or worse, killed for her incompetence.
Vampires didn't typically fear death. They didn't fear much, except each other. That's because almost nothing could truly threaten their lives. Not fearing death because they knew it couldn't claim them was different from not fearing it at all. One was born of a lack of capability; the other, of mentality. So when the threat of death truly loomed, it was deeper and more paralyzing than any fear a human could know. It didn't show on her face, nor did it betray her in the stillness of her body.
But inside, her mind raced.
She needed to find a way out. A way to keep her mistakes from costing her everything. Running wasn't an option for her, just as it hadn't been for her Nightborn.
"I'll have to do it myself," she muttered under her breath, just loud enough for the vampiric man behind her to hear.
"What was that, my lady?" Austra stood abruptly, her gaze shifting to lock onto the man. Her eyes glowed eerily in the dark, the flames outlining her figure.
"The human boy, Magnus, where is he? I'll deal with him myself."
"I- I don't think that will be possible, my lady..." The vampiric man's words halted her. Her eyes narrowed, and he rushed to explain.
"He returned to Takerth Academy after the attack. If Lady Austra wishes to go after him, you'll have to wait until he leaves." A long silence followed, thick with tension. The man held his breath, his posture rigid, waiting for her to speak, or perhaps act. He exhaled only when he saw her sit back down, her movements deliberate and controlled.
If Magnus was within the walls of Takerth Academy, no matter how urgent her need to deal with him, she couldn't. The Ten Great Magic Academies were impenetrable, even for someone of her rank.
"Fine," Austra said after a moment, her voice steady.
"I'll wait until he leaves. Until then, this matter stays between us. Do not involve the Lord." The vampire hesitated, the weight of the command sinking in. Even withholding information from the Umbrarch could mean death. But disobeying Austra was a fate far more immediate.
He nodded reluctantly.
"Yes, my lady."
Silence settled in the room again, broken only by the crackling of the fire. Austra's voice cut through it, low and measured.
"Is there anything else to report, aside from this?"
The vampire considered for a moment before shaking his head.
"No, my lady. Except for the scheduled gathering and the invitation from the Nocturne. Do you wish me to decline it?"
Austra paused, considering. Then she shook her head.
"No. I've already agreed to attend. If I don't show up now, it'll raise suspicion and could expose this issue before I deal with it."
The vampire nodded.
"Very well."
"Is that all?" She asked, her tone still sharp. He nodded again.
"Yes, my lady."
"Then leave me. Don't disturb me for the rest of the night." He obeyed without a word. Silently, he rose, melting into shadow and slipping out of the room without making a sound.
Once alone, Austra leaned back into her chair, her eyes fixed on the flickering flames. The dance of light and shadow seemed almost mocking. A moment later, her lips parted—not to speak, but out of sheer frustration. Her teeth and fangs were bared, and her grip on the armrest tightened until the fabric creaked in protest.
How could one human cause me so much trouble? I should have killed him when I had the chance, no matter how his blood tasted. I won't make that mistake again. The moment he steps outside Takerth Academy, the moment I get my hands on him... I'll rip his head from his body, and no amount of healing will bring him back from the dried corpse I'll leave behind.
•
Year 348 of the Great Sundering Era, 2nd Month, 3rd Day of the Mistveil Cycle.
It had officially been a day since Magnus took a temporary leave from his usual classes to learn from his "master," Eveline. Given the added fact that he was also being punished for breaking academy rules, and who Eveline was, no one had raised any concerns.
In reality, Magnus hadn't been focusing on training at all. Instead, he'd spent the entire day on preparation. He'd hit a familiar plateau with his abilities, where improvement on what already existed seemed capped. To progress, he needed to branch out.
That's why he now found himself in the testing chamber Eveline had created within the Puppet Space. That was the name he'd given the Alternate Space, where Eveline's army of puppets constantly used the Knockout Brick and wrote down predictions. The testing chamber itself was another Alternate Space, embedded within the first—a space within a space. Magnus hadn't even known something like that was possible, but Eveline had happily rambled on for nearly an hour about it.
And, once again, Magnus was disturbed to find he actually understood part of what she was saying.
The testing chamber itself had been empty when he first walked into it through the door. It was a vast, black room that seemed to absorb all light. Although there were a floor and walls, it was hard to tell because there were no shadows or depth to give them any definition. That's when Eveline explained that she had designed the room herself, and that it had been engraved with special runes that reacted to a person's requests.
"Go ahead, say a location out loud," Eveline said, standing near the entrance of the testing chamber, which was the only feature that could be distinguished from the overwhelming darkness.
Magnus glanced back at her, then looked at the void surrounding him, thinking for a moment.
"Uh... The flat top of a mountain?" He muttered.
In the blink of an eye, the black space around him flashed. Suddenly, Magnus found himself standing on top of a mountain, the sky above stretching out with rolling white clouds against a vast, ocean-like backdrop. The ground beneath his feet had transformed into stone, with loose rocks shifting as he took a cautious step back. He was on the edge of a mountain, its peak just twenty meters away, with more mountains stretching out as far as he could see. The breeze ruffled his hair, and he could even hear the distant call of a bird soaring in the sky. It all felt real.
Magnus stood there, stunned for a moment, before looking back at Eveline.
"Teleportation? Or did this place seriously just create an entire mountain range?"
"Neither," Eveline answered with a smile, before explaining further.
"This place uses a concept similar to Elementrix Magic—transmuting mana into different materials—and is paired with illusions. We're still in the same room. The dimensions haven't changed," she said, stepping fully into the chamber and tapping her knuckles against the space next to the doorframe. To Magnus's surprise, the space rippled, though only slightly. Despite the vastness it seemed to hold, they were still within the same room.
"Ah, I see," Magnus said, taking in the demonstration.
"Still, this is impressive. So, this is how you and Celia have been testing the Knockout Brick's effects?"
Eveline nodded.
"That's right. Oh, and speaking of which—" She held out her hand, and in an instant, a small stack of papers appeared, fluttering slightly as they materialized.
"Here are the notes on the tests we've done so far," Eveline said, walking over and handing a stack of papers to Magnus, who immediately started flipping through them. He could tell by the neat handwriting that these must have been written by Celia. Each experiment was labeled clearly, with details on how it was performed and the results laid out in a way anyone could follow.
I guess that means Eveline did the testing, and Celia handled the documentation.
Magnus paused when he came across one particular experiment, a look of surprise crossing his face.
Oh? Well, that's interesting.
Almost the entire third day was spent by Magnus using the K-Variant Rokshaata in the testing room. He first confirmed some of the experiments Celia and Eveline had conducted.
That's when he discovered that the Knockout Brick was a highly subjective Glitch, depending on who was using it.
One of the first tests Eveline and Celia had performed was simply using the Knockout Brick on the ground to see what happened when it entered a 'knocked' state. At first, nothing seemed to change; the ground appeared the same. It wasn't until Celia had curiously touched that part of the floor that they realized what had happened. The ground where the Knockout Brick had hit—and the surrounding area—had become soft.
Or, perhaps 'elastic' would be a better word. It still felt like a floor, but it gave way under pressure, almost like rubber.
The same happened when the Knockout Brick was used on walls or ceilings. Upon impact, those surfaces behaved like rubber for about a minute, the typical amount of time someone would stay unconscious after being hit by the brick. Another thing they discovered was that the size of the affected area depended on the force of the hit. A light tap would only make a small indentation, the size of a fingertip, whereas a hard blow with a wind-up could affect an area a meter wide, if not more.
But that wasn't what Magnus meant when he realized the Knockout Brick was subjective.
He realized the Knockout Brick's effect on surfaces was determined by whether he perceived it as a floor, a wall, or a ceiling. He didn't understand how it made that mental connection, but when he used the K-Variant Rokshaata on a rock and treated it as part of the ground, the rock rubberized as well. On the other hand, when he struck the ground and focused on the material rather than its function, it didn't turn into something rubbery. Instead, it became like mud or quicksand. Anything that touched it began to sink, even Magnus's own feet, and when he tried to pull his foot out, it was like trying to pull it from solid stone.
He could manage to free himself thanks to [Self Body Puppetry], using raw force to break through the stone, but anyone who couldn't would either be trapped or suffocated. Even after the minute passed, the ground wouldn't release what it had absorbed.
And that was just two of the possible outcomes when it came to the Knockout Brick's effects.
Celia and Eveline had also tested it on magma, and to their surprise, the Knockout Brick had the simple effect of instantly cooling it down for a minute before it returned to normal.
When used on ice, however, it had a different result. not melting instantly and turning into water, or turning into mist. No, the effect was that the ice would break cleanly in half. It was strange—an ice cube would split down the middle, forming two smaller cubes. If those were hit again, they'd break apart just as perfectly. While they were split, the ice wouldn't melt; in fact, the ice was completely indestructible. Only when all the split pieces rejoined with one another did it become normal again. On top of that, like most glitches, scale was irrelevant, meaning the actual size of the ice didn't matter.
Celia and Eveline had tested it on a piece of ice that nearly filled the entire testing chamber, and theorized that if the Knockout Brick ever struck a glacier—or even an island of ice—it would break it in half with the slightest tap.
As for Magnus, he did his own experiments aside from verifying theirs, such as testing how the K-Variant Rokshaata interacted with magic. When it met something it couldn't interact with—like fire, which was a chemical reaction and not a physical object—there was no effect. But when the K-Variant Rokshaata struck a mana construct, whether a mana sphere or barrier, the mana seemed to lose all its form. Magnus would lose all control over the mana, and it would simply disintegrate—not dramatically, but fall apart as if it had been hit with Anti-Magic. After a minute, though, the spell would reform itself.
One test after another, Magnus cataloged the Knockout Brick's effects. Some were pre-discovered by Celia and Eveline, while others he found on his own. The only consistency he managed to find was that one-minute timer. It didn't seem to apply to everything, such as the tea cups, which could show visions of the future for much longer than a minute, but it did seem to be a form of baseline, something Celia had mentioned in their notes.
By the time he finally left the testing chamber, it was already the next day.
As he stepped through the doors of the testing chamber and back into the Puppet Space, his focus remained on the K-Variant Rokshaata that rolled around in his palm. He stared at it with a new clarity that hadn't been there when he first entered, as well as a hint of caution.
But there was something else on his mind.
Today marked the day of the vampires' gathering.