Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Shard kept an eye on the time. With only 10 seconds remaining until the 47-second limit of the "Bordeaux Candle," he led the two girls into the shadows of a building. He pinched out the candle and immediately lit it again, confirming that it hadn't drawn any attention, before they continued towards the printing house's three-story building and walked along its wall.

The door was locked from the inside, but they didn't plan to enter through the front door anyway. After walking halfway around the building, Miss Annette continuously used coin tossing to divine their luck and eventually chose a window. Miss Beyas then unlocked it with a special alchemical item, and the three of them climbed in one by one.

There were many ways to infiltrate; slaughtering everyone was an option, but their goal that night was the ruins. Therefore, they avoided conflict with any Circle Sorcerers on the ground whenever possible.

The entire first floor was dark and filled with the smell of ink—a fitting atmosphere for a printing house.

Miss Annette took the lead, holding Shard's hand in the silence, guiding them to the room where the Night Watcher was located on the first floor.

Instead of entering, they carefully blew some black dust through the crack under the door.

The three stepped away from the door and held their breath while Shard again extinguished and lit the candle. A full minute later, they dared to breathe and then left directly for the underground warehouse where the printing factory's goods were stacked.

The entrance to the underground warehouse was on the west side of the first floor, next to the staircase—a sturdy-looking iron door blocked the way. Two iron locks hung on the outside, and an iron chain sealed the door shut. Anyone inside would need assistance from the outside to exit.

The three stood in front of the door, and Miss Annette tossed a few coins again, hesitating before nodding at the other two. This gesture indicated she believed there was a high probability of a Circle Sorcerer inside the warehouse. Although according to the capability of the "Blood of Mercury" organization and the suspicion of the injured Silver-Eyed One, the person guarding the door to the ruins would not rank above 6 rings, after all, Miss Annette, the strongest among them, was only a Three-Ring Sorcerer.

"Silence Charm."

Miss Annette looked at Miss Beyas, who rattled a metallic triangle in her hand. With a slight pressure of her fingers, runes on the metal glinted in the darkness, and then, like a breeze passing over the three of them, all sound ceased to exist.

Miss Annette looked at Shard, who gestured that he understood.

He snuffed out the candle and then immediately relit it. As the candle reignited and the 47-second countdown began anew, Miss Annette pushed open the door in front of her. Due to the charm's effect, the sound of the door opening vanished completely, and the bright glare of the gas lamps poured out from the crack.

Without hesitation, Miss Beyas standing in front of the door rushed in first. To prevent revealing herself by using her power, she let go of Shard's hand.

In her left hand, she rattled the silver metallic "Judge's Holy Bell" on her waist. Surrounded by bell sounds that no one could hear, Miss Beyas raised her right hand:

"Sunlight Gun!"

Golden lightning gathered in her palm, strangely silent without any crackling noise. The golden glow illuminated the entire area, inside and out, and then Miss Beyas forcefully shot the golden lightning deep into the underground warehouse.

Shard and Miss Annette, still invisible, quickly entered the warehouse and stood on the downward steps, closing the large door behind them. They placed the Silence Charm at their feet to ensure no sound escaped to the outside world.

Crossing the charm, they could hear the hissing of steam and the ringing of bells, signs of the Ring of Fate manifesting.

Coming from the dark into the gas lamp-lit warehouse, Shard instinctively squinted. Miss Annette, however, could not afford such a luxury; she immediately let go of Shard and rushed down the steps to help Miss Beyas inside the warehouse.

Paper boxes were stacked inside the warehouse, some even reaching the ceiling, forming mazes of boxes in the vast underground space.

At the bottom of the stairs, Miss Annette and Miss Beyas stood side by side with the Ring of Fate emerging behind them. In front of them, a bald man with a scar on his right eye gloomily clutched his left arm, wounded by the Sunlight Gun.

In such a situation, there was no need for useless talk like "who are you." The man reached out, his Ring of Fate, indicative of a Five-Ring Sorcerer, spinning rapidly, the Spiritual Light tracing out circular lines that flickered in the steam mist.

Shard counted down in his mind and took out the "Ancient Witch's Golden Necklace" from his pocket. Temporarily biting the candle, he used both hands to place the necklace around his neck.

Meanwhile, Miss Beyas hurled another golden lightning bolt as though to pierce the void. The scar-faced man slightly bent his knees and then vanished into thin air.

The shining golden lightning struck the paper boxes, leaving scorch marks on the walls. As pieces of paper scattered from the blasted boxes, Miss Annette tossed another coin, a determined look in her purple eyes:

"Left."

Miss Beyas lightly shook the bell in her left hand—

Ding-dang~

Her left foot stamped the ground, a shockwave of gold light radiating from her feet towards the left. Piles of boxes toppled down, and at the same time, the man's figure reappeared:

"You're all Low Ring Sorcerers, how dare you..."

He swung his right hand, landing a punch in the air towards Miss Annette. With a dull thud, the Female Diviner spat out blood, fell back a step, and collapsed motionless on the steps. He then tried to punch towards Miss Beyas through the air, but the enemy's appearance also gave Miss Beyas the chance to look at him directly:

"Balance!"

Yellow light spread out from his eyes, and with the sound of a bell, another bolt of golden lightning flew out.

The man with the scarred face tried to disappear into the air as he had before, but bending over only made his legs vanish:

"What? What power is this?"

He lay on his side to dodge the Sunlight Gun, but then a silver glimmer suddenly burst from his side. Unable to evade, he could only brace himself with both arms, after which he saw the splendid, dreamlike silver radiance.

Just a moment's distraction caused a mercurial sheen to emerge on his arms as he tried to block the Silvermoon Slash, but the Moonlight was unaffected, severing his right arm as easily as cutting through a carrot.

The severed arm had a bizarrely smooth cross section, and blood only began to spurt out after it hit the ground.

"Aah!"

The man with the scarred face howled and suddenly leaped up, while Shard, whose body had materialized due to using Arcane Technique, immediately retreated. Candlelight flickered, and he vanished once more.

The man braced himself with one hand on the ground, his whole body trembling, as a terrifying black mist burst from his pores and enveloped him:

"Do you... really know who you are dealing with?"

His body dissolved completely into the mist, and then a huge, ghastly ghost face, accompanied by the terrifying black fog, surged upwards. It seemed as though countless grotesque faces were howling within the black mist while almost hundreds of souls seemed to wail within the giant ghost face.

A chilling wind weaved through the enclosed basement and whispers filled the air, making the room's light grow weaker. Shard felt his stamina rapidly draining away as the black mist absorbed life.

"This is a Necromancy Arcane Technique, 'Avatar of Ghost Mist.' I know who he is now! The Five-Ring Sorcerer Gost Mount of the Blood of Mercury, with a bounty of 300 pounds. Be careful, do not let that mist touch you,"

Miss Beyas shouted loudly as she hurled another bolt of golden thunder at the mist, which only evaporated part of the black fog. The girl with brown long hair clenched her teeth:

"Damn, we must attack that mist together, single-point attacks are useless."

"It's okay, he doesn't have the power of a Five-Ring Sorcerer right now, watch this!"

Miss Annette lying on the stairs struggled to remove the butterfly-shaped hair accessory from her hair and tossed it into the air. Translucent blue butterflies kept emerging from the hair accessory and tangled with the ghost face-swathed black mist.

To their astonishment, the black mist was actually being consumed by the blue butterflies, but the ghost face did not care. It roared and, dragging its smoky tail, lunged toward where Shard had vanished. Apparently, it could tell that of all the people here, the young man was the weakest.

"He brought it on himself! Good opportunity, Detective!"

"Silvermoon!"

A supreme silver glimmer surged from the fingertips, sweeping across the room like an erupting sun. As the light shimmered, the black mist disintegrated like ice under the sun, and the ear-piercing roar nearly ruptured Shard's eardrums, but the ghost face still desperately lunged at him.

Subconsciously, he thought to use the Illusion Technique to hide, but soon he saw Miss Beyas with her eyes closed, somehow rushing over.

Raising her right fist high, even though the golden glow on her fist was completely overpowered by the silver radiance, Shard did not doubt the power of that punch:

"Sun Fist!"

Miss Beyas's fist punched straight through the ghost face in front of Shard, and the blue butterfly swarm that Miss Annette had thrown followed the fist into the ghost face.

A cold wind gushed from the big hole in the ghost face, and if the crying sound hadn't been silenced by the charm, it would have echoed through the entire block.

In front of the ghost face, Shard clenched the luxurious necklace around his neck, feeling an enhancement in strength. The glow at his fingertips quickly faded, but his entire palm was glowing.

He swung forward that dazzling light:

"Silvermoon Slash!"

It was as if all the light had been compressed into that arc of Moonlight. The crescent-shaped Light Blade left a radiant trace in the air, cutting straight through the butterfly-entangled ghost face, silently leaving a perfect crescent mark on the wall opposite. Read exclusive content at My Virtual Library Empire

The black mist dispersed, the chilling wind and the creepy whispers vanished, and the gas lamp's light enveloped the area once again.

The blue butterfly swarm returned to the injured Miss Annette's hands, reverting to the butterfly-shaped hair accessory. The scarred-faced man's bisected corpse appeared amidst the dissipating ghost face, tumbling at Shard's feet.

Shard breathed heavily, calculating the time; from opening the door to the end of the fight, it lasted only half a minute.