Priam was the first to move. He opened a box and put on the ill-fitting gear with all the briskness that came with his age. Finding me staring at him unblinking, his lips parted, "What? You said we should wear them."

There was no point arguing with him. So I shook my head and helped myself to a few pieces. With [Band of Protection], there was little these centurion sets could provide me, so I only donned a pair of gauntlets and vambraces before finding my way to a blade that channelled Lightning. An exquisite, Prestigious piece that had an inner core to supply enough essence for the conjuration.

Making sure it had enough charge left, I turned to Aleya. My eyes finally fell on the set in its entirety. Their styles differed greatly, lacking the finishing touch which I was supposed to provide tonight. Various rune lines and characters were visible and recognisable on her armour, most prominent on the back, where the gear hadn't clamped on perfectly.

Swiftly, I reached her and shuffled a few pieces, nudged a few around as they clamped onto her body evenly.

"Sheesh, the kneecaps are a little tight, as you said," she said, her face hidden behind the obsidian glass of her helm.

Unlike most other sets, which left the front of the face open and featured many decorations, Aleya preferred hers to be more plain. But that did not mean the see-through tempered glass was cheap. It was one of the more expensive components after the essence cells.

Stooping down, I released a small lever, which loosened the kneecaps by a few centimetres. I repeated the action for her elbows. "Better?"

Aleya stretched her limbs, which she had been unable to do a moment ago. "A lot."

With that, I brought out the Noble Class sabre and fastened it magnetically to her back. The quiver full of metal arrows and a bow hung similarly.

"As for turning it on," I said, flicking my fingers to catch the small red chain hanging loose at the side of her neck. "You can do so by infusing aura, or by pulling this chain."

With that, my essence threads yanked on the red chain. The small chain pulled back into the Stormguard set, and soon the runes on the armour vibrated and thrummed into life, golden light bursting out to cover her fully in a protective forcefield.

"This feels..." Aleya said, "a bit weird."

Priam appeared fully draped in a black plate. He tentatively ran his finger towards the forcefield, feeling the obstruction.

"It's like current running," he said, jolting his finger away.

I had already inspected the functionality a few times, but did so again, Fractal Sight telling me all the runes in the formation were working as effectively as they could.

"For levitation," I continued, "press your aura slowly onto the thrusters. There are six of them—a pair in your arms and legs, and two larger ones on your back."

The obsidian helm inclined a little before her reddish aura flashed out. At once, her figure hurtled upwards and crashed into the ceiling.

"I said slowly," I muttered. "You are not using your aura to fly, but using it to control the extent of the released force."

Even if she was embarrassed, the black obsidian glass hid her expression completely.

On the other side, Delric and the headmaster had finished putting on their sets—a hulking Bastion set on Delric, and a more restrained Sentinel plate on Larius. The sets suited them far better than they did Priam.

"I think we have wasted enough time here," said the headmaster, his voice coming more gravelly through the helm. "Come, before more of those creatures catch the scent of us."

I did not know whether these demons could smell humans, but I did not challenge the headmaster. Nobody did. One by one, we departed the house, the headmaster taking the lead.

Both the Bastion and Sentinel sets allowed for faster movement speed, even though they could not fly as effortlessly as the Stormguard set. Yet Larius did not activate any of those functions, nor did he allow Aleya to try levitation once we were outside.

"Not a time to try something you have no experience in," he said before Aleya could ask him why.

"Then how are we going to move?"

"Follow my lead," he said, having a telekinetic connection to each of us, though he did not yet lift us into the air. With the addition of the boxes and the gear, it would be a tremendous exertion even for a Prestigious Shaper.

We moved on foot first, covering only a couple of hundred metres before we came across the horrid abominations. Delric was ready with a large bastard sword, but the headmaster pulled him back.

"Do not engage."

He also lifted the Octavius siblings into the air before turning to me. "Go straight to the Sacrarium."

I nodded solemnly, despite my grip on the Lightning blade. With my figure joining the siblings, only Delric and he remained on the ground. They dealt with the few devourers before moving as fast as they could.

Unfortunately, the demons could truly smell us, and the rising screeches only alerted more of them. In no time, they were surrounded by at least the number that had encircled Eran and me in the wild. And their numbers only rose.

Looking down, I considered joining. I was not trying to play hero. No, I had already killed a number of demons in the mountains. Despite having been out of my depth in most of the conflict, I was sure to perform better, having a clear idea of what these demons could do. Moreover, I was better armed, my form at its peak of power.

While I was being indecisive, Father's figure landed behind us, awaiting our approach. His presence lifted the pressure off the headmaster, as they could withdraw without a hitch. The common devourers barely faced Ouroboros before they were sliced into two or three pieces. The elites were no different, though they proved to be a bit more difficult. Thankfully, there were not many of them.

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Then the sun went down, and another chorus of cries joined the grotesque ghouls.

Hundreds upon hundreds of bat-like creatures swooped down from the mountains, carrying the gloomy darkness with them. Their wide bat wings shrouded the sky above us, their hideous forms only outdone by the rotting stench they carried.

The night fell suddenly, shattering the last shred of prudence from the demons. The devourers shrieked, black plumes surfacing all about their bodies, the horrid reek permeating throughout the valley. However, more damning were the blighted cries reverberating from the mountains. They struck our minds like bludgeons, causing splitting headaches.

"Gahh!" Priam cried, the most frail in the mental department, followed by his sister.

"Blighted ashes!" cursed Delric, and many of us, including me, shared the feeling.

Despite their lack of strength, corpse flies were a far greater threat than a legion of devourers could ever be. Their blistering speed made it many times more difficult to hunt them than your common demons, while the fact that they always moved in a swarm only added to the adversity.

"Don't look back!" Father shouted. "GO!"

The corpse flies varied in size; the smallest were no larger than a couple of feet, while the largest were larger than a devourer.

Father's sword extended forward as tidal waves surged all around him, blasting towards the incoming flies. Most of the eager ones were blasted apart, their wiry wings punctured and torn apart by the sword force.

But there were swarms of them, and Father could not stop them all.

The larger ones were swifter too, their wings unfurling to cover several metres. They tore through the sky, completely unscathed, ignoring Father to rush at us.

Even with the boots running on the third acceleration, I could barely match their pace. With the little head start, we had barely kept the aerial horrors on our tail for a few moments.

A number of fireballs and fire arrows streaked across the sky to strike at the hideous monstrosities. The headmaster's spells could not kill them, the creatures were too fast to be struck by them. They hardly even slowed them down, and in that stretch of time, we covered a few dozen metres.

Father's silhouette tore through the demon bats to approach us. A number of them settled on him, while many of the weaker ones dispersed into the valley to sate their hunger.

I hope Mum's done with erecting the barrier already.

As Father hurtled towards me, I cast wind blades at the creatures impeding Priam. With their wings torn, the corpse flies fell, only to be replaced by more of them.

With the headmaster focused on the corpse flies, their pace had diminished greatly. So much so that Aleya activated the kinetic thrusters on her braces and back to escape his telekinesis. She shot towards her brother, but her inexperience in dealing with the Stormguard set launched her too far back.

I took her place, the blade ready in my right hand, its edge fizzling with white sizzling lightning. It cleaved through the dark wing with barely an effort before I hurtled over it to clutch onto a shrieking Priam.

"Get on my back," I shouted, dozens of threads imbued with wind force impeding the corpse flies around us.

Priam did not listen, or was in no position to—I could not discern which. He clutched to me as though afraid of falling.

"Land me!" he cried. "Help me down! I can outrun them."

If only I had the luxury... Dozens of corpse flies, a couple of massive ones, thrust at us, the only thing fending them off being the lightning blade.

Every once in a while, a fiery harpoon launched out of me and punctured through their hideous forms. The mammoth flies were more shrewd. They evaded the spells and attacked with supersonic cries. Even at the height of my mental acuity, the sonic boom assailed me. Only the [Band of Protection]'s fullest defence could obstruct the psionic attack.

Father's sword moved, blasting out sword rays that burst in different directions, killing multiple targets surrounding me, black tar-like blood spraying in the air. Three massive corpse flies were already swooping down on him from different directions. Even together, they could not pose much threat to him; they only hindered him from approaching us.

With Priam weighing me down, I could not outrun the flying demons. Throughout the conflict, Aleya drifted from one direction to another. Her sabre did cleave through a few demons, but her frustration must be mounting when she could barely help her brother to safety.

At least the boy stopped shrieking, relieved that no matter how many corpse flies crashed onto us, the forcefield would stand. The massive creatures could only push us—anything more was beyond their capabilities.

If only everyone were so fortunate.

Headmaster Larius had to drop the hardwood boxes he was carrying to put everything into defending Delric. The Bastion plate was the heaviest, and despite it having enough power to warrant such weight, Delric was getting none of it, already pushed down by devourers and corpse flies alike.

The headmaster's fire spells were barely effective, with their arcane resistance being sky-high in the darkness. The larger demons stopped even evading the attacks. Only Father's sword aura was effective against them.

The lightning blade in my palm could be of some use, but those blighted bats did not let me drive it into their hideous forms.

The only thing I could do now to help was to leave with Aleya and Priam. As long as I was safe, Father could put all his attention into saving others. If I joined with Aleya, it would not be impossible.

But the girl was already impeded by a mammoth corpse fly, her sword and arrows proving hopeless against it. The enormous demon had its maw locked on her, a grotesquely mosquito-like tongue rolling out to phase through the forcefield which had been keeping her alive so far. Unlike my Artifact, its defence was more fragile.

I charged with full force, even activating Haste to strike with a lightning blast. The creature had no time to evade, nor could it defend. That was what I thought, when its wings enveloped its body, a pervasive dark aura enveloping it.

The lightning charge faded into the chthonic gloom, failing to deal any damage at all. The dark wings unfurled as it swirled about with Aleya in its maw.

Cerulean blue flames surged forth from me, aiming towards its skeletal frame. The creature veered to the side, evading effortlessly. Not only that, its wiry wings swatted at us. Even with Haste, I barely evaded by a hair.

I was at my wits' end on how to help Aleya. I was too far below its rank to be any good at fighting it. Priam's continuous shouting in my ears did not help at all. The demon's palm penetrated the forcefield, preparing to devour all her blood and essence.

Father's sword rays hurtled towards it, a fiery sword that should have cleaved through its body entirely. But the creature was shrewd beyond its species. It did not attack me anymore and flew all the way up, escaping the range of the aura swords.

Priam's cries subsided. A teardrop fell on my shoulder.

Father, still impeded by other demons, was on the brink of releasing his Soulward when golden light burst forth from the Sacrarium.

A golden road paved by Mum's domain of Influence and essence threads punctured through the gloom to land on me. Dozens upon dozens of threads cascaded over me protectively.

It did not stop there—a path diverged and went upwards to strike the massive demon, tens of glaring threads invading its body like needles. It cried, its twisted maw letting go of Aleya, but that did not wash away its sins. Its miserable cries echoed in the valley, its wiry form twisted, contorted from the inside and outside simultaneously, until finally it exploded into golden lustre and gore.

Despite my shock, I did not forget to launch forward to catch Aleya. But Mum was even faster. A few of her threads caught her and kept her hovering in the air. Any other creatures that even dared approach us ended in the same miserable state, their wings torn apart, bodies twisted from the inside out until they exploded.

The most horrifying part of it was that she was manipulating it all from a mile away. Even with my gift assisting me to manipulate my Influence, it would take me years to display a fraction of what she showed.

The essence threads pulled us towards the temple, while the demons exploded all around us in bursts of golden flare, as though the festival had come a little earlier this year.

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