Astra turned away, putting her back to every one else for a few moments before whirling back around and holding out a wine bottle to Seth. Lightning crackled within the glass confines of the bottle, as black storm clouds swirled around inside it like foam. They could even hear the faint rumbling of thunder coming from within the bottle with every crackle and spark of miniature lightning.

It was an entire storm contained within such a fragile container. Just another impossible thing to add to the list.

Seth graciously took the offer, listening to Angel's voice whisper in his ear as soon as his fingers brushed against the glass of the wine bottle.

[Lightning in a Bottle, Acquired]

He smiled softly as he gazed down at the bottle containing the impossible storm. He had already heard whispers of Astra's feat with the storm during her battle. Gossip, especially when it was about such things, travelled faster than even lightning itself. To think that even in the middle of battle, she had been thinking of him enough to collect part of the storm for him.

He was a truly lucky man.

It was just a shame that he had been disconnected from his puppets during the event. But he was sure that there would be countless videos of it he could watch later on and admire her. She had her own fan-club, after all. There was no way that they would ever fail to record an event such as that.

He was so focused on the bottle in his hand that he failed to ask the obvious question. Even if he was fully attentive, however, he had manners and class. He would never be so idiotic as to blurt out a question like,

"So where were you keeping that thing anyways? Don't tell me that you had it stashed up your a-"

Alfie's mouth was clamped shut by an electrifying death glare from Astra. Literally, her eyes sparked and crackled with electricity as her face twisted with a rage most foul, as she stared at the bespectacled young man as if she was trying to explode him with her mind.

Which would actually be a kind way to go, considering the things that Astra could actually do to people.

"I have a transportation gift you cretin. Kept in the place every woman knows is most secure."

She patted her chest, the ring on her finger clacking against her armour. Naturally she was talking about the pouch she kept in her bra. Although it contained all sorts of useful items, it was able to be stored completely flat.

However as she patted her chest, that pouch vanished into thin air.

Astra flinched at the feeling, glancing down at the screen that appeared before her eyes and then at the ring on her finger, which was currently glowing with an array of intricate runes around its band.

'Interesting...'

"Did you know that his ring was a storage gift too? There's all sorts of things in... is everything okay?"

She frowned softly at Seth, who was still looking at the wine bottle in his hand. Although she couldn't see his face behind the shadows of his hood, she could still almost sense how he was feeling. As if her eyes could pierce that veil and see the fact that he was pouting. He pouted a lot.

Clearing his throat, Seth lowered his hand and nodded softly.

"Yeah, fine. Let's see about this manor shall we? Need to make sure that there is nothing dangerous left in there. Plus, there is still someone else we need to collect."

Seth glanced at Woe, who was rubbing his cheeks in irritation to get rid of the multiple kisses Lea had left there, as she had finally gotten over her little greeting and returned to her serious self. Although, hopefully she wouldn't stay like that for long.

He clasped Astra's hand, who held a bunch of batteries in the other hand, before she lifted slightly off the ground and hovered alongside him as they headed inside the Lightbringers manor.

***

With the giant statue guarding them from outside, exploring the Lightbringers 'humble' manor brought with it little issue. Of course that didn't mean everything they found was pleasant. Far from it.

The bedroom, for starters, was enough to turn some stomachs and get some excited, depending on the person. A dozen women were inside, all in different forms of nudity or erotic dress.

Some were tied up in intricate devices made for specific tastes, while others were free to do as they wished. None of them seemed to be in any pain or forced into their positions, as much as you can be free to make a choice in a deluded sex cult. In fact the news that the Lightbringer had been slayed brought many of them to tears.

For some it was because they had geniunely fallen for the false god, or deluded themselves into thinking what they felt was the same as love. But for others, it was because they had lost their source of protection in this cruel world.

Those women in particular were quick to look for a new source, mainly in the arms of Seth and Alfie. But their attempts of seduction only led them to more danger, and the men had to end up pulling their women from the room before a massacre occured.

The fact that some of the Lightbringers... comfort women were sporting bulging stomachs was not lost on them. Those ones they would keep an eye on, for various reasons. The thought of a Lightbringer Jr. running around unsupervised was not pleasant.

In another room, not as grand as the master bedroom, they found Ava. Seth's other sister and the twin of his brother Woe. He had to restrain himself when it came to that reunion also, in more ways than one.

While Lea was giving her kisses and hugs enough for the both of them, Seth's eyes found themselves drifting towards the track marks on her arms. The marks left by needles.

The Lightbringers words, his gleeful mention of 'Natural resources' and his power boosting medicine swam around in Seth's mind at the sight of those markings, and his younger sisters pale and sickly complexion.

He was no medical expert, but even he was able to understand a simple fact. The Lightbringer had been bleeding her like a stuck pig. Draining of her of all of her blood and using it in his twisted medicine like she was just another ingredient, a juice box to be drained until it ran dry.

His fists trembled as he thought of all the horrible things she had been put through these last few months at the hands of that monster. If he could go back, he would have made his death far far slower.

Seth might not have felt anything during it, and it definitely wouldn't have made him feel better. But that bastard deserved more than a swift death.

Unable to show the brotherly love to his sister that she deserved, Seth instead searched the rest of the house for anything left of the Lightbringers twisted experiments. Which ultimately led him to the lone door in an empty corridor, with its guard still standing beside it.

The guard didn't stop Lord Corvus and his Queen when they entered, instead they bowed respectfully and stayed utterly silent as they opened the door, and exposed the dark pit behind.

A solitary staircase, leading down into the miserable and black depths of a strange basement.

As Seth descended into the basement, a wisp of harmless flame illuminating his way thanks to his [Life Lantern] the first thing that hit him was the stench.

He had smelt many dreadful things in his life, especially in the last few months, but this... this was something else. It was like the putrid stench of a rotting corpse dialled up to eleven, which was then rolled in fresh manure and left to rot in the sewers for a few months for good measure.

When that lovely sensory experience passed, the next thing he noticed was a soft and constant muttering alongside the rattling of chains. There were two voices in the dark. One was muttering constantly, rambling like a madman and letting out cackling laughs every few minutes.

But the other was soft, weak and resigned. As if it was speaking out of habit, even when it was completely drained of energy.

"Kill me... Please... Kill me... Please..."

Those three words, over and over. Nothing else. That was all it said, alongside the rambling madman.

This voice belonged to a monster that was chained to the wall, their head set ablaze with weak flames that barely stood out within the dark. The monster didn't raise its head, even when Seth walked right in front of it and brought its horrible, twisted body into the light. It simply leaned forwards, hands shackled to the wall and head hung, as it muttered endlessly the same three words.

When Seth approached, his foot kicked against bones, sending them skittering across the floor. Bones that belonged to the meal these monsters had been consuming. Bones that were not that of beast or monster, but human.

The muttering madman lunged from the dark, its twisted face illuminated by Seth's light as it warped into an insane smile that reached his ears. Wretched scars of infected wounds covered his forehead, spelling out the word 'Traitor' for all to see.

"YOU! It's you! The man in black. The man in black comes with the one armed man. WHERE?! WHERE IS THE ONE ARMED MAN?! TELL TELL TELL TELL! ONE ARMED MAN NEEDS TO DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!"

Seth tilted his head, letting out a soft sigh at the sight, as he summoned his sword into his hands.

A few minutes later, Seth strolled back down the corridor where Astra was floating and waiting for him, as he left no monsters alive. Not even the guards.

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