Chapter 261 – Floor 52: Part 2

  Mathew’s first ‘Red Edict’ had become a bloodbath.

  It turns out that when you tell every Aether-Blooded person in a city the size of New York to look for a particular group, results happen quickly. It was only a few hours after Mathew, Lila, and Adelaide had left the Highborn’s mansion that reports came in that the Ashen Pact were holed up in an abandoned Power Plant in Brooklyn.

  Unfortunately for Mathew, Lila was not interested in participating in the hunt. As a Grand Elder, she could opt out and have her subordinates assist instead. As for Adelaide, the Elder would normally be right at Mathew’s side for this event, but Lila had forbidden her from assisting him as well.

  No, Clan Exaltis felt that this was a perfect opportunity for Mathew and a handful of other ‘Juniors’ to take the lead, with the Champion Dimitris overseeing the hunt with them.

  That was how Mathew found himself standing on a Brooklyn street in the rain with several other members of his clan while Dimitris explained what they could expect.

  Dimitris reminded Mathew of someone who had experienced hardship and death and came out loving every moment of it. He had an aura of menace about him, and the hint of insanity Mathew saw in his dark eyes was unsettling.

  The Exaltis Champion was tall and wiry, with bags under his eyes and an unshaven face; he looked like he had been staying awake for far too long and indulged in alcohol and drugs while doing so. He was pale and unhealthy but moved with a predator-like grace that made Mathew instantly wary of the man.

  “Remember, you keep what you kill. Put these bastards in the ground and drain every drop of Aether from their bodies. Don’t show them any mercy.” Dimitris reminded them, before he walked away and joined with several other higher-ranked members of Clan Exaltis that would be approaching the power plant together.

  The Power Plant was a hulking relic of New York’s industrial past with a red-brick exterior that was weathered by decades of neglect. The main structure rose in front of them like a tomb, its walls streaked with soot and graffiti. The brick was crumbling in a large number of places to reveal the steel framework beneath.

  There were four smokestacks that hadn’t been used in years; the concrete was discoloured and pitted. Broken windows and shards of glass caught the light from the few working streetlamps still functioning despite the lack of maintenance.

  The plant’s grounds leading up to the building were a wasteland of rusted machinery, overgrown weeks and pools of water from the rain. Massive pipes snaked out from the building like iron veins that twisted through the ground and disappeared into the cracked asphalt.

  Beneath the surface, there were tunnels and maintenance shafts that had once led into the facility, but they had been sealed off, forcing the attackers to make the dangerous journey across the yard to reach the main building where the Ashen Pact were fortified.

  Why the Ashen Pact didn’t try to run at the declaration of the Red Edict was simple. If they succeeded in releasing the power held within the Sacred Vessel, there would be nothing that any of the forces in the city could do to stop them. The Ashen Pact would become the dominant force and flip the script on the highborn.

  The hunted would become the hunters.

  The air around the abandoned power plant crackled with tension, and the only sound was the pitter-patter of raindrops. They all waited impatiently for the signal to proceed, and Mathew took a moment to assess those around him.

  They wielded a variety of weapons, from automatic rifles, handguns and shotguns to knives, baseball bats and even swords. Some people looked like professional soldiers wearing camo and bulletproof vests, while others seemed like they had just rolled out of bed and put on a hoodie and jeans.

  Surprisingly, there seemed to be armoured knights and warriors that looked like they had just climbed out of a storybook and went to war. Mathew could smell the Aether in the air; the spice was strong from the many Aether-enhanced people gathered in a single spot.

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  But there was also a sizzling, sharp sensation that came from mana and magic, something that Mathew hadn’t experienced in a while, that told him that this battle wouldn’t just be fought with guns and weapons, but spells and Blessings as well.

  The battle itself erupted suddenly in a cacophony of violence. Mathew wasn’t sure who started firing first or where it began, but the fighting happened before the signal was given. The Ashen Pact, entrenched within their building that had been converted into a fortress, responded to the first wave of attackers crossing the yard by unleashing devastation upon them.

  From the moment the first person stepped into the plant’s perimeter, they were met with a hailstorm of bullets. Automatic gunfire rattled through the grey, misty rain; the muzzle flashes lighting up the shadows while the clang of ricocheting rounds filled the air with a shriek.

  Soon, both sides were firing at each other, and Mathew couldn’t hear much besides the loud booms of explosions, the constant gunfire and the angry or pained-filled shouts.

  Rather than wade through the chaos, Mathew waited while taking shelter behind a building just back from the yard and watched for an opening. He wanted to complete his objective and reap the rewards, but he was also aware that trying to reach the Ashen Pact now would be suicide.

  Even with their Aether-Enhanced abilities, Mathew saw people getting riddled with bullets. Their increased physical strength and endurance may allow them to dodge a few bullets or take a direct hit once or twice, but against this level of violence, they would be practically defenceless.

  The attack progressed for a minute or two, with waves of people throwing themselves at the Ashen Pact defenders and slowly gaining ground as they moved across no-man’s land by sheltering behind pieces of machinery or other objects.

  But the Ashen Pact were prepared and soon countered with something Mathew hadn’t expected to see.

  The Pact’s monstrous creations soon joined the fray. Twisted amalgamations of flesh and bone, animated by Blood Magic and Flesh-Crafting, these monsters surged forward on unnatural limbs from the darkness of the Power Plant or burst from beneath the ground in the midst of the attacking forces.

  There were dozens of them, all larger than a person with distorted forms that had too many eyes, mouths or limbs. They screamed in rage or pain; their skin bled from lacerations and sores created during the procedures and experiments that birthed them.

  Each was unique and different from the others, lashing out with bone spikes or acidic bile. Mathew saw one that looked like a giant head with a mouth of razor-sharp teeth and two small, thick legs that propelled it forward, bit down on a man and lifted him into the air before swallowing him whole.

  Mathew could feel the Aether and Mana within them, and the Buzz exploded with a warning of the danger they presented.

  Amidst all the chaos of guns, explosions and monsters, supernatural forces collided. Fireballs began to illuminate the battlefield, exploding into fiery infernos that sent waves of heat washing over the combatants, humans and monsters alike.

  Streaks of lightning arced through the air in brilliant flashes that momentarily blinded those caught in its light before slamming down onto their targets with deafening thunderclaps. The Ashen Pact’s sorcerer hurled jagged shards of ice that detonated into shrapnel on impact or bursts of searing blood magic that coated everything it touched in a devouring liquid that could eat through the strongest metal.

  The attackers retaliated with their own arsenal of spells and Blood magic. Wards sprang up to protect them and deflect the hostile magics, and the monsters were driven back once more.

  The Power Plant itself seemed to come alive in the midst of the battle. The corroded machinery groaned as explosions rattled the foundations, and clouds of dust and sharps of rusted metal rained down. A wall collapsed onto both defenders and attackers, crushing everyone in its path. Steam hissed from ruptured pipes superheated by the fires.

  Mathew watched as hundreds fought in a desperate struggle for dominance; their roars and screams blended together into an unrelenting din of gunfire and magic. Blood soaked the ground, and the Aether gathered in a blue mist that refused to dissipate. Some would be absorbed, only to be released into the air once more as the casualties mounted. The air was thick with the stench of burnt flesh, sulphur, the spice of Aether and blood. For every monster that fell, or every Aether-enhanced human to perished, another took their place. For every Blood Mage or Sorcerer struck down, there was a new volley of devastating magic that rose in their stead.

  And Mathew watched it all without emotion, biding his time to act.

  He didn’t have to wait long before he spotted a lull, a slight pause that was nearly imperceivable to anyone who hadn’t experienced as many battles as he had. The sound of the guns and the magical explosions calmed just enough that Mathew knew his chance had come.

  Pushing himself forward with a burst of speed enhanced by every shred of mana he had, he crossed the yard in a flash. Ignoring his allies, Mathew spun around the large body of a hideous monster that appeared to be stitched together by a dozen different people and animals.

  Using it as cover, he waited for a moment as a fireball exploded just behind it, burning the monster. While it screamed in agony, Mathew was already moving, scrambling his way up a slope of debris formed from brick and concrete.

  In less than a minute, he was inside the Power Plant and heading deeper within the facility, where he could feel the pulsing Aether of the Sacred Vessel.