Rushing through the fortress, Glyn and Xia Bai rush ahead. Xia Bai carries Glyn as she flies the pair rushing towards the center of the makeshift castle. The fortress was carved into a mountain with the center of the fortress being the very top of the mountain itself. Climbing higher, they reach an enormous set of iron doors with Xia Bai letting Glyn down. At his signal, she smashes into the doors, knocking them down and revealing the makeshift throne room within.

  A large chair sits inside on a long shining rug with torches illuminating the room. Glyn enters, looking around as Xia Bai follows behind him, keeping her hand on her blade. Two paths connect to the room, but both are covered by debris as Glyn and Xia Bai look around.

  “Looks like they abandoned the place.” Xia Bai says.

  Glyn turns around. “Where would these paths lead?”

  “Glyn?”

  “One has to lead to their airship. It’s where they're hiding, Mila. I can’t sense her too well, but I know that’s where she is.”

  “How do you know the Leeches haven’t taken her like they did, Isaac?”

  “They wanted her as a sacrifice because of the immense amount of Mana she holds. It also makes it difficult, if not impossible, to possess her. It's why they didn’t do it to Morgan or her family, or yourself, for that matter. Their Mana levels were too high for that.”

  Xia Bai sighs. “And Isaac couldn’t even use magic himself. Made him perfect for a host, I guess.”

  “Sadly.”

  “You don’t have to wear kid gloves around me. As soon as we can get rid of these Leeches, I can properly put Isaac to rest. So, let’s hurry up and find these assholes.”

  “I’m sorry to hear you say that Xai Bai.” Looking up, the pair spot Sebastian hanging on the ceiling by his wires.

  Xia Bai roars, shooting out a burst of flames that rocket upwards. Sebastian forms a cocoon around himself, falling through the flames. As he approaches the ground, he unravels the cocoon and reveals himself. After dusting himself off, he smiles at the pair and bows towards Glyn.

  “Good day, dear Glyn Mattox.”

  “So, you know who I am now?”

  “Yes. Forgive my rudeness for earlier. I normally don’t care about lesser beings such as Humans but that delectable smell coming off of you drew my attention.” He says.

  Glyn smirks. “It’s interesting to be discriminated against for being Human for once. Normally I get that for being Half-Human.”

  “Hey don’t engage with this guy!” Xia Bai yells, reaching for her sword with Glyn holding out his hand to block her. “What’re you….”

  “Where is Mila?”

  “Straight to the point, I see.” He smiles. “And if we say she’s dead?”

  “Not a chance. You couldn’t sacrifice her if she was dead, not to mention I can still see her life with the King Piece.”

  He laughs as his Queen Piece appears in the palm of his hand. “Handy little things. To think the Humans would cook up such a useful tool. Almost makes me not want to wipe you out. Almost.”

  “Wanting revenge for the war, I take it?”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “Oh no. I wasn’t even around for that. I hatched sometime later. Off of the braindead body of the Great One.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yes. During the war apparently, the Great One was a Demon who took pity on us Leeches, allowing us to live and broad on his body. When he raided Human settlements, we’d spread out and search the area, taking out weaker Humans for him. He was called the Leech Lord back then.”

  “Leech Lord?” Glyn pauses. “I’ve heard of a similar Demon. A low-ranking Demon who terrorized the northern lands during the age of strife.”

  “Yes. That was the original identity of the Great One. He was attacked by a wandering warrior who beat him by destroying his head and leaving behind his corpse.”

  “I’m guessing while its head was destroyed, parts of its brain were still around and its heart was still beating.”

  Sebastian smirks. “Smart. Yes, the Leech Lord did indeed live, but his primary brain was destroyed, leaving him immobile and barely functional. But our ancestors still lived. They worked hard to keep the Great One alive all the while sacrificing ourselves or wandering Humans to our Lord.”

  “All until you happened upon a strange girl and a boy in the woods. You decided then and there to attack, taking one’s body and tricking the girl into helping you and putting her name on everything you do.” Glyn laughs. “You’ve all but signed her death warrant.”

  “Well, I have to try. The original of this body still screams, begging me to let her go. It brings me great pleasure to torment him even at this very moment he’s screaming from inside.”

  Glyn stares ahead with a dour expression on his face. “I knew Demons were the worst kind of beings, but you have to be the worst of the worst.”

  “I try.”

  “Yes, and while you're trying, you’ve lost track of someone.”

  Sebastian looks past Glyn to see no one behind him. His eyes widen as he moves his fingers, trying to form a barrier of his wires.

  “To slow!” Xia Bai yells behind Sebastian.

  She thrusts a claw forward, stabbing into his side as he winces in pain. Stumbling away, she takes her sword and swings at Sebastian. He wraps her sword amidst string and tightens it, slicing through the blade with his razor wires. But undeterred, she presses on, taking in a breath and shooting out a burst of flames.

  Sebastian is enveloped by the flames but smashes the wall behind him to escape. The flames die down, with Glyn and Xia Bai looking out through the hole at a large saucer sitting behind the mountain. Sebastian falls, and using his wires, latches onto the side of the saucer. Glyn stares at the ship, noticing the large black mass sitting in the middle of the saucer.

  “Xia Bai, we have to move now!” He yells out.

  “Huh?”

  “That’s the airship. If we sit around any longer, they're going to get away!”

  “But what about….”

  “There’s no time. Anluan can catch up with the others, and the Shadow has their own mission to fulfill. But we need to get on that thing because if we let it get away Mila and Morgan are going to die. And that thing is going to wake up.”

  Xia Bai stares at Glyn and nods. “Right.”

  “Let’s move!”

  “Fine, but I’m going to move faster now. So don’t bite your tongue!”

  Xia Bai opens her wings and grabs onto Glyn. She flies off, charging towards the round airship. The saucer lights up and slowly lifts off of the ground. Floating into the air, Sebastian lands on the airship’s outside observation deck. Opening the door, he turns to see Xia Bai and Glyn, and smiles.

  “Fire now!” He declares.

  Xia Bai charges towards the ship as the ship’s cannons focus on her. They fire as she pushes forward, carrying Glyn as they move towards the airship. She struggles to dodge the attacks as the blasts get closer and closer to blowing her from the sky. As she gets in close, she flies over the airship, noticing a hole in the ship.

  “Glyn!”

  “Do it!”

  She takes a breath and moves for the hole, only for a cannon blast to hit her, dropping her from the sky. Just before she takes the hit, she drops Glyn as he aims towards the hole. Sliding in, he slips past the attack, watching as Xia Bai falls and clenching his teeth.

  “Sorry.” He whispers.

  With that, the airship lifts taking off into the sky and hovering over the island. As it floats, it unleashes a torrent of blasts and cannon fire down on the island and the village on it. Homes and buildings explode into flames as everything is enveloped by the flames, leaving no trace behind. All the while, Morgan stands on the bridge of the airship, looking down at the destruction below her. She grips her fist cautiously with Lois and Oscar at her side, speaking calming words into her ears. All the while doing their best to hide their sadistic smiles.

  “Now everything is ready.” Sebastian says walking into the room.

  Morgan turns to him, seeing him bleeding from his side and his uniform burned on the edges. “Sebastian. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. But that aside, we have more important things to do.” He says, waving away her concerns.

  “What?”

  He smiles. “It’s time to awaken the Great One. It’s time to make you the true Queen of this land.”