The man blurred forward as he attacked.

His chains came with him, moving faster than the three Awakeners watching the Adepts could even track.

The spear tips of the chains were stained with blood, showing that it had been the weapon that had injured Baldwin.

In that same instant, Baldwin displayed why he was an Adept, dropping down to the ground fast enough to duck under the chain attack.

The spear tips of the chains slammed deeply into the spectator wall behind him, hard enough to drive them three feet deep.

In the same instant, Baldwin’s hands closed around the chains and he wrenched it down, anchoring them in place.

"Morgana!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, not caring that she was standing just a few meters away.

However, as if she could read his mind, Morgana already knew what he wanted.

She raised her hand towards the sky and activated [Call Lightning].

The bolt came down with such speed, it was as if it had been waiting for this moment. Like always, there was no buildup, just a flash of light as it descended.

The cultist saw it coming and threw himself to the side, trying to dodge it.

But he’d forgotten something important. His chains. Baldwin was still grabbing on to them, holding him in place.

The lightning hit.

His scream filled the arena as his muscles locked in place, every fiber seizing at once as the electricity ran through his body.

On any other day, an S-rank Awakener’s [Call Lightning] would have been manageable for an Adept. Painful, yes, but not much more than that.

But Baldwin was a [Cleric].

He activated his buff skill in the same instant, his power flowing into Morgana’s attack and amplifying it, pushing the output past what an Awakener’s skill should have been able to produce.

The lightning climbing the cultist’s nervous system suddenly hit with the same strength as an Adept ranked skill.

Being originally an Awakener skill, it wasn’t strong enough to kill him. But it was enough to give Baldwin the opening he needed.

The man ignored the electricity traveling back up the chains into his hands, filing the stinging pain away to the back of his mind as he dashed forward.

The cultist tried to stand, but his legs trembled, failing him at the critical moment. His eyes widened as his muscles locked in place, and he dropped to his knees on the floor.

Baldwin’s hands wrapped around his head.

"Fuck off, you bastard."

Then he crushed it.

Blood and brain matter sprayed into the air, and Morgana stepped back quickly, her expression scrunching up in displeasure.

"Ewww. Could you not have done that more cleanly?"

"Apologies, my lady." Baldwin inclined his head. The expression on his face was composed and respectful.

But one could almost see the barely imperceptible smile on his face.

Then suddenly, a massive boom rolled in from the direction of the city, shaking the air around them.

The battle between Adepts was still going on.

***

As Barlas flew across the sky above Havenhart with his flight [Item], he saw the full picture of what was happening to his city.

Death was everywhere.

The streets below were filled with chaos as everyone fought between the buildings, most forced to fight in close quarters.

He could see his Awakeners pushing back against cultists who had appeared from seemingly every corner of the city all at the same time.

It was clear that the Brotherhood hadn’t sent a simple raiding party.

What they’d sent was a significant fighting force that had to be a large number of what they had on hand.

And the worst part? They’d attacked at the exact moment when every capable fighter in Havenhart was either inside the stadium or guarding the dungeons.

They’d put much thought into the attack.

He flew over a market district where a cluster of D-rank Awakeners were holding a street intersection against attackers twice their number, and had to push down his instincts to go down and help them.

He kept flying.

He couldn’t use his skills at street level without the collateral damage of killing citizens who were still in the area.

And he couldn’t leave the Adept-level threats in the sky to handle Awakeners when they were the more pressing problem.

Some of his people would die because he flew past them, but that was the reality of the situation, and sitting with it was one of the things nobody told you about the position until you were already in it.

His eyes moved across the city’s rooftops and tallied what he already knew.

The Adept auras that had been released today, including his own, Le Fay’s, Baldwin’s, and the cultists’, would have been broadcasted across a wide radius around the city.

Any Adept-ranked beast within range would have felt it.

This meant Havenhart would be dealing with surprise incursions from that tier of threat for at least a month before the residual energy faded enough to stop drawing attention.

A problem for after today. If there was an after today.

He finally crested the outer districts and found the battle he was looking for.

Le Fay was there, his sword of darkness flashing in the air as he held his own against two Brotherhood Adepts who were trying to fight him from opposite sides.

The moment saw the two Adepts, he recognized their aura. They were A-rank.

This wouldn’t be a problem if not for the fact that he himself was a C-rank Adept.

He gritted his teeth and descended anyway.

This was his city. He won’t leave its protection to someone else.

As he arrived, he pulled his fist back and punched.

The space around his gauntlet distorted, reality bending around it, and the attack traveled through compressed distance to slam into the nearest Adept despite the gap between them.

The man was sent flying sideways, unprepared for the attack.

Barlas snapped his other hand’s fingers, the metal of the gauntlet producing a low ring in the air.

The space between Le Fay and the second Adept collapsed, the distance folding in an instant, and Le Fay was suddenly inside the man’s guard before either of them had moved.

Le Fay’s sword flashed upwards in a slash.

The Adept twisted enough to avoid the killing blow, but the blade opened a deep wound across his torso and blood sprayed through the air.

Le Fay glanced sideways at Barlas, a wide grin on his face.

"About damn time," he said.