Siderius grabbed his belt and put on his sword.

He summoned the silver bracer and approached the door.

The knock echoed.

"Friend of foe?" Siderius said.

"It depends." A woman's voice echoed from the other side.

Siderius opened the door. In front of him was a woman in tight black leather clothing and a black crown that covered her eyes.

"You must be Lord Siderius Snow Satterblade." The woman said. "How did you even think of that name? It sounds even more royal than royalty."

"And you must be the Grove Burier?" Siderius said.

"You ask for my presence?" The woman said.

Siderius grinned from ear to ear. "It is impolite to not introduce yourself, Burier."

The woman bowed and lifted up her imagined dress. "Asphalt Firestone of Clan Firestone. At your service."

"Hmmm."

Siderius flipped the fire switch and pulled out his flaming sword.

Asphalt rotated her wrist then struck at Siderius' face. His sword went after but came at the same time at Asphalt's strike.

A ball of red fire appeared in Asphalt's palm. It collided with Siderius' fire sword. Her nails slammed on the blade but contrary to what she was thinking, the blade didn't break and instead, its gigantic force sent her flying backwards.

She landed in front of Siderius' safehouse.

Asphalt looked at her palm. Siderius' fire didn't burn her skin. But she was unable to leave any damage on the blade as well.

Her pupils dilated. She lifted her head to observe the hunter slowly walking down from the porch. His sword burned fiercely.

"That isn't fire oil... How is it able to burn?" Asphalt mumbled.

"You guess." Siderius smirked.

"Heh. I didn't think you were able to use fire magic. From what I learned from the Grove, your virtue is monstrosity. Which fire witch did you eat, Snow?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"It is prohibited to kill another one of our kind, Snow."

Siderius aimed his sword at Asphalt. "If you think I did something wrong, you can prove it in front of the Royal Court."

Asphalt smiled. She straightened her back and dusted off her knees.

"You are very powerful, Baron of Snowfell. I made a mistake sending Belle to check your little guild. Consider this an official apology from me."

"This doesn't seem like an apology."

"You are right. I come here for a request of cooperation. Blair Frere. Do you know him?"

"Heard of him, yes. And?"

"He was killed right here in Blacklungs. We don't know who killed him but you took over that little mortal assassin guild right after he died.

It just seems... I don't know. Too coincidental."

"Are you accusing me of killing Blair Frere?"

"Of course not, Baron. I just said that you are capable of killing him. Aside from you, I can't think of anyone that can do that."

"The Grove must have spells that can find the killer, yeah? If I did such a crime, why don't you use those spells to verify me?"

Asphalt grinned. She couldn't. Necromancy didn't work on Blair. No amount of magic could be traced at the scene either.

"Excuse me for disturbing you in the night, Baron of Snowfell. I will take my leave now."

Asphalt turned her back and went away. She looked back at Siderius once. "We will meet again, Snow."

She instinctively licked her lips then disappeared.

Siderius sheathed his sword.

'The Royal Court has noticed me. Along with the desire for Monstrosity I claim to have, I have become their prime suspect. But they have nothing to prove that it was me.

That Burier... Asphalt. She can be troublesome in the future. I should find an opportunity to kill her off.'

Siderius thought silently. He returned to the safehouse and slept. There was a long journey ahead.

Siderius intended to find the Chaos Bat first and get his first Sonara Mutation before going to Paratus.

The Chaos Bat lived in a cave system near Blacklungs. It was on the way to Paratus so Siderius had no conflict with visiting it.

Tomorrow morning. Siderius and Rea prepared for the journey again. Teddy came to say goodbye and swore that he would accomplish Siderius' plan as he wanted.

The road near Blacklungs was much more crowded than the roads the pair had traveled the last few weeks. Carriages and coaches were everywhere.

The travelers usually gave Siderius a look because of his appearance. That long white hair and the mask attracted a lot of attention.

The road became quieter and more deserted as the pair went deeper into the Rottin Woods.

They travelled an entire day and spent a night in the woods.

The pair arrived at the cave in the afternoon of the second day.

Siderius rode Red and stopped in front of a small cave entrance. The size of it was only slightly bigger than an adult.

Rea approached from behind. "Is this the place, my lord?"

Siderius took out his map and examined it closely. "Probably. Stay out here and guard the horses. I will go in on my own."

"Please be careful, my lord."

Siderius jumped off Red and went inside the cave entrance. His red eyes illuminated in the cave before turning dark completely, activating his night vision.

With the Blood Vision of the vampire, Siderius could clearly see every living being inside the cave. Most of them were insides and small rodents.

He walked inside deeper and deeper as the top of the cave went higher and the path became wide.

Then he saw it. A human-sized bat that hung itself upside-down on the ceiling of the cave.

Siderius squinted his eyes to observe the bat closely.

'It is actually very similar to a Winged Vampire.' Siderius thought silently.

Winged Vampire was a type of higher vampire that could transform into a bat-like monster. They were much more powerful than non-winged vampires, the species that Milla was.

Winged Vampire was considered a third-ranked or higher being, much more powerful than Siderius or any Witchling.

He placed his right hand on the Blazing Soul while his left hand drew the <Esturo> Sigil in the air.

The symbol lit up and infiltrated into the mind of the Chaos Bat. It let out a high shriek and fell down from the ceiling.

Siderius immediately pulled out Blazing Soul and jumped at the Chaos Bat. His flaming sword painted an orange stroke in the air.

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