BOOM!

The Benelli M4 kicked against my shoulder, spitting out a spent shell casing.

Ten meters away, an Orc Warrior stumbled back, its chest cavity ruined by a magnum slug. It gurgled, green blood frothing at its lips, before collapsing heavily onto the pavement.

"Alicia, right side! Hellhound!" I shouted, racking the bolt. Clack-clack.

"Incinerate!"

Alicia spun, her wand tracing a complex glyph. A cone of searing flame erupted from the tip, engulfing a wolf-like demon that had been lunging for my neck. The beast yelped as it was turned to ash mid-air.

"We're clear!" she panted, wiping soot from her cheek.

"No," I said, checking my ammo count. "We're just moving to the next zone. Keep up."

We sprinted past the wreckage of the carousel. The park, once a vibrant paradise, was now a slaughterhouse. The smell of popcorn had been replaced by the stench of burning rubber, ozone, and iron.

[Meanwhile – Central Plaza]

"HAA!"

Kael's sword flashed, severing the arm of a masked cultist.

"Get back!" he roared to a group of terrified nobles behind him. "Go to the knights' checkpoint! Run!"

He was exhausted. Sweat stung his eyes. For every cultist he cut down, two more seemed to crawl out of the shadows. And now, the monsters were here.

"Kael!" Elisha screamed from atop a overturned carriage. "I'm out of arrows! My mana is running low!"

"Use the debris!" Kael shouted back, parrying a heavy blow from an Orc's club. The impact rattled his bones. "Just hold on! The knights have to break through soon!"

But deep down, he knew. The barrier was too strong. They were on their own.

[Food Court Sector]

"Heal! Healing Light!"

Mariella fell to her knees, her hands glowing with faint golden light. She pressed them against the chest of a bleeding merchant, knitting his wounds together.

"Thank you… thank you, Saintess…" the man gasped.

"Go! Hide in the kitchen!" she cried, pushing him away.

She tried to stand, but her legs gave out. Her vision swam.

'Mana depletion.'

She had healed too many people. Her reserves were dry.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Heavy footsteps vibrated through the floor.

Mariella looked up.

Standing over her was an Orc. It was missing an ear, and its eyes burned with sadistic hunger. It raised a spiked club, blotting out the sun.

"Ah…"

She scrambled backward, hitting a wall. There was nowhere to go. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the end.

BANG!

A thunderous roar shattered her eardrums.

Warm, wet liquid splattered across her face.

She didn't feel pain.

Slowly, she opened her eyes.

The Orc was still standing there… but its head was gone.

The massive body swayed for a second, then toppled sideways like a felled tree, revealing a figure standing behind it.

A grey suit. A cold expression. A strange, smoking black metal staff in his hands.

"L-Lucien?" she whispered.

I racked the shotgun, the mechanical sound sharp in the silence.

"Get up, Mariella," I said, walking past the corpse. "Unless you want to be dessert."

"I… I…" She stared at me, trembling. "My mana… I can't…"

"Drink this."

I tossed a blue vial at her. It wasn't a cheap student potion; it was a high-grade mana elixir from my personal stock.

She caught it, fumbling with the cork, and downed it in one gulp. Color returned to her cheeks.

"Why… why did you save me?" she asked, wiping the orc blood from her face.

"Because a dead healer is useless," I said bluntly. "And besides it's not like we are enemies, are we? Follow me."

I didn't wait for her answer. I turned and started running.

Mariella hesitated for a fraction of a second, then scrambled to her feet and ran after me. The villain she hated was currently the safest thing in this hell.

*****

We cut through the arcade zone, collecting a few straggling survivors along the way. Alicia blasted a path through the lesser demons, while I focused on the heavy hitters.

As we rounded the corner toward the maintenance district, we ran straight into a wall of ice.

Princess Celestia stood there, her hands wreathed in frost, panting heavily. Beside her, Kael was bandaging a deep gash on his arm.

They froze when they saw us.

Kael's eyes narrowed instantly. He saw the gun in my hand, the calmness in my demeanor, and the chaos around us.

"Lucien!" Kael stepped forward, raising his sword. "What are you doing here? Where did you come from?"

His eyes darted to the dark alleyway I had emerged from.

"Did you… did you know about this?" he demanded, his voice laced with suspicion. "Is this why you invited us? To lead us into a trap?"

Alicia bristled, stepping forward with fire flaring in her palm. "Watch your mouth, commoner! He just saved—"

"Quiet, Alicia," I ordered.

I walked right up to Kael, ignoring the sword pointed at my chest.

"Use your brain, Kael," I said coldly. "If I wanted you dead, I would have let that Orc behind you finish the job while you were playing detective."

Kael flinched, glancing behind him where an Orc corpse lay frozen in ice.

"I am fighting the same enemy you are," I said. "But unlike you, I'm not wasting time on the pawns."

"Pawns?" Celestia asked, stepping in. Her elegance was frayed, her dress torn, but her eyes were sharp.

"The monsters. The cultists. They're a distraction," I explained rapidly. "This is a ritual. They're harvesting mana to summon a Calamity-class demon. If we don't stop the summoners, everyone inside this barrier dies. Including the Princess."

The color drained from Celestia's face.

"A ritual… that explains the mana density."

"Exactly."

I looked at the group.

"We need to split up."

"Split up?" Kael frowned.

"I know where the ritual site is," I lied smoothly (I had narrowed it down with detection, but confidence was key). "But I can't fight the Summoners and protect the civilians at the same time."

I pointed at Kael and Mariella.

"Kael. You have the best defensive swordplay. Mariella can heal. Take the civilians and the wounded to the Haunted Mansion. The structure is reinforced stone; it's defensible."

I looked at Mariella. "Can you keep them alive?"

She nodded frantically. "Yes! I can!"

"Good."

Then, I turned to Celestia.

"Princess. You have the highest burst damage here. I need your ice magic to break the ritual circle."

I extended a hand.

"Come with me. We're going to hunt the leaders."

Celestia looked at Kael. Kael looked at me, struggling with his mistrust.

"Go," Kael said finally, gritting his teeth. "If what he says is true… he's our best shot. I'll protect the people."

Celestia nodded. She turned to me, her expression hardening into royal resolve.

"Lead the way, Cadet Lucien."

****

We moved fast.

We didn't run blindly. We moved tactically—using the shadows, cutting through maintenance alleys, and avoiding the main roads where roaming mobs of cultists were hunting stragglers.

Celestia followed us silently, her breath misting in the air, seemingly impressed—or perhaps terrified—by the ruthlessness of our movement.

When we reached the entrance of the Haunted Mansion, the air was freezing.

Literally freezing.

The artificial fog machines of the ride had been corrupted by the dark mana, churning out a thick, black mist that clung to the ground like a suffocating blanket.

Two cultists stood guard at the gate, wearing robes embroidered with a burning eye.

"Intruders!" one hissed, raising a jagged dagger.

BANG.

I didn't break stride. I fired from the hip. The Benelli roared, and the cultist's head snapped back, his mask shattering as he crumbled to the pavement.

The second one tried to chant a spell, raising a wand.

SLASH.

A blade of fire cut him down before he could finish the first syllable. Alicia lowered her wand, her expression cold and focused.

"Nice shot," she said.

"Nice cut," I replied.

We kicked the heavy oak doors open.

Inside, the playful spookiness of the ride was gone. The animatronic skeletons and ghosts were smashed, their mechanical parts strewn across the floor. The walls, once decorated with fake cobwebs, were now painted with fresh sigils in real blood.

And the sound of chanting echoed from the main hall, vibrating through the floorboards.

"O' Beast of the Abyss… awaken… feast… rise…"

"This way," I whispered.

We followed the sound, stepping over the bodies of the park staff who had tried to hide here. Celestia looked away from the corpses, her face pale, but she didn't stop.

We reached the Grand Hall—a massive room meant to simulate a vampire's ballroom, complete with a high ceiling and a balcony.

And there it was.

In the center of the room, a massive magic circle glowed with a sickly purple light. In the middle of the circle, a tear in reality was widening—a black void that pulsed like a heartbeat.

Surrounding it were five robed figures, their hands raised, pouring mana into the rift.

And leading them…

A man stood at the edge of the circle. He wasn't wearing a robe. He wore a pristine white suit, now stained with artistic specks of blood. He held a cane topped with a glowing red crystal.

I recognized him instantly from the game's lore.

Bishop Silas.

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