The ventilation shaft was a narrow tube of galvanized steel that smelled of dust. Lena moved first, and Jake followed. They crawled for what felt like miles, though the map in front of Lena said it was only a few hundred meters.

Through the slats of the grate below, the facility unfolded. It wasn't a prison; it was a slaughterhouse.

The lower level was a cavernous hollow, stripped of its original industrial purpose and refitted for mass containment. Rows of cages stretched from wall to wall, stacked three high and connected by a labyrinth of catwalks. Inside each cage, huddled in the filth of their own existence, were the survivors.

But they weren't just trapped.

Lena peered through the grate, tracing the faint, blue lines of mana that pulsed through the metal bars of the cages.

The bars were etched with runes that prevented the occupants from using their powers or their strength, and they were made in a way that was similar to how the magic circles were made.

The prisoners were of every age and sex—men, women, and even children—but they all looked the same. They were gaunt, their skin ashen and papery. It was not because they were stripped of the system, but because they weren't properly fed.

They didn't move much or speak; they just sat with their backs against the metal bars, lolling their heads and staring at nothing.

Lena wondered what they had seen to be in such a state.

"Look at the tubes," Lena said.

Jake shifted, peering over her shoulder. Connected to the back of each cage was a tube. Inside, a faint mist of blue energy drifted upward, drawn from the prisoners and funneled into a massive central collection tank suspended from the ceiling.

"They're draining them," Jake said as the horror appeared in his voice. "That's why there are no guards down here."

"If you drain a mage's mana to zero and keep it there, they can't cast a single skill," Lena said. "They can't fight back. They can't even think clearly. It's mana exhaustion, induced permanently. It keeps them docile."

Jake nodded. "But what about those that focused on S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"Mana exhaustion must affect them too," Lena said. "Or maybe they had just been killed."

It was a brilliant but cruel system. The Church didn't need shackles or beatings to keep order; they simply consumed the will of their captives. They siphoned off their mana to fuel the Evolution Chambers Reidar had seen, leaving the people as empty husks that were easier to manage than livestock.

"They aren't people to them. They're just batteries."

"It's different from what Reidar said, though."

"Maybe he didn't see it all…"

"But he said they gave these people to the monsters."

"They very likely do; it's just that they do it after they can't be used anymore."

A short silence ensued. Neither Jake nor Lena could accept that.

"We have to get them out," Jake said.

Lena nodded. "Prepare your summon. If they hear us here, which they will, we will not only have to fight against hundreds of people, but we will also need to protect the prisoners."

"We can't open these cages quietly. The moment we break the mana circuit, or whatever it is, the central tank will register the drop in pressure. Besides, even if there are no guards in this room, nothing says they are not in the adjacent ones. Someone must be keeping an eye on the procedure."

She looked at the blast doors at the far end of the hall. There was no one on this side, but there surely were guards on the other.

She turned to Jake. "Do it."

Jake nodded. Before they had left, he had summoned a single War Mastiff and left it sitting obediently at Reidar's side on the ridge. It was a simple way for them to communicate. He found the thread of mana connecting him to the beast.

<Sorry, boy.>

He snapped the connection.

—***—

Reidar stood waiting outside the infernal city. The Void-Caller's Baton was already in his hand since he was waiting for the signal. The wind tugged at his Mantle of the Unseen Legion, but he remained as still as a statue.

He looked down at Redwater Crossing, and the bile rose in his throat. The river was black and released a putrid scent that could be smelled even from this height.

This place didn't look like a city; it looked like a festering wound on the landscape. His skin crawled as he watched the dark water churn, knowing the real horror wasn't the pollution but the experiments happening beneath the surface that created that pollution.

Beside him, the spectral War Mastiff Jake had left behind flickered. It let out a low whine, then dissolved into a wisp of blue mana that vanished on the wind.

The signal.

Reidar didn't smile. "Let's go…"

First, the surrounding ground erupted. The soil turned gray and dead as he activated [Summon Undying Legion], the natural evolution of [Summon Skeletal Warriors]. His skeletons appeared like a festering wound on the ground, the earth necrotizing as if it were dying flesh.

These weren't the mindless fodder of the past. Dead-Eye Marksmen rose with longbows strung on their backs. Shadow-stalkers flickered into existence, fading into invisibility as they gripped poisoned daggers with bony fingers.

But Reidar didn't stop.

[Summon Apex Menagerie].

Six thousand mana points burned. Reality tore open, and ten Death-Stalker Scorpions the size of tanks skittered forward. The Apex Menagerie was the natural evolution of the Feral Packs, but the creatures Reidar summoned now were monstrous.

[Summon Shadow Sovereigns].

Five thousand mana. The shadows lengthened, pooling and rising until five towering figures of eldritch darkness stood before him. They were shadows in the shape of kings.

[Summon Spectral Quadraginta] followed.

Eight thousand mana points were spent, and forty elite spectral creatures made of mana materialized. Archers, Knights, and Mages formed up in ranks.

And finally, the heavy hitters.

[Summon Archon Rift-Lords].

Ten thousand mana. Eighty rifts tore open in the sky above the ridge, and the evolved versions of the Elite Rift-Sprites appeared.

It looked like an elemental apocalypse.

Reidar looked at his army. Hundreds of creatures stood waiting for his orders, each one a boss in its own right. Unfortunately, Reidar hadn't raised their proficiency enough to summon them recursively as he usually did.

But they could all use mana, they could all use the skills Reidar shared with them, and while they could not summon each other, they could summon something else.

His titans. Soon, the ground shook as they appeared.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.