Bruce looked down at the assassin. Mike was still alive. His chest moved up and down as he took shallow, weak breaths. But he looked completely different. His hair, which had been jet black, had suddenly turned totally white. His skin was pale and covered in deep wrinkles. Without his mana center to keep his body strong and young, Mike had instantly aged twenty years. He was just a weak, old man now. He was a mundane. He would never be able to cast a shadow-stitch again. He would never be able to sneak through the dark. He would never be an assassin again. Mike slowly opened his eyes. He looked at his own hands. They were trembling and covered in liver spots. He tried to summon a tiny bit of magic, just a single spark of shadow, but nothing happened. The well inside him was completely dry. It was gone forever. "My magic," Mike whispered, a tear rolling down his wrinkled cheek. "It's gone. I am... I am nothing.""You are what you always were, Mike," Bruce said coldly. "Nothing."Bru

Bruce fell into the absolute dark. The heavy stone trapdoor slammed shut high above him with a loud BANG. The sound echoed loudly in the tight space. Bruce was falling down a narrow, vertical shaft. The air rushing past his face was stale and smelled like old dust. For a second, panic gripped his heart. He could still hear the terrible echo of Lady Hestia’s voice bouncing off the stone walls. “...Burn the mother to kill the son... we offer her soul to the Deep Beast!”She was going to kill his mother. After nineteen years of pain, after finally finding out the truth, he was going to be too late. But Bruce was not alone in the dark. Suddenly, massive arms wrapped around his body. They were cold, feeling like polished bone and thick leather. The Ashen Seraph pulled Bruce close to its chest. Whoosh. The Seraph snapped its six giant wings open. The feathers scraped against the sides of the narrow stone chute, shooting sparks of dark silver light into the blackness. The giant wings a

"Yes. Long before your clan existed, long before the city of Oakhaven was built, there were others who ruled this land. Ancient beings. Dark kings. They built cities deep underground to hide from the sun. This place is an ancient ruin. A remnant of the Old Times."Bruce touched the rough stone wall. It felt freezing cold, like ice. "So the clan found this ruin and claimed it.""They found it, and they found the machine inside it," the Seraph said. "A machine designed to siphon spiritual energy. But the machine was broken. It required a pure, powerful soul to turn it on. They needed a battery.""My mother," Bruce whispered. His heart ached. "Yes. Your mother possessed a rare, ancient spirit. She was the perfect fuel. The clan locked her in the ruins to power their own wealth. They are like mice, living in the bones of a dead dragon, pretending they are dragons themselves."The truth made Bruce sick to his stomach. His cousin Nicholas acting so proud. Lady Hestia acting so holy and pow

The Matriarch swung the glowing purple dagger down in a brutal, shining arc, aiming directly for Victoria Thompson’s heart. "NO!" Bruce screamed from the catwalk. But he was too high up. He was too far away. The distance between the metal walkway and the black obsidian platform was hundreds of feet. Bruce could not run fast enough to stop the blade. He could not throw his shadow-spikes that far. Time seemed to slow down. Bruce watched the purple light of the dagger get closer and closer to his mother's pale chest. Then, a massive shadow stepped in front of Bruce. The Ashen Seraph did not panic. The giant angel simply raised its empty left hand and flicked its long, silver-bone fingers. BOOM.A shockwave of solid, black air shot out from the angel's hand. It traveled across the massive cavern faster than a bullet. The black wind hit the obsidian platform exactly half a second before the dagger reached Victoria’s skin. The force of the impact was incredible. It sounded like a bom

Before Bruce could take a single step, a terrible sound ripped through the cavern. WROOOOOOOOM!It was a loud, grating horn. It sounded like a dying beast. The sound bounced off the stone walls, shaking the floor. The destruction of the massive wrought-iron doors had finally registered on the catacombs' magical alarm system. Suddenly, the dim, gray crystals on the ceiling turned bright, bloody red. The entire cavern was flooded with flashing red emergency lights. The red fog on the floor began to swirl violently. "Intruder!" a voice boomed over a magical speaker system. "Sector Four breached! Protect the harvest! Kill the intruder!"Bruce spun around, looking for the source of the voice. Along the far walls of the cavern, large stone doors began to slide open. Heavy boots stomped loudly on the stone floor, marching in perfect rhythm. Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.A dozen men marched out of the shadows and stepped into the flashing red light. Bruce’s eyes narrowed. He had lived in the Iro