Such were the effects of the black smoke.

Upon invading the mind, one's rationality was suppressed while their destructive thoughts amplified.

Thereafter, their eyes took a crimson glow, it was a mini version of demonization, one never before seen.

Normal cases saw the demon worshippers' amount to a few thousands at most.

While this people were not demon worshippers, the infected made them no different.

And with thousands affected, the hand of demons was seen as their recurring aim was achieved.

Mass Chaos.

Across the streets were thousands of corpses, strewn all over, many ripped to pieces, both normal humans and infect individuals.

Moreover, more and more of the infected ones ran out of the cities and were swarming.

The grandmaster floating over the place made sure to blow large holes into the walls of each city's walls.

So, even the dumbest infected would naturally find its way outside.

Looking at the scene, the grandmaster felt something within his heart bit suppressed soon after.

He couldn't get carried away. 'Since I've started it, might as well finish it'

________

Meanwhile..

Boom!

Shards of ice fell like rain droplets as the Emperor and Revenmar went at it back at Iris.

Quick thinking had the Emperor push Revenmar from Iris' surroundings, lest they kill those below.

Jebas ran all over the place, swiftly beheading the infected.

They didn't have an antidote; they weren't even sure there was one, so this was the current solution.

It was better than to have them kill those non infected.

His blades cur through their necks so fast he was gone before it was separated.

Striding like a lightning bolt, Jebas advanced city after city, taking out waves after wave of infected humans.

Occasionally, Getraham would break a few buildings as he was unable to take the battle far away from Iris.

The battling grandmasters saw attacks of ice, lightning, wind, and light wash over Iris.

_________

"Woah" Ashton exclaimed.

"This level of mana.." Theron's voice trailed off.

"Yeah.." Johan replied

"How pretty" Roxanne commented.

"What is it? Uncle Ezra" Velora questioned.

Ezra made a rueful smile. Over the years, Velora developed the habit of calling him uncle despite his protests, so he let it be.

Ezra took a deep breath. "It's a mana stone"

Velora tilted her head, looking at Theron and Johan whose expression had frozen.

Cleary, while she did not know what it was, it was something important.

"Did you just say 'mana stone'?" Theron asked.

Ezra nodded nonchalantly.

"Oh.." Theron's jaw dropped to the floor, staring at Ezra with an incredulous gaze.

"It is something special?" Roxanne inquired.

"Is it?!" Intoned Theron. "Of course it is!"

"A mana stone is an item..

Very quickly, Theron told them all about the item, leaving them in awe.

"Such a powerful item" muttered Velora.

Ezra coughed to gain their attention.

"You all will use it to advance to master rank"

Another round of gasps erupted.

"I needed to know if I could trust you" his gaze pervaded them. "Now I know I can"

The siblings felt someone emerging from their hearts. They were moved.

"Someone is coming to take my life. I need your help if I hope to survive" he stated solemnly. "Now, take these and advance"

He handed one stone to each person. "Since you're all shifters, your mana requirements are lower than that knights"

Just holding it made their bodies fell giddy, the mana emanating was nothing short of incredible.

"But that also means, the more mana you have, the greater your power!"

The siblings had their eyes sparkle as they understood his point.

"Everyone, make the appropriate posture and then place the mana stone in your mouths"

A weird proposal, but they did it anyway.

Their bodies shivered a bit-the mana gushing into their system was like no other.

Except one..

"Gwelp!"

Johan shouted, pointing to his throat.

He was choking on the mana stones.

'Seriously?' Ezra was amazed at how this dude could mess things up.

With a pat to the back, Johan spat it out. Drinking a lot water to cool his burning lungs.

Thereafter, Ezra instructed them on how to do direct the mana and cultivate.

He didn't want them to breakthrough immediately-the more mana within them, the easier the breakthrough.

He walked out of the tent, watching the soldiers who had all relaxed their guards.historical

No beast wave came after the day Deneris came around, those that did were sparse in number, allowing easy kills.

At this point, many already considered the beast wave over. Patrolling and staying at the fortress was mere formalities.

They only waited for the Emperor to announce the end of the beast tide.

Ezra planned for the siblings to break through when the enemy arrived.

But since the enemy's arrival time could not be gauged, Ezra had to insure their retreat in case.

At this point, he just needed to find a way to call Mrs. Elisa.

At this moment, the surroundings went silent as Ezra's hair was disheveled.

With a look, he could see space warping, a woman appearing soon after.

Ezra was dumbfounded.

Mrs. Elisa appeared, garbed in a black cloth and robe.

"Hello Mrs-

He was suddenly hit on the head. "Don't mrs me. What have you done to my daughter?!"

Ezra blinked in confusion. "I've done nothing"

"Oh, no, no, no. You've definitely done something!" she took a deep breath, shooting forward words in single breath. "She won't speak nor would she smile, and it all started since yesternight"

Her breath raspy as she huffed, fuming in anger.

Ezra didn't know what she was speaking of, but he couldn't be nonchalant because he wanted to make use of her. "Ma, please calm down so I can explain"

Elisa stared with a ferocious glare; Ezra stared back unperturbed.

"Well?"

"It's like this..

Ezra got to it, explaining the events from start to finish, earning him a staff to his cheeks.

"You put a blade to my daughter's neck?!"

"..It wasn't sharp"

"That's not the point!"

"Ma, please calm down. Your daughter is a very strong girl, it's probably a phase of puberty"

The compliment lifted her mood. "I've seen her in a phase, this is different"

"By the way, where is she?"

"She declined accompanying me"

"Can you let me see her, I might be able to find out what's wrong"

"She doesn't want to see you"

"How so?"

"She said so"

Ezra scratched his head. 'Did I go overboard?'

"Then..what do want to do?"

"I don't know-but be warned. If anything happens to her, I'm holding you responsible"

Ezra made a sigh of resignation, before changing expression.

"By the way, I have a favour to ask of you"

"Hmm? What makes you think I'll accept?"

"Because my life is in danger"

Elisa's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"No, I'm not lying"

She stared him down for a while. "Explain yourself"

"When I was coming to the academy, I had a premonition. At that time, it turned out that an assassin was aiming for me, and I was able to escape because of luck" he paused. "I had the same type of premonition yesterday, so it's highly likely that someone is targeting my life"

'Hmm' Elisa mind went to work.

She knew of the assassination attempt because the officials had come to the academy.

'If what this child says is true..

While the situation with Valentine had her extremely displeased, she wasn't going to let her favourite student die.

"Where do you want to go?"

Ezra look to the left, and then to the right.

"It would be bad of me to keep you standing, let us continue this conversation elsewhere"

_________

In a restaurant, Ezra sat opposite Mrs. Elisa.

It was half empty, many people did not come out due to fear.

The likes of Ezra though swaggered in, the two talked over food-which was served to them free by the way.

"I do not just hope to run away. I wish to know who the attacker is-and so, I'll be needing your help"

"Can you tell me how space magic works?"

"That's not information I like to share"

"You can trust me"

Elisa snorted. "I still don't know what you did to my daughter. How could I dare trust you?"

"sigh, I've already told you everything that happened"

"Whatever" she said. "I can give you introductory information"

"Space magic is simply bending the will of space to one's use, which is, extremely hard so to speak"

"Wow, you must be extremely talented to be space mage then"

"Why thank you" her face glowed, before.. "Wait, wait, wait, I'm still angry with you"

"Anyways-

"How many Master rank space mages are there?"

"Just me, if we're talking about Niton"

"In Orion?"

"Couldn't be more than thirty" she gave him 'the look' while waving her hand nonchalantly. "Now, like knights, methods of bending space differ from one another. But work on the same foundational principles"

Ezra nodded. Elisa didn't intent on telling those foundational principles, but Ezra wasn't bothered.

"How fast can open up..what do call it?"

"Warp hole"

"Yes that"

"Depends on where you're going"

"How many people can go through at once?"

"Ordinary people would be ripped apart. At Expert rank, the side effects are minimal. For fixed warp holes, anyone can go through, but the mana expenditure will be higher, for moving warp holes..I'm unsure"

'Hmm'

Ezra was mentally running calculation on whether his plan was viable.

"What's the difference between a fixed and moving warp hole?"

"Fixed ones are held in place as permanent warp spaces, while moving ones are warp holes I open temporarily"

"How does that work?"

"I can warp to anyone of the fixed warps holes with either another fixed one or a moving one, the longer the distance, the greater the mana expenditure"

"How many fixed warp holes do you have?"

"I have one in every city"

Ezra smiled.