"Reize, come in."

Damian welcomed her inside his office. He could sense her; he asked her to sit when she opened the door. Since second rankers could not be trusted, Damian had removed all guards from his floor, as did other sanctum heads.

Thankfully, there was no mana thread attached to Reize's head.

"How are you? Something wrong?" Damian asked, looking at her slightly hesitant expressions.

"I.." She began, "want to leave my sister in your care. I have already talked to her. This place has been good for her, especially the academy. For the first time in her life, she has friends."

"Leave..? You are going alone then?"

Reize sighed, "I am thankful for everything you did for my sister and me, really. The appearance-changing potions have helped a lot. But I just feel like leaving is the best option for me. You can find me anytime, and your potions have given me a chance to finally be free of unkind eyes. Staying here feels like I am wasting it all."

Damian nodded.

Who was he to preach when he himself had left a perfectly safe Baron's villa just to pursue his rune shaper class.

Damian stood up, "It's fine. If you wish to go, you don't have to explain it to me. But before leaving, I wish to show you something."

Reize followed behind Damian as he took her to his runic lab. For a while, she was distracted by the metal plates, Jacob hammering in the smithy, tons of materials, and all kinds of weird things spread around in his lab, but at last her eyes found the target Damian had brought her to see.

The runic jet's spear-narrow body is built from faceted, armored plating, tapering into a hard, pointed nose with no soft transitions. Slit-like intakes are cut cleanly along the body, feeding air without breaking the silhouette.

Its wings are short, sharply swept triangles—thick and reinforced at the root, ending in blunt, purposeful tips—clearly designed to endure extreme stress rather than flex elegantly. A compact tail carries twin vertical fins angled slightly outward, while the rear engine terminates in a faceted circular exhaust, layered and mechanical rather than smooth.

The overall form feels compressed, dense, and intentional, more weaponized structure than conventional aircraft.

Damian smiled, seeing the entranced look on Reize's face. He spoke up,

"The runic jet, specifically the prototype designated as the Alpha Sentry I, is designed as a stealth-type, superfast craft. It features a slim and angular airframe constructed primarily from Blazur alloy. The propulsion system consists of a high-speed runic engine utilizing two Sacrium cylinders that operate through a push-pull cycle of heat and cooling spells.

To enhance its performance, the jet is encased in a custom air shield maintained in the most aerodynamic shapepossible. The internal compartment is highly compact, providing enough space for only one person. When flying at top speed, the craft creates visible white streaks in the sky as it pierces through the atmosphere.

To imagine its motion, the jet moves like a needle of blue fire sewing through the sky, leaving a shimmering thread of energy in its wake."

"This is the thing you were testing that day.." Reize murmured, her eyes glued to the metal beauty.

"No, just the engine. I still need to test the finished version for endurance, ease of use, and many other criteria." Damian replied.

"It's.. beautiful."

"Indeed. The main highlight, however, is the power it packs! The speed I reached with a basic dual runic engine setup was near 450 to 500 kilometers per hour."

Reize gasped. "You are kidding!"

"That's nothing. I am going to attack three sets of runic engines. The speed goal I am pursuing is above 1200 kilometers per hour!"

"That's insane! Can humans even endure that?" Reize turned towards him sharply.

Damian smiled. "Landbreaker and the demon lord could only reach 150 to 200 kmh top speed. I, myself, can touch only 100 kmh. Sam might be able to surpass me slightly, but not fourth-ranker level. This thing can go faster than all of us combined!"

"Why would you.." Reize's eyes widened in realization. "I thought it was absurd for anyone to travel the vast ocean or the mainland and beyond in any reasonable time.. But with this.."

"We reach the very end of the world!" Damian completed for her.

The bright smile on Reize's face faltered a little, "You already made it, right? And it's far beyond my ability to replicate. Then.. why did you show it to me?"

"Replicate?" Damian repeated with narrowed eyes. "Oh no! This thing is insanely hard to make and dangerous. Each even has a fixed waygate. There are only ever going to be seven of these Runic Jets."

Reize's confusion grew even more.

Damian smiled, "The seven people who will fly this thing need to be the ones I can trust fully and are truly capable of seeing through this grand project of ours."

Finally, the realization dawned on her.

"You want me to travel the world? With this?"

Damian nodded, then added. "Of course, Its just a job offer. The pilots, the official name for people who will fly these, will have to undergo more than a month-long training to be able to fly them. But being a half-demon, your body is on par and even stronger than that of beastmen, and it's laden with superior reflexes. That's a big advantage for flying at this speed and defying heavy gravity pull."

"I will be crossing the ocean.. finding new land and hopefully more people," Reize murmured, and Damian nodded along.

"Think about it, okay? If you still wish to leave, I won't stop you."

Reize looked up at him, "Leave? You bastard! You showed me this, knowing very well I will never be able to refuse the temptation."

Damian smiled knowingly.

He had the first of his seven pilots!

———

Damian arrived at the basement of the sanctum, where the prison cells were, with Einar and Souldealer. The bunny girl and the other shadow organization criminals were already present here; now there were three more.

After what the bastards had pulled in Sanctuary, Einar and Souldealer were right to throw them in prison. Damian was surprised they were even alive.

Damian glanced at the imprisoned bunny girl and gorilla dude. They were placed under torture or anything. They were fed properly, had lights, and even warmth on cold nights. The side of the prison cell was a barred display of an emperor rank monster generating mana non-stop while screaming and shrieking.

The monster also recived a break at night, to sleep, eat, and rest, so it wasn't exactly non-stop. But it was a good reminder for the prisoners that there were worse things than being imprisoned.

One of the things he wanted to work on was creating a restraining device that he could use on these prisoners and get them to do some productive work. They were a waste of resources otherwise. If he could somehow render their powers useless and keep some mechanism that won't let them do any violence, they could be used for many things. The divine chain spell could block their mana, but the second part was still a mystery.

If he had a lot of prisoners, he could easily use manpower to control them, but for just a few, using valuable people to keep watch was another waste.

They finally arrived at the three distant cells where the newcomers, who claimed to be from the shadow organization, were kept.

Two pugilists, a lizardman and a towering bullwoman. And the third cell had a middle-aged human mage. All first rankers in their third starting job.

People who were neither weak nor strong. Expendables.

The chaos god did not need them. He did not expect to get them back either.

Only the Lizardman and the human mage had the black thin mana thread on their heads. The bullwoman just looked at them once, then turned her head towards the mana-generating monster, not even getting up. The other two approached the runic blazur bars of their cells. Madness clear in their eyes.

The lord of chaos had full control over these two miserable souls.

"The Second Keeper.." The Lizardman spoke. "Or should I say Lord Second Keeper, the new interesting pet of the gods?"

"And who do I have the pleasure of talking to?" Damian replied, playing his part. "Some shadow organization's hidden trump card?"

The guarded, slight hesitation, caution, and a pinch of surprise mixed with fear. That should work as a look of a man who was awaiting being blackmailed.

"The pleasure is all mine.." The lizardman replied. "I assume they revealed this controlling trick already? Usually, people are more surprised when the dark lord visits them."

Damian's eyes widened, but he visibly took control of himself. All part of the trick.

"You are the last.." He murmured, "God?"

"What a surprise, huh? I thought you were just another Ruinweaver wanna be that history will eventually push aside. But I guess not. I hear you killed that fool dwarf? Well, if anyone was capable of becoming his follower, it would be you, Runebreaker."

The face of the lizardman did not match the deep, guttural, heavy voice that was coming out of its mouth. The body of the lizardman was slowly accumulating the black glow. Same as that red knight was surrounded by a red glow.

'Big number of divine fragments are being transferred. Control is not the point, he will explode like that red knight.'

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