Meanwhile, while Cedric and his bond were busy leveling up at the Babies' Cradle, things were not going well back at the puppeteer's grove.

Actually, things were quite chaotic.

In the ashen campground, dead bodies littered the ground and explosions thundered at almost every turn, sending plumes of thick, black smoke into the air. The cadets of the Bastion of Somarian Pride and the cadets from the Bastion of Crimson and Silver were engaged in a fierce battle, slaughtering one another. Currently, the cadets from the Bastion of Crimson and Silver were winning the war.

However, there were already so many casualties.

Princess Aurora's party, for instance, had lost almost half of its members. And hers was not the only one; several other influential parties led by the cadets of Crimson and Silver had been completely wiped out, including those of Alicia and Roben.

Well, truth be told, things would have been much, much worse had it not been for Cedric.

…It all began after Cedric's party had left to level up to get their get their regalia.

During this time, many of the cadets in his bastion had began dying in the grove. It was almost as if people were silently assassinating them.

Rumors began to spread among the cadets from the other bastions, and the atmosphere at the grove had completely changed and grown intense.

Of course, Cedric was aware of the rumors from the beginning. However, just like everyone else, he was initially confused by the situation. It was not until Muninn saw the cadets from the Bastion of Somarian Pride gathering in secret that he began to piece everything together.

Acting on his suspicion, he asked Leon to keep a close watch on that bastion's cadets.

During one of the stops that Cedric's party made while returning to the grove, Leon used his bonded ability to read everything about an individual named Casimir Adalricus. That was when Leon discovered that Casimir had been sent by the Evrarel Empire to wipe out all the cadets, not just from the Bastion of Crimson and Silver but even those from the other bastions connected to the Lumierian Empire.

It was not just Casimir that was sent. This order had been given to all the cadets from the Bastion of Somarian Pride. As for the reason they were given this order, Leon could not check because the people who gave the command were likely over three grades higher than him.

Leon pulled out the feather Cedric had given him. It shifted into a raven, and he used it to report his findings.

At that point, several things became clear. Audrey's death had not been a coincidence, and Yami's killings were not just for personal power. He was actually following an order.

However, what unnerved Cedric was that this did not happen when he played Seraphim of Doom. Back then, Yami was indeed killing solely to grow his power.

So what was this now?

Did the Evrarel Empire have something against the Lumierian Empire?

…Anyway, the empires aside, Leon and the party had to hurry back to the grove, but by the time they arrived, many cadets had already died. One by one, and in secret, the cadets of the Somarian Pride had killed more than half of the cadets from the bastions connected to the Lumierian Empire.

The influential parties tried to figure out those responsible for the killings after many of their members suddenly began to disappear one by one. However, they could not find the cause of the deaths until Leon exposed the truth to them. It was then that those left of the bastions connected to the Lumierian Empire joined together and suddenly started the war with the cadets of the Somarian Pride.

Even Cedric's party were also fighting in this war, and while all this was happening, Cedric was watching everything through the eyes of the new raven, Kage, who had taken Muninn's place.

***

The Present.

——

Massive poisonous wasps the size of humans flew over the jagged, steam-shrouded ridges.

In this fog-filled territory, there were many connecting stone caverns. The bodies of the dead wasp creatures littered the floor of one such cave. At the center of the chamber sat what looked like a natural hot spring and in it, Cedric was shirtless, enjoying the soothing heat as it mended his aching muscles.

He had both his eyes closed, but wasn't exactly sleeping.

Across from him, Aika was kicking her legs in the water like a bored child and her beautiful blue eyes were fixed on the steam rising toward the ceiling.

At that moment, Cedric opened just one eye, as his other was currently busy watching the scenario at the grove.

"It's crazy, you know," he muttered, his voice echoing slightly against the damp stone.

Aika stopped kicking, her feet hovering just above the water's surface as she turned her attention toward him.

Then he continued, "Those bastards from the Somarian Pride don't even know that things are already set at the highest difficulty for everyone this lunar eclipse. They don't know that the red bridge in the home of the hollow ones is not the end. If they knew, they wouldn't have tried shredding the numbers of the cadets available."

Aika sighed.

She resumed splashing her legs in the water. Eventually, she shrugged. "Well, I don't really care about them… or what they do. As long as me and mine make it out of this realm alive, I'm good."

Cedric smiled.

After a few seconds, he spoke. "By the way, I think we should leave for the grove soon. We've already completely wiped out those vermin from the Babies Cradle."

He turned to look at a screen beside him. "Plus, these grade-one beasts are no longer supplying us with enough EXP."

~~~~~~~~ Character Profile ~~~~~~~~

Character Name: [Cedric Anele Martini]

Age: [17]

Level: [18]

Grade: [2]

Element: [Darkness]

Exclusive Class: [Gamer]

Exclusive Class Attribute: [Gamer Privileges]

Bond Name: [Aika Soryu]

Bonded Ability: [Chrysalis]

Exclusive Skill: [Flames of decay - Lv8], [One with the Ravens - Lv6]

EXP: [9,670 / 10,000]

Karma points: [N2,080 / P710]

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