Diversion

On the streets of the Seventh District in the Outer City, Napa led a squad through ruins that had yet to be cleared.

This was the epicenter of the explosion that had occurred three days ago. Nearly half the buildings lining the street had collapsed, leaving mountains of rubble and charred timber. A narrow path, barely wide enough for a carriage, had been temporarily cleared through the center, but dried, blackened bloodstains were still visible on the surrounding crumbling walls. A faint, lingering scent of burnt matter hung in the air, mingling with the smell of dust to make one’s throat tighten.

Napa walked at the head of the squad, the hem of his gray robe caked in dust. His complexion was much better than it had been a few days ago; the mana instability within him had settled by seventy or eighty percent, though an occasional dull ache still pulsed through his meridians. This made his pace slightly slower than usual, but it did not hinder their overall movement.

Behind him followed eight city guards and two Rank 4 mages. One of the mages held a recording board, while the other carried a crystal ball used for detecting mana residue.

“Southeast section of the Seventh District. We’ve checked both suspicious points marked yesterday,” the mage with the recording board said, flipping a page. “One was an abandoned cellar with some remnants of ritualistic activity, but they’re at least ten days old. The other was a collapsed residence; there was a minor mana reaction in the basement. After digging it out, we found three bodies. Their identities aren’t confirmed, but judging by their clothes, they were vagrants from out of town.”

Napa didn’t look back, simply offering a grunt of acknowledgment.

He had heard reports like this over twenty times in the past few days. The Blood Moon Cult had operated in the capital for years, and their strongholds were extremely scattered and mostly temporary—here today, gone tomorrow. The work of the cleanup squads was less of a “purge” and more of a cleanup of old nests left behind by a colony of rats that had already moved on.

Even so, these old nests had to be inspected one by one. No one could say for sure if another basement was hidden beneath a basement, or if several crates of explosive magic crystals were stashed behind a cellar wall.

The thought of explosive magic crystals caused Napa’s brow to tighten involuntarily. Intelligence had been investigating for days and still hadn’t determined how these strictly controlled items had been smuggled into the capital. The only lead pointed to the Bacas Principality to the north, but the situation there was complex and difficult to unravel quickly.

“Keep moving. We’ll head back after checking the last two spots in this district,” Napa said, raising his hand toward a row of relatively intact buildings at the end of the street. “Over there.”

Just as he spoke, a dull explosion echoed from the distance.

The sound wasn't loud, originating from at least a dozen blocks away.

He spun around instantly, looking toward the source of the noise. It was to the southeast, roughly eight or nine blocks away—the direction of the Inner City.

“Excellency?” The mage holding the crystal ball looked at him in confusion.

Before he could speak, a second explosion followed immediately. Then a third, a fourth... a continuous series of muffled thuds like a string of firecrackers being lit, pounding against everyone’s eardrums one after another. In the distant sky, several pillars of black smoke rose, standing out starkly against the horizon in the direction of the Inner City.

“Where is that?”

Napa’s voice dropped sharply. The city guards looked at each other, and one of the older guards looked up to gauge the direction, his face turning pale instantly.

“Southeast... at that distance, it’s roughly the eastern side of the Inner City—”

“It’s the Royal Magic and Martial Arts Academy!”

Napa finished the sentence for him, and the air on the street suddenly froze.

Before anyone could react, Napa tore off his gray robe and threw it to the ground, his staff sliding from his sleeve into his hand. His mana surged to its limit instantly, and a faint red aura flared around his body.

“You two, contact Intelligence and the City Guard Station immediately! Order all cleanup squads in the Outer City to enter combat status and organize civilian evacuations nearby!” he said to the two Rank 4 mages, his words coming out in a rapid fire. “The rest of you, follow—”

Mid-sentence, the ground beneath his feet trembled violently.

This time, the tremor didn't come from a distance. It was right beneath them—directly under this very street.

Napa’s pupils shrank.

He grabbed the shoulders of the two city guards beside him, deploying a mana barrier in front of him as he retreated rapidly.

But he was a step too late.

The stone pavement in the center of the street was torn open by a massive force from below. Accompanied by a deafening blast, a thick pillar of fire erupted from the earth. Rubble and soil poured down like rain, and the heatwave from the shockwave uprooted several half-dead plane trees along the street. A burning trunk slammed into a rooftop across the way, sending tiles shattering everywhere.

Napa’s mana barrier blocked the frontal impact, but the city guards behind him weren't as fortunate. The two soldiers closest to the blast were sent flying by the shockwave, slamming heavily into a broken wall behind them and falling silent after a muffled groan. The others were knocked off balance; one was struck in the leg by flying debris, blood soaking through his trouser leg.

Before the dust could settle, sharp whistles rang out from all directions.

It was a bone-chilling howl—a deliberately prolonged, fanatical chant. The sound came simultaneously from the alleys on both sides of the street, from behind the ruins of collapsed houses, and from the edges of the smoking crater.

Then, they appeared.

Dozens of figures in dark red robes seemed to emerge from the ground, filing out from various alleys and cracks in the ruins. They wore uniform masks, and the tips of the staffs in their hands glowed with various colors of mana. Several of them had fresh soil on their robes, clearly having crawled out directly from underground tunnels or hidden cellars.

They had no unified formation or clear tactical coordination; they simply swarmed toward Napa’s squad like a disturbed nest of hornets.

The ones in the lead had already raised their staffs, and fireballs and wind blades flew toward them first.

“Scatter! Find cover!”

Napa barked the order, swinging his staff to raise a fire wall in front of the group. The incoming fireballs and wind blades exploded against the wall, scattering sparks. He took the chance to scan the surroundings—though the buildings on both sides were heavily damaged, many walls and stone pillars remained for cover. Having gained experience from the past few days of fighting, the city guards didn't need further instruction and quickly rolled behind the nearest cover, raising their shields and swords to organize a counterattack.

But there were simply too many Blood Moon Cultists.

They were a never-ending stream; before the first few dozen could be dealt with, a second wave surged from the alley at the other end of the street. More troublingly, these people didn't stay to fight. They would rush close, fire off a spell or two, and then flee. If they were hit with a counterattack, they didn't linger, instead diving into nearby ruins and reappearing from a different direction.

Napa released three consecutive casts of Flame Impact, forcing back cultists from three directions, while the two Rank 4 mages constantly used Water Curtain Shield and Wind Wall to block long-range magic. But every time they managed to stabilize their position, the cultists who had scattered would regroup from another side to continue their harassment. Some cultists even bypassed their line entirely, storming into the residential buildings that hadn't fully collapsed. Before long, screams and cries for help echoed from within—the residents who hadn't evacuated in time.

Napa’s face turned grim instantly.

“The five of you!” He turned and pointed to the guards who could still fight. “Get into the buildings, get the civilians out, and retreat north! There’s a market to the north; it’s open ground where you can organize a defense!”

“Yes, sir!”

The city guards immediately split up, and at Napa’s signal, the two mages followed to provide cover.

Napa himself turned to face the southern end of the street. Another wave of Blood Moon Cultists was surging from that direction, led by two figures in deep red robes. The mana glow on their staffs was several grades brighter than the ordinary cultists, indicating they were at least Rank 4 or even Rank 5.

“Come then!”

Napa slammed the butt of his staff into the ground, embedding it into a crack in the shattered pavement. He released his mana without reservation, and the faint red aura around him transformed into a searing orange-gold within seconds. The surrounding air began to vibrate violently, and the rubble on the ground danced under the mana fluctuations.

It had been a long time since he had fought with his full strength.

“Flame Dragon's Roar.”

A fire dragon, thicker than any he had summoned before, roared from the tip of his staff, its head held high and its tail whipping up a searing wave of fire. Wherever the dragon passed, the stone pavement was instantly scorched black, and the wooden doors and windows on both sides of the street spontaneously ignited. The mana shields hastily raised by the two leading cultists held for less than two seconds before being incinerated, and the men were swallowed by the flames before they could even scream.

The fire dragon’s momentum did not slow as it tore down the street toward the south, forcing back every cultist in that direction. Several who were too slow were consumed by the fire, leaving nothing but ash.

But just as Napa’s fire dragon cleared the southern street, the attacks from the north and west became even more intense.

He gritted his teeth, retracted his staff, and hurried toward the north. The stone pavement beneath him was pitted with craters, making his stride uneven—his current physical condition wouldn't allow him to force a mana-assisted flight. Furthermore, the ringing from the earlier explosion still lingered in his ears, making his reactions a half-beat slower than usual.

When he reached the northern side, the city guards were engaged with seven or eight cultists. The city guard captain was using his shield to protect two wounded civilians as they retreated, while a soldier beside him used a longsword to barely parry ice spikes coming from the side, his shoulder already injured.

Napa raised his hand and fired a Flame Impact, blasting the two foremost cultists away. He then grabbed the shoulder of the blood-covered city guard captain and pulled him back toward safety.

“What’s the situation?”

“There are too many... we can’t hold!” The captain panted, wiping blood from his forehead. “Excellency, we don’t have enough men. The civilians are scattered everywhere, and we can’t save them all with just these few brothers... plus the communicator was broken in the blast, so we can’t reach the station or Intelligence—”

Before he could finish, the ground shook violently again.

This tremor was even stronger than before. A two-story building at the end of the street that had been teetering finally gave way, collapsing with an ear-piercing screech and sending up a massive cloud of dust.

Napa looked up, and through the gaps in the dust, he saw a sight that made his heart sink.

To the south, north, and west—in at least seven or eight different districts—pillars of black smoke were rising. The distances and directions varied, but every pillar meant a defensive line in a district was under attack. Judging by the positions of these smoke columns, at least half of the districts in the Outer City had fallen into chaos simultaneously.

This wasn't a localized attack on the academy; it was a pre-planned, city-wide coordinated strike!

The Blood Moon Cult’s true plan was to launch attacks across the entire city simultaneously, pinning down the City Guard, the Imperial Guards, and the cleanup squads everywhere so that no one could peel away to reinforce the academy.

Napa’s grip on his staff tightened.

“These vermin...”

He squeezed the words through gritted teeth, then took a deep breath and raised his staff once more.

“Everyone, listen to my orders!” His voice echoed across the devastated street. “Organize defenses where you are and prioritize evacuating civilians! Hold the line! Even if you die, you hold it for me!”

Just as he finished, another group of red-robed figures surged from the other end of the street. Napa raised his staff, and the fire dragon roared forth again, but amidst the dragon’s cry, he heard another explosion from even further away.

The direction was further north than the Seventh District of the Outer City, past the headquarters of the Hyatt Chamber of Commerce in the Inner City...

That location—if he remembered correctly—was the Palace?!