The possibility of an ambush had obviously been brought up when the team had gathered. Since the fall of Vampire Queen Volanna and the rise of Blood God Navruavati, the Vampires had degenerated from noble and elegant to savage and bloodthirsty, little more than animals who knew only to reproduce and kill. Yet while the stronger Vampires were equally prey to these desires, they still retained a certain level of cunning.
So the Harvest Church and Adventurer's Guild came prepared to deal with any sudden ambushes or surprise attacks, as shown by the swift reaction of the twin Priestess' to the magic encirclement. Isabelle had begun casting her spell at the first sign of attack, while Anna quickly began barking out instructions to the group.
"Defenders up front, everyone else deploy your defensive measures!"
Arnold, Menes and Sheva jumped forward, their bodies glowing different colours based on their Affinity. Arnold's body took on a shiny grey hue, Menes turned a radiant red while Sheva began to dye herself in a brown-green colour.
Erich and Johan, the two brothers in robes, vanished into the shadows only to pop up several meters away, the darkness they hid in dispelled by the light from the flaming balls. Ruby gathered near Himmel and Aryll, chanting softly and splaying her palm outwards. Several of the fireballs seemed to hit an invisible wall, exploding in mid-air.
Isabelle stomped the ground, causing multiple earthen spikes to shoot up and intercept the fireballs. Anna directed her attention towards the warehouses that held the arrays, clenching her fist and causing the ground to shake and jostle. With a groan, the nearest warehouses began to lean and topple. The arrays drawn on them flickered repeatedly as they were being disrupted.
However, several warehouses were untouched by Anna's spell, summoning more fireballs and launching them at the group. Most were intercepted by the trio at the front, though some came from behind and were thus not stopped. Victoria, who had remained still in the rear, pulled out a small double-ended dagger, which then extended to form a twin-blade.
With movements so fast Endyr had a hard time keeping up, she slashed at the air and sent dark purple crescents of light at the fireballs. The same coloured light had coated her twin-blades at some point, and the fireballs detonated as soon as they made contact.
Having dealt with all the attacks in this wave, everyone turned their attention to dealing with the arrays on the warehouses. Isabelle summoned more earth spikes and had them pummel the structures furiously. Himmel had summoned a large fireball of his own and sent it towards a section of warehouses, exploding one and setting its neighbours on fire. Arnold clenched his fist, causing his Metal Mana to converge into the shape of a gigantic broadsword. He swung it, sending a rush of Metal Mana that bisected half a dozen of the buildings and sending them crashing to the ground.
After that attack, silence reigned over the street once more as no more arrays lit up. After waiting a bit longer, Isabelle seemed certain that they were in the clear and lowered her guard. "It seems that was it. Well done everybody, but now we need to hurry. This was both a distraction and a probe; the Vampires may be trying to flee as we speak."
"I can't see anything for the immediate future" Ruby calmly stated, her azure-blue Mana concentrated around her eyes. "If the Vampires are blocking prophecies and Divination, then they are making a move as we speak. Let's hurry" Aryll proposed.
'Prophecy? Is Ruby a seer?' Endyr narrowed her eyes as she went over her memories. 'Ah that's right. Soul Mages have psychic abilities. But Soul Mana is really strange. Out of all the Elements, it is the most irregular. In fact, it almost seems like it should belong in its own category, like Nether and Ether.'
"Penny for your thoughts?"
Endyr snapped out of it to see Kulkiri standing beside her. Endyr wrinkled her nose in displeasure at his presence, but remembered what happened last time she ignored him and decided to just answer. "I was just thinking that Soul Mana is really strange and unique."
"Ah" Kulkiri nodded his head. "Yes, that topic had confounded scholars and Magi for millennium. Nobody knows why Soul Mana has such strange properties, or which category to label it under. In fact, Soul Mana has the most mysterious origins too! Fire mana comes from fire, Water from the oceans, Earth and Nature from the land we walk upon...Every Element has a physical or conceptual version in Orvonia. Yet what landscape represents the Soul? Is it all living beings, meaning Soul shares the same origin as Death and Life Mana? Or is it limited to purely sentient life, like the Races?"
Endyr looked at Kulkiri with slight surprise, impressed by the depth he held on the subject despite herself. "You seem to have given it quite the amount of thought" she stated quizzically. Kulkiri chuckled and scratched his head in embarrassment. "I'm a storyteller on the side after all. I need to have a deep understanding of the tales I spin to make them real. But hearing such praise from a young lady as beautiful as you is truly delightful!"
The little goodwill Endyr had for Kulkiri was dashed at that. Even if it was a mere jest, she would not associate with anyone that held unsavoury intentions towards a child. Denizens of Infinity had few rules, and what little "They" did have were forced on them by the System and various powerful Gods in a desperate attempt to contain "Them".
Several such rules included not interfering with other Denizens, wiping Species out across the Multiverse, tampering with the Space-Time Continuum and child pornography. While each world had a different legal age, no Denizen would engage in sexual activities if "Their" Avatar was below it. This rule was pushed forward by Astraea, the Denizen of Purity. "She" threatened to seal away the Core of any Denizen who engaged in such acts.
'The others weren't too happy about that rule being implemented, and war nearly broke out between us...In the end, Makyr had to get personally involved along with Erebus. Those two overruled the other Denizens and decreed Astraea to be in the right. Heh, those fuckers spent all eternity screwing each other yet pop up out of nowhere and demand the others follow "Them". What a joke.'
Endyr's brief eulogy was cut short by Isabelle and Anna coming to a stop. Ahead of them was a tall and imposing building made from stone, looking old yet still sturdy. Endyr's instincts whispered to her, causing her to pool Man in her eyes and observe the building that way.
'The walls are all enforced quite heavily, but the arrays are too complex for me to gather more than that. However, I can tell at a glance its some serious stuff, to the point where we might not be able to break in through pure brute-force.'
She turned towards the twin leaders of the mission, who had been whispering to each other on how to proceed. Aryll and Victoria had also joined the huddle, trading tips and pointers from their own experiences. After a short while, the four came to a conclusion and separated.
"Listen up everybody, the real mission begins here. Somewhere behind those walls, a group of Vampires await us. Breach the walls, kill the targets and recover whatever it is they are guarding. Try not to die, and if you find Kismet, do NOT engage him on your own. Seek either us, or backup before fighting him. Alright then...let's begin"