(Black Serpents Guild Headquarters, Twin-Fang Planet, two days later)
The commotion began as a whisper.
A distant tremor in the ground.
A strange flicker of mana surging as a disheveled figure wandered toward the guild gates in tattered, bloodstained robes that no longer held shape or status.
The man looked filthy as he limped on all fours like an ape, and was covered in black grime and dried blood— his face hidden beneath a tangled beard and sunken shadows where eyes should have been.
The outer guards paused, confused.
They had never seen someone like this on Twin Fang Planet, where no beggars lived, and hence they immediately became cautious.
"Sir, you can’t be here. This is Black Serpents property, please identify yourself or face detention" one barked, stepping forward, hand on his weapon.
However, the figure said nothing in response.
The guard raised his voice. "Last warning. Identify yourself or be detained—!"
And then came the flash.
Not of light, but of death.
A single slash, that was both silent and effortless, as it tore through air like divine judgment, cleaving the front half of the guild building as though it were made of paper.
*KABOOM*
The sky shuddered. Walls collapsed. Entire sections of the compound crumbled, catching dozens of staff and elite soldiers in the wave of obliteration.
"AARGGHH—-"
*Chaos*
*Screams*
*Panic*
Screams followed. Then alarms.
Red sirens wailed across the complex as defensive protocols activated. Spells ignited. Auto-turrets locked in.
Within seconds, the guild’s inner elites were on the scene with their blades drawn, mana flaring, each one ready to strike down the intruder that had just massacred their comrades and razed half their sanctuary to the ground.
Until they saw Vice Guildmaster Antonio, bursting onto the scene, cloak flying, eyes wide in disbelief.
"STAND DOWN!" Antonio roared, his voice cracking across the courtyard like a thunderclap.
"ALL OF YOU, STAND DOWN, NOW!" He said again, as the Black Serpent soldiers hesitated, feeling confused.
"But Vice-Guildmaster, it’s—"
"That’s him!" Antonio yelled, breath ragged. "That’s the guildmaster!"
No one moved. Not until the creature standing amidst the rubble turned its head, baring its teeth, letting out a low, guttural growl more animal than human.
Antonio took a step forward, slow and deliberate, his palms held out.
"Dupravel," he said softly, voice trembling. "It’s me. It’s Antonio."
Another growl. Lower this time. Sharper.
Antonio kept walking. "I’m not here to hurt you, brother. You’re home now. You made it back. We’ll fix this. You’ll see."
Behind him, the elites looked on in horror as the Guildmaster of the Black Serpents, the supreme monarch they had once revered— stood hunched, eyes feral, body twitching with wild mana surges, like a beast in the throes of starvation and rage.
"GET THE CLARITY POTIONS!" Antonio snapped without turning. "ALL OF THEM! BRING THE MIND-HEALERS NOW!"
He didn’t care how many saw it. He didn’t care how undignified it was.
This wasn’t about the guild anymore.
This was about saving what little remained of his friend.
—----------
(Crystal Chamber, Medical Wing – 3 hours later)
Dupravel sat curled in the center of the reinforced chamber, twitching every few seconds, as his eyes flicked toward unseen enemies.
His nails were cracked, jagged and caked in dried blood.
His lips were split.
His robes—once royal—now hung in shredded clumps off his body, blackened by tainted mana burns.
His skin was peeled in patches, raw muscle and bone visible underneath, while his aura flickered and collapsed like a dying flame trying to reignite.
He refused to let anyone near him, forcing the healers to work from afar, as they cast gentle mind-calming spells.
Antonio stood just outside the containment barrier, trying everything from words, memories and promises to threats, insults and rants, but nothing seemed to be going through, as Dupravel seemed to have forgotten human language.
Every time Antonio tried to hand over a clarity potion, Dupravel smacked it away with a snarl, shrieking incoherently.
Until, in desperation, Antonio grabbed a dog bowl and poured the potion into it, before kneeling and pushing it through the gap into the holding chamber.
*Sniff*
*Sniff*
"Grrrr—"
Dupravel sniffed. Snarled. Then, slowly—shaking like a fevered animal—he crawled over and licked the bowl clean.
Antonio didn’t move. Didn’t flinch.
Even as his throat tightened and his chest felt hollow. Even as shame and heartbreak swirled in his gut.
He just… waited.
The healers increased their output. Two more bottles followed. And again, Dupravel drank them the same way.
Only after ten doses, and over two hours of distance healing, did the creature that used to be Dupravel begin to… change.
His eyes stopped flickering.
His breathing steadied.
And then—just barely—he spoke.
"I… I was… I was chasing… it… it spoke to me in Noah’s voice… it wore my wife’s face… but she’s been dead… dead for… how long… how long has it been…?"
His voice was frantic, thin, a whisper moving faster than thought.
Each word stacked atop the next in a mess of trauma and jumbled time lines.
"I killed it. Then it laughed. I bled… I bled black for weeks. Then the floor screamed. Then the ceiling turned to eyes. I saw Antonio. But it wasn’t you. It wasn’t you. It wasn’t you."
Antonio felt his heart stop.
Even after feeding him so many mind clarity potions, Dupravel still seemed to be broken.
As even after countless hours of healing, it seemed like they could only restore his tainted mind by so much.
"MORE! GET THIS MAN MORE MIND CLARITY POTIONS…. HEALERS, DOUBLE YOUR OUTPUT, YOUR GUILDMASTER NEEDS YOU!
NOBODY SLOUCH!
WE MUST SAVE HIM TODAY, OR WE MAY NEVER BE ABLE TO SAVE HIM!" Antonio shouted desperately, as he knew exactly what was at stake here.
They needed to rescue Dupravel before the taint of the still-world mana forever corrupted his mind.
The longer it was allowed to fester, the more damage it did, which was why time was of the essence here.
The fact that Dupravel somehow found his way back here meant that he had some semblance of sanity left, however, it desperately needed saving.