Serum - C187

4 months passed within the Sanctuary. 

Dirk flipped through a few more pages in a book before reaching the end and shutting it. Spyte chimed when that happened. 

[Last book complete.]

“Finally. With that and everything out of that orb…”

Dirk looked around. Yumia’s library was vast, and it contained vast knowledge regarding magic. 

However, the books he went through weren’t always magical. He didn’t forget his objective. He needed to collect information on the Otherworld, the World Tree, and the landscape of the war between the Resistance and the elves. He was uniquely suited to collecting that information since it came from the source. Pandora would surely appreciate it. 

He sighed, thinking about how long he had been away from her. He admitted that it was a little lonely. Thankfuly he had the company of his cat and the constant missions from Yumia to keep him busy. 

Speaking of…

Dirk suddenly unfolded his Domain, the surrounding area getting engulfed in darkness and spatial warping waves. Fire degraded the integrity of the space around him and allowed him to Void Walk a few meters away with impossible ease. 

A spatial tear appeared where he once was, sucking in some air before blinking out of existence. He could feel a hole in his Domain open, its power as annihilating as ever. 

Dirk’s head turned. He couldn’t see Yumia, but he could definitely feel her presence. 

He smiled. 

“This time… It’s the ceiling.”

“Tsk, you’re making me think my magic isn’t perfect.”

Yumia suddenly manifested. She was sitting in a chair, upside down on the ceiling. The gravity and space around her served to keep her from falling. 

In recent weeks she had fun ambushing him, stressing his spells to their limit. Along with some of her teaching, Dirk was able to revamp and sharpen up his spells magnificently. Even his Domain changed, not an easy thing to do. 

Through this, he also learned how to detect people. It relied on his Source Mana, something even Yumia didn’t have, but it worked so he didn’t refrain from using it even when Yumia whined about the unfairness. 

With the Source Mana, even though someone like Yumia could easily tear through his Domain, he could at least find whoever did it. 

She helped him find his limits while teaching him about his inadequacies. Everything resulted in nothing but marked improvement in all areas. 

The only downside was his Bone Destruction. As the Dark Dragon had said, it really did make him want to die. It cracked his bones and drained his vitality, making him feel sick and inflicting shuddering pain. 

Thankfully he healed quickly. His ability to regenerate was unprecedented, so his Destruction Cycles would be far faster than normal. It shouldn’t be long before he got close to forming the Symbol of Integrity, as the Dark Dragon put it. 

Dirk walked away from the bookshelves as Yumia floated down on her chair, a glass of wine in her hand. 

She extended it out to him when he passed. 

“Thanks.”

“Sure. You know, I didn’t take you for a drinker before.”

“I wasn’t, but after Asura, circumstances compelled me.”

“Now that I can understand. Cheers.”

They clinked their glasses together. Dirk had never stopped drinking in an attempt to get used to drinking potions, but the fact he did came as great surprise to Yumia. 

Yumia was easy for Dirk to get along with before, but after that discovery, the two alcoholics found another thing to bond over. 

Dirk even got his own chair so he could sit nearby whenever she did. They often overlooked mission areas like that together, chatting away as if neither of them had any care in the world about the battles ahead. 

When two people were just so good at what they did, discussion was rather mute. 

Dirk plopped down on his bed. 

“Another mission?”

“No, not yet. However, I do have some new intelligence for you.”

“What did she do this time?”

Dirk took the papers, reading the recent report that came in. 

Dirk had obviously heard about the city that Pandora poisoned and nearly destroyed. It was a complete ecological disaster. Plants died, livestock had to be relocated, after a handful of weeks the majority of the elves in that city were husks. They weren’t dying, but they would given enough time, and the worst part was that the disease was somewhat contagious. 

Reinforcements who came to help were also infected. Eventually, even the elven Royal Healer was dispatched. Word on the street was that a cure was created, but that was either fake or not nearly as effective as they made it out to be. 

The bigger issue was that Pandora didn’t stop there. Not only did she poison three more cities, but there was evidence left behind that everything was the doing of the Dark Kingdom, the Resistance now being a front for their operations. 

It technically wasn’t false since Pandora was of the Dark Kingdom, but it was causing massive political trouble. Yumia obviously relayed information to her sister the Vampire Queen, and they were still deciding what to do. 

It was almost certain that a war would be starting soon, based on recent elven movements. Their armies were mobilizing, and it wasn’t just to handle the resistance, although pressure on that front had multiplied massively as well. 

Pandora was causing a lot of trouble. Dirk knew it would incur consequences, and not just from the elves. 

Unfortunately for them, he was still on her side. 

The report in Dirk’s hands detailed not a water supply poisoning, but a gas attack. It had apparently spread like a fog during the night, creeping into the city and decimating plant life within and without. All foliage within miles had been withered, food storages had been razed, and the population was now suffering from both starvation and excessive vomiting. They couldn’t even eat what little they had. 

Dirk scratched his head. These were war crimes in any  other book, and he didn’t exactly feel sympathy for these elves. After all, they had started the genocide, and this was a natural consequence of war. The fact that they weren’t prepared for it simply meant that they were inadequate. 

Still, it was difficult to hear about. Pandora didn’t wage war. She simply devastated anything she came across, oftentimes in creative ways. She was just as capable of sowing chaos as she was breaking the minds of cities or armies. 

What these people still had yet to realize was that there was more than one way to wage a war, and they were learning that the hard way. 

Yumia twirled her glass. 

“Everything has been slowing down. We haven’t rescued anyone in two weeks. They’re moving all the big players since my niece has been running amok, which makes it harder for us to do anything. Now that they’re preparing for war, we’ve entered a stalemate.”

“So it’s hurry up and wait now.”

“Pretty much.”

“Which means it’s probably a good time for me to ask something of you.”

“...”

Yumia’s brows raised. 

“I need to get to the Unity Empire.”

“Well I wouldn’t have guessed that. I thought you were going to go back to Pandora. I was a bit worried.”

“No, not yet. If I do, then I have a feeling I won’t be able to dodge her desires. We’ve already been treading a thin line. It’s part of why I never contacted her. Now my position is precarious and I have a feeling that I need to do this now, rather than later. I’ll probably regret it if I put it off any longer.”

“And what’s that?”

“...There’s another girl.”

“Hoho! You have a death wish.”

Yumia was shocked, hardly believing Dirk’s words. 

“I can’t fathom a man actually rejecting Pandora and going for another girl. I understand that Pandora’s a little demon, but she’s obviously not that way with you. Tell me, how is something like this possible?”

“I’m not rejecting her. I just need to figure things out with Ava.”

“Ava… She better be extraordinary. Pandora will sooner kill her than allow you to saunter off with an inadequate girl.”

“I know, which is why this needs to happen now. If it doesn’t work out, then I’ll no longer have any reservations. Pandora and I will probably form the Life Blood Pact.”

Dirk thought about what he had learned in recent months. The Life Blood Pact was the most intimate and empowering Pact there was. Vampires formed it when they got married, establishing an exclusive connection between each other. 

Pandora had already been wanting to upgrade their Pact, and if she got a taste of his blood as it was now, then it would get extremely difficult to turn her down when she suddenly wanted to form this Life Blood Pact. 

He couldn’t do that before he saw Ava again. While he had wanted to fix his eyes before that, it obviously wasn’t in the cards for now, and his instincts were telling him that it was now or never. 

Dirk faced Yumia. 

“I hope you can help me. I just need you to drop me in the Unity Empire.”

“That’s it? How will you even find this girl? Not to mention the fact that humans aren’t exactly the most welcome in Unity.”

“I can figure all that out. I just need you to get me there.”

“...Very well.”

Yumia nodded, making Dirk smile in relief. 

“You’ve helped me out quite a bit, especially since you gave me the formations within the Heart Core. I’ve no reason to reject.”

“Thank you.”

“But I’m not sending you empty handed.”

Yumia stood from her chair, pondering for a second before waving, dozens of spell formations lightning up within the room. 

Boxes of supplies, consumable items, even mana crystals appeared all around them.

Then, Yumia walked over and raised a knife, cutting her hand before lifting her shirt and placing her bloodied palm against Dirk’s chest. 

He could feel a brand engrave itself on his skin with her blood as the catalyst. It was painless, tickling more than anything else. 

Once it was done, he looke down at it. It looked like a seal, but it seemed to be Yumia’s personal one. 

“That right there is a powerful spell. All you have to do is fill it with your mana and you’ll teleport back to me, no matter where you are in the world. Even if that doesn’t work, I’ll get your spatial coordinates and will be able to act personally. So long as I’m in the Otherworld, getting you back to me will be easy, no matter who’s trying to pin you down, even Asura.”

“...Thank you.”

A life saving measure, for sure. Dirk hadn’t expected this, but he appreciated it greatly. 

“Hopefully I won’t have to use it, but you have my gratitude.”

“In exchange, bring me back a damn good drink. Unity will certainly have something. I’ve yet to taste their exotic flavors.”

“It’ll be my second priority.”

“Haha, then prepare yourself. I’ll set up the portal. Any particular destination?”

“The Capital, please.”

“I thought as much.”

She smiled and waved, walking herself into the secluded training room. 

Dirk had Obsidius gather up all the supplies. That little gray blob had also gotten stronger. While not quite enough to gobble up a Tier 8 Geode Heart Core, it was more than enough to carry year’s worth of supplies. He had no trouble fitting all of Dirk’s things in what was now a massive Pocket Dimension. He didn’t even have to use storage rings, though he kept them with him just in case. 

Being Dirk’s Familiar, Obsidius got stronger as Dirk did, similar to Spyte. Not only that, but with Yumia’s new spellwork, Dirk was able to somewhat train Obsidius to handle more loads. The blob’s abilities were relatively set in stone, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t learn. It was a familiar, a living being, not just some sentient spatial storage. 

Once everything was loaded, Dirk left a couple more items behind, dropping them on Yumia’s desk. Then, he went to the room. Yumia was there, glancing at him while finishing the portal. There were some mana crystals, nothing more than supplements to her already obscenely powerful spell formations. 

“It’s done. You want to go now?”

“Sure. I’ve nothing more to prepare.”

“Very well then. This portal will drop you right on the edge of the Capital’s territory. You’ll have to enter it yourself since I can’t just drop you right in its center. Too many defensive formations.”

“That’s more than enough.”

Dirk nodded as the portal activated, swirling with spatial warping power. 

“You have my map of the place, so use it.”

“Yes, thank you. I’ve also left you something on your desk.”

“Oh my, a gift?”

“Depending on how you look at it, yes. It’ll grant you time.”

“Time?”

“You’ll know what I’m talking about when you read it.”

Dirk smiled, facing the portal. 

“I’m off.”

“Stay safe.”

Yumia waved, Dirk stepping through the portal. She could feel his body move through the spatial channel it created, moving through the Otherworld and arriving at Unity within seconds. 

Once he arrived, she shut the portal down, turning to approach her desk. 

On it was a piece of paper. It detailed one of Dirk’s last requests. 

He wanted Yumia to call Pandora, bringing her to Sanctuary. Then, once Pandora arrived, he wanted Yumia to give her the Heart Core, the formations from it, as well as the intelligence Dirk left behind for her. The last thing she needed to do was tell Pandora where Dirk had gone. 

Yumia frowned. 

“Bring her to the Sanctuary… Wait…”

She suddenly smiled. 

Pandora would surely leave to find Dirk in Unity. That meant that Pandora would be completely out of their hair for however long that took. It might not necessarily be enough to avoid war with the Otherworld, but it would buy them time.

Just as Dirk said it would. 

Yumia let out tinkling laughter. 

“How cheeky. I like it!”

……

…

Dirk’s feet touched the ground, his head turning since his eyes couldn’t. 

He no longer felt any disorientation from teleportation. He had long since gotten too powerful for that. 

He looked around, the first thing catching his eye being some enormous statues. 

Suddenly, his Domain expanded. He took a dozen Void Steps, his body appearing high in the sky. 

From there, he could overlook the entire Capital City of Unity. 

Another legendary sight. 

The Capital city of Unity was not unlike the Dark Kingdom. The city was built on top of a massive lake. However, this lake was deep inside of a massive hole in the ground. The hole was 1000 meters deep and nearly 20 miles wide, looking like a god had made a cookie cut out of the land. 

At the bottom of this hole was the lake itself, and on top of the lake, the Capital city was built. 

As for the statues Dirk had seen, there were 7 of them, and all of them were around 600 meters tall, gargantuan creations radiating power. The 7 of them were situated equidistant around the hole. 

One statue was clearly above the rest though. Being 1000 meters tall and many more meters around, the statue of a Dragon reigned. Dirk could guess which Dragon it was. 

The Water Dragon Primordial. 

From its mouth poured endless water, feeding into the lake below, yet obviously not filling it despite the massive amount of water it gave. How this entire city worked, Dirk couldn’t guess. 

As for the other 7 statues, Dirk had heard of them. They had to do with the beastkin. 

There were 6 statues, and each of the 6 were shaped after the so called “Divine Beasts” that the Water Dragon Primordial had created in the ancient past. This was all intelligence that Pandora had collected, something Dirk hadn’t expected to be recalling at the moment. 

The statues were:

The Varanus, Cold Shield

The Sirenia, Sea of Elegance 

The Carnivora, Blood of Warriors 

The Rangifer, Crowned Wanderers 

The Strigiform, Eye of Truth

The Aquila, Aerial Warden

Dirk knew most of those names. The Lizards, the carnivores, the reindeer, the owls, and the eagles. The only one that he didn’t immediately recognize was the Sirenia, but that was because they were a species that didn’t exist on Earth. 

The mermaid and merman, or the merfolk. They were never seen beyond Unity because they had difficulties living beyond bodies of water. They could, but it certainly wasn’t preferable. 

These 6 Families composed the ruling class of Unity and were imaged by the satues. They were the blessed children of the Water Dragon Primordial, and because of that they were the most powerful. Dirk didn’t know how things worked beyond that, but he didn’t need to know that much. 

Ava herself was from the Rangifer, the Reindeer, the Crowned Wanderers. Dirk could see the magnificent antlers curling like a crown around the head of the ancient Rangifer depicted in the statue. Ava’s had been getting to that point last time he saw her. 

From the 6 statues around the Dragon, there were massive bridges that ferried thousands of other beastkin in and out of the city on top of the lake below. 

Dirk wondered about the other workings on the city and the symbiotic nature it had with the species that lived within it, but for now he decided to move. 

Taking another dozen Void Steps, Dirk arrived back on the floor below. Then, Obsidius enveloped him in his black scale armor, his Domain blooming and his Stealth activating. 

Like that he snuck into Unity, taking the large bridges down to the city. 

The bridges were like escalators. The platforms were generally huge and could hold dozens of people depending on how the guard stuffed them. Other platforms carried cargo, carriages, and wagons down. 

Dirk felt like it was grossly inefficient, but it worked for them. He didn’t necessarily like utilitarian things anyway. 

Before long he hit the city proper. After getting off the platform with some other people, he walked onto a street. 

Unity was divided into 6 districts, naturally representing the 6 Families that ruled the place. Dirk entered via the bridge that took them into the Rangifer District. No better place to start finding Ava. 

As for how he would go about finding that girl in this city…

“I’ll have to start asking around.”

Dirk sighed and looked in the distance. The area around the bridge was a commercial sector since that’s where most goods and such were dropped off. Further in was where residences were, and then the Royalty were near the center of the city. Dirk was pretty sure Ava wasn’t royalty, but there was no better place to get information than from people who had the power to collect it. 

He’d just have to pay a couple visits, make a few unwilling friends, and then tell them to find her. It would take some trial and error, but eventually he would narrow his search. 

Dirk started traversing the city, making his way toward the center with those thoughts in mind. Since this district was dominated by Reindeer, he saw a lot of antlers. 

“Oh my dear, how am I supposed to find you in this sea of keratin?”

Dirk sighed, quickly finding himself in the high class sector of the city. All 6 races built their high class areas in the center, so that meant there were 6 massive citadels at the heart of the city, as if they had been trying to one up each other while building them. There was also a central Spire in the center of those 6 citadels, all of the connected to each other via bridges. 

Dirk could feel several powerful presences. Besides the royal residences, a military base was also nearby, a place where they trained future warriors. Dirk figured there was probably an academy here as well. 

Dirk wondered if Ava had joined the military. He knew she wanted to get stronger. She had a strong drive, especially after his abduction. He wasn’t sure how all that worked though. Perhaps she simply wanted to raid dungeons, or maybe she wasn’t even in this city, having gone to other places to raid other dungeons. 

He knew that her family was here though. If he couldn’t find her, then he’d find them. 

Dirk climbed to the top of a massive hotel, overlooking a large portion of the city. There were too many options for him to take, and the difficult part was going about this without pissing off the wrong people. He didn’t want to bring down fire on Ava’s head, nor get caught by someone who could threaten his life. 

However, he noticed something off while looking around. 

There were walls beyond build, and some buildings were demolished in certain areas. Not controlled demolitions either. There were signs of battle. 

Even worse was how he spotted another building, a Church. 

The Sovereign Church was here. 

He knew that in advance, of course. Pandora had known that and it was the reason she had already pinned them as an enemy. It would just be a while before she could handle them because apparently, the Sovereign Church dominated Unity. She wasn’t going up against factions. She would have to go against the collective power of Unity and the Sovereign Church together.  

However, Dirk saw a different picture. Not all was peaceful here, it seemed. Based on the location of the battles and where the walls were being built, it seemed the Families were having disputes. 

Dirk went and searched the city for a few hours, finding patterns. Among the demolished buildings, many of them were churches. And only specific districts had demolished churches, whereas in others, all of them were intact. 

Were certain Families rejecting the influence of the Sovereign Church? It was certainly possible, but that would spell civil war. 

And the district that had no churches left, all of them being demolished, was the Rengifer District. The Strigiform and Aquila Districts also had destroyed churches, and Dirk could see heightened military presences there. 

So the owls, eagles, and reindeer were rejecting the Church. He wondered why, and wondered whether that would be it. There was no way just those three could face the other Families, especially when one of the other families was Carnivora. They were basically born warriors and composed a majority of the military according to Pandora. 

This conflict also introduced problems for Dirk. If leaders were on edge, there was no way he could peacefully sneak in and ask for information. If he dropped Ava’s name, then her and her family would earn the ire of the powerful individuals Dirk antagonized. 

It made his search that much more difficult. However, just as Dirk started thinking he’d have to brute force a search with Spyte, he got a notification from Miss Record. 

<Avalon Gaimbert is currently located within the Rangifer Citadel.>

<Note: She has acquired great power, and has been swept into the brewing conflict within Unity.>

“Is that so…”

Dirk rubbed his chin, deciding to make his way to the Citadel. 

His Domain was sucked in, present just above his scale armor as he entered without detection. There were several security measures, but none of them could possibly catch him. 

The Rangifer Citadel was made of pure white stone, as all of them were. However, the Rangifer Citadel in particular was artistic, sporting its own uniqueness through architectural and sculpted brilliance. 

Dirk’s Mana Vision took in every face at once, however, he also had his gut feeling pointing him in the right direction. 

He ascended the levels of the citadel, making his way to its top. Once he within the top 5 floors, he started searching the rooms. 

One of the last few rooms he searched was a meeting hall. It seemed to be busy, so he snuck his way in despite the presence of a Tier 8 water mage. 

He kept his presence to an absolute minimum, hiding in a corner of the ceiling, right behind one of the many statues. 

That’s when he found her. 

“We can’t allow the Church to sway the Sirenia! They’re our only chance against the Varanus and Carnovira!”

“We can’t be expected to fight of the Church’s presence there!”

“Why not?!”

Dirk heard Ava’s shout. Despite being surrounded by her seniors, and several high power individuals, she spoke as if none were above her. 

She glared at one of the old men, an Owl by the looks of his bulbous eyes and feathers around his head.

“For weeks you have refused to do anything but stand by and watch! Years of peace have made you cowards, and we will not miss this opportunity simply because you scare at the thought of putting your life on the line! What will you do when the Church marches onto your territory and demands subordination?! Would you even dare ask for our help?! Or would you simply cower and give in?!”

“Do not question my integrity, girl! I see things that you cannot fathom!”

“And yet you don’t have the balls to do anything about it!”

Ava’s power flared, and suddenly, Dirk saw that ‘great power’ Miss Record mentioned. 

It was more than just great power. It was perhaps the greatest power. 

The Key Artifact of Water. Ava had it. 

Dirk didn’t know how she could’ve gotten her hands on it…

<I led her to it.>

Miss Record spoke. 

<It became active, and the Church was about to get their hands on it. Thankfully Avalon understands what it means to stand against them. She has great Will.>

“Pandora won’t be happy…”

<Pandora must understand that one cannot possess all of the Key Artifacts.>

Dirk didn’t respond to that. He also understood the danger of not just giving one person all the power, but also placing great power in the hands of the unworthy or inept. He’d rather keep all the power in the hands of Pandora and himself than let it fall into the wrong hands. 

Not that he felt Ava was unworthy, but if more people were destined to continue taking the Artifacts, he’d like to make sure they were both capable and trustworthy, two very high bars to meet. 

Still, the fact that Ava was more than capable enough to meet those expectations was a relief. He suddenly felt far less anxious, even though Pandora would have an aneurysm when she found out that another Key Artifact was going to be out of her hands. 

Well, nothing a sip of his blood wouldn’t fix. 

Dirk watched as the Key Artifact of Water made itself known. Dirk wasn’t sure what it was exactly, but it came in the form of a crystal clear gem, the humidity rising as water droplets appeared around Ava. 

No, it wasn’t just the humidity. Dirk recognized this phenomenon. 

It was a Domain, and something far more powerful than normal. Water mana actively condensed in the domain for Ava to make free use of, coming to her at nearly no cost. 

She could fill this room with water near instantly, and within that water, she would be queen. 

Ava looked down on that old Owl. 

“I’m sick of constantly hearing your cowardice. Now, I’m no longer suggesting. You will start moving your forces, and the others will follow.”

She glanced around at the leaders of the Rangifer and the Aquila. 

“We will annihilate the Church’s forces within the Sirenia District, and we will kill any Merfolk that take the Church’s side. The Sirenia will ally with us, one way or another, and we will unite against the Carnivora and Varanus.”

She turned her head, looking toward one of the eagles. 

“Send my words to the Sirenia as well. They will decide whether our armies march upon their territory. And muster the armies tonight! We will not give the other Families time to guess our move! Is that understood?!”

“...Yes.”

The Owl shrunk under Ava’s Domain, and with everyone’s agreement, the Key Artifact sunk back into her body. 

Ava walked off, marching out of the room. Dirk quickly followed silently. Now wasn’t the time to surprise her. 

He was curious to see just what kind of situation this childhood friend of his had landed herself in.