Supreme Magus

'Alchemy arrays may be volatile, but dear old traps don't mess with magic. Using Light Mastery to trigger them was a brilliant move.' Lith said.

'It's nothing much.' Menadion shrugged. 'I too used a lot of mechanical traps back when I had my old lab, before the tower.'

The Demons yelled instead of using the mind link to lure any enemy still lying in ambush in the open and dispose of them before the living members of the strike team came down the hatch.

After a few minutes and no reaction, the Demons checked the ramifications of the entry tunnel and waited for reinforcements.

"The coast is clear." Lith put on his plague doctor mask and the soldiers followed suit. "Solus, with me. Demons, lead one assault unit each. Communications are cut off so use the black chains to call for reinforcements.

"Knight Guard, if you lose your mask or get infected, retreat immediately and seek first aid."

Half of the first underground floor turned out to be the residential area of the guards and a storage facility. Alchemical ingredients, vessels, and all kinds of spare parts were neatly organized and tagged on countless shelves.

The Emperor Beasts defending the various rooms were well-equipped and trained to fight as a unit. Also, by using Hatorne's potions, their physical abilities exceeded those of regular blue-cored Emperor Beasts, bringing them almost to Awakened levels.

Almost.

The humans had body-enhancing potions as well and with Lith and the Demons leading the charge into the enemy formation, the fight was well-balanced. Each soldier had a small light inside their helm that signaled them the brief moments when the mages outside deactivated the air-sealing arrays.

It allowed the Knight Guard's members to unleash streams of lightning that took the Emperor Beasts by surprise and wasted their time. Whether the beasts tried to shoot lightning bolts back or open Warp Steps, nothing happened.

The arrays never became inactive for longer than one second and the soldiers used solely the air magic spells imbued in their equipment. The mages were careful not to leave enough time to cast and use any air magic spell.

Sure, the Emperor Beasts could keep them at the ready but it drained their focus and by the time they reacted to the soldiers' air magic, the array turned active again and dissipated the beasts' mana.

'Lith, come here. Quick.' Trion sent his coordinates and the quickest route to reach him to his brother via the black chains.

With the corridors cleared and secured as the assault teams infiltrated deeper into the facility, Lith could safely fly to his destination.

"Make one move and everyone dies." A humanoid canine said while holding a razor-sharp knife against the throat of a little girl, barely older than four.

The second half of the first underground floor was where the humans were kept until it was their turn to become part of the experimentation.
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Behind the Emperor Beast, there was a room full of terrified people held at spell-point by more Emperor Beasts in their hybrid form. When the canine said "everyone", she referred to the hostages, not the soldiers.

"Children?" Lith narrowed his eyes as Elysia's figure overlapped with the crying little girl. "What use do you have for children? They can't use magic and don't survive long after being infested by the parasites."

"You have no need to know that." The canine scoffed. "What's important here is that if you want to save these people, you have to let us go. Deactivate the dimensional sealing array and the humans are all yours.

"Refuse my terms and we'll fight to the death. I don't care if these weaklings are caught in the crossfire or become our meat shields. What about you?"

Lith noticed that most of the people in the room were children, but not all of them. Some were men and women with a sickly look and no magic talent. A few were elderly people who needed constant medical attention just to survive.

'Whoever these people are, they are not test subjects. They wouldn't last one minute once the parasites fill their bodies with toxins.' Lith tried to focus but his own heartbeat deafened him.

Every time the small girl called for his mother, his mana ran wild. Every time the small girl called for his father, Ragnarök whispered in his ear, begging him to set it free.

"Me?" Lith kept his voice as cold as his blood. "I don't care about the hostages either. I'm not the one who will end up on his knees, begging for mercy. You are."

The only reaction of the members of the Knight Guard was glancing at him for a second.

They agreed with Lith on the principle but disliked his execution. All the training and discipline on Mogar couldn't drive away the thought that their own families one day might find themselves on the other side of such an impossible situation.

"Didn't you swear to protect the Kingdom and its people?" The canine Emperor Beast pressed Lith on and her blade on the girl's throat until she bled. "Are their lives less important than our deaths?"

"No, they are not, and I am upholding my oath." Lith shook his finger, his eyes ablaze with mana. "First rule in a hostage situation. Never let go of your weapon or advantage. The hostage is safe as long as it keeps the criminal alive.

"The only reason you don't dare make a move on that child is because you know that if she dies, you'll be next."

"These are just weak humans and we are proud Emperor Beasts." The canine snarled. "Why would we hurt them after you open a way out for us?"

"Proud?" Lith said with a dry cackle. "How can you say that with a straight face while hiding behind an innocent cub?"

The Emperor Beast failed to find a retort and steeled her grip when she noticed the cold spite in the eyes of the soldiers staring at her.

"As for your question, you would hurt the hostages to keep us from chasing after you. Wounded people need medical attention and we can't be in two places at the same time."

"A fine point." The canine Emperor Beast dropped her mask and smiled. "But we are at a standstill and the more time you waste here, the higher the chances my associates escape. After all, your mages can't keep their arrays active long enough to starve us to death."

"Were." Lith corrected her and she tilted her head in confusion. "We were at a standstill. Not anymore."

'What do you mean?' The canine Emperor Beast thought yet her mouth failed to make it into sound.

"Come here, baby girl. Everything is fine." Lith said.

The little girl was frozen by fear yet her arm pulled out of the Emperor Beast's grip and her legs stepped away without encountering any resistance. The canine was as flabbergasted as the girl, her body paralyzed from pointed ear to paw.

"Good girl." Lith patted the little girl's head and sent her behind the line of soldiers. "Close your eyes and cover your ears."

The human hostages obeyed Lith's words without knowing how or why their bodies moved on their own. At the same time, the rest of the Emperor Beasts found themselves locked in place like statues.