Alchemists were magic specialists who focused on crafting items and creating magical dolls.
In Guiltina, the profession was fairly common.
"It's usually a second choice, though," Elefseria explained. "Most people only switch to alchemy when they don't have much talent for regular magic."
His former disciple, Duke Barbaroa, had been one of those people.
Duke had turned to Alchemy Magic because he believed his talent as a mage was nothing special.
To be fair, Duke had not done badly at all.
One look at Gold Owl's headquarters was enough to prove that.
But the Gold Owl standing here now was no longer the same guild Elefseria remembered.
The reason Elefseria knew something was wrong was simple: Duke Barbaroa had died years ago.
Elefseria had known that for a long time.
So when "Duke Barbaroa" suddenly appeared again, Elefseria immediately realized Gold Owl had a problem.
The air in Filan City carried a strange smell, like metal mixed with alchemical chemicals.
Just as Magnolia was now often called a city of mages, Filan City was Guiltina's city of alchemists.
"Let's go in and take a look."
Marco studied the magical castle in front of him, frowning slightly.
He could tell something was wrong with the place at a glance, but knowing how to fix it was another matter.
Viernes, the Gold Dragon God, was in an extremely strange state.
His body was not here, his soul was not here either.
This castle was him, but at the same time, it was not him.
Viernes was stuck in some bizarre Schrodinger-like state, both existing and not existing at the same time.
Since Marco had spoken, the others naturally followed him into the castle.
Elefseria and Mercphobia had also sensed something strange.
They were both dragons now, after all, and were especially sensitive to the presence of their own kind.
"This may be troublesome..."
Mercphobia had not figured it out yet, but Elefseria's talent as the Law Dragon let him grasp the outline of the problem more quickly.
Because of that, he looked even more troubled. He was already trying to work out how to break Viernes out of this strange state.
"Can we help you?"
The moment Marco's group stepped into Gold Owl's main hall, someone blocked their path with a serious attitude.
The figure was wrapped in a long coat and mask, with only his eyes showing.
A massive iron sword was strapped to his back.
"Where's your Guild Master?" Marco glanced at him and answered casually. "Tell him his teacher is here."
This was not a human, this was an alchemical doll.
"His teacher?"
The man in the coat sounded confused.
He was Kotetsu, the Iron Alchemist, an alchemical doll created by Duke Barbaroa.
As for Duke's teacher, he truly knew nothing about that.
"Kotetsu, stand down."
Before Kotetsu could ask anything else, another voice stopped him.
A middle-aged man stepped out. He wore an eyepatch over his left eye and was dressed neatly, though his whole presence had a dark, unpleasant edge to it.
This was Duke Barbaroa, the current Guild Master of Gold Owl.
Behind Duke followed two more alchemical dolls: Gennai, the Smoke Alchemist, and Sai, the Bond Alchemist.
Gennai wore a kimono, had painted markings on his face, and carried a pipe.
Sai had the character for "break" marked on his face, making him look like some street punk.
Elefseria stared at Duke Barbaroa with complicated eyes.
Because this was not the Duke Barbaroa he had known.
"As expected. Pretty much the same kind of thing." Marco spoke first.
Duke Barbaroa was exactly as strange as he had expected.
He seemed to be part of Gold Owl itself, and also part of Viernes.
He had no soul.
He was more like an illusion shaped out of nothing.
If Kotetsu, Gennai, and Sai were alchemical dolls created by Duke Barbaroa, then Duke Barbaroa himself was Viernes's magical doll.
"Elefseria. Mercphobia. And.... uninvited guests." Duke's voice was cold and openly hostile. "You are not welcome here."
He was not even really trying to pretend anymore.
Clearly, the fact that Elefseria and Mercphobia had come together had made Viernes notice something was wrong.
Those two should have been enemies, yet here they were, standing side by side as if they were working together.
That alone was suspicious.
More importantly, Elefseria had been Duke Barbaroa's teacher.
He would be able to tell at once that this Duke was a fake.
"Gold Dragon God Viernes," Marco said before Elefseria could speak. "I suggest you come out on your own. Otherwise, I'm not going to be polite."
He aimed straight for Viernes.
Duke Barbaroa was only a puppet.
There was no point wasting words on him. If they wanted to solve this, they needed the real one to show himself.
"How arrogant! Attack!"
Duke's face darkened at Marco's attitude, and with his order, three figures moved at once.
Gennai, the Smoke Alchemist, flicked his pipe.
Thick, choking smoke spread through the hall in an instant, swallowing everyone's vision.
Kotetsu, the Iron Alchemist, charged through the smoke with his huge sword, the blade screaming through the air as it came down toward Marco.
Sai, the Bond Alchemist, stretched out both hands and used his strange alchemy.
"Alchemy: Weakling Bond!"
Sai's Bond Alchemy was a bizarre ability.
Weakling Bond could swap a target's soul with someone they thought of as weak.
The three alchemical dolls worked well together.
One covered the field in smoke, one attacked from the front, and one used alchemy to weaken the enemy.
"Gray, they're yours."
Marco took a step back and gave the battlefield to his student.
He had brought Gray along for experience, but Gray had barely done anything so far.
Now that they had some weaker opponents in front of them, it was naturally his turn.
Mercphobia and Elefseria stayed where they were. Neither of them bothered to move.
To them, these alchemical dolls were nowhere near enough to be a threat.