Edward Siemens emerged from the portal with an overwhelming presence.
A mage who appeared to hold a high position spotted him and hurried over.
"Sir Edward! What brings you here!"
At those words, Edward glared at the mage. His glare rebuked the man for daring to question his business.
The mage shut his mouth and bowed his head.
Still wearing a dissatisfied expression, Edward addressed the mage.
"Iʼve come personally because the production of the scheduled Blood Tear Stones has been delayed."
The mage stammered in confusion at Edwardʼs words.
"Th-thatʼs... Lately, securing materials has been difficult..."
In an instant, Edwardʼs eyes flashed. The mage floated up into the air.
"I donʼt want to hear such excuses. Your very existence is valued for producing these Blood Tear Stones. If you canʼt fulfill that duty, then you have no value at all—do you not understand that?"
"I-Iʼm sorry, Sir Edward. Weʼll do our utmost to increase production!" Edward scowled and slammed the mage to the ground.
Even after that, he continued to glare at the mage before suddenly tilting his head.
"Hmm?"
And in that moment, his figure vanished.
Boris, who had been watching from hiding, panicked as Edward suddenly disappeared. "Where did that bastard go?" It was then.
"Little rats had snuck in."
Edwardʼs cold voice pierced his ear.
Boris and the entire intelligence team froze stiff.
An inexplicable, unprecedented power emanated from Edward.
Boris couldnʼt move easily under his ruthless gaze and ominous aura.
Edward looked down at them and spoke.
"Tell me where youʼre from."
As he spread his hand, the intelligence teamʼs bodies flew backward and slammed against the wall.
"Urk!"
It was a power similar to Sionʼs psychokinesis.
Their bodies felt bound, unable to move.
Sion tried to counter with his own psychokinesis, but it was futile.
Sensing Sionʼs ability, Edward sneered in disbelief.
"To think youʼd try to resist me with such a pathetic bloodline ability. How foolish." Rumble!
The pressure on their bodies intensified.
Boris glared at Edward and said,
"It seems the Siemens lapdog sold his soul to demonkind for some half-baked power." At the mocking words, Edward turned his head toward Boris.
Crunch!
The pressure on Boris grew even stronger.
He approached Boris and leaned in close, saying,
"Say that again." "Siemens lapdog." Thud!
Edwardʼs gauntlet-clad fist slammed into Borisʼs stomach.
"Guak...!"
One blow cracked his ribs and ruptured his organs.
Blood surged up from his mouth.
"Say it again."
"How much demon cock did you—" Thud!
This time, the fist flew toward his face.
Borisʼs features shattered in a single hit.
Clatter!
Teeth scattered across the floor, his jawbone mangled.
It was a miracle he was still alive.
Edward grabbed Borisʼs hair and shook his head.
"I wonʼt kill you. Iʼll throw you in my torture chamber and make sure you neither live nor die."
At that moment, Boris looked up at Edward and rasped,
"Fuck... you..."
Edward raised his hand.
Crunch!
An invisible force crushed Borisʼs limbs to pulp.
Yet Boris still sneered at Edward.
"Kek... The Siemens bastard... is losing it..."
Edward nearly struck again at the provocation but suddenly snapped back to his senses.
He sensed something off.
"This guy...?"
It was the instant he turned his head.
Boom!
The wagon wheel used for crafting Blood Tear Stones exploded with a deafening blast, shattering into pieces.
Clatter!
Shards flew everywhere, and the surrounding mages were caught in the blast.
The Blood Tear Stone production site turned into a hellscape in an instant.
Edward ground his teeth and roared,
"Who dares!"
Then, something shot through the dust cloud at high speed.
Crunch!
A sword pierced Edwardʼs shoulder.
The white cross-sword, the Holy Sword Ascalon, crackled with white lightning.
Zzzap!
A powerful current wrapped around Edwardʼs body.
"Groooargh!"
Edward endured the pain, summoning his demonic aura to block the holy spirit qi.
But he couldnʼt fend off the lightʼs lightning as it surged into him.
"Arrrgh!"
With an agonized groan, Edward staggered back.
Whirr—
Ascalon emitted a strange sound and floated into the air, flying off somewhere on its own.
Moments later, from the dust-shrouded darkness, something emerged, golden eyes gleaming.
A man in a Draker uniform cloaked in black shadows.
Edward instinctively felt fear the moment he recognized him.
"Z-Zeke Draker."
Zeke, holding the returned Ascalon, glared at Edward.
"Edward Siemens. Long time no see."
Their enmity stretched back to the Draker Martial Tournament.
Zeke extended his hand toward where Boris and the intelligence team were.
Golden light enveloped them and swiftly restored their bodies.
Even Boris, whose injuries were the worst, had his flesh mended and returned to normal.
"Whew... For a second there, I thought I was really done for, Boss."
Boris had reported the location as a Blood Tear Stone factory and Edwardʼs arrival via communicator, then sent the coordinates.
Zeke had used the coordinates to portal directly via the system, destroying the Blood Tear Stone wagon first.
Edward clutched his shoulder wound and glared at Zeke.
"Zeke Draker, you dare...!"
"It looks like youʼve received that filthy Rite of Consecration from Narak, Edward." Edwardʼs talent was, at best, slightly above average.
For someone like him to suddenly grow this strong meant he had undergone Narakʼs Rite of Consecration.
At Zekeʼs words, Edward ground his teeth.
"No one can stop me, Edward Siemens, now. Iʼve been reborn!"
With that, he extended his hand, and a gorgeously adorned spear materialized in the air.
Whoosh!
Black flames of the Demon Realm blazed from the spearhead.
It was clearly no artifact from the phenomenal world but something forged in the Demon Realm.
Edward gripped the spear and charged at Zeke.
"Haaaa!"
Black flames erupted from the spear, flying toward Zeke.
Boom!
In an instant, the flames split into over a dozen streams, enveloping Zeke from all sides.
Roar!
The black flames of the Demon Realm burned far hotter than any fire from the phenomenal world.
Edward was certain Zeke would burn to ash without even bones left.
"Damn Zeke Draker. Finally, I can kill you with my own hands..." But then, the fiercely raging flames flickered in an unusual way.
Thud!
Zeke emerged from within, clad in Theiaʼs Hercion.
With the Holy Sword Ascalon in hand and Hercion glowing with moonlight, he looked like a knight from myth.
Zeke brushed off Edwardʼs black flames and advanced.
"You donʼt seem much improved since the Rite of Consecration, Edward."
At the taunt, Edward, who had been flustered, gripped his spear again, grinding his teeth.
"Insolent fool! Today, your heart will be pierced by my spear!" Boom!
The black flames from the spear merged with the demonic aura that poured from Edwardʼs body, spreading fire everywhere.
Any ordinary knight would have melted in their armor from the blaze alone.
But to Zeke, this level of fire was meaningless.
Roar!
White flame flickered from Zekeʼs sword.
A pure fire born from the Chamber of Firepower, fused with holy spirit qi.
The pure white flame grew, facing the black flames of the Demon Realm.
Boom!
The unquenchable black flames, which turned all they touched to ash, faltered against Zekeʼs white flame.
Soon, Zekeʼs white flame devoured the black flames and enveloped Edward.
Edward stared in disbelief at the white flame baring its teeth at him.
"H-how can this..."
After his Rite of Consecration, when he received this black flame spear from his father, Ramon Siemens, he felt like he owned the world.
Originally, this spear was meant for William, his brother and the family heir.
But after William was captured by the Drakers and reduced to a vegetable, the artifact became his.
The all-consuming black flames suited Edwardʼs cruel nature perfectly.
Even against Zeke, the black knight, he was confident his black flames would prevail.
And now, that confidence proved to be mere delusion.
Roar!
The white flame clung to Edwardʼs Hercion.
This too was a top-grade item meant for William.
Made with mithril, fairy stones, and even a bit of orichalcum, it was the pinnacle of Siemens magitech.
A cutting-edge Hercion that defended against physical attacks and all manner of magic melted under Zekeʼs white flame.
"Arrrgh!"
The melted Hercion was no longer armor.
He immediately deactivated it.
Thud!
The half-molten Hercion clattered messily to the ground.
He tried to flee the white flameʼs domain with his black flame spear.
Whoosh!
He planned to dodge and open a portal to escape to the altar site.
But Zeke had no intention of letting Edward go.
Clang!
Chains of Solomon shot from Zekeʼs arm.
They wrapped around Edwardʼs ankle as he tried to flee.
Boom!
Bound by the chains, Edward couldnʼt resist Zekeʼs pull and slammed into the wall.
Rumble!
Part of the sturdy stone wall crumbled.
Edward struggled to free himself from the Chains of Solomon, but the soul-binding chains wouldnʼt budge.
As Edward thrashed, Zeke floated over to him.
"Edward, even after all this time, youʼre still as dim-witted as ever."
It was true that Edward had gained immense power through the Rite of Consecration.
But no matter how strong the power, its effectiveness depended on the wielder.
To Zeke, Edward hadnʼt even drawn a tenth of the black flame spearʼs true potential.
Edward glared up at Zeke from his upside-down position.
"Zeke Draker... I wanted to kill you above all..."
"A dream youʼll never achieve."
Zeke yanked the chains, leaving Edward dangling in the air.
He approached and locked eyes with the inverted Edward.
Then, he extended his hand, pressing a finger to Edwardʼs forehead.
Hum!
Using Dragonʼs Wisdom, Zeke accessed Edwardʼs mind via the Akashic Code, then selectively retrieved information with the Eye of the Sage.
Some data was secured, but Zeke lifted the curses with the Curse-Lifting Treatment skill.
Through Edward, Zeke obtained the precise "coordinates" to the altar.
"Perfect. I sensed Ramon Siemensʼs aura but didnʼt have the exact coordinates. With this, I can strike their blind spot with a surprise attack."
He could detect Ramon via the Flesh-Devouring Emperor Ajitahakaʼs authority, but raiding the Second Consecration Rite site based on that alone was risky.
Thatʼs why Zeke had sent intelligence teams and Red Eye to other locations with residual auras from Ramon. He planned to assault them first for intel and devise an infiltration strategy.
But luckily, Edward had appeared right away and yielded the coordinates to the second consecration site quickly.
Plus, destroying one Blood Tear Stone factory was a bonus.
"Urgh..."
Edward, his mind ravaged by Dragonʼs Wisdom, foamed at the mouth and rolled his eyes back.
Zeke tossed him toward the intelligence team.
Floating in the air, he said to Boris,
"Boris, bind him and lock him in Terraʼs underground prison."
After dealing with Ramon Siemens, he planned to use Edward to lure out the remaining Siemens holdouts and wipe them out in one go.
Boris nodded.
"Understood. Will you be returning with us, Boss?" Zeke shook his head.
"No, I wonʼt."
His eyes gleamed.
"Iʼll strike Ramon Siemens where it hurts."