“Stop him!” the warrior shouted, his tattoos glowing with inner light as he braced himself even harder to prevent the ritual from destabilizing.

  Alexander grunted, and Nick sensed Ulter’s domain tremble as the dark flames devoured it, using its divine power to feed their growth.

  This might be the worst possible place to face him. He has a nearly limitless supply of divine mana to keep hitting far beyond his weight class.

  Unfortunately, Nick doubted his old teacher would agree to a change in venue. In fact, it was more likely that the man would go for the kill rather than stop and listen any longer.

  Xander had to be almost finished with the wretched creature that the Pure Souls had unleashed on Sashara’s temple, and even if it took him a little longer, the Duke’s men should be getting close.

  Though now that I think about it, there might be more attacks happening across the city to keep most of those forces busy. I certainly sensed enough chaos as we left the castle.

  Still, they were all operating within a time limit, which meant Nick could no longer hold back. [Territory] unfolded with some resistance, more than ever before, but after a moment, with a feeling of great reluctance from the surrounding domain, Nick was able to spread it across the room and started applying pressure through it against any foreign magic.

  The effects were instant. The black flames that had been gathering around Alexander shivered and flickered, diminishing in size and strength, making him gasp in shock.

  More importantly, the cultist who had been using his own body as a linchpin for the entire ritual suddenly found himself unable to control the raging energies.

  The consequences weren’t pretty. His skin bulged obscenely as more mana than a mortal man could hold raged in every direction inside him, tearing his channels apart and mulching him from the inside.

  The explosion that followed was even worse, but Nick was spared from being covered in bloody mush thanks to [Crest of the Thunderbird], which vaporized the offending substance on contact.

  Just for that, I'll take back what I said about it. I don’t think I could ever feel clean after that.

  Everyone else was less fortunate. The wave of gore that swept over them had enough force to slam everyone but him against the chamber’s walls, and Nick took full advantage of that, turning [Territory] against the ritual’s raging energies and beginning the difficult process of funneling them back into the ether with a grunt of effort.

  He would have liked to wield them for his own purposes. The death of dozens of innocent men was definitely enough to do great and terrible things with, but he was an actual Occultist, not an amateur like these men.

  He knew better than to try and wield such resentment, such chaos, without the proper preparation. No, doing anything with it now was tantamount to suicide, and despite what his recklessness might make some think, he was nowhere near interested in that.

  To his credit, Alexander didn’t attempt to compete with him for control of the raging energies. He must have known that doing so would mean the death of everyone else.

  But that didn’t mean he just stood by and watched. He rushed over to where the others had been slammed, shielding them with the dark flames from Devon’s wrath.

  Nick couldn’t really focus on what he was doing if he wanted to avoid a blast that could level most of the temple district, but he did notice that the flames didn’t seem to harm the other Pure Souls.

  Instead, they emerged healthier, easily getting back on their feet.

  More and more resentment vanished into the ether, driven by Nick’s spiritual control to stop accumulating and causing bigger issues down the line, yet there was still so much.

  The Pure Souls had somehow turned the priests and acolytes against each other, forcing brother to kill brother. That was not something that could vanish with just a token effort, and Nick had to take great pains to ensure it didn’t cling together after being removed from the material world, as he certainly did not want to deal with whatever cursed spirit would be born from it.

  Devon retreated and stood defensively in front of Nick, his blade glowing with [Aura] and a deadly look in his eyes.

  “Take one step, and your head will fall,” he growled, and he meant it. His intent echoed clearly through the chamber, and no one doubted he would follow through with the threat, even if it cost him his life.

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  “We’re leaving,” Alexander grunted, turning his back to them and dragging the closest cultist along.

  “What?!” One shouted, only to be roughly slapped by the man closest to him.

  Alexander glared at the unruly one but chose not to punish him again. “We’ve achieved the result we wanted. Setting off the ritual would have been ideal, but we knew it was unlikely. We need to leave before our distractions run their course.”

  Nick opened his mouth to needle him, sensing a deep sorrow flowing through the ex-vicar. He had just lost someone dear to him, someone who wasn’t the man who had exploded so violently.

  His teeth clenched tightly as the largest piece of resentment broke free from the still-glowing lines of what had been a ritual and began drifting into the ether, forcing him to focus all his attention on it so it wouldn't act as a magnet and waste all his hard work.

  And so, they remained like that, with Devon watching over him protectively, unable to stop the Pure Souls from escaping, amidst a bloody mess of corpses, ritual lines, and melted stone.

  Dispersing the ritual completely took Nick longer than expected, but once he realized catching the culprits wasn’t possible, he decided to take his time and do it right, cycling the tainted mana several times with his own spiritual mana to ensure the local ether wouldn’t become bloated with hatred despite his best efforts.

  Xander found them like that, emerging from the same hole in the ground they had.

  “They got away?” he asked, though from his tone, he seemed to know the answer already.

  “Nick killed one, but the rest ran off, and I stayed here to guard him while he dispersed the ritual they were working on,” Devon replied, showing a surprisingly deep understanding of what Nick was doing.

  Xander merely nodded, a furrow marred his brow as the only sign he was less than pleased. Eventually, he sighed. “We shall have to endure some annoyance yet today, but it didn’t go as badly as it could have.”

  Devon was about to ask for clarification, but was stopped when several masked figures appeared, clearly having been through a battle of their own, evidenced by the tears in their uniforms and the blood splattered on them.

  Nick suppressed a groan even as he continued working on the last portion of the raging mana, feeling it break apart under his care.

  Without context, the scene in the chamber could have been enough to send them to jail for life, if not directly to the death penalty.

  His brother clearly realized as much, having already been a victim of such a misunderstanding before. But Xander’s presence was enough to stop any accusations, and the Duke’s men moved through the temple with only a cautious glance, staying at least a hundred feet away as the Grandmaster silently signaled.

  By the time Nick finished dispersing the ritual’s power, Ulter’s temple was buzzing with activity. About a dozen men waited quietly to be allowed to approach and handle the bodies of the unfortunate priests caught in the Circle’s plans, while many others scoured the area, trying to piece together what had happened.

  Nick groaned, shoulders slumping. That took much longer than I expected, but I underestimated how much hatred they poured into the ritual.

  He doubted any of the Pure Souls had an Occultist class, but priestly ones could clearly be used to perform some powerful rituals as well, at least as long as they involved divine power in some way, and Alexander, with his dark flames that seemed to consume it as fuel, could make good use of that.

  “Done?” Xander’s deep voice echoed in the silent room, though his eyes never strayed from the waiting men.

  “Done,” Nick nodded, and his brother was there, helping him up as his knees wobbled. A moment later, he was back to standing on his own, smiling at Devon in thanks, and took a moment to clean up some of the muck off his brother with a flex of water magic.

  “Alright, let’s let these gentlemen handle the cleanup. We have done our part,” the Grandmaster decreed, and no one dared to stop them, although it was clear they wanted to.

  Unlike what Nick had expected, Xander didn’t take them straight to his manse, nor did he let Nick return to the Tower. Instead, he commandeered a carriage left in the streets near the temple amid the chaos and urged the horses to take them to the castle.

  Nick spent the travel time breathing deeply, using the [Stalking Gait] to calm his frayed channels after they’d been forced to shoulder far too much tainted mana.

  It’s only because I’ve been dealing with demons that I could even handle that level of spiritual corruption. I would have had to let it run rampant and just redirect it if this had happened after I arrived in Alluria.

  The consequences of that were difficult to determine since the ritual hadn't been completed, and its purpose was unknown to anyone who hadn’t taken part in setting it up, but he doubted it would have been anything positive.

  The chaos of the temple district quickly faded behind them, and Nick almost could have forgotten what had happened if it weren’t for the cloud of fear hanging over the city.

  Whatever distraction they arranged to keep the Duke’s men busy must have been impressive. He thought to himself and wondered if it would have been better to let the Circle stick to its original plan of attacking the auction.

  Perhaps the overall consequences of that would have been worse, but the people he could feel huddling in their homes certainly wouldn’t be able to tell now.

  By the time they arrived at the castle and were let in after a quick inspection under Xander’s heavy eyes, Nick was back to full strength and had shaken off the contemplative mood.

  “You did well, kids,” Xander muttered under his breath before they were taken into a room where the Duke was holding court with several high nobles who had been at the auction.

  Devon stood up straighter after that, a small grin tugging at his lips, and even Nick couldn't help but feel comforted.

  “And I want someone to handle the fallout from the temples,” the Duke said. “Ulter’s men will see this as proof that their requests for more presence on my land should have been approved, but I don’t want to worsen the religious tensions. This is a matter for House Alluria to address with the Circle of Pure Souls. Their men will be avenged.”

  “I shall handle that, Your Grace,” one of the nobles offered, and the Duke nodded before turning to them.

  “Grandmaster,” he greeted, his eyes a glacial blue. He was not pleased, not one bit, but he still kept his wrath in check when his gaze shifted to them. “I believe I have you to thank for preventing this mess from escalating further.”

  “I did my duty,” Xander replied just as coldly. “The Crowleys deserve much of the credit. Without them, I wouldn't have been able to stop the Circle from reaching its goals."

  The Duke nodded, not showing surprise, but the other nobles looked shocked by their inclusion and eyed them with keen interest.

  “I will need to address the city after this, but I would like to extend my thanks to you both as well,” he said, unfazed at having to include two teenagers. “Know that your aid will not be forgotten, and that House Crowley has proven itself a stalwart ally to House Alluria.”