Ryan dropped down onto the couch. The living room had been entirely trashed. The television, the couch table, the carpets... everything was practically ruined.

  "Great..." he let out a long sigh, dropping his face into his hands. He was just so exhausted. After the links with Morgana and Maximus were done, his mind felt so completely... overwhelmed. He wasn't sure what was going on, but it definitely wasn't a great feeling, no matter how powerful it seemed to be to leave himself entirely to the spirits like that.

  Before long, as he was sitting there, Silvia and Modak came back inside as well. The former Aglecard Brats were sitting on the chairs in the garden, all being checked on by Rose and Kim. The other four were pretty heavily affected by the spell, after all.

  "Okay, so... what now..?" Modak asked, looking at his friends.

  "I don't know. I guess we just clean up first," Ryan sighed, "People are on their way home, and I think we explained things away pretty well. Either way, this shit is just so fucked."

  "Right... what actually happened?"

  In response to Silvia's question, Ryan got up from the couch and walked back into the garden, "The 'hut' that we stored the drinks in was actually some kind of chapel in the past," he explained. Now that the spell wasn't active anymore, Gaia and her sub-golems were digging away at the dirt that was still covering that large sigil, uncovering it pretty fast.

  Modak wondered, "But why would they put this out here? That seems far too careless..."

  "Because, for some reason, we assumed that they were trying to hide the shrine downstairs. No, they weren't hiding it, it just so happened that the titan skull was underneath the house. Maybe the people that lived here didn't even give a shit if anyone knew, or they were just too stupid to realise that keeping a fucking cult chapel in your garden is a really dumb idea," Ryan rubbed the bridge of his nose, "I'll just ask Runar to take a look at this sometime. When that guy finally answers."

  Hearing Runar's name, Rose quickly rushed over, "You also weren't able to get in contact with him?"

  "... You too? No, this is weird. Do you have anyone you can send after him or something? He didn't exactly tell me where he went, but I'm sure I could figure it out if I take a look around his office," Ryan suggested, and Rose quickly took out her phone. She had some small pads attached to the fingertips that let her use it properly.

  "I'll make some calls. I can also call on Cedric to get your place cleaned up," she suggested, and Silvia looked over at Ryan, quite confused.

  "Cedric? Who's that?"

  "The 'Collateral Damage Repair Crew', so CDRC, which turned into Cedric. Don't look at me like that, I didn't name them," Ryan tapped his foot on the ground while looking into the 'hut', "Whatever, we'll lock this thing down for now. Rose, thank you so much for coming so fast," Ryan said, but Rose immediately and intensely shook her head.

  "No, of course! Call me immediately if anything similar happens again. Just in case, I'll send you guys some of the basic anti-curse potions so you can do something about this spell if you need it again."

  "Thank you, that would be great," Ryan let out a sigh of relief, and before Rose excused herself, she decided to pull Ryan to the side, away from Silvia and Modak.

  "So..." she started, "Before I leave, I wanted to ask, but... You really didn't feel anything?"

  "Hm? No, I definitely felt a little bit. The spell was apparently still in me, but it wasn't super active because of the Seed of Blessing. I think it can purify things like this to some degree? But then, Morgana and Maximus sort of calmed me down, so I didn't feel anything at all by then anymore."

  "No, no, I meant... you know, when I took off my mask and stuff..?"

  Ryan raised his brow, "Oh! Yeah, no, I don't think so? Again, the purifying seed, and the spirits' influence calmed me a ton. I think actually more so than usual because of the spell..?" he thought about it for a moment, "I guess my connection to the spirits is stronger than the effect of a succubus' 'charm'?"

  Rose hesitated for a few moments, "Really..? Uhm... Do you think you still don't..?"

  "Maybe? Listen, we can give that a try some other time, okay? I'm super exhausted, but I'll be in the village on Monday anyway. If you want, we can see how strongly that affects me, yeah?"

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  A slight flinch came over Rose's body, as she quickly nodded, "Yes! Of course, gladly, let's do it that way!"

  "Perfect," Ryan smiled a bit, and Rose slowly went on her way.

  He was just about to turn to his friends and talk to them about everything, when someone called out to him.

  "Uhm... Ryan?"

  It was Jade. Since she wasn't affected by the spell herself, she had decided to stick around and help a little. Ryan had told her that there was no need to, but she said she would like to make sure that Liam would be okay. They had apparently bonded a good bit while sitting by the pond together. Of course, since she was still effectively a stranger, Ryan made sure to keep Violette near the two at all times as well.

  "Yes! Jade, what's up? Sorry about all of this, it all became a pretty big mess," he tried to laugh it off, but it was probably the most painfully fake laugh he had ever attempted.

  "No worries! It was fun! Wait, no, I didn't mean that... Uhm... in a weird way I had a good time, talking with you, and meeting Liam and everything. That part was fun, not... you know..."

  "Of course, I get what you mean, don't worry... So... did you mean to say something?"

  "Right! Yes, so I brought Liam upstairs like you asked me to, but he said he wanted to speak to you before going to bed, so..."

  "Oh yeah, I'll go talk to him in a second, don't worry. Thank you so much, again."

  The two looked at each other for a few moments, neither quite sure what else to say, though it was clear that they both wanted to say something more.

  Her secret, hidden matchmaking-senses tingling, Silvia took a step toward the two, "Jaaade~? You know, Liam doesn't have a ton of friends, so if he's gotten attached to you, then it might be worth trying to see him sometime, right?" she suggested, glancing over and winking at Ryan.

  "Huh? Oh! Yes, for sure, definitely! Ryan, do you think I could give you my number? So that we can set up some, uh... playdates? Wait, did that sound weird?" Jade nervously glanced at Silvia and then back at Ryan, "You know what I mean, just so that Liam has another Vampire to talk to!"

  Ryan laughed, taking out his phone, "Of course, I got what you meant."

  He gave his phone to Jade, who quickly entered her number while trying to hide her flushed face, while Silvia was just smirking broadly, "Hehe... There I go ag- Wait, did you just say Vampire?"

  Jade looked up from the phone, startled, "I- Uh, I mean, I-"

  Seeing that she was worried, Ryan quickly decided to calm everyone down, "Don't worry, everyone here is in the know about everything. I brought Silvia and Modak into the family with me, so they know literally everything about these things that I do," Ryan explained, looking over at Silvia, "And yes... Jade is a vampire. I think it's obvious why she hasn't told you."

  The elf slowly nodded her head, "Yes, I... Oh my gods..." it was like a moment of realisation came over her, "I literally pushed so hard to get you to eat the vegan cookies I would bring to school every week... And you would actually eat them?! Are you crazy? Did you get sick from them? Oh my gods, I'm so sorry..."

  Though a wave of surprise came over Jade, at the same time, she seemed extremely relieved, "No, seriously, you're totally fine. Most vampires that try to fit in do some kind of training to fake how to eat."

  "Wait, you fake eating? What do you mean?"

  "Well, you know... take tiny bites, chew a lot, keep as much in your cheeks as you can, spit it back up if you swallow some... that kind of stuff," Jade explained. Now that she was a little more relaxed, and was actually able to talk about it all, she seemed to enjoy divulging some of the stuff she could never tell her friends in the past.

  Silvia stepped forward and gave Jade a big, long hug, "Still, sorry for forcing that on you. For now, just go home and get some rest, yeah? And if this big doofus says or does something stupid to you, just let me know and I'll kick his ass for you, okay?"

  Jade laughed, a tear in her eye, "That would be great, thank you."

  "Hold on, I'll call a car for you," Ryan said, quickly texting some people on his phone. Usually, Yamada was his go-to, but there were still other people whose numbers he had saved that he could talk to. Some of them were already on their way anyway, having come here with literal busses to get the party-goers home, or were trying to check up and see what was going on to give an early assessment to the Cedric.

  He was about to go and walk with her, when she turned around and smiled a bit. She had seen what things looked like inside, and she must have felt like saying something about it all, "Oh, and by the way, it's so cool you've got an elevator in the house!"

  Ryan froze up, staring at Jade confused, "What? We don't have an elevator?"

  "Uh... don't you? It was right in the livingroom."

  "... Did someone come out of it? Or go into it?"

  "Yeah, someone came out of it, I figured it was one of the girls that got hurt upstairs, maybe?" she suggested, "I didn't get a good look at her, but I think she was this faun girl? Had this super pretty flower decoration in her antlers, too!"

  Ryan's heart dropped into his stomach immediately, "Silvia, Modak, stay up here, I have to-"

  "Shut up and go!" Modak yelled, and Ryan immediately started moving, leaving behind an utterly confused Jade.

  He ran past the others and made his way inside, where the elevator had hidden itself again. He immediately opened the door by activating the mana sensor that was tuned to his frequency, and the door quickly appeared. Of course, Ryan texted everyone that he needed to about the fact that she was back. That woman that could see fate.

  Why did she just appear at the most random of times, just to disappear right after? She made a fucking mess when she first saw Silvia, but after that she was just creepy and kept insulting Ryan. Either way, this was confusing as all hell.

  The elevator soon got to the shrine. It seemed perfectly fine at first glance, and at second and third as well. But... the doors leading inside of the skull were wide open. Some of the insects were starting to escape. Hopefully, Gaia would be able to catch them again soon, with her 'little helper' skill.

  All the artefacts that were stored in this space seemed completely untouched. It was clearly not what she was aiming for. No, he had a gut-feeling that told him where she went during the time all hell broke loose upstairs.

  Ryan got to the door in the centre of the titan skull.

  It was open.