What the hell was happening? That barrier had been strange enough, but it hadn’t stopped there. Even if Violet looked outside now, she would see them: dozens upon dozens of stone golems standing between the manor and the barrier. Violet knew them well; she’d taken out quite a bit of her frustration on them.

  They were constructs made from her father’s Gift, and now there were more of them than Violet had ever seen before. A few of the Manor Guards had joined the golems, like they were getting ready for some kind of siege.

  Something was very wrong here, and she was going to find out what it was.

  It took nearly ten swings of Violet’s hammer to cleave through the door. There might have been a better way, but it would have required thought and careful consideration. Violet Indri was too angry to think. Her warhammer punched a hole rge enough for her to squeeze through. She did.

  Lanterns lit the space ahead, a series of stairs that seemed to descend down and down. The passageway itself was small, only wide enough for two people to stand side by side. It shouldn’t be here. None of this should be here.

  Violet hurried down. A minute ter, the stairs ended at a rger chamber. The metallic tang hit her nose first-a heavy, sharp smell, like blood.

  More Magical Implements lit the rge, simple chamber. In one section stood ten rge metal cages, arranged in two neat rows. Each step closer made the stench sharper. No one was inside, but every sign showed someone had been.

  There were traces of leftover mana. It was also hard to miss the bloody smears on some of the rails.

  Then there were the colrs. Even from a distance, Violet saw mana lines in the steel. Mana suppressors, and small -only suited for a child. She hadn’t known they could be that small.

  Horror hit first. Confusion second. Both were alien feelings, wrong on her skin. Then anger came back and burned them clean. Sves? In their house? It was absurd, and yet this scene in front of her could point to nothing else. Sves or prisoners, in a hidden section of the manor that Violet hadn't even known existed before today. She turned and made for the sole exit out of the room.

  There was a grinding noise.

  A figure moved to block the exit. A mass of darkened bck stone, a dozen feet high, a few feet wide. This was a stone golem, and not one of the small things Violet was used to smashing apart, either. She’d never seen this type before. Just how much mana had her father used on it? Did he even have this much to spare?

  “Move,” Violet growled, unslinging her hammer.

  Her father’s Gift didn’t just make these things; it shaped their purpose. It was entirely possible to create a Golem that only guarded a door from certain people and not others.

  Mana concentrated in the Golem’s legs. She leapt back as it lunged, smashing its massive arms into the ground where she’d just stood. The weight alone nearly shook the room and caved in the floor.

  Violet advanced and swung her warhammer at the thing’s pelvis. The blow nded with a loud thud. Shock rattled her arm. She dodged back just as the Golem swiped. It had a lot of mana. Getting hit would be bad. Worse, her swing had barely done any damage. Where had her father been hiding this kind of power?

  The golem moved right as Violet did. Fast, but Violet was faster. She ducked under the blow that would have crushed her, slipped behind, and struck where the mana was weakest -a spot above the golem’s right thigh. Another loud thud. The golem’s arm swung around, striking only air.

  “God damnit.” She growled. That blow had been aimed at the golem’s “weak point”, and it still hadn’t cracked. “Don’t tell me I’ll actually have to use that.” Violet reached for her Gift, paused. There was something different. The mana around that weak point was draining, leaking.

  “Guess not.”

  The golem slowly faced her, took a step forward, and then unched into the air. It was trying to crush her with its weight alone. Her father’s constructs were impressive.

  Violet channeled and compressed all the mana she could into her hands and swung. Steel struck the thing’s head. Her arms screamed. The golem spun, flipped, and crashed onto its back. Its weak point exposed, Violet raised her hammer. It tried to rise as she brought her hammer down.

  Crack.

  The weak point gave in. Mana leaked out in waves. Cracks ran along the Golem’s back, spreading into a fissure. The whole thing began to crumble and then colpsed into a mountain of dust and stone.

  Violet sighed, took a deep breath, and raised her hammer again. “That’s why I don’t like you things.” She grumbled. “It’s too easy when I can just see where you’re weak.”

  The only way to go was the now unguarded door. It opened out into a rge hallway. A high ceiling, rooms on either side. She opened the first room on the right and scanned around. A hundred little glows of mana made her pause. “What the fuck?”

  She stepped inside and looked around at dozens of items. Neckces, broaches, amulets, and rings in every shape and color were arranged neatly along the walls. All of them had mana. All of them were Magical Implements.

  “No…that can’t be right.”

  These were all something more. Not just filled with mana, but something her eyes couldn’t see. Something she only noticed because there was a gap even to her eyes. She’d only ever seen a handful. Still, she was sure.

  “Artifacts?” They had to be. Her family vault had twelve of them, and that was considered a sizable treasure trove. She counted at least twenty more here, ones she had never seen before. Whose functions she couldn’t even guess at.

  Boom.

  The walls shook. The entire manor seemed to quake. Violet clicked her tongue. She really didn’t have time for this. She strode out of that room and hurriedly checked the other ones. More Artifacts in every single one.

  Did even the Royal Treasury have this many?

  The banging was getting louder now. Was the damn roof going to cave in on her head? She raced down the hallway, her eyes peering for any traps. She found plenty. A tile on the floor that glowed with dubious mana. A section of the ceiling that clearly had something behind it. Violet could ignore them. Someone else would have had a hell of a time.

  This hallway opened up into a rger chamber, simir to the first. There were more cages here than there had been st time, the faint smell of blood thicker. Then, there were the two bck circles, lining the other end of the room, their bodies carved with the same symbol. More Artifacts, she could tell at a gnce.

  None of that was important, not compared to the man she found in the center of the room: her father. Her father had his back turned to her as he stood in front of a giant golem, one at least twice as rge as the one Violet had just destroyed. Unlike that one, this one had intricate markings covering it, feathers covering its ‘head’, and even the shape of carved-out eyes. One of its hands ended in a small cylindrical hole.

  “Father.” Violet’s voice was cold. She didn’t understand what was happening, but the nature of it could escape only a fool.

  Duke Indri froze, turned to look at her. His face bnched. “V-Violet. What are you doing-”

  “What is this?” She pointed towards the cages. “And the Artifacts, father. What is this?”

  “This…this is just some research. You weren’t supposed to see this. Why are you here? Who let you here? I thought I told the guards-”

  “They are currently unconscious.” Violet stared at the man. “You do know about my ‘outbursts’ , yes?”

  He stiffened more. “Violet, I understand that this doesn’t look proper, but I will expin everything. Just go back up, and give me time.”

  “Where is Esra?”

  “Violet, I-”

  “Where is she, father?” Violet took a step forward.

  An odd thought popped into her head, something that girl had said just a few short hours ago.

  Let’s say you could meet her, and all it took was…a bloody price.

  Her father took a deep breath. Exhaled. “I didn’t want you to find out like this.” He snapped his fingers, and then there was a rumbling. The walls around her shook, split open. More Golems stepped out from between the cracks, ones Violet knew well. There were ten of them. More than she’d ever faced at once, to say nothing of the big one.

  “They won’t hurt you.” Her father reassured her. “Please, just go back.”

  “Father,” Violet whispered. “What have you done?”

  “Just…what we both needed..” Her father said smoothly, stepping back, putting a hand over the rgest one. It shook. Moved. White light filled in the spaces of its eyes, and then the whole thing rose. It was so tall it almost reached the ceiling. “Please, Violet. Don’t fight.”

  Another girl might have at least listened to her father. Might have hesitated. Might have asked more questions.

  Violet snarled and charged.

  Duke Indri ran, even as the sound of Violet’s angry screams echoed behind him. She wasn’t supposed to find out. She was never supposed to find out, not until it had already been done. How had things gone so wrong? All he had ever wanted was to recim the happy future that had been stolen from him. From them.

  “No, it’s fine.” He muttered. “She’ll understand.”

  Yes, he was doing it for her as much as he was for himself. His daughter would understand when she saw their mother, too. She had too. All of this was still fine. The only thing he had to do was get back to that circle and activate it.

  “Ahem.” The sound of a throat clearing made him stop. “I believe I have fulfilled my share of our agreement?”

  Duke Indri turned. Stared to his right at the woman who distinctly had not been there a moment ago but was now standing there all the same. Some anger fred within him, quickly suppressed. “You already have everything you need.”

  The woman slowly shook her head. Clicked her tongue. “I’ve simply seen some interesting things. That wasn’t our arrangement.” Something dangerous fshed in her eyes.

  Why was he wasting time like this?

  “In my study. There’s a secret compartment under one of the floorboards.” He fished inside his pocket, pulled out a set of three bronze keys, and tossed them at her. “Everything you need is right there.”

  “And if it isn’t?” The woman said, snatching the keys out of the air.

  “I wouldn’t be that foolish. Not enough to go against you people.”

  “Good.” The woman smiled. Then, she started walking away, right in the direction of the fighting.

  “Stay away from my daughter. That was also our agreement.” He hissed. “Don’t think that has changed.”

  The woman only waved at him, not even looking back. “Don’t worry. It’s you nobles who break promises, remember?”

  Duke Indri watched her go, only a bit of regret filling him. That organization had helped him a great deal, had made his lifelong dream possible in the first pce, and all they’d asked for was his research at the end. It was a small price to pay. No point regretting it now, damn it.

  He shook his head and ran in the direction of the true Transmutation Circle. It should have been long enough. The concoction only needed ten minutes to take hold, though the girl did have a lot of mana. It shouldn’t affect things too much.

  Duke Indri finally found her, staring bnkly into space as she stood completely still. Their drug really did work wonders. He still hadn’t found out how to recreate it.

  Duke Indri looked at Esra and sighed. Gods, but he felt old. He saw something of his friend in the girl. He saw much more of Adrian in her actions, her wit, her strength. It truly was a shame that she was the only proper vessel he had found in all these years. There had been that other one, but she had slipped away, and from his reports, her body wasn’t nearly as appropriate.

  Duke Indri stalked to the side, to a rge panel that controlled the transmutation circle. Normally, the panel would have been connected to rge, blue mana crystals that would then have been connected to several children. It took two of the mana-rich children for even one transmutation. Today, he didn’t need them. Today, the battery and the one to be transmuted were one and the same.

  He fiddled with the panel, cast one st look at Esra. It was an odd feeling to be a single button press away from seeing Scarlet again. From reciming everything that was stolen from them, from him. It had taken sacrifice, and he did regret it, but…he would have done it all over again if he had to.

  “I’m sorry.” He said to no one in particur as he pushed the button.

  The Transmutation Circle lit up with a glowing blue light. It did make his heart ache to see so many of his dear wife’s possessions be lost this way, but that was a small price to pay. She could make more, given a few years.

  Duke Indri watched, not daring to breathe. It would take a minute, as the objects’ intent forced their way into the girl’s empty vessel. Every bit of effort over the st fourteen years had led to this point.

  One by one, the keepsakes of his te wife started to fuzz into mist, something immaterial draining from them. He had been thorough, been careful. He had primed every single one by having the girl channel her mana into them. The Intents inside them would take to her. He was sure of it.

  The sculptures were his failed experiments, back when he’d had more relics of his wife. Back when he could afford to fail a few times. When he’d prayed for anything but a human vessel to work. Perhaps it was good that he had abandoned that line of thinking quickly. One by one, they all fuzzed, becoming bck dust. Finally, only Giantsmasher remained.

  The glowing circle dimmed. Then, it grew dark.

  “What?” Duke Indri stared, not comprehending. It was still far too early.

  Esra Veyne took a step. That shouldn’t have been possible with her Intent dead. Yet, she took it anyway. Her hand shot to the side, and in it appeared…a bde. A half-rusted, half-white piece of metal. Even in its strange inert state, he knew what this was.

  A Godbde.

  “No…No.” Duke Indri’s entire body trembled. “It can’t be! It-it can’t be!”

  He had suppressed the Intent of the Girl’s Gift. There was no suppressing the Intent of a God. He had put the remains of his wife into that vessel, thinking it empty. That vessel contained an apex predator.

  “How? She had…she had a Gift!” Duke Indri screamed, backing away until he hit a wall.

  Esra wasn’t looking at him, didn’t seem to be looking at much of anything. Some part of her still saw him, her eyes gzed over. The girl charged. All Duke Indri could think to do was run.

  The small golems weren’t an issue. They were barely an inconvenience. Violet knew them well and had smashed them in a few mighty blows each. Their number had been annoying, but Violet had slowly managed to thin them down to nothing. Most of their corpses y around her.

  It was the rger one that was impossible.

  Violet gasped, her warhammer heavy in her hand for once. She had hit the giant thing a dozen times already, to no effect at all. Even she couldn’t see a weak point, simply because there wasn’t one. Was her father capable of this? It was hard to believe.

  The golem didn’t usually attack. It simply blocked her path, attacking whenever Violet drew close. The difference didn’t matter, seeing as Violet had to get past it no matter what.

  “I’m getting really tired of this shit.” Violet hefted her hammer high.

  That’s when her father ran into the room, right from behind the golem. He was distinctly running away from something. He tripped. Fell.

  “You bastard!” Violet roared. “You have some nerv-”

  Green light surrounded her father from all directions, coalescing into dozens of ptes. One of those ptes blocked a half-white, half-rusted sword. Esra stood on top of him, trying to plunge the sword through her father’s exposed back.

  Esra jumped back, right as lightning arced through the pce where she had been, tendrils of it emanating from a metallic ring around her father’s wrist.

  Her father rose, roared. “Stop her!”

  The golem turned its eyes on the pale girl. Esra either didn’t notice or didn’t care. Violet stared as Esra charged forward, unnaturally fast. The green shield covered her father again, blocking the strange sword. One of the ptes had a crack running right through it.

  The golem swiped. Esra didn’t block. She flew through the air, smming right behind Violet. That knocked Violet out of her stupor.

  She turned and saw the girl already back on her feet. Blood ran down Esra’s lips, one of her wrists was spasming, and her legs were trembling. Nonetheless, the girl took a step forward.

  “Damn it.” Violet cursed, backing up and standing next to her. “What the fuck is going on? Do you have a fucking pn at least?”

  There was no answer. Esra staggered forward. It was a wonder she didn’t just fall over. She turned to look at the girl. Esra’s eyes might have been looking forward, but they weren’t seeing much of anything.

  What the fuck?

  “God damnit.”

  “Back away from her.” Her father said loudly. “I’ll handle her.” He held out his arm, no doubt readying to throw more lightning at the Veyne girl.

  Esra raised her bde, almost mechanically. Even as she did, her hands were trembling. No condition to fight at all.

  Violet clicked her tongue. Channeled mana, grabbed the girl’s colr, and ran. No sooner had Violet dragged the girl out of that chamber did Esra’s half-white sword fshed towards her head instead.