"Are you okay?"

"!"

Rita was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts by Percy’s calm voice, and Rita realized she had been staring at her sister’s dead body silently all this time. Rita smiled at Percy and said that she was fine, but Percy could tell that she was obviously lying! Rita’s entire body was tense and on edge, and she only relaxed when Percy put his hand around her waist and held her close. Rita put her head on Percy’s shoulder as she let out a calming breath and Percy spoke.

"I still don’t understand it fully, but the one thing I’m sure of is that we can’t do much for him since he isn’t from our time. Magic interferes differently in a person’s body based on what time they’re from, so if we use magic or potions from this time, it might interfere badly with his mana."

"But will he be alright?"

Rita asked curiously, and Percy nodded.

"Yeah, definitely. His mana is already healing his injuries slowly, so it might take a little longer than normal, but he’ll definitely wake up. When he does, we’ll ask him to explain what the hell is going on here."

Rita nodded along, and Percy kissed her on the top of her head and told her to come along. Rita stood still for a few more seconds as she glared at her dead sister’s body one last time before she turned and left the room with Percy.

....

[Outskirts of Aquinas City]

A large white door appeared in the middle of a large field hidden behind a massive mountain, and a small army of more than a hundred soldiers walked through the dimensional door and appeared in Aquinas! This army was made up of soldiers with extremely pale skin and an impossible beauty that no mortal could ever hope to match! They had red eyes and full red lips, and they were wearing black uniforms with swords attached to their hips!

These were vampires from the world of Varina, and their uniforms marked them as members of the Ashton Faction that were fighting for the throne of the Vampire kingdom! All of the soldiers here possessed extremely powerful mana, and there wasn’t a single one of them that gave off an aura that was less than a Fourth Realm Master Mage!

At the front of the army was a woman with a powerful atmosphere surrounding her! She had short black hair that framed a beautiful face, and it was obvious that her strength was even greater than that of the other soldiers in her army! The woman had a semicircular golden pendant hanging around her neck, and the jagged edge on one side of the pendant showed that it had been broken off from a larger piece. The woman looked up in the direction of Aquinas, and she closed her eyes and spread out her senses to search for a particular energy signature.

Bzz~! Bzz~!

Once the woman stretched her senses out, the pendant around her neck started to vibrate softly, and the woman’s eyes snapped open as she confirmed that they were in the right time. The pendant around her neck was half of a whole medallion that was said to possess great power, and her army had come all the way here to locate the second half of the whole.

"Madam Lyra, are we in the right time?"

A soldier spoke up from behind, and Lyra nodded her head.

"Yes, we’re here. The medallion’s energy signature leads into the city. As we get close, we should be able to track it more accurately."

Lyra waved her hand and ordered the army to set up camp. Lyra was a general in the Ashton Vampire Army, and she had been sent here by her superiors to retrieve the second half of this medallion to ensure it doesn’t fall into the hands of their enemies.

’Failure is not an option. The future of our entire faction rests on this mission, and we cannot afford to allow the Pastoni Faction to get their hand on it.’

Lyra tightened her hands into fists as the words of her superior rang through her head, and she strengthened her resolve. The Pastoni Faction was the enemy that the Ashton Faction was fighting against for the right to rule Varina. Right now, the Pastoni and Ashton were the only two factions that still had the manpower to continue the war.

There had once been a third faction in this war known as the Horox faction, but the Horox had suffered a massive blow a decade ago when a mysterious mage appeared and eradicated most of them. The surviving Horox faction members had been captured and absorbed into the Pastoni family, and now the three-way war had become a two-way war between the Pastoni and the Ashton.

But it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the fate of this war depended entirely on this mission. If Lyra allowed the Pastoni to get their hands on the second half of this medallion, then the Pastoni would gain the power to rewrite the future, and the Ashton will no longer stand a chance against them! Lyra couldn’t let that happen!

As the rest of the army set up their camp, Lyra called out to two of the higher-ranking members of the group.

"Tiran, Galen, come forward."

The two soldiers immediately walked over and saluted their superior. Tiran was a tall, lanky man with an aristocratic face and a cool aura. He had long hair that framed his face in a way that was unintentionally sexy, and any woman who set her eyes on him would obviously get flustered from his stare alone! Galen was also an extremely beautiful woman, and she had long hair tied into a ponytail behind her head. She had only been recently promoted to lieutenant, but she was seen as one of the most promising soldiers in the army, and it was common knowledge that she and Tiran worked very well together.

Lyra spoke to them with a frown on her face.

"The three of us will be infiltrating the city at sunrise to find the second half of the medallion. I want you to keep your eyes open for any sign of the Pastoni. Time is a tricky concept, so there is a chance they also possess a pendant and came here from the future. Anyone who finds the second half of the medallion first is to immediately retrieve it and return to our time. The rest of us will join you after we confirm that there is no one following behind us. Do you understand?"

The two soldiers saluted immediately, and Lyra looked them over closely to make sure that they really understood just how important this mission was! This mission could determine who comes out on top in this war, and they couldn’t afford to make any more mistakes!

Once Lyra was certain that they really understood, she nodded and told the two of them to go and prepare. They would be heading out first thing in the morning, so they would need to get enough rest!

....

[Two Days Later]

[Verati Magic Academy]

[Teleportation Zone]

Within the Verati Academy, there were many strict rules about the use of teleportation magic to move from one place to another. Teleportation was a form of magic that very few people in the world were capable of using. It had been invented by a powerful mage more than a thousand years ago, but the method of casting it had been so complex that even powerful mages were incapable of using it properly, and it wasn’t unheard of for mages to lose limbs or organs while trying to teleport!

It wasn’t until Verati appeared that there was true innovation in this particular branch of magic.