南瓜影院

And then, just over thirty minutes later, the sounds of hooves sounded as horses trotted over and all stopped right outside the Hadron Mansion\'s damaged gates.

Angus and the rest of the gang (excluding all newbies) were at the top floor of the Mansion and looking out of the window of the topmost room at the Vykers all dressed in varying outfits that had only one thing in common; They did not look like what the locals would wear.

"Fifteen of them…" Charles said with a frown and a gruff tone, "Are you sure about this, Angus."

"I\'m sure," Angus said with his hands behind his back.

To put so much faith in Yelena because of the words of Good ol\' Joe would have been idiotic but thanks to the Vinculum on his Chest, Angus knew better than anyone possibly could, the nature of Yelena\'s bond to the Hadron Mansion. There was no reason to be worried.

…

A few feet from the Mansion\'s Damaged gate…

A Squad of Fifteen Vykers who were eager and confident to succeed where their fellows had failed. Seven Vykers all created by their Master, the Lord of the Black Manor, had lost their lives already in pursuit of the item that was stolen but their deaths had had not been totally without purpose.

The deaths of the first two allowed their Master to narrow his search to the Town of New Freudein and its environs—As bizarre as that was—, and the more recent deaths of five more had given a more precise target.

Slowly, all fifteen of them directed their horses over the threshold and past the broken gates into the Hadron Mansion grounds proper where they arranged themselves into a formation of sorts without once taking their eyes off the Mansion.

"They\'re holed up in there," said the Vyker at the forefront with a frown. He sniffed for a few seconds and then added,

"One crossed the gates not long ago and none have left since."

He looked at the tents that were pitched with no one inside them and said,

"They had enough time to hide within the Mansion but didn\'t bother to attempt to run. Are they that confident in the Mansion protecting them?" He wondered with his brows furrowed.

The sniffing Vyker was the Captain of this Squad and when he thought of what had happened to the last Captain to step foot in this Mansion (The Shadow Vyker who had lost his head the week before), the words of his Master ordering caution sounded in his head.

But then he scoffed,

\'Master, your words hurt me. Caution for a bunch of cowards who can\'t even step out to face me?\' He thought with a smug smile, \'It\'s not needed.\'

"Flame Vykers!" he called out in a loud voice as he raised a hand in command.

From behind him, a few horses broke away from the formation and raised their hands to conjure fireballs blazing hard just above their palms and fingertips.

The Flame Vykers took a few seconds to hold the fireballs in place as their Captain still had his hand raised and when he dropped his hand, they let it all loose against the Mansion\'s walls.

Within the Mansion, Angus watched as the Flame Vykers prepared their fireballs and then his eyes widened.

\'They\'re going to toss it here!\' He realized.

"DUCK!" He yelled out.

His purple eyes flashed and the command of his words, driven by his Spellbinding gripped them all and forced them to obey just before fireballs struck the window, destroying it along with the walls around it.

*BANG!*

The entire room became clouded with dust and flickers of the fires from the fireballs smoldering curtains, wood panels, and even brick.

Angus and Devon were the first to get out of rubble but Angus looked the most \'well\' of the two and he looked in the direction of the Vykers despite the dust clouding his sight.

\'They knew where I was,\' he said to himself with certainty even if he didn\'t understand how.

The sniffing Vyker Captain smirked and raised his hand,

"Ready!" He called and the Flame Vykers prepared their fireballs again and prepared to launch.

The plan was simple.

If the enemy was not going to come out, they might as well bring the Mansion down on their heads and then pick through the rubble and rip their Master\'s item off the thief\'s cold, dead body.

"Captain," A Vyker called out, "Someone\'s coming out."

The Flame Vykers kept their fireballs above their palms ready to launch at a moment\'s notice but they watched along with the others and their Captain as a beautiful lady stepped out of the Mansion with a hand over her shoulder as she winced with every step.

The Captain frowned but he said nothing.

Yelena was already on her way out when the fireballs hit the Mansion and blew away an entire section of the wall. The pain that struck her at the moment was like losing a body part and having the stump left behind constantly seared with flames.

Even then, she had held in her pain and managed to walk forward and out of the Mansion only to wobble and almost fall to the ground but then, Henry was there. One arm securely around her waist to keep her upright.

"Easy," he said in her ear gently.

She looked to the side at him and managed a weak smile,

"That\'ll teach me not to drag my feet, right?" She said and let out a chuckle.

With Henry as her support, she gained a better walking pace and they took four more steps together, facing the Vykers who were still on horseback.

In the room whose wall had been crushed by the fireballs, the Gang rose from the rubble and joined Devon and Angus to look out of the gaping hole and down at the showdown about to begin.

"Henry?" Angus mumbled in question, "Why is he there?"

Everyone looked at Henry\'s presence by Yelena\'s side with surprise. Triss\' eyes were on his arm around her waist.

"Better now?" Henry asked Yelena in a whisper.

She nodded and stood on her feet far more stably so Henry could release her waist and take his hand to his gun belt.

Before the arrival of the Vykers, Henry had replaced the normal revolver that used to be in his second Holster with \'The Hydra\'s Sting\' fully loaded with Hydra\'s Tongue bullets so he pulled it out and cocked its hammer.

Two things happened at the same time.

One; The Vyker Captain, his eyes taking note of the magical green of \'The Hydra\'s Sting\', called out for the Flame Vykers to launch their fireballs.

Two; Dark tendrils crackled around Yelena\'s body at a significantly lower setting of intensity than she had ever used and she went even further lowering its effect by neglecting to bring them together into a singular bolt.

Rather she let the tendrils, multiple as they were, crackle individually and launched them all at the enemy.

Yelena\'s targets were the Flame Vykers grouped close together but with very little actual control of the tendrils after they left her, many others suffered it.

"ARRGGHHHH!!!"

*ANGUISHED NEIGHS!!!*

Horses let out sounds of pain as they were not spared from the energy their riders suffered and the eyes of those riders bugged out as their mouths gaped open while the dark energy of the spell wracked through them.

The fireballs exploded in midair when their caster\'s mana ran rampant and the sound caused even more horses to let out angry whinnies and in all that commotion, Henry took advantage.