Bran let his senses reach every part of the castle, going through walls and moving between levels. He felt every single living being within the structure.


    He felt the little viruses floating in the air; he felt the birds flying over the carcasses outside; he felt the worms borrowed into the ground. He felt the civilians running from their lives; he felt the Evolved fighting the husks... He felt everyone living, and could differentiate between life sources.


    His abilities had clear limits in the area it could affect, but no matter how much essence he consumed previously, he never was able to determine which life source belonged to whom.


    But his power reached its current highest peak yet. The range of his power stretched far and wide, while his ability to kill with discrimination became much better. He could target each individual life source with his power.


    "This is going to be fun!" whispered Bran to himself, giggling in the process. He then went back to concentrating, since what he planned on doing took all his mental capacity.


    ...


    Dozens of terrified civilians hid inside a dark room. Outside the barricaded door, screams, shouts, gunshots, and much more sounds of mayhem reached their ears, causing more fear.


    All of them trembled and huddled together, like their proximity, could''ve done anything against those lifeless demons massacring everyone within the castle.


    They whimpered and jumped at all the noise. However, the moment a shadow shifted behind the door, everyone froze like statues. The shadow and sounds of footsteps approached the door.


    The shadow stayed there, standing, waiting. The civilians held their breath, waiting for what happened next. The other person remained still momentarily, then moved away with audible footsteps.


    Just as they thought the threat had passed, a sudden bang shook all of them to their core. The barricaded door suddenly exploded inside, breaking into splinters and landing on the horrified civilians.


    They all collectively began crying and hugging each other for support. They couldn''t survive a fight against these monsters.


    They all watched them kill Evolved guard after Evolved guard, and even when they died, it wasn''t permanent. Demons—that''s all they were—how could a normal civilian fight against such creatures?


    The worst part was their lack of emotion as they killed. They didn''t seem to enjoy the act. This was like a job to them, something they were ordered and needed to complete, no satisfaction or happiness. They were like husks of humans, something dead in every sense of the word except biologically.


    The demon stepped inside the room, walking to the nearest cowering human. He raised his sword, about to kill the civilian in a single cut.


    The terrified woman covered her eyes, waiting for death to take her. The killing blow never came, though.


    She yelped and jumped in terror when the loud clattering noise filled the small room. Metal armor and weapons hit the ground, while a cloud of dust rose into the air.


    Survivors glanced around, bewildered, unsure of the demon''s whereabouts. Nobody realized they were all breathing in the assassin''s remnants.


    After killing the last of the husks, Sera glanced at Bea. Her expression mirrored Sera''s; bored emotionless.


    Bea arrived shortly after her, and they fought against them together the whole time. Their anger towards each other remained unresolved, yet they chose to set aside their differences for the greater good.


    The two of them walked towards the soldiers. Sera opened her watch and suddenly stumbled. Without saying a word, wings spread behind her back and she flew straight towards one tower.


    Bea didn''t question her decision, and even though a bad feeling grew in her stomach, she talked with the soldiers and explained the situation to her understanding.


    She was a bit surprised to hear that someone had already killed all the enemies in the castle. Her shock ended quickly when the soldiers explained the state of the corpses.


    There was only one person Bea knew who could kill that way, and she was certain his powers would stop the husks'' resurrection, just like Sera''s flames.


    Her assumptions soon proved correct when the report came about Bran. He killed hundreds of demons all over the castle, eliminating every single one, but now an additional problem arose.


    His essence became so overloaded that he literally turned into a gigantic bomb, which could level a large portion of London.


    Before the soldier could fully explain the situation, Bea turned into vines and moved through walls until she reached the exact level where Bran was located.


    Upon entering the elevator hall, she changed back and stared at Bran with pure bewilderment. He floated in the middle of a gigantic bubble of pure black energy.


    Cross-legged and with closed eyes, he continued to float, not letting himself lose concentration. Bea was certain only his concentration kept the bubble of energy stable.


    Bea lacked expertise in energy release, yet understood instant annihilation would befall Bran from such a surge. She had to free him from this stifling weight before the city''s destruction.


    A very stupid idea popped into her head. At first she dismissed it, but then the bubble grew a bit larger as Bran lost a bit of focus. She had run out of time. It was time to act!


    Everyone, soldiers, civilians, and guests, all watched in horror as Bea stepped forward and placed one hand over the bubble. She thought there would be some resistance, but all she met was excruciating pain.


    She watched as her hand turned to dust right before her eyes. Scarred, she pulled out of the bubble, and watched in relief as the tissue regrew itself quickly.


    People around her watched in awe and fear. Several fainted seeing her hand regenerate.


    Bea took a few deep breaths, then reached inside with her right arm, letting it dissolve. This time, she left it there, allowing the dark energy bubble to perpetually destroy her regenerating arm.


    The pain was near unbearable, but the bubble''s size near imperceptibly decreased, which meant it was working.


    She took a few quick breaths, then pushed her other arm into the bubble. A loud scream escaped her mouth this time, as the pain doubled. She wanted nothing more than to remove it, but upon visibly seeing the shrinkage of the bubble, she decided to weather out the pain.