She glanced at the ash laid out over the blackened crater, her expression wistful. Sighing heavily, she turned toward the door that the Cerberus was guarding.

"I didn't think the Dark Church would make use of the spirit summoning technology as well. The whole reason they hired the a.s.sa.s.sins Guild was because they didn't have many combat-capable mages to begin with."

Shun Yin raised an eyebrow at that, but he had to admit that it made some sense. The a.s.sa.s.sins' services couldn't possibly come cheap. To justify that kind of extravagant expenses and tremendous amount of resources, the Dark Church must have seen no other alternatives. Or they could afford to throw away tons of money.

Somehow he doubted the latter. Anyone that rich wouldn't want to destroy the world. Then again, what did he know? Some men just want to watch the world burn.

The surge in mana behind the door drew his attention back to his objective. Shun Yin gritted his teeth.

"We have to hurry! It seems like they are beginning the process!"

"I concur." Angelica nodded. "But be careful. There should be a few Dark Church priests protecting the machine."

The both of them sprinted across the remaining length of the corridor and reached the door. Whirling around, Shun Yin kicked the door down after augmenting his physical strength with a physical reinforcement spell. He then barged into the room with his sword outstretched, the blade once again igniting fiercely.

In the center of the room was a ma.s.sive contraption that resembled some kind of gate or portal. Huge amounts of mana were coiling around the center, turning into some sort of translucent dimensional doorway. Shun Yin caught a glimpse of things writhing and moving on the other side of the screen, monstrous limbs and h.e.l.lish fires burning atop a barren landscape.

"Surtr's realm, Muspelheim," Angelica whispered when she also caught sight of what existed on the other side of the doorway.

"You…!"

A robed figure glided forward, jabbing an accusatory finger at her. He was a bit on the short and chubby side, wearing thick, heavy clothing appropriate for his office as a priest, except that the fabric was dyed an ominous black instead of a pure white. Dark rings with portentously gleaming gems decorated his stubby fingers.

"Traitor!" the dark priest spat. "We welcomed you to our ranks, even aided you in eliminating the majority of the Porter clan, and this is how you repay us?!"

Angelica inclined her head slightly. "I am very grateful to you for allowing me access to the summoning technology you used me to steal, as well as lending me troops from the a.s.sa.s.sins Guild."

The dark priest's face turned purple, but he continued to rant furiously, his eyes s.h.i.+fting from Angelica to Shun Yin.

"And you killed my dog! The both of you! My beloved Fido! How dare you!"

"Huh?" Shun Yin blinked for a second, and then he suddenly understood. "That Cerberus-type monster was your…dog?"

"I'll kill you!" the dark priest wailed, gesticulating angrily. "I'll kill you for slaying my Fido! How dare you…!"

Shun Yin stared at him blankly, a little taken aback by his vehemence. Angelica stepped in to explain.

"Even though I said they perfected the summoning technology and solved the problem of burning out the hosts by establis.h.i.+ng contracts, it's not as if they can just create a contract by using anybody or anything as a host. The vessel that contains the spirit must be someone close to the summoner in order for the spirit to be firmly anch.o.r.ed to this dimension. It is the strong emotional attachments between the summoner and the host that allows the spirit to be tethered to this world and bind it to the summoner's will. It often demands a great…sacrifice."

"And in this case, this guy used his beloved pet as the vessel for the spirit the Dark Church summoned." Shun Yin was nodding in understanding. Angelica shrugged.

"That's right, but I find it difficult to understand how he has such strong emotional affection for a mere dog."

"It wasn't just a dog!" the dark priest growled. Angelica rolled her eyes, but before she could retort, Shun Yin hurriedly interjected.

"You didn't hear about the ex-a.s.sa.s.sin who basically wiped out an entire mafia in New York in just a couple of nights because the mafia boss's son was stupid enough to murder his dog and steal his car?"

"…huh?"

"Never mind. I ought to bring you to the Continental one day."

"Shut up!" the dark priest roared, drowning out any response Angelica could muster to Shun Yin's cryptic statement. He gestured for his subordinates to step forward. "Kill them both! Show no mercy! Don't let them anywhere near the transdimensional device!"

"So it's the transdimensional device now? I thought it was the Dokodemo (Anywhere) Door the last time? Did you guys change the name?"

"Shut up!"

Even as the dark priest snarled, a few of his followers, all clad in hooded robes that were much simpler than his extravagant setup (Shun Yin reckoned they probably meant to look like monks or something), took a step forward. Elemental magic circled their hands as they chanted incessantly to cast devastating spells.

Too late! Shun Yin realized. They're already close to completing their spells!

He kicked himself for not noticing them. While he was busily talking with Angelica and the dark priest, his followers had used that time to cast their spells. Any spell he cast in the next few seconds before they unleashed theirs wouldn't be powerful enough to stop them. He and Angelica would have to rely on evasion…

"…eh?"

He felt Angelica grab his hand. She smiled and nodded at him, and he understood what she was trying to do. Taking a deep breath, Shun Yin calmed down and allowed his mana to flow in synch with Angelica's.

"DIE!" the dark priest roared, and as if on cue, his followers unleashed their bombardment of elemental spells. Fire, lightning, icicles, wind and razor-sharp leaves blasted toward the couple (?) in a deadly line, threatening to encircle and overwhelm them.

However, Angelica swung her sword and unleashed a torrent of white flames that was made from fusing her mana with Shun Yin's. Their Resonance technique amplified the otherwise basic spell by several times and allowed it to swallow the tide of elemental spells, was.h.i.+ng across the diverse volley of magical projectiles.

"!!!"

The followers of the Dark Church scattered, trying to avoid the remnants of the white flames that washed over their failed bombardment and nearly incinerated a couple of them.

"f.u.c.k! What the h.e.l.l was that?!" the dark priest demanded, but no one had the luxury of answering his question. They were either trying to dodge white fire or busily casting yet another spell. Even so, the self-important dark priest continued to futilely deliver orders. "Rally, all of you! Form another defensive line! We can't let those two…"

He never got to finish his sentence.

Feeling Angelica's mana surge into him, Shun Yin swung his sword and unleashed a devastating stream of crimson flames. This time, his spell was directed at the Dokodemo Door whose mana intensity was growing with every second, and the dimensional doorway becoming less translucent. Before the first of the fiery monsters on the other side could cross over, Shun Yin's flames washed over the device and obliterated it.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The dark priest howled when he witnessed firsthand the destruction of his organization's efforts. The dimensional gateway vanished, as if it had never been there, and the ma.s.sive amount of mana used to power the device combusted spontaneously, consuming the entire machine in a h.e.l.lish inferno that melted and warped metal and disintegrated more delicate mechanisms within. The room was enveloped in a roiling cloud of flames that caught several of the fleeing scientists and even a couple of the robed followers, immolating them. Their fiery figures thrashed about as they wailed in agony for a few seconds before toppling over, their skin either blackening or melting right off.

The remaining followers of the Dark Church, including their head priest, immediately began to back away. In fact, the dark priest spun around and bolted for the nearest exit – at least the one that wasn't currently blocked by Shun Yin and Angelica.

"Where do you think you're going?" Angelica asked sweetly, the tip of her sword stabbing onto the floor. "If I recall, you were planning on drowning the world in fire. How about I give you a taste of what that feels like?"

Using Resonance, she engulfed the entire laboratory in a sea of flames, burning every single occupant save Shun Yin and herself. The dark priest shrieked as he was set ablaze, his expensive and ridiculous black robes catching fire and combusting rapidly. The dark color absorbed the heat even more quickly than white fabric would, embroiling him in an intensified inferno that reduced him into a blazing husk.

Not even his bones were left. His ash slowly drifted apart amidst the sea of fire.

"…well…" Shun Yin shrugged as he reluctantly let go of Angelica's hand. "I guess that poor guy just got…fired."