A rare emotion had overcome the sanctuary of the Order – panic.

The northern wall where the gate entrance was built had been completely disintegrated. A great, green blast had consumed it, and now all that remained of the large doors was a billowing cloud of black smoke, scattered bits of wood and masonry, and a great deal of ash, with fires from the remains spreading throughout the courtyard and towards the inner buildings

Then began the real mayhem.

Once the gate had come down, the sanctuary had been flooded with all kinds of ghosts. There were ghost-wolves and ghost-falcons; there were snakes, bears, cougars, eels, and elk; there were moose, badgers, beavers, foxes, rodents, rabbits, ecto-pusses, vultures, and giant squids; and there were hideous mutations of each kind of creature. They were vicious, savage, and completely demented, lashing out at any member of the Order who dared to make a move. They were fast, powerful, and completely random in their attacks, leaving little time for anyone to defend themselves.

Behind the animals and mutants were human ghosts. Many were faceless, merely having a humanoid form. Shadow ghosts and transformers, with their advantage of surprise, began laying waste. One cackling ghost with insane snow-white hair, shouting his intentions all the while, targeted the remaining walls, while a gigantic suit of armour with flaming green hair came at all near him with all the ferocity of a predator out for the kill.

Last to enter, clad in a black trench coat and a smoky-grey fedora with a rose pinned on it, was a figure who many in the Order knew from his frequent visits to collect information on The Ghost King. It was the half-ghost Vlad Masters, Katou's apprentice.

Surprise and savage fury were not all that the invaders had in their favour. The armour had built into himself any number of odd and macabre futuristic devices that fired of blasts, beams, nets, and traps, all at a technological level unfathomable by many in the Order. The shouting ghost with the insane hair had with him a metallic staff that let off blasts of electricity. The human ghosts, even the shadows and the transformers, were armed with what appeared to be guns - except that they too were futuristic in design and let loose lasers. Some of the flying animal ghosts even had bombs gripped in their feet strange that they dropped upon the Order. The marks left by these blasts were all too familiar for the warriors of the ancient government – they had been trying in vain to find who was responsible for their presence in The Ghost Zone for five years. And no defence that anyone raised seemed to be able to repel these mechanical nightmares.

Despite the unfortunate turn of events, the Order still fought back. As the youngest were hidden away, youthful apprentices rushed forward to prove themselves, while seasoned fighters made for their weapons and met the coming force. Shao-lin and Manach were alerted to the presence of the intruders. The two founding members ran out and at once proved their skill. Shao-lin drew his duel swords and began to meet every enemy that came near him with a blade, while Manach used a cunning number of manoeuvres and circular energy blasts to take out opposing forces. As more and more of the Order became alerted to the presence of the intruders, more sages and warriors rushed out to defend their home. And three messengers were sent out – one to the search party trying to discover more about Clockwork's prophecy, one to the search party searching for the culprits of the five-year disappearances, and one to Katou.

Unfortunately, the invaders seemed to have expected this.

Waiting just outside the walls were large numbers of ghosts who had not rushed into the sanctuary. They could not be seen by the messengers – they had gone invisible. They stayed unseen, waiting for the messengers to get going in their respective directions. Then, they divided up into groups and followed. Two groups were large – the third was made up of two particularly savage grizzly bear mutants, which Vlad had personally instructed to follow the messenger heading in a specific direction. That direction led to Katou's cave.

The messenger sent to the party investigating the disappearances had barely landed at camp when the ghosts trailing him became visible, flooding the grounds and tearing at everything in sight. The members of the search party, travel-weary and in an even less favourable position than their brothers at the sanctuary, did not get a chance to re-group. The situation at the other camp was worse. They were smaller in number and had fewer veterans among them. For both parties, those that were not taken in strange cylindrical devices reading "Dalv Thermos" became fodder for the animals.

---

Katou was in silent meditation with a clear head when the sounds outside his cave met his ears. A human moan was quickly silenced with some snapping and tearing sounds and two powerful growls. The samurai quickly went invisible and floated to the ceiling.

Two mutant ghost-bears, huge and wild, came charging into his cave, their eyes darting about as they searched for their quarry. When they didn't find him, they displayed the limit to their intellect by roaring and stomping rather than searching the cave more closely. Katou dived down, sword ready, and reduced the behemoths to trails of smoke. He then quickly made a dash for his cauldron, converting into ghost-vapour and diving in. He feared the worst had come to pass.

As his mirage emerged in the cauldron at the Order's Chinese palace, allowing him to see out towards the courtyard, he saw that indeed it had.

The Order was being overrun by Vlad, his henchmen, and their experiments and weapons.

The samurai flew out of the cauldron quickly. He ran to the mouth of his cave and leapt off into the empty space of The Ghost Zone, flying off as fast as he could towards the sanctuary.

He prayed he would not arrive too late.

---

The Order's predicament had taken a turn for the worst. While their fight was valiant – the finest warriors in sword, ghost-powers, bow and arrow, and crossbow were out in the fray – all fell easily to a Dalv Thermos's tractor beam or the fire of a ghost-laser. The invaders had their casualties too – many animals, mutants, shadows and transformers had fallen – but the losses of the opposition were minuscule compared to what the Order had suffered. Those who were fortunate enough to evade all the weapons soon began to grow exhausted from constant battle and were left for the animals. No reinforcements came from the messengers who were sent. Some feared that the return call would not reach them in time – others had guessed at the truth.

As the resistance began to fall, the invaders pressed further into the sanctuary, searching the buildings inside the walls for any whom may have remained. No one was spared their wrath. No remorse was given. The youngest who had been hidden were sucked into traps or left to defend themselves from the beasts just as their masters were. Once all who remained within a structure were captured or otherwise dealt with, it was left to be consumed by the fires that had begun raging throughout the compound.

Vlad walked calmly through the carnage, grinning as he saw one of his great hindrances fall to pieces. He left the fighting to his minions mostly, but every now and again he would stop to face an especially resilient fighter. He ended their existence either by a ghost-gun he kept inside his trench coat or by means of the samurai blade he had been given by Katou.

Those that remained of the Order's defence were steadily pushed back towards the Chinese palace in the centre, where Shao-lin and Manach still fought on. Even in the face of defeat and destruction, the two founding members were determined not to give in. A tight circle formed around them, with the invaders slowly picking off the last warriors. The last knight fell. The remaining samurai were taken in a thermos. Animals seized the Mayan warrior and the African chief. Soon Shao-lin and Manach were the only ones left. Both were exhausted but fought on, Shao-lin's swords flying like eagles and Manach continuing to display a clever array of circular attacks, the two of them back-to-back in the centre of an inescapable circle of assailants.

But a large blast of red ectoplasm sent both crashing into the walls of the palace behind them.

The circle of savagery parted to let its leader inside. Vlad had a smug grin on his face. His outstretched black gloved hand had a trail of red smoke drifting from it, and in his other hand he held his blade. He seemed to shoot fire from his eyes, as if daring the last of the Order to come and oppose him. Shao-lin shot the fire right back. If he were to be destroyed, he told himself, he would be destroyed with honour. He would be destroyed fighting.

His swords raised, he flew forward, a mad yell releasing from his throat. Vlad sent red flames along his blade, destroyed those of the Chinese warrior, and brought his sword down upon him. He caught the blast Manach had just fired in his free hand and fired it back, knocking the monk out and to the ground. He then brought his sword down on him.

As his army continued their demolition of the sanctuary around him, Vlad flew up and entered the chamber of the Chinese palace where, many years ago, he had listened to the founding council explain the history of the Order, the Family, and Walker to him. The seven cushions, the cauldron, and the three maps were all there. The maps, however, were now heavily marked with the multitude of places in which Vlad had caused the unsolved disappearances.

Vlad centred his gaze on the map that showed the territory of the Order. With one swipe of his sword, he took it from the wall and let it fall into the cauldron, where it dissolved. He let his grin become manic and his eyes flash red as he watched.

Now he only had two dragons left to slay.