A/N: Alright, let's get to this chapter!

"So... we're finally here," Louise said, panting.

Phillip and Louise nearly collapsed by the time they had reached the gates of E-Rantel. They had run the horses to their limits like demons fleeing the holiest of priests- constantly fearing that the dragon they had seen was on their tails. It was probably a trick of the shadows, but Phillip often felt as if there were... things for a lack of a better term following them while they were coming back. He could never make out something definitively however, and given that they had reached the city safely this probably meant that it had just been his mind playing tricks on him.

He still hadn't gotten a wink of sleep this night though.

"Yeah," Phillip said.

They still had to wait a while to be ushered in through the main gate. By now, they were familiar faces to the guards who let them in once they had a quick look at their merchandise, and the appropriate toll was paid without much fuss. A toll that was given to them by their employer. Phillip had often thought about ways to skim a bit off the top regarding the toll fee, but nothing had really come to mind. His boss knew how much the toll was, and lying about how much it was would be a lie easily unraveled.

"So what now?" Phillip asked once they had finished the delivery.

"I'll head on over to the Adventurer's Guild," Louise said. "I need to let them know about the dragon. You coming with?"

"Nah- I have a... thing to do," Phillip said.

"C'mon man, if one dude comes around saying he saw a dragon they'll think I'm drunk bum or something!" Louise retorted.

Phillip sighed and walked along with Louise given he couldn't think of any further excuses.

The truth was that Phillip wanted to find a place where he could sell his newly acquired loot from 'defeating' the dragon. As for why he didn't tell Louise what he was doing- the honest truth of the matter was that he didn't want to share anything with Louise. After all, beating the dragon was all something he did- and he saw no reason to part with what was rightfully his.

But as they made their way to the Adventurer's Guild, Phillip felt as if his treasures were burning a hole in his coat pockets. He had been lucky that the guards hadn't bothered to check them for weapons else he might've been caught out.

The reason for this dichotomy was that Phillip knew that Louise had been a much better friend to him then the way around. When Phillip had first come to the city, it had been Louise who had filled him in with advice on what to do and what areas to avoid. Phillip might've easily ended up gutted like a fish in some back alley if it wasn't for Louise's help. Not to mention he had 'borrowed' money or things like a glass of beer from Louise a couple of times, promising to repay him back every time, but seldom actually doing so.

While Phillip did feel like he had rightfully earned what he had, he also thought that if the situation had been reversed, Louise would not have left Phillip hanging dry.

'Maybe I should offer to share ten percent with him... he can't really want to ask more now then, can he?' Phillip mused.

As it turned out, they were better off not going to the guild. The receptionist had taken their story somewhat seriously until Phillip mentioned that he had chased the dragon away with a rock- following which they had been escorted outside the place by security.

"Man those guys were rude!" Louise complained, rubbing his shoulder where one of the guards had grabbed it too tightly. What he almost said, but didn't- was that he would have probably been more convincing if he had tried going on his own rather than with Phillip. He saw no reason to rub salt in someone's wounds and there was no way to turn the clock back, as it was, it was he who had insisted that Phllip come along with him in the first place.

"I have an idea, why don't we just tell Suzuki-sama what happened?" Phillip asked. "It would eventually probably end up going to him, right?"

Louise did not know much about the strength of monsters, but he was sure that a dragon was a monster of orichalcum or higher level difficulty. As such, it was likely going to end up going to Suzuki Satoru anyway. "Yeah... that would cut out the middleman, right? Plus, Suzuki-sama might give us a small reward for telling him about it right? I mean, he wouldn't want the dragon getting in the way of his business."

"Yeah," Phillip said. "Say, why don't you go on back home? I'll park the cart in the usual place myself."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Go ahead and get some rest."

"Didn't you also have something to do?"

"Uh, yeah, I'll get to it," Phillip said. "It's just some boring thing to do is all."

"Okay," Louise said. He could definitely do with a hot bath and a nap- though with his financial condition he could only afford the latter of the two. "See you tomorrow morning when we set off back for Carne."

Phillip felt his heart racing all the way to the store- between the book and the dagger, he was sure that the dagger was worth more.

Granted, books could be expensive- but something akin to printing presses did exist in this world though not nearly of the standard of modern day presses. They were common enough that printers could easily mass produce a book for a tenth of the price that it would have costed had it been necessary to copy it by hand. Some researchers were looking for ways to copy books using magic, but alas, if such magical technology existed, it was not present in the Kingdom of Re-Estize. If however, the book was an ancient or lost manuscript, it could easily sell enough for Phillip to buy a vineyard for himself if he sold it to the right collector.

Regardless, it was unlikely that it would be worth as much as an enchanted dagger. Phillip did not know much about magic, but he had heard from his father that even the most basic enchantment on armor such as a spell designed to make it lighter would greatly multiply its price. Their family's ancestral set of armor was one such example. Magic items were well out of the reach of normal people and even minor nobility. As such, this dagger would almost certainly be worth more than the book.

Phillip had constantly been worried that Louise might be behind him or something along those lines- a marker of his guilt. He was constantly looking back over his shoulder to see if anyone was following him. However, he suppressed it as he entered the shop.

Phillip had never been here before, but everyone told him that it was one of the best places to sell magical merchandise. He looked quite out of place walking into such an establishment, but he tried to make himself as presentable as possible.

But, as he walked into the store, all of his thoughts evaporated for an instant.

That was because he was left nearly speechless as he saw a world-class beauty, the woman his heart pined after-

"Albedo-sama!" Phillip cried out.

"Oh?" the woman said as she turned her head towards him. Today, she was wearing an elegant green dress that any princess would've been delighted to have.

"Hmm?" the shopkeeper said as he gave him a bored look. It was the look that many nobles had given Phillip whenever he had interacted with them in the past. "Do you perhaps know this gentleman, Albedo-sama?"

"He is one of the contractors we employ," Albedo said.

"Ah, is he here for an errand then?"

"N-No!" Phillip said, regaining his voice. "I uh, came to sell something. This shop also buys magical artifacts, right?"

"Oh?" Albedo said. "And what are you selling?"

Phillip nearly reached for the wrong dagger as he put his hand in his pants and pulled out the dagger engraved with runes on it. "Ah- I was lucky enough to have found this."

"You just found it lying around?" the shopkeeper asked, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. What he did not say aloud- but was clearly conveyed through his manner- was that he thought that Phillip had likely stolen it.

"Uh, yes," Phillip said, knowing no one would buy his dragon story.

"Ah, so what kind of a weapon is it?" Albedo asked.

Phillip nearly tripped over his own feet in trying to present it to her. "Ah- please have a look at it!"

Albedo's eyes went over the weapon for a few seconds before handing it back to him.

"Ah, so... what do you think?" Phillip asked.

"Quite frankly... something like this wouldn't interest me," Albedo said.

"Indeed," the shopkeeper said. "Though I have not seen many Runecraft weapons in my time..."

"Runecraft?" Phillip asked.

"Indeed," the shopkeeper said. "Runecraft is an artform exclusive to the dwarves. See the letters there? I do believe that's a water rune. It converts part of the damage done by the dagger into Water-elemental damage."

"Ah, so is it valuable?" Phillip asked.

"Not really," the shopkeeper said. "Though Runecraft weapons are hard to find, in the end the weapons made by it aren't very strong. It's much easier and the output is much better when weapons are made using Tier Magic. This isn't much better than what a silver ranked Rogue might use."

Phillip's heart sank.

"With that said, some collectors would pay above the market value for the weapon's usefulness just because it is dwarven made," the shopkeeper said. "I do know this buyer in the Empire who might have an eye for something like this but..."

"Well, I think that should be all though," Albedo said. "Pardon me, but I must be leaving."

"Of course! Please give Suzuki-sama my regards!" the shopkeeper said.

Phillip's heart fell even further. The most action he had gotten up to this point was being third in like with an average-looking hooker. It was unlikely that he and Albedo would ever cross paths again.

Albedo walked away, leaving her intoxicating scent behind her. Phillip sighed in wistful lust as he turned to the shopkeeper. "So... how much could I get for this?"

He ended up annoying the man, who he learned was named Ralph because he didn't end up selling it- intending to see if he could find a purchaser who would spend a bit more on it. As it was, the shopkeeper said that he knew nothing about books when presented with the one that Phillip gave him, save for the fact that the script was one he had never seen before nor was it one that he could read.

Phillip was still in moderately high spirits, however, as he walked over to the Magician's Guild. If there was any organization that would be interested in rare texts, even if they were non-magical in nature, it would be them.

"And as you can understand, this equation can be modified to be more accurate taking into account the resistance offered by the target, though with ordinary soldiers you will find it negligible, and therefore is much in the same," Fluder elaborated to his new group of students.

Truth be told, Fluder was rather happy that he was now able to return to teaching somewhat. He had gotten quite used to the role- and while initially he had done so only in the vain hope that one of his students would surpass him, he had also found the job quite satisfying in its own right. It was certainly more intellectually satisfying then hunting down rogue workers.

As it was, he currently only had eight pupils. One of them was the Elder Lich named Davernoch, one was the vampire by the name of Camula, one was a girl with a unique Talent for magic that Suzuki had recruited, and the others were Elder Liches that Suzuki Saturo, Fluder's own teacher, had made.

Suzuki had enlisted a few Elder Liches to see if they could learn to be stronger. As it was, he had experimented with Death Knights to see if they could learn Martial Arts, though these projects had ended in failure. Much in the same vein, there had been no real change in strength in the Elder Liches that Suzuki had created. Fluder saw this as a failure he should be ashamed of, but Suzuki had been expecting this outcome and so was not too disappointed. It was still possible they might become stronger though with time.

Davernoch was a special case- Suzuki wanted to know if he could get stronger even though he had been under the influence of his Domination ability. Davernoch had somewhat come along in a sense, learning the spell Grand Fireball, though still remaining under Suzuki's control while doing so.

Camula, on the other hand, was a bit frustrated. These lessons mostly went right over her head- in other words, it was far too advanced for the likes of her.

Granted, she had never really been that smart in the first place. Her 'sister', Veronica, had far outshone her in the intelligence department. Camula was more skilled in the field of sorcery- which involved getting a 'feel' for magic rather than intensive study. She still required a teacher, though it seemed that Fluder Paradyne was the wrong kind of teacher for one such as her. Of course, there was a time when she would've given her front teeth to have a tutor like Fluder, so she didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth.

These lessons were conducted in the basement of the Magician's Guild of the capital- which had essentially become a stronghold of the Eight Fingers. The leader of this branch of the guild had quite willingly turned a blind eye to everything that a man as powerful as Fluder was doing, and many of the staff members had been serving the Eight Fingers indirectly or directly for a while anyway.

Once the lessons were over, Camula set to work. This part of the day was usually devoted to making spell scrolls. Ignonick hide could make spell scrolls of up to the third tier, and as such, people better than her usually worked on them.

There was one exception to this- she knew a spell of her own creation by the name of Third Hand whose effect was to conjure up a third hand that the caster could use. Unfortunately, it was unsuited for combat as the hand would shatter easily, and magical weapons could not be held by the hand. Perhaps if she developed the spell further, and was able to create a higher tier spell it could have combat uses as well. There were species such as Asuras who had multiple limbs and could equip several weapons at the same time. If her spell could be upgraded to allow one to expand one's weapon slots, it would be highly useful in combat. Such a spell, Camula thought, would most likely have to be sixth tier or higher.

For now though, it was just a more flexible version of the spell Magic Board, however because no one else knew the spell (not even the likes of Fluder Paradyne) she was tasked with creating scrolls with its effect. It was a way, no matter how minor, that she could prove her worth when compared to casters much stronger than her.

Once this was done, she would begin her research. Since joining up with Suzuki Satoru, she now had access to nearly every single text that the Re-Estize Kingdom had. She would have loved to spend some time to peruse texts that interested her, or would've been interesting to Veronica, but given that she was being given lessons and was part of a larger organization, she had to prioritize whatever tasks her superiors gave her.

The first topic that she had to spend time on was regarding whether or not it was possible for heteromorphs and humanoids to have children. This was a request from that demoness Albedo herself, so Camula had a good idea as to what the reason behind this order was.

As it was, the races of the world were divided into three categories: Humanoid, which included humans, elves, and dwarves; Demihumans, and Heteromorphs. The last two categories consisted of hundreds of races. Half-elves and half-dwarves were mentioned throughout history, though she had not been able to find a record of an elf-dwarf hybrid. This might've simply been because those two races never interacted with each other rather than because it was biologically impossible.

Rules regarding the other two groups were a bit more hazy. Generally, reproduction between two different groups was impossible. She had come across rare reports of people who had tried to generate such hybrids but such attempts were always unsuccessful.

With that said, that demoness Albedo was a succubus, a creature famed in mythology for breeding demons by using the life essence of mortal men. It would not be out of the question if her subspecies was capable of producing offspring with men.

As for vampires- females could not change their bodies. That was why Camula was glad she had not been transformed when she had still been prepubescent and would've ended up being flat-chested for all of eternity. As for males, there was a possibility that they could generate the required 'fluids' for reproduction. As it was, vampires could still produce fluids such as saliva and tears. So it was not out of the question that a male vampire could possibly impregnate a human woman.

Only issue was that this was a theoretical idea only. Camula did not know any male vampires- as it was it was highly unlikely that a male vampire would leave a human woman alive long enough to carry his child.

There was only one text that Camula could find that answered the question in a way. It was a story about a woman who went to a new town and attracted the attention of a male vampire living in disguise as a human. The two of them were inexplicably drawn to each other and fell in love.

"Huh... why is it written that the vampire's skin sparkles in the sunlight like gemstones? It's as if this person knows nothing about actual vampires." she wondered out loud as she got to a strange paragraph.

It took her a while of reading the entire text many times over before she realized that the whole thing was a work of fiction- likely written for horny teenage girls.

Meaning she had wasted several hours reading it for no reason.

Rather pissed off because of this, she went to her second area of required study: looking for magical items. Unfortunately, this was another one of the areas where it was difficult to separate fact from fiction. She had not found anything that would point to a credible lead that could be followed up on.

Her third task was to look for powerful entities- though this had the same difficulty regarding credibility. A 'powerful' enemy was often powerful simply relative to whoever was describing it. She doubted a foe she would consider to be dangerous would be someone that would be able to threaten either Albedo or Suzuki Satoru. The only one she could think of was the Brightness Dragon Lord, though she had already conveyed the scare knowledge that she had of that beast to them in one of her reports.

A bell sounded signaling the end of the workday. She had been surprised at how... humane the organization she had joined was. For all members who were not undead, work weeks were capped at a total of forty-eight hours per week. Four weeks of vacation a year were granted to all, and overtime if ever required was paid at a rate double the normal wages. Workers injured while on the job were given healing at a nominal cost. The usual backstabbing nature of working in an organization such as the Eight Fingers was now gone with all eight factions working mostly in harmony. Anyone who tried to break away or say, steal from another member was swiftly cut down, and as such, even the most vile people in the hierarchy had learned it was better to try and get along with each other.

The end result of this was that the Eight Fingers, a criminal organization, had a far better working environment for its workers than practically anywhere else in the Re-Estize Kingdom. Suzuki Satoru had expressed much frustration at the fact that they couldn't advertise such a thing openly for obvious reasons.

Camula couldn't ever imagine that demoness constructing a system like that. She seemed the type to enslave every single human and harvest their skin and organs over and over again while giving them only the most basic of sustenance. She was the kind of person who would without any hesitation impale an entire village of people for the actions of a single criminal. Granted, Camula herself had little love for humanity given she was a vampire, but it also meant that Albedo would not hesitate to destroy her should the need arise. This work environment was likely engineered by Suzuki Satoru himself, though Camula couldn't fathom why the man insisted on such rules. He was well within his rights and power to turn this organization into a cabal of sweatshops- the strong were allowed to do with the weak as they wanted after all. And yet, he did not simply take what he wanted but mainly played by a set of fair rules. He could have simply dominated Camula and forced her to dance to his tune, though he had not done so.

Now, being an undead, Camula had no real need for rest and could work 'round the clock if she so chose. However, as she was not an undead created by Suzuki himself, she was considered to be in the same category as human workers.

She would've loved to use this spare time granted to her to work on her own research interests. The only issue was that the texts she had ordered for this purpose were not deemed necessary to her main work and as such were going to take several days to arrive.

With nothing better to do, she would generally use this time to hitch a ride using a Gate back to Necropolis along with whoever was headed there for the evening shift.

The Gate was opened up in a room very well hidden within the Guild, and stepping through it along with a throng of Elder Liches brought her back to Necropolis.

Granted, truth be told there was little to do in the city itself. She could always go for a drink near the blood fountain- but that was about it.

For most of her unlife, Camula had been isolated ever since the death of her parents. Once they had been killed, she had spent her days hiding in the shadows, away from prying eyes, constantly afraid that the next day would be her last.

How long had she been like that? Fifty years- or was it even longer? It had always been like that until she had met Veronica. She had finally gotten a friend after all those decades.

For her sake, Camula knew she had to not only get stronger- but get closer to the higher-ups of this organization. She had been unable to seduce Suzuki Satoru, but she needed to find other ways to get into his good graces.

She had little interest in trying to mingle with the other members of the city even if they were undead- not that she would've been able to build much of a connection with them anyway. There was a certain rift between her and the other denizens of Necropolis- she wasn't sure if they were all super xenophobic or something along those lines, but they treated her as mostly an outsider. The vampire brides would offer to sleep with her for money, but nothing beyond that.

She set off towards the woods, outside of the city. The undead were more scarce here- though they were not absent. Bone Vultures flew up high on above as sentries, and there were several undead buried beneath the earth to act as traps.

Camula fully intended to hunt tonight. The blood from the fountain just didn't do it for her. It was like a human eating only convenience store meals for several months.

There were several rules she had to follow, but aside from them she was free to roam on her own. Patrols did not extend to far into the woods and monsters such as the Wise King of the Forest were left alone so long as they didn't threaten humans. As such, it was not entirely safe to wander the woods- but part of that was what excited her. What else was the thrill of the hunt but the fact that the roles of hunter and hunted could be swapped within seconds? She was tracking a pack of wolves when a strange smell met her.

It was very faint, but unmistakable. Cooked meat...? She was a ways away from the human village of Carne, as it was anyway she was forbidden from showing herself there.

She followed the scent regardless, sticking to the shadows and coming upon her prey without them having the slightest inkling of her presence.

There were two humans sitting around a campfire. This meant she was not allowed to kill them. At least, not normally. Killing criminals was something that was perfectly fine.

She could see what they were doing- cooking Ignonick meat. She had enough of an idea of who these two must be then to figure they were likely staying away from the trail so they wouldn't be caught stealing from her new master's larder. They were taken small scraps of extra meat from each packaged packet, so that it was difficult to tell that some had been taken.

This was an excellent chance to catch these two and present them before her new master. It would be better to catch them alive- but could it be okay if she only brought one of them alive? It would be better for her to make sure that these two were stealing as a matter of fact, before she made her-

-she paused as she sensed something very large approaching, retreating fifty paces as she saw the shadow of a Frost Dragon emerge.

This was bad- although she was immune to their Frost Breath kudos of being an undead, dragons were still very powerful creatures. And she did not have access to the spell Fireball which would've made quick work of this creature, or any other powerful Fire-type spells in her arsenal. A fight would therefore turn into a fistfight, which would be something a magic caster like herself would definitely use.

She had not even bothered to bring along a scroll with the Message spell- she found having the option to rely on outside help took away the joy of the hunt. However, this was a situation wherein she would have definitely wanted the aid of those Elder Liches.

Come to think of it, it was quite odd to see a Frost Dragon here. Based off of her research, they resided in nests in the Azerlisia Mountain ranges. It also had a large layer of subcutaneous fat she had not heard of dragons possessing- though it might've been an adaptation to the cold weather of the mountain ranges.

The two humans had not even noticed the monster yet, and if it came upon them both of them would certainly die. More importantly, the Ignonick meat would be eaten, resulting in a loss of profit. She didn't think it would cause a major dent in her master's finances, but stolen good were still stolen goods.

The best thing to do for now would be to run back and then ask for reinforcements. However, as she was ready to see the humans cut to ribbons, she saw something which shocked her.

The dragon... retreated? It ran away? One of the humans had thrown a rock at it, and it turned tail and fled into the woods. The man who had throw the rock did not seem to be exceptional in any way, though she had heard of a class of demihumans known as 'Stone Eaters' who could eat and regurgitate rock fragments at lethal speeds. Perhaps there was a class of warrior that also specialized in throwing rocks? Was this human perhaps secretly very strong?

The two men still chose to flee rather than chase the dragon, and Camula, curiosity getting the better of her, ran after them.

She pursued them for a while, monitoring their movements, when a Message spell connected with her.

She glanced around. Unfortunately, she did not possess any items that protected against Divination magic, so she would be exposed here. She doubted that her new master would bother waste time spying on a small fry such as her, but she couldn't completely discount the possibility.

She went deeper into the woods- to that meeting spot set up by one of Veronica's Lesser Vampires. There was nothing there, save for a single strand of hair.

Several Months Earlier...

"Want seconds?" Veronica asked as she took in another mouthful of blood.

The farmer the two of them had killed was sprawled out, decapitated, with the heavy flow of blood emanating from his neck drenching the two of them in blood as they gorged on it.

"Seconds?" Camula asked.

"He must have some family," Veronica said. "I think I saw the silhouette of a woman near the window frame."

As it was, when this man's family, if he had any, discovered he was missing, they would follow the trail to lead right to the two vampires.

"No," Camula said. "I'm full... and we should be careful not to take too much from a single village."

The two of them survived by preying on the fringes of human society- no one would care for this remote village. And although the two of them knew that they were naturally strong as vampires, and stronger still kudos to their magical prowess, they were not invincible. They could not draw too much attention to themselves.

"...we won't have to hide for much longer..." Veronica said. "I've learned how to cast third tier magic now. Once we are a bit stronger-"

Camula had heard the tale a thousand times from Veronica's mouth. Her dreams of creating a country of vampires- ruled by vampires. Of course, such lofty aspirations were much beyond her capabilities as a third tier caster. Still, Veronica clung to the dream with all her heart. And Camula, though she didn't care for such a dream, would happily support it if Veronica desired it.

"Did you find her then? Did you find Downfall?" Camula asked.

Downfall- a vampire who also went by the name of 'Country Destroyer'- it was rumored that she could cast magic of the fifth tier. She was a vampire who had consumed several countries in the center of the continent. If either of them could reach that level, no, even if both of them reached the fourth tier, they could quickly topple a nation.

"No," Veronica said with a twisted smile as she brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. Veronica had electric blue hair courtesy of a magic dye. It was a bit vain, but Veronica cared for her appearance far more than Camula. "One of a woman's greatest weapons is charm" was something she often reminded Camula of. Veronica had managed to obtain several treasures they would've otherwise been unable too by seducing the right man. It also helped their enemies underestimate her, which was greatly to her advantage. Veronica had also taken the time to get blue contacts to give herself purple eyes. This was not too uncommon of a feature in many countries. As it was though, if any man saw Veronica right now they would definitely scream and flee. Veronica wasn't as sloppy an eater as Camula, but she still was more than half-soaked with blood. Camula however, thought that Veronica never looked as beautiful as she did during these times. She looked almost exactly the same as the day the two of them had first met.

"Did you get her?"

"Where is she? Find her!"

"She's over there! Let's surround her!"

"I'll get revenge for my son if it's the last thing I do!"

Several soldiers had completely encircled her. There was no route of escape for her anymore, she had been careless this night, and the humans had a magic caster with them. The stench of silver reached her nostrils as several people began pouring alchemical silver on their swords. It appeared that she was done fo-

Several heads were decapitated at once. The magic caster's throat was ripped out before she could utter so much as a syllable.

It was all over in under a minute. Every single human lay dead, and atop a mound of corpses was a woman covered in blood and gore.

"W-Why did you save me? Someone you barely know?"

"Saving someone in trouble is common sense," the woman replied. "Or, it is when it's the same species as you, isn't it? Isn't that how humans, much weaker than we are, can still hunt us? Is it not right then- that to even things out, we too should form a league of our own?"

"Not Downfall! Someone stronger!"

"Stronger?"

"Imagine a magic caster of the seventh tier," Veronica said.

"Impossible!"

"I thought so too, until I met them. Tell me, have you ever heard of a group called Corpus of the Abyss?"

In Present Day...

Camula took the strand of hair, which was awash with Veronica's scent. A scent that she was quite familiar with.

She knew what this was.

It was a message from Corpus of the Abyss- the organization that was holding Veronica hostage. Most likely, they were getting impatient and wanted the information she had gathered up till now.

The issue was that this necromancer Suzuki Satoru greatly exceeded her (and for that matter, their) predictions in terms of power. She could now see why the legendary organization of undead spellcasters feared him and had sent her to fish for intelligence. For them, it was an excellent bargain in terms of cost and benefit. Even if she was caught and killed, she knew little of their organization that she could tell Suzuki Satoru. Being a mere second tier caster, her loss would mean nothing in terms of military strength for them.

She was stuck between a rock and a hard place- it was clear to her now that Suzuki Satoru and his underlings far exceeded in terms of power Corpus of the Abyss, but it would be extremely risky to come out as a spy to him. She could very well end up dead- and even if she was accepted as a double agent into his ranks (doubtful as she possessed very little knowledge of their organization to give to him) it was likely that Veronica would be killed before she could rescue her. Granted, a cabal of undead were unlikely to be merciful enough to have ever given her Veronica back even if she cooperated, but the fact remained that the only other option was to give up on Veronica.

And that was one thing that she couldn't do. She could not turn her back on her only friend like that.

If only the two of them had found Necropolis sooner. Then, things could have been different.

A/N: And that's a wrap! This chapter ended up being longer and shorter than I thought at first- longer because I ended up spending more time on Phillip and Camula than I had originally thought, and shorter because I covered less ground than I was going to otherwise. I was going to have a Suzuki and Albedo section this chapter (they are the main characters after all) but as I began drafting that I realized even that was going to be longer than I anticipated so I stopped it here.

And yes, in case you were wondering, someone in the New World did write a version of Twilight.