Madness and carnage within Mond city

"It seems like it has begun, lady Elaine."

Atop a watchtower, a beautiful young woman along with two beastmen siblings all covered in black watch as several explosions erupt throughout the city, engulfing their entire view in flames.

Elaine's long, black untied hair flows with the wind and blends in to the starry night. Meanwhile the siblings' glistening silver hair sparkles in the dark of night.

The three of them stare silently at the following destruction which caused the entire city to be overrun with chaos.

Buildings and their nearby structures caught on fire by the huge explosions. Beasts rushing through the streets hunting for civilians. And the civilians themselves either cowering with fear at a corner or running for their lives only to be inevitably killed.

The entire city was in disarray.

No.

To say it was in a disarray would be an understatement. The more fitting word to describe the city would be "pandemonium".

Just half a minute ago, Mond was a city hailed to have one of the best living conditions with its rich business and overflowing economy. But now, it looked nothing more than spreading turmoil and mayhem.

Just then, one of them spots an interesting sight.

"Is that it?"

Ries points towards a humanoid figure dashing through the streets at maximum speed. The humanoid figure recklessly knocks down street lamps, shops and even buildings in their way, causing debris to fall endlessly onto the streets.

"A homunculus."

Elaine thinks silently while staring at the speeding figure.

Through some serious research, Elaine and her team managed to uncover that the weapon the black magicians were planning to construct was called a "homunculus". It took them quite a while to discover the specifics of the creature, which delayed their advance towards Mond.

In short, homunculi were beings depicted in forbidden books as powerful humanoid weapons created by fusing black magic with a humanoid being.

They were said to be able to shred buildings and roads with nothing more than a slash. To the common folk and even low ranking mages, meeting a homunculus would mean their certain death.

"It looks like it."

Elaine responds to elevate Ries's question.

"Do we really just need to disperse the overflowing demonic energy?"

Ries asks in curiosity, thinking back to what his master had said.

"Yes, just as he instructed."

Elaine nods while answering, causing Ries to reciprocate with the same motion.

Rolan knew for sure that the "weapons" the black magicians were planning were definitely related to demonic energy based on his experience with Lyndis's demonic dissonance.

That was why, before he departed, he deduced that dispersing the demonic energy within those "weapons" would be highly effective. Since demonic energy plays a big part in the creation, Rolan advised them to remove all excess demonic energy in order to weaken "them" as much as possible.

"I can't believe he even thought of a method to deal with them even before the investigation. He truly is amazing."

Elaine thinks silently and smiles wryly while looking towards the destruction unfolding.

"Remember what master said regarding the plan."

Elaine's words suddenly become strict, causing the two beside her to tense up.

"We must eliminate those homunculi that are too far gone and rescue those who are still holding on and bring them back to the clan."

"Master specifically entrusted us this task as we are the strongest within the clan. We must not fail him."

As she delivers her sentence, both siblings instinctively bow in sync while Elaine sharply watches the homunculi and chimeras run amok below.

"Are the extermination teams on standby?"

She turns to her right and faces the young man beside her.

"Yes, lady Elaine. They are all waiting patiently outside the black magician bases as per your orders."

Elaine nods in delight and turns back to face the city blooming in flames and screams.

"Where is Shim?"

"He already left not long ago."

"Shim...that guy always does whatever he wants when there's a battle."

Elaine breathes out a sigh of disappointment and shakes her head.

"Ries, give the teams the command to attack and go to Shim. Make sure he follows the plan."

"Yes, lady Elaine."

As he delivers his words, Ries fades into a shadow and slowly disappears from sight.

"Try your best to resist your bloodlust."

Elaine turns to her other end to glance at Risa.

"Yes!"

Risa responds diligently with a nod while gripping her scythe nervously.

"It's about time we make our move then."

Elaine stands and walks up to the edge of the building, prompting Risa to do the same.

Not before long, they leap out into the darkness, with the crumbling buildings as the background.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile somewhere in the battlefield-like city, structures are being razed to the ground by a fight.

"Woah there!"

A tall, beautiful man with long blonde hair, red eyes and pointy ears quickly backs away after swinging his spear so as to avoid the enemy's incoming attack.

He manages the avoid the first, but has to parry the second and third whilst dealing damage to the enemy by swiftly stabbing its legs.

He stands face to face with a large beast the size of three full meters. The beast had the body of a grey lion along with tentacles of some kind of large octopus sticking out from its back and the head of a blue winged eagle.

The appearance of the beast was so hideous that the civilians would probably feel disgust instead of fear if it were not hostile.

"So this is a chimera!"

Shim couldn't help but smirk in excitement after thinking out loud.

He tightens his hold over his spear with a much firmer grip before charging forth to attack his enemy.

[Swoosh!]

Using its tentacles, the beast launches a full on assault with each strike cutting through the air at a tremendous speed. Despite this, Shim dodges all of them effortlessly.

Right, right, up, left, down, down.

Shim reads the chimera's attacks flawlessly as he slowly but surely closes in on the chimera.

He leaps high into the air before diving straight down whilst pointing his spear towards the enemy.

And then.

[GWARRRR!]

Shim's spear impales the head of the chimera, causing blood to splatter in all directions for the next few seconds, drenching the entire environment in red. Before too long, it falls to the ground in agony.

"You're still not dead? What a tenacious one."

Shim stares at the squirming beast struggling in pain.

"Hup!"

He then lifts his spear and stabs the beast once more, this time making sure that the tip of his weapon pierces the cranium of the foul beast.

This time, the chimera is surely dead.

Without a second thought he disembarks from the top of the beast before swinging his spear in a downward fashion to get rid of the excessive blood present on it.

Shim turns around one last time to lay sight on the chimera devoid of all life before letting out a grin.

Just then, a loud explosion could be heard.

[BOOM!]

Shim immediately turns to the opposite direction to face the source of the noise.

What he saw was a pool of civilians running towards his direction, screaming and covering their heads in fear. In the background, he spots a mountain of dead bodies and a figure drenched in blood standing above them all.

The figure rips apart a body under its feet and raises them above itself, creating a fountain of blood.

It showers in the crimson liquid for a few good seconds before picking out another and repeating the process all while laughing.

The figure looked to be the size of a small boy, but Shim's instincts immediately told him otherwise.

A slaughter machine, that was what it was.

Despite the overwhelming strength and aura it was displaying, Shim couldn't help but let out an excited smile as he closed in on his newfound target.

"Pretty sure that's the one lady Elaine was talking about."

"A homunculus was it?"

He grips his spear tightly and walks towards the figure still showering in blood.

It wasn't until he reached about ten meters away that the figure started to take notice of him.

At that moment, the homunculus turned its sight to face Shim, which makes his hair stand on end for a moment before he manages to snap back into reality.

"Haha. Looks like this will be a long one."

"But at least it will be fun."

Shim lets out a nervous laughter while readying his stance and narrowing his eyebrows to focus his gaze on his enemy.

Without any warning whatsoever, the homunculus leaps into the air a few moments later and dives into the direction of its newest prey.