Age of Adepts

The World of Adepts.

Recently, the Crimson Clan’s situation within Zhentarim had begun to grow worse.

A rumor was starting to spread, claiming that the legendary adept who had forged the Crimson Clan had died in a foreign plane. It was said that the leaders of the clan were remaining silent about the news to avoid inciting panic.

These rumors might have seemed entirely baseless, but it had struck a weak spot of the Crimson Clan.

The Crimson Clan had multiple independent factions within. If it hadn’t been for the legendary fire adept suppressing all voices of disapproval with his tremendous personal power and the loyal support of Mary, Alice, Meryl, and several other adepts, no one could have gathered this force of vampires, goblins, dragons, and witches and turned them into a gathering to be feared by the world around them.

With Greem failing to appear in the clan despite the many passing years, and core member Fate Witch Alice starting to seclude herself within her Tower of Fate, the operation of the entire clan fell squarely upon the shoulders of Gargamel and Meryl, two mere First Grade adepts.

Meanwhile, Third Grade Vampire Adept Mary was also the only person left of the clan’s high-grade fighting force.

This, combined with the various unstable situations within and without the clan caused some waves to begin to rise. Both the adepts who had begrudgingly surrendered during the last adept war, and certain ambitious individuals among the goblins, were carefully testing the Crimson Clan’s real strength. They were all trying to find ways to break free of the clan’s control.

During this time, some well-established major adept clans also expressed deep hostility towards the Crimson Clan. They began to suppress and bully members of the Crimson through subtle and overt acts alike.

For a moment, many hostile incidents targeted at the Crimson Clan occurred all across Zhentarim. Goblin merchant groups were chased out of certain territories, and several of the clan’s resource sites were attacked. Despite having conquered nearly eighty percent of the land in the Ailovis Region, the Crimson Clan had no choice but to withdraw their defensive line and shift their forces to the dozen most crucial First Class Resource Sites.

As the de facto leader of the clan, Mary had no choice but to take on the burden of heading the group, as unwilling as she was.

For a moment, the vampire adepts were out and roaming, returning teeth for teeth and blood for blood. They beat back wave after wave of enemies with the most ferocious showing of force, even putting down three incidents of an uprising in the Ailovis Region aimed at overthrowing the Crimson Clan’s rule.

However, the more they killed and the fiercer they fought, the worse the situation for the clan.

All sorts of rumors were spreading about the clan, along with the fires of war. The powerful mastermind behind the scenes appeared determined not to stop until the Crimson Clan had been thoroughly uprooted and crushed.

Mary had no choice but to use her authority as the clan leader to bring the Fourth Grade magical golem dragon from the White Tower to the central region. It would serve as the core fighting force in defense of Ailovis.

That undoubtedly intimidated the mastermind and gave the Crimson Clan a chance to catch a breath.

According to their detailed investigations, the higher-ups of the clan had finally figured the identity of the mastermind plotting to overthrow the Crimson Clan. That person was the current clan leader of the Fabres Clan– Fourth Grade Body Refining Adept Declan Fabres.

In all honesty, most of the higher-ups were shocked and confused when they heard that Declan Fabres was the one plotting against the clan. After all, the Crimson Clan did not possess a genuine Fourth Grade of their own. That was why they had always remained incredibly respectful of these established clans, never fighting with them over territorial benefits.

Yet, now, that Fourth Grade adept had suddenly struck at the Crimson Clan so viciously. It was truly beyond the expectations of the Crimson Clan’s leaders.

While everyone was caught up in confusion, Mary seemed to have vaguely understood something.

Greem’s entrapment in a foreign plane and the current predicament of the clan were very likely both the plot of a single person.

Upon understanding the cause-and-effect of the whole matter, Mary gave up on any thoughts of negotiating with the enemy. Instead, she started a full-force counterattack while fortifying the clan’s worldly territories and resource sites. Under her strong leadership, Bug Adept Billis, Dragonborn Zacha, Goblin Tigule, and the whole host of vampire adepts struck out at their enemies.

If the enemy dared to destroy one worldly territory belonging to the Crimson Clan, they would exterminate all worldly nobles in three of the enemy’s territories. If the enemy dared raid a resource site of the Crimson Clan, they would destroy five resource sites belonging to the enemy.

The Crimson adepts had always been fearless and ruthless fighters. They were like venomous snakes, coiled offensively and retaliating against every single attack, refusing to back down or compromise even if it came at the cost of injuries to themselves.

At the start of the battle, the Fabres Clan had mostly been aggravating and persuading other third party forces to attack and harass the Crimson Clan. However, once all these parties had suffered tremendously in the territories of the Crimson Clan and were intimidated by their show of force, the Fabres Clan finally moved.

As a veteran clan led by a Fourth Grade adept, the Fabres Clan had existed for over three thousand years now. The incredible amount of power and influence they had accumulated over the years was incomparable to the Crimson Clan, which had only established itself less than a hundred years ago.

As the Second and Third Grade adepts of the Fabres joined the fray to fight against the Crimson Clan, the entirety of Zhentarim boiled with commotion.

Every single adept clan and organization cast their attention on the Ailovis Region, silently waiting for a victor to emerge between the two groups. Some discussed the situation amongst themselves, some simply watched, and others pretentiously predicted the outcome of the war.

Still, regardless of how they talked and analyzed, the Crimson Clan was not likely to come out untouched from this war. After all, the enemy was led by a Fourth Grade adept with a force of three dozen Second and Third Grade adepts. They, on the other hand, only had two Third Grade adepts and a flight of unruly Third Grade dragons. The difference in power was too vast. They were hardly even on the same level.

For a moment, all the minor organizations that had been obeying the rule of the Crimson Clan started become treacherous, either joining the enemy’s side or choosing to remain neutral. This further reduced the morale of the Crimson Clan.

Given the basic power of the two clans, some adepts declared that the Crimson Clan would be facing total defeat. At the very best, they could only defend Fire Throne–their headquarters–with the might of the Fourth Grade magical golem dragon. As for their other territories and clan resource sites; they lacked the strength to defend them!

However, the true cause of the Crimson Clan’s disorganization was not the chaos and commotion that was brewing outside. It was the absence of Greem, their legendary clan leader.

The Crimson Clan had always been an adept clan built around Greem’s charisma and power. The tens of thousands of hearts belonging to the clan had always been tied to Greem alone.

If Greem was present, the clan was present. If Greem was absent, the clan was like a human whose skeleton had been extracted from their body, limp and incapable of any strength.

Be it the brain monster’s faction in Lance or the prideful dragons, everyone refused to listen to Mary’s orders, only obeying on the surface and never genuinely acting accordingly. They never used their full strength to defend the honor and dignity of the clan.

Even the weaker goblin faction had much to say about Mary’s orders. If it weren’t for the vampire faction overpowering them by a long shot, the goblins would probably have seceded from the clan to protect themselves.

Given that case, the only ones who were obedient to Mary were a few of the core adepts, along with her subordinate vampire faction. Defending the vast lands of Ailovis and the many resource sites with such a force was no more than a dream.

Mary had no choice but to shrink the clan’s forces further, abandoning the territories and resource sites on the outskirts. She concentrated what limited military force was within her hands and silently waited for a chance to tear a piece of flesh out of the Fabres.

Her efforts finally bore fruit. The constant retreat of the Crimson Clan finally baited out some valuable targets into the battlefield.

Excited at the prospect of profit, a group of Fabres adepts started a raid against a First Class resource site located near the Raul Wastelands, slaughtering all the Crimson adepts and apprentices keeping watch in that place.

They were led by two Third Grade adepts!

Upon receiving the call for help sent by the clan adepts and apprentices before their deaths, Mary set aside her usual attitude of turning a blind eye. Instead, she gathered the elites of the clan and made a beeline for the resource site.

The Raul Wastelands were only three hundred kilometers away from the core region of the Crimson Clan. The arrogant adepts of the Fabres Clan never expected Mary to be so ferocious and spent far too much time raiding the place. By the time they had filled their storage devices with loot and prepared to return to the clan for a celebration, Mary had descended with seven Second Grade adepts, Billis, Zacha, and Tigule, sealing off their path of retreat.

After a bloody battle, the Raul Wastelands were wiped off the map, and both parties suffered a terrible price for their confrontation.

Two Second Grade blood elves died on the spot, with Mary suffering severe injuries and the other clan adepts sustaining wounds of various severity as well. On the other hand, of the two Third Grade adepts of the Fabres Clan, one was heavily injured, and the other had sustained some light wounds. Five of their Second Grade adepts had died, and countless others were wounded.

The battle of Raul Wastelands stunned the entirety of Zhentarim!

In the eyes of the people, the only thing that the Crimson Clan could do in response to the aggressive advances of a veteran clan was to defend their headquarters firmly and await the moment the enemy had exhausted all their strength and finally go on the retreat.

No one could have expected Bloody Queen Mary to have the daringness to bite back and tear a bloody piece of flesh right off the back of the Fabres Clan. The deaths of five Second Grade adepts might not shake the foundations of the Fabres Clan, but it was no less than a wicked slap across their face.

Zhentarim bubbled with commotion for a moment. Everyone looked on silently to see how the Fabres Clan would react.

It was said that the battle of Raul Wastelands had caused the Fourth Grade clan leader of the Fabres Clan to fume with anger.