City of Desire-Chapter 686: Anchor Circles

Lord Aardwyn, Tranquill Bathhouse

"Ahhhhh!"

I screamed as the terrible pain filled me, as the bastard took another piece of my core.

A few minutes ago, everything was going well. Now, everything is bad. I am in a worse condition than Silver was a few minutes ago.

A fifth of my core is in his hand, and it is not merging with his core as I thought it would. It is simply disappearing after it reaches near its core.

I am trying to find out where it is, but I couldn't, no matter how much I tried.

He took the piece and ran away with it. We tried to stop, but the slimy bastard ran too fast, bearing everything I attacked him with.

"This will not do. Silver had already taken 20% of the core. If this continued, it won't take long to tear apart the whole core," said the Prince.

I understand that more than anyone else, and I'm angry.

He did something to my core. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to tear the pieces of my core so easily.

"I don't know what else we could do other than resist," replied Rylan.

The prince nodded at that, but I could see the deep unwillingness. If my legacy is taken away, it will be terrible for me, but he won't escape the blame either.

It will be a significant setback for him, given his ambitions.

"There is one thing we could do," said Flavius, hesitantly. "What is it?" asked Prince immediately.

"Halistine charge," he replied, and a shudder rang through my heart. I read about everything related to swallowing, and that topic was mentioned quite heavily.

"It is suicide," Rylan declined immediately.

"Even after 20%, our core is still fundamentally more powerful. If we were to clash directly against it, there is a good chance that we will come out winning."

"Besides, it's not like we have a choice; the way he is tearing the pieces of the core, it won't take long for him to take the whole core," the Prince replied.

Rylan opened its mouth to refute, but closed it a moment later.

"Do it, Aardwyn," he ordered, turning me.

Anger burned in my heart. I agree with it wholeheartedly, but it would have made me glad if he had asked me, instead of ordering me.

"Yes, your excellency," I replied, eating my anger and turning to my core, where Silver had reached again.

Though this time, before he could move his filthy tentacles toward my core. I moved my core toward him; I could feel his shock, but a moment later, he reacted.

The bastard is clever; he understood what was happening and tried to stop it.

'Don't do this, Aardwyn,' he called out. 'You have left me with no choice, Silver,' I replied. There is no choice; it is the only thing that could save my legacy.

I could feel my legacy shaking; there are people inside who are now looking around in question.

They will get the answer soon enough, and it will be positive.

I will merge my core with Silver's and get control of it. For the first time, since I got the legacy, it is mine fully, and I will never lose it.

There is one thing about the Halistine charge that the Prince forgot to mention. Once merged, I could gain control of any legacy building.

Means, the control could shift to the building of the Velvet Garden.

I don't mind it as long as I am the master, the legacy will be mine. They will have no choice but to let me go there. There will be a deal, but it will happen.

Silver might resist, but who is going to negotiate with him? He won't be there for long.

The undead is going to defeat him; there is no question about it. I don't mind serving under the undead as long as I am the master of legacy.

Hun!

Finally, my core reached his, and I was about to clash with it, when something invisible enveloped my core.

"What happened? Where did the core go?" asked the Prince, sensing it. "Father, my connection with the legacy disappeared." Added Rylan with a face filled with panic.

"Artifact!"

Suddenly, Prince shouted. I felt it too, the presence of the artifact; it's very faint, but it's there.

…

Caena Aris

I controlled the horror as I saw the core coming toward me. It is something we have not thought they would do, but we have prepared the plan for it.

Though it will be extremely dangerous and puts a colossal strain on Remus.

It won't be easy for the others as well.

"You have to keep it contained, not a speck of it should leak outside," I said to the five, because if it did, it would merge with the core and pollute it.

That is the last thing we want to happen.

"Bell," I said as I turned to her. She simply nodded; she would face the least pressure, as she would be guiding Remus, but she had one decision to make, which would help them a great deal.

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I did not ask her about it, nor did Remus, but it would help us tremendously if she did.

I turned to Remus, and he nodded.

I turned to Tranquill Bathhouse's core. I looked at it as it came.

'Full power!' I said to myself and activated the spell at full power, not only this one, but also the one in the bathhouse. That will be an immense strain very soon.

It's a good thing I didn't spare on expenses. I used everything that could make the spell the strongest.

Core essence, soul liquid, that we got from liches and many other precious things. I thought I was making too much preparation, but I am glad I did.

Let's hope they are enough to survive this.

…

Greltheaven

'There is no way the holder planet will be able to contain it,' I thought, and laughed, seeing the core of Tranquill Bathhouse coming toward us, like an asteroid, wanting to destroy everything.

The next moment, I controlled my expressions and followed as Bell connected her aura strings with the people of the first circle.

Caena had prepared for everything, and this is part of her preparations. More refined than what we did during the harvest of Mok's core.

Her strings connected to the first circle of people—twenty-one of them.

It includes the highest echelon of the legacy. The people who understand my vision the best are the ones I need to anchor. So, I can extract the core faster.

The core team consists of Cath, Andrea, Senar, Gloria, Della, and the staff, including Drev.

That's not enough; last time, I needed to anchor to forty-eight people.

There is not just one circle for the spell, but three of them.

So, her strings moved to the second circle of the people. It contains eighty-four people.

It has madams, trainees, girls, staff, and some patrons who came to the Velvet Garden, even before it became a legacy.

Seven of them are having sex right now, thirteen of them in the bathhouse, and five in a spa, six exploring the stores, eleven in the velvet blue, five in velvet red, and the casino, each.

They are in every part of the legacy, having their desires filled. It is what we want; it is what will power the spell.

We need to align with the vision of the legacy. It is what will help us extract the essence faster.

Her strings connected to the eighth of the second circle almost instantly.

There is a third circle, and I hope we won't need it, as it is far beyond my limit. She just created it, but we both know it's nearly impossible.

As she connected to them, I followed suit.

I am the master; what she did was just to make the dotted path. Like in children's drawing, I need to form the anchor with my own aura.

I acted fast, and my aura transformed into twenty-one strings, connecting with the first circle and activating it as a whole.

I didn't even feel much strain.

My control over the aura had taken a big leap. I could now do twenty layers.

It is the twenty-first that is making me struggle.

My goal is to form twenty-four layers; only after that will I be able to learn the basic aura methods.

As I finished with anchoring the first circle with anchor strings, the speed of the harvest increased sixfold immediately.

Surprising all those watching.

I could see the core essence aligning with my vision, moving to the core, and that does not move to the harvester planet.

Last time, we were unprepared with the anchors, but this time we are. All of these people have witchcraft spells attached to them.

It is why, despite having fewer than half the people anchored compared to last time, the power is three times greater.

I only spend a fraction of a second looking at them before creating more strings of aura connecting one person after another.

Soon, I reached twenty people when I slowed down a little. The strain is increasing; it is not just the strain of the aura, but also the strain from the piece in the prison planet.

A few seconds passed, and I had reached thirty people in the second circle, when the core of Tranquill Bathhouse reached my core.

The moment it did, the prison planet enveloped the core of Tranquill Bathhouse.

As it did, I felt the pressure on me increasing tremendously immediately. Earlier, I felt like there was a hill on my shoulder, but now I feel like it is a mountain.

I thought it would crush me when I felt the power of the artifact covering the planet and significantly reducing the pressure.

There is only one person who has an artifact.

Bell.

We didn't ask her for this, despite knowing the artifacts she has are powerful. More powerful than the Zmecleave Saber, but it could also reveal her identity if she is not careful.

"Act fast, I won't be able to hold it for long," she said.

The core is no simple thing, but she is a single person. The load of the core, which is hell-bend on punishing me, is immense.

Seeing that I focused on anchor strings.

I already finished with the thirty-two, and I have to do more than ninety before the second circle can be activated, and I have to do it quickly.

I need to lessen the burden on her because if she fails, I will fail.

It's not just her; it's also Carla and the four. They are under immense pressure as they prevent any essence from leaking out.

I focused on creating anchors, as the second circle would only activate when I completed one hundred and twenty-four anchors.

It will be a tremendous challenge, despite practicing hundreds of times. I was only able to create one hundred and eighteen anchors.

That is counting both circles. That means I have to create one hundred and five anchors, which I have never been able to do, even within an hour.

Here, I have barely a few minutes, even less.

I didn't waste even a moment and created after the anchor, reaching number fifty within seconds.

Still, even knowing it comes slowly, I pushed myself harder. But this is delicate work—not the harnessing of power within me, but the careful weaving of anchor-strings from my aura.

It requires precise control. To make matters worse, every string I create would increase pressure on me.

Soon, I created sixty and then seventy, when things became really difficult. It is at this stage that things would become harder for me.

For weeks, I had tried, but I wasn't able to make further progress.

I could have made progress, but I would have needed months of practice, not a week. That is why I finished with it as quickly as possible, since all the preparations were already in place.

Seconds passed, and I kept trying, but every string I tried to make would dissolve.

I tried again and again, but the same thing would happen every time. If it continued, Bell wouldn't be able to maintain the pressure from me and Carla, and others wouldn't be able to contain the core's energies for long.

Not to mention Caena, who is under as much pressure as I am, even as she controls this massive spell.

I could already see the difficult time they are having. Seeing that I am trying hard, but nothing seems to be working, and it is making me panic.

I know very well that I barely have a minute, or it will all collapse like a house of cards, and with it, my future.

'Calm down. Focus on the task and nothing else."

The soothing voice of Bell rang in my spiralling mind. It is like a hand to the drowning man.

I know, I am spiralling. In this state, forget creating new anchors, I wouldn't be able to maintain the ones I have. I could already see that many are near the breaking point. They would snap soon if my control continued wavering.

Realizing this, I felt my emotions threatening to spiral out of control even further.

This time, I didn't let myself. I tried to forget everything —the core, the trouble others are in— and focused only on the strings as I took a slow, deep breath.

When I finished, I felt much calmer.

With that state, I begin to form the string, and it collapses like before, a moment later. However, I didn't let myself panic and took a moment to understand how it happened before trying again.

It collapsed a second time as well, but I again and again, keeping my mind calm, while taking the moment to understand the failure.

It was my seventh try, and the anchor string finally formed.

Seeing that, a small smile finally appeared on my face.

I understood something about the aura that I didn't before, and now I'm confident that I will be able to form the twenty-first layer, and even the twenty-second might not be a problem.

I formed another string and then another, before failing, but I didn't let it affect me and tried again.

I succeeded and continued until finally, I made the eighty-fourth anchor string of the second circle.

The moment of finishing, the spell activated like a roar, lighting up the spell we are sitting in, but I am not looking at it. I am looking at the holder planet.

Before the first circle was activated, there were only streams of essence going to my core and the extractor planet from the prison planet.

After the first circle, it increased the flow of essence to the core and holder planet manifold.

Now, after the second circle is activated, it has turned the flow into a bloody surge. A massive amount of essence is being drawn to my core and harvestor planet, supported by two anchor spells.

It immediately eased the pressure on us.

"For a moment, I felt like I would die under that pressure," sighed Lola as she wiped the blood that leaked out of her nose.

Hearing them, I felt relieved.

Under this surge, we will swallow the whole core, and nothing will be able to stop us.

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