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That was always a concern, of course, and many precautions had been taken in the event of such a development. But only so much could be done, of course.

Ultimately, it was not the Vanguard's place to take preemptive action against non-servant forces. Nor would it be, for as long as Sermung remained alive--and hopefully longer, if he'd raised his successors correctly. He'd certainly lectured them enough, at least. It was anyone's guess as to whether or not they would listen to him.

Or who it would be.

That particular subject had long been a point of speculation, even to himself and Tenebrach. There had been many times when a clear successor had appeared, only for everything to change. A tragic death. Or a sudden competitor, rendering it not so clear at all, anymore. Or even a retirement.

The latter was quite rare, though. There'd only been one.

Oh. Sermung sensed activity. Some lagging Abolish forces along the trail of misery.

He focused. Harnessed multiple thought processes for faster decision making. Made use of Tenebrach's help, too. Flying at this speed, he needed all the sensory assistance that he could get, lest the whole world would zoom by before he could even finish evaluating anything.

It was a small town. A platoon of vile dots were stalking through the halls of a large building. A hospital?

Who were the aggressors? Their auras were thick with malice. Blatant and sloppy. Ruthless and delighted. Anyone he recognized?

No, but what was that? A line. A link. Stretching far and beyond the horizon. All the way into Intar?

A psychic connection? Or something akin to that, at least.

A minion marked by his boss, most likely. Meaning that if something happened to him, the boss would know about it immediately.

Was it worth giving up the element of surprise in order to stop these random bastards from doing whatever it was they were doing?

Of course it was.

He changed course and pressed his senses for greater detail still. Terrified auras. Crying and screaming. Corpses and blood. Fear and merriment.

He had to slow his descent only so that he didn't flatten the whole building. But then he was quick. Working simultaneously on every threatening source at once. There were precisely seventeen on ten different floors. Neutralizing them with crystal coffins was simple enough, but he wanted one to interrogate. Information was king, right now.