Extra's Revenge: Reincarnated As A Slave-Chapter 75: Fall Of The Desgarron Family (Part 3)

The safehouse was only a hundred meters away.

Dreyfus could see it through the darkness—a modest structure that belied the reinforced tunnel system beneath it.

Once they reached it, they would descend into passages that led beyond the manor’s walls, emerging in a secure location where physicians awaited.

’Just a little further,’ he thought, his breath coming in ragged gasps. The infection was spreading faster now, making each step feel like wading through thick mud. Beside him, Beatrice clutched Augustus’s arm, her face pale but determined.

Logan led the way, his movements swift and sure despite his own apparent symptoms.

The mustached man had proven invaluable, guiding them through corridors the invaders hadn’t yet reached, avoiding confrontations that would have slowed their escape.

Behind them, the fourteen remaining staff members maintained a protective formation. Mariam, the elderly head maid, moved with surprising agility for her age. Fernand, the head butler, kept his hand on an Artifact at his belt. Kilian, the master of grounds, scanned their surroundings with sharp eyes.

"Almost there, my Lord," Logan called back, gesturing toward the safehouse entrance. "Just beyond this courtyard and—"

He stopped.

Dreyfus felt it too—a shift in the air, a wrongness that made his weakened senses flare in warning.

Shadows peeled away from the darkness.

They emerged from behind statues, from within alcoves, from the very walls themselves.

Silhouette forms materialized on all sides, cutting off their path forward and their retreat backward. The courtyard became a trap, surrounded by enemies who had been waiting in perfect ambush.

"No..." Beatrice whispered, her grip tightening on Augustus.

Dreyfus counted quickly. Twenty attackers, maybe more still concealed. His mind raced despite the fog of infection clouding his thoughts. How had they known this route? The safehouse location was among the family’s most guarded secrets, known only to—

His eyes darted to Logan, but the man’s face showed only shock and fear, the same expression worn by the other staff members.

No betrayal there, just genuine alarm at their predicament.

’They must have better intelligence than I thought,’ Dreyfus concluded. ’Or perhaps they simply covered every possible escape route.’

The silhouettes began to solidify as several attackers dropped their concealment. A woman’s mature voice cut through the night.

"Lord Dreyfus Desgarron. Lady Beatrice. Young Master Augustus." Serena stepped forward, her features now visible. "Your reign of corruption ends tonight."

"Corruption?" Dreyfus laughed bitterly, despite the weakness in his limbs. "You dare speak of corruption while poisoning an entire manor? While attacking under cover of darkness like common assassins?"

’Are these really Aethers? Their presence is different...’ He told himself.

As the Head of a Noble House, he had surely encountered Aethers before. Although the self righteous posturing of this lot resembled what he remembered, he still had to admit that there were dissimilarities.

These people felt like actors.

Not the genuine thing.

"We are not assassins." Julius emerged from another direction, his voice dripping with contempt. "We are justice incarnate. The Sunlit Order brings light to expose your darkness."

"Sunlit Order?" Beatrice’s eyes widened. "This aura... Cursed Ones? You’re not Aethers?"

The revelation struck Dreyfus like a physical blow. Cursed Ones. That explained the silhouettes, the subterfuge, but not the Order Art infection.

Unless...

"An Aether backs you," he stated, his tactical mind still functioning despite his condition. "Giving you resources beyond your station. The disruption from the Order Art... you’re puppets."

"We are no one’s puppets!" Serena’s voice flared with anger. "We fight for our freedom, for justice against those who’ve oppressed us!"

"Then you fight for lies fed to you by someone manipulating your anger." Dreyfus straightened despite the pain. "But I don’t expect you to understand that now. So come. Let us settle this."

The staff members immediately moved into defensive positions around the Desgarron family. Mariam withdrew a silver pendant from her collar—an Artifact that began to glow with protective light. Fernand produced a crystalline blade that hummed with suppressed power.

Kilian’s hands lit up with runic symbols as he activated combat gauntlets.

Logan positioned himself directly in front of Augustus, his own Artifact—a shield medallion—expanding into a translucent barrier.

"For the Desgarron Household!" Fernand shouted, and the staff roared their agreement.

The Sunlit Order attacked.

Serena led the charge, her own Artifact—a whip that crackled with energy—lashing toward Dreyfus. He barely managed to activate his defensive ring, creating a barrier that deflected the strike.

The impact sent him staggering backward.

’Too weak,’ he realized with growing dread. ’The infection has progressed too far.’

But his staff had no such limitations in their Artifact usage. While they couldn’t safely channel their own Chaos Art through their infected bodies, Artifacts operated on stored power, making them ideal weapons in this circumstance.

Even if they used other Arts, the use of Ether would only make them more vulnerable.

Relying on external power was the best approach.

Mariam’s pendant released a pulse of light that forced several attackers to shield their eyes. In that moment of blindness, two staff members—twins named Cyrus and Cynthia—activated matching sword Artifacts and lunged forward.

Their blades, enchanted with cutting force that could slice through stone, met the hastily raised defenses of two Sunlit Order members.

The attackers tried to counter with their own Artifacts and Arts, but the twins fought with the precision of trained guards who had served the Desgarron family for decades.

Cyrus feinted high while Cynthia swept low. Their opponents, less experienced in coordinated combat, fell for the deception.

Cyrus’s blade found the gap in one attacker’s defense, piercing through the ribcage with brutal efficiency. Cynthia’s strike severed the leg of another at the knee.

Both Sunlit Order members fell.

"No!" Serena’s anguished cry split the night as her comrades collapsed.

Julius roared in fury, activating a Technique that launched projectiles of compressed energy.

The barrage forced the twins back, but Fernand stepped into the gap, his crystalline blade deflecting the attacks with practiced precision. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"You face the elite of House Desgarron," Fernand declared, his voice steady despite the chaos. "Did you truly think your rabble could prevail?"

The battle intensified.

Kilian’s runic gauntlets allowed him to manipulate the stone of the courtyard itself, raising barriers and creating obstacles that disrupted the attackers’ formation.

Three more staff members formed a protective wall around the Desgarron family, their shield Artifacts interlocking to create an impenetrable barrier.

Logan remained at Augustus’s side, his own shield active and ready.

"Stay behind me, Young Master," he urged, his eyes scanning the battlefield. "We’ll get you through this."

Augustus, despite his fear and the infection weakening his body, felt a surge of pride in his family’s retainers. These people were willing to die for House Desgarron, and they were proving their worth with every passing moment.

The Sunlit Order’s numerical advantage was being systematically dismantled by superior training and equipment.

Where the attackers had passion and desperation, the Desgarron staff had discipline and Artifacts forged over generations.

Another Order member fell to a coordinated assault by Mariam and a staff warrior named Roland. Her pendant released a binding light that froze the attacker in place long enough for Roland’s hammer Artifact to strike with devastating force.

"They’re breaking!" Beatrice gasped, hope flickering in her voice.

Dreyfus wanted to share her optimism, but something nagged at him.

This was too straightforward.

The Sunlit Order had planned this assault meticulously enough to infect the entire manor with Order Art, to disable security systems, to know their escape routes.

Would they really commit to a frontal assault they were clearly losing?

His tactical instincts screamed a warning.

"It’s a distraction," he realized aloud. "They’re—"

The ground beneath them suddenly gave way.

No—not the ground. The stone had been weakened, undermined by some mechanism he hadn’t detected. Several of the protective staff members dropped into the suddenly appearing pit, their shield Artifacts flickering as they fell.

The Desgarron family teetered on the edge of the collapse.

Logan’s hand shot out, grabbing Augustus and pulling him back from the crumbling edge. Dreyfus caught Beatrice, his weakened strength barely sufficient to keep them both from falling.

But the protective formation was broken.

Serena and Julius seized the moment, along with a dozen other Order members. They surged forward, exploiting the gap in the Desgarron defenses.

Fernand and the remaining staff fought desperately to close the breach. The butler’s crystalline blade sang through the air, forcing back three attackers at once. Kilian’s gauntlets raised a stone wall, but it crumbled under the combined assault of multiple Artifacts.

"Hold the line!" Mariam commanded, her pendant blazing with protective light.

The courtyard had become a chaotic melee. Artifacts clashed against Artifacts, their powers creating bursts of light and force that illuminated the darkness. The staff members, despite being outnumbered now, fought with the ferocity of cornered wolves.

Cyrus and Cynthia, having regrouped, launched another coordinated assault.

This time they targeted Julius, recognizing him as one of the leaders. The man barely managed to block Cyrus’s strike while dodging Cynthia’s follow-up.

"You’ll pay for what you’ve done!" Julius snarled, activating another Technique.

Energy blades extended from his knuckles, and he counterattacked with wild fury.

But fury was no match for training.

The twins moved like water, flowing around his attacks, their movements synchronized through years of practice.

Cyrus’s blade found Julius’s shoulder, cutting deep. Cynthia’s strike hit his gauntlet, shattering the Artifact with a precise blow to its power core.

Julius stumbled back, bleeding and disarmed.

"Fall back!" Serena ordered, recognizing that her force was being systematically destroyed.

But Fernand wasn’t about to let them escape so easily. "Drive them back! For the Desgarron Household!"

The tide of battle had turned decisively.

Three Sunlit Order members lay dead, several more were wounded, and their leaders were being forced to retreat.

The staff’s superior equipment and training was proving decisive.

Dreyfus, still fighting the infection’s effects, nevertheless felt triumph stirring in his chest.

They would survive this.

His people would protect them, and once they reached safety, the full might of House Desgarron would descend upon these terrorists.

The Sunlit Order’s assault was failing.

This was good to see.

Great, even!

And yet, even in this moment of ascendancy, Dreyfus couldn’t shake the feeling that something was still wrong.

Some piece of the puzzle he was missing.

His eyes swept across his loyal staff, searching for answers he couldn’t quite articulate.

But there was no time to dwell on instinct.

The battle raged on, and survival demanded his full attention.

He could only hope he was being paranoid.

For the sake of his family...

... He had to trust his subordinates.