1693, 1694, 1695…

The slow beat of Jelick Youmon’s heart continued to follow along with the constant march of time. The steady relationship between time and biological function was his lifeline. Sometimes, the Nether could use its strange influence your perception of time. However, Jelick’s body would always be completely honest.

At exactly 1750 beats, Jelick opened his eyes. His shift was almost over. After checking the display and recording the readouts, Jelick gathered himself and exited the observation tower. The other guard waited below.

When their eyes met, the other guard spoke in a rumbling voice. His eyes were as serious as a priest during a service. “Anything to report?”

The moment of tension stretched as Jelick slowly opened his mouth. Despite himself, his heartbeat quickened. This was the moment, that their ritual could finally have summoned a monstrous disaster that would destroy the careful peace of the Fifth Cohort. Dancing across that razor’s edge was horrifying and thrilling.

“Nothing,” Jelick finally said. Both smiled as they exchanged positions. Jelick hoped the days would always be like this.

******

“Is this… wise?” Raymund Ballast asked of DiOrtho. Although the Vulpine knew that the ram-demon was getting extremely annoyed by his constant inquiries, he couldn’t restrain himself. His instincts warned caution, and this course of action was anything but prudent.

By asking around, they had managed to identify the location of the royal compound. But Raymund didn’t think for a second that their massive, cloaked forms wouldn’t attract attention. They were both quite a bit larger than the average citizen of this Shelly Kingdom.

As he expected, DiOrtho glared over at him as he continued to crack his knuckles. The ram demon clearly needed healthier methods to deal with his anxiety. “We know that the kidnapping is just the first of five tasks that demi-god Alta set for it. We only have twenty-four hours to complete all five. Do you really want to drag our feet when this first task seems so simple…? I don’t believe for a second that bitch Overseer Helen will make this easy for us…”

Raymund winced. “You should not curse the Overseer. She is undoubtedly observing our movements-”

A noise halted Raymund mid-sentence. Both of the recruits glanced warily around at the wide street before the wall. Currently, they were simply pressed up against the wall three-fourths of the way down the compound’s West-facing wall. There were towers both at the corners of the square compound and halfway down each section of wall, which meant there was no ideal location for entry.

As dawn’s light slowly filtered down onto Jewel and its citizens started waking up, the two of them glanced up at the ten-meter tall wall behind them. Raymund was very aware of how exposed they were; the cloaks they wore covered up their features, but he could vaguely sense some capable individuals within the royal compound.

When it was clear that the noise was a false alarm, DiOrtho shifted his hips and farted loudly. Then he waved his hand, wafting away the expelled gas into the air above them. “Let her observe. She said she wouldn’t interfere the entire day, and if nothing else, the bitch is definitely someone who would keep her word.”

Raymund’s eyes turned heavy as he gave DiOrtho a long look. “...please consider being more respectful with your language. Even if you do not like the Overseer, don’t for a second pretend the current you would be able to eviscerate your past self, due to her efforts. Show some respect.”

“You…” DiOrtho’s eyes widened and then narrowed. For the first time since they had arrived in the city, he stopped cracking his knuckles. Fury radiated off him like steam from a boiling kettle. “Heh, finally growing a backbone? Let me just say that both my past and current self could kill you without even-”

“Oy!”

Both of the recruits looked upward in surprise. A grey-skinned humanoid leaned over the wall, glaring down at both of them. He adjusted his golden helmet as he bent over to stare down at them. “If you both of you are just here to work out your issues, fuck off. This is the property of the Royal Family. If you refuse to leave, I’ll call the city guard, who can rightfully detain you for up to 48 hours- oof!”

Raymund released a sigh and quickly scaled the wall. Halfway through the guard’s threat, the thick layer of anger DiOrtho directed at Raymund sharpened to killing intent and cut upward. The ram demon flipped up onto the ten-meter tall wall as though it was the first step in a staircase and slammed his fist into the guard’s gut. After a spittle-spraying grunt, the man twitched and collapsed. Raymund got on top of the wall just as DiOrtho brought his leg around in a brutal kick that caught the stunned second guard who in the jaw.

With a sickening crack, his neck twisted sharply and the humanoid collapsed.

“Vant!” Raymund hissed and rushed to the second guard. He placed his hand on the man’s neck; luckily, the man was still breathing. It looked like the crack was his jaw breaking. He looked up and barred his teeth at DiOrtho. “Your hubris will doom us! Such a blow could kill this humanoid. Then all our efforts-”

DiOrtho grunted and looked around at the two towers at either end of the stretch of wall. “But I didn’t kill him, did I? I’m not a fucking idiot. Anyway, we can’t leave them here. Grab the bodies and let’s go.”

“Grab the-” Raymund blinked, but DiOrtho had already hopped down off of the wall into the interior of the compound. Raymund rapidly glanced around; his ears strained to catch any movement nearby.

Luckily, there was none.

Perhaps because they hadn’t used any of their images during the brief conflict, their stealth was still intact. Still, it was with sweaty palms that Raymund gently lifted the guard whose head he heard crack while more casually seizing the belt of the other guard, who was beginning to mildly drool from the sudden blow that knocked him unconscious.

They dropped down off of the high wall and landed behind some flowering bushes. This whole wing of the royal compound was decorated with tasteful vegetation and lofty gazebos. Despite the season, the dark blue blooms on the nearby bush still managed to hang on to their branches. Tossing the one guard under some foliage, Raymund carefully laid the other onto the ground.

Yet it earned him an over-the-shoulder glare from DiOrtho. “What the hell are you doing? The longer we have to get in and out the better. Just carry them with us if we have to keep them alive. If we just leave them under a bush, what if they wake up and start making trouble?”

“You dare imply that I should-” Raymund began, thoroughly tired of DiOrtho’s disrespect, but of course DiOrtho was already loping quietly across the gardens. Cursing quietly to himself, Raymund hefted the two guards over his shoulders and hurried to follow. They couldn’t unleash their full speed with leaving very obvious tears in the ground when they planted their feet, but just a light jog to the two recruits made them as fleeting and hard to catch as the wind.

They wound their way past the stable and the kitchens, attracting the attention of only a few chickens which squawked in displeasure at the rush of air the two left in their wake. Their completely nonexistent understanding of the layout of the compound should have made the process difficult, but architecture helped them quite a bit. They quickly identified the three sprawling manors at the back of the compound as the houses for the king, queen, and crown princess.

Each had a golden statue in the owner’s likeness, giving even the cautious Raymund confidence in their conclusions.

Of the three, the princess’ home was the smallest, which meant that it was the size of Raymund’s entire home village as compared to being as large as the entire fertile river valley where he was raised. Plus, it was the only home of the three which pressed directly up against the edge of the lake, which formed one border of the compound.

Which was for the best, because when they made to cut between the king and queen’s manor in order to reach their target more quickly, DiOrtho pulled sharply up and raised his hand. “Wait. Hey idiot, you…”

“Yea, my touch will be lighter by far than yours,” Raymund answered shortly. He immediately understood what DiOrtho was saying; the ram demon sensed something up ahead but didn’t have much natural Perception without the aid of Skills. So Raymund paused in the lieu of a massive fountain and closed his eyes.

The sensation of this planet possesses a bit of extra… Raymund’s tongue flicked out. Spiciness was the word that came to mind, but it didn’t cover the whole of it. There was simply a broader range of energies in the air. The images and emotions were especially rich… but the Nether that was present behaved differently than normal Nether, too.

Somehow, the Nether here genuinely seemed to belong to this world.

But Raymund put those thoughts to the side and carefully listened to the air. His ears flicked forward. The effect was small, but individuals at a certain power tended to subconsciously buzz. The amount of energy contained within their body was never truly inert. It was simply waiting to be used. If he listened and slowly turned...

After a few seconds, Raymund released a quiet growl. “You’re right. Two powerful individuals near the king’s house… and someone weaker around the queen’s.”

“So we go the long way. Why the hell are we unable to use images or Skills again…?” DiOrtho grimaced. Then he turned and beckoned to Raymund. “Well, fuck it. Make sure you bring the trash.”

They had to take a wider circle back around through the servant’s quarters and now the sun had risen enough that most people were waking up. Still, Raymund and DiOrtho could easily rush up the side of the servant apartments and pad quietly across the roof toward their destination. They paused at the edge of the lawn around the princess’s house and Raymund closed his eyes once more. Then he snorted and pointed toward the veranda, where the powerful guardian of the princess was located.

An elderly woman was sitting there, bold as brass, drinking a cup of tea and looking out at the water. She was perhaps twenty meters from the small outbuilding where Raymund and DiOrtho were crouching. Although they could only see her in profile, the relaxed smile on her face was obvious. She was completely unprepared for an attack.

Raymund lowered the two guards he had been carrying, one under each arm, to the ground. “As long as we take her by surprise-”

Again, DiOrtho moved before he finished speaking. Like a bolt of greased lightning, he streaked across the yard and hopped lightly over the railing of the veranda. At the last moment, the old woman seemed to understand something was happening and twisted to look at the charging form of DiOrtho. She flicked her cup of tea to the side and raised her hands just as the ram demon slammed his fist into her diaphragm. As her eyes bulged, he spun sideways and smashed his elbow into the woman’s temple.

Raymund’s eyelids twitched as he watched the old woman drop like a bag of potatoes. He hefted the two unconscious guards once more and rushed forward. His ears strained the entire time, so he could give a report when he arrived next to DiOrtho. “...there has been no alarm raised. As we likely have a few spare moments to gather ourselves, then we should-”

There was a crash above them, drawing both their gazes upward. A split second later, a large and shadowy figure burst out onto the lawn and started sprinting toward the lake. DiOrtho and Raymund exchanged a glance.

“Do we…?” Raymund began, but DiOrtho shook his head.

“Looks like someone noticed us. Hopefully, that wasn’t the princess fleeing. Fuck, we don’t even know what she looks like, do we? I guess we saw the statue... Let’s just brute force it then,” The ram demon growled. Then he exploded upward, ripping a hole into the mansion. After a brief hesitation, Raymund draped the two guards across the old woman’s body and followed his partner.

With their limits on their speed removed, they quickly ripped through the long hallways and found the princess’ quarters. The golden doors and sparkling chandeliers were a dead giveaway. But when they looked around the room...

“What the hell…?” DiOrtho blinked.

Raymund’s breath hissed out through his nose as he streaked across the already destroyed room and to the wide balcony. The vaulted windowed doors to the outside patio had been shattered, scattering broken glass across the spacious overlook. Raymund stopped at the edge of the balcony and stared intently after the disappearing figures. Behind him, the bed had been ripped to shreds and several end tables had been overturned. There was a few drops of blood on the ground, leading from the bed to the broken doors. In front of him...

“Another party is currently kidnapping the princess,” Raymund said slowly as he looked at the fleeing figure. One individual was carrying another.

Just as DiOrtho made to respond, a bell began to ring in the central portion of the royal compound. A booming voice echoed across the surrounding area. “Intruders!!!!”