-=[Violet Lillian - Head of the Thieves and Concubines Guild]=-

Violet was feeling irate and concerned as she stepped out of her carriage down onto the marble platform of the enormous landing area in front of the old Manning estate. One of the smaller Guild Heads was attacked openly today. A restaurant in the middle of the market was destroyed during the night. She worried that a new war was about to break out between the Guilds and wanted no part in it whatsoever.

There were more than a dozen large flying servitors that had docked at the mountain at exactly 5000 heartbeats after the dinner gong. Many Esteemed Guilders were invited to the estate by the Magistrate’s letter. Violet’s two bodyguards followed her out of the carriage, looking around.

The Head of the Thieves guild wondered if Ash Sparks was a long term project of the Magistrate. Such an idea felt a bit off though. Traetorius was an extraordinarily cautious Magistrate and didn’t make sudden moves nor did he try to take control of the Guilds or stand in the way of the cult.

She felt the air itself vibrating around the mountain with dangerously thick currents of Qi. The ground was practically flaring with power in Lady Lillian’s eyes. Did the Magistrate activate the defence wards? A good idea, since there was a lot of money already placed on the head of the girl in the Hunter’s guild and other far less official underworld organizations.

Violet looked around, expecting the Magistrate to greet her. Instead, she found herself looking up at Ash Sparks who stood at the central battlement above the main gate. The urchin girl was looking smug and wearing… celesteel armour?! Violet did hear of crazy rumours that Sparks was engaged to Arianna Manning, but she didn’t believe them.

Violet tried to determine with her Qi-sight if Sparks and Arianna were indeed officially engaged and found herself unable to do so. Her eyes were met with an incredibly thick, practically blinding ward shield. Lady Lillian pulled Qi from her eyes and blinked to clear light-echoes from her vision.

The defence ward was otherwise completely invisible in the evening light. Surely the Magistrate didn’t activate the full power of the Deathstorm Convergence ward? Such a thing would be insane, absolutely foolish to do right before the Deathstorm’s arrival!

Likewise, the other Guild reps stopped in front of the shield, blinking in confusion. Ash Sparks made a sign and twenty archers pulled back their large bows. What?

Lady Lillian started to sweat. Something was horribly wrong here. Surely, the archers would not answer to Sparks - even if she was indeed married to the Magistrate’s granddaughter, this was his personal castle guard! How could Sparks command them?!

“What’s going on here, Lady Sparks?” Jovius Macaria broke the silence first. “We were invited here by the Magistrate to discuss the…”

“There will be no discussions. I’ve listened to you before, Guilders...” Lady Sparks spoke from the battlements, her voice as cold as ice. It vibrated in the air, carried far across the wide platform by her Qi. “...and found our discussion quite unproductive.”

“W-what?” Jovius blinked.

“While I approve of having a free market, this is a time of war. There are five days left before the Deathstorm comes to ravage this city. The time for discussion is over. You have one choice tonight, ladies and gentlemen. Either you bow down to me and offer me your Dantians, or I end the Guilds.”

“What?!” Lady Lillian barked amongst the other guilders present.

“Who are you to tell us to bow, girl?!” Jovius out-shouted the rabble of the other irate Guilders with his Qi-infused voice.

“I am the Vox Populi! I am the city’s Saint! I am Baroness Ash Sparks-Manning, fiancee of Arianna Manning!” Lady Sparks loudly declared with a smirk.

“B-baroness?!” Violet blinked.

“Baroness?! By whose authority?!” Jovius attempted to laugh. It came out weak and unsure, since he was clearly spooked by the archers. “Surely the old coot didn’t…”

"By the authority of being marked by an Archangel of Lord Boundless Chorus!" Ash replied smugly. "Perhaps you need to refresh your memory, Guilder?"

The Head of the Merchants nervously looked up at the castle. “Where’s Magistrate Traetorius?”

“He’s currently indisposed.” Ash shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m in charge of the Magisterium Citadel.”

Violet gasped. Her brain simply refused to process the situation. How could a sixteen-year-old ex-thief become in charge of the Winter Palace? Did she take the palace from the Magistrate using mere marketplace crowds?! The castle didn't look damaged.

“I’m going to give you exactly one hundred heartbeats to go down on one knee and declare your allegiance to the new Magisterium. Refuse... and I will mark you my enemy and show you my power.”

“Surely, she is kidding. This is a joke. This has to be a joke.” Lillian thought. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Head of the Chefs Guild and his men go down on one knee.

“The Chefs Guild declares its allegiance to Baroness Sparks-Manning!” Sylver spoke with a bow.

Lillian glared at the chefs.

Magnolia Milliard and his men went second, declaring allegiance to the false Baroness.

“What are you doing, Magnolia?” Jovius demanded. “Surely you don’t think that…”

“My parents died in the Deathstorm Convergence,” Magnolia answered. “Lady… I mean Baroness Sparks seems like our best chance to unite and fight off the Stormweavers once and for all. I’m tired of rebuilding the entire city every thirteen years.”

The Adventurers Guild secretary went down on her knee next, declaring her allegiance. She didn’t have any men with her.

The Head of the Crafters Guild bowed after. A few of the smaller, more impressionable Guilds followed.

Lady Lillian saw that the tide was turning. She didn’t want to be left out in the dirt, wanted very much to know what in the hells was going on. She lowered herself down on one knee. “The Thieves and Concubines Guild declares its allegiance to Baroness Sparks-Manning!

“She’s lying,” a female voice sounded from the battlement. Violet looked up and spotted Arianna Manning. She didn’t recognize the girl under the heavy celesteel armour. One of the girl’s arms was secured tightly in a cast, seemingly damaged recently.

Damned noble truth sense! Violet angrily glared at Arianna.

“Lying will do you no good here, Lady Lillian!” Sparks addressed.

The rest of the Guild heads didn’t seem convinced. They looked at each other, not sure what to do.

“Baroness or whatever,” Jovius said, taking on the role of the leader of the opposition. “We won’t bow to you. What’s this business... with offering Dantians? Do you expect us to marry you or something?” The Merchant laughed. Not many found his joke amusing.

“Those of you who are loyal to the Magisterium, please proceed into the gate.” Sparks ignored Jovius completely. “Bring your whale-pilots too, or dismiss them if they do not fully answer to you.”

Nine Guilders went into the gate that opened itself in front of them and closed behind them. A single whale phantom took off, heading for the city. Lady Lillian paled as she noticed a shimmering emerald ring on the hand of Ash Sparks. The girl really was in charge of the castle. This was no charade, no trick. Violet didn’t know what to do, didn’t understand the situation fully.

“We wish to discuss things on equal terms, girl!” Jovius barked. “The Guilds…”

“Are pathetic, obsolete institutions that hoard power and knowledge for themselves!" The silver-blue haired girl spat. "As the Gold city’s new Baroness, I declare all Guilds that do not answer to me… hereby outlawed!”

“What?!” Jovius and others screeched.

“You are hereby charged with treason against the Magisterium,” Ash Sparks spoke dispassionately. “I will not have disorder and discord in my city. Let me show you my power, Guilders.”

Ash and her archers ducked, vanishing behind the towering walls.

A single tiny spirit flying squirrel took off from the battlemelt, heading for the guilders. It carried a small chest in its maw.

“Defence-Ward! Absolute-shield-dome!” Two girls sang in unison and an enormous shimmering dome formed above the landing area, covering the Guilders and the tiny spirit like a gargantuan, semi-transparent bowl.

Lillian didn’t have time to react, didn’t have time to say anything. Her two bodyguards had reacted faster than her, covering her with their bodies. They called upon their servitors, attempting to turn into their beastly forms. They were too slow.

The box in the squirrel spirit's mouth flashed with blinding brilliance. The spirit didn’t even reach them. It exploded above the guilders, unleashing hellfire upon them. Violet was slammed into the ground by the force of the explosion. She projected her Dantian in a protection pattern around her body, trying to keep herself alive as the world burned.

Her Qi was draining fast. The explosion contained within the dome bubble was a perfect trap, a furnace of destruction. The firestorm of power had no exit. It multiplied, cascaded, slammed the Guilder into the ground with a force of a thousand gales again and again until she passed out from the pain.

Lillian opened a single eye, coughing. The ground was black, the stone around her melted, partially turned into lava. Her bodyguards were slumped beside her, unconscious, but still alive.

Celesteel boots clanked on the melted rocks. A large group of fully armoured men moved out from the castle gate, spreading out and targeting each of the fallen Guilders.

Lillian tried to turn into her beastly form, desperately pulled power from the beast core bracelet on her arm. A celesteel sword flashed and she screamed as her arm became disconnected from her. Her eyes stung, her heart quivered. Never in two hundred years of life was she defeated with such brutal precision.

Next, the armoured swordsman sliced off the servitor bracelets from her passed-out bodyguards.

“Defence-Ward! Hold-person!” Two voices resounded.

Lillian whimpered, her eyes filled with tears watching the mad scene unfolding itself in front of her. A celesteel arrow flew through the air, smashing a beast core on the chest of the growling Head of the Merchants who was attempting to turn into a giant bear.

Another celesteel sword flashed, cutting off the foot of Lanark Silverleafium who was in the process of turning into a bird made of fire.

A forest of servitor arms reached out from the ground, binding the utterly defenceless Head of the Thieves Guild.

One by one, the Guilders fell to the coordinated attack of the armoured garrison legionnaires. Yes, that’s what they were. Lillian realised with deep, gnawing horror. A royal legion from six hundred years ago, from the time of the Warring Clans.

Alchemist Kane held out the longest. The explosion didn’t seem to affect him at all. He moved out of the way of the celesteel swords with incredible precision, somehow avoided the forest of arms, ducked away from arrows as if he was made from wind itself. Sweat was breaking out on his forehead as he danced. More armoured legionaries converged upon him.

He shattered a bottle on the ground and the men and arms trying to get at him froze, becoming suspended in time. He stood panting and glared at Ash Sparks who stood above them, watching the fight.

“Give it up, old man!” Baroness Sparks yelled. “I have thirty two more beast cores on hand. That was the smallest one from my collection! If I cannot vaporise you I will turn your entire guild into ashes, tonight. You will have nothing before this day ends. No warehouses, no businesses to speak of! I will not bow like the old Magistrate, will not stop until I save MY city from the Stormweavers!”

Alchemist Kane saw reason in her words. “You win, Baroness. You have shown me the celesteel sword in your hand. I will bow to you. You are tougher than any of the Magistrates I’ve faced over six hundred years. I’ve not seen such passion since the reign of Baron Magnezia six hundred and forty nine years ago when I was but a young apprentice. The Alchemists Guild declares its allegiance to Baroness Sparks-Manning.” The Head Alchemist declared with a wink.

“He speaks the truth,” Arianna noted.

“Well, don’t just stand there, Alchemist Kane. Come into my Citadel as a guest, we have matters to discuss.” Baroness Sparks smirked.

“As for the rest of you, pond-scum!” The Baroness boomed. “Answer me - how do you plead? Will you surrender to the Magisterium or perish tonight? Shall I have my men decapitate you for your treason?”

“I surrender! I surrender!” Violet Lillian wept, shaking her head. This time her words were filled with terror, pain and absolute, irrevocable truth. “The Thieves Guild declares its allegiance to Baroness Sparks-Manning!”