Attia and Bellica found themselves in the pitch dark, even their cat-like eyes were unable to see in there.

They quickly tried to light a fire spell. They noticed they were in a corridor filled with blades, spikes, and strange substances on the walls, floor, and ceiling. All covered with a strange substance that began to turn into smoke with the minimum heat of the fire.

Attia switched to light attributed spells, but even that was enough to make that substance react.

She quickly put it out, fearing the smoke could build upon that small space.

Back in the dark, Bellica tried to move forward but quickly found out the blades appeared on the walls and spikes changed position now the darkness returned. The most dangerous bladed being now right above the heels, aimed to maim the tendons of unaware victims that got too close to the wall while trying to pass through the traps.

Luckily, it hit her tough armor and did no damage to her feet.

The smell of poison and toxins afflicted their sensitive noses.

Realizing they needed light to traverse that tricky corridor, Attia and Bellica began altering bursts of magic, long enough to flash some light into the place and make as little smoke as possible as they moved forward.

By the next corridor, after a sharp curve. More elaborate traps began to appear, magic rune triggered by presence or pressure. And only activated themselves once there was no light on the corridor.

Darts, moving blades, rocks, and spring traps. All designed to get their victims by surprise. But Attia and Bellica managed to defend themselves from them with barriers, and even preemptive magical attacks.

But on the next corridor, the ground changed into a yellowish stone. They felt their mana being drained as the light went out and a new trap activated.

A large log swung from the ceiling towards them. Unaware of the danger, and with their mana hindered by something, they couldn’t conjure a defensive spell or a light spell again to see what was coming.

The log hit them with strength, throwing them back making them fall on the spikes and the blades on the back.

Luckily, they were mostly protected by their armors that nullified poison and kept their damage to the minimum.

Bellica stood up, angered more than before, and just started punching and blasting the walls with spells. Without any regard to that substance generating smoke.

Noticing it was working, the walls were starting to crumble, Attia joined her.

Soon, a hole was created on the intricate corridor until the last wall fell and Attia released a light spell to show the room. It revealed an even bigger chamber. Full of stone made obstacles and pillars. Traps, pitfalls, and runed stones could be found everywhere. At its center, a large round well filled with a red liquid.

The lionesses noticed they weren’t alone there, cloaked assassins were waiting for them, hidden in the shadows.

As the light spell remained active, the smoke began to form once again, but in this new room, it acted strangely, it moved downwards from the ceiling, targeting the lionesses directly instead of spreading.

It covered their vision and her breathing, forcing her to shut the light down, which dissipated the smoke almost instantly.

And once the darkness took the room, a relentless attack began from the distance. Arrows, throwing knives, and spells were shot by the assassins in the lionesses' general direction. Not only threatening them but also triggering many traps around them.

In a short moment, Attia and Bellica were overwhelmed by their attacks and the surprise traps. Still, they knew they could not be on the defensive for much longer. Eileen needed help and she was their priority.

So, without regard for their safety, they went on to attack.

Their power was enough to shake the structures of the stone room, without restraining them they shot their most powerful spells on nearby traps and assassins that were blasted away.

The ones unlucky enough to get into their range fell to their swords in a blink of an eye.

But recklessness comes with a cost. The damage they sustained was accumulating, despite their superior armor, they did not possess a very good healing ability, not like Arthas. Without a proper defense, they were more exposed to receive it.

“Enough!” shouted the headmaster as a red light took the darkness away from the room. The right side of the room was almost destroyed, bodies of assassins were laid everywhere.

The headmaster walked close to the well, and dropped a single black stone with a red rune in it, and started to speak in Argonian.

The liquid began to boil and emerge like tentacles. They spread through the room, grabbing the bodies of the dead and alive Assassins alike, pulling them down into the water.

From the well, a human arm appeared, losing its flesh to the water until only the bone remained. And with his hand up, it moved its fingers.

The liquid began to wrap itself around it, solidifying as its new flesh.

More and more of the skeleton began to emerge out of the liquid, involved by the thick red water and creating a grotesque, humanoid being. A blood fiend with horns and a doglike face with a mouth full of teeth and a bone tail with a round ball of that liquid on the tip.

The thing was the size of a grown man, it looked bulky, its muscles looked real and completely exposed. There was no skin, eyes, or anything else but bone and muscle.

As it left the well completely and turned to the Lionesses, it roared, displaying a fierce magic aura filled with Argonian death magic, and rushed towards the two.

But the Lionesses didn’t wait and just attacked it as well.

Faster and more precise, Attia sliced off its head while Bellica cut it in half its torso.

As the parts fell to the ground, only the bones remained as the flesh returned to the liquid state. But the victory feeling lasted for a moment. Like a back sweep of the sea, the liquid pulled the bones back to the well and started to boil once again.

Now, three arms emerged, and from each arm, a skeleton, from each skeleton a new monster.

Attia quickly shot a large fireball, hoping the fire would explode and burn away the liquid. But the massive spell just died out as it touched the liquid, consumed by it completely in a moment.

Bellica did the same, but with a different attribute. If a fire was ineffective, maybe an ice spell could stop them from coming.

But just as the fire, the mana was absorbed completely. No spell or attribute they used could destroy that liquid.

The three fiends finally left the well and roared at them. From their tails tip, many bone spikes appeared. They all whipped their tails at them, releasing the ball that detached from their tails at great speed.

But strangely enough, their aim was off. They hit the rocks nearby but then exploded with even more power than before.

The smaller bones were shot in the hundreds against them.

Both quickly set up barriers, but the bones pierced through the barriers and even cut down the softer parts of their armors, reaching the skin, especially in the arms and legs that were more exposed.

Attia and Bellica quickly tried to heal. But the blood fiends would not give them a moment’s rest. One launched its tail bomb again while the other two were coming for them.

Attia was to cut one head off once again, while Bellica went for the other’s limbs.

But this time, their blade found a bone armor that had emerged from the flesh to protect them from the swords.

And that bone was nothing like a human bone they cut before, the shape and format that appeared were of something else. Its thickness and sturdiness rivaled their blade in almost equal terms, just a massive dent on the bone occurred with the hit, and nothing else.

“Good, now enjoy your deaths…” said the Headmaster preparing to leave them there.

Attia just glanced at Bellica that nodded. The blond lioness went full on the three fiends, releasing a menacing and powerful aura while Bellica went straight to the Headmaster the moment he started to open the portal to leave.

Noticing the lightning approach of the lioness, he turned off the lights once again and stopped the portal spell, realizing the lioness’s goal was to escape that place and get help.

Now, in the dark, he threw a smoke bomb in the ground to mask his scent and hid in the place, waiting for the fiends to kill the two. He couldn’t risk bringing one of those lionesses back with him. So he waited there with them, at least until one of them had fallen.

“There he goes… Those two are good as gone now. Tsc, tsc, and they were so pretty, what a waste.” Galan approached Viki that was on the ground, “Now, what do I do with you, Viki? You’re always been like this. You have to get your nose into everyone’s business. Damn, this would have been so much easier if you had waited on your cell.” He picked up a small vial from his bag and kneeled beside her, giving it for her to smell it.

Viki woke up immediately with widened eyes in surprise and a foul smell. She immediately took distance from him the moment she came back to her senses, standing up and taking a defensive stance.

“Easy now, what’s the angry face for? Easy it up or you might get a wrinkle.” Galan said smiling.

She squinted her eyes at him, “Why are you helping me? Do I know you?”

“Who I am is of little importance now.”

Galan pulled a transparent crystal from his pocket and quickly opened a portal nearby.

“A shame that before I could land the killing blow, the infamous red-haired rogue of the black rose managed to escape through a portal.”

“That’s why the princess knew your name, you are on her side? She looked around and didn’t see the master. Did you do that to drive that old man away?”

“Well, I and her got history… and that’s partially true.”

Viki nodded quite suspiciously at his choice of words.

“Now, to the matter at hand, I don’t care where you go, take your sister and leave the city immediately.”

Viki nodded watching the man, “How do you know about my sister?”

“I’m in the assassin’s guild, we know everything, so, why don’t we stop wasting time? You are losing your escape window.”

Viki nodded and began moving towards Eileen, clearly intending to take her out as well.

Galan stepped in the way, blocking her path to the princess. “Unfortunately, this courtesy doesn’t extend to the princess. I can cope with the eventual problems of letting someone like you go. But her? A princess that the boss needs for his plans? I’d be dead before dawn.”

Viki chuckled. “Someone like me… well, on that you are right, nobody will give a shit if I die or not, so why do you care? You know her… she knows you but you are saving me?”

“Time is passing Viki… The portal won’t be open forever.”

Viki nodded, “Fine, I will go. But I think it is you that don’t quite understand.” Viki looked at Eileen with the corner of her eye noticing some small movement.

Galan smiled “Then why don’t you explain it to me?”

“You really should let us both go,” said Viki, looking carefully at the princess on the ground.

“I see… because of him, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I wouldn’t worry about him after tonight, his bodyguards are done, his army is far away and unreachable. His princess is... indisposed, he is all alone and defenseless now.”

Viki chuckled, “Defenseless? That brings back memories, I once thought that too about him. You may claim to know everything, but you don’t have the slightest idea of whom you are dealing with, do you?”

Galan laughed back at her, “Oh but I have, I’ve been watching him for some time now, closely monitoring his every move… right from within his group. I’ve seen enough to tell you, he is done. Lord Tullius and the Headmaster will have his head before the night ends. So do yourself a favor, and leave this place before their attention changes to you.”

Viki smiled at Galan, “Then I guess you are all in for a surprise tonight.”

Galan just shook his head in disbelief of how much Viki is on that man’s side.

Viki looked at Galan with serious eyes, “Let me take the princess with me, and maybe you won’t die tonight.”

“Hahaha! That’s too good, and may I ask how would he accomplish that? He is alone, Viki.”

She nodded, “I once saw him drop 15 men of the Leather Band thugs in a blink of an eye. I thought he had an artifact that gave him that power. So I stole it and left him behind, sleeping for half a day while I took off… next thing I know, he wiped out the Black Rose hideout where I was hiding, all by himself just to find me.”

“I know he is a mage,” said Galan unimpressed.

Viki smirked as she realized Galan’s anger towards Riou. She nodded “Fine, I’ll go alone then…” said the Thief stepping through the portal, “Just one last thing… he was a kid when he did all that. I wonder what he is capable of now that he is a grown man.”

“I’m getting tired of this, leave, or I will kill you myself.”

Viki walked by the portal and disappeared into it. As Galan walked towards Eileen, he kneeled beside the princess to pick her up. But to his surprise, she had already awakened and was waiting for him to approach.

She grabbed the cloak and pulled it down, instantly casting an ice spell on it.

To her surprise, the spell hit the empty cloak as Galan had slipped through her guard and was taking his distance to get the advantage once again with his bow.

“Oh no, you won’t!” She said powering up her body with mana. Despite his speed, Eileen was closer now and was much faster.

He shot a few arrows at her as she approached, but the princess just dodged them and kept coming. As she got closer, he threw a smoke bomb to the ground to gain some time.

Galan rushed to the pillar nearby and started to quickly climb it. “That won’t work!” he hears the princess's voice, and it came from above him. She had anticipated his move for higher ground and was already waiting, she was way too close for him to attack.

He jumped backward from the pillar and into the ground, escaping the smoke that ascended. He pointed his bow back as he was falling on his back towards the ground, expecting the princess to come directly, jumping after him, and at that moment, he’d hit her.

But she didn’t come from the smoke as he anticipated, he twisted his body before hitting the ground to land safely. But as he stopped completely, the princess was already there, with her hand pointing at him.

“Shit! How can she be that fast?!” He throws something away as he quickly tries to turn his bow and his body towards her, but it was just too late.

An Ice ring began to form around his arms and legs, locking his movements. He falls to the ground as he can’t balance himself due to the restriction.

He looks up to see Eileen cutting his bowstring and pulling away from his bag of tricks.

“I must thank Viki… she delayed you long enough for me to recover. Now, Galan, where are Attia and Bellica?”

Galan smiled, “Below us, deep under the earth, upon hundreds of tons of stone and dirt.”

“How do they get there?”

“The headmaster has a crystal stone linked to a chamber in the stone down there. That’s the only way in or out.”

“Then we have to inform Riou as fast as possible, we are going out and you are coming with me. Where is the portal crystal?”

He looked at the side, to the wall nearby where the crystal was, shattered.

Eileen sighed and opened his bag of tricks, searching for her necklace.

“I must say, I’m impressed. I didn’t think you could recover so fast from that level of the lightning spell, not without your special protection at least.”

“I’m tougher than I look, did you forget? I fought against Zegrath and an Immortal, this trap of yours was nothing compared to them.” She found the necklace on his things, opened it to check if the string was there.

Relieved to have recovered it, she put it on once again.

“But at that time you had your necklace with you and that black armor. While right now you are wearing a dress… and it looks great on you by the way.”

She pointed her hand and the ice began to grow around him, covering more of his body.

“Easy now! You need me alive if you wish to leave this maze!”

She pondered for a moment, “You know the way back to Tullius mansion?”

Galan smiled, “I’m more than happy to show you the way, after all, being able to walk with a beauty like you is always a blessing.”

“Shut up and start walking, and don’t think you can try anything at this distance. I will kill you before you can pull any tricks.”

“I’m harmless, princess. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Be silent, I don’t want to hear your voice.”

“Are you mad? Because of what I did earlier? I let Viki go, didn’t I? Doesn’t that give me any points?”

“Shut up.” she increases the ice ring around his arms until it reaches his neck.

“I got it, I got it! I will be silent!”

Viki got out of the portal and found herself in a room at the Cooking Goose inn. She looked around for a moment and back at the portal that collapsed.

“I hope the little princess survives this, I don’t want to be blamed for her death… at least I don’t think he had noticed that she was awake. Well, that doesn't concern me anymore. Time to get my things and vanish!” she rushed downstairs and moved by a few guests on her way out. One of them, a female cat from the beastmen that took notice of her.

“Wait!” Shouted the cat lady holding Viki’s arm as she tried to pass by. She smelled the air a few times around the rogue, “This smell, It’s here! You were with a human female just a moment ago, weren’t you? Tall, good-looking blond woman.”

“You mean the princess?” asked Viki.

“Yes… so do tell me, where is she?” The cat woman asked quite inquisitively.

“Are you with Riou too?”

“The trader… yes. I can say that we have a business pending.”

Viki pondered for a moment, looked at the door, and then at the cat like a woman. “Then you should go save him, they are all in danger at Lord Tullius' mansion.”

“Did you hear that?”, said the cat lady, looking at a large man that approached from behind. He was old and resembled a lion with a great mane and he smiled brightly at the rogue.

“Varos! Cancel the meal, we are leaving!”

“What about the promise?” Inquired the commander.

“I promised not to interfere, but I can’t sit down now that I know that the daughter of our good friend Elrik is in danger, especially when I’m visiting his kingdom for the first time.”

------------------------------- At the party

“Who is that lord Malroy is talking to? He seems quite respectful of him.” Asked Riou, looking at a man in his late 40 years, short hair but completely gray.

Nesdam drank his chalice and looked at the lord sitting on one of the tables in evidence, near Tullius’ chair.

“You have a good eye for important people, that man with Malroy is Lord Gilles. The owner of the auction house that will be selling that stone of yours tomorrow.”

“I see, shouldn’t we go greet him then?”

“But of course, I was waiting for the princess to join us, but she is taking her sweet time. So, let me introduce you to him.”

As Riou stood up a voice came louder from the upper level of the stairs. Lord Tullius was addressing the people in the hall from the upper level.

“What a great party we are having tonight! Is everyone enjoying themselves?”

The people nodded, some voiced their enjoyment while others cheered. Everyone’s attention was hooked by Tullius.

“Now, I’d like to thank you all! Lords of Allard, to have come to this gathering in a moment so delicate of our kingdom. We are going through one of our worst moments in history! But luckily, through a swift action of the nobility, we managed to secure Iris and guard ourselves in this moment of crisis. The military could have been dispersed and disappeared. Or worse, became mercenary groups or even thieves that would further cause issues to our cities. But we prevented it!”

One man shouted from the crowd “It was all you lord Tullius! We know it well!”

A round of applause for lord Tullius erupted.

He smiled and waved, ready to continue, “And today, to honor this little gathering of ours, we will receive not only the very princess of Allard but also the good Knight-Captain Bhalrom, that was recently assigned to take care of our glorious city by our good king Elrik! It's a shame he had not consulted us on the matter. For I believe Iris does not need for such man to care for it. Our cultural city has no place for the truculent and barbaric behavior of these knights. It simply does not fit well with our civilized city.”

“Indeed! The king should have known better!” shouted the crowd.

“And since both will be here tonight, one representing the royalty and the other the knight generals. We will be able to ask them both the purpose of this imposition. Not only that, but we also have the princess' future husband present. Lord Riou Brahm is engaged to Eileen Strongheart and for the first time in our history, a Norseman is in direct line for the throne of Allard!”

A great disturbance in the crowd, the discontentment was evident.

“I knew this was coming when Elrik decided to marry our queen, contrarying our traditions. But we bet the first son of our king. The prince would come through. But he vanished mysteriously during the plague. Some say he perished by it and it was covered so the people wouldn’t revolt. Now, I don’t know what to believe anymore… maybe Lord Brahm could tell us what happened to the good Prince?”

A loud crowd murmur erupted, the dissatisfaction was more than evident in the tone. Suspicious glances were thrown at Riou.

Lord Nesdam smiled at him, “Seems like lord Tullius didn’t like you coming to us for that deal, this much backlash was expected, don’t worry.”

Tullius continued “And as we kept seeing, the king grew weaker and weaker, Longart fell to a plague that threatened to destroy the whole kingdom. And where was our king then? What did he do? He fled! Like a coward! If it wasn’t for the quick action of our esteemed Lord Roderick, what would have happened to our kingdom? To our Iris? He should have been exalted as a hero! A man that saved the whole kingdom, staying at the infested city, taking care of it while the king fled!”

Fervorous clapping and cheering.

Riou just smiled “I can’t believe my ears.”

“The king left its throne empty, making us believe he was sick and on his deathbed. A disease that killed most if not all of the unlucky souls that caught it. But our king returned, alive! After the disease disappeared. If nothing else, Elrik should’ve kissed the brave Knight Rodricks' hand, but what did he do instead? How he repaid his knight? Chasing him away, attacking his men, and putting the whole military into disarray! Now I ask you, is that what a King should’ve done? What about the greater good, what about the kingdom? The defense of our borders, the roads, the cities? Doesn’t he care? I ask you?”

Once again clamors of dissatisfaction came from the big crowd.

“And now, we have here our king to be… Lord Brahm, for the first time in Iris. And I heard he wishes to revolutionize weaponry, armor, and enchantments. And as most of you might know, he already partnered with a few of our lords to do so.”

Murmurs and glances were exchanged towards Lord Nesdam and the others around Riou.

“But rest assured that it won’t be that easy to go over us. To avoid any unscrupulous acts of the market, I have also assembled my research team that is working right now on a better solution than the ones presented by him! Soon we will have a better version of those items! Available to all in Iris and its friends! I assure you!”

Nesdam looked at Riou. “Is that possible?” Riou looked around and noticed the Manager not too far behind lord Tullius. “If the manager managed to do some kind of copy of my things before returning them. They must be analyzing my enchantments and the material of the equipment.”

“That’s not good, what about our deal?”

“Don’t worry, my things are protected, it’s not that easy to break its secrets. Besides, I doubt he has anyone that is capable of working for him.”

“He has, if not he will hire it. It’s just a matter of time. So you better show us some guarantees or our little deal is off. I’m not willing to pay that much just to have to compete with Tullius!”

Riou didn’t bother to answer and resume listening to Tullius.

“The audacity of this family, the Brahms, are well-known scoundrels. How can they be trusted? They have no allegiance, no sense of honor! And just thinking of the fact that one of them could become my king, it saddens me deeply.”

“You should be king lord Tullius! Yes, you should take the crown!” shouted some more enthusiastic folks in the crowd.

“Before we discuss such things, maybe we should hear what our guest has to say. Mister Riou Brahm? Care to tell us what your agenda is, marrying our princess, are you aiming for the throne?”

Riou chuckled and walked forward to be better seen. “Unlike some people here, I don’t have an interest in politics, thrones, or crowns. It bores me.”

“It bores me… hahaha! You are either lying or playing us! A merchant can have resources, true, but it can never be a kingdom. There are limits to what one person can do and that’s where Politics shines through! It encompasses the group and its goals! Having a ruler and allowing the debate on the needs of its nation by its nobility is the only way to move forward. Look at Iris, for instance, the beautiful city we created, the military might we amassed, the wealth our nobles possess! Compare it to the dying longart! It is obvious who is thriving and who is best fit to rule this kingdom.

“Oh? Really, but does everyone here know how you ensured that prosperity? On second thought, I think they know very well and just don’t care.”

“See my lords? Those who have nothing to say spout only accusations. Well, it is a shame that princess Eileen had chosen such a person… or was it, Elrick? Either way, I hope that your wish comes true, that you never, ever sit on Allard’s throne, because if you try to, I will not allow it!”

Again a cheering and shouting erupted from the crowd that clapped at Tullius.

Riou nodded and smiled “Let’s all hope it never comes to that then.”

Tullius nodded at Riou, showing a smug face “Indeed, now, on another topic. I was informed that Lord Gilles will hold an auction tomorrow for a special item. I’d like to let everyone know that I will be the one to buy that item and that the auction is no longer needed. Of course, I will pay the full price of it. You don’t need to worry, lord Brahm.” said Tullius.

Riou squinted his eyes, “I don’t think that’s how auctions work Lord Tullius. I believe you are not only undermining my property value but also Lord Gilles's reputation by doing such a claim.”

Tullius forced a smile, “Lord Gilles won’t mind, and you, I suggest you accept it cordially before I halve the price I’m willing to pay for it.”

“Maybe Lord Gilles would like to speak for himself on the matter? I’d like to hear his perspective too,” said Riou.

“Lord Gilles?” Asked Tullius.

The man looked quite bored, still sitting at his table. “The auction stands, if lord Tullius wishes to buy it, he can fight for it with his money, like everybody else.”

Tullius forced a smile, hiding his anger. Riou quickly added “Since that’s solved, isn’t it about time for the princess and the knight captain to come to the party? I’d lie if I say I’m not missing my fiance so I’d like to see her, right now.”

“Such love is enviable! But of course, please, come with me and we will see if she is ready. In the meanwhile, my noble guests, please continue to enjoy yourselves. We will be back shortly.”

Riou nodded and began walking towards the stairs to meet the lord when a loud noise came from the front door that was opened abruptly making a loud noise.

“What is going on?” asked Tullius looking at the door.

Suddenly 12 lionesses made entry and positioned themselves in two parallel lines. A large man resembling a lion walked in followed by another tall man, not nearly as imposing as the first. And two women.

“Headmaster we have a problem… I think he got reinforcements,” whispered Tullius to an orange stone in his chest. “Headmaster? Headmaster? Where is he when I need him!?”

Riou looked at the king confused as to why he would be there.

“Well, well, I thought it was human customs to receive guests, is it not? Where is the owner of this house?” said the large man.

Lord Tullius put up a fake smile, “It’s me! I’m the Lord owner of this house and party. May I know who the uninvited guests might be?”

The large man began walking towards him and quickly locked eyes with Riou the moment he saw him, smiling brightly.

“I’m Oyran Goyvar, King of the Beastmen.”

Tullius' attitude changed immediately, very respectfully and quickly going towards him, “King?” Said Tullius completely taken by surprise. “You are the king of the Beastmen? May I ask what your lordship is doing here in Iris? What brought your royalty to my humble abode?”

“This is Varos, my son and general of my troops, and following him is Zafira, captain of the fleet by the port city. I was visiting my old friend, your King to renew the vows of alliance our ancestors made and all that… And I was told the princess of this kingdom was here today. So I came to meet her.”

“May I know why your grace is after our princess?”

Oyran got angry with the question and Zafira stood forward, “You dare question my king's actions? Who are you to know why a king does what he does! Know your place Human!”

“My apologies…”

“Good, if you understand, bring her here right now!” urged Zafira in her commanding tone.

Tullius forced a smile “Of course… let me ask my servants to bring her here.” Tullius turned away and spoke softly, “Headmaster… headmaster? We have a big problem in the hall.”

“What is the delay?” shouted Zafira at the slow-moving Tullius.

“Nothing,” replied Tullius, increasing his pace.

Riou's mood changed when he noticed Viki hiding behind them, wounded and showing a concerned expression. “Something’s wrong… I better use this opportunity.”

He walked forward and looked at the king, “why don't you ask to see the knight captain and the 2 court mages accompanying him as well, King Oyran? I’m sure you would like to meet them as well..” said while looking at her.

Tullius' face became red, infuriated he shouted at Riou “You shut up, you insignificant Norsemen! Know your place before I have you beheaded!”

The king was amused by the reaction, “No, he is right, I wish to meet this knight captain and these mages. Bring them too! Immediately!”

Tullius' face went from red to white. “Your majesty, I don’t think the knight captain and the court mages can be disturbed, they have requested that…”

“You heard the king! Bring them, now!” commanded Zafira.

“Your majesty, with all due respect. You are not my king, I have no obligation to…”

“You dare to question a simple request like that? From a king of a friendly kingdom? Why would it be so difficult to meet these people? Is there a problem with it?” Zafira pushed the topic.

“Not a problem at all, if everyone could follow me, I will take you to them…”

“My king said to bring them here! And that’s what you will do. Right now… or, we can always ask the Lionesses to sweep this place searching for them.” Said Zafira with a devilish smile. “I prefer the second option.”

Lord Tullius swallowed hard and finally recognized the one behind them. The rogue was tortured by the manager and was supposed to be locked in a cell. She was actually behind them. His eyes immediately turned to Riou that just smiled at him. “You.”

“Allow me to help, these two lionesses will escort you and make sure those guests will come as quickly as possible,” said the king glancing at two Lionesses. Both nodded and moved by Tullius, urging him to move with their presence.

Tullius then looked at the hall, all those lords watching him with judging eyes. After all, the king of the beastmen made a simple request.

He looked down to his orange stone fixed on his cloth. With no response from the Headmaster, he had no choice but to comply.

“Of course, of course, I will get them here.” Lord Tullius immediately goes back through the door and out of the hall, followed by the two lionesses while he constantly looks at his chest, at an orange pin with golden embroidery.

“Headmaster where the fuck are you? Come here this instant!” He whispered, but again, no reply came back.

Riou approached the Beastmen King and looked at Viki. “Why is she wounded like this?”

“Human, tell him what you told us.” Viki stepped forward and began speaking.

“I was captured… they wanted information on you. I’m sorry but I told them all I knew, and still, they didn’t let me go. Then the princess was thrown in a cell.”

“A cell? She was captured?”

“But together we managed to escape. We roamed the assassin’s guild hideout until we were found, we fought them, and then we found a man named Galan. He was accompanying the headmaster Assassin. And we fought with him but he bested us.”

“That’s impossible, Eileen would not lose to him.”

“She was heavily injured, her good arm was completely burnt, and she had no weapon nor protection. And he used a shock trap before we knew it.”

Riou took a deep breath. All the beastmen there felt the hair stand up from the back of their necks down their spine.

“Once the headmaster went away, he woke me up and let me escape through a portal. I ended up at the Cooking Goose where I found this beastmen… but I didn’t know who they were, I thought they were your men!”

“What about Eileen?” questioned Riou.

“That man said he couldn’t let her go, he said they would kill him if she escaped too.”

“Where is she now? Do you know?”

“Somewhere inside the Assassin’s guild. I don’t know where, but I think they have a portal connected to this place.”

“There should be two lionesses protecting her, did you see them?”

Viki shook her head.

Riou began walking forward and after Tullius.

The king smiled seeing him all worked up, “Don’t worry, I know fear when I see it. That lord will not dare disobey me. Not with two Lionesses on his tail. The princess and the others will be brought to us and we will be able to access their situation. And you, you will owe me after this, right?”

Riou nodded at him, turning around, seeing all those nobles there, controlling to not go after them himself.

“We have been walking for a while now, how much longer until we are back to Tullius house?” Asked Eileen.

“See that door by the end of the corridor? That’s where the gates are set. So, can you please remove this ice? I’m getting really cold because of it.”

“No. Now keep moving.”

As they arrive in the room, Eileen sees a portal already open in the middle of the room between two stone pillars.

“Is that the one?”

“Yes.”

“Good, you go first, don’t try anything.”

“I told you, I’m harmless.”

Eileen squinted her eyes at him and reinforced the ice around his arms. “Ouch! Ouch! Not the skin not, the skin!”

“Go,” she orders.

“You are too worried, I told you I would take you back. This is the right portal to go back to the house, you don’t need to be so concerned.” He said casually walking through it.

She then followed after.

On the other side, the moment she exits the portal, it closes and she finds herself surrounded by other assassins that were waiting. One of them was already breaking Galan free.

“I told you, it was not me you should be worried about. Didn't you wonder why nobody came to my rescue? Because here is the best place to capture someone. Now take her, and let’s get this over with.”

“New orders, Galan. We are to take the princess to the Main Hall.” said one of the cloaked men.

“What? What happened?”

“Seems the Lord changed his mind.”

Galan chuckled “You are a lucky woman. I hope we can meet each other again after this incident, princess. No hard feelings, right?”

“Please follow us…” Eileen followed the group. As she arrived by the door leading to the hall, she found Bhalrom, Ursula, and Lilly waiting for her, guarded by other cloaked assassins. The two mages were helping the knight captain that was unconscious.

“What happened to you three?” said Eileen, moving to check the captain.

“We got lured to a mage trap and locked up. They took Bhalrom away and we don’t know what they did to him,” said Lilly.

“My guess is that they tried to mess with his mind. I can feel the Argonian spell lingering on him still.”

“Will he be alright?” asked the princess.

A voice from behind got their attention. “Of course he will be fine! He was just a bit stubborn, so we had to punish him. Nothing much, he will be back on his old self in a few days. He can use the time, it will be good for him to rest and reflect on his own actions.” Said Lord Tullius approaching them with a fake smile.

“Where are Attia and Bellica?” quickly asked the princess.

“The bodyguards? Well… you might not remember, but after you fainted, they got really angry and started to make trouble and then left on their own.”

“Left?”

“I’m afraid so. The headmaster took them away, I don’t know where.”

“You are done… I will make sure you pay the price for all you’ve done today!” She turned to move towards the door.

“Eileen, don’t be like that, I’m sure we can discuss this like civilized people! There is no need to fight over trivialities.”

She ignored him and opened the door, reaching the main hall. Her eyes roamed the place and quickly found Riou looking at her with relief.

She ran down the stairs and went to meet him as he rushed to her encounter.

He noticed the ripped and dirty dress, the injuries on her body, and especially the burnt arm. Riou quickly embraced her in a hug, “I’m sorry.”

She held back her emotions for the moment, “It’s not your fault, but Attia and Bellica, I don’t know where they are! You have to help them!”

Riou looked up to Lord Tullius that walked in after Bhalrom and the court mages. “Where are my bodyguards?”

“I’m sorry to tell you, but I don’t know. They dared to attack my people after entering some sort of frenzy, so they had to be taken away.”

Riou closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself. He spoke to his side, towards the closest shadow. “I know you’ve been watching, I can sense you in the shadows here. Where are Attia and Bellica?”

Suddenly, shadows began to gather in front of Riou and as they dissipated, Attia and Bellica appeared amidst them. The two lionesses were in position, ready to attack with flaring golden eyes.

They looked around as the darkness dissipated and as they saw Eileen, their eyes and attitude instantly returned to normal. “Queen!” Both said rushing to her encounter.

Riou noticed they were hurt and tired, but still in high spirits.

“But how?” asked Tullius seeing the two appearing out of the shadows.

The lion king just smirked and nodded to the pleasant surprise. “Well, since everyone is here now, we will take our leave. There is much I wish to discuss with these people. I’m sure they need to rest.”

“Wait! Wait! Can’t we discuss this, your majesty? I’m sure we will find out what happened and punish the ones behind these incidents!” Tullius spoke with a forced smile. “I’m sure lord Brahm wishes some answers as well...”

Riou looked with intensity at Tullius and spoke very calmly, “I do need answers. But right now my people are injured and I have to tend to them. But do not worry, I will come back for you.” he turned and helped Eileen to move. It was time to leave.

Tullius watched as they left his house, guarded by the Beastmen. As they all finally left the place, lord Tullius also left the main hall, back into his house. He hit the wall with his fist “Fuck! Everything was going so well! Headmaster, where are you?”

The headmaster finally appears, his hood and cape were a mess, cut, dirty, and bloodied. Clearly, he had been with his hands full.

“How did you allow those two to survive? You should have taken care of them quickly and then helped me to deal with the fucking Lion King! Now we lost the advantage! They will regroup and come heavy on us with their full army!”

The headmaster lowered his head, “Those two were even harder to deal with than I anticipated, they kept getting faster and stronger. Their spells were like nothing I had seen before. Even locked on the Tomb, the traps, ambushes, and monsters were not able to kill them in time. I couldn’t leave until they died or they might have come out of it through it.”

“We knew he had strong people backing him. But to this extent? How many of them does he have in his army? What are our chances?”

“None… Now I understand what Galan said? The Beastmen king's presence here and his siding with the Brahm also reinforces it. If his army could push Argos back, we don’t stand a chance. Not in the open, not without a greater advantage.”

“Then we have to do something tonight! Before his army arrives! We need to kill him and the princess. I don’t care who gets the blame as long as it's not us, with a little push after their deaths, our plan will work out!” Lord Tullius turned to the headmaster “Now, tell me, how did that thief manage to escape? How come she came back here with the fucking king of the beastmen when she was supposed to be dead!?”

“I don’t know… but I will discover it.”

“Do it, and for the job tonight, I want you to go, we can’t afford any more mistakes.”

The headmaster opened his cloak, revealing a large fresh bloodstain on his ripped armor. “I’m afraid I may need to recover first. Time we can’t spare, so instead of me, let’s send our best men to this job. They will do it as well as I would.”

“As long as those two are dead tonight, then I’m fine with it! After that, we must send the army out! They must march to Longart as soon as possible. We will use the princess’ death as an excuse”.

The headmaster entered Galan’s room, the blond archer was applying a paste on his skin where the ice burned it.

“I was wondering when you would come to see me. I thought I would have more time, things must be really bad for you to come here this fast.”

“It is. We lost our advantage, but we won’t lose the war.” the headmaster sat down on a chair, showing signs of pain.

“You got hurt? Did those two really give you that much trouble?”

“They did. I almost died a couple of times tonight.”

“Really? Well, at least they are gone now…”

The headmaster went silent for a moment “They are not dead. We were the ones that suffered the loss today. It became a battle of attrition, and when they were finally showing signs of slowing down and the blood fiends were about to get the advantage, they were taken away.”

“Shit, I knew they were strong… Wait, did you say taken away? Someone broke them free from the tomb?”

“Yes, they were there and the next moment they were not. Lord Tullius said they just appeared at the Main Hall when the trader requested to see them.”

Galan smiled, “Umbra must have left the sidelines and entered the game, so she made her move.”

“Now, we have only one option, to kill the trader and the princess. And that has to happen tonight.”

“How many are you sending?”

“All our Elite members are tired, injured, or dead. Thanks to those two lionesses. That means this is on you now, Galan, you and Ciran.”

“What? None of us can deal with the princess in close quarters. She is faster and stronger than I am. We can’t fight her head-on and in her turf.”

“Then use other methods… you know what to do, as long as she dies tonight, the how does not matter. Are we clear?”

“We are...”

The headmaster began to leave, he turned his head back, “Galan, how did the Red-haired woman escape you? I thought you had both of them under control when I left.”

Galan was not even surprised by the question, and quickly replied “She had a gate crystal hidden, she used it while I was restraining the princess.”

“I see… Galan, no more gate crystal escapes from now on, do you understand?”

“Yes, headmaster. I will be ready next time.”

As the headmaster left Galan chambers, Ciram was waiting for him outside. “Ciram, help Galan on the job tonight, make sure both princess and the Brahm are finished before dawn.”

“Yes, headmaster, I won’t fail you.”

As the group left the house and returned to the inn. Riou was going to follow Eileen, Viki, and the lionesses into the room when the King called for him.

“We need to talk.” Said the king.

Riou nodded, but entered the room with the girls and closed the door behind him. “Let me see that arm,” he asked as he approached Eileen as Attia, Bellica, and Viki sat down on the chairs near the table.

With signs of pain, she raised the arm to show it to him. The skin was completely burnt, signs of heavy damage to the muscle could be seen from her hand all the way to her shoulder.

Riou looked at it and said nothing, he just put his hand above her arm and closed his eyes.

A dark green mist slowly appeared from his hand and involved her injured arm, the muscles, and the skin began to regenerate quickly, the damage was undone in a moment.

Attia and Bellica swallowed hard and looked away from him in complete silence. Viki watched his magic, glancing at his face from time to time.

Once he was done, he turned to Attia and Bellica. “You two will return to the village. You are not allowed to leave it, not even to follow me. You will remain there until you are ready for this world enemies.”

Both Attia and Bellica just nodded, clearly shaken.

“You don’t have to be so strict with them. They fought bravely and survived. You should be praising them instead, Riou.” said the princess.

“They did nothing worthy of praise, fight and survive is the minimum they should be able to. They have the better weapons and armors, the better spells, but look at their state. Bleeding, wounded, and after all this time they are still not able to even heal themselves properly. They should have stomped the enemy, but they didn’t.”

“Aren’t you too strict? Any other person would have died!” said Eileen.

“They are not any other person! They are Lionesses, the black they wear is a reminder that everyone looks up to them. This performance is not acceptable and Arthas will be disappointed when he hears about what happened today. So you better prepare yourselves for the training you will be going under.”

Attia and Bellica didn’t even reply, they just listened quietly and nodded.

Eileen sighed and nodded, she then smiled at the two, “Thank you for helping me, I will train with you so we all can improve together.”

The two lightened up a bit and smiled at the princess.

She then looked at Riou “What about Tullius? He will do something since we managed to escape. We must not let our guard down.”

Riou nodded, he walked to Viki who was surprised by his approach. The green mist left his hand and involved the whole rogue’s body quickly fixing all wounds and damage she suffered. He then did the same for Attia and Bellica.

He looked at Viki and asked Eileen, “What was the deal with Galan, she said he let her escape.”

The princess nodded “He was spying us for the guild. He is an assassin. But I don’t know why he left Viki go.”

“I see…” Riou walked to the middle of the room, “Call Max, he should be returning by now. Tell him what happened and ask him to take a look at the knight captain. After that, rest, you all done enough for one night.”

Eileen could sense a strange calmness in his voice despite the anger she could see in his eyes. Attia and Bellica could not bear to hold their gaze at him.

Viki was the only one that dared to speak to him “I can’t rest, I need to get my sister and leave the city. The assassin's guild will come for me in full force! You should leave too!”

Riou smiled “I wouldn’t worry about them, after tonight, there will be no more assassin’s guild” and he left the room.

Viki turned to the princess “You can’t let him go alone!”

Eileen sighed.

“But that’s just too reckless! Eileen? Do something!”

The princess shook her head, “I know… but we are injured, we would just be in his way if we went now. Besides, we already held him back from the start. This is how it turned out.” She showed her arm, Attia and Bellica’s state and even Vik’s.

As he left the room, king Oyran was waiting for him. “Come.”

Riou took a deep breath and went to sit down with him at one of the tables.

“What do you want now? I’m kinda busy at the moment.”

“I just want to find Arthas, tell me where he is and I will be on my way.”

“This again… fine, do you have a map?”

Oyran raised his hand and Varos brought a map of the region. Riou pointed to the land between Longart and Brigantium, where the village was located.

“He is here, from the south side you will find the entrance. Tell the gatekeeper that you wish to talk to Arthas and he will come to see you. Do nothing else and you will be fine.”

Riou then stood up, ready to leave. “Is that it?” Asked Oyran, “Aren’t you really not concerned that I take your man away? Your army?”

“I told you before, it’s Arthas’ decision. Not mine.”

The king chuckled, he could see that Riou was serious. “I’m beginning to understand why he thinks so highly of you. You don’t seem to rely on him unless it’s really necessary.”

“Are we done?”

Oyran smiled and nodded, “We are, but you look pissed off. You must be wanting some payback on that human lord for what he did, am I right? But your folks are tired and injured. So, I offer you this, why don’t you borrow some of my people instead?”

“No need.”

“How bold, so you are going there alone? You have a thing for danger… but don’t expect I will go save you again now that I know where Arthas is.”

“I’m not the one that needs saving.” Riou began to walk away.

Varos immediately took offense. “Watch your manners, human, the king did not dismiss you yet!” said Varos.

Riou didn’t even bother and continued moving away, Varos' anger raised and he immediately stepped forward and held Riou by the shoulder.

Instantly his eyes flared in the golden color, all his hair stood up from the back of his neck through his spine. A frightened expression appeared on the commander as he immediately opened his hand and pulled it back. Releasing Riou that just glanced at him before continuing walking away.

“Varos?” asked the King concerned to see his son in such a state. That overreaction was quite strange. “What happened?” The king looked at his face with care and saw the lingering frightened expression. “Varos!” the king spoke loudly at him. Finally getting his attention that refused to leave the human trader.

The commander finally got a hold of himself.

“What happened, Varos?”

“He… that thing, is not human,” said Varos.

Riou left the inn and began walking down the street, as he reached a large plaza he stopped and waited. Didn’t take long for someone to come from one of the dark alleys nearby.

“Hello Master Brahm, may I ask where you are going this late at night?” Asked Galan stepping into the light and towards Riou.

He smiled and looked at Galan, “I was looking for you Galan, I believe we need to talk.”

Galan forced a smile, “Did they tell on me? Damn, it seems I wasn’t fast enough. I was hoping to get you with your guard down.” he said looking around. “Where are the others?”

Riou noticed someone else there, to the other side, another man watching from the shadows, and behind him, more people waited by the dark alley.

“Unlike you, I don’t need anyone else to do my job. Let me guess, Tullius ordered you and your friends there to assassinate me?”

“He did, you and the princess’, unfortunately. It a shame to have to kill her. But you on the other hand.... well, I can’t really say I will really miss you. After all, you never liked me, right?”

“No, never liked you, and look at us now, it turns out I was right in the end.”

Galan nodded, smiling at the remark, “I must thank you for facilitating my job, I was wondering how I would break into that lion’s den, but since you decided to come out, it really facilitated my job? I bet you didn’t think you’d find me here.”

“No, but I sure was hoping for it.”

“Haha! Damn, you are so damn bold! No fear, fuck. I can see why they all are into you now! Even I got goosebumps. Even in this situation, away from the safety of your people, surrounded by the enemy… not even a shadow of concern on your eyes.”

“You know why nobody likes you? Because you talk too much.”

“Ouch, that hurts. Fine, let’s begin then.” Galan threw a small pouch at Riou’s feet that exploded, liberating a thin yellow powder into the air, hovering over all around Riou’s location.

“This is Yellow crystal powder, you know what that means right? Your spells are sealed now!” Galan walked towards Riou and unsheathed his sword, pointing it at the unarmed trader. “I don’t even need to use my bow to deal with you.”

“Is this your plan? Yellow crystal bombs?”

“Impressed?”

“Not really.”

“I will ask again once you are dead.”

“Oh yeah? And who’s gonna kill me?” he asks, ignoring the sword pointed at his face.

Galan smiled “me!” and swung the sword at Riou, aiming for his neck. A swift attack to end his life in an instant.

As the sword was already moving on its certain path on Riou’s neck, a hard hit on Galan’s stomach launched him backward with tremendous force. The hunter hits a thick stone wall behind him and falls down on the ground, coughing blood with most of his bones broken.

His eyes look up to see Riou calmly walking towards him.

Ciram that watched from the sidelines began to freak out, “Shit! Get him! Get Him” shouted Ciram from the darkness as 20 thugs rushed to surround Riou. He followed them and watched from behind his men.

Riou looked at him, “You, I remember you. You were that guy that was after Viki a couple of days ago, the one I put to sleep.”

Ciram widened his eyes “It was you?” he then looked at the thugs “What are you all waiting for, get him before the yellow dust vanishes! He can’t use spells right now!”

Riou just smiled, “You see, these yellow crystals and me, we don’t get along very well.” Riou released his mana and the moment it touched the yellow dust it began to react to it violently. The small powder ignited and completely disappeared a moment after.

The thugs watched with surprise and turned to Ciram for answers.

“Now, whoever wants to die, just step forward,” said Riou, waiting for them.

The thugs looked at each other quite unsure of what to do, little by little they turned to their leader. That despite his uneasiness, raised his weapon and stepped forward to attack Riou.

Without even turning to look at him, Riou just pointed to him and then to the ground. The thug simply fell.

“I’m not joking, step forward and you will die,” he added.

The other thugs swallow hard, look at each other with fearful eyes before stepping back, slowly at first and then quickly turning away and running.

“Shit!” Ciram stepped back slowly and fled together with the others.

Riou watched them go for a moment and then turned his attention to Galan.

“Still alive?” he asked with a smile.

Galan tried to speak, but couldn’t say anything given the state he was in.

Riou walked towards him and crouched in front of him, “I never liked you Galan that’s true, you talked way too much. And every time it was time for you to leave on your merry way, I turned around, and there you were again. I don’t know why Umbra took a liking to you. But now, because of you and your people, the girls got hurt. And that… that I cannot accept. A man like yourself understands what I’m saying, right? After all, you tried to save Viki.”

Galan nodded.

Vincent nodded back, “Good we finally understand each other.” He then stood up and moved a few steps back, pointing his hand at Galan. A ball of energy began to form and was shot at Galan exploding violently.

Riou sighed, “What do you think you are doing, Umbra?”

Lady Umbra appeared in front of Galan, defending him from the attack.

Umbra then turned and touched Galan’s chest with her finger, his lungs instantly began to improve and get better, the air was once again filling his chest. Not only that, all his wounds and cracked bones began to heal, his strength was returning to him.

“Lady Umbra?” he asked her, confused by her actions.

Riou took a deep breath, “What’s the meaning of this?”

She remained silent for a moment, pulled air into her lungs, and turned to spit black flame out at Riou. It burst and grew quickly as it tried to engulf him.

“Black flames!?” Galan said, surprised while looking at it in awe.

Riou didn’t dodge the flames that disappeared right after crossing him. He moved in a blink of an eye and appeared beside her.

“What are you doing? You should know that level of flame won’t work on me… so, why are you defending him like this?”

She quickly transformed her hand into a claw and tried to slash Riou in two. He dodged to her side and immediately pointed his hand at her, countering her attack with a blast spell from his palm.

As the spell hit her, her image became shadows and disappeared as the spell crossed her.

“Shadow image?” he asked looking around.

A large shadow quickly opened from the wall nearby and a massive black dragon’s arm emerged from it going straight to attack Riou once again.

“What are you doing?” he blocked the arm with a barrier that tried to force its way through it.

“Won’t tell me? Fine… if this is the game you wanna play, let me help you with it.” From behind him, mana chains formed and moved towards her arm, wrapping around it tightly. Riou then jumped back, pulling the chains great power, and pulling Umbra by the arm and out of the shadows.

Half of her body came out of the shadow portal. A massive Black dragon could be seen by Galan before she managed to break free of the mana pulling it.

“A black dragon!? They exist?” shouted Galan. “Am I dreaming? Did I die and didn’t realize it?”

Riou locked eyes with Umbra’s eyes while in dragon form, as she slowly returned to the shadows. He could tell by her look that she was very satisfied so far.

Another shadow portal appeared on the ground, smaller and close to Galan, from which Umbra emerged in her human form.

She quickly conjured a black and red mana string that covered the whole place around her before it slithered towards Riou. Wrapping him up, restricting his movements, and locking him in place.

But with a single pulse of his mana, he got free, destroying the restraints with ease.

Umbra turned her arm into a dragon’s arm once again and jumped through the shadows to attack Riou, she swung at him, and then she stood close to him with a smile, raising her arm at him. “I’m showing him the hierarchy, since telling him it doesn’t seem to work, maybe demonstrating will,” she whispered to Riou while away from Galan. She then nodded slowly at Riou.

Riou raised his eyebrows at her for a moment and shook his head in disbelief while pointing his hand at her chest, blasting her off with great power in an instant.

She flew back and hit the stone wall even stronger than Galan did a moment ago, her impact shattered the stones, making her land right by him.

Umbra remained on her feet. She then cleaned the blood from her mouth with a smile. “How long has it been since I tasted my own blood?”

Riou chuckled “I don’t know, but if you keep this up you will taste a lot more than that. Look at him, he is stupid, he doesn't worth this effort. So why don’t you just stand down now? Let me end his miserable life already.” Said Riou walking towards her.

Umbra nodded and stepped forward preparing herself to continue the fight. “Is that so? Do you think you are capable of fighting me? I didn’t even show you half of my power yet” she said walking forward. “So I’d like to see you try now that I will...”

She didn’t even finish her sentence and Riou was already on her, this time he just punched her stomach with full force, right when she was not expecting it.

The black dragon curved down and began to vomit the full meals she had earlier that day.

“I warned you, he is not worth it,” he said to her and then walked away towards Galan now addressing him.

“I don’t know what she is up to, but she is out of her mind if she thinks she can somehow save you,” Riou spoke to him, staring him down with emotionless eyes. “You fucked up Galan, I don’t mind you betraying me, but you and your people hurt the girls today. So after tonight, there will be no more Assassin’s guild. There will be no one left to tell the story, your sorry ass included.”

Galan nodded, “If I have to die, then I will die, but I will do so fighting!” He pulled a hidden dagger from his belt and tried to get Riou by surprise by jumping at him.

But Galan’s arm was held, Umbra appeared by them, cleaning her mouth with one arm while holding him with the other. “Have you forgotten, servant? I told you to never go against him.”

“He wants to kill me! What do you expect that I do?” Said Galan angered.

“I told you he wouldn’t get it,” added Riou.

She nodded “Fine, then at least, let me be the one to end his life.” she said to Riou.

Riou frowned at her “Is that why you asked for permission? You knew who he was and that this could happen?”

Galan looked surprised, “You knew… fuck, that time with Ciran, at the inn. You heard us, didn’t you?”

“Of course I did, I’m always listening, always watching.”

“Damn… and you didn’t tell him until now? Why?” he turns to Riou, “Didn’t she betray you too by hiding that?”

“She did.” Riou looked at her sternly and sighed “But she is a dragon. Her morals are very different from ours… besides she likes to watch.”

“Watch? Watch what?”

“Trust me, this is way better than the other alternative. Still, I’m sure she wouldn’t let anyone get hurt because of her curiosity.” Riou looked at Umbra quite incisively.

“Shit, but weren’t you forbidden to kill humans? You said that many times. I’m human right?”

“I got permission for one kill.” she glanced at Riou.

Galan looked at him “Fuck! So it’s true that he controls you… I’m done then.” He chuckled a bit, “Well, at least I will die by the hands of a beautiful woman, I couldn’t ask for a better end.”

Umbra found it a strange remark, “I’m not a woman, didn’t you see for yourself just now?”

Galan raised his eyebrows “Are you not? Are you a man?”

“You understood, I’m female, but not a human female.”

He just smiled, “Is there a difference? I see a woman before me. That’s enough. I did thought you were a bit strange. But after spending some time with you, I now understand why.”

“And you don’t mind?”

“Why would I?”

She smiled “How amusing… you are the first human to not fear me.”

“Hey! I wasn’t afraid either.” Complained Riou.

“She doesn’t consider you human… and I must say, neither do I know that I see what you can do first hand,” added Galan.

She then turned to Riou, “I wish you to let him live for a little longer. Under my supervision.”

“Come on Umbra, he’s just trying to save his own skin. Don’t listen to him.”

“I mean it, it’s difficult to foresee his actions. He is entertaining to watch. I don’t want his story to end here, not like this, I wish to see what he will choose to do next.” She smiled and subtly nodded at Riou once again while looking at him. “Don’t you agree? Don’t you also find him quite peculiar?”

Riou shook his head, “No, I told you he is just an ordinary, stupid man.”

“Hey! I’m not ordinary! At least give me that!”

Riou squinted his eyes at him, “No? Then how about this, kill her… Right here, right now. Do it yourself and I promise to let you live. Come on, show her how humans really are. Show your true nature and win your freedom.”

“Are you serious?” he asked looking at her.

Riou pointed his palm at her and shot another great spell, the black dragon was left in its last legs, wounded and without strength to stand still.

“What's the meaning of this?” she asked, quite puzzled. “You want me dead?”

“I’m very serious. You came here to learn about humans, what better lesson than this? Didn’t you say so yourself before? Humans cannot be trusted, so Galan here will demonstrate it in a way you will never forget.” he turned his head to him while staring at Umbra, “Do it and you are free, from me and from the guild. The way she is now, even your dagger will do the job.”

Galan pondered for a moment while looking at his dagger, he then glanced at Umbra that waited for her fate to be decided.

She was looking at him, very curious as to what he would do. He slowly approached the blade to her neck while preparing himself. “I’m sorry my lady… but sometimes we can’t avoid certain things.”

As he prepared to slice his throat, he turned and bolted towards Riou in a last attempt to kill him by surprise.

But as he jumped at him, Umbra’s arm grabbed him by the armor, easily restraining him in place.

“You dumb human! I told you to not go against him. And you keep doing it, over and over again you keep going down the same path!” Umbra spoke quite irritated, shrugging the damage off her body like it was nothing. “I don’t understand. Did you know he would choose this path again when you made the question?”

Riou nodded.

“How!? It makes no sense. The obvious choice would have to kill me and live free, attacking you he only dooms himself in an even quicker manner.”

“Well, he is human, he’d rather die than submit. It’s quite simple actually… Besides, he hates me, so he will take any excuse to attack me.”

“But we showed him strength greater than his own, he should know the hierarchy and respect it. He can’t possibly fight you… and yet he insists.” She looks at him as if trying to understand if that’s some sort of mental issue or impairment that could be the cause of that.

“That’s just humans for you, we are stubborn by nature.”

“I can see that,” she added.

“And why did you reveal your secret? You could have done all this without showing him anything.” Riou questioned.

Umbra glanced at Galan, “I was curious to see how other humans would react to it. How he would react. After all, it's been too many years since they last saw one of my kind.”

“I see…” said Riou smirking at her.

Galan stepped forward, “Stop speaking as if I’m not here. And what was that all about? Why did you suddenly start arguing like old friends? What about the fight?”

Riou sighed “there was no fight, we were just playing around.”

“Wait, wait… what do you mean? All that and it was not even serious?” asked Galan as he was released from her grasp and fell to the ground. “What about the black flame? I heard nothing can withstand it! That too was playing around?”

“He is immune to regular black flame.” She put her hand on her stomach, “But that hit could have been a little softer. I’m hungry now.”

“Sorry, but I thought you could take it..”

Galan sat down, “I can’t believe this. So it was all a farce? So you didn’t really want to kill me?”

Riou looked dead serious at him, “Oh no, you were just lucky to survive my first attack. I should have put more power into it, but I was afraid you would have stained my clothes if I did. And I still have more places to go tonight.”

“Damn… but if it weren’t for her help, I would have died for sure a few moments after.

Riou glanced at Galan and then at Umbra. “I know. Then, are you satisfied now, Umbra? Will you kill him now or will you really wait?”

Galan swallowed hard. “Wait, I thought we solved this already. Why do both options end up with my death?”

She ignored Galan, “Not now… I still haven’t decided when to do it. I'd like to see a bit more before that time comes.” she added.

“Wait, wait, wait! What do you mean you haven't decided when? Why did you do all this theatre if you didn’t intend to spare me?”

Umbra smiled, “I will be watching for a little longer, show me something good, servant.” She became shadows and disappeared into the darkness.

Galan looked at Riou searching for answers.

He shrugged, “Women, right? But I’d believe what she said if I were you, show her something good, or you are as good as gone.” he says casually with a smile.

“Wait, what? What should I do?”

Riou smirked at him, “If you don’t know, how can I? You are the interesting one apparently.”

Galan looked at the shadows where she disappeared into, “Is she always watching? That means, she’s really a black dragon? right?”

“What do you think?” Riou looked away in the direction the thugs ran earlier.

“This doesn’t make any sense… Dragons don’t exist. It was some sort of Illusion, right? Some spell?”

Riou just ignored his question, “Tell me one thing, was it you that captured Viki?”

He shook his head, glancing at the shadows once again “No… it was Ciram, the other agent here, the one that came with the thugs.”

“Ciram.” said Riou. “And where would I find him, right now?”

“He’s probably returning to Lord Tullius House, to report our failure so the headmaster.”

“This headmaster, is he your boss?”

“Yes, he obeys Tullius, but he is the true master Assassin, the one that rules over the guild.”

“Was he the one that injured the girls?”

“The two Lionesses yes. He took them to the Tomb, a hole deep down in the middle of a massive stone block, filled with traps, monsters, and beasts. It’s his killing room, one way in, one way out, and goes through him.”

“What about Viki and Eileen?”

“The princess was put on an anti-mage cell, she probably forced her way out to escape, that’s why her arm was like that. She must have endured an absurd amount of pain. But Viki’s injuries happened earlier today.” Galan took a deep breath clearly bothered by it, “She was tortured by the manager. He is the go-to torturer for Tullius, unfortunately, I couldn’t do anything at the time to help her.”

“I see…” Riou began walking away towards Tullius House, leaving Galan behind, completely clueless and still in shock from all that had just happened.

“Wait, will you just let me go? Just like that? I thought you said you would kill me.”

Riou stopped and turned to him, “You helped Viki and she came back to save Eileen… If it weren’t for her, not even Umbra’s whim would have saved you today. So you will be sure to thank her later.”

“In the end I still own Viki… Shit, I should've let the princess go too, shouldn’t I? Fuck! She told me it would be like this… but I wouldn’t believe it. Damn Viki, why do I never listen to you?”

Riou left Galan that sat down on a bench nearby. “The headmaster is one to hold grudges. And he also is adept at special kinds of portals. He can flee from danger very quickly and in all situations. And he is a loyal dog of Tullius, even if he is really cornered, he will not abandon his Lord. They have a blood contract to ensure that to happen if Lord Tullius dies, he dies too.”

“For blood contracts to be such a necessity, it seems that betrayal is a real concern in your midst.”

“It is… that’s why I always wanted to be just a hunter. But once you enter the guild, you won’t be able to leave it alive. So even if you spare me, the moment the headmaster finds out that I’m still alive, he will come after me too.”

“Then you should be happy, your dear master will die tonight, so rejoice nobody but Umbra will claim your head.”

Galan got surprised for a moment, “Haha, I almost believed that even if you are strong there is no way you can defeat the headmaster alone. He has too many tricks under his sleeve.” But Galan then realized, Riou wasn’t joking, he was dead serious and going towards Tullius' house.

“Won’t you need help?” asked Galan.

“Yours? I’d rather not. I’d hate to have you killed... by accident, of course.”

Galan nodded, “Right.”

------------------------------------ closer to the Tullius’ mansion.

Ciram rushed through the streets, the lord’s mansion was almost insights. The thugs ran away and into their holes while Ciram quickly tried to return to inform what happened.

“Ciram...” A voice came from an alley the agent just crossed, Ciram stopped and looked at it confused as to whom could have called for him. “Who is there?”

As Riou emerged from it with a smile, the agent swallowed hard, widened his eyes with an expression filled with concern, “You? How did you catch up to me? I didn’t stop!”

Riou walked towards him with a smile. “So, you like kidnapping women, don’t you? Tell me, how many did you capture for your boss?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

slap Riou hit the man with the back of his hand with such a power that the man lost his balance for a moment. The guild agent looked at Riou and began to run towards Tullius’ house desperately while Riou just casually walked after him.

Ciram approached the gate, his face was swollen where he was hit and very red. They recognized the agent and began opening the gate when Riou appeared, walking after Ciram.

“What are you waiting for? Attack him!” Urged Ciram as he entered the garden. The guards rushed at Riou, attacking him with swords and spears. But Riou easily defended their attacks with bare hands and quickly disarmed them and with one hit each, put them to sleep.

Ciram looked back and watched as the guards were quickly dealt with. That strange man was once again walking after him.

As he reached the main door, he banged on it, desperately trying to get it open. But it was late and the door was locked.

He heard Riou’s steps getting closer and closer until they stopped. Ciram turned around to see Riou right in front of him.

CRACK Riou kicked Ciram on the stomach, with such force that that cracked the door open. Not only the door broke, but a few ribs of the agent also cracked underneath his armor.

Heavily injured, Ciram moved slowly and with great pain now, trying to get away from Riou that continued going silently after him.

Ciram made his way up the stairs, painfully and desperately going towards his master's office.

Riou continued after him, and whenever he caught up to the agent, another hit followed. Ensuring that Ciram kept moving, trying to get away from Riou.

Whenever they ran into guards, the same happened. They were quickly dispatched by Riou in a few moments.

The house was mostly empty now, the guests were long gone and the guards were dealt with.

Ciram finally stopped at a closed-door, he tried to open it, banged on it. “Lord… Lord Tullius… Headmaster.” He tried to call them before Riou got too close to him.

“Who is there? I didn’t call for anyone!” Tullius' voice came from the inside. He was sat down, with a glass in hand reading a book while waiting for the news of the assassination success.

He put the book down “Who is there?” But before he could go and open the door he hears from outside.

“No, no, no, wait, wait, wait!”

And the door was busted open, Ciram, his agent went through the thick wood door that was completely busted open.

“Ciram? What’s the meaning of this?” The agent was bleeding all over, his face was swollen, his bones looked broken.

“Help!” Said the agent while bleeding on the floor.

Riou then entered the room, startling lord Tullius who was not expecting to see him there.

He silently walked towards Ciram, stood by his side, and pointed his finger at the agent while looking at Tullius.

An energy spell was shot from his finger, a beam of light hit Ciram’s back. The spell burned his body causing enormous pain on the agent in the process.

Tullius got very surprised by the sight of the agent being shot by such a spell, but he controlled himself and put on a smile quickly after.

“I wasn’t expecting company, but since the illustrious Lord Brahm has come to see me. I must offer my hospitality.”

But Riou remained silent, staring at the lord, waiting for him to continue.

The smile vanished from Tullius' face, “Let me introduce you to someone… the headmaster of the assassin’s guild, I believe you will find him deadly interesting!”

Tullius stepped back as a man appeared from the corner of the room. Riou started looking at him and started to shoot that spell at Ciram, over and over now, the agent screamed and tried to flee. Desperate to end that torment.

But Riou continued until Ciram went silent and stopped moving.

“You came back, alone? Good, now I can deal with you myself.” said the headmaster.

The headmaster noticed his quick portal activating on its own, he then appeared on the other corner of the room quite surprised.

It was then that he noticed the hole on his hood, as the fire began to grow on the fabric. Right by the side of his head.

Riou shot a spell at him so quickly, that he hadn’t even noticed until then.

The fire began to spread, so the headmaster took off the hood and threw the cape to the side.

“You are good, but you underestimated me.”

Revealing a man covered in thick leather armor. A face filled with scars and very short white hair. He was old but was clearly well built and strangely muscular for his age.

“Now you lost your only advantage,” said the headmaster, throwing many leather bags around the room. As they fell down to the ground, they exploded throwing that yellow powder into the air, covering the entire room.

Riou shook his head very disappointed.

He snapped his fingers and the powder was gone.

“You are really good, it seems it was me that underestimated you now. But you are just a mage! If I close the distance, you are doomed!” The headmaster moved forward at great speed, proud to have killed countless victims before they even realized he had attacked. He unsheathed a short sword and quickly reached the enemy for the deadly swing.

But Riou just looked at him and smiled. The Headmaster realized something was wrong and quickly stopped his advance.

The escaping rune was activating as it sensed danger, the quick portal was opening and starting to pull the headmaster into safety. The headmaster looked and searched, but he could not tell what Riou had done to trigger that.

The Headmaster then reappeared on the back, away from Riou once again. He felt a hot liquid on his stomach, he looked down and noticed his armor was cut, he was bleeding profusely.

He kneeled and quickly applied a paste to his wound to stop the bleeding.

So with a greater distance between them, the headmaster pulled another leather pouch from his back, but as he looked up again, searching for his enemy. He could not tell where he was anymore.

“What are you doing, headmaster?!” shouted Tullius very concerned.

It was then that he realized that Riou was already there, staring down at him with a deadly serious expression from behind.

The headmaster swallowed hard and moved away, rolling and feeling the pain of reopening the wound on his chest.

That man was not only faster than the two Lionesses, he was on a completely different level, he managed to attack and injure him without him even noticing it.

The headmaster realized that there was no point in trying to fight him head-on. He had to use his trump card.

The headmaster opened the Tomb gateway and stepped through it. Hoping his enemy would come after him.

But Riou didn’t move and just changed his target to Tullius.

The headmaster quickly acted. Never an enemy of his showed such a leisured posture when fighting him. The lack of concern in Riou's eyes was obnoxious to him. He quickly created another portal by where Riou was standing, trying to force him to fall in it.

In a blink of an eye, Riou fell into complete darkness.

“Now I got you!” the happy voice of the headmaster echoed from the distance, reverberating in the stone walls.

The headmaster focused on his hearing and sight, looking for any source of light that he was certain to come. Luckily there were more than one of those corridors that the Lionesses destroyed earlier. So his target would have to go through an intact one and certainly, he wouldn’t get out of it unscathed.

But strangely enough, the headmaster could not hear or see any fire or light spell, there was no source of light coming from Riou’s direction.

And yet, the headmaster could hear the steps, one after the other without stopping, Riou was casually walking through his trap-infested room.

Louder and louder the steps were approaching, not a single trap or change on its cadence. The man was strolling through a park, casually as possible and the headmaster couldn’t possibly believe it.

“It must be some kind of trick,” he said to himself as he grew more and more restless. Riou must have reached the center of the by the moment he had enough.

The headmaster threw blades, then shot poison needles, and even activated the traps that released poisonous insects in the middle of the room. But the steps didn’t even stop, they continued approaching him. As if he knew exactly where the headmaster was.

The master assassin put the hand on his wound and raised the other up, turning on the red light at the center of the room illuminating the red well.

The light revealed his fears, his enemy was untouched, nothing worked on him. The headmaster then closed his eyes and began chanting in the Argonian tongue sending his mana forward towards the red crystal.

It opened in two and many black stones with red runes began to fall into the liquid

As he finished the chant, the liquid began to boil inside the well and a smile appeared on the master assassin’s face.

A mana wave burst out of the well pressuring the room with its overflowing power. A big bone emerged from the pool and smaller pieces were brought up by the liquid, forming an enormous skeleton’s arm. Around it, the red liquid began to solidify. Muscles began to appear on the bones.

The arm grabbed into the well and began pulling its body up, the skeleton was made of many different bones, much larger than a man. Transforming into a horned humanoid blood fiend, with a long and muscular tail.

It looked at Riou with its empty eye sockets and immediately whipped his tail, the power and the speed of it was significantly increased. From its tip, it launched a few bone spiked red balls that flew towards its enemy at great speed.

The headmaster breathed relieved, certain that the fight was over.

The attack hit all the rocks nearby Riou, each one exploding like a shrapnel grenade of piercing enchanted bone pieces against him.

Riou made a quick shield, just in time to protect himself from the bones that hit his shield with full force. He watched with surprise as many pierced through half of Riou’s protective spell before stopping.

He nodded at himself, “This explains those wounds…”, he looked around, especially at the destroyed parts of the room and the signs of spells. “I see, this is where they were brought. No wonder they had such a difficult time. They are really not used to this type of environment.”

The headmaster looked but couldn’t believe his opponent remained standing, without single damage. “That’s impossible, there aren’t barriers that can stop these bones! What kind of monster are you?” asked the Headmaster.

Riou turned to him and smiled “The worst kind, the kind there is no escape from.”

The headmaster nodded, “That we shall see. Because I just need to leave you here and this room will be your tomb, even if you can defend yourself, you can’t kill that being! And eventually, you will tire while that thing won’t.”

The headmaster chanted a few more words and then cast another spell on the well.

More arms began to appear from the red liquid as more of those things began to form.

“Even if you are faster than those two, you are far too distant to catch me before I use my portal stone. The Blood Fiend will attack you the moment you move!” he then reached out for a clear crystal close to where he was, removing it from the wall.

Riou began to walk towards the headmaster.

“Haha, you underestimated me, and this will be your tomb!”

The strange lord pointed his hand at the well while looking at the headmaster. The moment he closed his hand, a dry sound of rocks collapsing could be heard, deep down underneath the well.

“Do you think I have never seen a soul well before?”

The headmaster’s attention went to the well immediately, the red liquid was quickly draining away. The beings that were being formed by the well, stopped moving and fell back into the liquid before they could emerge.

As the headmaster watched in shock he destroyed his soul well. The blood fiend took the opportunity to attack and jumped at Riou.

The master assassin watched the blood fiend jumping in the air as Riou just snapped his finger towards it.

The being began to quickly petrify from its limbs up. Riou moved away from its path and the thing fell down into the rock with half a body petrified. Breaking it down into thousands of pieces as it hit the ground.

The petrification continued moving up its body until its head was the only thing left moving. It then stopped as it completely became stone.

The headmaster watched everything in complete disbelief. “This can’t be happening, nothing can destroy a Blood Fiend! A single one managed to destroy armies in the past!”

“Really? I thought it was quite simple. I’ve dealt with much worse things before.”

“What are you!? How can you be this powerful? How could you move inside this place in the dark? How can you know such strange and powerful spells? And you don’t even have to chant them!? How is that even possible? How have we never heard of someone like you before?! How!? Where did you hide all this time?” Riou smiled “If I tell you, I will have to kill you. Do you still wanna know?” clearly playing with the master assassin.

Desperation took over his expression, there was no time to lose, he could not let him approach any further or the portal would be useless like it happened with the lionesses.

The headmaster quickly opened a portal and rushed through it keeping an eye on Riou. But despite his expectation, Riou just stayed still, waving goodbye at him from the center of the room.

Back at the guild hideout, he immediately threw the crystals that led to the Tomb room into the floor and used his quick portal to move to where Tullius was.

He appeared and looked around, finally breathing relieved.

Tullius noticed his return and smiled, “So it’s done? Finally!”

The headmaster nodded, “He is trapped, there is no way for him to reach us now.”

“Good, now the only thing missing is the princess.” Tullius noticed the expression of the headmaster changing from relief to complete despair. “What?” he realized the Headmaster was not looking at him, but behind him.

Tullius turned and saw Lord Brahm emerging from the shadows and casually walking towards him.

“No, no, no, no! This can’t be! How can you escape that place? There were no more portals there I took the last of and broke it! It should be impossible to enter or leave that hole now!”

“Sorry, I didn’t know the rules. But I’m tired of dealing with you and I really need to talk to your boss here, so if you excuse us.”

A bright light crossed the room in an instant coming from Riou’s finger.

Tullius saw the beam moving right in front of his eyes and then hitting the headmaster on the shoulder. It burnt through his armor instantly, going through his clothing, skin, and bones. Exiting his body a moment later on the other side way before his quick portal could save him.

As the headmaster fell through the portal and disappeared, Tullius tried to search around. But the master assassin was nowhere to be seen again. He did not return after that.

The lord of the house could not believe what happened. The headmaster had lost. All the best agents were killed. The guild of assassins was in its last legs. He turned to Riou as he noticed that he was moving once again. The strange, adopted son of the Brahms walked to a cabinet nearby, pulled a glass cup, and put it on the table. He then picked up one of the spirit bottles on it, opened and smelled it. He then calmly proceeded to close it and put it back in place, picking up another one, he did so until he found one that he liked.

He then poured the spirit on the glass and sipped on it, finally turning towards Tullius. “So, is there anyone else you want me to meet?”

“Guards!!” shouted Tullius.

“I met them already, nice group of fellows. I gave them the night off, I knew you wouldn’t mind,” he added, putting the glass down and moving towards Tullius.

“My life is valuable! If you kill me, my army will attack Longart! My heir will receive full command and he is instructed to march right away against the capital! They will use my death as an excuse to dethrone Elrick!”

Riou shook his head, “My life, my army… my, my, my. No wonder you were so stupidly arrogant to think you could really pull this off. First the Knight captain and the court mages, then Eileen? Did you think you were already king?”

“I’m warning you! The moment my heart stops there will be war!”

Riou smiled wickedly “Are you telling me that to tease me? Because I could easily kill you and keep your heart beating inside a box if I wanted to.”

“You can’t do this, they will know… after what you did today Iris will riot! There is no way to save the king if you don’t listen to me! You are doomed”

“After what I did? I did nothing, why would Iris riot?”

Tullius frowned, clearly confused. “You attacked me! Killed my men! That’s why!”

“Did I? I did no such thing.”

Tullius' mind tilted as he tried to understand it “My men! You killed my guards! The headmaster, the agents!”

“I told you, the guards are just sleeping, peacefully. About these other people, I have no recollection of ever meeting them.”

“The headmaster…” Tullius then finally realized, the ones killed were assassins' agents. The ones he could not claim related to or he would be admitting having participated in their acts. Tullius swallowed hard. “Let’s talk, there must be something I can do for you, I will do anything to make this right. There is no need to kill me.”

“Well, killing you was never the goal. But then you have to go and mess it all up. You had Galan on your side, you knew what happened to Argos and still, still, you had to go after Eileen. How stupid can you be?”

“I… I can explain.”

“Shut up before I kill you. You will do exactly as I say if you hope to survive this night.”

Lord Tullius nodded compulsively.

“Then let’s go. We have an appointment with the manager, you will show me what’s inside the third and fourth floor of the Tulip.”

“Of course, I will get the keys immediately and you can go see…”

“Personally, you will go with me. And you better maintain my cover while we are there, I would hate to have one of those poor girls wiping the floor from the stains of your blood after we are done.”