Streams of black-red steaming blood bursts out of the corpses from noses, eyes, and ears to gather at my feet. Some soldiers who are still conscious resist but the rest assuredly die from what I'm doing.

Orders are barked inside the manor and I soon witness tables being thrown across the windows while shield-walls are formed at the doors. Their preparations are adequate to resist an army but a lone E.Vil is worse, much much worse.

I advance along with the tide of blood building up around me. Several figures who could be Nobles or officers stand out behind the troops blocking the main door. I raise my hand to aim the three golden lightning spheres at them.

The air between me and them takes a golden shimmer so I lower the power of the lightning to the minimum and activate the constructs, triggering a storm of thin white bolts.

Their defense activates as well, blocking my attack but most importantly blinding both sides. I maintain the tempest while I shape the blood I've gathered in the shape of javelins and blades.

I strike once I have a small stockpile of projectiles which shear through the chaotic flow. A good third of my constructs shatter from interference or reaching a temperature too high to retain coherence but the screams indicate many have landed.

I retrieve all my energy and lion's step into the middle of their troops just as the chaotic golden storm dies down. I seize my liangi in both hands and activate my perception construct to control my prosthetic arm, launching a horizontal slash into the broken shield-wall.

Every soldier around me and within reach of my weapon is sliced in half at the waist. Neither shields, armors, or weapons present any obstacle to the liangi's Lassus Steel blades enhanced by a sundering construct.

I keep moving forth while swinging the weapon in an endless spiral around my torso, slaughtering like a sharp whirlwind against which none stand. A few attempt to block or sever my weapon with armor-piercing constructs but the shaft of the liangi is made of the best Vuskyt and reinforced by an optimal defensive construct so they achieve naught.

One tall man with large shoulders lion's steps with a long heavy greatsword held overhead that he slams down towards my liangi. I intercept the blow with the side of my back-blade and guide his weapon away while aiming my fore-blade at his throat, slicing it.

As life pours out of his neck, the man drops his greatsword in panic and falls to his knees while grasping at his own throat. I take his head with the next arc of my blades and keep advancing.

Several dozen more fall within a few tens of seconds and then the troops break to run screaming, leaving a handful of Nobles behind. A pair raise their hands in surrender while the rest hurriedly retreats.

“E.Vil knows not mercy.” I coldly declare as I sever their arms along with their necks.

My opponents have cleared out by the time the heads hit the ground. I find myself alone in a bloody vestibule filled with torn corpses. There are cracks in the walls, broken statues, and shredded paintings.

I stand still to let my heart rest while assessing what my next move should be. Before I can reach a decision, six large figures appear. They wield longswords with steel kite shields and wear plate armor.

“Elizabeth Vil, today is the day...” I lion's step to the leader, a bulky woman, as she speaks and thrust my liangi in the center of her breastplate. “... you meet your doom.”

Her voice quivers and dies at the end as she realizes too late I've already killed her. Her defensive construct was powerful, especially applied on plate armor, but my sundering construct is leagues above, and Lassus Steel is no joke either.

She blinks a couple of times in sheer astonishment as she falls backward. The woman likely never expected her armor reinforced by flow to fail her so. The other five elites charge me as one.

They nearly overwhelm me under their coordinated first strike but I manage to lean back to dodge two blades while parrying the other three with a wide swing of my liangi.

I lion's step back and to the left as I block longswords while controlling my flow to redirect the excess kinetic force back at them. As a direct result of this, they begin fighting with more finesse, mistakenly assuming I'm stronger than they are.

It makes it much easier for me to defend myself despite the fact they move to encircle me, especially since I can clearly see the flow permeating the armors and weapons of those behind me in clear silver.

I use air-shields to deflect attacks from both sides and deliver an overhead blow with my liangi. My blades cut the one before me in two from skull to crotch and severs the one behind me from crotch to skull.

My remaining opponents panic and use all their energy in a concerted attack that I avoid by leaping high up above them and then using thick lightning bolts to cook them inside their armors.

The three scalded fuming bodies make sizzling sounds as their heated steel armors make the thick puddle of blood covering the parquet boil. This is too weak a defense for a Duchess.

I glance around to look for a live officer to interrogate for my sister but the most live one was bisected in two and, as such, is very very dead. I instinctively expect an ambush so I shape a weave of blood-strings around me as a shield before leaving the vestibule.

I enter a hallway where soldiers tipped over vases as they ran, there is a dead body on the carpet with a deep cut to his thigh. I scowl and start exploring the manor. Both me and my sister repress a dawning realization neither of us want to consider yet.

I find a long staircase that I climb up to the second floor. I happen upon a few evacuating servants who stayed behind to snatch some valuables before running but no soldiers or Nobles, nor a single sign of Roskal.

I cruise the library to look for people hiding but find none so I kick a window open, shattering the valuable glass, and fly myself up to the roof. There, I gaze upon the surroundings.

Hospitaliers are snatching Roskal's soldiers in the streets as they try to escape and tying them up before loading them in carriages. Other squads are blocking the area and preventing the imperial guard from intervening.

With this, we cannot help but to determine that Leomi tricked us. She lied again, Roskal may own this place and some of her people may live here but she isn't here at the moment.

They'll have caught officers. Do we still want to pick a fight and play along with her rules? Might have been a reverse-psychology trick, telling us to do it so we don't when we realize she screwed us again. Yet you doubt. I want to believe in her.

A crooked smile stirs my lips behind my mask. I walk up to the edge of the roof and propel myself like an arrow at a larger group of Hospitaliers. I disperse the kinetic force of my flight into the pavement which cracks under my feet.

The Hospitaliers flip to me with weapons drawn, one even tries to slash at the streams of blood coursing through the framework of hardened air-strings but the weapon doesn't do a thing to it. I slap the attacker back with the same segment he hit.

They quickly realize I'm Elizabeth Vil as I stomp towards the carriage and hurriedly make way. The officer, recognizable by the epaulettes on his white and light blue uniform, tries to question or stop me so I wave my hand to launch him aside with a burst of kinetic force gathered from the footsteps of his retreating companions who stumble as a consequence.

The officer crashes and rolls onto the street with a yelp of pain. I leap onto the carriage and seize the collar of one of the prisoners who looks like a high born. I lift her up to the point where only the tip of her toes touches the wooden boards and control my left arm to place the liangi upon her stomach.

“Tell me where Roskal is or I will skewer you.” I utter with a commanding tone.

“Dame Vil, this is a prisoner who surrendered willingly!” One of the Hospitaliers protests.

“Out of fear rather than repentance, there will be no pity or patience for Roskal's underlings this night.” I coldly dismiss.

“The Duchess is at the Midnight Palace tonight!” The Lady shrieks out with a terrified voice.

“Why?” I question.

“She's to meet someone with the connections to deal with the fallout!” She tells me. “It's not far, five blocks north!”

I secure my grip on the woman and slide her to the side as I tense my arm. She struggles as she figures out what I'm about to do but has no time to act as I propel her at the side of a building.

“Aaah!” She screams while uselessly flapping her arms.

The impact on the wall cuts it short as she loses consciousness before even hitting the pavement. I take stock of my energy reserves, finding I burned through a hundred-forty portions.

Wraith won't be there, only Roskal. How do you know? I've had to think on it, naught of what the lowlife told us has shown itself reliable so it's likely his mention of Roskal early in our conversation was meant to direct us, Lance's faction, at her.

Why? I would venture she asked too much of him or he is simply tired of being on a leash, after all he was put in prison precisely for slipping that leash and killing people he wasn't authorized to.

He could end her himself. It's certain she knows his real identity and holds it over his head with his crimes, it's also possible she has ways to deal with him. Roskal first, then.

I look to the north and launch myself through the sky like a comet with a gold-red tail. The Midnight Palace is easily recognizable from its shape as a crescent and the fact it's the largest most defended structure in the area.

There are golden runes across the walls of the main building and the entire property is protected by a tall steel bar fence. Hundreds of soldiers patrol the grounds, signifying there is likely an entire regiment here.

While my sister pointlessly tries to figure out the link between the name and form of the building, I lower my altitude and hide behind a block of large mansions because there are archers on the palace's dome roof and I don't want to be spotted yet.

I fly low and weave through the streets towards the entrance. A dozen soldiers are guarding the iron gates but I simply force my way in one go, sending them flying and likely killing a few.

I take advantage of the night to send discreet projectiles into the throats of every soldier within my eyesight, ensuring that the alarm will be delayed until others check up on them.

I easily sneak my way into the grounds thanks to the fact that each patrol holds at least one torch so I can eliminate those that pose an issue without alerting the rest but run into difficulties in approaching the building because of the sheer number of soldiers patrolling around it.

After a couple of minutes looking for an opening, I run into a trio of Nobles sharing a drink near a pond with better sight than the rest. They spot me and somehow immediately figure out I'm not meant to be here.

It may have to do with the mask, liangi, or the large gold-red weave of blood protecting me. Either way, they each expel a mass of flow fit for titled Counts and shape constructs to attack.

As I'll have to deal with at least one Duchess, I decide to preserve my energy and lion's step towards them. Unfortunately, an incredibly fast and wide air-blade catches the side of the bloody defenses I anchored to my body, sending me spiraling into a second projectile.

I swear under my breath and prepare to forcefully close the distance to end them when I spot a silver projectile fast approaching me from behind. It's so quick that, in fact, I couldn't react to it if I pushed my perception construct to the limit of its capacity.

Luckily, or not, it pierces directly through my blood-weave to plant itself in the heart of the high born standing at the center. The ballista bolt sized arrow then splits itself through the middle to form two spikes that pierce through the other Nobles' chests.

I stand baffled by the speed and precision of this execution, but mostly the fact I may not have survived had I been the target. It wasn't a coincidence that arrow was sent at just the right angle to go through your shield. No shit.

I slowly turn to peer in the distance. I spot Archer just behind the fence, holding his huge bow at rest as he pulls another one of his huge bolts from a quiver on his back.

I link my index and major to point towards the palace. Archer nods and nocks his arrow. I have little choice but to agree to temporarily work with him or give up on killing Roskal tonight.

Besides, we have no grudges so it would be really stupid to lash out just because of my bruised pride. I nod in agreement to myself and aim my palm at Archer. I launch an air-javelin that cruises through the air at a speed even higher than that of his bolt.

The construct lands between his feet and fades from lack of energy while the Shade jumps back in a startle. I turn around and rush straight at the building. An air-needle somehow makes it past my blood-weave and flashes towards the back of my head.

I lean to the side to dodge but three more fly to my right flank so I leap to the left. The projectiles arc upward when they get past me and plant themselves in the chest of three archers patrolling around the dome. I quickly conclude he's giving me directions while also clearing my path so the retaliating air-blade I send back only leaves a small cut in his cheek.

I discreetly take down two patrols as I cruise through the garden while he continues to eliminate sentries on the roof, somehow without triggering any alarms.

I check up on Archer when I arrive at the foot of the palace's wall and find him running through the garden behind me. I don't wait and directly leap up to the dome in one single jump where I find several glass ceilings around it.

There is a party with dozens of attendees bellow, they are drinking wine and eating small pastries that wouldn't satisfy a peckish mice. There are so many crests that it seems every Noble house in the Empire is in attendance, which would explain Leomi's lie.

She may not have known. An event that size? An event they would take care to conceal from enemies considering the factional conflicts. Hmph. I idly spin my liangi as I analyze the best point of entry to start a slaughter for when I find Roskal.

There are guards but their equipment is incomparable to that of the troops we just took care of. Not only do each of them have a chain-mail and wield a quality steel sword but the entirety of their gear has been engraved with runes.

Unfortunately, none of this helps me find my target and there is a sharp limit on how long my infiltration can remain undetected. Archer arrives and he points his bow towards the other side of the dome so I make my way around the structure while eliminating guards with offhanded kinetic blows to their foreheads.

Once we're on the other side, Archer leads me to the other edge of the structure where he points down before throwing his bow behind his back and jumping off.

I leap after him and arrest my fall by hardening the air only to find he's only had to place his hand on the stone to stick to it like some kind of insect. I follow him to hide at the side of a window.

“... yed me! The reason behind her death was meant to be a secret, what purpose is there to draw this damned evil to our heads? She obliterated the forces at my manor in less than half an hour!” Roskal barks from behind the panes of glass.

“What's to be done, now? No one predicted she would be in Kruzser, there was no sighting.” A man with a deep voice questions.

“All the bitch has to do is take off the mask and sleeve-glove, who would recognize her from her sole black hair?” Roskal gripes. “As for what's to be done, it's simple, negotiate with the Emperor while absolving ourselves. Find a scapegoat, coerce whoever you can, and give them a modified contract as well as any proof we have to implicate both.”

“What then? The Emperor isn't going to be so easy to trick.” The man argues.

“He's busy with the war in the east against the Rykz and owes us for the reinforcements to Telnur.” The Duchess dismisses. What conceit, wasn't it meant to be a duty of Nobles to defend the Empire? “Make sure you throw enough doubt on who perpetrated the massacre at the inn to sow doubt in the most fervent idiot following the other wench and we shall get through this without issue.”

“What about the mission to the Vau...” The man starts.

“Shut it!” She harshly and abruptly cuts him off. “This isn't secure enough a room to discuss this.” She tensely explains.

I flick a look to Archer who raises a smug eyebrow as if to say I should have noticed he's the reason I'm able to spy at all. I smirk back and raise my right palm at the window, causing the Shade to pale and his eyes to widen.

I project so much kinetic force at the glass, stone wall, and wooden frame that the whole explodes to leave a huge gaping hole in the Palace. Crrkrkbrhm. Archer, who hung from the wall, drops all the way to the ground.

Alarm resound throughout the property mere moments later, too soon for it to be as a result of what I just did so it is likely the dead and unconscious soldiers we left behind were found out.

I launch myself into the room to find it filled with dust and debris. Roskal is standing unsteadily with her arms crossed before herself, protected by a golden barrier construct.