“Dad! What is going on?!?! It’s been more than 2 week! You said you will handle it, but the Varradon mines are still working as always. What happened to all your plans?” (Dominick Trigent)

“It’s the new mage they’ve hired. He’s much better than I’ve anticipated. I’ve sent earth mages to collapse the tunnels to trap the workers, I’ve placed venomous toxic gas spewing Heinfrils in the deep end of the mines, and I’ve even set a pack of Fientrals that were notorious in Wanda on the mines. And yet, each and every time, the mage would interfere. He cleared the rubble and released the trapped miners. He eliminated the snakes, and the Fientral, according to my information network, just ran away at the sight of him. I have no idea what is going on anymore.” (Victor Trigent)

“That’s not what I was talking about! Didn’t you say if you hit the mines, the girl will withdraw from school? And yet, now she has taken my spot as the top mage student in the academy, and she and her butler are still healthy and well. Can’t you do something about it? We need to teach these commoners that just because they climbed their way up to nobility doesn’t change the fact that they are from a commoner’s bloodline.” (Dominick)

“Hmm. You are right son. Maybe I’ve been going about this all wrong. Maybe the way to get to Revil Varradon is not through his business, but instead, through his daughter. We could use her to bring the family’s business down, while at the same time crippling their finances so deeply that they will never recover anytime in the future. I just have the perfect person in mind for that, though it will be costly.” (Victor)

[[Later that night]]

“How nice to be doing business with you again Victor. What will it be this time?” (???)

“Thank you for agreeing to meet me at my home on such short notice. I wasn’t sure if you had any other assignments you were working on. However, this is quite urgent you see, and I believe it will be rather profitable for you too.” (Victor)

“Why don’t you say it, and I shall consider my odds. If the rewards are good enough, I’m sure I will be more than happy to help out a regular client.” (???)

“I want – no I NEED you to kidnap Nicole Varradon, the sole daughter of Revil Varradon. I will pay you 2 platinum coins for this assignment if it is successful. Hold the ransom at whatever price you see fit, just make sure to scar the girl for life. We will split the ransom money 50:50. However, if you manage to kill the mysterious mage that is under the employment of the Varradon family, I am willing to split the ransom at 80:20 in your favor. How’s that sound?” (Victor)

“There must be something you are not telling me. For a simple kidnapping job, you are willing to fork out more money than you have ever offered me? What’s the catch?” (???)

“How about 3 platinum coins instead of 2 and I don’t answer that question? I just really need this job done. And of course, it must not be traced back to me. Varradon has many enemies; you can mislead the authorities to one of them for all I care.” (Victor)

With a swift motion, the cloaked figure swung his arm and threw out a dart. The dart flew straight and true, piercing Dominick’s neck, and within moments, Dominick fell to the ground, unconscious.

“You! What have you done?! Were you hired by Varradon already?!?” Victor yelled, panicking as he propped his son up on his bent knee. He did not bring any guards along because this was supposed to be a secret meeting. And even if he did, knowing this man, the guards would be no match for him.

“I don’t need your paltry gold! I value my life over your rewards. Since you won’t tell me what I am up against, I will be holding your son as collateral. The poison that coated the dart is a slow acting agent. It will slowly shut down vital organs in the body after 7 days. If I die on this mission, so will your son. If I deemed it too dangerous for myself, of course, I will abandon it, but I expect a payment for my efforts, or else your son dies too. If everything goes according to plan, I will be back within 5 days, long before the poison has any detrimental effects on the boy. Well whatever the case, I will be seeing you again soon.” (???)

Without waiting for a response from Victor, the cloaked figure melded into the darkness and disappeared, with no trace of the meeting ever happening, except for the unconscious boy in Victor’s arms. Victor brought his son home by himself that night, refused to explain what had happened to either his family or the servants. Laying his son on the bed, he just prayed that the man would be back, slowly regretting the decision he had made.

Over the next 3 days, Kiefer constantly felt a presence hanging around Nicole and the Varradon household. The figure was obviously experienced in such espionage activities, only ever acting when there was no one around. He always kept a safe distance away from his target, and always out of sight, but never losing track.

Kiefer, however, was not the least bit worried. Be it a frontal assault, or a sneak attack, magical or physical, he was confident in his ability to protect the family. He did, however have a glaring loophole which he had discovered inside one of the mines. He was highly susceptible to poisons. It was neither a magical nor physical attack, and he had very limited knowledge on poisons, of the world or even earth’s.

When handling the poison gas incident at the mines, Kiefer accidentally inhaled some and could instantly feel his muscles shutting down as paralysis took effect. He took countermeasures instantly, relying on his limited knowledge on poisons, and extensive knowledge on human biology.

First using his orihalcom to form a wall to separate him from the poisonous gas diffusing from the inside of the mine, he then concentrated on purging the poison in his systems. Using his mana, he constricted blood flow to all muscles, while dilating the arteries leading to the liver and kidneys. Enhancing his heart, he quickly pumped the blood to the 2 organs, as they quickly and efficiently broke down the poison and removed the by products from the blood.

Finally, when he was feeling better, he remodeled the orihalcom wall to add a large diameter tube leading out and above the mines, with fan blades in the tube that he rotated to siphon the gas out. He had already identified the cluster of animals inside the cave responsible for the poison gas and once the gasses were fumed out, he teleported in and enclosed the cluster of snakes inside a sealed orihalcom container.

“This job is more complicated than I predicted. My huge oversight is to blame though. I don’t know if the enemy will use any form of poison to knock me or any of the family members out. I will just have to limit the food Nicole takes to sources that I can trust. I also need to come up with counter measures against gaseous agents.” (Kiefer)

Wrecking through his brain, Kiefer kept trying to come up with wind spells that could possibly counteract gaseous deployment of poisonous agents. Thinking through it, he realized how little he knew about the anatomy and physiology of the creature that roamed this planet. Even if he could devise a way that doesn’t affect him as a human from earth, it might not work for the humans from Aioa since they could be genetically different from him, as proven by the ridiculous heights of the people in this city.

Finally, he decided to resort to the simplest method which would be able to at least buy him enough time to get them out of the dangerous situation with minimal damage. With the possibility of ingested poisons out of the way through careful inspection of food and drinks, Kiefer told Revil to assemble everyone in the family and key servants while blindfolded.

It was late at night and the head of the household had gathered his family and some servants in the dining room. They were all wearing blindfolds, unsure of what was going on. Using his mana pulse, Kiefer confirmed that the stalker was not there before he proceeded with his duties. Moving along each member, Revil reassured them that nothing bad was happening and just told them to be very still.

Kiefer proceeded to mold his red orihalcom metal into a frame that traced along each member’s face, going above the nose bridge, below the eyes and the chin while covering the mouth entirely. From the frame, he made a small dome skeleton using the red metal, and sewn on a piece of highly absorbent fabric he had acquired beforehand from Revil. He had made a mask.

Having done one for each member present and one for Revil, he brought Revil to the other room and taught him how to use it.

“Here, these bottles contain water” Kiefer said, handing over some small red bottles with a waterproof waxed parchments sealing the mouth.

“The mask and the water are for use in case of a poison gas attack. Anytime you suspect there’s poison or smell something weird, puncture the parchment and soak the fabric of the mask with the water. Hold the mask firmly against your face and breathe through it. It may be difficult to breathe through it, but it will keep you alive long enough for me to save you. Now, explain it to your family while I join them and pretend to be part of the group.” (Kiefer)

“Thank you Kiefer. This is ingenious; maybe I can mass produce something like this for my workers down in the mines. There’s been quite a few Heinfrils reported in the area around the mines lately.” Revil replied with gratitude, and proceeded to explain to his family and Kiefer, how to use the masks.

Ever since the precautions had been put into place, Kiefer could finally relax a little bit more. He was now in the carriage with Nicole on his way home from school. Kiefer was already prepared, sensing the presence on the roof of the building 3 blocks from where they were headed.

The carriage was moving quite fast, the horses galloping through the empty street. Suddenly, the horses slumped over mid-trot and collapsed, as the carriage continued to roll over their lifeless bodies due to inertia. The reins still attached to the horses tugged on the carriage, causing it to fall over and abruptly come to a stop.

The driver was flung forwards onto the stone pavement which Kiefer softened the landing with his mana threads coiled like soft springs. Similarly, he shielded Nicole within the carriage to prevent any external injuries, but she had passed out from the shock and concussion. The 2 unconscious bodies of a noble girl and her child butler came crashing through the carriage that was wrecked in the accident. The out of nowhere a man appeared from the shadows of a building and carried the 2 children away, back into the darkness of the alleyway.

[[Somewhere in the slums of Diantes]]

Kiefer had been pretending to be unconscious this whole time, confirming Nicole’s presence using his mana pulse. He waited for the man to stop moving them, and allowed the man to tie them both up to chairs, while securing a gag over his mouth.

“This man is thorough. He knew I was a mage from the observations in the school the past 3 days. Too bad he’s in for a surprise.” (Kiefer)

“Send a messenger to the Varradon family, tell them I’ve kidnaped their daughter and I expect a ransom of 50 platinum coins in the next 2 days or I cut off one limb for everyday they are late.” Kiefer heard the assassin telling a messenger.

Peeking through his eyelashes Kiefer saw that the man was busy preparing some tools, with his back facing the 2 unconscious children. Kiefer slowly undid the ropes tying him down to the chair using his mana threads, and then removed the gag from his mouth, trying not to think of how many other people’s mouths that gag has been in without being washed.

“I better get this over before Nicole wakes up.” (Kiefer)

Swiftly binding the kidnapper in silvery webs while muffling him, Kiefer turned the surprised kidnapper around, only to see his eyes widen even more. He quickly brought the kidnapper along with him into the silent streets, and took to the skies. He kept going until he was sure that he was high enough that no one could hear the man scream.

“Now then,” Kiefer said, looking at the terrified kidnapper. “I’m sure you know what will happen if I even lose concentration for a moment, don’t you?” Kiefer asked, suddenly dropping the man a meter or so, scaring him to his wits end.

“Which do you like better? Money or your life?” (Kiefer)

“You! How can you cast magic without chanting?!?” (Kidnapper)

“That’s easy. I’m special. Now, who hired you?” Kiefer simply replied, not intending to withhold any information since the man’s fate was already decided.

“Just so you know, there is no use hiding anything from me. I can easily read your thoughts. I’m just giving you a chance to redeem yourself.” Kiefer lied, knowing that he could say anything he wanted now.

“Shit… can he really read my thoughts? What should I do now? I doubt he will let me keep my life.” The kidnapper thought, unknowingly showing the vivid expression of fear and uncertainty on his face.

Having spent quite some time growing up with his psychologist mother, Kiefer picked up quite a few tricks, such as cold reading and predicting expected outcomes. He did not miss out on the expression of the terrified man in front of him and smiled, knowing he’s got the man right where he wanted, and can probably guess what he was thinking.

“Like I said, I can read your thoughts, so just answer my question. Maybe I will let you live.” Kiefer reiterated his point, making sure to keep it ambiguous so that the man did not know of his true inability.

“The- the Demico family head hired me. He was not happy with some business transactions that went down with the Varradon head.” The kidnapper lied while looking away from the intense stare of Kiefer.

“How stupid. I’ve been staking out all of Varradon’s enemies and clearly only Victor Trigent had an issue with Varradon as of recently. Looks like he doesn’t value his life afterall.” (Kiefer)

“Well, I guess you really didn’t believe me after all. No use talking to you anymore, I’ll just go find Victor myself.” (Kiefer)

The man’s eyes widened at the mention of Victor’s name, confirming Kiefer’s suggestion. He knew he had chosen wrongly, now thinking long and hard how to save his own skin.

“I- I’m sorry! P-please! Let me go.. I—have money! I can pay you!” (Kidnapper)

“Typical. When they come to a dead end, they always try to wriggle out using money. Guess, I might as well get paid for my efforts.” (Kiefer)

“Fine. How much do you offer in exchange for your life? If I find it satisfactory, I’ll let you go.” (Kiefer)

“I- I have a pouch in my pocket. It—it has all the gold I have earned. At- at least 50 platinum coins! Please take it all!” (Kidnapper)

Using his mana rope, Kiefer fished out a leather pouch and inspected the contents. Indeed, there were quite a bit of platinum coins in it. Happy, Kiefer smiled, and pocketed the puch, and returned his gaze to the man.

“That’s good. As promised, I’ll let you go.” Kiefer said, as he released his binding on the man, watching him scream as he plummeted to his death, crashing into one of the dirty streets in the slums. Kiefer then teleported back to the house Nicole was tied up in and brought her back home.

It was late at night when there was a knock on the door. The head of security had escorted a messenger to the main house where Revil had come to see what the commotion was. Receiving a letter, Revil broke the wax seal and read the contents.

“To the head of the Varradon household, I have in my captive your only daughter and her child butler. I expect a ransom amount of 50 platinum coins delivered to the first mine entrance on port road in 2 days, or I will sever one limb from your daughter for every day you are late. If you wish to have your daughter return in one piece, deliver the money alone and do not inform the authorities.”

Seeing the house mana lamps turned on outside her door, Nicole made her way down the stairs, yawning and rubbing her eyes, still dressed in her pajamas. “Daddy? Whats going on? Why is everybody still up?” She asked in a sleepy voice, not remembering what had transpired earlier that evening.

“It’s nothing dear. Why don’t you go back to sleep? You still have school tomorrow.” Revil replied, smiling and relieved.

Meanwhile, Kiefer was standing in front of the Trigent household, in full armor. He had teleported there under the guise of the night, and bypassed the security at the gates. Kicking the door with his full strength, He sent one side of the twin doors flying to the back of the entrance lobby, with it landing between 2 spiral stairs. The commotion woke the entire family up, as Victor came rushing down, only to be greeted by the horror that is his worst nightmare. The masked mage that Varradon had hired. As he yelled for his guards, Kiefer blocked the entrance with his Orihalcom metal, and strolled towards Victor who was now shaking in his knees and at the verge of pissing himself.

“Your little game is up. I have killed the one you hired to kidnap the young lady. Just so you know, I’ve been stalking him while he was out stalking the young girl and her butler. I know of the ‘secret’ meeting you had with him and so I also know the condition your son is in. Too bad for you, I have destroyed the antidote the man was carrying. Let your son’s life be the price you pay for all the evil you’ve commited thus far.” Kiefer paused, to let it sink in, watching as Victor collapsed to the floor in tears.

“I assure you, even if you manage to find a cure for your son with however much money you have at your disposal, I will continue to haunt you, and if Dominick survives, you won’t. It’s either your life or his. The number of lives you’ve taken and ruined can only be paid back with a life of your own. Remember this for the rest of your life and know that you have to live, or die, by the decisions you made.”

With that, Kiefer recalled his orihalcom metal that blocked the entrance and blew away the guards that were futilely hacking away at the red metal with their swords. He then teleported away, disappearing into thin air right in front of Victor.

Life returned as usual for Nicole, and Kiefer continued to protect her, her family and their business from the shadows. Dominick had withdrawn from the school abruptly, leaving Nicole as the top magic student in the academy. The war outside the walls of the city waged on, with little to no repercussions in the city.

Then one day, almost a week after the kidnapping incident, Kiefer suddenly ran out the classroom halfway through the class, making Nicole chase him. However, as she left the classroom, Kiefer was already nowhere to be found. Perplexed, Nicole apologized for the disruption and simply returned to her seat, still wondering what’s gotten into the young boy.

Kiefer was crouching behind one of the stables in the academy, looking intently into the sky while limiting his mana leakage to match a regular person’s. His mana pulse during the class had detected a powerful being, approaching the city from the skies. The feedback was enormous, even greter than Sher or Isana.

“A titan.” Kiefer thought. “must be Drigor, or maybe one of the avian titans decided to make a move?” Kiefer tried to conjecture the identity of the powerful being. He had stopped releasing his mana pulse and simply enhanced his eyesight as hard as he could, staring into the space that had sent the feedback.

There, he saw a man, hooded in a khaki colored torn up cloak, descending from the skies while standing on what looked like a small sandstorm below his feet. The cloak barely fluttered as he moved at breakneck speeds towards the ground, in the direction of the Diantes palace.

Taking a risk, praying he wouldn’t be detected, Kiefer let loose a controlled pulse that barely covered the palace, and confirmed the location of the man. “He’s here. What is Drigor doing here in Diantes?” Kiefer questioned himself. The appearance of Drigor himself was one of his calculated possibilities, even though he pegged it as highly unlikely. He acted according to his predicated scenario, returning to class and apologizing to Nicole for his abrupt behavior.

“Now that Drigor is here, I don’t need to keep up the farce anymore. There is no need to find this mysterious ‘master’ to get him to lead me to Drigor. Looks like I have 3 options now. Return to Arigan and wait for Isana, Sher and the 3 avian titans, stay here and keep observing Drigor, or go and find Isana and the rest on my own.” (Kiefer)

Thinking long and hard, Kiefer decided to stay in Diantes, and maybe observe Drigor from afar. Isana mentioned that Drigor knows the location of every being that steps on his territory, so he was sure to know of Kiefer spying on him, even if he could not detect Kiefer’s mana pulse. Kiefer concluded that the best action would be to just continue with this little butler play of his, and wait for another month or so till Isana and the rest returned to Arigan.

It would be plain stupid to go search for the wandering titans on his own now, and since he had to wait for them to return to Arigan anyway, he would attempt to keep track of Drigor, maybe scout out his abilities. This way, there would be at least some useful information on the enemy he could share with the titans.

[[Somewhere in the palace]]

“The battle in the south against Fiora is yielding very little souls recently. They seemed to have come up with a way to hold off my undead army. I require more necromancers to overwhelm them. The more souls they slay in battle, the stronger I get. Are there any potential candidates for the necromancer academy this batch?” (Drigor)

“Yes Master. There are quite a few. There is a girl who has been garnering quite a lot of attention recently with her sudden rise in magical prowess. She and her butler both, are adept in 4 elements, and from the professor’s report, they seemed to have larger mana pools than anyone in the academy. Their professor personally witnessed her casting up to 20 intermediate spells without breaking a sweat.” (Informant)

“Hmm, interesting, but girls are harder to convert into necromancers. It takes exponentially more effort if the magus is unwilling. Any other candidates?” (Drigor)

“A prominent family seemed to have recruited the services of a very talented mage. My reports show that he was able to fend off multiple sabotages on their family’s business, even removing the threat of a pack of 10 Fientrals without a scratch on him or the victims.” (Informant)

“Keep going. I need more. I intend to send at least 10 more necromancers south. The more undead they call upon, and the more undead fall, the greater the souls I gain.” (Drigor)

“The military institute reports they have a knight who is skilled in swordsmanship and can use magic to enhance his body. His mana capacity is quite large as they say they’ve seen him in enhancement mode for at least 20 hours in a stretch.” (informant)

“That’s good. He’s already a warrior and willing to serve his country. He would be the prime candidate so far.” (Drigor)

The informant continued listing names and their potentials for the next 2 hours, with Drigor carefully screening and evaluating them. Finally, Drigor had heard the last of the candidates and planned his visits to the respective candidates over the next few days. Training a new batch of necromancers would only help in drawing the war out even longer, giving him more strength. Wanda was an unexpected windfall of power for him, and now he was even closer to his goal. He estimated another decade or 2 of collecting and he would finally be strong enough.

Kiefer was still worried in the meantime, worried if his cover had been blown, or what he would do if Drigor decided to initiate an attack on him. He kept reasoning with himself that Drigor did not know of his existence and that the titan had no reason to attack him. Trying to reassure himself, Kiefer started to make plans for the future, accounting for the new changes he was facing.

The next day, while he was in the middle of magic theory, Kiefer froze in his spot. Drigor had found him. Out of all the academies in all the districts in Diantes, Drigor was now standing within the academy that Nicole attended and making his way towards the classroom. He released a small mana pulse again to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating, only to reconfirm his suspicions and fears.

If a fight was to break out here, he was certain that collateral damage would destroy the entire city. Even then, he wasn’t sure he could defeat Drigor on his own. That was the whole reason they had split up to recruit the other avian titans for help.

As he stepped into the class, Kiefer saw the man he had seen in the sky the other day, except this time, he was clean shaven, and neatly dressed. The aura he emanated was terrifying, and only Kiefer seemed to have sensed it. Unknowingly, his fear was shown on his face and as he locked eyes with Drigor, Drigor smiled at him, taking confident strides towards him amongst all the other servants standing at the back of the room.

“Young man, you are quite something aren’t you. None of the other students here are afraid of me, and yet, you seem terrified. Why is that so?” (Drigor)

Kiefer swallowed a lump in his throat, visibly sweating as he did not dare break eye contact with the titan. Then, he timidly looked down, and then parted his lips, ready to give an answer.

Well, just a kind reminder, once again, on the 27th and 28th of october, I may not be releasing chapters for those days. I'm sorry guys, but Halo 5 takes priority.