Ilon blended into the throngs of people coming and going into the district. He slowly made his way to where the Shaman headquarters was located, even stopping for some breakfast from a food stand on the way.

After close to half an hour he finally made it to the alley way that Quyon suggested they meet up in. Seeing that neither of them were there yet he leaned against the alley wall and watched the front of the headquarters. There was a small crowd gathered in front even though it was still several hours before the deadline.

Dozens of Shamans were posted out front to keep any troublemakers in line and to wait for the appearance of Tain. Ilon had no idea if the Head Shaman was included as he had no idea what he looked like or what his name was.

After waiting for a couple of minutes, a girl with silver hair and radiant blue eyes walked into the alleyway.

“Was there any trouble?” Ilon asked. It was likely there would be reports of them staying in the inn, so he assumed that some guards or Shamans would show up at some point, he just hoped they got out of there beforehand.

“A bit. There were some guards who wanted to search the inn, but Cudlin held them off long enough that I was able to escape through the window without anyone noticing. They shouldn’t be able to make any connections from Maymun alone and if they try to force it she can fight back with force.” Quyon said, yet there was a hint of worry in her voice.

“She’ll be fine.” Ilon comforted. He would have to give Cudlin his thanks the next time that he saw him. As they waited, the crowd in front of the Shaman headquarters started growing larger and larger.

Eventually a tall lady with wild brown hair contained by a fancy hat, with similar radiant blue eyes walked into the alleyway.

“Oh, fancy meeting others here.” Maymun said as she positioned herself in front of Quyon. She gestured her head towards the left and Ilon could see that there was a guard who was walking nearby.

“I just wanted to see what this commotion was about.” Ilon said in an innocent, young sounding voice. After a couple of moments the guard walked by without even giving them a look.

“Is he gone?” Maymuna whispered. Seeing Ilon give her a nod she moved further into the alleyway and gave Quyon a hug. “Ahh, I hate the guards. They’re so persistent.”

“What happened?” Quyon asked as she returned the hug.

“They kept asking everyone questions, particularly girls. One of the guards tried to arrest one of them, and she had blonde hair! It was obvious what he wanted to do so a couple of us got pretty aggressive and they cowered out real quick.” Maymun said with obvious disdain in her voice.

“It’s good nothing happened.” Quyon said as she looked at the ever growing crowd. “The only thing we can do now is wait and see if Tain shows up.”

Time passed, minute by minute, the sun slowly making its way to it’s zenith. Eventually the humble and bumble of the crowd turned into a dull silence as tension loomed over the crowd. The Shamans had brought out five people, three girls and two kids. Yet, despite being in such a situation they all seemed relatively calm.

“Guard Captain Tain has ten minutes to turn himself in, otherwise in retaliation for the murder of Bi’wan’s family, his family shall suffer a similar fate!” One of the Shamans shouted out. The crowd remained silent at the declaration, most seemed horrified, but some were nodding their heads and shouting in agreement.

“What should we do?” Maymun asked. Tain’s family was right in front of them, now could be a chance to try and save them.

“We wait. They seem far too calm, so I’m guessing Tain has something up his sleeves.” Quyon said as she looked at the scene before them.

After five or so minutes, the doors to the headquarters of the Shamans opened and out came a rickety old man covered with various trinkets ranging from bangles to rings. His head was bald and he had a snow white beard that reached down to the middle of his chest. He wore a black robe interlaced with intrinsic design by thread that resembled moonlight.

On his forehead was a design of a full moon that seemed so realistic that to Ilon, it looked like someone had plucked the moon from the sky and imprinted it onto this old man’s forehead.

“I’m guessing that’s the Head Shaman?” Ilon spoke, transfixed on the moon marking.

“I’d assume so.” Quyon said before she looked over at the crowd, seeing movement. The crowd seemed to part slowly, allowing for someone to walk through. “Look.” She pointed.

“Seems like he showed up.” Maymun perked up. She was getting tired of waiting, the only reason she was bothering to be there was because there were potential innocents at risk. One of the things she hated the most was innocent people having their lives ruined because of the politics of arrogant incompetents.

A man with spiked up blonde hair and green eyes waded through the crowd. He was dressed in the armor that Ilon had always seen him wear, with the same sword at his side. He had several other guards with him including someone he knew, Lysa. After a couple of moments, Tain reached the front gate of the headquarters and stared directly at the old man.

“Tain, I knew you would come. Have you decided to give yourself in?” The old man spoke slow and clearly, his voice almost echoing.

“Hellion. Playing your tricks again? You know it won’t work out. Let my family go, now.” Tain demanded in a serious tone. The old geezer before him was a nasty one that would resort to doing anything should it benefit himself. The kind of person that he hated the most.

“You see, that’s where you’re wrong. This is my right.” Hellion said with a grin. “You’ve killed the family of one of my own, so it’s only fair.”

“And by what law is it your right? And with what evidence do you have to prove that it was me that hired any mercenaries? And with what evidence do you have that it was those mercenaries that killed your Vice-heads family?” Tain shot off three questions in retaliation.

“Oh, but I do have some witnesses.” Hellion said, maintaining his grin.

“Like anyone would believe them. You could have easily just hired some.” Tain responded, this time a little more unsure. Hellion seemed like he had something planned, but Tain had no idea what it was.

“Really now? Estala, why don’t you tell the crowd what you’ve seen?” Hellion said as he turned to one of the three women who were Tain’s wives. She had light brown hair in a bob cut and light green eyes.

“I overheard him talking about his plans to someone at home, so I went through his room and found some files that he kept hidden that shows proof of his plans.” The girl said with tears trailing down her cheeks, her head lowered.

“We have retrieved those files which show evidence of your crimes, Mr. Guard Captain.” Hellion shouted as he patted Estala on her shoulder. He walked forward, forcing her with him while saying, “there’s nothing you can do Tain.”

Blue light started to coalesce around Hellion and the moon on his forehead seemed to become even more brilliant. The crowd that was around Tain started to get out of the way as fast as they could, seeing that a fight was probable.

“Is that what you think, Hellion? Look around you.” Tain said as he gripped the handle of his sword. Without Hellion realizing it, dozens of guards had appeared from the right side of the street while a man leading dozens of other people had appeared on the left.

The man had swept back black hair, with a grey stripe trailing the front. His eyes shone golden with a pupil like that of a cat’s. His salt and pepper goatee was the only thing showing his sign of age. He wore expensive and luxurious clothing that showed his status.

“The Mayor and his personal soldiers?” Ilon assumed as he saw them pass by. He didn’t really know what to think anymore, the three big leaders of Mazual had gathered together in the whirlpool that was politics.

“Mayor Azeus, what are you doing here?” Hellion asked, his usual gusto gone. He had a tense look on his face now. “Did you come here to help in arresting the criminal Tain?”

“Tain? I think not. I’ve come to get rid of the thorn that’s been in my side for a long time now.” Azeus said with a booming voice. The Mayor commanded a great presence even though he was likely to be far weaker than both Tain and Hellion.

“So the Mayor has teamed up with the criminal to take me out? Even if you have, I’d love to see you try.” Hellion said with a smug grin on his face.

“You can stop playing your little charade, you know. We already have proof that you were the one who sent a Shaman to kill Bi’wan’s family. How just like you, killing your friend’s family just to try and take out your rival.” Azeus said with disdain. Hellion was backed by the Duhnovo Empire, so there wasn’t much he was able to do in the past. But now, it was different. Plays were being made in the shadows, and this was one of the opening acts of the Killian Empire.

“Hmph, so it’s come to this after all.” Hellion said as he moved his hand from Estala’s shoulder to the top of her head. “Well Tain, what are you going to do? Your family is in my hands, how about I return them to you if you kill Azeus? You can flee from Mazual afterwards and live your life in a small village in the middle of nowhere with them.” Hellion offered Tain. If it was successful he would be able to take out his two biggest rivals and obtain complete control of Mazual for himself.

Tain didn’t say anything in response, he just drew his sword out of his scabbard and pointed it at Hellion. A red glow started to emanate out of him, twirling and twisting around his body, soaking into every fibre of his being. Tain closed his eyes and let out a breath before shouting.

“All soldiers to arms! Today the department of Shamans disappears from Mazual!” Tain’s voice echoed far and wide as more guards started to appear from every nook and cranny around the headquarters.

“Very well!” Hellion shouted as his hand erupted with blue light. Estala’s head erupted into a cascade of blood and brain, signaling the start of the battle. “All Shamans, kill any who intrude!” Hellion shouted as dozens of guards rushed their headquarters.

“Men! Lend aid to Captain Tain! Make sure none escape.” Azeus signaled by thrusting his arm forward and his guards shot towards the gates.

“Jeez, this got messy fast.” Maymun said as she looked at the scene before her. “What should we do Quyon? Try and help the rest of Tain’s family?”

“Too risky.” Quyon shook her head. Both Tain and Hellion were in the manifestation level, the next rank above the sublimation level they were currently at. “If they had just entered manifestation then we would have been able to fight on par with them, but they’re already a couple tiers into it. Plus, this has changed from preventing disaster to a civil war within Mazual.”

“We are outsiders. It isn’t our place to interfere.” Ilon agreed with Quyon. They had only been in this town for a couple of days, there was no sense in involving themselves in the conflict caused by the politics of the Duhnovo and Killian Empires.

Ilon looked at the scene before him. Hellion and Tain hadn’t started fighting yet and were in a standoff. Dozens upon dozens of guards rushed through the gates into the vast courtyard in front of the headquarters where they fought with the Shamans. The main source of power that the Shamans fought with were talismans empowered by whatever totems they were blessed by, which were called rituals.

Guards used different martial techniques in order to empower their bodies through aura, allowing them to perform feats they usually wouldn’t be able to accomplish. The strongest martial technique that Ilon knew of was the Iron Heart technique that Tain was currently using, identifiable by the red aura surrounding him unlike the usual white aura of martial techniques.

Ilon saw a shaman use a talisman for increased growing speed which was empowered by his totem to cause a bunch of roots to shoot out of the ground and entangle several guards. He recognized Lysa running over to the area and swinging her sword, causing several slashes instead of just one, severing the majority of the roots and saving her comrades, except for one, who had a root pierced through their eye and into their brain.

Finally, after a few more moments, the faceoff between Hellion and Tain started.