Mahon haunted the night, pursuing and disabling the patrols in his direct vicinity. He cleared the surroundings with a frightening efficiency. The fights barely lasted a few seconds, and he never spent more than half a minute on the same spot. The Flow guided him throughout the noble district, and no one escaped his purge.

The late hour assured him there weren't any passants in the area, as it was mostly a residential district. The patrols weren’t numerous as the guards preferred to stay closer to restaurants and taverns in the more night-active districts at this hour, and it helped Mahon secure the area with relative ease.

Still, he couldn’t afford any mistakes. A single guard whistling, and his plan would crumble.

His attention was focused on a dozen blocks when he felt the twinge of a rhythm changing, an indication he had waited for some time now. The cultists had accomplished their mission. He went back on his steps and left the Flow just before approaching the cultists.

One of them was holding a bag over his shoulder, and Mahon knew from his previous Flowing that the child was inside.

“I’ve cleared the streets of the nearby patrols. We can escape through there.” He announced to the group while pointing to a nearby street.

Belanor acquiesced. “Perfect. Show the way then.”

Mahon shook his head. “I have a better idea. Go back on your own, and I’ll distract the guards and lure them away.”

“That wasn’t exactly the plan.” A cultist intervened.

“No, but it’s more efficient.” Mahon retorted.

“Who said you’ve got the skills to pull it out, though?” The man countered.

“Let the young prove themselves.” Another cultist chimed in. “If you weren’t a coward, you’d have suggested it yourself earlier.”’

The first cultist’s face turned black, but before he could argue back, Belanor intervened.

“Calm down, boys.” He said with an amused smile. “A new inner cultist needs to prove its worth to the group. Let him do it. What do you need?” He asked Mahon.

“A lure. Some noises will do.” Mahon answered.

The bodyguard drew her dual swords and attacked Mahon in the next second. Taken aback, Mahon still managed to dodge her swords out of instinct. He unsheathed his own weapon and parried the next attacks.

“What are you…?”

The woman continued her onslaught unfazed, and Mahon blocked the best he could. In a flash, they exchanged half a dozen moves. Mahon didn’t budge from his position and blocked every single swipe from the madwoman.

She didn’t try any sophisticated attack, and Mahon could feel she was holding back even though her stabs would have already killed a less averted warrior. She stopped attacking as abruptly as she had started and sheathed back her swords under a puzzled Mahon.

“Here are your noises.” She stated nonchalantly. She then turned to the cultist who had doubted Mahon earlier. “And he is skilled enough to kill a few patrols on his own. Let’s go, now.”

Without even looking back, or justifying further, she started to jog back to the street Mahon had indicated previously. The other cultists, Belanor excepted, threw her an astonished look. The old veteran chuckled instead.

“Let’s do it. Good luck, Mahon. See you later.” He said before following behind the bodyguard.

The cultists didn’t hesitate further and also left.

Such ruthlessness. Although she kind of helped me. In her own way.

Mahon almost thanked the decisiveness of the bodyguard, forcing the hand of the cultists to a solution where he was more in control of the mission. And that meant he could prevent any deaths if he succeeded. Smiling, he disappeared into the shadows a second after.

The bodyguard had been wrong on one point, though. He didn’t plan to kill any guard. He immersed himself in the Flow and immediately felt the rhythm of the fleeing cultists. He ran a street parallel to them and started his chase.

At first, he located some problematic patrols for the group, and got rid of them with the same proficiency he had shown before. Alas, he didn’t have time to hide the unconscious bodies, and he left them for all to see in the middle of the street. It was still the middle of the night, though, and there weren't many passersby at such a late hour.

Mahon ran faster than the group, fearing they’d meet a patrol before him and draw their attention, leading to the guards’ death. Given what he could guess from the bodyguard’s skills, it wouldn’t even slow them down. And the woman might even take some pleasure in killing them. He couldn’t let it happen.

He sped up and moved dozens of meters ahead of the group to get rid of yet another patrol. They had been on the run for some time now, and it was just a matter of minutes before someone noticed the disappearing group of guards. Taking the lead, Mahon wouldn’t let any chance for the cultists to cross someone's path.

He grabbed a guard’s whistle and rushed away from the cultists in a perpendicular street. He had cleared most of the patrols in the cultist’s path, and they had a comfortable advance before meeting anyone. He just had to lure the guards to him now.

It’s far enough.

Taking a deep inspiration, he blew as hard as he could in the whistle. The shrill noise pierced the silence of the night and awoke most of the nearby inhabitants.

Mahon continued to run, blowing even harder, and soon other whistles answered his calls. Still Flowing, the guard’s melody unfolded in his mind. He could know from where the guards would come, as if he was seeing them with his own eyes.

Time to run.

If there was something he had learnt well during his short time in Ratho, it was certainly to run until he collapsed. He had trained a lot since then, though, and it had been a long time since a course had brought him down. With a smile, Mahon challenged it yet another time. A few long strides, and he passed in a gust of wind just before a patrol.

“Here! He’s here! Blow again, Titoy!!” He heard the guard scream behind him as they started the pursuit.

But what could they do to him? He was almost flying through the small streets of Ratho, the Flow keeping his course optimal as Mahon focused on the other rhythms.

Another patrol, next street to the left.

He turned left without hesitation and stopped to wave at the stunned guards. Half a second later, he left them in the dust and sprinted away with even more guards in his pursuit. He continued to play with them until the streets were swarming with patrols.

Mahon didn’t feel the least worried about it, trusting the Flow to help him out. He was perfectly in control of the situation, as if he was a music conductor, and the guards were his musicians. They were exactly where he wanted them to be, whereas he was himself always thinking five steps ahead.

The physical effort was just another information, as most of the game was now in his head. But for a Last Red who had toyed with Amentiae for decades, fifty guards within a few streets were child's play.

For long, the guards wouldn’t dare to mention the night when they tried to corner a ghost. The night when they were toyed with until exhaustion. When they were taunted at every street corner by a provoking laugh only to find shadows a few steps later. When they pursued their own patrols, thinking it was the man they were looking for.

When the said man finally left them alone, he did so with a smile and a little wave, gently indicating the game was over, and they had lost. No guard who had been there told about that night without shivering. The official version was that they had practiced a special exercise.

Mahon jogged back to the hideout with a smile lingering on his lips. Both because of the guard’s lack of talents and the trick he had played on them, but also because he had succeeded. As he had tracked back the cultists, he hadn’t noticed any sign of battle, and that was his real victory.

No death on his watch.

Mahon knocked at the hideout door, and a cultist let him enter shortly after. He followed along and found back most of the cult ready to hear the next steps of the plan.

Belanor glanced his way and flashed him a satisfied smile. He then moved forward and asked for everyone’s attention.

“My friends.” The cultist started. “It’s time we reveal to you what our great plan is. Every piece of the puzzle is now lined up for our success. You all know, however, that we like to keep some secrets. Such a grand operation needs to have its safeguards. There will be multiple teams on the field, and it’s best if you don’t know exactly what everyone is doing. For the safety of the whole operation.”

A few cultists acquiesced. They were used to such constraints and understood the need for such a measure. Mahon, on the other hand, held back a grimace. That would mean more work for them to unravel the full plan.

“You’ll be split into two groups with two different objectives. We told you we want to end the reign of no dream pill and here is how we will do it. First, we’ll get rid of the no-dream pills factory!”

A thunderous applause met the veteran’s words, and he let the clamor of the crowd die on his own before pursuing with a smile.

“There are multiple sellers, but if we get rid of the sole way of producing no-dream pills, there will soon be no more. By then, everyone will be forced to go in Nightmare, and we’ll start the second phase of the plan. The revelations. But I’m going a bit too far ahead. Simply destroying the factory will not help us for long. The nobles are prepared for such a scenario. There is a secret storage of no-dream pills, and that will be our second target.”

Again, the little assembly let loose its enthusiasm, and Belanor let them do so.

“With no way to produce no-dream pills and no stock, the nobles will have no quick measure to prevent everyone from going to Nightmare. Then, the second phase of the plan will truly begin.”

Belanor paused and looked into the eyes of each inner cultist gathered in front of him. “Two objectives. Two teams. Team one will deal with the factory and team two with the storage. As said earlier, for safety measures, you’ll know the part of the plan you’re tasked with. I’ll now tell you about your team.”

Mahon then spent the rest of the night listening to Belanor’s plan alongside his group of cultists. He was part of team two and had been tasked with the attack on the storage. Belanor explained in detail what they wanted them to do and how. The old veteran wouldn’t be part of their team as he’d help the other group apparently, but he still went forward with the explanations.

“There aren't many older cultists within your group, but the storage is an easier objective than the factory, so you don’t have to worry. We trust you to be in charge and lead around the outer cultists to destroy the target. We took care of the guards with blackmail, but you’ll have to deal with the city patrols on your own. Show them who we are.”

The man repeated multiple times how everyone would be involved and how many cultists they were expecting. He went on with details of the plan about how they should lead their army of cultists, and what specifically they should take care to destroy. The backup plan was mostly to use the mess caused by the numerous outer cultists to let the inner cultists escape unimpeded. At least a couple hundred persons would get involved in this, if not more, and the mess they would cause would be huge.

From the size of the operation, Mahon knew they couldn’t afford to wait anymore. They had planned to intervene anyway, but now, even if Jorik wanted, he wouldn’t be able to delay the operation. It was too big.

I hope for him that he has found something useful about the backer’s origin, because he doesn’t have more time.

At the end of the meeting, Mahon tried to discuss with cultists from team one, in a last attempt to gather more information about their side of the operation, but without any success. The cultists knew better than to share such vital information, although some were more open than others.

“See you tomorrow then I guess, Mahon.” A cultist that had been recruited into the inner circle at the same time as him waved him goodbye.

“Yes, I guess so.” Mahon answered. “The grand final.”

“No, it’s just the beginning, my friend. Just the beginning.”

Mahon smiled back at him, knowing very well the man would be captured or dead before he saw another morning.

“Don’t make that look, my friend.” The cultist said again as he started leaving for good. “You’re with team two. You’re on the easier side, with all the best ones. It’ll be a stroll to destroy that storage.”

“You’re kidding me. You have Belanor and all the likes!” Mahon retorted.

The man laughed out loud as he left. “Nice one, my friend. Nice one!”

Mahon watched him leave further away, not really understand what he had meant. Shaking his head to refocus, he started his last convoluted way back to the school.

Tomorrow, it’ll finally be over.