As much as I value peace, there are some risks that need to be taken, some things that are worth fighting for. Rescuing people I know from the clutches of the welfare officers and their tamers, is one of those things.

Alo and Vice, my two classmates who were taken in for being too ‘beastly’, are still in their collars and still kept in their cells. There is no telling how long they’ll have before they’re sent off to be butchered.

I don’t need an excuse to start a rescue operation.

“You can’t make a habit out of this, and you can’t make as much of a stir as you did the last time.” Arduelle says, as she stands over me. “There are limits to what we can get away with. If the upper-level welfare officers notice a pattern they will act ruthlessly to correct things.”

“They’ll investigate us?” I ask.

“I did say ruthlessly, did I not? How is that ruthless? No, they’d at least collar everyone in the region and have them ‘treated’ off world. In the worst case this entire planet could be destroyed with all of us on it. The latter is doubtful without some serious killing, but I’d rather not mess about when so much is at stake.”

“I thought they were pretending this dungeon didn’t exist?” Nel asks, leaning over the desk as we await the arrival of a few specialists who’ll be leading this operation.

“For the most part that is accurate, but there are higher powered individuals who work on foreign policy. We do not want their attention.”

“You’re saying that we can’t rescue our friends?” I ask.

“I’m saying that you can’t make a fuss about it. Which means, among other things, no killing welfare officers or teachers.” She says, “If you can be subtle about this, then you’re free to retrieve them.”

“So, you came here to say that you approve of our stealth plan.” I say, trying to keep any hint of sarcasm from my voice. “Or is there some other reason that you graced us with your presence?”

“I also want to inform you that I’m adding a class to your schedule.” She says, smiling viciously down at me. “Veralia is going to be assisting me in making you a decent and functional person, something the academy can’t do, apparently.”

“Ah, we’re back to that project…” I mutter, as Shy sneaks into the room alongside Red. They’re both about the same height, which is to say that they tower over me, and they’re getting along surprisingly well.

“Yes. If we’re going to be working together in the long term, which is the intention, then I’ll have to ensure that you’re actually a respectable person. I’d rather not have you running about causing me trouble.”

Wait a minute.

Wait a god-damn minute.

“I’m a gremlin, aren’t I?” I say, looking up at Arduelle. “You see me the way I see them. Stupid and dangerous.”

Her eyes open wide, and she smiles. Lifting her hands, she gives me a little clap.

“You’re a little more dangerous than the gremlins, at least.”

“I’m smarter than them, too.” I say, directing a glare at her.

“You’re free to think so, but it’s bad manners to discuss intelligence so openly like this. For those of us in the upper echelons of intellectual aptitude, it’s something of a taboo to directly address these topics.”

I let out a long groan, and surrender. I can’t say that she’s wrong, because obviously I’m still human, which means I’m not exactly at the peak of all creation.

I instead use my secret move. I change the topic.

“Alright. Shy, Red, what have you got for me?” I ask, leaning over the table and meeting their eyes.

“The area is clear.” Red says. “It’s getting a little boring picking on weakling beasts. Are you sure you can’t find us another war?”

“I really can’t. The Unified States are the only enemies I know, and I’ve been informed that we’re not to fuck with them.” I reply honestly. “Now, Shy, what are the odds that we can enter, trade out the prisoners for the meat sacks and get out again without trouble?”

“With the sleep potions for the prisoners, it should be easy enough.” Shy says with a shrug. “We might be seen leaving, but it shouldn’t cause much trouble unless we get spotted by welfare officers.”

“Alright then,” I say. “A simple operation, for the three of us then.

I might have some powerful magic, but in a fight I’m still an easy target. Red is our muscle, which also means that she’ll be lifting the two prisoners out of there.

“How are you at sneaking?” I ask, looking her up and down. She’s certainly not the most subtle in appearance, but then again, Shy is the same and she’s an expert at sneaking around.

“Not as good as a proper scout, but I can make do.” She says. “Given these neat little cloaks, it should be easy enough.”

“Cloaks?” I ask, looking at what she lays out. It’s the same enchanted armour that I had developed to help our soldiers out in the war, but the enchantment has been traded out with something else.

“It’ll help disguise you.” She says, throwing it at me. I catch it and put it on.

“Charming.” Eshya says, neatening the clothes on my back. She’s itching to join us, but anymore hands than necessary will only make things more complicated.

“Are there any Skills I should try adapting?” I ask, looking between my two party members. “There’s a few stealth Skills in there but I’ve never messed around with them.”

“We’ll discuss it on the way.” Shy says, “We should head out there now. There’s no point waiting.”

“Alright. Is there anything we might be forgetting?” I ask the group gathered around us. Nel is writing down a few notes while negotiating class times with Arduelle, meanwhile Eshya is introducing herself to the rest of our guards. They’ll be following us and will stand by the door ready to act if the plan falls apart.

“Be careful.” Vii says, waving me away beside Adler who nervously joins with the waving.

“It won’t be too dangerous today. We’ll be back in no time” I tell Vii and Adler as I head out.

Before we’re even free of the city, Shy is already starting to explain things for me.

“Take the ‘Stealth’ Skill from my support device and try adapting that to your own movements.” She suggests tapping my arm.

~Skill developed.

~Stealth

I stretch my legs while letting the Skill take control of my body. At first my steps are too long, and my body twisted up a little low, but after a short walk I’m able to adjust it to my body. I’m not even nearly an expert yet, but this is enough to cheat my way through the first week or two of training, earning me basic competency in walking stealthily.

“Alright.” Shy says, leading us out the city gates, with Eshya and the guards following us. “Stealth is about erasing your presence. This means no magic. Your mana form is naturally invisible to others, your active magic isn’t. There are techniques to allow you to hide your casting, different flows of mana that spread through your body.

“You’re not going to learn that in an hour. For now, rely on the tool that your talented crafters have made for you.” She says. “There are a dozen ways of obscuring yourself. The simplest being what this is enchanted with, it’ll blur the light passing around you, like swirling up the paint on a canvas.

“For it to work you need to stand with your back against something of consistent colour and simple pattern.” She says. “Watch this.”

She moves to stand at the trunk of a massive tree, and it’s almost like the colours of the brown bark swirls around and over her. Even knowing that she’s there it’s a little difficult to make out her whole body, her arms and legs completely covered by the blended colours.

“Then there’s this which is a more advanced Skill, requiring magic that you can’t use.” She says, smirking.

In an instant she’s gone. I can’t even notice a sign of her where she was standing, there’s no hint of magic being used, and all I can see is the tree’s bark. There’s not even so much as a footstep.

“Impressive right?” Shy says, reappearing at my side and making me jump. “I’ve been practicing while I’m down here. I never used to be this good.”

“You know, scouts are meant to be good at hiding, not showing off.” Red says, with a laugh. “You still need to learn how to put up a proper fight. Hiding doesn’t always work, and I’d hate to lose a scout as good as you.”

“Yeah…” Shy grumbles awkwardly at that leading us on. “Kyra, just remember, when you need to hide, put your back to a wall and stand still. That’s the basics.”

“Understood.” I say, stretching my legs while testing the ‘Stealth’ Skill. I’ll need to experiment with the rest of the abilities later, but for today it seems I can rely on this coat to cover my weaknesses.

We travel up through the forest and into the ruins without trouble. The ruins have fewer beasts, and they’re less powerful for the most part. It’s been a while since I’ve stumbled on any strangers in these parts, but it shouldn’t be surprising considering how vast this place is.

We need to be extra careful here, the ruins are a grey area where the welfare officers are willing to pursue troublemakers. The dungeon is the only true safe zone from them.

It takes a refreshingly short time to get to the breaching point. The door was turned off, but easily reactivated. I’ll be responsible for pulling the power out of it in our retreat.

“Quiet from here.” Shy says, leading us out while Eshya stays by the door with a team of guards.

Red follows shortly after Shy while I trail behind. I can’t ready any magic as it would mess with the camouflage enchantments, so all I can do is pay close attention while carefully watching our backs.

It’s the same as I remember from the last time we came here, there’s cells on either side with beasts caged in each one. The camouflage doesn’t help us much while we’re moving, but we do move quickly enough to stay ahead of the stirring prisoners around us.

We arrive at Alo’s cell without trouble. The plant girl looks like a shrivelled reflection of the person that she once was. She’s sleeping for now, and as I step forwards to administer the sleeping potion to get her collar out, Red grabs me and pulls me to the back of the cell.

I don’t resist, lying flat against the wall a little away from Red, while turning my attention back to my perception Skill. I repress a shudder as I see Sedena walking down the hall towards us.

With our luck, she’s not going to just pass by, is she?”

The cold smile frozen on her face unnerves me to the point where I nearly summon a spell to hand. I hold back. Just barely.

I clench my jaw as she steps into the room with us, her eyes quickly focus on Alo who lies still and unmoving. She completely misses Red and I who are stuck to the wall a little apart. Shy is… somewhere?

“Stand.” Sedena orders casually, and Alo twists off of the bed to comply, waking up as her feet touch the ground. She looks around in confusion, before her gaze settles onto Sedena.

“What is it?” She grumps, staring up at the taller woman.

“Is that a beastly attitude that I hear from you?” The stone woman asks, tilting her head and smiling wider. “You should really take more care for how you express yourself.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Alo says. “We’re not getting out of here, are we?”

“What makes you think that?” Sedena says, stepping closer to the girl. If I reached out right now, I could tap her on the shoulder. “If you behave yourself, you’ll be released.”

“We do behave!” Alo says, “But then you start picking on everything we do. I… I just… what am I even supposed to do? None of this is right.”

Sedena reaches out a hand and pinches the Alo’s flower. I barely hold myself back as she plucks a petal off of a shuddering Alo, who falls back onto her bed, staring up at the stone woman in shock.

“You’re still acting beastly.” Sedena says, smiling as if she didn’t do a thing.

“How? How can I do better when I don’t know how I’m doing things wrong?” Alo cries, holding her head as she backs away.

“Even more signs of beastly attitude.” The welfare officer says, shaking her head as she folds up the flower petal and crushes it, letting the pieces fall to the floor of the cell. “I want to know, the ruins under this city, what is it like?”

“What?” Alo asks, shuddering and backing away.

“You fight down there, don’t you? You hunt like the beasts do. What’s it like to act like a beast? Does it feel good?”

“I don’t…” Alo stares up at Sedena with wide eyes.

“It does, doesn’t it?” The welfare officers says, smiling as she steps closer, leaning over Alo.

Red steps a little away from the wall, a dagger lifted in her hand.

“Stand down. No killing welfare officers.” Arduelle messages me, and from Red’s reaction she receives the same message. She quickly backs away towards the wall, hiding herself again.

I hold back my panic. A welfare officer can’t kill Alo, not like this. She can’t hurt her…

The crumpled petal remains scattered over the floor, proof that I’m wrong. I snap my attention back to Sedena as she starts talking.

“The next time I’m here, I’ll be asking for the names of the students who go down there with you. If you don’t comply, I’ll ensure that your beastliness is well known to the tamers. Think on it for a few days.” She says, turning face to face with Red but not seeing her.

Alo starts crying before the stone welfare officer has even left the room. I wait for Shy to make the first move, while my mind races, and my heart pounds in frustration and empathy. Burning tears work their way down my own cheeks.

Sedena is breaking the rules.

I should smash her limbs apart and hang her still living torso up as part of a chandelier for my throne room.

Sednea shouldn’t be able to do that, she shouldn’t recognise the ruins, she shouldn’t be hunting down the students who are coming down to the ruins.

She can’t hurt or threaten even collared beasts. Not like this at least.

Somehow, she’s not bound by her collar in the same way as she should be.

Shy makes her move before I even know it, knocking Alo out with the fumes from a powerful sleeping potion, and leaning her down. As we practiced, I move right away to get the collar and support device out of her while Red sets up our bag of plant flesh.

Hopefully similar enough to Alo, to convince the welfare officers to leave things without investigation. If Sedena is the one investigating however…

There’s nothing we can do to improve the plan now, so we keep moving, quickly getting to Vice’s cell.

“Who’s there?” She asks, jumping from her bed only to be caught in Shy’s arms as she stumbles down from the potion’s effects. Again, I pull the collar and Red sets the flesh replacement down. The chunks of flesh are filled with an explosive that should scatter the remains and make it difficult to tell who they belonged to, while the spilt silver on the ground from their broken collars should add to the scene.

We rush out of the facility, Red carrying the pair under her arms as we pray that no one important sees us. When we pass through the door to the ruins, I can finally let out a building sigh.

We remain on alert all the way back down into the dungeon, where we can finally be free of our concerns.

I need to ask Adler how Sedena might be breaking the rules. The odds of her being the killer are up that much worse now.

Arduelle told us not to kill welfare officers, but surely she can make an exception.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 5783 units

~Mana distribution:

Category Current Max. Defence 20% 100% Offense 20% 100% Mana Sense 20% 100% Recovery 20% 100% Gluttony 10% 100% Misc. 10% 100% Efficiency 100% 100%

~Favourited Skills:

-Tag and Film

-Trapping

-Stealth

-Mana surge movement

-Annihilation defence

-Annihilation flame burst

-Annihilation net

-Eyes of an Empire

Adaptions:

-Quick perception mind

-Annihilation Heart

-Clean bowels