Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 01:14

Ruby Pawnbrokers’ Office, 7th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Olivia Pine Fredirin.

I am not an expert in human mannerisms by any means. My past experiences were rich and plentiful, but they were in regards to something other than humans. The prior Olivia’s memories can be recalled with crystal clear clarity, but they are too few, too sparse. I have a general idea, but there are subtle nuances that I miss. While many of my past life’s experiences are applicable, not all of them are. And to figure out which ones do and do not fit my current existence, that is the difficult part.

Negotiations can be handled in thousands of different ways, there are different approaches, different methods, different techniques, and they all show different results in different situations.

They have different strengths and weaknesses.

I chose to remain silent, to stare down the other side. By not saying anything, I showed that I was not rushed, that I was firm in my own position. I had no need to ask for anything, no need to make demands, no need to gleam my opponent's motives. I was confident, confident enough to say and do nothing.

Much then, could be seen from how my opponent reacts, If she is aggressive, if she hesitates, if she gets upset. I had my expectations.

But, they were all betrayed.

My opponent did not get angry, get nervous, become panicked. No, my opponent sat there in silence along with me. However, she did not radiate confidence like I did, she was not firm in her own position like I was. No, she had a big smile on her face as she stared at my own expressionless one. As the seconds turned to minutes, she only became happier, her smile growing.

The fact was, my silence, my visage of confidence, was just that, a fakery, a deception. I had no idea what my opponent wanted or why she was here. I had gambled that she would reveal something, and all I received was wasted time and a stupid smile as Lillian Quarry Fredirin looked back at me.

At last count, I had forty-four cousins, forty-six before Michael was killed by my own hand, and someone else made use of the chaos to kill Sebastian Lakeside Fredirin. Of those remaining forty-four, five of them were from the Quarry Family. Lillian was the middle child, she had an older brother and an older sister that were one and two years older than her respectively. She likewise had two younger siblings, the girl was three and the boy was one year old.

Lillian was only a few months younger than my own sister Pamela, she should be twelve for a few more months. Her age should mean she went to school, but for some reason, she did not. A few of my cousins stayed out of the limelight for various reasons, Morgan Goldfield, for instance, was reportedly deformed and handicapped, and as such, never left her home. A few others seemingly lacked the required skills and mentality to stand on this stage and were not active in the competition. As far as I knew, Lillian was one of those. The only rumors that the thieves guild could discover about her was that she wandered around capital all day, and she did little else.

It was always possible that she was a hidden asset, a trump card to be used only at the most pivotal moments, with my understanding of her mom, my aunt, that is what I had assumed to be the case. However, now that I met her in person, I was not so sure.

“So, what brings my cousin out this…” I spoke to break the silence, but seeing the giddy expression that came over her face, I paused.

“Ahhh….” She sighed contentedly. “I can hear you… At last, I can hear you…”

It only took me a moment to understand what she was saying. After she greeted me, she asked to speak in private, and immediately sent her guards out of the room. I had simply nodded to let Ula know she should exit too. Even as my cousin used a magic item to make a sound barrier I spoke not a single word. Thus, this would be the first time I spoke in front of her.

But understanding her words did not make me any less confused by the entire situation.

“What do you want?”

“Want? I want? What do I…?” She spoke as if she was unfocused, and she looked that way too. “Oh! What I want? I wanted to meet you.”

“Why? For what reason? Do you even know who I am?” I asked sternly.

“Yes! You are my cousin, Olivia Pine Fredirin.” She answered my last question.

But it was not an answer I wanted to hear.

I suspected as much, it really was only a matter of time until my haphazard disguise as Cat was seen through. Still, being found by one of the Quarry Family, while inside one of their businesses, was not the ideal scenario to be discovered.

“So you know who I am, and I imagine you came to find me? For what reason?”

“I wanted to meet you, I want to… I want…” She suddenly stopped as she struggled with her words. “I want… to follow you, to be with you, always.”

“You are not answering,” I said.

“Sorry!” She suddenly panicked and apologized. “So sorry!”

“Just answer me,” I said exasperatedly.

“I am sorry. I can not… describe it better… I just want to be around you.”

Something was wrong here.

I scanned her body again, even going so far as to make my scan detectable. But the results were the same. Her mana core was unsealed, but its capacity was low and the purity of her mana was also low. The meridians in her body were undeveloped, indicating she wasn’t a warrior, even her muscles appeared to be average, she would be at best Rank 2. She did have more magical items on her person as compared to the last time we met. I could sense a few enchanted items, and several different scrolls, even a few wands, two of which seemed to hold powerful spells. If I really focused, I could discover what each of the items did, but I could tell by the amount of mana that they held that they were no threat to me.

Her sound barrier was still surrounding the room we were in, but I could still tell where the others were by sensing their mana, and none of the three had moved since we began sitting in silence. Her guards were likewise equipped with magic items, but neither of the two had activated any of them.

What was I missing?

“I am… Sorry Oliv- no, my cousin.” She said suddenly. “It is just, I have heard so much about you. And… And I am not very good at… talking with others.”

“You heard so much about me?” I said while frowning, nothing she heard could have been good.

“Oh, yes!” She exclaimed, her excitement taking over. “Your brother and sister are both very proud of you, they love you very much. Even the servants of your house, they all want the best for you.”

“Do they now?” I asked, suspicion rising up in me.

“Yes. Yes, they do.” She nodded vigorously. “And your guards, they all trust you. They all are excited to no longer have to suffer. The one called Nev says you might be a bit too rash, but he is willing to protect you with his life. Ula only wants to be of use to you, Lin says you are the cutest child she has seen and wants to hug you, Jeb respects your strength, They are all in awe of you.”

“It seems as if you’ve spoken to them?”

“Spoke? Me to them? No, not at all.” She denied it. “I… find it difficult to talk to others. I just listened.”

“You listened? How is that possible?”

Yes… something was very wrong here.

“I… I heard from your knight, Carla, that you have awoken a bloodline. I have too.”

I frowned again, Lillian should have had no contact with any of the people she had named, but not only did she seemingly know them, she managed to overhear their conversations, their conversations in regards to topics they should definitely not be speaking of.

“What kind of bloodline?”

“It… is not a good one, not like yours. Mine is from a race called the Penuka”

“Penuka?” I asked as I searched my memories, but came up blank.

“Yes,” She nodded. “A race that died out a long time ago. The Penuka were a small, secretive race. Smaller than humans, but taller than halflings, they looked as if they were just tiny humans.”

“I’ve never heard of them,” I said.

“Most people… I do not think have.” She looked sad as she spoke. “There were never many Penuka, and they lived hidden amongst the humans. They had to.”

“And why is that?”

“Well… Penuka were… well, they were born with natural telepathy. They could read the thoughts of any nearby humans. They did this to stay alive, but also to eat, Penuka require the thoughts of living things to survive.”

“I see…”

If my cousin inherited the ability of telepathy, that would explain why she knew so much about me, she was listening to the thoughts of those around me.

However, something seemed off.

“Penuka cannot feed off of one person for long, that person will experience headaches and mental fatigue, so they were forced to live in places with many other humanoids. But with no other skills, the Penuka struggled to live in those place. No one knows why, but the Penuka’s abilities decreased with each generation until the entire race faded away.”

“But you inherited their bloodline,” I stated as I temporarily shelved my concern.

“Yes. I did.” She agreed, “You probably have too.”

“That is the first I am hearing about it.”

“The Fredirin Royal line is… filled with many different bloodlines. Everyone that marries in is usually a great person to some degree, and bloodlines are often the source of that, even if it doesn’t awaken. The Penuka blood may have come from my father, but it most likely came from my mother, and then from our grandfather. So you should have some in you too.”

“Mmmm… That does make sense.”

“I say that, but the amount of Penuka blood should be incredibly small.”

“And yet you managed to awaken the bloodline.”

“That… that was my mother’s doing.” her face looked pained as she said that.

“How so?” I asked while ignoring her discomfort.

“Mother knew… That to become queen, it would depend on her children, but as a woman, she could not afford to have many of us, so she decided to make each of us as useful as possible.”

“That also makes sense.”

“She knew that her children would likely carry the traces of some kind of bloodline, so all she had to do was awaken them. You may not know, but many different substances can trigger a bloodline to at least awaken partially. But, you would need to know what bloodline you are trying to awaken, and then find the corresponding substance.”

“Right.”

“Besides matching the right ingredient with the right bloodline, there are a few things that work on nearly any bloodline, even if it is less likely to work and awaken it fully. One of those is liquified Mana Crystals.”

“That would work, but…” I frowned again as I thought of how that would play out. “The person consuming that would need to be able to channel their own mana, at the very least, they would need to have their mana core unsealed.”

“Normally, that would be true. But, my mother found another way.” My cousin said with a grimace. “If she took the substance herself while she was still carrying the child, she could channel it herself.”

“I see, that is an option.” I nodded in agreement. “However, it would be very difficult, and very taxing on both the mother and the child regardless of its success or failure. At the very least, splitting off your mana and giving it to another should be incredibly painful.”

“It is,” She looked solemn as she spoke. “Three of my brothers and sisters were never born because my mother failed. And each time she would try, her screams would wake up the entire castle. It was so loud…”

“Let us table this discussion for now,” I said as I switched topics, “You’ve read the minds of my followers and subordinates, and presumably mine too, so-”

“NO!” She interrupted with a yell.

Suddenly she stood up from the chair and rushed around the table that was between us before dropping down to her knees in front of me. My cousin was nearly twice my age, but she was only a few inches taller than me, and now that she was kneeling, her legs sinking into the layer of damp paper, her head only came up to my chest.

“I have never heard your thoughts!” She stated firmly.

“Is that so? But I have no way of knowing that, I am not you, I can not read minds myself, so how can I trust you?” I asked while giving her a vicious look, “You know all my secrets, you are a huge risk to me, and you expect me to believe you?”

“It is true! I swear. Please, you have to believe me!” She practically groveled at my feet as she spoke. “I can not hear your thoughts at all, you are the only person who is silent.”

“I see,” I said, and for the first time, I smiled.

Purely mental powers are difficult for people to understand, even outsiders such as myself find them confusing. There is no visible effect, no cause, just a result. But just like with anything else, a result derived through a mental power can come to be through various means. Telepathy isn't one single thing, there are many different types.

“Can you read the mind of animals?” I asked.

“Yes! I can,” She hurriedly replied, “But all I can hear from them are vague impulses.”

“So not actual thoughts then? What about other races, elves, goblins, orcs?”

“Yes! They all sound different, but I can hear them just fine.”

“I understand.”

So, my cousin could read the surface thoughts, but likely nothing deeper. She couldn’t actually pick through their mind, she could not read through their memories, unless they target was reliving their memories. Animals did not think in the way humanoids do, so she could only feel the animalistic urges, and she could likely feel those from humans too, they were just less prominent, and somewhat masked by the actual thoughts. If what I suspect was true, she should be able to understand the thoughts of the undead too.

“Cousin, you are the only thing I can not hear, please, believe me.” She begged, still kneeling in front of me.

“What of the undead, can you hear them too? And what about plants?” I asked while ignoring her pleading.

“Yes! Yes! I can not hear mindless undead, but the other kinds, I can hear just fine. Even undead without bodies, I can hear. But… I can not hear plants.”

“I understand,” I said as my smile grew even bigger.

Souls are made from mana, but they do not reside in the mana core. The core simply generates mana, pulling it from the surrounding environment while creating a small bit itself, normal people use this and it dissipates, and they draw more as they go. Mages can store the mana, initially in the core, but with additional training, mana can be stored anywhere within the body. Still, the soul doesn’t stay there, but in the brain.

The brain thinks, it stores memories, it processes information, makes decisions, it is a vital part of a person. But the soul guides the brain, without a soul, a body would be an automaton, little more than a golem or puppet. Magic could make it move, but it would do nothing on its own and would waste away. And a soul without a brain would normally not be able to exist. Undead use negative energy to fuse with the soul and create a facsimile of a brain, but it isn’t the same. Undead can create new memories, but they struggle heavily to change their existing views and opinions. Even something like a lich, one of the most powerful undead, if it believes something to be a fact, it will find having its mind change to be nearly impossible.

Since the two, brains and souls, are two separate entities, then for them to work in tandem, some form of communication must be taking place. The soul conveys its intent to the brain, and the brain conveys the information it perceives back to the soul.

My cousin’s form of telepathy was picking up on that communication.

She can not hear the thoughts of a plant, because there is no brain, but she can hear undead because most undead have brains, and those that don’t, use negative energy to create something similar.

As for why she can not hear me, it is because I am an outsider. Currently, my body is flesh and blood, but my soul is linked to every part of it, my brain is my soul. There is no communication between the two, and with no communication, there was nothing for her to intercept.

“Does… that mean, you believe me?” She asked expectantly.

“Mmmm, Yes, I will believe you,” I answered, but then added, “For now.”

My cousin had likely never met an outsider before, which isn’t uncommon. Outsiders do not naturally live on any of the material planes, and while crossing over is not exactly difficult, it is a hassle. Even if it weren't, there are few benefits to doing so. Most outsiders will find themselves weakened when out of their home planes, and a different plane would have little value for an outsider. Any that do cross over, are usually summoned by someone on the plane, or they do so on a whim.

The offspring of an outsider will maintain most of the outsider’s traits, but within two or three generations, those traits will devolve until the children are little more than outstanding mortal children.

Thus, my cousin having never met an outsider before would be the standard state of affairs.

“I understand you can not hear my thoughts, but that does not explain why you have sought me out.” I said to my cousin, who was now almost shedding tears of joy at my acceptance, “You know what I am doing through the thoughts of my family and subordinates, so you know that you pose a massive risk to me. What is it that you want?”

Suddenly, she stood back up and reclaimed her seat opposite of me, her joyful face was replaced with one of bitterness and sadness.

“I was born with my Penuka Bloodline awakened, it has always been with me. I am a bit smaller than average, and I do not eat as much either, my fingernails are a light pink, I have four extra teeth, and my sense of smell and hearing are less developed than a human's, but otherwise, I am the same. So much so, that it was at first thought that I had no bloodline.”

“And…?”

“But I did have a bloodline, and I could hear the thoughts of others. I always could, from as early as I could remember, I was always able to hear what others were thinking. When I was still very young, it wasn’t a problem, but as I grew, I realized something was wrong. People had two different voices that they spoke with, and I could not differentiate them. I now know that what people think, is not the same as what they say and do, but back then…”

“...”

Humans are weak, extremely so. To survive, they had to form groups, communities, societies. Outsiders tend to be more solitary, relationships are built on the benefits both sides bring. As I was before, I would not have understood my cousin's problems, but with the child Olivia’s memories, I could understand some of her hardships.

“I… had difficulties ever since. Some people learned to not speak to me, and to only think at me. That helped, but a person can not control their thoughts… My tutors all hated me, I could hear what they wanted, what the answer was, but I never really understood why. When I was given books to work from, I could not figure out anything. My behavior was strange too, people would think I was odd, so I would panic and act even stranger.”

“Eventually the fact you had a bloodline was discovered, right?”

“Yes… when I was six. But that only made things worse for me. Before that, with my strange behavior and lacking academic results, my family expected little from me. Now that they knew I had a bloodline, I was suddenly valuable. My mother wanted to train me as a spy, but since I could not act normally…”

“I see… And you would be a security risk to your family also.”

“Yes… My mother was the first, but eventually, everyone in our estate started wearing magical items that blocked their thoughts, for the first time I couldn’t hear them. But, those items do not prevent me from hearing, they just create so much sound that it blocks out the thoughts, they are awful to hear. And soon after, we discovered that I needed to hear the thoughts of others for sustenance, I fell ill and almost died before my family provided slaves for me to feed off of. But, only being able to hear the thoughts of those who are miserable like that… was just as bad as starving.”

“So you wander around the city? Picking up the thoughts of those random passer-bys?”

“It is better for me to lightly feed on as many people as possible. If I only hear a few thoughts, it is easier on me too.”

“And then you met me, a person whose mind is silent… I see…”

“All I want… Is to be around you, to talk to you like a normal person. I can not feed off of your thoughts, but you are the only person I have encountered that I can be at ease around. You are my...” she trailed off.

“Well… be that as it may, we have a pressing concern to deal with now.”

“We do?”

“Yes, see, I am pretty sure I need to kill you now,” I said frankly.

“...Why?” she said, looking shocked.

“What else am I to do?” I asked rhetorically. “I could reject you, tell you to never seek me out again, but would you listen? You must have realized quickly who I really was, and you can not be so far out of the loop in regards to your family to know that the Pines and the Quarrys are not friends. Despite that, you still sought me out. Even if you could avoid meeting me again, I could never trust that, too much is riding on this for me to simply accept your assurances.”

“I… would…”

“It is fine,” I said while waving my hand dismissively. “I can not reject you. So what if I agree to associate with you? Your guards probably do not know who I am at this moment, since I assume you haven’t told them?”

“I would never tell them!” She replied.

“But they will figure out sooner or later.”

“...”

“Even if you have no intentions, someone from your family might make a move. In fact, even if we exclude your own family, there is a chance that you are under surveillance from another house, and you could end up leading them to me.”

“That… is… well…” She was at a loss for words.

“So then, if I can not reject you, nor can I agree to meet with you occasionally, my only option would be to take you into my custody. In other words, kidnap you.”

“That… That is fine…” she said, a blush spreading on her face.

“Sadly, it is not fine for me. I would need to make sure that you are not being tracked in any way, if I failed at that I could be discovered, and kidnapping you for any reason would be a huge problem. But, let us suppose that I can kill your guards and take you away without leaving any evidence for your family to follow. You would still become a huge liability to me. If I kept you hidden somewhere, having you rarely encounter anyone, an existence that would be similar to being a prisoner, the fact that I had captured you would be somewhat unlikely to leak out. But, you would also provide nothing of use to me, I would be taking a risk, a small one, but still a risk, for no gain. If on the other hand, I utilized your ability, then the risk you bring would grow.” I explained.

“I… Then…” She mumbled.

“The safest option for me would be to kill you now,” I stated matter of factly. “Granted, there is some risk to that too, your guards have probably left behind reports indicating you were acting strangely lately. Someone could follow that trail back to me, but, consider the current situation. The capital is in disorder, your death here will go unnoticed for a while. Even when discovered, you having been killed within your family's own business will provide plenty of distraction. Did you notice something happening here, and then tried to defend the building only to die in the process? Perhaps you had gone here seeking shelter, and then just stumbled upon a robbery. There will be enough confusion for me to erase my own traces.”

“I… I just wanted… to be… friends…” My cousin said as tears began to well up in her eyes.

“Friends…”

That was a concept that was somewhat foreign to me. Friendship, that did not exist in my past life. Partnerships based on benefits, the relationship between subordinates and leaders, debts owed, the feeling of superiority when the strong lord their strength over the weak, those existed. But friendship, that was unknown.

Even to the previous Olivia, friendship was largely unknown. She loved, and was loved by her family, she was treated well by the servants of the Pine Family, but as for friends, she had none.

She longed for them, however, for friends, for companions, for someone she could be herself with, to have fun with. She had read in books about friends, she had heard about it from stories, and she wanted a friend more than anything else. But, unable to make any, she was forced to rely on her stuffed animals.

“Friends… Huh…”

Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 01:22

Ruby Pawnbrokers’ Office, 7th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Lillian Quarry Fredirin.

After my cousin, Olivia spoke, she had fallen silent, lost in thought.

A part of me acknowledged that she was the only person I knew where being lost in thought equaled silence, but an even larger part of me was simply sad.

As a child, I read books. Many books. Because only when I saw written words, could I not hear another’s thoughts. I could live those stories myself, the characters within, I did not know what they were thinking, only within things like that, could I pretend to be a normal person.

I liked the stories of heroic princes, who would fight evil, who would fight injustice, who wanted to make the world a better place. And who would save the princess, and the two would live happily ever after.

By knowing the thoughts of everyone around me, I realized since a long time ago that the world was not so simple. There was no pure good and pure evil, no one was wholly unjust and wicked, or righteous and upright. Those stories were simply fiction.

And yet still, I wanted a prince. Someone who would sweep down, and save me. Whose thoughts were pure, who would care for me without any other motives. I wanted to be saved, to be rescued.

I spent my days wandering the city streets, sampling the thoughts of every person I met, in the hopes that one of them, might in some way, be my prince. My destined one.

And then I found Olivia.

She was a girl.

I could tell from the thoughts of those around her that she was not a righteous person.

She was younger than me.

Smaller than me too.

Cuter even.

And yet, she was my prince. The only person I could be comfortable around, the only person who I wanted to be near.

My destined one.

But, her words rang true. How could we be together?

I knew I was not really clever, I could only read the wants of the person in front of me. If I was unable to do that, I was useless. I couldn’t see how to overcome the problems facing us, but I knew there was a way.

There was always a way.

And by overcoming those obstacles, it would cement our friendship, our bond. Book after book proved it to be true. We might need to sacrifice, but we could do it.

I would sacrifice my family and my name without any hesitation. But I was unsure if that would be enough.

I didn’t know what to do.

Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 01:23

Ruby Pawnbrokers’ Office, 7th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Olivia Pine Fredirin.

Suddenly, I was broken out of my thoughts. I had sensed Ula and Lillian’s two guards making moves.

“Eh...? A Horn?” My cousin said looking confused.

“The sound barrier!” I shouted suddenly. “Cancel it!”

My cousin fiddled with the magic item, a small chime, that had created the sound barrier. Even as she did, I could sense that the three we had told to wait downstairs were rushing up to meet us.

Right as they reached the top of the stairs, my cousin had turned off the sound barrier.

Bbbbrrrooooooommm!

The sound of a horn echoed throughout the night.

Bbbbrrrooooooommm!

Each blaring sound seemed to shake the very building.

Bbbbrrrooooooommm!

“What… What is going on?” My cousin asked.

Bbbbrrrooooooommm!

“My La, Cat, it is the attack horn!” Before I could answer, it was Ula who burst in and shouted.

Bbbbrrrooooooommm!

“My Lady.” One of Lillian’s guards said as he rushed up to her, “We need to leave. Something has happened.”

Bbbbrrrooooooommm!

“What… Is this…?” I said to no one in particular as I was almost shocked speechless.

I could sense, a wave of wrongness approaching. It wasn’t evil, but it was corrupted so heavily that it appeared utterly alien to my senses. The very world was being tortured by this existence, the barriers between this world and the rest were quaking. The rejection between the two sides was so intense that soon reality would begin warping, trying to push out the invader.

“My Lady? What is wrong?” Ula tried to speak quietly, but she still had to nearly scream over the horn.

Bbbbrrrooooooommm!

But I did not answer her, instead, I rushed to the window and looked out.

We were on the second floor of the Ruby Pawnbroker’s office, nowhere near one of the highest vantage points in the city, not even in the 7th circle. But, the location was good, and from my window, I could easily see the great wall that circled the city.

The wall was seemingly devoid of humans, but not devoid of figures. I could see some humanoid shapes, some bestial, and some even more unnatural than that. Their bodies were made of ice, a crystal clear ice, nearly transparent with only hints of blue and white mixed in.

Bbbbrrrooooooommm!

“Elementals! Here! How?” A shocked Ula, who had followed me to the window, blurted out.

Bbbbrrrooooooommm!

Even with my back turned to them and my attention elsewhere, I could sense that my cousin and her guards had all become shocked at Ula’s words.

“Elementals?” I asked incredulously, “those... are elementals?”

Bbbbrrrooooooommm!

“Yes My Lady.”

“How…”

Bbbbrrrooooooommm!

How could those… things… those wretched things, be elementals?!

I had encountered elementals many times in my past life, they were neither good nor evil. The strongest could be a real problem, the weakest were little more than pests. They had no society, no culture, they were little more than the raw elements given form.

What was before me now, was not the elementals I had know.

Bbbbrrrooooooommm!

They were an abomination. An affront to everything that would normally exist. I couldn’t even grasp what exactly these things were.

“We need to leave. Now!” One of Lillian’s guards shouted.

Bbbbrrrooooooommm!

“Too late for that,” I said.

The elementals had already overrun the outer wall, I could sense at least twenty of them already within the 7th Circle, and more were coming in. In fact, several were heading straight towards us.

Bbbbrrrooooooommm!

“Oli- I mean, um, Cat, what should we do?” My cousin asked.

Bbbbrrrooooooommm!

“We need to destroy them,” I answered unhesitatingly.

These things could not be allowed to exist.

Bbbbrrrooooooommm!

“Okay, uh, Cat, we will help.”

“My Lady! You cannot!”

Bbbbrrrooooooommm!

I spared a glance at my cousin’s two guards, Guardian Knight’s clearly. They should both be around rank 4 or 5, no, considering how valuable Lillian was to her family, they should both be around Rank 6. If the Quarry Family was known to have any Rank 7s stationed in the capital, I would have even thought they might have been of that rank, but the Quarrys had the smallest garrison in the capital out of the six families.

Bbbbrrrooooooommm!

I was unsure how strong these elementals were, but at rank 6, her Guardian Knights should be more than a match for them. Even if I was wrong and they were lower ranked, they should still be able to fight and survive.

Bbbbrrrooooooommm!

“You have no choice, they are already here.”

My words were punctuated by a spear of ice that punched through the wall and smashed through two bookshelves before coming to a rest in the wood of a third.

Before anyone could gather their wits, the remainder of the wall was torn away. A ball of ice the size of a horse crawled in, its three massive ape-like arms pulled the body that still had two other spears of ice sticking out of it.

Bbbbrrrooooooommm!

Lillian’s guards moved, shields appearing in both of their hands and they moved in front of my cousin to protect her. However, their actions were somewhat pointless.

Before the two Guardian Knights had finished their move, my machete had already left its sheath and was brought down on the center of the elemental. Halfway through the opening in the wall, it made no effort to dodge or defend, and my blade sliced through its body. The two halves fell back down into the road where they shattered upon the hard ground.

Bbbbrrrooooooommm!

“Easy,” I said as I glanced at my now slightly chipped sword.