OLD THREATS — RELATIONSHIPS OF NIMALIA

Chapter 12: Outsiders' Plan

“Alright… looks like everyone’s back.”

“And hella uncomfortable…” Pierce muttered as he scratched his back under the new earth brown cloak he was wearing. “This cloth is so irritating…”

“Rokres’s clothes do seem a little coarse…” Conrad muttered.

“But it’s all we have access to, so suck it up,” Relia countered, impatiently eying Pierce and Conrad before glancing to the side at Liask and Obra, who were also now dressed in the cloaks of Rokres. Only about an hour had passed since the group’s escape from the jail, and in that time, Pierce, Liask, and Obra had managed to sneak a quick wash in Rokres’s public baths, with the help of Conrad’s invisibility to evade detection. Following that, they nabbed a set of clean local clothes for the trio before ditching their old clothes outside the walls — now, they reconvened atop the roof of one of Fort Rokres’s buildings to plan out their attempt to stop Shade’s assassinations.

While standing on the roof, Obra uneasily looked over the edge, down at the streets three floors below. “…We sure no one’ll see us up here?” he questioned.

“I can make sure that no one hears us,” Conrad replied, “but I can only make you invisible if I’m touching you.”

“Which means you need to stop lookin’ over the edge,” Liask asserted as she grabbed Obra’s arm and pulled him closer to the center. He passed her an annoyed look in response, but otherwise settled with sitting down with the rest of the group.

Relia, however, turned to look at Conrad with doubt. “…Do you really need to be touchin’ someone to make them invisible?” she asked.

“Seems like it,” Conrad said.

“I thought Visitechnics weren’t limited by what they could touch, but…”

“Wouldn’t be surprised if Conrad’s capable of more, and just hasn’t tried,” Pierce retorted.

“Hey, c’mon, I’ve tried. I’m trying right now!” Conrad countered; as he did, parts of Pierce’s torso seemed to flicker out of view, but never completely, and never for long. “…Oh. Huh.”

“We didn’t need to be touchin’ all along? The fuck?!” Obra exclaimed incredulously.

“H-hey, I only just figured out I could do this…” Conrad responded sheepishly.

“And it looks like you still need more trainin’, too,” Relia mused. “So we can’t count on it for now.”

Liask turned toward Relia, her expression solemn. “Do you have a plan, then…?”

Relia returned the look, only to take a deep breath and shake her head. “Let’s figure out what we know, first,” she said. “From what we know, there’s only one Bleeder in the city: Shade. And from what I’ve heard from Davídrius, she’s like Conrad here: a Visitechnic, possibly also an Audiotechnic.”

“Invisibility and sound-muting, huh…”

“It’s a good combination for subterfuge, I’ll give her that,” Pierce remarked, “but even if she knows how to make someone invisible from afar, she couldn’t have been doing so while she was in jail.”

Relia nodded. “Right. So I don’t think she brought anyone with her. I haven’t heard or seen anything that would suggest that Strén or Feral are around, either. Neither of them seem the type for subterfuge, anyways… We should still be careful, but I think we can assume Shade’s actin’ alone.”

“What about CENT fields, though?” Pierce questioned, “we’re assuming that Shade is going to target this Koné Summit, right? Won’t they protect their meeting place with CENT fields?”

“That CENT stuff is pretty rare in Treséd,” Obra pointed out.

“Obra’s right,” Relia affirmed. “Rokres might be more well-off than the Compounds, but this is still Treséd. No one here can afford much, and Rokres wasted all of their CENT fields on their precious Negation Line. The jail is the only place in the city that has CENT tech.”

“Portable CENT generators are a thing, right?” Conrad asked, “do they not even have any of those?”

“No. Not that I know of, anyways.”

“That’s not very secure,” Pierce said.

“No, but no one in Treséd can afford to be secure 100% of the time,” Relia countered. “If we could, the Bleeders wouldn’t be a problem.”

“I guess… still.” Pierce glanced between Relia and Conrad. “When you guys broke us out, you weren’t exactly quiet about it. I mean, I’m glad you saved our asses — but the people here have to be planning around that.”

“Shade, too, probably,” Liask pointed out.

“To be honest, I wouldn’t be so sure,” Relia replied. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the Rokres people are proud, overly so. The last they saw of us, we had fled the walls. I even scouted a bit while you three were washin’ up — sure enough, Rokres sent patrols outside the walls… but there are none in the city. They think they’ve scared us off, that we wouldn’t come back.”

“Are you really saying that we won’t have to deal with increased security for this summit of theirs?” Pierce questioned incredulously.

“I am. Why did you think I volunteered to come back? I know the Rokresians too well to think they’d handle this situation responsibly.”

“As expected of the Wanderer!” Liask remarked. “You really do know a lot about Treséd!”

Relia passed Liask a quick glance before turning to the rest of the group. “…Anyways. Rokres won’t be expectin’ us, and they won’t be expectin’ Shade. The Koné Summit will very likely be…” She paused to turn her attention to the castle in the middle of the fort, its two towers standing taller than the entire rest of the town. “…In there. I’ve never been inside the towers myself, but I’ve heard enough to know that meetin’s like the Koné Summit are held at the top of one of ‘em.”

“How easy would it be to sneak in?” Pierce asked.

“For a lone Visitechnic, not hard. Still risky, of course, but I’d bet on Shade bein’ practiced enough to sneak in on her own.” Relia glanced doubtfully toward Conrad. “You, though…”

“Yeah, I’d really rather not go in alone…” Conrad replied with an uneasily laugh.

“Feels like that wouldn’t be a good idea, anyways…” Pierce mused. “Shade has a cybernetic prosthetic, I’ve seen her use it. That means she might have other tech with her, too, maybe even a bomb — and if a bomb goes off in there while you’re alone, Conrad, then you’re toast. You need me or Liask in there to protect you.”

“Why would he be there alone?” Obra questioned, “or even while the summit is happenin’?”

Pierce passed Obra an incredulous glance. “How else are we going to stop an assassination, aside from actually being there to protect the targets?”

“What if the bomb’s already planted?” Liask suggested, “or, I dunno, what if Shade poisons their food? She might not have to be around for the actual meetin’ to do the job…”

“Rokresians don’t eat during meetin’s,” Relia replied. “But more than that… if Shade’s plan really is to link her assassinations to Compound Tresnon, then she’ll want to make it as obvious as possible that she’s the one killin’ ‘em — and she’ll likely use tech to do it, tech that the Bleeders wouldn’t usually have. That would solidify the link to Tresnon, in Rokres’s eyes.”

“I guess that makes sense…”

“So we really are gonna have to be in that room, then, huh…” Conrad lamented.

“That’s what we have you here for!” Pierce remarked as he heartily slapped Conrad on the back. “They’ll never know we’re there as long as you’re hiding us!”

“But that means we won’t be able to see Shade, either, if she’s hiding in there with us.”

“Sure, but it’s like Relia said: Shade will want Rokres to know it was her who killed their leaders. So she’ll probably make herself visible before she strikes — and in that second, I can kick her ass!” Pierce declared. “I am a Velocitechnic, after all!”

“Yeah, but it might actually be better for you to be outside the room,” Relia said.

“What? Why?!”

“We’re assumin’ that Shade is actin’ alone, but we don’t actually know for sure if that’s the case,” Relia explained. “She might still have outside help. If so, we need someone outside to watch the meetin’ place, someone who can react fast enough to stop a threat as it appears. And if you’re inside the room, you won’t be able to see anythin’ comin’ from outside.”

Pierce frowned, his hand on his chin in thought. “You do have a point…”

“Don’t worry, Pierce, I’ll keep your friend safe for you,” Liask declared.

“Why do I need someone to protect me, again?” Conrad questioned. “I mean, not that I’m complaining about having someone in there with me, but…”

“It’s for if there’s a bomb, dumbass,” Pierce retorted. “Or even if Shade tries to use her palm blowtorch on you. As long as you’re touching someone like me or Liask, you inherit our durability, so Shade wouldn’t be able to hurt you.”

“What about me, though?” Obra pressed, “how do I figure into all this?”

“How many barriers can you make? And how far away from you?” Relia asked.

“Only a few, but I can make ‘em real strong. You saw me blockin’ those lasers, earlier,” Obra replied. “…But about the farthest I can make a barrier is maybe a few dozen meters…”

“That should be enough. Those towers, and all the rooms in them, have lots of open-air windows for ventilation,” Relia explained, “but they could also be used by an attacker to slip in. If we can find a place outside of the meetin’ room, but still in the tower for you and Pierce to hide… then you can block up those windows. Not completely, we still need the air, but enough to prevent anyone from enterin’.”

“Yeah… I can do that.”

“So…” Pierce mused, “Obra has the windows, I’m watching the room entrance for suspicious people, and if Shade makes it into the room anyways, then Conrad and Liask are hiding inside to stop her…”

“And I’ll be outside, with you two,” Relia commented as she nodded toward Pierce and Obra. “I can teleport in and out of the room as needed, I can even use Negation to trap Shade if it’s necessary. But if I do, the Rokresians will see me… so Liask, Conrad, I’m trustin’ y’all to only call for my help if you really need it.”

“Got it,” Liask replied with a firm nod.

“Aw, man, it really is just gonna be the two of us, huh…” Conrad commented with a resigned sigh.

“Just think of this as us recognizing the true value of your abilities!” Pierce remarked. “You might not be of much help in a straight fight, but stealthy and counter-espionage type stuff is exactly where you’re useful. It’s why you’re the center point of the plan!”

“Wow. No pressure, huh?”

“Ha! Sorry. If it helps, just think of this like a contest to prove who’s the better Visitechnic: you, or that bitch Shade. My bet’s on you.”

“Thinking of everything like a contest is only something that you or Phoenix do…”

“But it’s still true that this plan kinda depends on you,” Relia pointed out as she eyed Conrad warily. “Are you sure you’re up for this?”

“I wasn’t sure I even wanted to come to Rokres in the first place,” Conrad complained, only to offer a resigned shrug a moment later. “I don’t like any part of this, but I can’t really just say ‘no’ at this point, either…”

Relia stared doubtfully at Conrad for several seconds. “…Well, it’s all we’ve got, right now,” she eventually said with a sigh, and then looked over the rest of the group. “But that summit is comin’ up soon. We need to get inside and scope the place out real quick before we get into position.”

“Right. Let’s do this!” Pierce declared, as the group prepared for Relia to teleport them into the castle towers — where their plan to stop the Rokres assassinations would finally begin.

30 Minutes Later

“You find anything?”

“No… nothin’ seems wrong…” Liask muttered in reply, her uneasy gaze sweeping over the austere stone room in front of her. Circular stone walls gave rise to a surprisingly small meeting room, with a sturdy round wooden table standing in the center, surrounded by ten chairs. A blue rug separated the table and the chairs from the hard stone floor, but the rug didn’t extend all the way to the walls. Aside from those furnishings, the only other points of visual interest were the single door and the two open windows across the room from the door, providing a view of Fort Rokres below — and the grasslands surrounding it.

“…There really isn’t anything in here, huh,” Conrad mused, his hand clasped with Liask’s so as to ensure they both remained invisible while sneaking around the room. “Is this even where the meeting will—?”

In the middle of Conrad’s question, the lone door creaked open. Conrad could feel Liask jump in surprise, but he was easily able to keep them both hidden as people began to enter the room. Entering first was the short, stoic form of Chief Kores, and behind her was the slender frame of Dodre. Those were the only people that Conrad recognized, however; following Dodre was another woman, with dark skin and short dreadlocks, while the last individual to enter the room was a bald, short man with a stout frame and light complexion.

Conrad watched the last man loudly close the door behind him before the four moved to take seats around the table, evenly spaced from each other. The woman with dreadlocks stepped uncomfortably close as she took the seat right next to Conrad; he gently yet urgently yanked on Liask’s hand to indicate that she should follow him as he quietly made some distance, pressing up against one of the room’s walls.

“There’s only four…” Liask whispered once the duo had come to a stop. “Why’s there only four…?”

“Should there be more?” Conrad questioned, while ensuring that no one but he and Liask could hear their hushed conversation.

“Rokres has more cities than this. Not a lot, but more than three. But there’s only three Konés here, and the Chief…”

“Well, hey, that just means that if we fuck this up and they all die, Shade still won’t get all of the Rokres leaders, right?”

In the silence that followed, Conrad could sense that Liask was passing him a disapproving stare. Before either of them could continue the conversation, however, Chief Kores began to speak.

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“Koné Dodre,” she called out.

“Present to uphold the will of Okre, and the will of Rokres!” Dodre declared.

“Koné Misa.”

“Present to uphold the will of Tardre, and the will of Rokres,” replied the woman with dreadlocks.

“Koné Garkam.”

“Present to uphold the will of Uldres, and the will of Rokres,” remarked the bald, stout man.

“And I, Chief Kores, present to uphold the will of Rokres,” Kores finished, sagely bowing her head as she did. “This meeting of the Ah Konés will now commence.”

“Ah Konés?” Conrad questioned to Liask.

“I dunno, first I’ve heard that…” Liask replied. “Maybe these are the most important Konés, or somethin’…”

“All the more reason to keep a look-out, then. Seen any signs of Shade, yet?”

“No…”

“Let’s not drag this meetin’ on any longer than we need to,” Garkam loudly declared, cutting short Conrad and Liask’s conversation as he looked between the other three sitting at the table. “We all know why we’re here. This is about those damn outsiders, innit?”

“The Stealth & Force Corps, I believe they called themselves,” Misa responded, her tone low.

“If you’ll all recall, their offer was to bolster our defenses, in exchange for land,” Dodre stated. “Note that they never detailed what land they wanted. I think there are many ways to make this deal in favor of the Rokres people.”

“You still speak in favor of the outsiders?” Kores retorted with a scowl. “Even after they attacked you just earlier today?”

“What?!” Garkam and Misa both turned to look at Dodre.

“Outsiders? In Fort Rokres?!” Garkam exclaimed, “what the hell happened?!”

“Two days ago, we caught a handful of Chaotics attemptin’ to sneak their way into the town,” Kores explained. “They were jailed. The next day, we found their fourth — an outsider claimin’ to be a Bleeder. She was jailed, as well, after tryin’ and failin’ to kill me.”

“Why is this the first we’ve heard of this?” Misa questioned.

“The threat was contained. Until this mornin’.” The Chief passed Dodre a glance. “Dodre, you explain.”

“Tch…” Dodre scowled. “…I was goin’ with the jailer to speak with the outsiders. To see if I could learn anythin’, or if everythin’ might’ve been a misunderstandin’.”

“The outsider tried to kill me,” Kores declared.

“Regardless,” Dodre snapped, “…when we got to the jail, the jailer said the door was already unlocked. But then, before we could check it out, we were attacked. I don’t remember anythin’ after that…”

“Because you went down in one blow, like the spineless fool that you are,” Kores retorted before turning to address Garkam and Misa. “The ‘jailer’ — Olres — told me that it was the Wanderer who attacked him, and broke the other outsiders out of jail.”

“The Wanderer?” Misa echoed incredulously. “On the side of the Bleeders?”

“Didn’t you listen to the Chief?” Garkam replied. “She said the outsider claimed to be a Bleeder. And if the Wanderer’s with ‘em, then I’d bet they actually aren’t!”

“The Wanderer…” Conrad muttered, “that’s Relia, right?”

“Yeah,” Liask answered. “She’s known all around Treséd for fightin’ the Bleeders. I guess even Rokres knows her for that, too…”

“There still must be some explanation, or misunderstandin’,” Dodre insisted, completely unaware of the muted exchange between the two invisible Chaotics. “Why would the Wanderer attack us? She’s helped us before.”

“Or maybe the Compounds have finally grown some balls and are lookin’ to try takin’ over Rokres!” Garkam countered. “Always said it was only a matter of time!”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“It’s no secret that Compound Tresnon has been expandin’ their reach over the past couple decades,” Misa pointed out. “With the kind of questionable decisions the Sentry and the Ghost of Light have been makin’, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Compounds turned on us, soon.”

“I agree,” Kores declared, “this is a growin’ risk that we need to address sooner, rather than later.”

“I still think this is an absurd claim — we should be worryin’ about the Bleeders, not the Compounds!” Dodre retorted. “But either way, you’ve admitted it yourself — there’s a growin’ risk to Rokres. So why not take up the SFC on their deal? With their help, we’d crush any who oppose us!”

“And grow dependent on outsiders in the process,” Kores growled.

“I hold no fondness for outsiders, either, but Dodre has a point,” Garkam asserted. “Those SFC have amazin’ tech on ‘em. Worst case scenario, we make a deal with ‘em, let ‘em in to guard our cities, and then we just take their stuff and kick ‘em out! Bah ha ha!”

“I’m not so sure…” Misa replied. “We’ve done well on our own, so far. We could use more tools and weapons, for sure, but I think we need a better idea of what’s threatenin’ Rokres before we make a deal…”

“What?! You and your damn wishy-washy ‘let’s wait and see’ attitude will be the doom of us! Rokres didn’t get where it is today by bein’ passive! Why, my father himself…!”

“…Sounds like they don’t agree on much,” Conrad deadpanned as Kores and the three Konés launched into a heated argument.

“I’d heard somethin’ like that, but I didn’t think the disagreements would be so heavy,” Liask replied quietly. “Still… Relia’s right. Three of ‘em think Shade’s with us, with Compound Tresnon. That’s a problem…”

“And they’re thinking about making a deal with the SFC, too…” Conrad mused. “What does the SFC even want in Treséd…?”

“I don’t know, but don’t forget the original reason for us bein’ here,” Liask responded. “I haven’t seen any signs of Shade, yet. Have you?”

“No…” Conrad said, his gaze sweeping across the room. Aside from the four Rokresian leaders, the room appeared much the same as when Conrad and Liask had first entered. The empty chairs were undisturbed, and the sturdy wood table stood exactly as it was, with nothing under it, save for a small metal box attached to the middle of its underside. “…Wait!” Conrad’s attention fixated on the small box. “That box… was that there, before?”

“Huh?”

“Attached to the bottom of the table, in the middle. Do you see it?”

“Uh… huh, yeah, I think so. I… don’t remember if it was there, before. I don’t think it was…”

“You think Shade planted it while we weren’t looking? Which would mean she’s in here, with us…”

“We expected that part. But if that box is Shade’s tech, then it could be a bomb, or somethin’. We need to deal with it. Come with me.”

“Careful…!” Conrad muttered, dropping his voice to a barely audible whisper as Liask slowly moved toward the table, carefully maneuvering herself between two empty chairs to crawl under the table — all while keeping her hand linked with Conrad. Due to the size of the table as well as needing to maintain physical proximity to Liask, Conrad found himself getting dragged right up to the chairs; while the two directly adjacent to him were empty, Dodre occupied the next seat over to the right, and Misa sat in the next one over to the left. While both Konés were occupied by the discussion at hand, they were still less than a meter away from Conrad, and he couldn’t help but stiffly and uneasily watch them while focusing intently on muting any sounds Liask might accidentally generate.

“…Got it!” Liask whispered as she grabbed the metal box and yanked it off of the table. Conrad could sense her beginning to back out, so he backed away from the chairs himself, his breath caught in his throat as he anxiously awaited Liask to join him. As she was invisible, he had no way of seeing what position she was in, after all — as a precautionary measure, he increased the size of his muting envelope to include the two chairs Liask had crawled between, just in case she accidentally hit one of them.

Several seconds passed in this tense state, with Conrad too highly focused on Liask to register anything the Konés were saying. Eventually, Liask spoke up once more. “…Alright,” she muttered, her voice coming from the side of Conrad — away from the table. He rapidly backed up to the wall again as she continued, “so… I have the box, it’s in my hands. But, uh… I can’t see it.”

“Well, yeah. I’m making us invisible…” Conrad responded uneasily.

“I know, but if I can’t see it, then I can’t tell what it is. I dunno what it is.”

“Why not just… crush it? You’re super strong, right?”

“Yeah, but if it’s a bomb, won’t that just set it off?”

“Depends on the kind of bomb, I think…” Conrad mused.

“You think?” Liask responded incredulously, “this isn’t a risk we can take, then—!”

“Everyone, quiet.”

Conrad and Liask immediately froze in place in response to Chief Kores’s command. Garkam and Dodre both made to argue, but Kores preempted them by standing from her seat, her gaze sweeping across the room, as if looking for something.

“…Did she hear us?!” Liask questioned with a whisper.

“I— she shouldn’t have—!” Conrad responded, only to be cut off again by Kores.

“…Can you three hear that?” the Chief asked.

Dodre, Garkam, and Misa all exchanged confused looks before Garkam remarked, “uh… hear what?”

“Exactly.” Kores eyed Garkam warily. “It’s quiet in here… too quiet.”

“…I think the Chief is on to somethin’,” Misa said as she began looking around the room. “Garkam’s voice usually echoes a ton in this room.”

“I’m not that loud!” Garkam retorted, almost shouting.

“I did think you were bein’ a little quieter than usual, today…” Dodre muttered. “But what does this mean—?”

“Someone’s watchin’ us,” Kores declared. “Remember, one of the outsiders was a Visitechnic and an Audiotechnic. They could be here right now… outsiders, if you can hear us, show yourselves!”

“Ah, shit, shit…!” Conrad muttered in a panic as the three Konés stood up from their seats, while Chief Kores began slowly walking around the room, investigating every empty space.

“Your sound-mutin’ is too effective!” Liask hissed as the duo began moving around the room, giving a wide berth to Dodre as they passed him. “You needa stop doin’ that!”

“And what if we accidentally make a sound and give ourselves away?!”

“We already have!” Liask retorted. “We needa get them to drop suspicion!”

“Shit…!” Conrad scowled in frustration, watching as Kores continued to slowly inspect the room — and Misa joined her. “Shit… fine! I’ll stop the muting—!”

“My, you really are a novice, aren’t you?”

“Wait, what—?” Conrad spluttered, surprised to hear a new female voice beside him — just as he stumbled into an object that he couldn’t see. For a moment, he couldn’t help but look at the air in front of him in confusion, but a second later, he realized what had just happened… just in time to take a sudden blow to his face. “Agh—!” he yelped in pain as he tumbled back under the force of the blow.

“What? Conrad?!” Liask questioned as she felt Conrad’s position change via their linked hands. “What happened—?”

“It’s Shade—!” Conrad retorted, just as the chair next to Garkam seemed to begin levitating.

“What the hell?!” Garkam exclaimed upon noticing the chair — only to then crumple to the ground as the chair crashed down on his head.

“I knew it!” Chief Kores snarled as she turned toward where Garkam had just been standing. “Outsider! Show yourself!”

Entirely by coincidence, right as the words left Kores’s mouth, Liask appeared at the side of the room — having just let go of Conrad in order to lunge over the table at the invisible individual still holding the wooden chair. As soon as Liask appeared, all of the Rokresians turned to look at her, but she ignored their gazes as she made a swipe at the air in an attempt to grab Shade — but the invisible Bleeder dropped the chair as soon as she spotted Liask, leaving her position unknown.

“You’re… you’re one of the outsiders that was jailed!” Dodre exclaimed in disbelief. “What are you doin’ here?!”

“I’m… real sorry about this!” Liask replied as she desperately began waving her arms through the air around her. “But there’s an assassin here! She wants to kill y’all!”

“How convenient, that you would come up with this excuse after we detected your presence,” Kores retorted.

“I-it’s not an excuse! I’m bein’ serious…!”

While Liask attempted simultaneously to fend off the Konés and locate Shade, Conrad slowly crept his way around the table, maintaining his invisibility the entire time. Silently, he summoned his glaive out of thin air and began using it to check the area in front of him for invisible objects. Shade shouldn’t know that I have this thing, he thought to himself, so there’s no way she can plan around it, right? I just need to find her—!

In the middle of his thoughts, he felt the pole of his glaive collide with something that didn’t seem to be there. Immediately, he lunged forward in an effort to tackle whatever it was, only to be kicked away again. As he staggered back, he tightly gripped his glaive and attempted to keep the blade end out in front of him, in the hopes of preventing Shade from attacking him again — but instead, a lone hand appeared in the air next to Misa, as if disembodied, while a small opening appeared on its palm.

As soon as he spotted the hand, Conrad thrust his glaive toward it. He had never used his glaive — or any polearm — before, let alone in a combat situation, and he couldn’t see exactly where his weapon was, either; he was keeping it invisible, after all. So he had no real idea if his awkward thrust was on the mark… until he felt the blade rebound off of some solid object, and the disembodied hand shift to the side just as it fired a small flame, barely missing Misa’s head. Instantly, Liask lunged toward the hand’s location; it soon winked out of existence, but Conrad quickly thrust his glaive again, once more hitting and staggering the invisible individual before dismissing his weapon to prevent himself from accidentally stabbing Liask. The Forcetechnic, for her part, simply bowled into the wall, completely unaware of the brief struggle Conrad had just had — but as Liask recovered from her charge, a triumphant grin appeared on her face. “I have her—!”

Just as soon as Liask began to speak, an entire disembodied arm appeared in her hand — with sparks flying out of the detached shoulder. Parts of the arm’s skin peeled off to reveal bare metal and plastic as the arm fell limply in Liask’s hands, no longer attached to any body.

“What— what’s goin’ on?!” Dodre exclaimed in confusion as he stared at Liask and the arm now in her hand. “What— why are you holdin’ an arm?!”

“Who even are you?” Misa questioned as she made space between herself and Liask.

“No, wait!” Liask insisted, reaching out with her free hand to try and grab Misa. “The Bleeder is still here, be careful—!”

Liask was once again interrupted, but this time, by a loud BANG as the arm in her hands detonated. The explosion launched her through the wall behind her, where she smashed through the stone and began to fall to the ground outside. A cacophony of crumbling stone filled the room; Conrad himself stumbled backwards from the explosion, as did Kores, who had been approaching Liask. While they were sent tumbling back, however, neither Conrad nor Kores seemed too injured by the blast; Liask seemed to have borne the brunt of it, but she was no longer in the room, having been launched out if it.

Conrad quickly stumbled back to his feet and rushed over to the hole in the wall that Liask and the explosion had created, his glaive out once again to try and catch Shade… but when he reached the damaged wall, there was nothing for him to find.

“Chaos Negation!”

Conrad’s invisibility immediately wore off, prompting him to turn toward the center of the room, where Relia was now standing on the table. He quickly surveyed the room, hoping to see any sign of Shade, but all he saw was himself, Relia, and the four Rokresians.

“…Wanderer,” Chief Kores growled, glaring at Relia as Dodre and Misa moved to carry Garkam’s unconscious — though recovering — form out of the meeting room. “It would figure that you’re involved in all of this!”

“If Rokres was sane with their security and judicial systems, then I wouldn’t have to be,” Relia retorted, and then snapped her attention to Conrad. “Did you get Shade?”

“No…” Conrad muttered. “If she’s not here, then… she’s gone.”

“Damn…”

“Don’t think that act will fool me,” Kores declared. “I know the ways of outsiders. This plot of yours is a ploy to try and make me trust you, since you can claim that you stopped an assassin. But I see through you.”

“Are you serious?” Conrad responded incredulously.

The Chief eyed him with utter disdain before turning back to Relia. “And you have a dirt-speaking outsider with you, too. Olres was right. Who’s your companion, and what do you intend with Rokres?”

“We don’t ‘intend’ anything,” Relia retorted. “Listen, Chief — well, I know you won’t, but I’ll say it anyways. The Bleeders are the ones behind this. It was a Bleeder who just tried to kill you, and it was this ‘dirt-speaking outsider’ who just tried to save your life!”

“While eavesdroppin’ on our meetin’, too?” Kores snorted. “How convenient.”

Relia sighed in frustration. “I’m bein’ serious. The threat isn’t gone. The Bleeder is still out there, still invisible!”

“Wanderer…?”

Relia, Kores, and Conrad all turned toward the room’s lone door, through which Dodre had just re-entered. He eyed Relia and Conrad uneasily. “What… what are you doing here?” he questioned. “I thought…? Even after all Rokres has done for you, you’d turn on us? That easily?”

“Damn it… you aren’t listenin’! You Rokres Konés never listen!” Relia snapped. “There’s been no betrayal, here — just me tryin’ to save y’all from your own pride!”

“You could easily have just warned us,” Kores argued.

“I tried,” Relia insisted. “Ask your dumb oaf of a jailkeeper!”

“That much is true…” Dodre muttered.

“Utter nonsense,” Kores declared. “If Olres rejected your warnin’, then it was clearly flawed. And you chose to follow that warnin’ by attackin’ him, and breaking into our jail… Rokres won’t forget this, Wanderer. The Compounds’ plots against us have been foiled, and by your own incompetence, at that! Pah! You couldn’t succeed in killin’ even one of us!”

“I should’ve known it would turn out like this…” Relia muttered to herself. “…Chaos… Teleport.”

“Don’t think you can escape us so easily!” Kores shouted, watching as Relia teleported to Conrad’s side and grabbed his arm. “You’re no longer welcome in Rokres, Wanderer! And tell all your outsider friends that Rokres will not take this grave offense laying down!”

Relia responded only with a frustrated glare before muttering once more, “Chaos Teleport.”

Instantly, Conrad’s surroundings switched from the gray stone of the smoking meeting room to the grassy flatlands just outside of the walls of Fort Rokres. Before he could say anything, Relia had teleported away again — and then teleported Liask, Pierce, and Obra to Conrad’s side, one-by-one.

“What the—!” Obra yelped in surprise.

“Yeah, what the hell?!” Pierce exclaimed, turning to look at Conrad and Liask in confusion. “What was that explosion? Was anyone hurt? Did we get Shade?!”

Conrad and Liask exchanged wary glances. Conrad then released a resigned sigh as he casually sat down on the ground while Liask said, “that explosion was… uh, I think it was Shade’s arm…”

“Her arm blew up? What?!” Obra responded incredulously.

“If it was a prosthetic, then it totally could’ve had some kind of self-destruct, or suicide-bomb, or something…” Pierce mused. “Does this mean she’s dead, then?”

“I… I don’t think so,” Liask admitted. “She… I was able to grab her by her arm, but I think she detached it from her shoulder before it exploded…”

“And she wasn’t left in the room when Relia showed up,” Conrad stated flatly. “There wasn’t even a body. I think she escaped through the hole the explosion created…”

“Then she could still be alive?” Obra questioned, “she’s still in there?! Then what are we doin’? Are we gonna let this Bleeder bitch pull this off?!”

“She already has.”

“What…?” Pierce, Obra, Liask, and Conrad all turned to look at Relia, who herself was staring up at the castle towers in the middle of Fort Rokres. From their position outside the walls, they could just barely see the hole in the top of one of the towers created by Shade’s exploding arm.

“Just think about it,” Relia said, glancing first at Obra and then the rest. “Even if her plan really was originally to kill Chief Kores and the other Konés… what she has now is even better. Rokres’s leadership is convinced that the ‘Compounds’ attacked them, not the Bleeders. And since Rokres sees Compound Tresnon as the ‘leader’ of the Compounds, even though it isn’t, well… the Bleeders just made things a lot more difficult for Tresnon. Damn… she really played us.”

“Fuck…” Pierce swore, and then turned to look at Conrad and Liask. “What the fuck happened in there?!”

“We failed…” Conrad remarked, laying down on the ground to look up at the billowing clouds above. “That’s all there is to it.”

“And now we’ve made an enemy of Rokres? Seriously…?!” Obra glared irately at Pierce. “This is all your fault! If you hadn’t suggested we come here, then—!”

“Like you’re any less at fault!” Pierce retorted. “You came along with us, you didn’t even try to stop us! This is as much your fault as mine!”

“We can figure out ‘fault’ later,” Relia insisted. “The Rokresians have always been absurdly stubborn, anyways. I’m not convinced any of us even needed to be here for the Bleeders to convince Rokres that the Compounds are against them. But either way…” She looked to her left, where one of the fort’s gates was opening. “…We need to get out of here, now.”

“Damn it…” Pierce scowled as Relia grabbed Obra and teleported away. “Shit… what do we do now…?”

“Beats me, man…” Conrad replied.

“The Bleeders… are a lot more effective than I thought…” Liask lamented.

“Hmph. You don’t say,” Pierce muttered, only to then fall silent as the three contemplated the day’s events… and just what they could mean for the future of the Compounds of Treséd.