Reyra arrived after officially announcing it as promised and met with Ayashi, Rinzen's mother, beginning their talks. Neither Ayashi nor anybody else knew that on her ship, two other powerhouses were in hiding: Lakhmu and Rangi, now both at the Ascendri stage. Reyra wasn't taking it half-heartedly because she knew she was still not back at her full powers after raising Rangi to his new level. She needed them, especially Lakhmu, who was now bursting with newfound energy. They were simply waiting… waiting for Lia to ignite the fuse.
…
….
……
Not that long later, a message arrived back to Lia in which she and her entourage were invited to a banquet in the palace hosted by the King himself. It said that he was more than happy to hear them out, and it was also an opportunity to let them meet with her daughter. It was clear that it was a trap, but they were walking into it wholly prepared. Attending the banquet, they arrived a bit more well-dressed than wearing casual clothes but still within a limit that would be affordable to someone who was an upstart trader.
Entering the King's District was done after a careful inspection, and they had to empty out their holding bags, too. What they didn't find were the group's personal artifacts, and it was thanks to the ring on Lia's finger. Since obtaining the Realm Key, its effects became evident as Lia could much more easily manipulate No-Space. It helped with not just teleporting, enabling her to spend more time there without feeling its effects, but she could easily control holding bags in her vicinity.
When the guards emptied them out and looked for weapons, Lia's sword and all the other magical tools of the Misfits refused to fall out and remained hidden within. After the guards found everything in order, they were let in and led through the wide streets of the inner district. The houses were enormous, luxurious, and beautiful… but there was a noticeable problem. Everything was empty. No people were on the streets, nor did it look like any of the houses were inhabited. The curtains were pulled close, the lights were off in every one of them, and only the patrolling sentries could be seen on the streets. Keily almost voiced his question when Koadriana squeezed his hand to remind him to remain silent.
Walking up the palace's stairs, it was the only lively building lit by a sea of lamps in the early evening. Music was coming out from inside, and a hubbub of noises assaulted their ears. It would have been looking perfectly normal if not for the fact that looking back, the King's District was bleak and dark. Completely unnatural. Inside the palace, the ballroom was filled with people dressed in elegant and expensive clothes, as if all the nobles were present, none missing this evening. They were all influential and powerful parties, not strictly because they were good mages. They may not have overwhelming strength in person, but they were those who could influence the masses with only a few words. Scanning the people present, Lia felt that the strongest were around the 4th Tier, only an Adepti.
With a subtle wave of her hand, she gave the signal for the Misfits to take their place. Everyone knew their role as they separated, trying to mingle and make small conversations with the nobles present in the room. On the surface, it was a routine and expected move, but they were simply setting themselves up to block all the exits. Lia, wearing a vivid red dress, stood next to Rinzen, who wore a very similar one but in blue, both looking like pearls and a pair of beautiful flowers.
"What lovely gems!" Echoed a voice, followed by clapping, and it was coming from the King himself, from Magnus Kayrinev, Heliett's father.
Looking into his eyes, Lia already knew she was dealing with someone whose thoughts were clouded beyond saving. The reasons were very simple and straightforward: No king under the Berisons' territory would not recognize Rinzen… and no ruler would have not known about her mismatched eyes that were no longer hidden behind a contact lens. They came with their masks off, and nobody batted an eye to their appearance.
"King Kayrinev," Lia replied, her voice cold, looking at him and making his way towards them.
"I heard you have some exotic cargo to sell, but it never said you were part of it!" The King laughed again, looking at them with unmistakable desire burning deep within. Unlike an Undead's gaze, it was filled with wantings, cravings, and, this time, lust. Checking out the two pair's cleavage and the exposed skin on their bodies, he was acting like a beast in heat, barely able to hold his desires back.
"A lost cause." Lia sighed, shaking her head.
"This part of the city truly is." Rinzen agreed.
"..." This time, the King stopped smiling, looking at them weirdly.
The air inside the room quickly turned weird as all the talk stopped as if someone had turned it off with a flip of a switch. People were watching Lia and Rinzen, ignoring the rest, and their faces were inhuman. Like when a puppet is trying to display a kind of emotion he or she has no knowledge of. The King himself looked troubled… he was trying to think, but... No… He was trying to remember something, but he was unable to.
"Just for your own sake," Lia continued, waving her hand, summoning all their artifacts, sending them to their owner's hands, and pointing her sword at the King's throat, "Tell us if you were dominated or sold yourself out. So you can be at peace when dead!"
“Long… live…” He said, suddenly realizing who they were, but before he could finish, his eyes were obstructed by a strange power, and his mouth turned into a savage grin, "to the Lord of Souls!"
With that, he slapped away Lia's blade, his arms being covered in ice, looking like claws, striking down. The strength he was displaying was at the rank of Speciali, in the 5th Tier of Magic, not something that Lia would flinch at.
"Hmph!" With a simple dodge, she appeared on his left, and the King had no time to register her hand's movement, slicing off his hands and disarming him literally. "Kill everyone!" She roared, and Rinzen was already freezing Magnus Kayrinev IX in an icy sarcophagus before shattering his figure into dozens of pieces.
The other nobles tried to fight, but their strength was below the Misfits. Raufon managed to crack open a head with a single punch, minding not of the grey matter flying everywhere while Ceiline clawed another noblewoman in two behind him. It was no time to recoil from the bloody and gory spectacle as the whole city's fate was hanging on this night. Keily aimed a fireball at the nearby window, bashing it asunder and sending a glowing signal to the sky, giving Heliett's group the call to action.
The moment they saw it, they all attacked at the different, weakened points, demolishing the walls and rushing in, finishing off anyone they came across without mercy. Heliett and her Guard Captain rushed directly to the palace, but when they arrived, they were met with the bloody scene the Misfits had left behind. They stood amongst dozens of mangled, bloody corpses, wearing their viscera as an accessory to their elegant clothes.
"Secure the district!" Lia shouted, hurrying towards Heliett, who tried to quickly recollect herself and not burst into tears, shaking them out of her eyes. "Nobody must live; they are beyond saving! Their minds were corrupted!"
"So… it wasn't my father's… doing?" She asked, breathing heavily.
"No." Lia shook her head, her voice somewhat gentle. "Whatever caused it is still present! Seal off the palace; we will explore it! We will find and destroy it! In the meanwhile, swipe the King's District clean, burn the bodies, and move on all of your marked targets!"
"What about the people…? And about the panic?" Heliett asked while Rinzen walked past her.
"I will seal the city." She explained, "You must take control of the masses."
"Yes!" She nodded back, slapping her chest and taking a last look at the remains in the ballroom before rushing back out.
Rinzen very quickly climbed to a high spot, casting her magic, and before anyone could react, the city was sealed inside an ice dome, scaring many unsuspecting citizens.
“My name is Rinzen Berison!” Her face appeared on the mirror-like ice wall while her voice echoed above and under the city. "Sussarim is under the attack of Undead and has been quarantined. Stay in your homes, and don't come out! Anyone found in the streets will be killed without questions! Forces of the Houses will come to you and examine everyone individually! Anyone found resisting will be killed!"
"She can be forceful if she wants, eh?" Koa asked, looking out the broken windows, washing the blood from Keily's face.
"She can…" Lia murmured, "I like her when she is like that! Simbad!"
"Yes!" He saluted at once.
"Take Raufon with you and establish security around Rinzen so she can keep up the prison! Aurora, Sion, Ceiline! You go and help Heliett! Ceiline, unleash the peashooters! We need numbers and eyes to monitor the entirety of the city!"
"Already on it!" She replied as hundreds of small plants were popping up everywhere, watching, spying, and relaying the information to her so they could coordinate their operation with Heliett.
“Koa, Keily, you with me! We are going to look around the palace and find whatever the cause of this!"
…
….
……
Hundreds of kilometers away, Reyra was on a balcony, overlooking the glacier of the Berisons and the ship she came on. With the bracelet on her wrist, she had an instant connection to most forces, and right now, she was receiving reports from all the armies covertly surrounding the Berison's territory.
"We are in place, Mother." Arrived Razael's message. "Our side has around 40,000 soldiers, with 30 people being in the Three Ri realm."
"Good. Remain on standby for now. Adding the others together, our forces are around 500,000, and we have around 100 Three Ri stage mages. Your job will be to make sure to cut her off if she tries to escape! Lakhmu, Ragni, and I will deal with her not escaping into No-Space."
"It would be easier if the Headmaster of the Institute could have come." Arrived the message from Kaznak, the head of House Nerifit.
"He is injured. He can't enter No-Space in his current state. "Replied Dalal, the head of House Ro.
"Plus, he is not the only person who can use teleportation. We have at least a dozen warriors amongst us right now who can do the same." Reyra answered quickly.
"You should have learned it!" Dalal sent teasingly, making Reyra roll her eyes.
"Nobody is perfect." Answered Kawu instead of his wife, accompanying his sons as Razael, Lorin, and Solren were also present in the Amarins' army.
"Wait! Are you saying I am not perfect?" Reyra asked playfully, unable to hold back her grin.
"Perfect is boring," Kawu responded nearly immediately.
It was then that Reyra received a message from Lia detailing what had happened on their end and how she began to search for whatever caused the corruption.
"Get ready, everyone!" Reyra sent it on all channels. "It has begun! Our trap is soon to be activated!"
Reyra didn't know that the exact words were uttered from another mouth right then. It was echoing in five other Soulbound Supreme Elders' minds, making them excited and hungry… hungry for the banquet of souls as the initial transformation of thousands of people will result in them slurping up their souls, making empty shells for their subordinates to occupy.
Reyra arrived after officially announcing it as promised and met with Ayashi, Rinzen's mother, beginning their talks. Neither Ayashi nor anybody else knew that on her ship, two other powerhouses were in hiding: Lakhmu and Rangi, now both at the Ascendri stage. Reyra wasn't taking it half-heartedly because she knew she was still not back at her full powers after raising Rangi to his new level. She needed them, especially Lakhmu, who was now bursting with newfound energy. They were simply waiting… waiting for Lia to ignite the fuse.
…
….
……
Not that long later, a message arrived back to Lia in which she and her entourage were invited to a banquet in the palace hosted by the King himself. It said that he was more than happy to hear them out, and it was also an opportunity to let them meet with her daughter. It was clear that it was a trap, but they were walking into it wholly prepared. Attending the banquet, they arrived a bit more well-dressed than wearing casual clothes but still within a limit that would be affordable to someone who was an upstart trader.
Entering the King's District was done after a careful inspection, and they had to empty out their holding bags, too. What they didn't find were the group's personal artifacts, and it was thanks to the ring on Lia's finger. Since obtaining the Realm Key, its effects became evident as Lia could much more easily manipulate No-Space. It helped with not just teleporting, enabling her to spend more time there without feeling its effects, but she could easily control holding bags in her vicinity.
When the guards emptied them out and looked for weapons, Lia's sword and all the other magical tools of the Misfits refused to fall out and remained hidden within. After the guards found everything in order, they were let in and led through the wide streets of the inner district. The houses were enormous, luxurious, and beautiful… but there was a noticeable problem. Everything was empty. No people were on the streets, nor did it look like any of the houses were inhabited. The curtains were pulled close, the lights were off in every one of them, and only the patrolling sentries could be seen on the streets. Keily almost voiced his question when Koadriana squeezed his hand to remind him to remain silent.
Walking up the palace's stairs, it was the only lively building lit by a sea of lamps in the early evening. Music was coming out from inside, and a hubbub of noises assaulted their ears. It would have been looking perfectly normal if not for the fact that looking back, the King's District was bleak and dark. Completely unnatural. Inside the palace, the ballroom was filled with people dressed in elegant and expensive clothes, as if all the nobles were present, none missing this evening. They were all influential and powerful parties, not strictly because they were good mages. They may not have overwhelming strength in person, but they were those who could influence the masses with only a few words. Scanning the people present, Lia felt that the strongest were around the 4th Tier, only an Adepti.
With a subtle wave of her hand, she gave the signal for the Misfits to take their place. Everyone knew their role as they separated, trying to mingle and make small conversations with the nobles present in the room. On the surface, it was a routine and expected move, but they were simply setting themselves up to block all the exits. Lia, wearing a vivid red dress, stood next to Rinzen, who wore a very similar one but in blue, both looking like pearls and a pair of beautiful flowers.
"What lovely gems!" Echoed a voice, followed by clapping, and it was coming from the King himself, from Magnus Kayrinev, Heliett's father.
Looking into his eyes, Lia already knew she was dealing with someone whose thoughts were clouded beyond saving. The reasons were very simple and straightforward: No king under the Berisons' territory would not recognize Rinzen… and no ruler would have not known about her mismatched eyes that were no longer hidden behind a contact lens. They came with their masks off, and nobody batted an eye to their appearance.
"King Kayrinev," Lia replied, her voice cold, looking at him and making his way towards them.
"I heard you have some exotic cargo to sell, but it never said you were part of it!" The King laughed again, looking at them with unmistakable desire burning deep within. Unlike an Undead's gaze, it was filled with wantings, cravings, and, this time, lust. Checking out the two pair's cleavage and the exposed skin on their bodies, he was acting like a beast in heat, barely able to hold his desires back.
"A lost cause." Lia sighed, shaking her head.
"This part of the city truly is." Rinzen agreed.
"..." This time, the King stopped smiling, looking at them weirdly.
The air inside the room quickly turned weird as all the talk stopped as if someone had turned it off with a flip of a switch. People were watching Lia and Rinzen, ignoring the rest, and their faces were inhuman. Like when a puppet is trying to display a kind of emotion he or she has no knowledge of. The King himself looked troubled… he was trying to think, but... No… He was trying to remember something, but he was unable to.
"Just for your own sake," Lia continued, waving her hand, summoning all their artifacts, sending them to their owner's hands, and pointing her sword at the King's throat, "Tell us if you were dominated or sold yourself out. So you can be at peace when dead!"
“Long… live…” He said, suddenly realizing who they were, but before he could finish, his eyes were obstructed by a strange power, and his mouth turned into a savage grin, "to the Lord of Souls!"
With that, he slapped away Lia's blade, his arms being covered in ice, looking like claws, striking down. The strength he was displaying was at the rank of Speciali, in the 5th Tier of Magic, not something that Lia would flinch at.
"Hmph!" With a simple dodge, she appeared on his left, and the King had no time to register her hand's movement, slicing off his hands and disarming him literally. "Kill everyone!" She roared, and Rinzen was already freezing Magnus Kayrinev IX in an icy sarcophagus before shattering his figure into dozens of pieces.
The other nobles tried to fight, but their strength was below the Misfits. Raufon managed to crack open a head with a single punch, minding not of the grey matter flying everywhere while Ceiline clawed another noblewoman in two behind him. It was no time to recoil from the bloody and gory spectacle as the whole city's fate was hanging on this night. Keily aimed a fireball at the nearby window, bashing it asunder and sending a glowing signal to the sky, giving Heliett's group the call to action.
The moment they saw it, they all attacked at the different, weakened points, demolishing the walls and rushing in, finishing off anyone they came across without mercy. Heliett and her Guard Captain rushed directly to the palace, but when they arrived, they were met with the bloody scene the Misfits had left behind. They stood amongst dozens of mangled, bloody corpses, wearing their viscera as an accessory to their elegant clothes.
"Secure the district!" Lia shouted, hurrying towards Heliett, who tried to quickly recollect herself and not burst into tears, shaking them out of her eyes. "Nobody must live; they are beyond saving! Their minds were corrupted!"
"So… it wasn't my father's… doing?" She asked, breathing heavily.
"No." Lia shook her head, her voice somewhat gentle. "Whatever caused it is still present! Seal off the palace; we will explore it! We will find and destroy it! In the meanwhile, swipe the King's District clean, burn the bodies, and move on all of your marked targets!"
"What about the people…? And about the panic?" Heliett asked while Rinzen walked past her.
"I will seal the city." She explained, "You must take control of the masses."
"Yes!" She nodded back, slapping her chest and taking a last look at the remains in the ballroom before rushing back out.
Rinzen very quickly climbed to a high spot, casting her magic, and before anyone could react, the city was sealed inside an ice dome, scaring many unsuspecting citizens.
“My name is Rinzen Berison!” Her face appeared on the mirror-like ice wall while her voice echoed above and under the city. "Sussarim is under the attack of Undead and has been quarantined. Stay in your homes, and don't come out! Anyone found in the streets will be killed without questions! Forces of the Houses will come to you and examine everyone individually! Anyone found resisting will be killed!"
"She can be forceful if she wants, eh?" Koa asked, looking out the broken windows, washing the blood from Keily's face.
"She can…" Lia murmured, "I like her when she is like that! Simbad!"
"Yes!" He saluted at once.
"Take Raufon with you and establish security around Rinzen so she can keep up the prison! Aurora, Sion, Ceiline! You go and help Heliett! Ceiline, unleash the peashooters! We need numbers and eyes to monitor the entirety of the city!"
"Already on it!" She replied as hundreds of small plants were popping up everywhere, watching, spying, and relaying the information to her so they could coordinate their operation with Heliett.
“Koa, Keily, you with me! We are going to look around the palace and find whatever the cause of this!"
…
….
……
Hundreds of kilometers away, Reyra was on a balcony, overlooking the glacier of the Berisons and the ship she came on. With the bracelet on her wrist, she had an instant connection to most forces, and right now, she was receiving reports from all the armies covertly surrounding the Berison's territory.
"We are in place, Mother." Arrived Razael's message. "Our side has around 40,000 soldiers, with 30 people being in the Three Ri realm."
"Good. Remain on standby for now. Adding the others together, our forces are around 500,000, and we have around 100 Three Ri stage mages. Your job will be to make sure to cut her off if she tries to escape! Lakhmu, Ragni, and I will deal with her not escaping into No-Space."
"It would be easier if the Headmaster of the Institute could have come." Arrived the message from Kaznak, the head of House Nerifit.
"He is injured. He can't enter No-Space in his current state. "Replied Dalal, the head of House Ro.
"Plus, he is not the only person who can use teleportation. We have at least a dozen warriors amongst us right now who can do the same." Reyra answered quickly.
"You should have learned it!" Dalal sent teasingly, making Reyra roll her eyes.
"Nobody is perfect." Answered Kawu instead of his wife, accompanying his sons as Razael, Lorin, and Solren were also present in the Amarins' army.
"Wait! Are you saying I am not perfect?" Reyra asked playfully, unable to hold back her grin.
"Perfect is boring," Kawu responded nearly immediately.
It was then that Reyra received a message from Lia detailing what had happened on their end and how she began to search for whatever caused the corruption.
"Get ready, everyone!" Reyra sent it on all channels. "It has begun! Our trap is soon to be activated!"
Reyra didn't know that the exact words were uttered from another mouth right then. It was echoing in five other Soulbound Supreme Elders' minds, making them excited and hungry… hungry for the banquet of souls as the initial transformation of thousands of people will result in them slurping up their souls, making empty shells for their subordinates to occupy.
