Chapter 797: Demon Riot: Observer POV
In the world of spycraft and information dealing, there are precisely three locations in every city that someone must know inside and out in order to be survive and thrive.
Incidentally, all three places are related to man’s greatest vices.
The first location is a brothel, where whispers of sweet nothings are often mixed with dirty little secrets.
In taverns old and bars so grand, gluttony and sloth tend to be hand in hand, as full bellies and tired minds tend to be connected to loose lips.
Lastly, the arenas and colosseums are the only places where the prideful, wrathful and envious lay out their grievances for all to see, all for the benefits that come with being greedy.
Sins and secrets tend to be one in the same, in my point of view. Then again, maybe I’m full of shit.
–A musing from the writings of Captain Diortte de Illusia, a pirate who once stole and sold an entire kingdom.
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The funny thing about giant crowds is that, aside from being filled with eager attendees, is that many a business dealing or clandestine spy have tendencies to be mixed in. After all, the easiest places to hide needles or threads of gold are in piles of hay.
Despite the majority of the Stone Claw Arena being evacuated for the sake of safety, there were at least several people who still lingered on to watch the battle between Olstenna and Zhen Liu unfold.
Their reasons for doing so was rather diverse, with some doing so out of genuine curiosity, while others had…less than noble reasons to keep watching.
…
‘Is this honestly what got the Holy Council all hot and bothered? What a load of nonsense, neither of these whelps have the power to break any of my barriers!’
While everyone else was panicking, screaming and running like their lives depended on it, an elderly fellow dressed entirely in silver and white armor, with a strange gold embellishment, was watching with an increasing amount of disdain.
This man was known as Malifax Dupont, and he was an inquisitor for a religious group known as the Church of the Four Wings. Now, normally, inquisitors of the Church would be tasked with dealing with heretics, aether beasts and general enemies of the church.
However, Inquisitor Malifax Dupont was sent for exactly two reasons.
First, the leaders of the Four Wings had recently stumbled upon a prophecy that more or less hung the church’s entire existence in the balance if it wasn’t addressed in a timely manner.
Second, if the aformentioned prophecy was at all accurate, then Dupont was the only one they could send because he was born with an ability that was theoretically able to deal with what the prophecy addressed. Ideally, anyways.
‘”In the land of endless sand and stone, the one who stands on the edge of Heaven and Hell has risen once more. Upon his whims, the four wings shall either rise once more and return to paradise or fall into eternal damnation”…why are all these prophecies so goddamn flighty?!’
…
“My oh my, everyone is so panicky over a bit of heat and flame?”
“Younglings these days are so spineless, don’t you think? Dear sister?’
“Indeed, sister dear.”
In a small section of the Stone Claw Arena, a pair of middle-aged-
“Ahem?”
“Excuse us?”
Sorry…a pair of beautiful women dressed in matching unassuming black and blue outfits were watching the battle unfold between Olstenna and this so-called Kaijin Lord unfold with a look of mild bemusement on both of their faces.
“Thank you.”
“Was that so hard?”
Like Olstenna, they had heard the rumors of strange, monstrous warriors that seemed to be very similar to a legend they had taught about. Unlike Olstenna though, they weren’t looking to challenge these monstrous warriors of legend, rather…they were looking for something a bit more…esoteric.
“The kaijin were once known across the world as fiends, devil and demons…”
“But those terms had lost their luster as others adopted them for their own purposes.”
“Of course, once we find the archive for ourselves, sister dear…”
“We can show them all what true demons look like, dear sister.”
“Isn’t that right? Voice of the world?”
Correct, after all, it would be foolish to deny the Diablo Twins their rightful awards after so long, wouldn’t it?
“Now then, sister dear, should we go and assist one of these fools or should we let them tire each other out?”
“Oh, leave them be. It looks like they’ll end up killing each other anyways…”
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Who…who the fuck was narrating this bit?
|I don’t know…and I don’t want to find out…|
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“Why did we agree to this stupid job?!”
“Because the choices were gold or death, and the gold was too good!”
“Fucking poverty! Ow!”
When Simos, Victor and Graff first showed up to Stone Claw City, they immediately beelined to the nearest tavern for two reasons.
First, they wanted to drink something that was strong enough to make them forget that they had essentially made a deal to find the source of a bunch of fucking monsters for a pile of gold that was starting to look less and less worth it the longer they did this job.
Second, they needed information about the local hegemony, the Zhen Clan.
The only lead these guys had this whole time was that the monsters they had faced that evening alongside the Blue Shadows was that they and a disturbingly similar visage to a whole bunch of aether puppets associated with a young warrior named Zhen Liu.
While Simos and Graff had no idea who this guy was or what his deal was exactly, Victor was all too familiar with the man due to having one of his teeth punched out by him. He eventually managed to get it fixed, but he still didn’t like that it had happened in the first place.
Regardless, it was at one of the local watering holes of Stone Claw City that the trio had learned that the Zhen Clan had been regularly hosting an arena event of sorts that they used to show off their capabilities, or as the main organizer of this event had called it, “advertisement”.
Running on this abysmally small amount of information, the trio of private investigators had managed to enter the arena for the sole purpose of seeing if any of the Zhen Clan’s main members would actually be in attendance or even participate in the event. It wasn’t uncommon for the organizers of combat based events to participate themselves. Evidently, they weren’t wrong.
While they did find the battles between contestants and the Zhen Clan’s beasts, puppets and fighters somewhat informative, their main focus was on the private skybox that was apparently dedicated to just the Zhen Clan members themselves.
Unfortunately, the trio couldn’t figure out who was in that box exactly, due to several privacy measures being implemented. They could, however, pick up the aether signatures of the people inside the box, so it was possible for them to use that as the basis for future investigative tasks. Well, them and the oddly familiar warriors that had fought some archer guy they couldn’t really remember.
But then, everything went to pot and then some.
So much had happened in such a short span of time that the trio could barely comprehend what had happened or what was going on, except for one thing.
If they didn’t get out of the arena right this second, they would end up looking like roasted pigs coming out of an oven.
Initially, the trio had gone with the crowd and tried to exit through the vomitorium to escape from what they were certain was going to be a fiery death. That is, until somebody realized something important.
“Wait a fucking minute…guys! We have to get back in there, now!”
“Huh? What? Why?”
“We have almost escaped with our lives, why would you want to back into that danger zone?!”
“Because there’s a very high possibility that that due in black [Regalia] is who we’re looking for! He was giving off the same energy as those demons!”
“So?”
“So, what happens to [Regalia] when the battle ends?!”
“It…oh.”
In that exact moment, Simos, Graff and Victor all realized that if they failed to stick around for this fight until the very end, they would probably never get another chance like this ever again.
Determined looks appeared across their faces as they looked to one another to confirm what they had to do.
“How the fuck are we going to get pass this crowd, though? There’s way too many fucking people!”
“Funny you say that,” Victor interjected. “I have been working on a trick lately that could help us…but you’re gonna have to hold your breath.”
“Huh?”
As Simos and Graff were wondering what their boss had in mind, they saw this teeth were glowing in a manner they weren’t familiar with.
“What the?”
“Get ready…[Spatial Digging!]”
