While the wyvern wasted his movements, the sword flew in a straight line held and empowered by Solus, whose senses allowed her to pinpoint her target with surgical precision.
Infused with air magic, the Gatekeeper struck a split second after leaving the ground where it lied in ambush. The blade went through and through, adding its own momentum to the wyvern’s to drag him to his demise.
Lith unleashed the darkness spell while Solus acted like a lightning rod, guiding it to destination. Their lives were linked and so were their energies. Manipulating Lith’s spells, even from a distance, came natural to Solus like thinking.
“There’s two of you?” There was no rage in Gadorf’s last whisper, only surprise.
His cores were already weakened from the continuous poisoning Lith had inflicted them and the stress the metamorphosis caused. The first wave of darkness was enough to wipe them both away, turning the wyvern into a bad memory.
The sword disappeared into the glove and the glove shapeshifted back into a ring before returning to Lith’s finger. When Yerna came out of her hiding spot, it was already over. Everything had happened in just a few seconds after the lightning struck.
“A little help here.” Lith was sitting on the ground in a small pool of his own blood.
The Captain had no idea what had happened, yet it didn’t stop her from applying first aid at the best of her capabilities. The wounds were too extensive, they required tier four healing magic. Stopping the bleed was within her reach instead.
“The monster?” She looked around nervously, expecting it to jump out from the shadows.
“Dead. That lightning was his swan’s song.” Lith lied, pointing his finger to the few scales still in the process of turning into light.
“Seems his life and the array were connected. Red saved our lives.”
“Saved our lives my a*s!” The Captain cursed. She knew it was unbecoming of an official and didn’t care one bit at the moment.
“Even if what you say is true, it means that if instead of chickening out he had acted earlier, half of my team would still be alive. Khran would still be alive!” Yerna had yet to come to terms with the massacre of her unit.
“You are crazy, instead. Tampering right off the bat with an unknown array and holding your ground like a madman.” She wanted to scold him, but found herself unable to.
“The good kind of crazy. Red or not, I’m going to write in my report that if it wasn’t for you, we would be lying on those altars, waiting for that crazed monster to turn us into dried meat. That and the fact we’ve been set up.”
“Set up?” Lith raised his eyebrow in interest.
“Yes, even if I have no proof, I’m certain of it. Too much of our intel was wrong. The support was supposed to be on stand by, yet never arrived. Too many things do not add up. It’s likely to be all my fault. I stepped on too many entitled toes during the last years.
“I’m ready to bet my next two months’ pay that everything will be covered up. Some minor bureaucrat will be fired, all thoughts and prayers to the victims, but in the end, nobody will be held accountable.
“Those rich b*stards always get away with everything.” Rage and sorrow cracked her voice.
“Gods, so many people have died today. Good people. What I’m going to say to their families?”
Lith didn’t know and didn’t care.
“I’m not much for justice…” He took out his communication amulet.
“but revenge, is something I respect. It’s time to see if my pin is worth its troubles.” Lith called what he thought being his most powerful ally. He had no idea if the real target was him or the Captain. Either way, Yerna’s reasoning was sound.
Someone had to pay.
The royal constable Jirni Ernas was surprised seeing Lith’s identification rune, he never called her before.
“This better be imp… What happened to you?” Lith looked like a burning building had just collapsed on his head, yet Jirni knew he could shrug off such a trivial event without a scratch.
“Murder attempt. I’ve been set up during academy duty.” Lith used the same tone anyone would use to talk about the weather.
Jirni liked him more every time they spoke.
‘Calm and collected, like a professional.’
“Tell me everything.”
“One moment.” Lith gave the amulet to the captain, who didn’t know how to react.
“Ma’am, your son is safe and sound. I can’t tell you more and neither should he.” Yerna threw a mean look at Lith.
“Today’s events are likely to be classified, I’m really sorry.”
Jirni found the situation hilarious, yet she just smiled warmly. Unlike Lith’s standard issue communication amulet, her own was capable of forwarding and registering conversations, among many things.
She shared the call with Linjos and the Queen, before making the proper introductions.
“Don’t worry, Captain Yerna.” Her amulet’s facial recognition program had already uploaded the Captain’s personal file along with all the relevant information about her career.
“I’m not his mother. I’m the royal constable Jirni Ernas. Give me a detailed report of what happened. Start from the beginning.’
***
“A wyvern?” Linjos was shocked, the Queen merely amused.
“What are your orders, your Majesty?” Jirni asked.
“Go to the precinct, interrogate everyone thoroughly. Find who is behind this attack and why it happened.” Queen Sylpha was wandering how valuable could it be a mage who faced a Valor first and an Evolved monster later and lived to tell the tale.
“It won’t take long.” Jirni was on her way since the Captain had finished her report.
“Once I find them?” It wasn’t a matter of ‘if’ in her mind, only of ‘when’.
“Search their homes, interrogate them very thoroughly and once you are finished with them, kill them all.” The only answer that came to Queen’s mind was ‘priceless.’
“Something slow and flashy. I want to send the message that the Crown is not to be trifled with. Just to be sure to hit where it really hurts, strip their families of all their wealth. Half for the Crown, the other half to split between the academies involved. Make sure the families of the victims get properly compensated.”
***
‘Well, not bad for just an hour of work.’ Lith thought once he was back at the White Griffon academy. There was still one hour and something before the beginning of the next lesson.
Arriving at Xenatos, listening to the debrief, and scouting the place had taken them half an hour. The assault at the building lasted less than ten minutes, the rest of the time had been lost receiving first aid.
‘I could have healed everything by myself, but since normal people need hours to regenerate mana or life force, it’s better not to show off.’
‘The plan worked like a charm.’ Solus thought merrily. ‘My new powers grant me much more versatility. I’m still a yellow core, but I can pull my weight now.’
It was her first time killing someone, yet she couldn’t care less.
