24 - Chapter 23 - Day 1811

Gauri asked everyone to take a seat, then proceeded with a very similar speech as she had with her personal retainers, the only difference being she increased the emphasis on the threat posed by the shadowed hand.

The head of intelligence, a shrewd middle aged man was the first to consent. Adya could almost see the wheels turning, no doubt planning how he could potentially leverage this new capability that had fallen into his lap. Adya smiled to herself while showing no sign of it on her face. She was confident she could handle him, especially once the soul mark was in place.

The head of finance was a skinny man with pale features. He seemed a little hesitant, but was convinced by the protection that was promised. The evidence of four others who had gone through the process already, along with the fact the request came from the head of house was enough to get him to go along.

With the two convinced, Adya asked them to sit on either side of the desk with their arms positioned for easy reach. Again, the three who had not seen Adya work were surprised that it was the little miss who was apparently going to be creating complex formations. The head of finance was very particular about where he wanted the tattoo placed. Rather than try and convince him that it was not required, Adya just agreed to his request.

She set about creating the formations on both simultaneously again. Going with the hybrid variant as her mother had not asked her to go with the single one. Everyone, even those who had already watched Adya do this several times now, were left bedazzled by her skill and speed. With practice her speed was still improving, so it was not a surprise to her when she finished both in under 9 minutes.

She sat back, as she watched her mother take them through the acceptance procedure and talk them through the benefits. It was the same explanation she herself had given, and her mother had repeated multiple times. Adya zoned out of the conversation and instead spent the time reviewing improvements.

It took around half an hour for them to finish the discussions, a lot of that time being monopolised by the head of intelligence asking detailed questions, no doubt in the hope of levering this ability further.

While these discussions were going on, the head of logistics, a rotund man seemed to be happy sitting back and just listening to everything. Adya, who still had a lot to get done today, spoke out, directly asking him if he was ready to proceed.

The expression on his face when Adya asked him, clearly indicated that he wanted to refuse. The expression lasted only for a moment, and smoothed out. Given the conversation he had just overheard, and the reaction of his colleagues, he had been backed into a corner.

He reluctantly agreed to Adya placing the formation on him. He came forward and positioned his hand and Adya started to work. It didn’t take her long to complete the formation. She had kept her eyes on the man the entire time, and he was beginning to sweat. Dexter and the head of intelligence had noticed something was wrong and were also keeping an eye on him whilst the others carried on their discussions.

As the formation completed, Adya received a strange prompt. From Gauri’s reaction she had received something similar. From the man’s reaction, he had not even received the prompt to accept the soul mark.

The person you are trying to soul mark (loyalty protection formation) is bound by an existing loyalty formation.

Options

1, Cancel your soul mark.

2, Break the existing formation while allowing failsafes to take effect.

3, Break the existing formation and suppress all failsafes.

Adya looked at Dexter. “Hold him,” she commanded. Gauri was still looking at her own notification. Adya, ever curious, asked her mother to read out her prompt. Gauri proceeded to do so.

The person you are trying to soul mark is bound by another loyalty formation. Soul mark attempt not successful.

In the meantime, Dexter had restrained the man. Interesting, thought Adya, so those with formations can’t even receive a prompt, and require someone with higher rarity classes to break the formation. The one who placed it must be at least at mothers level, if not higher. More things for her to test.

The head of intelligence was demanding answers, but Adya knew that to be a futile pursuit.

“Stop,” said Adya in a commanding tone. “It’s pointless asking him. The existing formation will not let him reveal anything. Dexter, strip him and search for the formation. I need to see what I am working against.” Adya lied to the room, so as not to reveal her ability to break formation sight unseen. That was a powerful ability she could leverage. She would want her mother’s input before revealing that ability to anyone.

Dexter proceeded to roughly remove the man’s garments one by one looking for the formation. He had been with Adya when they dealt with the assassins from the shadowed hand, and he had also seen the formations on the bodies.

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“Philipa, go and get Parth.” ordered Adya. “Tell him to bring 6 of his best soldiers right now.”

By now Dexter had found the tattoo, it had been placed on the man’s inner thigh. In the normal course of events, given his size, not even his lover would have noticed it. Adya took the time to study it. The formation was more complex than the one used by the shadowed hand, but used similar principals. Adya did not gain much new knowledge from studying the formation.

Just as she finished with the examination, Parth entered the room with Phillipa. Adya could hear voices outside the room and assumed he had brought the requested guards.

“Parth, our head of logistics is under the effect of a loyalty formation,” said Adya, getting straight to the point. “I can deal with it, but there may be a risk. There are fail safes built in, that will both notify the person who controls the formation, if they are within range of the transmission, and will attempt to kill the man, by destroying the femoral artery, causing him to go into shock, and subsequently bleed out.”

“What is the range of the transmission?” asked Gauri, struggling a little with the strange word. while Parth took in the situation.

“Around 2 miles.” responded Adya, “Could be a little more or a little less, depending on the abilities of the person. Parth, if it is the person who set the formation, they are strong, likely stronger than my mother. If they are just handlers, they will also have a mark.”

“What do you want me to do?” asked Parth. He knew he could not bulldoze his way through this situation.

“First do you trust the six guards you have brought with you?” asked Adya

“Yes I do, they have been with the family for years.” replied Parth

“Then we need to give them the loyalty formations and give them protection from whoever is targeting us.” replied Adya. “I will give them one linked to you. You can ask them to accept the tiered version. Then you will have a support squad that we know is clean.”

“How does that help us find out who is doing this?” replied Parth.

“It doesn’t” replied Adya. “What it gives you is a team of guards who we know can protect mother. Once we start hunting, whoever is spying on us, may choose to attack.”

“Bring in the men, show them the formation,” continued Adya. “Then we can work with our head of intelligence to route out all other spies. Be aware that doing so is going to make those very same people take notice when their agents fail to report in.”

This was getting more and more complicated. Adya had been just trying to further her own agenda, who knew she was going to find a random spy ring in her own household no less.

Gauri confirmed Adya’s instructions. Since everyone else in the room was 100% trustworthy, Gauri asked the head of intelligence to work with Dexter. She also asked everyone else to leave her office, and go and arrange a suitable location where they could covertly check everyone else. There were only so many people who would fit in Gauri’s office after all. Adya added that privacy should be provided for women in their arrangements.

Parth took control of the head of logistics, then called in his six guards. Everyone else went off to follow instructions.

Guari was internally seething. Just how long had that wretched man been spying on the family. To whom? What damage had it caused the family? She would get to the bottom of it. It galled her that she had only found this out by sheer chance. They would either need to expand their use of the formations to everyone, a logistical nightmare or look at alternative ways to vet people.

While Gauri and Adya were lost in their own thoughts, Parth had shown his soldiers the evidence of the man’s treachery. He also explained what he needed them to do, assuring them that he had already been through the process. All six agreed to proceed in short order.

Adya asked them to come to the desk in pairs, surprising Parth, who had not seen Adya work on two formations simultaneously. Two men stepped forward and presented their arms. Parth and the other four guards held on to the head of logistics, his fate uncertain.

The poor man had heard what was in store for him, he was hoping that the strange girl who seemed to be incharge of everything had a way for him to live. He had not been told of the failsafes, and a part of him still did not believe, but could he take that risk? His position had been exposed and he was at the mercy of others.

Adya finished with the two guards in short order. It was easy for her to modify the soul mark holder to Parth. The guards accepted the tiered option as instructed. They were swiftly replaced by another two guards, and then the final paid. In less than 30 minutes, all the guards had been proven to be loyal.

“Right, you can wipe the tattoos now, it was only required for the first part,” said Adya. “Now I am going to change the formation I am using on our traitor. Instead of the loyalty protection formation, I am going to use the loyalty enforcement formation on him. Any objections mother?”

“No, go right ahead.” replied Gauri. “As long as you can make him answer my questions,”

Adya went ahead and wiped away the first tattoo from the man. It had been marred in the process of strip searching him in any case. She then proceeded to draw out the loyalty enforcement formation. The process took longer, as it was the first time she was drawing it. She also felt something was missing as she drew out the formation, the pieces not quite fitting together. She racked her brain for solutions, trying out different scenarios and noticed that it required will power as well.

That made sense, the protection formation must use the willpower of the subject, as it was giving them the choice. She would need to see if there was any drain on the will power pool or reduction in the regeneration rates. The enforcement version required the formation to provide the will power element, as it had to override the willpower of the subject. She would need to experiment to understand how much will power compared to the subject's pool and regeneration it needed. Also the fact that formations required will power was a surprise. Was this the reason each formation had to be hand crafted? Was the intent imbued via will power? More questions that would require answers.

With her adaptations complete, Adya finished her first loyalty enforcement formation. As soon as she marked the final stroke, she received a prompt.

The person you are trying to soul mark (loyalty enforcement formation) is bound by an existing loyalty formation.

Options

1, Override the existing formation, replacing it with your own.

2, Break the existing formation while allowing failsafes to take effect.

3, Break the existing formation and suppress all failsafes.