Stillwater has recently been compromised after a new kingdom was founded on its land by the name of Metropolis. Scouting reports show movement headed straight for Elway Kingdom, although whether it is hostile or diplomatic remains to be seen. The possibilities of diplomacy remain possible, as several of our scouts have reported being discovered but let go under the condition that they relinquish their items. Large, metallic constructs and humanoid ones litter the area but seemingly co-exist within the confines of the rapidly expanding village. Scouts estimate two being within the second level milestone and several more slightly below. Strategists are currently determining the optimal course of action, and they are leaning towards diplomacy for the intriguing technology that Metropolis possesses.

~An elaborate scouting report, author unknown

Damien blocked a swift strike to his gut, grabbing the man's other hand and crushing it in his grip. He glared at Maxwell, who was ready to pounce at the assailant before being stopped by his master. As the others rushed in to help, they were intercepted by other spies hidden in the shadows. They all possessed some semblance of combat abilities; enough to delay and prevent them from giving their support to the Prince of Wisperium.

"Go help the others!" He shouted at the dog, directing them to the three on three occurring between soldiers and spies. It obeyed without hesitation and dove into the fray, fighting bladed weapons with its dark, serrated fangs.

The hooded man's face was obscured by a mask, only revealing his eyes which were carefully blank as Damien avoided a flurry of dagger strikes.

'Chester's was faster than this.'

He anticipated a kick to the groin and an eye poke which would've blinded him easily. The younger vampire grabbed his opponent's arm and crushed it in his grip. All the underhanded tactics in the rogue's arsenal were something Damien had already seen before. His body had gotten adjusted to high speeds, especially with frequent sparring sessions with his agile human companion.

"Grk!" The man muttered out a low noise of pain as his arm creaked in response to the incredible pressure. A strike aimed at the hand holding his arm was narrowly avoided and the spy had to hold himself back from stabbing his own limb.

Damien kicked him square in the chest and sent the hooded figure flying a few meters away, but he quickly regretted it as the spy took the chance to begin running away from his clearly superior opponent. As the vampire gave pursuit, one of the other spies unexpectedly leapt at him and he had to deflect the man's hidden blade. This opened up an opportunity for one of the dwarven soldiers to nail the agile spy with an ax to the gut.

'They're insane! How far are they willing to go to make sure one of them escapes?!' Damien thought, shouting for Maxwell as he activated both his Infusion skills and empowered himself.

Greater Mana Infusion activated. All stats increased by 10%.

Greater Darkness Infusion activated. All stats increased by 10%. Chance to drain HP/MP upon hit.

The boost was enough to significantly shorten the distance from the fleeing spy, who noticed the rapidly approaching vampire. Damien's sharp eyes were augmented during the night. He was as strong as he could possibly be. Every step shrunk the gap between them.

"Fleet Footed. Mana Infusion."

Damien cursed as the rogue seemed to get an additional boost in speed near equal to his own. Enough to maintain the distance, the vampire gritted his teeth trying to go even faster.

The boy clad in black sidestepped a thrown dagger without losing much speed. They entered the residential area which was fairly empty due to the commotion going on outside. Maxwell was going at high speeds, comparable to Damien's own. The canine seemed to have an innate understanding of what Damien wanted even without a verbal command. Together they hunted the spy down, spreading out in a pincer formation to prevent him from making any sharp turns to evade them.

"Shadowbolt!"

An arc of black lightning narrowly missed the spy's head, and the hooded enemy took the chance to begin scaling a building at impressive speeds. Damien forced all the power in his legs and leapt up as high as he could, but knew that he couldn't match the man's ability to climb. He sheathed the sword behind his back in mid-air and latched onto a window ledge, cursing as he was still a meter below the spy. The vampire felt a sudden impact on his shoulders and he saw a black blur leap from his shoulders, snag the spy's leg, and begin yanking.

The unexpected force dragged the man and prevented him from scaling the low-rise building and leaving the younger swordsman behind. Damien scrambled upwards and pulled the hooded figure's pant leg with a surprising amount of strength. Not only did the man's pants tear, but he also began falling. Right on top of the younger vampire's head.

'I didn't think this through.'

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Falling twelve meters down, there was a slight scuffle in the few seconds they had before both fell to the ground. An eye-poke attempt was narrowly dodged, and Damien wrapped his limbs around the spy's leg to prevent him from getting away. The trio fell to the ground in a mass of limbs, and Maxwell seemed to bounce off the pavement and taking little damage, separating itself from the group just in time.

Damien heard a loud snap, groaning in pain as he landed on his backside. A jolt of pain ran up his back. The sudden impact made him want to roll around in agony, but he still needed to secure the target. Using his expensive cloak, he securely fastened it around the spy's arms and noticed that the man broke his leg during the fall. He took off the mask and revealed a human face. A man in his late twenties, with a small amount of facial hair. The noble vampire picked the man up by the collar and began to drag him towards his squad, ignoring the stinging pain on his backside.

"Try to escape and I'm breaking your other leg." Damien threatened with a warning look in his eyes. He was extremely fed up with the chase after falling on his ass.

His body was sore from the fall, but the pain was beginning to subside. The vampire's thoughts were a whirlwind as he tried to process what the next step should be.

"Damien? What the fuck are you doing?" A voice approached behind him and he instantly went on guard, taking his hand and placing it on his sheathed sword.

Chester was munching on a chicken drumstick, exiting out of the building which upon closer inspection, revealed itself to be a tavern. The man's face was one of complete confusion, analyzing the vampire boy as he clutched the groaning spy in his hands.

"There were some intruders. I came to help. Weren't you with Alda?"

"Well, we basically spent the whole afternoon together. I need some time for myself, y'know? By the way, I think you should take that dude to a hospital. Looks like he's dying."

Damien's head snapped to look at his incapacitated opponent, only to see that he was frothing at the mouth and twitching. He cursed and tried to feed the spy a healing potion, but it was too late.

You have slain Human (level 21)

The hooded figure went limp, and the younger boy shook his head at the needless death. He wondered just what organization was willing to go so far to prevent capture and interrogation.

Chester bent over to investigate the corpse. He stared at it for a moment, before unequipping the hood and taking it for himself.

"Nice. Fits perfectly."

"Chester! What the hell?!"

"What? He's dead! It's not like he needs it!"

Damien clicked his tongue in irritation. Deciding not to argue, he unwrapped his cloak from the man's arm and wore it once more. Giving the illusionist a short farewell, the adolescent went off with the corpse in tow to where his squad mates were likely finishing up.

That left the illusionist mildly curious, but not enough to investigate. he figured if it was a true emergency that Damien would actually notify him. Chester returned to the tavern and paid for his food, giving the rowdy dwarves a round of drinks before leaving. He figured there was no harm in splurging, especially when he wanted to earn the locals' trust before moving on with his plan. Although they hadn't received a monetary reward from the Royal Family, they saved even more from the free commissions they were awarded.

'I guess that's something about me. I could stretch out ten bucks over a week or drop eight hundred on a weekend. Depends on the situation, really.'

With his new hood in tow, he wondered about his next step. He analyzed the streets and noticed details that he ignored when he first crossed the streets. Sewer grates, a part of the city that he hadn't thought much of until now. Passing by the metal bars, he looked through the narrow openings and saw the bottom approximately two meters down. Chester noted that in his head, reminding himself to avoid any sewer grates so that nobody would find him wandering below underground.

Alter Self has reached level 2.

Chester had decided to train his disguise skill while he was at it, subtly changing details on numerous parts of his body. More specifically, he was using the citizens as a reference to disguise himself as a dwarf. Alter Self had more leeway when it came to changing proportions and shape, but a two feet height difference wasn't within the skill's capabilities at the moment. So in preparation, the illusionist had been mimicking other parts of his body, perfecting the details on his hands and learning how to conjure them within a shorter time frame. He poured a lot of his attention into mimicking the callouses and the rough exterior of an average dwarf's hand. They were much meatier, looking like skin-colored winter gloves at times. He did it subtly as he didn't feel like revealing his class as an illusionist to the population.

'I can spend the first day or so just gathering some more info, then once I get my tactical armor, I should be good to move on to the next stage.'

With only his sheath and Attainium subtly hidden inside the gaps of his clothing, Chester felt naked. The convenience and comfort that the tactical armor offered was substantial and made the illusionist reassured that he couldn't be caught unaware by a sneak attack even when his guard was down. He didn't feel comfortable going along with the second phase of his plan without any armor. He hoped that Jerry Sharpax didn't destroy Elric's gift.

"I suppose I should go meet up with Alda now...She did say she was going to show me the archives. Where the hell am I?"

Chester looked around and found himself far from the center of the city. Far from where the massive hole and Welton's Furnace were, the demographic of the street was strictly dwarves. The criminal couldn't see a vampire, human, or elf in sight. The familiar sound of hammers on an anvil had faded into a minor noise, and he squinted his eyes as he tried to spot any signs that could show where he was located.

It was difficult to see during the night when the only source of illumination was the moon and the dim streetlight. He couldn't see any signs and decided to ask a nearby dwarf for help. He didn't feel like getting lost in the middle of the night, especially when Damien had said intruders were lurking in the kingdom.

"Sorry to bother ya', but I was wondering where the palace is? Kind of got lost, you see."

The dwarf was wearing a peculiar uniform. It was a full brown bodysuit that wrapped around his rotund belly, with a large belt at his hip that contained many tools. Chester couldn't name half of them and knew that they weren't anything like the ones that the dwarven blacksmiths had.

"Ah, you really got yourself lost. Go left and keep going 'till you see the green building. Once you're there, go right for about two blocks or so and you'll be close to the palace. Visiting folk don't usually come here, nothing to buy or look at."

"Hm. What's this place for then? Looks plenty busy if I do say so myself."

The dwarf fidgeted with the goggles at his neck. Chester was genuinely curious about where he was, having never seen this part of the city before. He made another mental note to ask Damien if he wanted to explore the city with him. It was somewhat boring without anybody to pester.

"This is the western sewer facilities. Contrary to belief, it doesn't smell. People don't realize they're here until one of us tells them there's nothin' here."

The taller human froze for a brief moment. His lips curled into a small, polite smile. But the dwarf couldn't discern the expression in his eyes.

"Oh, do tell me more. I'm...quite curious about the infrastructure that Welton possesses."