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1 year and 3 months since Shattered Veil's establishment - February 9th 1505
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"Kane! I've found a useful tool!"
It was Violet's voice. I turned around to find the carnage that we had wreaked. At least 15 corpses littered the stone floor, which had already been slightly dampened from the rain. The girl in front of me sported her newly created outfit that was supposed to conceal her identity while we performed our vigilantism. I had created them for every member of Shattered Veil, which, including myself, now consisted of 4 members. You may think that's a little disappointing for an entire year's worth of searching, but I was making sure to only recruit people similar to Violet and I in age, intelligence and potential - which was next to impossible. At this point in time, I was trying to form Shattered Veil's elite guard of sorts - a group of people who each hold potential to one day have an Infinite Star mana pool, and who are all also extremely loyal to our cause. Even having found 2 more people was honestly more than I expected.
Each person's outfit had been custom made to suit their preferences, but I had also made sure to include a running theme in all of them, so that when we revealed ourselves to the world, we'd be easily recognized as one organization. Violet's outfit consisted of a purple hood with fake demon horns sticking out of the side (this wasn't meant as a joke about her being a demon in her past life, it was just one of the running themes through all of the outfits, because... well, honestly, I just sort of thought it looked cool), 2 light yellow eyes painted at the base of each of the horns (the yellow eye was what we had decided was going to be Shattered Veil's logo of sorts), a light purple face mask that covered her mouth and nose, a short purple cloak that extended down to the bottom of her back, which was tied at the front with a bow and had a ripped aesthetic going down the sides of it, light purple gloves, and a purple skirt which parted slightly in the middle. Truthfully, I didn't know why she had insisted on including a skirt in her outfit, as it was definitely less practical than just some regular leg-wear, but hey, if she insisted on it, who am I to deny it?
"Oh, yeah? Have you really?"
My cloak swayed slightly in the wind. My outfit consisted of a purple demon horned hood, like Violet's, a single yellow eye that was painted straight in the middle of the hood, a purple face mask that had a design which switched from light purple to dark purple, a short purple cloak that extended down to my lower back, tied at the front in a pattern that looked like a rose, multiple lightweight light purple storage belts that were tied tightly over my stomach and chest, purple trousers, and light purple gloves. I was the only one in Shattered Veil who would only have one yellow eye, as I had decided that the amount of eyes would determine your rank. Since the elite guard, which I had decided to name the Virtues, were still in formation, the only ranks that existed were me with only one yellow eye on my hood, and the other three, the Virtues, each with only 2 yellow eyes. However, when the organization expands, and more ranks are introduced, it will probably go down to around 4 yellow eyes being the lowest.
"Of course, I have! Why are you always so skeptical?"
"Well, forgive me, but last time that you found a person who could tell us more about the Sword-Spell crest's decrease in power, you killed them before we could extract any information."
"Well, last time, he tried to escape."
"Yeah, he did... But we could've just fucking recaptured him."
Violet huffed slightly, before walking over to me, a rather tall and bulky man in her grasp. Currently, I was a 7 Star mage, Violet was a 5 Star mage, and the other two were both 3 Star mages - not as impressive as us two, but still practically unheard of at our age. She threw the bulky man down in front of me, him grunting on the impact.
"Hmm, well done. You actually did do it, huh?"
"OF COURSE, I DID!"
Suddenly, another man and woman approached from a diverging path of the alley - these were Marcus Triton and Jade, the other two members of Shattered Veil. Guess which one I gave a name to. Spoiler alert: it was the one named after a fucking color. I literally gave her that name because she just... has green eyes. Yeah, I'm not the best with names.
"You know, you really shouldn't talk to the boss that way..." Taunted Jade.
"OH, SHUT UP! Just 'cause you're always trying to suck up to him by calling him 'boss' and everything, doesn't mean I have to. News flash: you're never gonna be as highly ranked as me. Because I'm not here 'cause I tried to suck up to him, I'm here 'cause I'm just that good!"
The man walked over to me. "Those two are at it again. Should I stop them, boss?"
"Yes, please do, Marcus."
Violet and Jade have always had a kind of rivalry against each other from the second that they met. I don't really know why, but if I had to guess, it's because they have complete opposite personalities. Jade is very confident (almost to the point of arrogance), and she's also quite honest and open with herself about her emotions and feelings. While Violet is... well... she's more like a tsundere. She's not really confident, she's the opposite of honest with herself, and if she doesn't want to feel an emotion, she'll completely try to block it out and trick herself into feeling something else. It's a bit surprising considering that she used to be a fucking Cardinal King of Sin... but, I guess one of them was like that. No... She's definitely not her... right?
Oh, well. I don't really have time to think about things like this right now, anyway.
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"Alright, guys. The boss told me to tell you to calm down. If you don't, he may have to get involved."
The two of them gulped in shock. The man we were about to interrogate was still laying on the floor, between the other three and I. I could only imagine what was going through his head. 'These are the people that beat me? Seriously?'
Violet and Jade side-eyed each other, before looking back over to me. Good job, Marcus!
Alright, it was time to interrogate this guy. I kneeled down in front of him.
"So... Hey there, we're the people that have been going around beating your lower-ranked members."
His eyes widened in shock. "Wait... that's you? But... there's no way that little brats like you could compare to someone of Bishop rank! There's no way!"
All four of us smirked in satisfaction. This confirmed something big for us. "So then, it's true that you're all operating from a single group, huh? An underground organization that is so powerful, even the royals and nobles of most kingdoms decided to join. Wow."
"Wait... You mean, you didn't already know that?!"
"Nope. We've just been fighting off any criminals that we spot for a while. But I guess a lot of them were from your organization, huh?"
"But... But you mentioned ranks when you introduced yourselves!"
"Yeah, we did. But that was a little thing called bait."
His face contorted into one of anger, before he ripped his rope arm restraints and attempted to swipe at me, while screaming, "YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!"
Before his fist even came close to my face, Violet rushed over to his side and kicked his arm away, an audible snap sounding on impact, as I assumed his arm broke. "Don't you dare even attempt to lay a finger on him. He's far out of your league."
The man shouted in pain, before collapsing back onto the ground, again.
"I appreciate it, Violet. But don't kill him just yet, alright?"
She sighed. "Fine."
I picked him up by his chin, before continuing. "Alright, don't ever try something like that again. She's right, everyone here is way out of your league. Anyway, I won't kill you... yet, at least. If you tell me more about this organization of yours."
The man's eyes drifted from his broken arm, to me, then to Violet standing at his side. I'm sure he would've looked at Jade and Marcus as well, if they weren't behind him. He was obviously weighing his options.
"O- Okay. I'll tell you everything I know."
My smile grew slightly. This is exactly as I hoped. Whoever the leader of this organization may be, they clearly value the quantity of their followers, over the quality of their followers' loyalty and power.
"Alright then..." I threw him down against a wall, and stood up. All four of us stood in a dysfunctional line of sorts, before we began interrogating him.
I started with the first question. "So, let's start simple. What's the organization's name?"
He looked around, before finally fully giving in. "It's called Retribution."
Hmm... Retribution, huh? If I had to guess... maybe it's a group of Mage and Soldier crests who all got sick of Sword-Spell crests being on the top? Maybe? Eh, I needed more information before I could come to a solid conclusion.
"What are all of the rank names?" Asked Jade, clearly interested in Retribution's 'style' as she put it. She was the one who came up with the idea to call themselves the Virtues and came up with my rank name, as well. To be honest, I thought my rank name was a bit dramatic, but I did have to admit, it sounded cool.
"Uh... Well, it starts at the bottom with Pawns, then Knights, then Bishops, then Nobles, then... Cardinals, and finally the one who leads it all, the Royal."
The Royal. If I had to bet, they weren't gonna be any royal from a kingdom. It was more likely that they gave themself that title as a power move. To say "I'm the Royal amongst this group filled with royals.". Almost like saying that they're the king of kings. And Cardinals. Maybe they were people comparable or even equal to the Seven Cardinal Kings of Sin in power, so they got that title. It was possible, but I truly hoped it wasn't the case, as if it was, this fight against them would go on for longer than I anticipated. It was also rather poetic - we had decided to call our second rank the Virtues, while Retribution called their second rank the Cardinals.
"What rank are you?" Questioned Violet, clearly trying to gauge the average strength of a Retribution member. "I- I'm Bishop rank."
Bishop rank? So... this weakling was supposed to be one step down from a Noble? If the Noble rank encompassed all of the nobles and royals teamed with Retribution, then there was clearly a big jump in power. Most nobles are around 8 Star, but this guy was only about 3 Star. Goddamn, Retribution really needs to get that gap sorted out.
"Alright... this is gonna be the most important question. What's Retribution's goal?" I asked.
"Well, uh... from what I know, it's to weaken the human kingdoms, by making Sword-Spell crests be sold of as slaves and looked down on."
"Why would they do that?" Questioned Marcus, a look of confusion on his face.
I think I might know where this is going. Weaken the human race, Cardinals, everything kind of seems like it's beginning to fall in place and make sense. But it's the exact opposite of what I hoped. Retribution is gonna be a really big problem. Fuck.
"Well, it's to, uh- it's so that when the demon race is revived, they can overrun the humans."
Everybody else's faces widened in shock, while mine creased in disappointed expectance. Just as I had thought. Shit. If this 'Royal' person has enough power to revive the demon species, then they have power equal to that of what I had in my past life. This is a big fucking problem.
"R- Revive the demons?! There's no way... S- Stop lying!" Screamed Violet.
I put my hand in front of her, as she was practically about to pounce on him. "I... I don't think he's lying."
"Wh- What?" Jade looked over at me.
"Seriously?" Questioned Marcus.
Violet grabbed onto my arm, tears about to break out of her eyes. This must be extremely hard for her to hear. She's probably grown to like humans, but now the entire species is being threatened. I felt bad for her. "Say your lying. Please... Please..."
"I- I'm sorry. I really am. But I- I really think he's telling the truth."
Her entire body weight rested on my arm, as her legs gave in from the shock. Or could this be considered fear? I didn't know - all I knew was that, for whatever reason, I couldn't stand seeing her like this. It felt like it physically hurt me, too.
After a few minutes, we all managed to mostly regain our composure, staring down at the man.
"Alright. We thank you for your cooperation. I was gonna kill you, but now, I need you to send a message to Retribution."
I began walking away, the other three following close behind.
"Tell them that their reign of fear will not persist for much longer. Tell them that Shattered Veil knows the truth, and that the Virtues will become stronger than any can imagine. And make sure that the Royal themself gets this last message -" I glanced back to him for a second. "The Observer is coming for them personally."