Assassinate Vike.

It was Silver’s orders. Others also received similar commands and went after other members of the Merchant Council. Despite knowing Pamalyra would bleed by dismantling its plutocratic leaders, blood of an ill treated hero was spilled. The Liberator wanted the heads of those who wronged him.

As one of the Captain who featly swore an oath to follow the Liberator unto death, Sazhar firmly gripped his scimitar.

He casted his gaze at the approaching Golden Temple owned by the wealthiest Lycanthrope in all Pamalyra. He wondered how much silver Vike wrung out of the people to build himself a palace like structure to live in such luxury as his crew prepared to disembark.

“Vessel is secured, and bridge is lowered!”

“Anchor set! She’s steady!”

“Let’s go.”

Sazhar and his sailors quickly flooded into the structure with weapons drawn. As they scanned for guards possibly hiding to ambush them, a few of them showed their distain of the lavishing wealth presented to them through the structure’s material and detailed architecture.

They checked all opened rooms, corners, but not a soul was found. After gathering back to the lobby, they looked at their Captain for orders.

Sazhar’s silent footsteps brought him towards the center and realized there was a gap between two giant stone slabs.

Suddenly, a rush of bold footsteps echoed behind it.

“Captain, I hear footsteps!”

“Once the guards show up, we break past them and kill Vike.” Sazhar commanded. “Get ready.”

The number of footsteps behind the stone door lessened. They listened for the rhythmic echo lessening, and they could tell there was now one person climbed up the stairs.

Then the two giant doors creaked opened. The backlight from below made it difficult to identify the lone figure limping out of the entrance until they realized it wasn’t a Pamalyrian.

“Who are you?” One sailor pointed his weapon.

“All you need to know is I can’t let Vike die since he and I have a deal.”

“Don’t bother. He’s stalling.” Sazhar signaled the attack.

The first wave of Sailors rushed towards the lone guard when suddenly he dropped into a stance, twirled and aimed his staff at them. The guard pulled a pin, unleashing a deafening crack along with a bright light to stun those who recklessly charged at him.

Sazhar collapsed on his knees and held his ringing ears. Muffled wails of his men called out to him, but he wasn’t able to understand a word that was said to him.

“Damn you…! Using such cheap tricks!”

Luckily the guard stood stationary until they recovered. Sazhar and his sailors kept their distance in case the guard decided to repeat the same attack.

But as the Mixrel’s night vision recovered, he noticed a familiar face.

“You…! You were that person with Tama!”

“Hmm? Oh. I remember you. You were the one who refused my request to help bring the Scalemen here.” Kihet answered, twirling the second barrel in preparation to fire a second round. “So, are you going to try again?”

“I’m only here for Vike’s head. Move aside!”

Sazhar retrained his eyes to get rid of the blur. After his hearing and sight was recovered, he prowled low and pounced at Kihet. He dodged Kihet’s swing and was about to slip past him until he noticed a figure jumped out of the entrance.

The broad blade bashed and threw him into the air. Sazhar’s feline reflexes allowed him to do a flip and land perfectly on all fours.

He now saw a second individual standing next to Kihet. The Lycanthrope bored his fangs towards Sazhar while [Rolling Crown] rested over his right shoulder. Upon seeing the moonlight hit the Lycanthrope’s dusty silver fur, he recognized it was Rogus.

“Rogus, you’re alive…!”

“Been a while, Sazhar. Ya should know I ain’t gonna kick the bucket dat easily.”

“What are doing standing on Vike’s side? You should know that Lycanthrope was after your head. Did he put a slave crest on you?”

“Thankfully, my bounty just cleared up. And dis slave crest is bounded to da Oracle.” Rogus gestured with his snout towards Kihet. “He’s da one who cleared it.”

“Oracle? You?” Sazhar hissed.

“Got a problem with it?”

“I heard you returned to Easul.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t have any ties with the Alfs. Also, I heard about Douglas’ problem. But I can’t let you kill Vike or any leaders of the Merchant Council.”

Every strand of Sazhar’s hair stood up as he gazed into Kihet’s icy cold glare. His instincts served as a warning to his imminent defeat if he attempted to fight the Oracle head on. Rushing past him wouldn’t work either as he heard from Radhr and Fang that the Oracle could cast magic to manipulate the viscosity of the air in a wide radius.

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Aside from numbers advantage, Sazhar knew his crew did not have the strength to win against the Oracle and Rogus. Nonetheless, failure was not an option.

“Silver has once led me towards death and back. I must kill Vike even if it costs me my life!”

The Mixrel’s slitted eyes narrowed as he mustered as much aura of immense bloodlust. In turn, his crew could feel adrenaline pumping throughout their veins as Sazhar let out a hissing cry.

“We’ll kill Vike even if we die!”

Sazhar’s Sailors moved faster as they were inspired by his determination. They rushed Kihet and Rogus with numbers, hoping if a small team slipped through, they would reach Vike.

“Rogus. Cover your nose.”

“Got it.”

Kihet spun his firelance to its third barrel and pulled the pin. Upon detonating the cartridge, a reddish colored cloud of dust covered the entire view. Later, the lobby echoed with Sazhar and his sailors teary eyed and coughing nonstop.

“Tear gas…?!” Sazhar exclaimed.

“Glad it worked. Now we can apprehend them without any bloodshed as promised, Tama.”

A Mixrel with a mask and goggles over her face poke from behind the door. She dropped coils of rope from her baggage and reeled in Sazhar and his sailors.

“Do you like the recipe? The guards use these to quell riots.”

“It might not do anything to the Towers, but it’s great for situations like this. I think it’d be very useful to stop casters from using magic. It’d be great if I could figure out how to make hand thrown versions so others can use it.”

“Usually, they just scatter with the help of the wind. However, Nyie’ve seen guards poke a hole through and fill it in egg shells.”

“It’s not pleasant to be hit by one of those.” Rogus groaned as he marched up to Sazhar. He uncorked his waterskin and splashed the Mixrel to wash away the effects. “So, ya know where my brother is?”

“You know I can’t *cough* tell you even if I want to. Silver is hellbent on killing the Merchant Council. You should also feel the same. They murdered Ma. Aren’t you angry? You’re protecting the people who killed her!”

“Ya think I’m not?” Rogus squarely looked into Sahzar’s eyes. “I’m beyond angry! I also want ta tear the ones who killed Ma. But, the councils are pawns. I’m after da big fish. So, I needa stop my bro before he makes a further mess of things. Sazhar, where is he?”

Sazhar gritted his teeth and casted his gaze downwards.

After a bit of thought, the Mixrel decided to surrender. “He’s… with me.”

A loud splash from outside could be heard. Seconds later, the noise of glass shattering and water rushing echoed from behind the stone doors. When Kihet opened the door, he found half of the Scalemen he brought with him swam to the surface. The other half were trapped with the guards on Vike’s end.

“Grumpy one! Douglas went around us! He’s after Lord Kamrah!”

“I’ll go and stall him!” Kihet shouted.

Kihet quickly shoved his firelance and belongings into Tama’s hands knowing the weapons would be useless underwater. He took one deep breath and dove into the water armed with an arming sword and his leaf bladed knife. After the bubbles cleared from his view, he was greeted with a scene of an entire glass walkway demolished.

He scanned his surroundings and soon discovered Douglas swimming ahead.

Kihet gave chase. He anchored his [Chain] and used debris all around to propel himself through the water. He targeted Douglas once the Lycanthrope was within range. His [Chain] coiled Douglas’s ankle and used the Lycanthrope as an anchor point to reel himself in.

Seeing Douglas raise [Tyrant’s Fang], Kihet prepared himself. The two exchanged swings but Kihet was the one who was batted away. He didn’t think Douglas had enough raw power to overwhelm the Oracle’s blessing. Thankfully, [Chain] continued to latch onto Douglas allowing Kihet to dive in once more.

A splurge of bubbles escaped Douglas’ mouth. In response, Kihet heard [Tyrant Fang] react as it its name was called upon to activate its imbued magical properties.

Kihet’s body suddenly froze as he realized he was held between the fangs of a large phantom beast. He ingrained the ability to reactionarily activate the Oracle’s flames whenever he felt a magical power hold or inconvenience him, but the silver flames remained dormant. However, he felt no pain and noticed everything in his view had moved extremely slow.

In the next moment the ghastly beast vanished, and time resumed flowing normally. Douglas darted through the waters in front of him with [Tyrant Fang] brandished towards him. Kihet’s initial response was to cast [Repulsion] but was unable to chant underwater to call upon the Elemental Spirits.

He braced himself and blocked only to be shot out of the surface of the water.

Now he could cast a spell.

“Kerse, Pik, Cirl, Larv, Exlas, Exles, Val, Ruh!”

He imbued [Kerse Armament: Repulsion] onto his sword and as he was about to dive back in, unleashed [Mountain Cleaver] at the surface. His empowered slash sliced through the waves, temporarily parting the lake below him.

The instant he located Douglas fallen onto the lake’s floor, Kihet shot forth his [Chain] and soared at the Lycanthrope. The two once again clashed blades, sending forth a shower of sparks.

“Stand down, Douglas!”

“I’m only here for Vike! This ain’t got anything to do with ya!” Douglas howled.

The Lycanthrope took a swipe, but Kihet parried his powerful claws using [Full Moon, High Tide]. Magical Kerse energy shot in all directions in form of a shockwave and pushed back water was rushing to fill the gap.

However, this fight felt eerie familiar.

Kihet couldn’t help but think Douglas exuded an unearthly power as the Lycanthrope was exposed to moonlight. From his last clash, Kihet felt the Pamlyrian doubled in strength. He suspected Douglas’ body steadily absorbed energy from the moon, further strengthening the Lycanthrope as the battle prolonged.

This put him on a timer.

“Why ya protectin that greedy wolf anyways? Did he pay ya?”

“He has information.” Kihet blocked an overhead strike. “Besides. I got him to clear Rogus’ bounty.”

“I’m thankful for the promise you kept. But, dat does not correct da Merchants fer killing Ma!”

Douglas scrapped his claws along the ground, caught, and swiped Kihet into the wall of water. He hurriedly turned towards the opening of the broken walkway only for his right leg to suddenly lose its strength. A tingly sensation spread throughout his body, and he was able to identify a small wound with traces of paralysis toxin on his fur.

The substance likely came from the Scalemen.

“Dat runt!”

When had Kihet applied it to his weapon and cut him? But that was the least of his worries as the water held back by Kihet’s magic collapsed onto him. The currents swept him off the lake’s floor and forced him to surface.

He acknowledged Kihet was strong and with his current strength, it was impossible to bypass an unknown elemental spirit used to control the waves. If he wanted to break through to catch Vike, his best option was to withdraw and attack other members of the Merchant Council until he built enough strength through time.

He caught a glimpse of Kihet zipping through the waters and guarded the entrance to where Vike was. Until midnight hits or his body accumulated enough magical energy from tonight’s full moon, he must avoid Kihet.

Meanwhile, Kihet confirmed Douglas withdrew from their battle. Knowing the Liberator was forced to change targets, he must warn the others to stop the Lycanthrope before the Liberator grows too strong.

“Oracle, you have certainly lived up to your name!” From behind Vike applauded. “For you to have driven the Liberator away, I am grateful to have you personally protect me from his fangs.”

“Don’t you have a bigger issue right now? The air in here isn’t going to last you long. Do you have a way to evacuate?”

“Of course. When I designed my grand study, it would be unwise of me to not have an emergency route.” Vike clapped his hands. “Guards, please escort everyone from my study, please.”

“And all of you.” Kihet called upon the Scalemen. “Go out from the other way. Let the others knows ‘The Liberator’ is going to target the other councils. Quickly.”