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Traps were a delicate thing. First, they had to be invisible. Second, they had to involve as few parts as possible. Thirdly, they had to be lethal.
Ludwing had threaded his snare carefully. What could be more invisible than gossip? Word had spread that the Altenschlosses had a massive stash of cash and virtual currencies in a hidden vault on their property. Ludwing had approached a few cat burglars, trying to hire them for an undisclosed job. That was the first step, and it worked.
As for the second requirement, the trap had virtually a single part: him, which ensured the third part, lethality. Ludwing was flying toward Vienna through the snowstorm. Once at a castle, he intended to kill Karl’s ex-wife and their son—who had occupied the mansion to search for the hidden treasure—ensuring his friends could regain their wealth. Of course, no one knew the plan but him. His earthlings acquaintances were softies of the worst kind…
The feeling of the cold wind under his wings was so refreshing that he toured the castle thrice. Armed guards were everywhere now, but guns didn’t worry him much. He was to strike fast and go away.
The woman and her son were in the living room, where Ludwing had enjoyed so many drinks chatting with Karl. There was a guest, a tall man dressed in a black suit, contrasting the casual clothes of the two hosts.
Security cameras were installed on the perimeter, but who could imagine a raven flying on the roof? Then, he let himself glide through the chimney. The fire was lit, but Ludwing could wrap himself in his shadow pocket universe, ignoring it. And since he was invisible, he listened to the conversation.
“There’s about a hundred grand in wines in the cellar, but no treasure for now,” the older Altenschloss son explained to her mother. He was in his late twenties and looked much like Karl but in an annoying, smug way.
“Then continue searching!” his mother sneered. Karl’s ex was a ‘darling,’ that was sure. Ludwing decided to kill her first if only to escape her shrieking voice. But for the moment, he decided to wait. Maybe the guest would leave, given time, making his task easier.
“The lawsuit is annoying,” the tall man said.
“Can’t you just get rid of Karl?” the woman interjected.
“Mother!” the young man exclaimed. “Karl’s my father!”
“We tried to snatch his daughter but failed. Since then, there’s always somebody with military training hanging around.”
“Hmpf,” the woman snorted. It obviously meant: ‘You’re good for nothing!’
“We came out with another scheme instead,” the tall man said. His age was uncertain, and the expression on his face unreadable. “To take full control of the board, we’ll reinstore Karl and—”
“Over my dead body!” the woman yelled, throwing her glass of wine in the chimney. It missed the man and broke a few inches from Ludwing.
“Why don’t you listen to the end?” the man said. “We’ll reinstore them, but they will be under our strict control.” The man clapped his hands, and a double door opened, letting in two armed guards. Between them was a boy about thirteen years old, gagged and handcuffed, sitting in a wheelchair, which he shared with an auburn-haired girl with a lot of freckles. “They sent their older kid to a Swiss boarding school to keep him away from the scandal… but they didn’t bother to hire bodyguards,” the man smiled as wide as a shark. “This little one here is our key to control Karl.”
“Bravo, Malvoisin, bravo!” the woman applauded while her son gasped, horrified.
Malvoisin? That sounds like a villain's name… Ludwing frowned. He didn’t like concurrence.
“And you didn’t hear the best part,” Malvoisin cackled. “I will take you at your word about that over my dead body part and replace you with better versions.” He clapped his hands again, and a man and a woman entered through the door, stopping on Malvoisin's left and right. They looked identical to the Altenschloss, to the smallest detail, including the clothes. “My cousin, Sander, was kind enough to volunteer for plastic surgery, and as for your replacement, I’m sure you recognize your twin sister. You stole her inheritance, if I recall well. And now, it’s time to say goodbye.”
“No!” the woman screamed when the guards unsheathed their guns.
It was time for Ludwing to make his entrance. Letting other people kill his prey was out of the question.
Fast Reactions activated. Channeled. 3 MPs/second
Shadow Armor activated: Channeled: 3 MPs/second
Dark Bullet charging: 3… 2…
Ludwing erupted out of the hiding, transforming into his human form. He grabbed a poker from the chimney, caved one of the guard’s skulls with it, released the Dark Bullet into the second guard, killing him instantly, and then tried to stab Malvoisin with the sharp end of the poker. It met resistance, a sort of armor under the clothes. With inhuman speed, Malvoisin jumped backward, produced a gun, and shot at the king. The bullets made a big dent in Ludwing’s Shadow Armor, one entering his chest, barely missing his left lung.
Fuck! Ludwing blurted in thought. I forgot how much kinetic force bullets have…
You are suffering from Minor Radiation Poisoning. Depleted Uranium rounds detected. Your wound is unable to heal as long you have the projectile inside you.
With a reverse poker swing, he tore the throat of the fake son, then entered his pocket universe, disappearing from sight. He was burning a lot of Mana per second, and in an unawakened world, his recovery was abysmal. He had to find a solution within ten minutes.
“Loose ends first.” Malvoisin shot the real Altenschlosses, then yelled: “Alert! Alert!” pressing a button on a radio he extracted from his coat.
Who the hell is this guy? Ludwing was in pain, the bullet still inside him and refusing to budge. He needed a proper Healer.
“Malvoisin, this is Security One,” a voice replied on the radio. It was faint, but for his enhanced hearing, it was clearly audible. The quality was such that there was no need for code words. “Situation?”
“We have a hostile who took out the kids’ guards. A Vampire… or Santa Clauss. He came through the chimney. Has a stealth device.”
“Do you require extraction?”
“Negative. Watch the perimeter. He’s on the run. Don’t let him escape. Make two teams of four to search the castle. Take this and guard the boy.” Malvoisin picked one of the guns from the floor, gave it to the woman, and exited. His steps could be heard running in the corridor and descending the stairs. The mansion followed the line of the hill; the living room floor was the ground level on the east side and the second story on the west.
The tied boy tried to scream through the gag, and the woman slapped him. “Shut up, you… ghhh….” Her words got muffled. Ludwing’s hand covered her mouth. A moment later, she collapsed on the floor, twitching, her heart run through by the king’s sword cane.
He kicked her gun away and then approached the couch after dismissing all channeled spells. The young man was still breathing; the woman was dead. Ludwing considered speeding the son’s demise, but after a second of hesitation, he cast a Heal. The young man had protested the plan to kill Karl, after all, and the wound was clean; the bullet had gone into the couch.
“Who are you?” Karl’s eldest son mumbled. “How’s my m—"
“Not important.” Ludwing knelt before the younger boy and the freckled girl and cut their zip ties, “You remember me, right? I’m Karl’s friend. Can you stand up?”
“I can walk all right,” the boy said. “They used the chair only to move us.”
“And you, miss, are?” Ludwing asked the girl.
“We’ve met before, sire. I’m Rynn from Stellarterra. His fiancee!” the girl stated, executing a curtsy
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“She’s not!” the boy yelped. “She’s stalking me.”
“So you were hanging around him, and they took you too to avoid leaving witnesses?” the king asked. The girl replied with a nod.
“I need a favor. I have a bullet in my back, and I can’t reach it. One of you has to take it out for me.”
The boy shivered and retched.
“I’ll do it,” the girl said.
The bullet was toward the back. First, Ludwing dismissed his clothes, sending them to the ring’s storage. Then he pushed his sword into the wound, front to back, making a cut so the girl could slide his fingers inside, then retracted the weapon. “Go on… It should be six centimeters inside, on the left… ignore the blood.”
It took her three tries, but finally, the bullet was out and thrown on the floor.
Healing+Regen activated: 4 MPs/second.
“Thank goodness,” Ludwing sighed, feeling the wound closing. “Who’s Malvoisin?”
“My mom’s business partner… part of the administration board…” Karl’s oldest son said, sobbing as he closed his mother’s eyes. “We must run; they’ll realize you’re still here.”
“How many people do they have?”
“T-twenty? We thought they worked for us…”
It was bad. Ludwing could escape alone without a problem, but leaving behind the kids meant Malvoisin kept his bargaining chip, and the eldest son was as good as dead. Not that he cared much about that, but still...
"Anyone has a phone?” the kid said.
“Give me a weapon; I can fight,” the girl said.
“The bullet grazed it, but it’s working,” the older brother extracted his phone from his vest. “I’ll call the police.”
“Don’t,” Ludwing blurted. “They’ll intercept the call and know you’re alive… Give me a minute to think.”
Walking back and forth, massaging the wound on his shoulder to make his muscles heal faster, Ludwing considered calling Vincent for help. Yet, it was the big Talent show night… He had chosen that evening because everyone was busy and paid no attention to him… Calling for help was embarrassing and could ruin Vincent’s evening on top of that.
So, are you willing to put your friend’s kids' lives in danger?
Well, I’m a villain, after all, Ludwing replied to himself.
“We have to move fast. How old are you, kids?” he asked the teenagers.
“F-fourteen…” the boy stuttered.
“Fifteen!” the girl said with pride. “I’m a Scout. Give me a weapon, and I’ll fight alongside you,” she asked again.
“Hm…” If he had to give a gun to someone, it would have been the girl; the boys looked too pusillanimous. Nevertheless, she was still young, and Ludwing was unwilling to put her life on the line. He stored all three guns in his inventory and activated his Pocket Universe for only a second, encompassing the entire park for one second, using his ability as a radar. There were seventeen hostiles left, plus Malvoisin.
“Get up! Now!” Ludwing barked at the older brother, who was whispering useless words to his dead mother, holding her hand. He took the corpse of the fake older son and put it on the couch next to the dead woman, hiding the wound with his own scarf. With some luck, the enemies would think the body was the real son and wouldn’t count the ones on the floor.
Voices approached on the corridor outside the living room. Outside, searching lights were battling the snowstorm.
Mirror Image activated. Channeled: 50 MPs/second.
He projected his skill in front of the tree line, pretending it was running toward the forest behind the park. “He’s outside!” somebody yelled below. The steps and voices diminished. Outside, machine gun fire started but muffled. The enemies used sound suppressors, and the snowstorm did the same job.
Ludwing beckoned the two boys and the girl to follow him to the farthest part of the room, to a mud room with an exit to the eastern lawn. “Hide in here. I’ll lure them inside the house and trap them with a force field. When you see a black wall separating you from the living, run as fast as possible. Don’t stop until you reach a public place, then call the police.”
He closed the door behind him, exited the living room, and advanced to the back of the house. Fortunately, there were no cameras in the private quarters. Karl had shown him where the security control room was. Ludwing barged in, spraying bullets from two of the captured weapons. In the past, the Altenschlosses had two former police officers for all security detail. Now, there were four guards.
They died in seconds, unable to react in time. The camera showed two teams of four approaching the west entrance, most likely alarmed by the shots. Changing into a raven, Ludwing flew out and onward, keeping close to the ceiling. He fell in the middle of the second team, changing back.
[Dark Bullet] charging: 3… 2... 1…
He threw a woman off the railing, shot another man in the head, stabbed a third, and headbutted the fourth, using him as a shield while he fired the last bullet in the gun and his spell on the upper team. The latter killed his mark, but the normal bullet only clipped a man’s shoulder. However, instead of profiting from their advantage, the three guards dashed into a room, shooting suppressive fire at Ludwing, who had to duck down the stairs after his human shield had been killed by friendly fire.
“He’s in the house!” someone shouted on the radio. “Back door.”
Someone was panting not far from him. The woman Ludwing had thrown off the stairs. Her back was broken, and she was trying to crawl away on her elbows. She was scared and crying.
“Sorry about that,” Ludwing approached her.
“Please,” she begged.
Ludwing hit her chin, knocking her off, then cast a Heal on her back. Am I becoming a softie? A suppressive fire hit the wall above him. It was intended to keep him pinned while the ones outside came back in, taking him from behind.
His Mana was at about half, which was not great. However, his foes were predictable. They were rushing toward the back entry. Taking a grenade from the woman’s belt, Ludwing threw it outside. The explosion made three people fall dead, but unfortunately, the rest kept coming.
Shit!
The moment had come… After releasing a ping to identify the location of his foes, Ludwing activated his Shadow Pocket Universe to its full power and extension: the Dark Arena. At his command, all over the mansion, electricity flickered and died out, and gunpowder got neutered. Behind him were five soldiers. In the room above, three more, and in the living, Malvoisin. He ran up the stairs, passing the room while the three guards were trying to shoot their guns at him for naughts, cursing.
Dark Bullet charging: 3… 2… 1…
The plan was to take out the boss, thus making the minions flee or surrender. Entering the living room, Ludwing almost bumped into Malvoisin. Seeing his gun wasn’t working, the man threw it at Ludwing, making the king duck to avoid being hit in the face.
“Who are you?” Malvoisin asked.
“Ludwing van Corvinus, king of Hungary in an alternate reality,” Ludwing replied, stalling for time. He had made his pocket universe’s walls opaque for the ones trapped inside, but he still could see through. The two brothers and the girl had obeyed his orders and ran toward the woods. “Who are you?”
“I’m just a guy struggling to make a living,” Malvoisin said, stepping obliquely. “I saw you in the reality show… big fan...”
“Is there a way to end this peacefully?” Ludwing asked.
“You’re naïve… I don’t work alone. If I fail, my associates will silence me.”
“So be it,” Ludwing shrugged. The kids had entered the woods. With a flicker of his wrist, he released the Dark Bullet, only to have it deflected by a shield Malvoisin had grabbed from above the fireplace, along with a side sword.
“You’re fast; I’ll give you that,” Ludwing said.
“Did some fencing,” the man said. Then Ludwing realized the other was stalling too. The eight guards entered the room, knives in hand, except one armed with a mop. The odds were not good. He still felt sour from the wound, his cane sword was puny compared to the sword, and his Mana was diminishing fast.
“Surrender and work for me,” Malvoisin offered.
“Sorry. Kings don’t work for other people…” What am I saying? I do work for the Valaška boy…
“Then…” Malvoisin saluted.
“Can I ask you why you’re doing this?” the king asked.
“You’re not trying to goad me into a villain monologue, are you?”
“Had to try,” Ludwing shrugged. “It works every time in my world.”
The swords met in a first pass of arms. Ludwing was a decent swordsman, but Malvoisin was better, moving with a speed that exceeded even the king’s enhanced reflexes. His attacks were precise, overwhelming the Shadow Armor.
In less than ten seconds, Ludwing got a cut above the eyes, making him bleed profusely, then a thrust in his good arm, obliging him to change hands. At the same time, his few attacks that landed did little damage.
“Don’t overextend,” Mavoisin said. “Wait for my attack, parry, and riposte.”
“Thank you for the lesson,” Ludwing hissed, preparing to do just that when a heavy blow threw water and dirt in his eyes, dazing him. The guard with the mop had hit him in the head, and Malvoisin stabbed his thigh, profiting from the moment.
“Why do you keep fighting? Do you care so much for their lives?”
Ludwing was now surrounded in the middle of the room. Malvoisin and the mop guy were on one side while the rest were behind, ready to overwhelm him.
The king leaned his head sideways, keeping his guard high, ignoring his wounds as he needed the mana. The man was right… He did care. Fuck, I’m thinking like a hero… that’s bad… C’mon, Ludwing, don’t be a loser… What would a villain do? What would your grandfather do?
The thought somehow brought a bad taste to Ludwing’s mouth. Shadow Armor had a secondary utility: catching people in improvised forcefields. He separated himself from Malvoisin and the mop man, killed one guard with a stab in the neck, and wounded a second one. As the latter fell, grabbing his chest, Ludwing turned into a raven and flew back into the corridor.
“Stop!” Malvoisin yelled to his goons. “He wants us to follow and kill us one by one. There’s barbecue fuel in the kitchen. We make Molotovs and burn the house, starting with the back. He’ll either come back or run.”
Ludwing did the only thing he could: aimed for the back door. His mana was depleted. The woman has regained consciousness. “Your pals are preparing to burn the house. As soon I stop the magic wall, run,” he told her.
Hearing the raven talk filled her eyes with terror, and she crossed herself.
“Hope you’re good, kids,” Ludwing said, dismissing the Dark Arena. Electricity was restored, and the lights went back on. The woman darted off the door.
“Guns work!” someone shouted after firing a shot.
“Stay put!” Malvoisin yelled. “We call the police and blame the murders on him. He’s Karl’s friend… It’s perfect! AH!”
The boasting transformed into a scream, and many gunshots followed. However, all the noise ceased in seconds.
“Where are you, you fucking retarded inbreed bastard? Get here now, or I’ll cut your balls and feed them to Cupcakes! Vorrak is too good a dog to eat such shit!”
Vincent’s voice sounded like music in the king’s ears. Awkwardly flapping his wounded wings, Ludwing returned to the living room, using the last mana to transform into himself.
“Lila, take care of the idiot!” Vincent yelled.
“How did you know?” Ludwing collapsed on the floor while Vincent’s wife healed him. All around, there were dead bodies broken into pieces. Vincent had most likely Strode in their middle. Vorrak was still chewing on Malvoisin’s neck.
“The boys phoned Karl, and I was nearby. I have to go; the finals are in five. You deal with the police,” Vincent sneered. “Kids, you must stay too. They’ll need witnesses.”
“Wait!” Ludwing panicked, hearing the sirens getting closer and closer. “What should I tell them?”
“Dunno… You made this mess; figure it out.” Taking Vorrak and Lila with him, Vincent disappeared.