A vampire in paladin’s uniform lunged through a desperate soldier’s slash, pinning his mad resistance to the ground as its fangs bit into his neck and drank his blood dry. A fireball burned both to ash but the claws of another reaped the head of the mage who cast it. In the chaos of cries and bloodshed the three dozen vampires set upon the militia like helpless lambs.
“This is madness!” A man yelled as he turned tail and fled, causing more to route with him.
“Stay in formation you cowards!” Another roared as he fought with all he had to slay one of the foul creatures. And three more lunged towards him. In the slowed vision of despair, a stream of flames surged over the vampires, more powerful than he had ever seen. His eyes turned on their own along with hundreds of others to a woman that emerged from the shadows.
The frilled gown of a noble mage and a witch’s hat, black as the night that made her orange hair stand out even more than usual. Her blue eyes deep and enchanting nearly stealing one’s gaze from her beautiful face. In one hand she carried a staff with a lit lamp hanging at the end and in the other she channeled fire in her palm. The vampires bolted towards her all at once and with elegant lips she breathed on the tiny sphere in her palm and the flames streamed out turning all to ash.
[Lady of the Lamp]
She turned to the remaining crowd, dazed in awe, her divine gaze enchanting them once more. “I am Yendolin, the Good Witch. True Messenger of Sol. Hark, ye faithful. The church has closed its eyes to the Light. They cannot save you. Do not despair, ye faithful. Take the power Sol has granted you into your own hands and save yourselves.”
In a flash of warm light and flames, the Lady of the Lamp vanished, and Yen appeared by the others. Dante erase her false status as she switched her costume for her usual gear.
“Another flawless performance.” Yen bragged to no one in particular.
“It would be better if you did not insist on calling yourself a witch, or using a name outside of the current conventions…”
“That’s a core part of the persona. Matter of fact, change my title to Witch of the Sun, the potential is being wasted.”
“The Lady of the Lamp is a central character in the Solarian faith.” Kamala calmly retorted again. “Prominent and not fully explained, which means it is ripe for reconstruction.”
“My concept is better. Lady of the Lamp, my ass. This is fanfiction tier…”
“Well, yeah… Solarism is strange.” Jean commented.
“What do you mean?”
“It holds the basic structures and tenets of a faith but is far too shallow.” Kamala elaborated on his behalf. “The mythos is simple and clearly explained with no contradictions. It reads more like a fairytale, one revised from a point of pragmatic oversight.”
“Because the church is corrupt and the pope could not more obviously be the main villain.”
“This is a waste of time.” Basem nearly spat out his words, his temper having worsened since the fight against the inquisitors.
Kamala glanced over, choosing not to ignore his complaints. “We still have two and a half months remaining here. There’s no need to rush. Though it is about time we head over to the meeting.”
---
Chariot arrived at the ruined village of Eiffen with nothing but the silent tattered cottages to greet them. Only a few moments went by before a gate opened up, and Johan stepped out.
“I’m pleased to see our alliance is holding. Trust is key for this.”
Yen scoffed. “Acting like you weren’t spying on this place in advance before you decided to show…”
“...the careless are long dead.” Johan handed a spatial bag to Jean who designated himself the one to take what little risk there might be. A cursory glance found the goods they desired. He took the artificing books and materials for himself before handing it next to Dante.
“Your exploits are having an effect.” Jonah informed them. “The church will soon decide to abandon the outskirts and consolidate all power to the capital and key major towns and cities.”
“So what’s the next step?” Yen asked.
“I have a mission for you.” The brown haired cardinal handed them three parchment scrolls, which contained portraits of two men and a woman. “The church is growing more suspicious of the aristocracy, or at least more wary. The paladins are taking the brunt of the chaos while the aristocracy only grows in might. I need you to take out these three nobles who are commonly rumored to be opposed to the church.”
“You want to stoke the aristocracy’s resentment, so they continue to siphon potential military might from them and pose a distraction.” Kamala deduced.
“That’s right. But also… some are attacking the cults I raised. Showing a surface level loyalty to the church to avoid its ire and scrutiny while pilfering wealth and enslaving soldiers. Two of the nobles are misdirection of sorts. The true target is Duchess Lorraine, who is rallying the aristocracy faction together far too quickly.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Why hasn’t the church taken her out?” Yen questioned.
“The aristocrats have no place in the Theocracies governance but they are not powerless, especially now. They have never been freer to expand and most are taking advantage of that, not to mention enlisting the services of otherworlders as mercenaries. Plus…” Johan paused for a moment. “The church has their hands full with attacks and infiltration on the capital daily. They cannot risk going to war with the aristocracy, not at the moment.”
“Isn’t her being alive a good thing then? Who cares if a few branches get wiped out.”
“...she is too capable. And strongly opposed to reformations of any kind. It’s better if to gain the aristocracy on our side at a later date, than see them yield to the church in a failed revolt and add its forces to their ranks.” Johan’s body language changed slightly. “I must go. Security measures in the capital are far stricter now, I cannot be away for too long. Continue to do as you have after dealing with those three nobles. We will meet again at the end of the month in Bamberg at dusk, in the south east. Luck be with you.”
Jonah headed back through his gate under the calm eyes of the party. “I guess that settles it…” Jean murmured.
“Yes…” The priestess agreed.
“Settled what?” Yen asked.
“He did not mention our bastardization of the faith, nor did he tell us how best to lay the groundwork for his ‘reformations’ for a second time now.” Kamala spoke. “He does not care, which means his cult is just a tool for something else.”
“Ah… So what do we do? Capture and interrogate next time?”
“No. He is still useful. We should make him more reliant on us, to force closer cooperation. The first step is the nobles he tasked us with. The duchess’ territory is closest.”
---
Lady Katherine joyously penned a letter by quill in handwritten that was not her own. Her word choice precise and deliberate in its lies. She folded the parchment and sealed it in an envelope with one of the many false sigils she recently had made and stored the note away.
The letters, of which she had written dozens just this day alone, were meant for the many noble houses and dignitaries that remained, and almost all with guileful intentions. A ruse to uproot traitors and spies within her midst. Some of them genuine, as they needed to be, designed to bring houses into the fold of the aristocracy faction.
The duchess used proxies of proxies to deliver them, with none knowing from whom or to why they were even being sent, but there was no such thing as too careful in regards to the Theocracy’s eyes. She put quill to parchment once more, and the notice of one of her letters combusting to ash from being opened too soon alerted her mind.
“Route 17.” She gave simple and succinct notice.
“I shall have them disposed at once.” A tall aged man in butler’s attire replied, as he paused for a moment to deliver a telepathic message. “My lady, it has been some time since you last slept. I fear these long nights will ruin your health and complexion…”
“Such things are no longer an issue, Walter.”
“Of course… my apologies.”
“It is fine. We all still need time to properly adapt to the Change.”
The system had brought more benefits than could be counted, higher Vitality among them. Although hardly relevant to her class, it did allow her the ability to work for days on end to no detriment. However, she did suppose she had been at her socializing and scheming for some time now. Perhaps it would do her good to take a short break.
“I will be retiring for the night. You have successfully persuaded me.”
“Your chambers have already been prepared.” Walter informed as he followed behind at the appropriate distance. He had almost certainly seen her room tended to all the nights before, she thought. She did like how competent and devoted he was to his work. As she was to hers.
“My lady… I must also once again voice my concerns as to entrusting your safety so wholly to outsiders…”
“They are far better than my own, and we have an understanding. There is nothing to worry about.”
“Yes, my lady…” Walter stepped ahead briefly to open the doors to her bedchambers and closed it gracefully after she alone walked through.
Renzo emerged from her shadow, donning clothes meant more for a warrior or an assassin than the King class he sported. “Our loyalty does rely on results.” He reminded.
“Men of ink and paper are not the especially popular sort.” She teased, placing a hand on his chest briefly. “But I assure you, you will have your results.”
Katherine glanced around the room as she changed instantly into more comfortable attire for rest. Half a dozen ‘Igarashi’ guards waited silently throughout, and more she could not see, she knew. A risk, she had no illusions of it being otherwise, but a necessary one. They were strong, highly skilled in espionage and assassination along with measures against the same. She could hardly ask for better, especially when her own family retainers could not be trusted.
“I think I am starting to get use to living like a prisoner.” She smiled.
“It’s for your own good.”
“I am aware. Now, off with you. I will tolerate female guards but I can’t very have uncouth rumors spread about me at this time.” She shoed him away in another plausibly deniable flirtatious manner, and Renzo yanked her away from the black and white blade slashing through the air.
Two of the guards burst towards Shin with attacks from perfectly opposing angels, and he severed them in half, weapons and all. Renzo acted immediately and boldly. A strange magic locked him to Shin and shadows burst from his feet, crashing them both out of the windows to the ground below with their positions unchanged.
Shin rushed him before he even had a chance to speak, a blade passing through his form of shadows. Two spiraling green orbs sped after Renzo as Shin hounded him through shadow spikes blooming from all around, the eldest sibling of the main family barely manage to weather the natural disaster before him.
‘Why are you attacking?!” Renzo yelled after his sixth sense warned him to blink away rather than let a blade pass through his shadow mimicry again.
“Need to kill the duchess.” Shin’s response came casually and plainly as he tried to kill Renzo again.
“We’re losing members.” Kanda’s telepathic communication informed him in the face of creeping death, and Renzo made a decision.
“What would make you stop?”
Shin paused where he was in thought. “Wait.” Mara appeared above and let out a loud sweeping shriek, somehow melodious on the ears. In no time, the rest of Chariot appeared at his side, followed by two parties of Igarashi that reinforced Renzo.
“Renzo wants to make a deal.” Shin told Kamala.
The priestess held silent for a moment. “We will renege on the duchess’ assassination if she stops targeting the rising cults.”
The Igarashi heir paused himself for a moment. “Alright. I will get her to agree.”
The commotion throughout the city spurred by their fighting threatened to reach them soon, and so Chariot left, just as quickly and vainly as they arrived. A red haired young woman gritted her teeth as she glared in their direction, her gear stained with blood.
“Are you just going to let them do this?!”
“Be quiet.” She forced herself silent at Renzo's commanding words, as he flickered off back to the bedchamber. The duchess, guarded by the remaining of those assigned to her, appeared noticeable shaken, but held herself together, even more so upon his return. “We need to change our plans.”