“Reporting! We have found no intruders.”

Mila rolled between the legs of the nobles, struggling to keep her emotions from boiling over. Despite her attempts to pacify her companion, she had found no success. The old fool seemed to be stuck in a feedback loop. Every time Zemny opened his mouth, the old warlord’s emotions seethed and rolled.

“Search among my associates.” Azan’s voice allowed no disagreements.

The guards didn’t appear to be very receptive to the idea. “But, Sir-” But they also didn’t dare to argue. “Yes, my Sir.”

“And you all,” Azan continued. “Don’t move. Don’t make it difficult for my men to do their duty. It is for your sake as well.” He addressed the ruling class of this burning city.

Unfortunately, Zemny wasn’t done speaking either. “Don’t cast anything.” He warned. “The ritual will try to rip away your mana. It is only due to my genius that it hasn’t happened.”

This pointless boost set Mila’s mentor into another fit of rage. She quickly learned that it was two things that he found unacceptable.

One was the mention of the horrific experiments Zemny had done.

And the other was the ritual itself.

“Soon, we will leave this world behind!” Zemny yelled over the guards, who had begun combing the lines of the sitting nobles. “Don’t do anything to delay the inevitable.”

It was the ramblings of a madman. But unwittingly, Zemny was hindering Mila’s capability to proceed. His pointless words were pushing the rage of the ancient ghost even higher.

“...Calm,” Mila whispered, knowing the surrounding commotion would make it impossible for anyone to hear. “-down.”

Mila received another push to kill Zemny. It was flattering to feel the trust in her ability to do so, but she also felt helpless.

In front of Mila, there were now legs blocking her path. The guards were still a bit away, held up by a grumbling noble who demanded more respect. Even Azan’s influence couldn’t stop the posh assholes from releasing the severity of the situation.

Not everyone was uncooperative. Mila also heard some of the nobles join the search, making her situation that much harder. After all, a good chunk of them were active fighters, not just paper pushers - even if there were a lot of those here.

Not to mention the children. Mila hadn’t seen them at first, as they had been sat down at the front, but as the commotion continued, she heard their fearful questions and the wishes to go home.

The person who had brought the news spoke again. “Zemny. My illusions won’t hold them fur much longer. It is too hard to keep them active in these conditions.”

“I know, I know!” Came an answer. “I am giving orders to the remaining toys. They should buy us enough time.”

Mila felt a slight change in the air. Zemny was sending a pulse of mana towards several directions. A very large pulse, which made it possible for her to detect. And not just for her. She heard several exclamations from people who had likely never felt mana before today.

The awe in the air continued for long enough to Mila proceed yet another few steps closer to the centre. She was almost in the range where she could start working on interfering.

But that would demand a full concentration from her. Mila couldn’t afford to do that. She couldn’t drop her spell. It would spell her immediate death…

Perhaps…

Between the legs in front, Mila spotted engravings on the ground. Similar to her dream, they sneaked beneath her, covering the floor. They were coordinates… Or at least, that’s what the man in Mila’s dream had postulated.

There was no way to be sure. Even the expert had been unable to decipher the complex marks, runes, paths and connections that made the ritual possible. So what chances did Mila have? She doubted Zemny understood even a tenth of how the ritual worked, too…

But then again, Mila had a guide who could help. She knew the methods, and now she needed directions.

All Mila needed to do was to inch just a bit closer… Just a bit… Was that child staring at her? Mila blinked, and the child did, too.

A young boy, not even ten years old. He had fallen to the ground and was about to start crying when he noticed her. It was clear his young mind did not understand what he was seeing.

For how long had he been staring at her? Mila did not know, but it had been long enough for her spell to start to fail. She needed to…

It was regretful. Mila prepared her dagger. She would have to do this. It would cause chaos and possibly reveal her position and… It would take an innocent life… Something she wanted to avoid, something that ate away at her soul.

Did she have to? Mila still mused over the idea while her body was already moving to reap another life. This would cause her another heartache down the road. But…

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An overbearing sound of metal splitting in half and screeching, tearing noise filled the room, making everyone flinch.

The child began crying hysterically, unable to mention Mila. His attention had shifted towards the breached doors.

“Kill them!” Came an order from outside.

Mila hesitated one last time before deciding against killing the boy. It would be hard to do it without alerting the enemy of her presence. Besides, it would be hard to hit him between the moving legs.

All valid excuses. Mila watched arms appear and pick up the boy, lifting him out of her cone of view. He was gone. Had she made the right choice? It remained to be seen.

But for now… Mila had to use the chance to move. It was harder now, despite people being distracted. The hurried steps around her made it almost impossible to roll forward. She managed another row of seats before…

Azan’s commanding voice brought order to the room again. “Sit down. It was all of them.” He pacified the nervous Nobles. “Lazlo, how did they get in?”

“As I said, the walls have fallen. There will be more. My illusions-”

“I’ll make stop them!” Zemny’s voice rose an octave. “I’ll kill them! My experiments will kill everyone who has stepped inside the walls. They will act soon. Just a moment-”

“Just like the ritual?” Azan stopped the lunatic's ramblings. “Get them to act sooner. We lost another two men because of your failings.”

“They are hunting now.” Zemny gritted his teeth. “And we will be in the promised World soon enough.”

Mila shook her head. She had hoped for more from the sudden attack. But from the sound of it, all they had managed was two kills and ruined doors. It sounded like the advance team that had just died.

Still, Mila was almost there. Just another row of seats, and she would be able to start working on her plan.

Another wave of commotion washed over the room. A second party of attackers had reached the place, but…

“Aaargh!” “What ARE they?” “Retreat!” “Follow me!” “Captain!” “NO”

More and more screams of death announced the grisly deaths these people received. From the conversations above, Mila knew it was all done by Zemny’s abominations.

The Nobles were… Unsettled. Mila heard whispers of worry she had not noticed before. These people had not been worried about the Military, but the experiments… Those worried them.

A part of Mila wondered how they looked in action. She had seen them sliced in parts. Those were not enough to tell how they fought and looked. But she also knew it was better not to worry about it.

If she did catch a glimpse, Mila worried the old ghost would lose his mind in rage, throwing them both into an inescapable situation. Or at least, in one, even more hopeless than the current one.

Really, what had she thought when choosing to come here alone? But after another moment of thinking, Isabel’s unconscious body lying on the floor returned to the forefront of her mind.

And with the memory came resolution. Mila gritted her teeth, waited for another second, then crawled forward. A foot came down where she was wiggling. Mila glanced up, extended her hand, and let her fingers find the engraving on the floor.

Mila hooked her fingers inside the shallow crevice and used all her might to hasten herself under the next row of seats. The foot landed between her legs, and she hurried to pull them beneath the reassuring cover of the bench.

To her displeasure, Mila once again had to admit her size had its advantages. Tucking herself away at the small shelter, she began tracking the engravings with her fingers. Every last centimetre she could reach was felt and observed.

The mana in the air was as solid as ever, still becoming heavier. It was regretful, but Mila couldn’t do anything about it. Perhaps her companion could… No, he definitely could, but it was too soon for him to come out.

Sparing one last glance at the shimmering air, Mila threw the thoughts about manipulating the mana string directly out of her mind.

That option would have been more efficient. But also more dangerous and noticeable. Then again… Mila scraped her fingers against a line that bent and travelled away from her towards the great mana ball.

The other option was terrible as well. Mila took out her dagger and used the tip of the blade to scrape the stone floor.

It took effort, but Mila managed to leave a trace on the enchanted material. This place hadn’t been as heavily secured as outside. Perhaps because this place was the heart of the operations, perhaps because of the lack of materials, but she could carve the floor.

Which was the good news.

The bad news?

Mila’s fingers hurt from the effort. A dagger was never meant to be used to chip away at a stone. It was at home in someone's heart.

It was regretful, but Mila had to ruin the excellent weapon. She stabbed the dagger into the floor again and dragged it along the surface, connecting two runes where they shouldn’t be touching.

Honestly, a good part of Mila’s attempt was guesswork. After connecting the runes, she paused, waiting for the change to take place.

It had taken Mila a moment to recognise some of the runes untainted by Zemny’s attempts to patch up the ritual. She had a vague understanding of what was about to happen.

There was an effect. By pressing her cheek to the ground, Mila could feel the mana shift slightly. The effect was less than she had expected.

The whole ritual was a mess and built on hopes and dreams - an ugly abomination of a spell. Mila had hoped that just a few alterations would be enough to redirect it and prevent these people from achieving their goals.

But to Mila’s frustration, the excess, shoddy work Zemny had done had also introduced many redundant pathways that made her attempts at interfering slow and ineffective.

Still, there was no other choice. Mila gripped the handle of her dagger firmer and continued to work. She had to hurry. This was just one place she had to ruin. There were more, and she was running out of time.

All around Mila, there was noise. The guards were still looking for her, but most of their attention was on the occasional fighting around the doors. More and more of the Military’s forces were reaching this room, but no one had managed to enter.

If anything, from the short phrases Mila caught, it seemed that Zemny’s experimental soldiers were doing an excellent job and were pushing many of the stronger fighters back.

Those were not good news. Mila rammed her dagger into another spot, connecting another two runes. There was not enough time… As always…