Tinkertop’s eyes scanned us, ignoring Geralt who knelt on the ground straining to stand in the face of this pressure. Slowly, Tinkertop smiled at us.
“Now this is interesting. The fact you five aren't affected means you're all Lvl 3. What, did Donzo finally get impatient and send you lot to assassinate me? Just know, not a single one of us will leave this place alive.” The pressure increases as Tinkertop's smile turns sinister.
Deciding to risk it, I stepped forward and muttered a sentence.
“A withered rose…”
“Happens when a dimwit doesn't know how to care for roses. Yes yes, my old saying. What of it?” His eyes snap to mine as I sigh.
“I take it that a magic of sorts has been released that prevents us from lying and if we attempt to, it harms us? No, of course you wouldn't just tell us. Then how about if I tell you we are the real Unity of the Lost?”
Tinkertop stopped and watched me, a brow slowly raising as nothing happened to me.
“Interesting. You're not lying. But you could be completely convinced that the fake is real.”
“That can't be, cause I'm the leader of the real one. I'm Midnight, formerly of the Dark Reapers.”
This time Tinkertop blinked, surprise revealing itself in full as he scanned me up and down.
“No fucking way. One half of the lesbian duo?! Ha! Which means one of these other beauties is the other half.”
“You'll know soon enough. Tinkertop, release your magic.”
“Fine. At this point you would've been dead if you were lying.” The pressure stops as he sits down roughly and looks at Geralt. “Ah, right. The effects will take a few days to wear off. Right now he has contracted a fairly serious illness, stage one of my magic. Good rest will lead to full recovery.”
Putting his feet on the table again, he looked at me before gesturing to a nearby chair. “Come, Midnight. We haven't seen each other since I left DR.”
Doing as he suggested, I sat down before leaning back. We hadn't planned for this at all. But Tinkertop being Lvl 3 made sense as to why the clan still existed in Haven, he could easily protect it. And the confidence he had in knowing he could take all of us down with him when he thought we were assassins made me think he was prepared enough.
“So, Midnight, or do you prefer The Ruby of Dark Reapers? Tsk, I used to get so jealous of you back then. A young beauty joins, excels in every way and quickly raises herself to Captain of the Professional Team, before stepping back and going to the Mechanical Team. Now you're here, being announced to the world as one of the best. Nothing's changed, has it?”
I merely shrugged in the face of this rant of his. I knew he had qualms with me in our world. Tinkertop looked at the ceiling, tapping a finger on his arm before looking at me.
“So Midnight and her merry crew are in Haven. A small team of five Lvl 3s all dressed up as if some poor beggars, struggling to live. Since you also lied about your identity before it means you're not here to join the place and the fact you chose to come here, to a place run by me leaves only one logical conclusion. You're here to assassinate those pricks who gave themselves to the Void Legion, aren't you?”
Raising a brow, I decided against lying at this point. “Correct, we are here to identify and assassinate each one. The team I've bought was all hand chosen for this mission.”
“Stealth? With you always playing a sniper I suppose you'd be one here as well. Fine, I'll loan you a house to operate out of. On one condition.”
“And what will that be?”
“Your assassinations will leave power vacuums in Haven. There are dozens of Clans all vying for more power and control. I want that control. So when you deal the finish blow, I'll seize their assets and turn their clans into mine.”
Raising a brow at this, the deal didn't favour us in the slightest, in fact we lost half the reason for coming here.
“Unwillingness? I see, so half the reason you're here is for the people as well. Tsk, and here I thought better of you. Fine, I'll take half and you can have the other half. In addition, I'll form an alliance with your clan, that way we can help each other out.”
“Deal.” Reaching over, I shook hands with Tinkertop.
“Right then, tell the guards outside to show you to a house. They're barely fixed up, but it'll do. Oh and another thing. If you fuck up, you're on you're own. I got my own people to worry about without adding yours on top. I'm not interested in a civil war.”
“Duly noted.” Standing, I give Tinkertop a nod before turning and leading everyone out, with Geralt being supported by Ghost. Informing the guards of what Tinkertop had said, they simply led us to a simple house. The guards left as we entered the house and looked around before gathering in the dining room that had a few chairs and a table.
“Well that meeting went to shit. Ruby, why did you let him get away with fifty percent? You know damn well that's what he was aiming for from the start.”
“I know, Bek. I just didn't want to put up with him. Our main reason for being here is finishing the quest, the people and manpower was an afterthought.” Looking around at everyone, I leaned back and crossed my arms. “For now let's consider Phase 1 complete. Now for Phase 2.” Looking at Ghost, I give him a nod. He returns it before leaving the room and house. Turning my attention to everyone else, I gave them their instructions and as I did they too left the room.
Finally it was only Bek and I left in the dining room. Turning my head to her, I gave her a smile. “You know what to do.” She smiles and leaves the room as well. Rebecca would act as our guard as everyone else prepared.
Closing my eyes, I waited alone for about an hour before the sound of the front door opening sounded out. Footsteps approached the dining room and upon opening my eyes, I saw Lumisara walk into the room, equipped with gold and silver heavy metal armour, a two handed sword on her back and in the gauntlets she wore she carried Noir, who slept peacefully.
According to Lumisara, this get up is her ‘war’ outfit. Her silver wings made the outfit look outstandingly beautiful. She approached me and gently held out Noir, who I took with a smile, placing him on my lap. He had grown again, now the size of a regular puppy.
Watching Lumisara stand at attention next to me, I had to admit that I made the right decision to have her follow us. Originally I asked her to do so as to take care of Noir, who I didn’t want to leave alone at the base, but now it seemed there is another threat she could help me with.
“Lumi, what is Mortis?”
“A Spirit of Darkness. He has survived since the world came into being, similar to me, except he does not lose his memories. He resides in his own realm, which is where you were pulled into.” Once again, Lumi spoke without opening her mouth, her voice resounding in my mind peacefully.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“I see. So he is like your opposite?”
“No, the Spirit of Light, Yuna, is his opposite. My opposite is Baal, the Unholy Spirit. Though I believe he is dead.”
Oh, that’s new. “So is Mortis a threat?”
“Yes, for now he should be considered a threat. I have forced him away for the time being, but he will come back. Like many others, he followed Stella with absolute loyalty. Unlike the others though, he will not accept you as the new Queen of the Spirits. I believe you will need to enter his realm and deal with him once and for all at some point.”
“Right, we’ll look at doing that after this mission then.” While I had indeed sensed a very powerful pressure from Mortis, it’s likely only that powerful due to not having my physical body at that time. With that, I put Mortis aside for the time being.
“Lumi, I need you to watch a man named Tinkertop for me. Make sure not to reveal yourself to anyone, but if he notices you and sees through your magic, just tell him you’re looking for us. If he doesn’t see through your magic, keep an eye on what he does.” Describing Tinkertop to her, she nods and leaves the room.
I hadn’t intended to use her as a spy, but I felt concerned about Tinkertop. I couldn’t place my finger on it, but he appeared to have a certain amount of disdain towards me. Perhaps he did, but it’s likely he also looked past it to push the Traitors out. When he mentioned them, he held a certain amount of hatred in his voice.
As to whether we could trust him or not…I fell on the side of not for the time being, at the very least not for now. He had changed from what I remember, mainly wanting to have fun with games and caring for those he played with. Perhaps that was all a mask, hiding his true feeling which he no longer bothered hiding in this world. Plus I didn't feel comfortable having a variable outside of my control knowing who we are and what our plans are, keeping an eye on him would reassure me.
I had considered placing a Hunter's Mark on him, but if he sensed it then any trust, as flimsy as it is, would be destroyed. In all likelihood, that room may have very well turned into a warzone.
Standing with Noir in my arms, I moved to a room in the house and opened it to find a bed and a desk.
Placing Noir on a pillow on the bed, I turned to the desk and withdrew all of my equipment. I had bought boxes of parts and components as well as various tools to make any machines or equipment we needed.
Along with those, I brought out the mechanical arms and gloves, put them on and fired up the tablet. Ghost would install cameras at certain points of interest, building a network of sorts that would allow us to monitor movement in the town.
Connecting to one of the cameras that monitored one of the two streets Tinkertop controlled, I turned the tablet off, flipped it and slid it back in, appearing as a plate of armour.
“And now we play the waiting game. Don't keep us waiting too long, Ghost.” Muttering this, I pulled out another machine, one I learnt recently. It looked like a dish with an interface on the back and powering it on, I slowly scanned the room.
This would detect any bugs or cameras, and seeing none get picked up, I left the room and scanned the rest of the house. Not spotting anything at all, I felt a bit relieved before heading back to my room.
Sitting down, I pulled out a bunch of familiar files. They were the ones from the research lab with the healing tanks. Thanks to Lumi, I had cracked their language and started learning it at a rapid pace.
This particular research piqued my interest very quickly. It's about energy and not just normal everyday energy, but using different forms of it for electricity, weapons and more. For example, the research papers I held discussed using Antimatter as a fuel source. The research is beyond us, same with any containment methods. A singular antimatter molecule could wipe everything out, at least according to this paper.
While the research is beyond me, I was fascinated because if we could grasp any of these methods, we could gain stronger forms of weapons. The thought of automatic turrets firing off thousands of Plasma bolts a minute made my back tingle in excitement.
As for the healing liquid for the tanks, of which I had learnt the blueprint for, Melody had successfully learnt how to make it, and the potency allowed for us to heal far quicker. The only drawback is that we had to be in the tanks for days, so currently she was working on strengthening the magic.
Between studying the files, playing with Noir and ‘playing’ with Rebecca, four days quickly passed as a knock resoundee throughout the house, followed by another and many more in a certain pattern.
Opening the front door, I saw Ghost standing there with a bland white mask on and pure white hair. Grimacing, I made way for him to enter which he did.
“They actually discovered you?” Asking this as I closed the door, I turned to Ghost as he removed the mask.
“Somehow, yes. It seems some of my potential targets are almost always on guard. I've got huge news though.” Ghost brings out an envelope and hands it to me as I hand him the tablet.
Opening the envelope, I pour the contents onto the dining table as Ghost flicks through the tablet. The envelope held about twenty sheets of paper detailing individuals and a singular mobile phone.
“Check out the recording from yesterday at about 9pm, at least according to the phone.” We had tried to line up the time in this world, though the day and night cycles were always different so it barely worked. Navigating through the phone, which ran off my operating system, I found the recording. An audio only file and pressing play, I leaned back and listened.
“Our masters want us to gather more people to send into a battle.”
“What battle? We just sent four people not long ago.”
“It seems they failed to take that town. Apparently they aren't as weak as we thought.”
“Tsk. So those four are what, dead? Even after receiving their gifts.”
“What can we do about it? Our masters said that if we don't deal with that town then it's likely they'll launch a full attack on us next.”
“A small shitty group like that, against us? Well, if it's what the masters demand then let's send a team of ten this time. They can gather more undead and our masters can give us more Void Legion Captains.”
“For each person we send, our master will provide five Void Legion Captains or higher. You grab five people that have already been blessed by our masters from your clan and I'll do the same.”
“Deal, meet here in two nights.”
The two voices then started talking about some strangely disturbing topics, like how many ‘playthings’ they've claimed and how they'd tortured information from other clans and so on.
Stopping the recording, I looked at the title before pulling two pieces of paper out, matching the descriptions of the voices. Megadeth, the leader of a medium clan named Frosty Nether and Jailer, the leader of a medium clan named The Jail of Eternity.
“So they're meeting tomorrow night?” Looking at the information and pictures from the phone, I looked at Ghost who nodded meekly.
“Yea. I have a camera down just in case they come earlier.” Flipping it and showing me the location, I saw that it's an open area, a courtyard, behind a small building. “Also pictures on the phone of the area so you can come up with a plan.”
Browsing the photos, I slowly formulated a plan. We had no choice here, it's obvious they mean to launch another attack on Lux, this time with over double the forces.
“Alright, I have a plan on how to handle this. Myself, you and Bek will be the ones handling this. It's a good chance to hunt and kill twelve Traitors at once.” The recording made me wonder who the masters are, it doesn't sound like they're from the Void Legion.
“So what formation are we taking?” Thinking of what Ghost said, I held my chin and thought back to all those hundreds of hours of practice and strategy discussion back when we were simple gamers.
“Let's see…Formation Alpha Kappa 21 with Delta Foxtrot 6b as back up.”
Ghost gave me a surprised look. “But that's a four man format-” He stopped before grinning. “I see. I take it Lumi followed? She seems to be the most proficient at fighting.”
“Yes, she's the one who came along. The Spirits didn't want me diving into enemy territory without one of them following, so under the pretence of Lumi coming to take care of Noir I had her follow us. Anyway, go get prepared. This house has no electricity so I had to set up a generator in the basement.”
“Got it. I'll meet up with you in a day, Ruby.” Ghost gives me a determined nod before leaving the room. Sitting down, I looked at the ceiling while pursing my lips.
“So here we are, a step away from killing another…well, I crossed that bridge already, but this will be in cold blood. Yet I feel nothing…have we truly changed this much?” Letting myself sink into my thoughts for a while, I eventually sat up and started to read through the rest of the papers that Ghost had bought us, making plans on assassinating each one.