Rieren didn’t barge in directly, of course. First, she needed to determine if she was going to find someone inside the bedchamber or not.
If the assassins led by the former Clanmaster arrived beforehand, they had likely done the murderous deed and made off. There was no reason for them to wait, and the likelihood that Rieren would come upon them right when they were about to commit murder seemed implausible.
But at the same time, if they hadn’t arrived yet, the Clanmistress was likely to be within. It was strange that no one was around, however. Rieren and Silomene hadn’t seen anyone else in the entire estate.
Of course, this late at night, most of the servants and attendants would be sleeping. There should have been some guards, though, at least one or two family cultivators keeping an eye out.
When Rieren had summoned her Domain, she had channelled Essence. If anyone was questing with their senses out, they would now know about her presence. But there was no reaction, no answering channelling of Essence from anywhere nearby.
The longer this went on, the more Rieren was certain she and Silomene were the only ones here.
For now.
Certain that she wasn’t about to be caught, Rieren opened the Clanmistress’s bedroom door and went in. Her heart was hammering loud enough to alert everyone in the whole building about her exact location. But as she grew accustomed to the darkness within the bedroom and found no one at all inside, she grew calmer.
Maybe the message Mercion had sent had been successful. Maybe the Clanmistress had already left and taken shelter elsewhere, her closest attendants and cultivators going with her.
There was no further point in staying here any longer. Rieren and Silomene would be better off if they left before the attackers did arrive and catch them.
Rieren had summoned her Domain, which was going to leave a mark all over the area, but it couldn’t be helped. She had needed to be prepared in case there was any danger awaiting her in the bedchamber. For a second, she hesitated. Maybe Rieren had been too hasty in judging the condition.
But a close inspection revealed nothing untoward. A regular bed, a dresser, comfortable blankets and pillows, and various other paraphernalia that wouldn’t be remiss in a Clanmistress’s bedchamber. Nothing awry or broken in any way. No one but the Clanmistress had been here.
Shaking her head, Rieren took a step towards the door to head out. Then she froze.
People were coming.
She didn’t hear them. It wasn’t even Essence channeling that had given the intruders away. Her new sense—electroreception—was tingling with the presence of lightning in the nearby vicinity.
And who had Rieren seen using lightning not too long ago? Why, Mercion, of course. Not that she suspected him of being here. Lightning was the favoured Aspect of his Archnoble clan, so it made sense that Mercion’s father, the would-be assassin—or leader of the assassins, if there were more of them—was here.
Rieren considered leaving as fast as she could. She could grab Silomene and exit back the way they had come. There was nothing for them to save here.
Unfortunately, as soon as Rieren took the first step outside, she was interrupted.
Of course. If she could sneak through an Archnoble’s estate without alerting anyone about her presence, so could her quarry. While trying to catch her targets unawares, she had instead been sprung upon. Or rather, Silomene had.
There was a short but piercing “Eeeep!” followed by a tumble and what sounded like an even shorter scuffle before everything went silent again. An initial impulse to rush out and check on Silomene seized Rieren like the hand of a giant, but she held herself back. No point in hurtling to her own death. She’d have to—
The steps outside weren’t trying to be silent. Not anymore, at least. Heavy thumping footfalls, accompanied by small splashes, approached the door. Either the assaulter believed that Silomene was the only threat, or that Rieren wasn’t going to pose a challenge.
She forced her brain to get back to work. Thank her high Mind stat that what she needed to do didn’t require much thought.
Rieren quickly opened the System Shop and browsed to the section that allowed her to purchase some salt. It took only a few Credits to get a handful of the tiny white grains. This she let drop into the water around her feet, letting the natural slow swirl of her suppressed Domain dissolve the salt.
The man outside came to a stop. If he hadn’t been aware of Rieren’s presence before, he certainly was now. She recognized him despite the gloom.
It was the former Ordorian Clanmaster.
“You look familiar,” he said quietly.
“As do you,” Rieren replied. He was gruffer than her recollection of him from the previous timeline, with his uncared-for beard, his dirty cloak, and his balding head of wispy dark hair. But his expression was just as pinched as she remembered. “May I ask to what do I owe the pleasure of this reunion?”
“Don’t take this lightly… I can’t even remember your name. But no matter. I am here on business that you clearly intend to prevent. I will warn you once—get out of my way, or perish alongside the usurper you’ve been tricked into protecting.”
“I do not think I have been tricked into doing anything at all.”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The former Clanmaster sighed. “It seems you are unwilling to listen. Very well, then. Let your stupidity be your downfall.”
“One moment. You may not want to go through with it.”
Rieren had spread her hands to indicate her Domain spreading around her. The former Clanmaster understood the predicament.
He would likely have used some sort of lighting-Aspect fuelled technique to kill her. However, with the way Rieren had spread out water everywhere, especially with water with dissolved impurities, that would be too dangerous. He wouldn’t want to harm himself or the subordinates who had accompanied him.
The former Ordorian Clanmaster tutted. “As if some paltry trick like that is going to stop me.”
He really did look like he intended to use his techniques, no matter what the consequences were. A sound interrupted him, though. Someone else was hurriedly whispering something to him, forcing him to reconsider his stance on blowing up the Archnoble’s entire estate just to kill off Rieren.
With a disgusted growl, the former Clanmaster turned back to Rieren. “You would make me sully my own two hands with your worthless blood?”
“If that is so your desire,” Rieren said, hand slowly creeping towards her sword. “Then so be it.”
The corner of his mouth tilted up ever so slightly. He turned to his left and barked some orders. A slight shift in the atmosphere and the minutest of noise indicated a small group of people moving away from the spot. So the former Clanmaster had brought an entire group to deal with the Stannerig Clanmistress.
Rieren tried to see if she could spot anything about Silomene in there. The shadows were too gloomy, but it looked like one of them was carrying someone slung over their shoulder. Hmm. Hopefully, the other woman was alive.
As the others moved off, the former Clanmaster turned his attention fully upon Rieren.
“Now, are you prepared to die?” he asked.
Rieren gripped her sword tight. She lowered herself in a stance ready for battle. The former Clanmaster moved at an incredible speed. Faster than a blink, deadlier than a lightning bolt. Even with her recent advancements and her improved stats, Rieren stood no chance against him, someone who was in the Ascendant realm.
Or wouldn’t have, if her aggressor hadn’t been blocked by a mirror appearing from nowhere. A skill from a unique class, Dispeller.
Gorint Malloh was here.
Right as the former Clanmaster had been about to attack Rieren, a shimmering barrier had appeared in the doorway between them. Instead of his fist crashing through the flimsy-looking barrier and mauling Rieren, it stopped him completely.
And then exploded.
The trick with Malloh’s current skill was that it reflected the force imparted on its back at the wielder, but it did so by shattering under the force and sending all the jagged, sharp mirror shards at the attacker. Which was exactly what happened. The former Clanmaster yelled as he was pierced all over by a hundred shards of the mirror he himself had broken.
It wasn’t deadly, of course. The man before her was a powerful cultivator in his own right. Numerous though the wounds were, most didn’t leave more than a scratch.
Rieren knew Malloh had several other skills, most of which were even deadlier. He was holding back. Maybe this was simply a warning to the former Clanmaster, a message that escalating the confrontation would end worse for him.
He wasn’t smart enough to get it, though. With a roar, the former Clanmaster turned around and yelled into the darkness.
“In know you are there, Malloh,” he said. “Come out before I break apart this entire building.”
For a second, it looked like Gorint Malloh would do the smart thing and let the former Clanmaster go on a rampage. Of course, that would take Rieren with him too, which meant she would need to find an exit.
But then Malloh spoke. “I should have known you would get up to something this heinous if let free. I should have ended your life long before this.”
“Ended my life?” The other man laughed. “Face me, coward. End me if you dare.”
The former Clanmaster didn’t wait. He began thumping through the corridors and bursting past the walls, seeking his target like a crazed predator on the hunt. Only to be met by another mirror.
He thumped back after colliding with it, but he didn’t smash it apart. Apparently, his stinging wounds had taught him that it wouldn’t go well. Instead, lightning flickered over his body.
Rieren’s heart started beating faster. If he was going to let loose his technique, then she would have to be ready. Lighting was fast. Rieren would have to rely entirely on her Body and her Mind stats to react in time not to be hit by whatever the man was about to unleash. So much for keeping quiet. Now he really was intent on shattering the whole area if need be.
The technique burst out from him far too quickly. Rieren knew the best way for her to safeguard herself was to lose contact with the water. As such, a simple jump should have been enough.
It wasn’t needed. At some point, Gorint Malloh had constructed another mirror behind the former Clanmaster’s position. This had the effect of locking him and his power into a single location. As the lighting flashed with brilliant light and might, it was boxed within the prison that Malloh had erected. The mirrors exploded, but only after the technique ended.
Leaving the former Clanmaster a shocked, burned heap on the floor. Virulent steam wafted off his body to turn the corridor smoky.
Rieren recognized that now would be the ideal time for her to make a getaway. With her enemy down and distracted by someone else, she could leave quickly. But thoughts about self-preservation were fading against the need to understand the context of this incident. Too many questions needed an answer.
She had been dragged here by Silomene to rescue the current Clanmistress of the Stannerig clan. Their quarry wasn’t here, however. No one was, save for the assailants, and as it would now appear, Gorint Malloh.
What was the chain of events, then? Had Avathene received Mercion’s missives and exited the premises with all her attendants in tow? What was Gorint Malloh’s role in this? For if he had determined he needed to come here, why hadn’t he first confronted the former Stannerig Clanmaster trying to stop Mercion? Unless he had.
But no, he couldn’t have overcome one Clanmaster only to be fine enough to take on another. His prowess with his class was incredible, but he couldn’t have progressed far enough to face down Ascendant-realm cultivators in less than half a year of receiving the system.
In essence, Rieren didn’t know. But she was intent on finding out, even if that meant staying closer to danger than was ideal.
The fate of the Shatterlands could very well rest on how things shaped up tonight. In fact, she wouldn’t be surprised to learn if this potential catastrophe had been set about for that reason. If Rieren wished to influence things in the right direction, she would have to remain here.
In fact, she might just have to take down this rebellious former Clanmaster.
“You scheming, little…” The former Clanmaster’s words dissolved into illegible mutters. He pulled himself up without much difficulty, though. His wounds were more severe than before, but he was clearly not overly affected by them. “If you would stand before me, you would know what true power is like.”
Lightning thundered over his entire form. He was clearly not going to be kept down for long, even if he suffered his own abilities being flung back at him.
Rieren frowned. Powerful as Malloh’s skills were, she doubted he had advanced so far in his class that he could keep using them continuously for much longer. Even if the former Clanmaster couldn’t break through his mirrorlike defences directly, he could outlast his opponent just by virtue of being far stronger and having a far superior vitality and endurance.
He would simply need to survive a few more blows and then he could pounce on Gorint Malloh.
If this altercation was going to go in Rieren’s favour, she would need to step in. her grip on her sword tightened. As the former Clanmaster prepared to launch himself forward, Rieren entered the fray.