Upon arriving at the city, Helianna immediately split up with the rest of the team. To preserve the illusion that the ithrax were working by themselves, they needed to avoid being associated with her. As such, Helianna had to find her way into the city by herself, but she wasn’t particularly worried. She was more worried about them.

This kind of covert operation was what she trained for, and she had no worries about getting in. The rest of the team, however, were not. They were trained to fight. Once they were close to visual range, she got out of the carriage and watched Reina take the reins. Reina was going to be the one doing the talking when they arrived, which was undoubtedly their best shot at getting in without issues. Jayen would probably do fairly well due to being able to influence the guards with his magic. He preferred Reina do it however, and they didn’t want to risk running into someone with training in resisting sovereign magic. Despite his reasoning, Helianna had a hard time trusting this was legitimate, believing that he was more likely being lazy.

She waited until nightfall before heading towards the outer walls of the city, laughing to herself about what she was about to do. She was going to climb the wall. It was silly and possibly a bit stupid, but she could manage it with her improved climbing skills and she was feeling a bit nostalgic. She probably could have easily gotten herself through the gate, but she wanted to do this. She had begun her journey as an assassin trying and largely failing to climb a city wall. Now her first mission would begin with her climbing a city wall at a much improved rate. Besides, she had learned to enjoy climbing and if she had the capabilities, why not?

She made it to the top of the wall without much difficulty and took a second to marvel at how much she’d changed in the past four years. She’d gone from a baker to an assassin, now better at cooking poisons than bread and able to scale city walls with ease.

A soldiers’ footsteps as they made rounds on the wall knocked her out of her reverie and she quietly dashed away. She had hoped to sleep in an inn or similar establishment, but knew it would be hopeless. Assuming any of the owners were awake, they would only assume she was there to rob them at this time of night.

Fortunately, the weather was clear, allowing her to sleep on a roof. While far from desirable, it would be cleaner than sleeping in an alley and would have less risk of waking up to being robbed. She climbed the nearest building, a trivial task after climbing the wall, but found a problem. The roof she had chosen had an access point from the top floor of the building. It was of course closed, but the entryway removed half of the benefits of sleeping up on top. It took several more attempts to find a building without a rooftop entrance, but immediately took advantage of the first one she found and went to sleep.

She woke up to the dawn sun blazing through her eyelids and struggled to suppress a groan. It had barely been more than a couple of hours since she went to sleep and knew that she’d have to do the mission regardless. She’d need to take extra care not to make a stupid mistake due to her lack of sleep. She climbed down from the roof quickly but carefully, making sure to avoid being seen. She then spent the next few hours exploring and observing the castle while trying to ignore her growing nerves. By the time afternoon rolled around, she was struggling to keep still from the nervousness thundering through her. She made her way to the drawbridge at the planned time, which was still up.

It didn’t take long before she saw the team, but it was missing someone. It took her a moment to remember who. It was Zane, who hadn’t made as much of an impression on her. Before she had a chance to spot him, she saw Vir launch two pale blue orbs from his outstretched hands. They made contact with the chains holding up the drawbridge and ice exploded out as if alive, snaking around them. She heard gasps from the crowd around her, but she knew the show wasn’t over.

She didn’t see him coming, but suddenly Zane was above her, launching himself through the air towards the drawbridge. He fell slightly short, but managed to reach up and grab onto the end of the drawbridge before pulling himself up to stand on its edge. He raised his arms up in the air as if calling to the heavens before swiftly jerking his hands down to his sides. In perfect sync the ice surrounding the chains disappeared and the massive chains shattered under the weight of Zane’s gravity magic. The drawbridge swung silently for a terrifying moment before slamming down with a thud that reverberated through the ground, making everybody stumble. An alarm bell started ringing and the people around her panicked. Using the chaos to her advantage, Helianna dipped into the entrance of a nearby alley to watch and wait.

The team stood back, waiting for the defense to exit into the town. For the passersby, it probably seemed like confidence and condescension on their part, but in reality, they were giving Helianna an opportunity. Before long, a whole swarm of soldiers exited the castle, throwing magical attacks at the team. Vir and Reina however, stood at the front, using their own magic to redirect or completely block their attacks. The melee combatants quickly arrived, most of which were also using magic. In moments, the fight devolved into chaos.

Seeing her opportunity when someone tried to flank the team, Helianna dashed out and grabbed the soldier from behind. The man she grabbed tried to yell out, but a strong strike to the temple rendered him unconscious as she hurriedly dragged him into the alley. After taking a moment to make sure nobody was around to see her, she undressed him. She had underestimated how difficult it was to undress a fully grown man when they were limp, and it took her a painfully long time.

She put his clothes on, which felt absolutely disgusting due to the small amount of sweat she could feel on the clothes. She then took a moment to observe the fighting and winced. Many were already dead, defending the castle from a simple distraction. She knew many of them were simply following orders and had nothing to do with the duke’s actions, and couldn’t help but feel guilty.

She shook the thoughts from her head and rushed out into the fray. Instantly, she identified a multitude of victims who she could take advantage of, and she chose the one closest. One of his arms was a charred stump and much of his uniform was burned away or melted onto his skin. He clearly couldn’t see through his burned eyes as he tried to crawl away, crying out in pain. She rushed over to him, using his remaining arm to pull him into a fireman’s carry.

“I’ve got you,” she tried to say in a calming manner. “I’ll bring you to a healer.”

Glad that he didn’t resist, she carrying him past the other soldiers and over the drawbridge.

They hadn’t even lowered the portcullis, which seemed incredibly stupid. If the obvious enemies are being obvious, they’re probably a distraction. Grateful for their carelessness, she looked around for a few moments for a place to take the wounded. Instead, she noticed several healers scrambling around the courtyard trying to save who they could instead of taking them back to a central area. She frowned as she knew this would undoubtedly result in most of the wounded receiving subpar treatment, but put the man down anyways. Helianana immediately broke into a quick jog, doing her best to look like she belonged.

She opened the castle door and burst through, immediately running into a servant. Helianna briefly apologized as she rushed past the scared woman and deeper into the castle. She ran into several servants on her way, none of them giving her more than a passing glance. Once again, she found herself amazed at their carelessness, but could only be grateful. It only made her job easier. It took her quite a while to navigate the castle, and she had to force herself to stop panicking more than once. Every second that she spent trying to find the duke was more time her team was fighting an overwhelming force. Of course, the number of enemies wouldn’t decrease once she interrupted the duke, but their cohesion would be broken.

She found a stairwell that she thought would lead to the duke when she ran into another problem. Another soldier.

“What are you doing here?!” He demanded. She took notice of his uniform and the decorative embroidery along his shoulders. He was definitely in charge.

“Wait, who are you? I don’t recognize you,” he stated warily. She instantly knew she didn’t have a chance of bluffing her way through this. Even if she could, she couldn’t waste the time. She swung for his neck, her dagger appearing instantly in her hands. Despite her swiftness, his reaction time was immaculate as he jerked backwards and fell onto the steps, receiving a small nick instead of the lethal wound she aimed for.

“Stop.” he commanded and she instantly recognized the sovereign magic that pulsed out of him.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

As she felt it brush up against her own magic, an idea instantly formed in her head. She let her magic resist for a very brief moment before forcing it to acquiesce and let the magic course through her. Of course, being a null, she was not beholden to his command. She still froze, pretending to be stopped. He slowly stood up and put a hand to his neck, feeling the small amount of blood she’d drawn.

“So that’s their plan? The mighty ithrax sent a pitiful assassin? Not even a good one at that.”

She fumed at his dismissal, but forced herself to remain still. Did the fool really believe that an assassin wouldn’t coat her blades in poison?

“Who are you? You’re clearly not an ithrax or someone like me wouldn’t have been able to get such a strong hold over you. Are you just some random mercenary they hired?” He shook his head and scowled. “Doesn’t matter, we’ll get it out of you.”

“Drop your knife.” This greater complexity of the command made it easier to resist and she was barely able to prevent her magic from lashing out before she dropped the knife. “Follow me.” he commanded as he brushed past her down the hall.

She once again put up a token resistance before turning to follow him. In that moment, he stumbled, likely from the effect of the quickly-working poison. He nearly fell down the steps before righting himself, but the damage was done. Before he fully regained his footing, she struck with another knife straight into the back of his neck and he collapsed.

She felt guilty for a moment once again but she squashed it down. Besides, he was clearly a fool that didn’t belong in his position. He hadn’t picked up the dropped knife nor searched her for more knives. Furthermore, the command he had given her to follow had no bearing on whether or not she was allowed to kill him. In fact, it would have made it easier for her as it negated the stop command. Even if she’d been affected by his magic, she still could have killed him. She shook her head in disbelief and picked up her knife before continuing up the stairs.

It didn’t take much longer for her to find the room the duke was residing in, whose door was wide open. Despite their poor security she still remained cautious as she entered. The other side of the room opened out into a balcony that she could see overlooked the town. There stood the Duke, undoubtedly watching over the battle to help inspire and unify his troops through his magic. As she crept closer to him, a sudden clang rang out and the Duke jumped.

In an instant, a heavily armored man appeared between her and the Duke, seemingly out of nowhere. She looked at him and gave him a strange look. He had overly large armor that seemed like it would be a hindrance more than a help. There were unique green designs across his armor, none of which were representational but gave his armor a unique look. She also noticed a chain that hung from one shoulder to the other as if mimicking a necklace and a small bit of chain hanging from his waist, although it had clearly been broken. The Duke turned and upon seeing Helianna, screamed at the armored man.

“What the hell is she doing here? How is she here?! Who is she?!” Despite not being able to read the armored man’s expressions through his helmet, she could swear he seemed to roll his eyes as he answered.

“She is likely another ithrax that used the attack as a distraction so she could come here and kill you, sir.”

“Well, then what are you waiting for? Kill her!” demanded the duke.

“You know my conditions-” the ‘knight’ started to say, but the duke interrupted him.

“I don’t care! Just do your damn job, you dumbass!” After a moment, the knight slowly drew his sword and got into a fighting stance. In response, Helianna took out her two daggers, knowing this was a bad matchup.

The man suddenly disappeared again and she immediately knew he was using spatial magic. She whipped her head around and saw the expected attack coming as he swung his sword at her. She dropped to the ground and brought her dagger up to help deflect the powerful sideswipe he had attacked with. It barely missed her head and she was certain she could feel the wind as it swept past her. He tried to stomp on her ankle, but she managed to pull it away in time. Using the forward moment, the man thrust his sword towards her chest.

She had scrambled backwards and he was too far away for a standard strike, but used his spatial magic to extend the length of his sword. It rushed towards her chest before she could react, but it didn’t matter. The sword halted in its tracks, barely even putting a hole in her shirt. Expecting her to be dead, he paused as he pulled his sword away. Seeing the pause in the fighting, the duke shouted out.

“What are you doing?! Stop toying with her and just teleport her out of here!” The knight’s sigh was audible this time.

“Sir, that will take a significant amount of mana and I may not be able to defend you when the ithrax make it through.”

“Did I stutter? And stop calling me a simple sir, I am your lord!” At this point, the duke was screaming at the top of his lungs, spittle flying from his mouth. The knight stared at the duke for a long moment before he responded.

“Very well, my lord.” He extended an arm out to Helianna and… nothing happened. “What?!” He exclaimed and Helianna smirked as she stood up properly. “You’re a null,” he stated in shock.

“I am.”

“Ah, in that case-”

“It doesn’t matter, you imbecile! Just kill her then!” The knight disappeared and Helianna spun around, expecting another attack, but he wasn’t there. She turned back around only to see the knight bringing the pommel of his sword to the back of the duke’s head. The duke collapsed and the knight sauntered to the wall next to her as he sheathed his sword.

“I will not get in your way any longer. I will simply retrieve some of my items and be on my way.”

“You are not loyal to him?”

“Never was. He hired me.” He put a hand on the wall, and pushed some bricks back. He was then able to get a better grip on the surrounding bricks and started delicately pulling the bricks out by hand. “He was a fool, but he served his purpose.”

“And what was that?”

“Before I answer that, I have a question. What was his crime?” she looked at him incredulously.

“You tried to simulate a meteor strike, which has been a war-crime for centuries!” Helianna yelled out.

He took a few moments before he responded and she couldn’t read his body language.

“I wonder if that’s what they actually believe or if it’s just what they’re feeding you.”

Immediately sensing what he was implying, Helianna calmed down and changed her approach. “So what is it that you claim happened?” she asked, not fully trusting him. He sighed and looked down.

“An experiment gone wrong.” He sighed again. “And he became the scapegoat. Keeps my organization safe from blame. I’m sure you’re curious as to what mechanism was used to detect your presence?” She narrowed her eyes as he leaned into the hole in the wall he had made. She heard a snap and he pulled out a strange device barely larger than his hand. He then started walking to the wall on the opposite side of the room and opened another hole in the wall as he spoke.

“I don’t know if The Academy is aware and just doesn’t want someone in your position to be fully aware or if they really are just clueless about what really happened. Sadly, I’m more inclined to believe the former.”

“Are you going to tell me what you used to detect my presence or not?”

“I will not, but I think you can probably get some idea from what I’m doing now.” He cocked his head and paused for a moment before continuing. “Considering how quiet it is, I can only assume that the battle has finished so I want to say one last thing before they arrive. Question The Academy.”

The tone of his voice shifted, almost like he was quoting someone.

“They are not the infallible system that protects the world from predatory and evil people. Granted, they do a bunch of that, but why? Is it truly altruistic? Is there ever any system that is really altruistic? Be it as big as a multi-national superpower or as small as a city council, all systems that lead people are inherently self-serving even when working towards a positive goal. After all, it’s impossible to lead your people if you’re not the one leading.”

He leaned into the hole in the wall once more, this time pulling out a much larger device that required both hands for him to lift. Once it was out of the wall, he put the smaller device on the larger one and picked them both up.

“The question is, are they leading us in the right direction? Maybe they are, but you’re working with them more than me. You have a greater chance of helping people, whether that’s for The Academy or against them. Even if you investigate, you may look back on this as a strange person just rambling at you, but I’m not so sure. Don’t be a mindless believer. Best of luck to you and I hope we meet again.”

Before she had a chance to say anything, he teleported away, leaving her in bewilderment. She simply remained there for a few moments when the door burst open, revealing her battered team. Instantly, she noticed that Reina was missing.

“What happened to Reina?”

“We can go over that later,” growled Vir. “For now, we need to try and clean ourselves up a little and execute this asshole.”

“There’s a sink over there,” Helianna pointed out distractedly.

“Zoe?” asked Vir and that was when Helianna nearly let out a gasp in surprise. Helianna hadn’t noticed earlier given that Zoe wasn’t bleeding and had been in the back of the group, but Zoe was missing an arm. Zoe casually walked up to the sink and turned it on as if she was completely uninjured. After a moment where nothing happened, a burst of shadows spread from her before dissipating after a few seconds.

“Nothing.”

“Alright,” announced Vir. “Clean up quickly, then it’s time for the execution.”