Chapter 88: Assassin
Yae swims to the half-constructed warship. The heretics are building them in several locations, and all it would take is just one being finished to doom the fledgling Order of Myrou and all they've been working towards. In order to prevent the destruction of their faith, Yae’s mission is to burn the warships down, destroy the spell crystals, and then leave completely unnoticed.
Yae climbs onto the warship, her stealth skills active and on full alert, then stops to catch her breath while she offers a silent prayer to Myrou. She looks down at the ring she wears, one, one of three like it taken from the ruins.
Ring of Anti-Clairvoyance(Major) (Archaic)This ring, passed down from the members of the Hidden Dagger, serves to hide the wearer from all sensing skills.
If it wasn't for these rings, they would have been defeated by now. The means by which to sneak past the heretic Storm Wardens, and anyone else who has sensing skills, is invaluable.
Yae dumps oil from a waterskin onto the warship and spreads it around with a rag, then ignites the oil and jumps overboard before she is discovered. She swims to a boat in the distance that has two others waiting for her on it. When she climbs on board, the others start rowing to the next location, the next warship.
No matter how many times it will take, airships must never be seen over Temple Island's skies.
When morning arrives, Yae and the other two return to Temple Island to rest; however, Grand Priestess Papuyo is waiting for her.
"Follow me to my office; I have an important mission for you this night." Papuyo doesn't wait for a reply; she turns around and leaves.
Yae follows, wondering what mission could be more important than destroying the warships.
Once at Papuyo's office, a place full of art taken from the ruins, Yae takes a seat opposite the Grand Priestess and takes a look around at the art. Paintings fill the walls; a giant vase is in one corner and a sculpture in another, all magical items sharing the same (Archaic) tier.
"We cannot keep destroying the warships; we must eliminate the source of the spell crystals that allow them to fly," Papuyo says, folding her hands.
It makes sense to Yae, so why hasn't it been done before?
"However, it's not a matter of what creates them, but of who. Alysara, a blind heretic child, is the source. She lives on a nearby island; you've been there many times when sabotaging warships. Now you must find her place of residence and kill her." Papuyo says darkly.
"Kill her?! Don't you think that is going too far? She's just a child!" Yae protests.
"A heretic child that is making the spell crystals." Papuyo replies and breathes a small sigh. "It is a small price to pay for victory. The heretics will eventually complete a warship; it's only a matter of time. For the sake of all Runalymo, she, the only one capable of making spell crystals, must die."
"But... she's just a child, I can't kill a child!" Yae shakes her head in denial. Why must the Grand Priestess ask this of her?
"You are the only one who can. If the heretics win this war, they'll abolish our faith, and the entire Runalymo people will lose their way. Do you want that?" Papuyo says, with genuine concern in her voice.
"...No," Yae says after a few moments of silence. "No, I don't want that."
"Then do what must be done. Take a rest; tonight, this war will end."
Yae leaves the office, her heart feeling heavy. Can she do it? Can she kill a child?
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
I focus in front of me, pushing against the tides of mana that threaten to collapse the area of a near mana vacuum. It takes all of my minds, and it would be easier if I was in a better location – like the dungeon or just not in the Nexus at all – but this is what I have.
I have my states of focus running for both [Mana Manipulation] and [Sense Mana], one to help me hold open the vacuum and the other for me to study the phenomenon.
The difficulty here is that without my incredibly high [Sense mana] level, actually sensing the thin amounts of mana would be difficult, which makes this breakthrough a beginner one, just like sensing the high amounts of mana in the Nexus, so actually obtaining the breakthrough was easy.
Mana in a vacuum attracts its similarities via the MM force; what's more is that the lack of pressure means that the repulsion of the MM force has much greater sway, making mana easily separate into like clumps. These clumps tend to arrange themselves in a line. Ice repelling fire most means those two are at the ends, with water and air next and then lightning in the middle. Earth places itself at the opposite side of the vacuum from lightning, with dark and light also as far apart from each other as they can be.
Ting! Sense Mana has met the requirements for a breakthrough and will continue leveling past level 300!
30th Breakthrough: You've learned to sense mana even in mana-starved areas, letting you pick out even the faintest trace of mana.
Ting! Sense Mana has obtained levels 300-304!
The skill in my mana signature glows radiantly, no longer settling for just shining bright. All it needs now is the lustrous color that it desires, proof that not only have I gone this far but that I can master everything this skill has to offer.
I'll have to make a mana vacuum container, now that I know that I can make a mana vacuum.
It doesn't take long; the sphere has a thick layer of fused mana, a mana particle with exactly one particle of each element to have a perfectly MM force-neutral shell of mana. The sphere isn't very large, only about the size of my fists clenched together.
With my vacuum orb complete, I can study a mana-starved area for as long as I want; getting that breakthrough higher will only be a matter of time. Although, even when I do get all the levels for that breakthrough, I still need one for observing many magic items at once, which may take a while.
Actually, there may be a place where I can get the breakthrough level. Kyhosa are the one thing that is most likely to become a magical item; half of the magical items in the village are Kyhosa and most of the ones that aren't are ones that I made. A person's Kyhosa is buried with them, so if I simply wander through the graveyard on Temple Island, then I should be able to see dozens, if not hundreds, of magical items in one place, all buried beneath the bamboo that is planted upon their ashes. All I need to do now is wait for the war to end.
I walk downstairs. After my long research session, I need to stretch my legs. Dad is hammering away at a block of solid metal: having now obtained a mana forging class, she is practicing working with solid mana. It takes a long time to forge mana metal, but at least now I am not the only one who is capable of it.
While I walk around, taking a break from my studies, my second mind is waiting at the docks, piloting a clone. Esofy and Chyzu are there too, the three of us waiting for Kadona and Uloru to arrive for their restraint spell resistance training.
However, before they arrive, Elder Guklaro comes up to my clone.
"I'm sorry for interrupting, but can you help us figure out a way to catch or at least detect saboteurs? Four more warships have been burned down, all of them from different villages."
"I think the biggest issue is information leaks,” I say thoughtfully, “they can't sabotage an airship if they don't know where it is, but I may have an idea."
The saboteurs have some way of hiding from sensing skills, and invisibility and sound nullification is a simple thing to do, so how does one see the unseeable? Well, you don't, but you see the effects they have on the world. They still exist physically, so setting up a perimeter of something that the saboteurs must distort is a way to see them.
I already fitted my house with something like that; after all. It was one of the first things I did, since I am a high target for assassination, being the only one able to make airship control crystals. Or rather, while I am not technically the only one who can make spell crystals, I am the only one who can make them as quick and advanced as they are. Despite my expectations of a nightly visitor, that hasn't happened yet.
Nowadays, I keep my perception at max range. Up to now, I have been shrinking it to only what I and my clones are near to respect the privacy of others, but I can't afford to do so in times of war. Whenever I see people start something intimate, however, I try to exclude them from my perception. It took a lot of practice, but I managed to create a blind spot in my vision. Doing so works off of my sixteenth breakthrough, seeing in multiple places at once, only this time, instead of seeing multiple places, I exclude multiple places from my vision.
Arriving at the village hall, Tusile is waiting for us. I sit opposite of the two Elders, the third seat still vacant.
I explain to the Elders my ideas. We go through several potential options but it's not enough to have something that we can see; it needs to alert us too, which complicates things a lot. A simple wire attached to a bell won't do it; it's too simple and too easily bypassed. My idea of mana beams, like a laser grid from spy movies, is shot down as it doesn't alert anyone; I have one set up in my house but it only works for me. Unfortunately, we can’t come up with an idea even after many hours, and I go home, thinking of how to make an alarm system that will work for the village.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Yae swims to the docks at the village Alysara lives in. The moons are covered by clouds, blanketing the village in darkness. The night is unusually chilly, and a thick fog shrouds everything, the weather matching Yae’s mood.
"It has to be done; this is for the future of all Runalymo," Yae tells herself as she creeps through the empty walkways. The creaking as she steps seems loud enough to alert the whole village and with each step she takes, she expects someone to investigate the noise. Yae knows the house that she needs to go to, Alysara is known widely enough, and her family's shop too.
"Why does it have to be in the middle of the village?" Yae complains under her breath.
Still, if all goes well, it will be morning before the body is discovered. Yae double-checks that she has her concealing ring on her. She does. With a cloak of invisibility and socks that conceal the sound of her footsteps, no one should even be able to detect her unless she directly bumps into them.
Creeping up to the door, Yae opens it very slowly, so as to not ring the bell on it. She likewise closes it slowly once inside. She is finally in, now all she needs is to do the deed and get out. The house has decorative crystals hanging from the walls and ceiling.
Yae walks up the stairs, carefully examining the white crystals. It almost seems as if there is a beam of light coming from the others; the few specks of dust catch these beams and glint. It is a very interesting way to decorate the house, using something immaterial. Yae checks each room for the child; she finds a room with two very young children, too young, not the target, however she notices several winged creatures of mana in the room. They are strange but perhaps, it's another form of decoration? Yae closes the room's door and continues on. The parents’ room likewise has the winged creatures of mana. On a wall is a convenient family picture, so at least she knows the target's face now. Finally, in a room at the end of a hall, she finds her target sleeping peacefully. The room has way more light crystals, all at different elevations, the beams of light illuminating the fog rolling through the open window. Yae takes a moment to appreciate the beauty of it, spotting another of the eerily motionless mana creatures almost glowing in the fog. After a moment, she shakes her head: she is not here to appreciate her target’s decorations, so she brings her focus to the sleeping child.
A quick and painless death; if she must die, then that is the next best thing. Yae creeps up to the bed; the child not even stirring. Yae hardens her heart, grips her dagger's handle, and unsheathes it. She places the edge to the girl's throat and, with a quick motion, cuts through her flesh. Blood pools onto the sheets as the girl becomes paler and paler, still asleep.
Yae feels an itching on the back of her neck, the weight of her sin, but the deed is done and the Runalymo will be saved now. Yae is about to turn around and leave when a blade suddenly protrudes from her chest; the dying girl in the bed fades and disappears, not even the blood remaining. The spear is pushed further through her, and she can feel her right lung filling with blood.
Trying not to scream in pain, Yae coughs and turns around, not feeling any resistance from the spear; the girl has let it go. Yae sees the girl's frowning face, but she has a dagger in hand too. No matter, Yae is stronger and has more experience with the weapon. Yae dashes forward with a downward stab, dagger held in a reverse grip. Yet when the blade stabs into the girl's neck, she feels no resistance.
The girl simply sighs, and suddenly Yae feels drowsy, as if something is commanding her to sleep. "You won't die,” the girl reassures her quietly. “It's not my place to judge you."
Yae looks around frantically; she must be around here somewhere, she must! She coughs again, blood coming out of her mouth. Despite the pain, fear, and racing of her heart, her eyelids feel so heavy.
"What is going on?" Yae says, trying to be as quiet as she can.
The girl doesn't answer her.
Yae lashes out with her dagger, not at the girl but under the bed where she might be hiding. However, Yae feels nothing but air.
Yae looks up at the girl. She holds up her dagger in a fighting pose and looks around the room. Is she in a corner? Perhaps she snuck out of the room? Every moment that passes, she feels ever more drowsy. Her blade catches a glint from a light beam, and then Yae realizes what they are. The light beams were never for decoration; it is a means of detecting her! Yae looks out of the open window with half-closed eyes; her arms and legs feel too heavy. Yae takes one step towards the window before darkness consumes the world.