Chapter 58 – Attacking the Guild

Greeting me at the bottom of the hole was a small hallway and three 'hidden' assassins. The problem with disguising myself is that you get these embarrassing displays.

Hiding from a kitsune just doesn't work, well, except for other kitsune. Even our newborns would spot these fools instantly. Not wasting any more time, I send out a few waves of knives, killing the three before they can react.

I start a brisk walk to the end of the hallway and come across the first locked door of the night. No wards or enchantments on it, though, allowing me to easily blast through with a bit of mana. The remnants of the door fly off inside, letting me enter with a domineering feel just to see a mostly empty room.

The stupid guard is probably right. I doubt a place with this shit of security can hold any truly useful information. The big question is why people this weak would get a request to attack a place with Yuki, Alzi, and Ashryn around. My only real hope is for the branch leader to have access to information she probably shouldn't.

Inside the room, a few more assassins are spread around, watching me enter. Far enough away to dodge the debris from the door. Too bad it would be fun if one already had a bit of blood spilling out. A handler sits behind a counter off to the side, also unhurt.

"Hello, everyone. I'm here for information about those behind the failure to kill a simple brothel girl," I shout out, walking into the center like an official investigator. Their dead friends are out in the open behind me, easy to see, so I'm not fooling anyone, but the hatred on their silly faces makes the act worth it.

"You killed the assassin already," the handler squeaks out. The assassins give her a quick glare before remembering I've killed all their friends; looking away is asking to lose their lives.

"One of the three in the hallway?"

"Yes. The brown-haired elf."

"Whoops, suppose to give Mai a chance for revenge. Guess she'll have to live with the people who put up the request." I head towards the handler, the only woman who seems to know anything. She even talks easily!

A loud bang comes from the back, interrupting my movement. An angry dwarf rushes in.

"Shairel why are you giving that out! Bitch leave, and we'll forget about this breach. Headquarters already knows about you," she yells in the normal gruff voice of the dwarves.

"No, who ordered the assassination?" Time to find out if the leader has some information to add.

"Fuck off, elven bitch!" It is her pitiful battle cry. A maul appears in her hands as she charges. She swats away the few knives I send her way as a little test.

I can't use illusion magic; only kitsunes gets that affinity. I'll need this handler to work for me, and I can't have her know my origin. So, I'll have to settle for party tricks and messing with space this fight.

The assassins join their leader and spread out, ready to follow up on whatever attack the dwarf gets off.

Wanting a bit of space, I use my expanding skill to triple the space in the room, pushing the assassins far away.

The dwarf looks quite funny, running so hard to just end up farther away than she started. Now, she'll even have to go through a minefield of distorted space. A wonderful skill of mine, hard to use with friendlies around, but here it can be used without worry. One misstep and not even their mother will be able to recognize the mound of flesh they turn into.

I send another wave of knives to test the three assassins on the edge. I only get a few scrapes out of them, but it'll keep them worried about knives behind their backs. The dwarf has sensed the warped space mines and slowed her silly little charge.

"Watch out for space distortions!" she shouts out to her companions. The mines force them to spread a bit of mana out in front to test for a mine.

I ignore the dwarf and pull one of the assassins in, using another active to shrink the space between us till she is right in front of me. I pull out a one-handed sword and swipe the surprised head off in a smooth strike. A moment later the space returns to the tripled size, the body and head staying at my feet.

"You know, dwarf, if you answered my question, everyone could've left here with their lives. Already, one of your girls is dead. Two more will follow, and then your sorry life will be next. Reflect well in the afterlife; I'm sure the guild told you not to piss off your betters," I taunt. I can't believe they all gave me a reason to kill everyone here. Well, almost everyone, the handler, was helpful without making me ask twice.

I hardly finish my taunt before a human assassin runs into a mine. Her body sprays out blood in all directions as her organs and limbs get rearranged or just cut out entirely. Fuck was her timing perfect. Maybe I should thank Yuki for letting me participate in such a wonderful play.

"Sorry, it seems I misspoke. Already, two of your girls are dead. One more will follow before you lose your life," I say with such sorrow. Mistakes like that can be harmful to your reputation!

"Bastard, you'll be just some paste on the floor soon!" is her sad response. Her focus is completely on navigating the minefield in front of her. I'm not sure what her timetable is for soon, but based on the few feet she has made it so far, soon would be a full day.

I send another active to the dwarf, warping space around her. To those in the room, she turns into some paper-like freak wobbling around. For the dwarf, the room looked like it was distorted.

With the dwarf trying to figure out how to walk with her body in a different space than the floor I turn my attention to the last assassin.

I send another knife to her back and watch the panicked girl fall over without a fight. Only the hilt is sticking out of the dead body.

Did I find the training camp?

"Now, Miss Spaghetti, you can tell I can kill you whenever I want. So if you want to keep your life, tell me who ordered the attack on Mai," I try one last time.

"FUCK!...YOU!" she slowly lets out, struggling to figure out how to talk in the warped space.

"Handler, do you know?"

"No! Headquarters just sent us the request and payment. Only the leader would have a chance to know," she quickly lets out. She heard the three bodies fall, and she would prefer not to join them.

"Thank you for your cooperation. Seems your stupidly brave leader here doesn't want to give me that information."

"I'll work for you! I don't like my job; I can get a transfer to HQ and help you get in."

"Oh, why would you do that? Turning in information about me would net you enough money to leave this line of work, I'm sure."

"You'll kill me then!"

"And they won't?"

"You would protect me, right?"

"Why would I do something like that? Constant assassins coming to my doorstep is hardly a good thing."

"They don't know who you are! You can scar my face and hide me inside your house. I'll be a good maid, I promise! Please, I just did this for money to help my mother. Please, I'll do anything." She begs out, and her cries start to echo in the artificially large room.

"Fine, I'll kill your leader now. If you live to see the day I get the information, I'll get you out. I'll send you information on how to help me."

"Thank you!"

"Now, how should I kill the silly dwarf?" I wonder aloud. I decide to do it simply again: just a single slash of space mana twists her midsection into a pretzel. I let off my activities, returning the room to normal. "Handler, will they know you worked here today?"

"If you take all the paper in the office, they won't know."

"Good, leave, get that transfer, and wait. The guild needs to learn not to mess with my love!"

The girl gives a quick bow before running out. I left a little tracker on her; everything she says and sees will be known by Yuki and me. It's time to ransack the office.

The office was small, and all the furniture was made for a dwarf. The ceiling was accommodating for those larger, but I'd have to bend over to get all the paperwork if I did it by hand. Instead, I just grab everything and stuff it into a ring. I'll go through it all later. Most will probably end up burnt, but maybe one will have a bit of a clue for Yuki.

Once I have all that, I pull out a few matches and start to burn this shithole to the ground. They'll feel the space mana, but there's no need to let them see how the bodies end up. It would let them see only one girl came in and fucked their shit up. No need to give them an idea of my power.

Leaving the place to burn, I head to the brothel to let Yuki know we'll need to fuck up the headquarters. This place was likely chosen simply for its location, just fifteen minutes away from the red light district. Just outside the brothel, I teleport into Yuki's waiting room, knock on her bedroom door, and patiently wait to be invited in.

Yuki opens the door a few seconds later, "Come on," she says. She's wearing a simple nightgown that hides her assets with her illusion. I quickly find a seat and wait for her to start.

"What did you find?"

"Simple base, just six assassins, two guards, a handler, and the hall leader. The only information I got was that I accidentally killed the assassin who carried out the mission and that we'll need to infiltrate the headquarters to find out who was truly behind it."

"I see; you killed everyone?" their blank face shows she expected this outcome. It was a long shot for them to have the information.

"All but the handler. She promised to help. I have a tracking spell on her. She's currently asleep in her mother's arms. I promised to help her if she made it to the other side of this alive," doing a quick check on my new spy.

"Fair enough. I'll need to plan our next attack. It'll be you and me for this one. Cracking some eggs will be fine. Honestly, if you can find some assassins around town over the next few nights, kill them. Make assassins a dying breed in this city."

"I could do for a little hunt. But I want some benefits from it."

"Huh, fine. Careful with them, Alzi just brushed them!"

"I always am. I wouldn't dare ruin your perfect tails!"