Book Three – Chapter Six – Part Three – The Bank Robbery & A Chance Encounter

Five and a half hours later, the sun, a mystical yellow celestial body that was at its brightest, was about to have its lovely glow tainted by crimson blood. If Carmelo’s revised plan worked out the way he wanted it to, then he stood to gain hundreds of thousands of dupla at the cost of hundreds or thousands of lives.

Servi bunkered down against a waist-high wall. A broken window stood above her head, and from it, she saw hundreds of people going about their daily ways. Husbands walked with their wives, brothers walked with sisters, a few kids played with a few rocks in the corner, a pack of well-fed-but-disguised-as-underfed animals laid on their backs and allowed the sun to warm their filled tummies. Those few examples, multiplied by a few hundred, were Servi’s team’s sole objective. They had to do what they could to thin the numbers and prevent reinforcements from making their way inside the Corner Bank: a simple one-story shopping center reinforced with thick black bricks. The only view inside was through the glass doors, but that wasn’t so odd.

“So…everyone here is an experienced fighter, eh?” Servi whispered.

“That’s right. Both up here and down there. Those people look like homeless civilians, but each one of them is being paid a lot of money from the folks in New Arcton.” A small voice squeaked up from beside her. It was a Singi. Her long azure tail curled around her body as a frightened hand rubbed against it. The Singi's left ear was carved into the shape of a '1' while her right ear had been gutted. The meat and fur inside it had long been dissected. Now, it was painfully shaped like a '0.' Windy nights and breezy days were hell on the girl since she had barely any fur. "It feels kinda odd... I mean, we're on the 7th floor...that's so high up...and they-- our enemies-- are all down there... Why did I ever volunteer for this?! I can't stand heights..." The Singi's blue ears flattened against the top of her head, and her tail wrapped around her waist.

The girl with lavender hair briefly glanced at the Singi while clutching the wooden bow on her lap. The wood had been cracked by the weather and humidity, but the string was fresh. It wouldn’t support her full power, only nadrium could, but Servi believed she would eventually reach a point where even nadrium equipment couldn't stand up to her herculean strength.

There was a bundle of arrows lying beside Servi. Turning away from the Singi, Servi spotted crates full of quivers that waited to be instrumental in taking the lives of Servi's group's targets. By rough guesstimation, Servi figured there had to be over 30,000 arrows in those six huge crates. She glanced to the left and right and didn’t how the boxes ended up here. They were much too wide to fit in the narrow doors, but the ceiling above had a rather large hole. If a few Kobolds were involved, then she realized that explained everything.

I guess Carmelo didn’t want to let all this work go to waste. That’s strange Mel would have all this ready and not say anything at that meeting. I wondered if he planned this whole thing without giving his share to the Mafia? Itarr questioned.

A frightened cough got Servi’s attention, and she glanced over. The blue-haired Singi had her hand pressed against the wall behind her. The backs of her fingers and hand had tiny scrape marks. Some looked to be ancient, but others oozed fresh blood upon the granite walls and floor. “You’re in Deset, right? Do you know Marcoi? He’s my brother… I to—”

“Shut the fuck up and get prepared!” Wearing full metal armor, a short Elf nocked back his crossbow and prepared an arrow. The number ‘7’ had been engraved on his left cheek.

“Eee!! Yes, sir!” The Singi saluted, and the Elf clicked his tongue in annoyance. He turned to look at Servi, but he only slowly shook his head. He opened his mouth to complain about there being a Non-Numbered, but it wasn’t his choice. The new Mastermind behind this plan personally vouched for her skills, so he had no choice but to take her.

After he turned away and walked down the walkway filled with thirty soon-to-be archers, Servi looked to her right and found a brick wall. She had been placed nearest the end. Once the chaos started, there would be enough targets for her to slaughter, but she’d prefer to be stationed in the middle. That was the most dangerous spot since there wasn’t a wall to duck down behind. Someone had been tossed through it and left a hole behind. A Kobold currently stood at the ready by pretending to do construction.  A bloody bandage covered his abdomen and hid his number.

Pitch black scales, darker than the night sky, covered his entire body, and Servi was almost convinced he was a giant Koena.

Soon enough, the sound of fighting would rear its ugly head, and all hell would break loose.

But it wouldn’t be a one-sided battle.

Carmelo and Servi’s captain had told her group to expect hundreds of guards once the attack started. Even if they had over thirty strong members prepared to kill for the glorious Mafia, they were still facing off against trained mercs and hired goons.

“Listen up,” the Elf with the crossbow whispered. “I received word via a messenger spirit that the groups in New Arcton are about ready. In three minutes, there’s going to be an enchantment field in front of you. It’s going to coat your arrow with power equivalent to Fireball. For you dumb fucks out there, it makes your projectile go boom. Our Skill Users can only hold it up for fifteen minutes before they need to take a break. That’s when our shield summoners come in handy. They know the Rank 1 skill Judas Shield. They’ll start preparing it to be used with our trump card.

“When I give the order to fall, fucking do it unless you want to be fried to a crisp.” The Elf pointed his weapon at a cloaked Dwarf with a hunched back. He sat crossed-legged in the corner of the room as his mouth moved a meter a second. “That bastard was blessed with Fulgur Spike. For those who don’t know it, it’s a Rank 1 skill that produces a giant lightning rod from Skill Energy. When it appears, the enchantment field will come back up, only this time it’ll be lightning.

“I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, but fucking fire every arrow or lightning skill you have at the Fulgur Spike, then fall down, cover your ears, and open your mouth so your brain doesn’t get liquified from the explosion. We’ll be fine as long as we hide behind the Judas Shield, but take cover regardless.

“The more lives we take during the opening moment dictate how much manpower they want to throw at us. I thought of opening with Fulgur Spike, but it’s best to wait and see where they’re hiding at. Remember, don’t fucking aim for that building!” This time, the crossbow-wielding Elf pointed it towards the black-bricked building. “Corner Bank is underneath there, and we don’t want to entrap our brothers on the rubble. You do that, and we won’t get paid. I’ll even kill the unlucky fucking traitors who fired the arrows! Now, we start in one minute.”

“Damnit, Marci, you never shoulda left home…” The blue Singi next to Servi shook and teared up as a meek hand glanced against her malformed ears. Servi ignored her and stood up. Looking down upon the people who would shortly become corpses, Servi was oddly calm. The stiff breeze dancing with her hair stopped and disappeared, the small cawing of a baby crow ceased to exist, and even the faraway meow of a tiny kitten stopped to hiss and run away.

The masses were totally unaware of the line of deadly archers hidden in the middle floor of an abandoned building. After all, if people don’t have a reason to do it, why would they ever look up?

As she nocked an arrow from the quiver on her hip, Servi subtly used Telekinesis to cause a commotion within the two groups of children she saw. She didn’t want to hurt them, but if a quick push from behind was enough to make them angry enough to storm off, then she considered it was worth the scraped elbow.

And her plan worked. Confusion spread like a virus, and the children turned on their heels and ran away from the ones they thought were responsible for their superficial injuries.

“Five seconds. Skill Users, get those enchantment fields up. Archers, draw your bowstrings and release when the field opens,” ordered the Elf as he raised his crossbow.

The moment Servi’s eyes were filled with the transparent orange glow of a floating fire trapped in time, over thirty arrows were launched down upon the unsuspecting crowds.

She didn’t know how many people would die by the time she fired her fifth arrow, and she didn’t know how many would venture into the unknown afterlife when the projectiles ran dry.

The lives of everyone in front of Servi did not compare to the life of her best friend.

With bated breath, Servi pulled back on her string and activated Soul Essence of Primal Combat. Angling her bow slightly upward and reducing her strength, she officially joined in on the massacre.

As the forthcoming chaos started to ramp in intensity, Servi was not aware of a third group of children playing in the pile of garbage.

“Robby, you pushed me!” Sammie whined. Her small hands held her left knee cap that was stained with crimson.

“Nuh-uh! It wasn’t me!” Robby removed his hat and shook his head. His outstretched hands betrayed his lies and told the truth.  Robby had pushed Sammie to the ground.

“Yes! It! Was! I…I..I HATE YOU!” Sammie yelled, catching the attention of her fellow homeless. Though she didn’t know it, every adult surrounding her did not belong with her. They had copious amounts of cash and food and even a house to lay in. It was a far cry from the rotten canopy that did little to protect Sammie and her friends from the brutish sunlight, nor did the hard ground coated with waste do good for health.

She had very little in the world to call her own, and Robby was one of those things. They had been together since their families died a few years back.

“Sammie, I didn’t do it! I prom—” Before he had a chance to continue, a flaming hot arrow pierced through from the top of his head to the bottom of his chin.

“Robby…” Sammie fell to her rear and shook uncontrollably as the small rocks dug into the back of her knees. Instinctively, she glanced up and was witness to a rain of arrows. A final scream of panic and fear erupted from her tiny mouth, and she, along with twenty-four others, died in the initial barrage.

The arrows riddled their corpses and engulfed in flames as the streets were filled with burnt flesh.

“Hahaha! Can’t believe I got that brat. Hey! Who picked off the little twerp that fell?” The crossbow-wielding Elf asked.

“I did, boss!” said a Singi with yellow hair.

“Good shit. Keep it up, and kill everyone you see. And that goes for all of you! Fire like your fucking lives depends on it. That’s because they do!” After barking out an order, the Elf reloaded his crossbow and set his sites on an elderly man. He had a cane in one hand, and he wobbled off behind cover.

He wouldn’t make it. After pulling the trigger, the Elf immediately nocked another arrow but stopped when he saw the cane-wielding man wasn’t injured. Somehow, he had twisted his walking stick in such a way that the shaft of the arrow bent around the curved handle, and it redirected away.

The man grinned and cracked his cane on the wall he took cover behind. Hidden inside was a pair of two scrolls. After slapping one on the ground, he removed his grime-stained jacket and tossed it around the wall. The Elf fell for this trick and fired, cursing as he realized he’d been bamboozled.

Leaning low enough to where the hairs of his white beard scratched the hard ground below him, the elderly man rushed out from behind the wall. His goal was the wall ahead of him. The scrolls were linked with an advanced form of Earth Wall that could make walls five meters in thickness, but they required two anchor points: those being the scrolls themselves.

He instinctively dodged and sucked the arrows coming at him as his companions returned fire with their own bows. Some were launching Fireball and Greater Fireball, and screams of death from both sides occupied the area.

He knew there was a chance the area could be attacked because the Corner Bank was nearby. Thoughts of dying and being forgotten in a shit hole of a town passed his mind, but he disregarded those thoughts whenever they showed up.

“Come on!!” he yelled as he fell to his knees. A sharp red arrow passed right by his eyes and scorched his brows, but he immediately converted the fall into a forward dodge and narrowly escaped three more.

With his hands clutching the scroll tightly, he felt it pulse.

“Hey! The walls going—” he yelled, but his voice had been cut off. No—his throat had been pierced by a single arrow while he was in the middle of a dive. The strength abandoned his body, and blood trickled out of his mouth. His arms twitched, and his mind forced himself to crawl forward.

Then an arrow stapled his arm to the ground.

Then a third arrow lodged itself in his other arm, piercing through the scroll. It faded to dust and scattered in the growing wind that was being corrupted by smoke and fire. The enchanted fire from the arrow spread like disease through a slum as his body soon took on a red hue of pure heat.

Oddly enough, he couldn’t feel the pain from the arrow wounds nor the heat. It was probably because the intense fire had scorched his nerves. Now that he thought about it, it probably was the reason why he couldn’t feel a single thing. Even the blood trailing down his throat and into his lungs was something he shrugged off. He couldn’t breathe without coughing, but he couldn’t cough in the first place.

Before his life left him, he turned his neck and noticed a single girl. But that should've been impossible. Because of the distance between the two, her lavender hair and blue eye should’ve been indistinguishable, but they weren't. The assailant nocked a final arrow and aimed upwards. With a simple release, the projectile beautifully trailed a perfect arc until gravity took hold. As the elderly man waited for his death to come, he attempted to close his eyes.

But his body wouldn’t even grant him that.

“IRON WALL!”

A robed Human yelled at the top of her lungs as a defensive black wall emerged in front of her after she targeted a nearby dagger. It curled up at an angle, blocking the sun. More importantly, it prevented the arrow and the archer from achieving their goal.

The enflamed arrow boinked off the newly grown wall and flopped to the ground. With no flesh to fuel its desire to burn, the flame engulfed the wooden shaft of its arrow and became black ash.

“EVERYONE, BEHIND THE WALL!!!  THE SCROLLS HAVE BEEN DESTROYED, SO MAKE MORE WALLS!!!” the woman shouted as she tore off her cloak to reveal shiny armor.

Just like that, the tide of battle slowly swayed the other direction, and the element of surprise had been wasted.

“Damnit!” Servi cursed as her arrow bounced off. Something told her that she needed to kill the elderly man with the scrolls, and she followed her thoughts. Unfortunately, she wasn’t successful.

Scowling, she hurriedly nocked another arrow and took aim at the robed man with a shield. As soon it left her bow, the orange flame field disappeared as her projectile passed through it into a sea of black smoke. Her vision was foggy, but she could still see. If she could do that, then she could properly aim her arrow. Though she didn’t see or hear the impact, an incoming red soul alerted her to her success.

“Shit, duck!” yelled the Elven captain as he fell to the ground with his crossbow.

Now that the flame field had disappeared and they had the cover of smoke on their side, the mercenaries and guards staged their counterattack.

Servi did as she was commanded and narrowly dodged a Fireball. It had come from directly underneath, and it smashed through the roof above Servi’s head. Flaming debris poured down on Servi as she covered her head with her arms.

Thanks to the new armor, she came out unscathed, but she couldn’t say the same about the building.

“Boss, why the fuck WOULD WE TAKE UP POSITION IN THIS RICKETY-ASS BUILDING?” someone yelled as Servi returned to a crouching position.

“It was in the FUCKING PLANS! Everybody, return fire. Hold them off for ten more minutes!” The Elf took up a position near one of the standing pillars and blindly fired his crossbow. Servi heard him curse in delight when his arrow struck gold, and his Elven ears picked up a painful cry.

Servi, do you think Carmelo is trying to get rid of us? Being in a building during a battle when we're surrounded on all sides is a terrible plan. What if he wants to get rid of everyone here? Itarr asked as words made themselves known across her ID.

Servi felt her red tablet smack against her legs, and she glanced down while yelling for another quiver.

“Seems like it to me. The greedy fucking bastard. Doesn’t matter since I can’t die. I just have to meet the 5th. Hell, even if the robbery is a failure, I just need to catch a glimpse of him,” Servi replied as she caught a quiver thrown to her by someone situated near the crates. Her voice, drowned out by the yelling and screaming from both sides, gave her an advantage. She could converse with Itarr all she wanted.

Servi crouched low and prepared an arrow. The blue Singi next to her had a loose grip around her bow’s limbs. When she stood up to fire her bow, she accidentally let loose the bow instead of the arrow, and her weapon disappeared into the smoky battlefield. In an embarrassed rage, she hustled to the supply crates and retrieved a second bow.

“Dammit, don’t mess up...” she murmured. Gathering the courage to stand again, she immediately fell back as a Greater Fireball exploded her head. Hot blood and strips of fire covered the people to her left and right, but none of them even paused to note her death as Servi's ring sucked up her soul.

“Itarr,” Servi said as she leaned up. When she took in the whole battlefield, the entire area was black with a blanket of smoke. “This is war. People die. Either they deserve it, they brought it on themselves, or they were unlucky. At the end of the day, there’s not much people can do to prevent it. Hell, someone's death is set in stone the moment they are born. Maybe it’s the same for those two kids that died. There's a chance that if Momo and I went to Waveret instead, those children still would’ve died. This heist still would’ve happened.” Servi fired off three more arrows before ducking under a Greater Lightning Bolt. Its white lightning attempted to spread from the stony walls but couldn’t.

“How the hell are they hitting us?!” a Human exclaimed. Servi glanced over and saw a middle-aged man clutching his shoulder as she blind-fired six arrows from her crouching position. Blood poured down his arms as parts of his flesh melted and dripped to the ground.

“They’re trained mercenaries! They probably memorized the entire fucking layout! Shit! Why did he pick this fucking building!? WE’RE FUCKED!!!!!!” The same person who complained about the attack position griped again.

“Keep fucking firing! We only need three minutes!” shouted the short Elf with a crossbow.