Talon flew high in the air for two days. Navi made her a riding jacket that was enchanted in the same way as the invisibility cloaks. I almost feel like we're cheating, but it's just using our limited knowledge of science with our magic abilities.

At the end of the two days, Tsuki and Carmen took a bag with their own bombs and split up to go to the two other castles we would be attacking. Meanwhile, Navi and I continued towards the human capital. 

We had flown high above the few scattered villages or towns that I saw on our way here, but this was my first proper look at a human city. From the air, we slowly began to descend while circling around the castle in the center of the capital.. 

The outer city walls wrapped around the area in a circle with the castle at the center. I would estimate that the city had a diameter of just under five miles inside of the wall. Yet, the city didn't stop at the wall. For a quarter mile outside of them, there was a shantytown of dilapidated buildings. 

Even from the sky, it was obvious they were built with scrap material. There was no rhyme or reason to their placement. It seemed like every available space in these slums had someone occupying it with buildings built of old wood and patched together fabric.

The walls surrounding the city were made of stone and were roughly thirty feet high. A neglected coating of crumbling white plaster seemed to be coating the outside surface. At this point, there is more rough stone visible than there is plaster. I imagine that in its prime, the wall was a beautiful white.

The cobblestone road leading to the large gate seemed almost too wide for the traffic it was receiving. Perhaps it was a remnant of more prosperous times. Whatever the reason, it was visibly missing some stones in places and had weeds growing between the rock towards the edges where it didn't receive as much foot traffic.

The buildings inside of the walls were also interesting to see from the sky. There appeared to be two separate styles of construction. The first was large stone buildings that seemed extremely old. Built up to four stories tall, they seemed to be laid out on a grid along the edges of the roads, but there are obvious places where some are missing and had been replaced with the newer buildings. The newer looking buildings were primarily made of wood. They were two stories tall at most. 

The main road into the city also appeared to act as a market or a bazaar. Stalls and booths were placed along the edges. Those without a stall had blankets laid out to claim their space. It looked to be packed with people selling every low quality good imaginable, all constantly yelling about their goods to get attention. The noise reminded me of New York City before they regulated cars honking. It was just a constant barrage of noise.

Even inside of the wall, all of the buildings were packed close together. At least until the inner wall.

Roughly half of a mile around the castle, there was a smaller stone wall that was about fifteen feet high. Inside of the wall could only be classified as the rich and pretentious area of the city. 

The mansions weren't enormous, but were certainly much larger than any of the homes outside of this wall. They were three to four stories in height, and built in a way to show off their own wealth. Each seemed to have a garden behind the building. This was the first greenery that can be seen since the slums. 

Outside of this inner wall, there was only one building that could rival these. From the stained glass windows on it, I can only assume it was a church. Inside of the inner wall, there also appeared to be a church, only it was even larger and more grand. When Talon flew closer as she circled, I could make out that the windows had images on them, reminiscent of the stained glass windows installed in many churches from Earth.

Once Talon got closer, and with my increased sight, one image drew my attention in particular. It depicted someone with slightly pointed ears on their knees, cowering with their arms raised in front of them in a pleading pose. Standing before the figure was a man with a crown and light blue sword, pointing it at the person on the ground. A beam of light seemed to come from the sword as well as encircle the crowned man.

Even without an explanation, it was obvious that it showed an emperor killing a vampire.

One other building drew my attention as we flew while invisible around the city. It seemed to be a large stone tower. From reports and descriptions in the old books, I assume this was the Magic Academy. Why do mages feel the need to build towers? Are they trying to play off of the imagery of climbing to new heights of knowledge? Do they like phallic shaped objects? Or am I just missing something? Does our school in Midnight need a tower? Whatever.

I had to smile to myself knowing that, unbeknownst to the humans, all of the buildings inside of this inner wall were rigged with explosive cores. Most likely, the bomb would take care of them, but I wanted to make sure.

Finally, there was the castle itself. Another wall separated it from the rest of the mansions. The wall was a little less than a quarter mile from the center of the castle. They were roughly twenty feet high and even had a small moat around the outside. 

The land within here was filled with trees and flowers. There was even a pond with intricate gazebos and a small dock. I also noticed what looked to be a glass greenhouse. The entire area was beautiful.

The castle propper was large and seemed to be made of—or at least coated in—white marble. It had a very Anglo-Saxon feel to it, with tall and thick walls, rounded turrets, and crenellations all along the top. Compared to my castle, it was about the same size, only a bit taller if I had to guess.

The building was almost as beautiful as the landscape outside. It's really going to be a shame that it will all be gone before tomorrow morning.

(Fly over to the pond. We'll wait there until night,) I said to Talon. 

(Okay!) she said back.

We landed on the far side of the pond from the castle, and found a willow tree to rest underneath. We had a good view of the dock, gazebo, and castle. 

Navi hopped onto Talon's head and looked up at me as I dismounted. "What's the plan now, Vamps?"

I took out some meat and water for Talon. "Well, similar to how many people on Earth knew that The Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom were stored in the Tower of London, many people here know that the Godsword is stored in the treasury."

Navi smiled brightly. "So we get to pull the heist of the century!"

I chuckled at her excitement. "Yes, but we have one issue. From what the MSF was able to gather, it's enchanted and won't open unless the Emperor specifically channels mana to open it."

"Then we need to kidnap him! I have just the thing." Navi rifled through her bag and pulled out a rectangular metal box with straps and a helmet. 

"What are these?" I hesitantly asked.

"I made these with Ailine!" Navi said. "I doubt she wanted to talk about how we kidnapped the head priest, but we used these!

"The helmet has an enchantment to block their screams, and they can be shoved into the box to be carried away to wherever they need to be. It's sealed to keep any light escaping. It also has a sound barrier on it."

I was a little stunned at her ingenuity. "These are perfect. But… Isn't the box a little small?"

"Nope! Just fold their limbs until they fit!"

Fucking crazy ass fairies. I guess it works, though.

Together, the three of us waited for nightfall. An hour or so before the sun set, we watched as a beautiful woman in her early teens walked to the gazebo with a maid and guard. With long golden hair and a kind face, she wore a pastel pink dress with white lace adorning it. 'Stunning' was the word for her looks.

The maid wasn't much older than the girl, and had curly dark brown hair. As she placed a tray with a tea set on the table, she seemed to stumble. From our place under the tree and with my heightened senses, I could just barely see an empty tea cup tip over.

In a split second, the kind look on the girl's face changed to one of fury. She slapped the maid so hard that she was thrown back and fell to the ground. I couldn't hear what was said, but the maid immediately rolled over and curled into a ball on her knees with her head placed against the ground, seemingly begging for forgiveness.

The girl stood up and walked over to the maid. She said something, before lifting the hem of her dress and kicking the maid in the side multiple times. The guard just silently watched all of this. 

With a final kick, the blonde girl turned away and walked back towards the castle with the guard following behind. 

We watched as the maid cradled her side while crying and coughed up a mouthful of blood. However, she quickly got back to her feet, picked up the tea set that was never poured, and rushed to catch up with the blonde girl and her guard.

I was conflicted. I was furious at the actions of the blonde, whoever the fuck she was, but her actions also reminded me of what Dolores said she did when she was younger. After calming my emotions, I was just sad. Sad for the mistreated maid. Sad for the blonde who was raised to be a bitch. And sad that they would both die tonight.

After a couple more hours, the sun was fully below the horizon. Talon now had a dark magic jacket on. Meanwhile, Navi and I would use our own dark magic and stealth skills.

I ran my fingers along the feathers on Talon's neck. "Wait here for us, Talon. This shouldn't take very long."

(Okay!) she said back.

I made a call to Sara on the FCN. (Sara, we are a couple hours out from core activation. Make sure everyone is in place.)

(Understood, Your Majesty. They will await your signal,) she said.

"Alright, Navi. You ready?" I asked my partner in crime. 

"Yup!" she said while dancing in the air. "You sure you want to come? I can solo this and the drop if you want."

I nodded. "Yeah. I know I'll slow you down a bit, but I feel like I owe it to Chaos and Order to at least see the Emperor once after all this time. Even if he won't live for long afterwards.

"Remember, we can't kill him right now. We need the blast to do it, just in case his death really does send a mass [system] notification. Everything needs to happen at the same time."

"Okie dokie!"

Together, we made our way to the castle's marble walls. High above us, on the fourth floor, was a large balcony. From our information, this should be the Emperor's bedroom.

Navi fluttered next to me as I made platforms with air magic and used them to jump one after another until we reached the balcony.

I landed silently and was pleasantly surprised when I saw that the door leading inside was open. I crept to the door as Navi stood on my shoulder.

I had to stop myself from immediately drawing my sword when I looked inside. 

There was a man in his mid-fifties with golden hair that was beginning to turn white with age. He had a very handsome face and muscular body. Appraisal said he was level 57. It was easy to see how toned he was as he had sex with the two women that were also in the room. Both women appeared to be in their late teens or early twenties.

(Navi,) I said. (Sound barrier and stay hidden.)

(Gotcha… Done,) she said as the barrier went up to keep any sound from leaving the room.

I silently but swiftly ran behind the Emperor and grabbed his shoulders, throwing him to the ground. He let out a shout of surprise, right before my foot kicked him in the groin. As he yelled and began to curl into a ball, I punched him in the face. For all of this, I had to restrain my strength to make sure I didn't accidentally kill him.

From my storage I took out the soundproof helmet and shoved his head inside. I then took out the enchanted box and quickly shoved his body in. At the last second, he kicked a leg out, and it got trapped between the lid and the side of the box. 

Thinking quickly, I pulled out the dragon's tooth dagger and severed his foot, allowing me to close and seal the lid. I momentarily channeled just enough healing magic into his leg to stop the bleeding from where his foot was. I exhaled a breath as I stood up from the box.

Before this attack, Navi and I agreed that there was no way we could take anyone with us to Midnight after the strike. Not only did we lack transportation for them, this entire operation needed to be kept as secretive as possible. If the world knows what we will do tonight, it wouldn't surprise me if the humans as a whole refused to ever work with us. 

The collateral damage is going to be large. Many people are going to lose family and loved ones. We need them to not know it was us. Even the amount of people that already know is a large risk. If I could've avoided the extra loss of life and accomplished the same results just as fast, I would've done it. However, I can't have my cake and eat it too. 

There needs to be no witnesses. If I spared these two women, nothing good would come. Besides, who knows how many women are like them in the castle. If their family or friends die in my strike, I won't be easily forgiven by them. If I tried to save every unrelated person tonight, I would never get the goal accomplished.

From the moment I grabbed the Emperor, they screamed and ran to a corner of the room. They were crying as they looked at me. I had no idea who they were, what type of people they were, or knew anything about their personal situations. I knew if I spoke to them, I would hesitate even more.

I don't have time to talk to them or figure out if they are good or bad people. If I dragged out the destruction of the Empire, a greater number of people would inevitably be killed or hurt. The Empire needs to be brought down, and unfortunately, to accomplish this, unrelated people will be caught in the crossfire.

Hardening my resolve, I channel two spikes of dark magic that pierced the skulls of both women, killing them instantly.

I stored the bodies of the unnamed women in my bag as I hefted it onto my back the box with the Emperor inside of it.

"I'll clean up," Navi said.

She went to the corner and the space by the box and channeled cleaning magic to remove the blood and stored away the severed foot.

We literally caught the Emperor with his pants down and shoved him into a box. Is this really the extent of the person who wields the most power of all the humans?

"Let's get going, Navi. You remember the layout from the map the MSF made for us?" I asked.

"Sure do, Lia," Navi said. "Kill anyone on sight?"

"Yeah. We'll try to stay hidden as much as we can, but if someone is in the way or sees us, kill them."

"Gotcha."

We both sensed the guard on the other side of the door. I opened the door slowly as Navi shot out of the crack. Before I could even get fully into the hallway, I caught a glimpse of Navi storing the dead body of the guard.

We quickly made our way down the hall, to the stairs, and onto the first floor. Navi had to kill four more guards and two maids along the way. 

On the first floor, we came across a butler, two maids, and six guards. All were killed instantly with a fairy sized sword to the head. Time was of the essence since someone would inevitably notice the Emperor was gone. Not to mention the missing people we were leaving in our wake.

At last, we came to the large double doors leading to the throne room. Navi dispatched the two guards at the door just as easily as all of the others. 

Slipping through and closing the double doors behind us, we arrived at the large, gaudily decorated throne room. Full of golden embellishments and purple fabrics, this fucking place just screamed I'm important. At the back of the room, behind the ornate golden throne, was a jewel studded door. 

Navi flew up to the door and whistled after running her hands along it for a few seconds. "Hot darn, Lia. This is a strong enchantment. Without our emperor-in-a-box, we would probably both have to attack this door with all we have to crack it open."

"It's that strong?" I asked, a bit surprised at her findings. 

"This whole place is. I was looking at the walls earlier, and we were right to not underestimate these enchantments." She motioned to the room we were in. "Especially here, they seem to be even stronger."

"How much power are they pulling from the dungeon core?" I asked.

She cupped her chin for a moment. "At least a quarter if I had to guess. It's significant."

I slung my box from my shoulders. "Well, at least we have this guy. Let's stop calling him 'Emperor' as well. The [system] refers to him as 'King' so I'm tired of giving the bastard the satisfaction."

I unsealed the box and pulled the lid off while Navi hid and created a soundproof barrier around us. As soon as the pressure of the lid was gone, an arm was thrust out, shooting a fireball randomly since he couldn't see with the helmet on.

I let it harmlessly splash against my armor as I grabbed the naked man by the shoulders and pulled him out. I think his hip was dislocated, and he was still missing a foot. As I steadied him with one hand as he struggled and tried to hit me, I pulled the helmet off with the other.

"Unhand me, you scum!" he shouted as soon as he could see again. There was just a bit of ambient star and moon light coming through a large window above the throne. 

"That's rich, coming from a piece of shit like you," I said. "Now open the fucking treasurey."

He began shouting. "Guards! Guards! Guar—"

I shut the fucker up with a punch to the gut. "Yell all you want, but just so you know, no sound is able to escape this area."

He straightened up and spat a glob of blood at my face. I have to give it to the bastard. He just doesn't know when to give up.

I backhand him across the face before channeling arcane magic to clean my armor.

"Do you want to live? Then hurry up and open the fucking door," I said.

"Hah! Do you take me for a fool, you fucking whore?" he snarled. "Rot in the pits of Hell. You'll never escape from this castle alive. Even if you kill me, my son will capture you. When he does, he'll rip off that armor and take his—"

I increase my grip on his shoulder, crushing the bone. As he screamed, I headbutt him, still holding back to not kill him.

"Open the door and I go away. Do it now, or I'll give you some other stumps," I said, getting increasingly frustrated with him.

"Just try, you fucking cunt." He tried to hit me with his good arm. 

I grabbed it and drew the dragon's tooth dagger and cut off his hand. He screamed as I healed only the blood vessels, cutting off the bleeding.

"Open the door and it ends," I demanded.

He tried to kick me with his footless leg. Fucker is tenacious. I drew a small steel knife and jammed it into his thigh.

I kept holding the defiant king. "All I want is to rob you right now. Don't make me want to kill you more than I already do."

He spat blood at me once more. As he tried to burn me again.

"Alright, needle dick. I'm done asking nicely." I threw him against the door and he fell at the base of it. Grabbing his hand, I held it against the door. "Open the door, and I'll stop, heal you, and go away."

I began to channel fire magic on the ground underneath us. Thanks to my armor, I didn't feel anything, but he was able to feel what it was like to lay on a stovetop. After more than a minute of this, he still refused to open the door. I was getting really tired of his fucking screaming.

"For fuck's sake…" I muttered to myself.

If this kept up, he'll die. This bastard was prepared to die to protect his shit. With no other choice, I channeled healing magic into him, fixing him at the same speed as he burned. This just made it so he was in a constant state of burning alive, unable to die. Probably what Hell would be like.

He screamed for nearly ten minutes as this went on. He screamed until his voice was hoarse. I hate this man, but he's nothing if not stubborn. If roles were reversed, I'd likely be just as reluctant to do whatever it was my captors wanted.

I dislike torture. But this living corpse isn't giving me much of a choice. I need to get that sword for my plan, and I'll help myself to all of the other goodies inside. All he has to do is open the fucking door.

After fifteen minutes of burning alive, I finally sensed him channeling magic into the door. With an audible click, the door begins to swing open.

I cut off the fire magic and dragged him back to the box.

He weakly mumbled as I tossed him into the box. "Y-you said—"

I interrupted. "That I would stop, heal you, and go away. I stopped, have been healing you for fifteen fucking minutes, and now I'm leaving after robbing you. I also said I'm not going to kill you, which I'm not."

As I began to close the lid after shoving him inside, his fingers on his remaining hand gripped onto the edge in a final attempt to escape. I slammed the lid hard, crushing the fingers. With my dagger, I ran it along the edge of the box, severing them so the lid would seal. 

Dragging the box with me, I used it as a doorstop to make sure we didn't get locked in the room or some other stupid bullshit.

Navi was already excitedly flying around. "Lia! Lia! Check out all of this!"

I took a moment to look around the room. There were crates full of gold, silver, and cooper coins. Stands with ornate weapons and armor. Some even seemed to be enchanted. Sacks full of different jewels. A cabinet with old looking liquor. There were even some extremely old and fragile looking books. 

One thing in particular drew my attention. On a pedestal was a crown and a mithril sword. On the pedestal was a nameplate that read 'Esther.'

Navi and I spent a few minutes going around the room and bagging up everything. When all that was left was the sword, I pulled out the diamond tube I made.

As I tried to lift the Godsword Esther, it felt like it weighed a ton. Whatever the gods did to get them to weigh so much, it completely ignored stats. Maybe the weight even increased proportionally with stats since Zahra was able to lift hers. Who knows.

After struggling, I was finally able to hoist the tip into the top of the diamond tube. It slid down and embedded itself in the spot I made at the bottom.

Using magic to fix the scratches the blade made, I sealed the top of it and put it in my pouch.

I handed the pouch to Navi. "Here. You'll be able to get to ground zero faster than me. In the pouch is the stage I made."

She put the pouch in her own bag. "Gotcha! You ready to go?"

"Yeah. Let's get the fuck out of here," I said.

(All MSF soldiers and fairies, we will begin in a few minutes. Get to your positions,) I announced.

Navi pointed to the box holding the door open. "What about Mr. Kinder Egg?"

I thought for a moment. "Let's leave him here. The Cask of Amontillado style."

"Hahaha! That works for me!" she said.

We left the room and pushed the box all the way inside. As the door closed it clicked shut, magically sealing it. When we walked by the throne, I tossed it into a big-bag as well. No point letting it disappear, and I can always melt it down.

As we left the throne room, there seemed to be more people walking around quickly, but not running. They were likely looking for the missing people. 

(Let's get the fuck out of here. They're going to know something is up shortly,) I said.

With magic activated, I made a break for the front doors with Navi flying over my shoulder. The two guards at the front received a fairy sword to the head for the first guard and my dagger through the skull of the second guard. We stored their bodies without stopping as I made a dash for the pond where Talon is.

By the time we reached Talon, no alarms had been sounded that we could hear.

"You get out of here, Vamps. I'll let you know when my babies are in position and we are good to go," Navi said as she flew up into the night sky. 

Looking up as she flew off, I thought that the full moon did a wonderful job of illuminating the area. With the splattering of stars against the night sky, it was a truly beautiful evening. I only felt a very mild breeze.

"Let's go, Talon," I said as I picked up her reins.

(Talon fly!) she said. 

We took to the sky, concealed with dark magic. As we flew away from the city, Navi checked in, saying the fairies were in position. I also checked with Sara, who was monitoring the soldiers, and confirmed they were good to go on a moment's notice.

After a short time, Talon and I were about five miles from the castle and at least a mile in the air. Because hovering isn't her strongest point, Talon was lazily flying in a circle while I kept an eye on the city. 

The least I could do for everyone that was about to die was to not avert my eyes.

(Alright, everyone,) I said over the FCN to all of the MSF soldiers, fairies, Ailine, Sara, Elden, and James. (The time has come to destroy the Empire. Together, we will rip the worst of the rot out from the Empire. You are the hands that will make this happen.

(After tonight, the Empire will cease to exist with its government torn to shreds. You will be the men and women to rebuild it from the ashes, at least until we can fill the Empire with good and qualified leaders. 

(You are acting on my orders. Every casualty tonight will bloody my hands, not yours. Remember your job after this. Assist every survivor that isn't on our lists to the best of your ability. Remove those that try to take advantage of others during the chaos. Begin to form back up with your teams, and help rebuild.

(Be safe, thank you, and I'll see you on the other side of this conflict. Everyone! Drop your bombs and activate your timers in ten… Nine… Eight… Seven… Six… Five… Four… Three… Two… One… Now!)

At my command, A bright light suddenly appeared in the sky. It was so bright that it instantly lit up the area, similar to a flare being shot. I watched as it began to fall. I'm sure that anyone awake at this hour was able to see it. How couldn't you?

As the seconds passed, it got closer and closer. I counted in my head as it fell. Ten seconds, it's still a bright light high in the sky. Fifteen seconds, it's obviously getting closer and picking up speed. Twenty seconds, through the light, it was visible as the shape of a teardrop, making it look like the sky shed a tear. At twenty-five seconds, it impacted the castle directly.

When the explosion began, I could only think of one thing. I truly was a villain now. May Chaos and Order have mercy on the souls that will be sent to them tonight.