A few moments since the last chapter…

Tristain, Royal Capitol, King’s Cup Arena

 

Kumiho turned her attention off of the two combatants as she turned her attention to the large cloud of debris and black smoke that just erupted from Lord Grayfield’s booth. Glass, wood, and metal rained down over the nobles who were sitting below causing screams and panic to ensue among them. The barrier took several minutes to activate and it would take the same amount of time to deactivate, the light going to it had stopped but it would still take some time to retract. Turning her gaze to the two princes, they were busy staring at each other in shock.

 

The two princes both started off staring at each other with shock before it turned into an accusation that quickly turned to panic. They had grown up together and studied the other as rivals which is why both of them could conclude that the other had no part in planning this. Then they both went pale when they realized that there was no way they could explain away their participation in this when people asked them why they challenged his guard and not him directly. From any angle they looked at it from, it would seem like an obvious choice that one of them helped plan the assassination of a Great Noble Lord. 

 

Both of them reached into a hidden pocket in their coats at the same time and drew a golden disk that was stamped with various runes and carved delicately. They threw these disks against the ground where they shattered like porcelain and immediately began releasing a bright golden light that erupted like a bomb. There was no heat or roar but a golden light seemed to pass through everything like an explosion as the peal of a trumpet sounded ominously like the herald of a war. The light moved quickly and it didn’t take long for it to pass through the floor, the building, and finally blast into the darkening sky where twin crests of the first and second prince hung, showing their location.

 

On the street walking around and keeping the order was a large armored knight that was covered in the symbols of the various nobility and the royal family. They all bore an assortment of swords, maces, axes, and even flails with the only uniform thing being a massive shield on their backs that looked like a curved door. They all bore the symbol of Grayfield and had the logos for his various businesses like taverns, gambling dens, and even brothels. These goliaths in their shiny silver and gold armor stood motionless, but when the light created crests in the sky the runes on their armor activated.

 

The icons on their armor lit up in a golden light that signaled that they were needed, it was the highest alert possible. The first civil war began after an Earl was killed in a rebellion and the second civil war kicked off when a princess was stabbed to death in public. The moment the symbols on their armor began to glow, they looked to the sky and immediately spotted the source. They raised their shields and readied their weapons as the Noble Guard began to charge rapidly towards the source. The people on the streets all began to lay down on their stomachs and placed their hands on their heads while the carriages all stopped and moved out of the way.

 

While their armor was impressive, as they were charging forward the people couldn’t help but notice that the enchanting and workmanship on the shields seemed to be a step above the rest of it. The shine of the polished metal, the quality, and most importantly the clarity of the large logo that dominated the front of it. The glow came from the various enchantments and showed that the investor had spent a lot of money to ensure that the enchanting was almost flawless. Many people who saw them couldn’t help but stow away the logos for the businesses in the back of their minds. 

 

***

 

“Pardon the intrusion, Lord Grayfield. It is time for you to die now.” A female voice called menacingly.

 

Ashton looked around and could see a large group of people wearing black cloaks and holding firearms that were shortened to be easier to conceal. He counted close to twenty of them from what he could see in the hallway, and a cold breath was sucked into his chest. The people walked forward into the room and he found himself slowly walking back towards the large open hole that had been torn in the wall. The crunching of the wood under his feet from the ruins of his chair and the door was the loudest sound in the room as the assassins kept coming in one by one as they all pointed their guns at him.

 

Across the room was the small window that looked out on the alleyway but it was too small for him to jump through, and the fall would be too high to come out unscathed regardless of the side he chose to jump from. He could feel his heart starting to pound as his mind began to rapidly spin up as he continued to look around the small dark room but saw no escape.

 

“Nobles are all the same! They love bringing misery to others but balk when it is about to befall them.” A man in the back laughed.

 

“Without a high-tier watching their backs they are all the same.” A woman jokes.

 

“Let’s just get this done.” Another female cut in.

 

Right as they were saying this a man in the back who was standing dazedly holding his gun loosely, suddenly gave himself a shake as he looked at the cloaked figures around him and slowly raised his gun and pulled the trigger. The hammer came down and hit the striker plate pushing the lid off the pan and directing a shower of sparks onto the priming powder. This caused the gun to discharge and the second blast of smoke was issued from the viewing booth, but this time blood and viscera went with it as the iron musket ball tore through the man’s chest standing in front of him.

 

“Doug?! Why did you just kill Leader!?!” A female screamed and raised her blunderbuss at him in panic.

 

“He cut my pay and demanded my wife sleep with him to get it back! He thought he kept it a secret and she was trying so hard to help us raise our son. Well, now that bastard got what was coming to hi-” 

 

He got to here when a second gunshot went off and hit him in the head knocking him back towards the wall in the hallway where he crashed out the window into the street. This was done by a trembling woman who was off to the side who quickly turned her attention to a smaller cloaked figure next to her wielding a blunderbuss.

 

“Jeffrey, I had to do it. I don’t know what came over your father! But he was going crazy!” She immediately went to his side and placed her hands on his shoulders as she began to try to convince him, but the moment she looked at his face, she saw that his eyes were completely black like two voids. “You’re not-”

 

The boy raised the blunderbuss in his hands and pressed it against her stomach with a look of twisted rage on his face as he pulled the trigger, causing another loud gunshot to ring out in the booth as the woman was blasted against the wall where the window was located. A bloody streak was left where she slid powerlessly down the wall, a look of disbelief etched permanently on her face. During this exchange out of the corner of his eye, he caught something that looked like a moving shadow and saw it wrap around one of the females' faces in the back.

 

It looked like an arm that was extending out of the darkness of the room, this was followed by many more of these arms in different shapes and sizes as they all grabbed onto the woman tightly as she began to sink into the floor. She sank quickly like a woman who was being dragged into the water by countless hands and from the thick shadows she had plunged into, a cloaked head began to rise that slowly pushed all the way up from the floor and stood dazedly as she slowly got her bearings. Suddenly she turned her attention to another female figure and pointed the gun she was holding at her and pulled the trigger but it failed to fire. 

 

Throwing the short musket to the side, she pulled open her cloak and revealed a savage dagger. She then turned the knife on the female and charged her with the dagger, but the sound of the gun hitting the floor had alerted her to the attack. The two women tumbled and rolled across the ground revealing a catkin with blue eyes and a female human with brown hair and the same black eyes that looked like pits. The catkin was frightened by the mad snarling visage that was being aimed at her and the knife she was barely keeping from plunging into her blue eye. 

 

“Paula, what are you doing?!” A male called as he took a step forward, but was yelled down by the brown-haired woman.

 

“Reigar! This slutty cat has been sleeping around! Help me kill her for her crimes!” The human woman called back in fury.

 

“Reigar! She is lying! I would never betray you!” The catkin called. 

 

Suddenly a large man walked up behind Reigar who was suddenly having harem troubles. “Reigar, this is the problem with women. This is why you don’t need them.”

 

Reigar was pulled out of his reverie when a strong hand that was covered in thick calloused skin rested itself on his shoulder and slowly turned him around. What he saw was a large orc with leathery skin that was the color of earth and a thick jaw with tusks looking at him with two eyes that looked like black pits and a loving expression on his face. The human Reigar could only look up and take a gulp of cold air when the orc’s next words caused him to feel like he had been dropped into hell.

 

“You just need me, Reigar! The gates to a magical land are about to open… and I have the key right here!” The orc said as he patted the front of his leather breeches.

 

“No, get away from me!” He screamed and looked over at the two women who were fighting on the floor.

 

“That’s right! I sleep with other men, and I like it!” The catkin said in fury as she was attempting to drive her claws into the neck of the brown-haired human.

 

“I knew you were a whore! Now let me stick this inside of you!” The brown-haired woman called with a twisted smile as she kept trying to stab the catkin with her knife.

 

Ashton watched the group of assassins continue to kill each other and break down for any reason they could come up with. With the leader dead there was no one issuing orders and he kept seeing people getting dragged into the darkness of the room. One of the remaining assassins pointed a shaking flintlock at him and pulled the trigger, he saw the hammer start to drop and suck in a cold breath of air. Then the hammer stopped moving as a white cloth-gloved hand reached out and caught the hammer and held it nimbly. 

 

Following the glove, he could see a black sleeve with lacy frills on it and black ribbons around the elbows and shoulders to keep the sleeves from shifting. From out of his cloak a second arm holding a small sewing needle darted out and stabbed it deep into the hammer assembly. This caused the hammer to jam up and the fingers holding the hammer let it go where it sat uselessly, unable to move forward or backward. 

 

“So much better!” A female voice seemed to whisper in his right ear.

 

Turning in that direction quickly, he faced another male assassin who was busy wrestling a blonde woman who was mounting him and attempting to bite his throat out with her teeth. She had the same blacked-out eyes and an expression of rage on her face. But seeing as she had a hand on her lower jaw he doubted it could be her.

 

That didn’t come from her! Ashton thought as he felt his chest starting to hurt from his elevated heart rate. His head was starting to hurt and he was feeling exhausted as he kept slowing things around him using his ability so he could see what was going on. Once the shadows latched onto any one of the assassins it took only a moment before they reappeared and began acting out. Already many gunshots had rung out and only a few of them still had shots left in them, but Ashton was running into a different problem.

 

This is a normal response when someone sees a human die! It's okay to feel fear and panic… calm down… calm down... Ashton could feel his heart clench from the thick scent of blood that filled the room as the assassins continued to madly attack each other. A thunderous banging noise drew his attention back to the arena and he was greeted with the image of a fox that was the size of a rhinoceros with long and lithe limbs.

 

Its fur was white and fluffy like the snow with red accents around its face and eyes like a mask with curving stripes on its shoulders and back and nine lone tails that were like dragons that were hammering on the barrier causing cracks to form on the magical bubble-like material as it kept shrinking. The pillars and the stone hall walls were covered in deep scratches and grooves and in the corner two armored men hugged each other tightly with deep fear in their eyes. The screams in the arena were overpowering as nobles flooded to the doors and several people lay in bloody heaps from being trampled. 

 

Thick smoke filled the room and flames had begun to form from the wooden furniture from the debris that rained down with unspent gunpowder. Further down the hall, he could also hear gunfire mixed with yelling and screaming, but he wasn’t able to see anything from within the room. 

 

“Hmm… you are a naughty one, aren’t you? Hehehe~” The whispering voice came again as the man who attempted to shoot him began screaming and dropped the useless gun to the ground and started reaching desperately for his back as he started turning around. 

 

Ashton looked closely and saw a small sewing needle had been inserted into the very center of his spine, pinning his cloak to his back. With the armor he was wearing, the man was having problems bending his arms to be able to grab the small metal object. Before he could get a hold of the needle, the same thin arm appeared out of the shadows and darted forward like a snake and poked another needle deep into the flesh of his lower back. The arm seemed to fade in and out of existence as it had never been there in the dark room in the first place. 

 

What the hell is going on!?! Ashton suddenly felt a weight place itself on his right shoulder and felt the air leave his lungs as long inky black hair began to flow down his coat and chest. Looking over slowly, he saw a porcelain mask that had the image of a bunny face painted on the front delicately like a piece of art. The most disturbing part was the holes for the eyes that revealed black pools that looked like an abyss. Her head appeared next to where he had heard the sound of whispering.

 

Behind Ashton was the table and what he saw was a small torso that seemed to be coming from the darkness like a pool. She wore a similar dress to Kumiho but hers was all done in black and dark gray to cover a small body that resembled a twelve or thirteen-year-old child. Her arms were gone and he could see the same darkness attached to her shoulders that released a mist from around it. Her long hair hung to her waist messily with a bow on top of her head that seemed like more of a decoration. Her laughter filled his ear in its sonorous quality like it was coming from both near and far away at the same time.

 

“Poke! Poke! Poke! Poke! Poke!~” She would say as she laughed aloud merrily.

 

The same thin little arms would appear from thin air as they darted forward with great dexterity while carrying sewing needles and driving them into his flesh. The assassin had pulled out a dagger and was screaming madly as he swung it around crazily towards the vanishing arms every time a needle would plunge into him. Just as he felt his fear and panic reach a new extreme he suddenly heard a solemn female voice that seemed to echo and reverberate deeply in his head. It was only a single word that seemed to drive a primal fear into his very soul.

 

“Submit!” It commanded the assassin as shadowy arms made of an inky blackness began to emerge from around him and grab onto his clothes like hooks and anchors. Suddenly he felt the floor under him give way like he was in water and he felt himself being dragged under and couldn’t even scream before he was completely submerged.

 

“Help me!” He creamed before he sunk like a stone.

 

What Ashton saw next was the man starting to rise again from the blackness that he had just submerged into, but he seemed dazed as he stood motionlessly for a moment. Suddenly he gave himself a shake before he looked at the remaining assassins and had a look of confusion. Out of the over twenty people, half of them were dead and the few remaining were being attacked by the people with the shadowy eyes. The man Reigar was being dragged kicking and screaming through a portal in the wall with most of his clothing being lost.

 

“Help me! Please!” He screamed to Lord Grayfield who was watching with stunned disbelief. Tears and snot flowed from Reigar’s mouth as he used his fingers to try to get any purchase he could on the carpeted floor. Once he got past his stomach his body suddenly jerked and the man’s face showed a look of shock as his eyes began to cross. Losing his grip he was dragged into the shadows to join the other assassins as a copy of him suddenly pushed out of the shadow he had come out of and rolled across the floor.

 

Ashton turned to a corner where a woman was being cornered by several of the assassins who all had the same dark eyes and twisted expressions on their faces as they walked menacingly towards her. 

 

“Stay back! Go away!” She shrieked as she pointed her blunderbuss towards the crowd and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened and she felt warm wet liquid splashing her waist and looked down to see a small gloved hand holding a glass of hot tea. The hot liquid was being poured right onto the striker plate, it had already fouled the powder and was soaking onto her midsection. Yes, she told herself that all of the liquid that she was covered in was tea and that the large pool underneath her was only tea.

 

“You had a good time laughing at us while you speared yourself on the leader’s cock like a corndog, didn’t you?” A man asked with anger as he pulled out a shiny dagger.

 

“You also tried to seduce my father while my mother was cheating on him… I will never forgive you…” The small cloaked Jeffrey said as he also drew a dagger and aimed it at the woman.

 

“I don’t know who you are but I just want to stab you, so I’m gonna.” The man who had been stuck with needles said as he also pulled out a knife and joined the group.

 

The sounds of fighting in the hallway were becoming more intense, but the fighting in Ashton’s room was already getting past the climax. Any gun that could cause Ashton harm was immediately fouled by all sorts of means by the small gloved hands that would appear from the darkness to perform various pranks. A bloody scrim was happening between the remaining assassins and the people with shadowy eyes but Ashton had also discovered something else frightening about their existence.

 

The cornered assassin woman had pulled out a dagger that was hidden at her belt line and drove it into the chest of the small boy who was holding a dagger that was jabbed into her stomach. The woman cried out as she pulled the dagger out of the boy’s chest and tried to drive it into another assailant, but he didn’t even try to stop her as it was plunged into his face. What Ashton had noticed was that the metal had been completely clean after leaving the boy’s chest and from the wound black shadows seemed to spill out for a few moments before they rapidly closed the wound. The boy didn’t flinch throughout this entire process except for the force of the blow and he kept using his dagger to make a sawing motion in and out of the woman’s stomach.

 

“Is that too much for you? Is that better?~” The young voice asked as he felt two cold palms press onto his face and cover his eyes from behind him.

 

He could hear the sounds of the fighting escalating in the room and the sounds of screams and grunts began to increase. Loud bangs rang out from people hitting the ground and he even heard the sounds of someone falling through the opening of the booth into the empty stands below. The sound of an ear-shattering popping could be heard from the arena followed by a roar that shook the wood in the booth then he could hear breaking coming from the wall of the booth followed by warm puffs of air hitting his face. The sound of something heavy like a chain could be heard swinging through the air followed by the sounds of wood breaking and paste being thrown across the room.

 

He could feel his heart rate increasing as his breathing continued to increase in speed and pitch. Another roar followed by more bangs suddenly seemed to put an end to the conflict, he could then hear a crunching noise followed by a loud hiss like steam. Hearing a loud female grunt after a few more pops and crunches he could then hear some light breathing like panting before he heard a thump followed by a bang coming from the floor near the wall of the viewing booth.

 

“Beretta? What are you doing here?” Kumiho asked as he heard the rustling of clothes and felt the hands-on his eyes tighten like latches.

 

“I never leave the Lord’s shadow, how else am I supposed to witness when he sleeps with other women?~” The young voice announced proudly. 

 

“The Lord forbid you from getting within a certain distance of him!” Kumiho pointed out.

 

“But he isn’t the lord, he just has his body! Even his shadow has disappeared! This is something unheard of! He is just like me! I want him even more than Lord Grayfield!~” The breathing behind his head had picked up and sounded like it was huffing in his scent. “Yes, I want him to sleep with as many women as possible and treat me like trash!~” 

 

Ashton suddenly recalled a warning he had gotten about this maid and her bizarre habits. They had all told him that she was dangerous for many reasons, and one of them had to do with some of her obsessions. A masochist, a pervert, and a voyeur all rolled into one package. She was the least understood combat maid and the only one who had gone to Ashe Grayfield voluntarily. Soon the sounds of clothes rustling ended and the sounds of approaching footsteps filled the hallway.

 

“Kumiho wonders how such slow people could ever guard anything? Hurry and spit them out so we can get out of here.” Kumiho said with agitation. “Kumiho didn’t even get to eat her opponents.”

 

“I suppose I should…” Beretta said wistfully before the sounds of thuds could be heard coming from a corner of the room. “I will hide so that they don’t know I am here. They can just think you did it all.~” 

 

Ashton suddenly felt the weight on his shoulder disappear and the hands covering his eyes faded away revealing the inside of the room. What he saw was claw marks and a large space where the wall facing the audience had been and opposite of that was bent and shattered woods covered with blood and mangled bodies that had needle-like furs sticking out of their flesh and through their armor. In a separate corner was a pile of bodies forming a pyramid structure, these were all of the assassins that had been taken into the shadows. They were all pale and shaking as if they were cold and some of them were releasing foggy breath into the rooms with unfocused eyes.

 

“Lord Grayfield!” A voice called out before the doorway burst open and the room was lit up by the shine of golden light sparking from armor. A large shield was held up featuring a woman sitting sideways in a gauzy dress with a leg slightly raised with the logo of a brothel. A sharp sword was held around the side of it ready to thrust out and the man looked around quickly before stepping in front of Ashton.

 

“Lord Grayfield, thank the gods you are alive!” The knight said as he took deep breaths to catch his breath as he assessed the situation. “We all owe you our lives for these incredible shields you have provided us! We came as quickly as we could when we determined it was your establishment!”

 

Soon the entire hallway began to light up from the golden light coming from their thick armor as tons more of the noble guard began to flood the room and take up defensive positions.

 

“Late! Late! Late!” Kumiho said, stomping her foot on the ground angrily.

 

Next Chapter: Exhausting...