Chapter 73 - Struggles and Consequences (3)

An intense pain tore through me as I struggled against these chains of darkness biting against my body. Time would have become distorted in this pure blackness were it not for my vision and memory being connected to my other self.

It was strange how that worked—receiving two memories at the same time, one my own, and the other from my counterpart. There was also a portal-like vision in front of me, a view from the perspective of my other self. I could see the many deaths my other self had caused. The only thing I was glad of, other than the assassins he had killed, was Merchant Zafer's death.

The other three seat members in the council were relatively harmless. They had been beneficial to the merchants, helping them out considerably. It was a waste and a shame that their lives had been taken so suddenly.

I also disliked the fact that he had chosen to abandon the caged children inside the underground facility, choosing instead to bury everything and everyone alive.

I grimaced again as the chains sank its fangs against the skin of my body, my blood falling freely down their black lengths.

I bore the agony with determination though; I could already feel the dark chains slowly weakening as I struggled. Like my counterpart had estimated, I would break through in perhaps five days. All of it depended on my will.

And I had plenty of it.

My green eyes glowed with willful light in the darkness, one of the two sources of light in this dark crevice of my mind.

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[261 Days Remaining]

The next day brought many problems. The city of Avea was in an uproar, and the only remaining seat member in the Council of Merchants was protected by heavy guards and mages. The city guards were fervently patrolling every section of the city and the entrances to the city were also being checked thoroughly. Messengers were also being sent to major cities.

Normally, only one council member dying would not have warranted so many messengers, as that one member could be easily replaced or his duty taken up. But since four members had been killed, many messages were being sent out by fast riders. The four deaths of the merchants would have far-reaching effects in the kingdom.

I didn't bother asking how the three assassins had managed to infiltrate and kill their heavily protected targets. They were, after all, elite assassins. I was sure they had their own ways of doing things, and they were proving to be useful tools.

After getting back our horses from the stables and after undergoing a thorough examination at the city entrance, the four of us left Avea on horseback.

Our next destination was the capital city of the eastern region of Shail Kingdom.

Lapis and its ruler, Baron Gerald Trelmont. He was the next on my “to-kill list.”

It would take us two days to arrive.

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[259 Days Remaining]

Lapis, obviously, was comparable in size to Asolance and Avea, its city gates standing at fifteen feet tall and almost as wide. The walls, I won't even mention since I could not estimate it properly. If I had to guess though, the walls were probably close to thirty feet tall. There were also ramparts and all sorts of defenses on top of these walls.

Weapons were allowed in the city, and like every other city, there was an iron-clad law that forbid you from drawing your weapons to harm other people. You could not even use the weapons to gesture threateningly at someone else. If the guards caught you, the offender would be thrown into jail and would have one or more of their fingers cut off depending on the seriousness of the crime.

This was the main reason why expensive shops and services like brothels would have burly guards that were versed in fist fighting. Of course, it also pays to have some extra protection with guards versed in sword-fighting. Just in case you meet a dissatisfied rival or customer who drew their weapon.

Baron Gerald Trelmont was a vain and greedy man. Normally, this would lead to ruin and loss when he governed such a large territory of the eastern region. But in his case, he had intelligence and cunning to back his personality. For the dull-witted nobles who had this type of personality, the result of their houses falling into ruin was almost inevitable.

In addition, each of the four barons also commanded their own personal armies. There were restraints, of course. Even if all four barons rose up in rebellion against the king, their armies would not rival the numbers of the king's army and his royal mages. To govern such large regions, the barons were supplied soldiers and knights from the king's army. That would also make rebellion a hard task to do.

Unlike Asolance, which was supplied food from the nearby cities and towns, Lapis was self-sustainable and had its own expansive farmlands surrounding it. The eastern region having rich soil made it a supplier for the kingdom's food supply. Seafood and all the other related affairs with the sea came from the western region which bordered the ocean.

This was why there were many farmers and commoners in and near Lapis. And since the population of commoners and farmers were high in the eastern region, most of the cities did not have entrance fees. That said, Lapis was a city even bigger than Asolance or Avea, having its farmlands and commoners to consider.

Passing through its huge gates, the four of us entered the city not one coin lighter. It was late afternoon when we finally took up residence inside an inn after stabling our horses, one room for me, and a double room for the three of them.

“Bastard,” I said softly to myself. Inside my mind, I could feel my counterpart struggling furiously against his chains. It was like a soft, rhythmic thudding inside my head, as if a black carrion was tearing at flesh. Well, not really.

The constant thumping was a reminder of my limited time. A reminder before I would once more be stuck inside the dark, cold crevice that was a part of our mind. It was a place where I would once more have to spectate through my counterpart's vision as he went about doing useless shit and tasks.

It took perhaps an hour or two before the thudding in my head died down. My other self had most likely exerted his energy against the weakening chains.

The skies had darkened outside. It was night. It was the hours when dark predators would come alive, when they would hunt for their prey. It was the time for a nightly murder.

I had no need of the assassins to carry out the task of killing Baron Trelmont. I would allow no one to get in the way of my vengeance. In retrospect, I didn't really need the three assassins. I could have killed all the council merchants by myself. It was an easy enough thing to do.

Wearing a black hood over my face, I went out onto the city cobbled streets. There was still enough light out that only a few lanterns had been lit by the city's “lighters,” a group of people, usually commoners and the poor rabbles, who lit the lanterns at nightime for a small fee. Coppers, really. Just enough for a meal.

I stuck to the shadows, only receiving a few glances from the people. It was not really strange to wear hoods at night, as it protected you from the cold. Some people also liked to stay unknown to others. No one would think I was a person about to kill another in cold-blood. Earth-covered blood, if I wanted to be precise.

A half an hour of walking later, I arrived at the city's center, the encompassing towers where Baron Gerald Trelmont resided in. They were the tallest buildings in Lapis city and were also the most elaborate looking structures. Did I not tell you that Baron Trelmont was a vain man?

Surrounding the feet of the two towers were large houses. There was also a seven feet tall wall surrounding the entire area. There were two entrances to this area, which were guarded by the baron's personal men.

The city streets leading to the entrances were devoid of people, as most people did not really have business with the baron, unless it was for urgent matters. Or unless the baron found you unfavorable, and brought you inside his home for a “treatment.”

I took the street leading to the southern entrance of the baron's residence. The two-men wide steel gate was guarded by four soldiers, all of them males.

“Hail, stranger. What is your business here,” a guard said as I came closer toward them.

There was no one else around except for the four guards, two of them on each side of the closed steel gate. I walked closer toward the guards, leaving only a few feet distance between.

“State your business stranger,” another guard said.

Another step brought me closer to the guards, and I could see annoyed looks flashing across their faces. They were most likely thinking the hooded person before them was a drunk of a deaf bastard.

The first soldier who had spoken said, “Do not make repeat myself, commoner.”

It was the last sentence he would utter.

Four columns of the Flames of Interitum shot upward from the ground beneath them, too quickly for any of the four soldiers to even scream out in surprise or pain. They were instantly devoured, not one trace of them remaining. The stone ground where they stood was also unharmed—I had summoned the four pillars of fire perfectly.

My dragon strength easily allowed me to push open the heavy steel gate. It creaked open, and I entered, my sight immediately meeting a beautiful, expansive courtyard with a decorated stone path leading toward buildings and houses which surrounded the connected twin towers where the baron lived.

There was a beautiful variety of trees as I walked atop the grasses, avoiding the stone path. Along the way, I met a few patrolling guards who were instantly burned out of existence. They did not even have time to scream out a warning. A look of surprise and the guard was dead. Not a trace remained of him.

After walking for some more moment and satisfied with the distance I was away from the twin towers, I stood beside a large tree, shadowed against its trunk. It would take more than a casual observing glance from a patrolling guard to see me in the tree's shadow. It was a shame that the vain baron had made the courtyard and smaller houses so expansive and decorated. An assassin would have his work cut out for him with so many places to hide.

I was perhaps four hundred feet away from the connected twin towers. This distance was a requirement for my magic to properly work. It was also almost three time the distance my counterpart could fully manage to work his magic, since I could use a little more than half of our full magic potential.

This distance limit was also the reason why I had needed to infiltrate the baron's residence. It made me wonder how teleportation magic worked. Perhaps it was not limited by distance?

I sent out tendrils of magic through the courtyard and past the houses, knowing that none of the mages in the baron's residence could sense it. They were just not strong or sensitive enough. Perhaps a few were sensitive enough, but I doubted it.

A dozen or so more seconds later, my tendrils of magic had reached the connected twin towers. These black-colored strands of my magic were directly underneath the foundation of the two towers. Through these tendrils, I could sense that the towers were built on strong foundations. Good, solid earthen ground. There were also a few people present near the grounds of the towers.

The element earth was obviously present under the towers so nothing really impeded my earth magic. I easily ripped apart the foundations of the towers using earth magic. Though I could not view what was happening since my vision was blocked by the surrounding houses, I could imagine the ground beneath the towers being ruptured and displaced by huge earthen pillars and spikes.

Unsupported by the earth, the two towers wobbled for a few seconds before falling down. The two connected towers hit the ground in an earth-shaking noise, each purposely falling down in different directions. Even from here, I could see the storm of dust and materials flying as the towers smashed against the ground and the houses that stood in its way.

The screams of panic started almost instantly afterward. Soldiers, officials, servants, and people of other professions started running away from the scene of destruction. Some of them were unlucky, hit by stray blocks of stone and metal. One sprinting woman and man—they looked like scribes— were crushed by a stone five times their size and height. They became mere blood splatters on the ground.

I left the baron's residence quickly then, having confirmed what I had caused. Outside of the place, all sorts of people were gathering, confused and frightened at seeing the city's two tallest buildings fall down. The noise, no doubt, must have also attracted their attention.

I had gotten out of the residence before the incoming crowd had gathered, so no questions were asked of me.

Lapis city was in a state of shock. The sight of its two famous towers would no longer be seen from far away.

The death of Baron Gerald Trelmont would undoubtedly bring further unrest and nervousness to Shail Kingdom, especially its eastern region which had been left without a governor. At least, most of the eastern region which was governed by Baron Trelmont.

I returned to my room at the almost desolate inn half an hour later, pushing against the people who had been rushing to see the scene of destruction.

Three pair of eyes stared at me with nervousness and with what I believed was fright.

“Did you cause that!” Ilana demanded—no, whispered more like. She was the more outspoken assassin out of the three.

“Yes,” I simply said.

“Could you not have cause less casualties?”

“Yes,” I said, thinking that even elite assassins had morals. I saw the unspoken agreement on the faces of the other two assassins, Gwen and Kal.

“I didn't think you would go through with this...the effects will be wide. All of the eastern, lower nobles will have outright rivalry and compete with each other for the position, and King Balan will have to summon the nobles,” Ilana continued speaking, unimpeded.

“Enough. Your original master would have eventually cause such unrest anyway,” I replied back calmly. My words shut her up instantly.

“He is right, Ilana,” Gwen said. “The suspicion and rivalry the deaths of the eastern baron and the council merchants will also help mask our path and make it harder for Master Celdric—Veena's father, I mean.” Gwen sent a placating look toward Ilana before turning to me. “So what will you do next, Master Verath.”

“Do tell,” Ilana said in a sarcastic voice.

“If your words are to be believed, the next step shall be to destroy the other branch of Malice in the eastern region. On horses, it should take us only about two days or so to get there if we travel fast.”

I left the next part of my thought unspoken. That is, if my weaker counterpart do not take over in the meantime.

I only had about three days left before my counterpart would break free of his chains, I roughly estimated. I could already feel the chains coming undone due to his unexpectedly fierce struggles.