The thug whimpered, and Shinra thought he wet himself."Look man, it isn't even a secret, everyone knows where they are." He told Shinra the address and he was surprised. The assassin guild was in a very nice neighbourhood, right alongside minor nobles and rich merchants.He left Paulwry bleeding and ran. There was no sense in killing a useful snitch. Someone who dealt at the intersection of the underworld and the nobility was a good contact to have. 'I need a plan, but I should start with some reconnaissance. I have no idea what I'll find.'He ran fast, his stamina seemed limitless, and he wondered if it was the adrenaline rush still pushing through hIm, or had his improvements from the system accomplished this.When he reached the house, he really couldn't tell it apart from the other houses on the street. It had a nice red brick red exterior, white shutters on the windows, and ivy climbing gently up one side.He watched from the far side of the tree lined street, just between

Shinra melted away from the window, and looked at the other 7 townhouses around the fountain. They were all lit up, as was the entire cavern, but when he snuck to look inside the rest, all but one was empty. The last town house on the other side of the fountain had 4 men in it as well, but no women. They were also playing cards, but their game seemed much more intense. ‘8 men are out here, which means another 10, at least, might be waiting inside the big house.’ Shinra thought about it. He’d killed a lot of people in the last few months, but this was the first time he was planning to kill, and the number was quite high. He needed to be strategic, or one group of 4 mages could easily stop him.‘I guess this is what it means to be an assassin. I have a mission, and I need to carry it out.’ He hadn’t thought about it much, but the System didn’t tell him to defeat the Guild, or win battles against them. Just kill them. He needed to think about how to do that most efficiently.

[Quest Update: Assassin Guild Destruction][Assassins killed: 21 ][Assassins killed by Shinra: 13[Assassins remaining in Akasooki: 16 (estimated)][Hours Remaining: 37]The spike went through him, tearing flesh and leaving searing pain. Shinra heard it hit the wall behind him, then passed through it as well. ‘Damn that was a powerful attack!’ he managed to be impressed even as he was bleeding all over. ‘The other guys definitely heard that. I need to move.’He glanced at the big man, but he had just toppled over at the foot of the bed, his blood spreading around him. ‘I can either fight here, or escape through the window…’ but that would let them get more people together. He wasn’t confident one on one with these guys, let alone 16 to 1.‘Shadow strike is wicked! Can it cut through weaves because it is a shadow? Is it some sort of magic… am I a mage now?’ There were too many thoughts in his head, but he heard movement in the house and knew he didn’t have time. “Garen? Sachron

“Father!” Sardi then said out loud, perhaps too loudly. The vampires all looked at him as he looked from the General to Cardual and back.Eltast wore a grin that almost split his face, and Selena had a gentle smile, as if taking pity on him. Cardual looked at him blankly, and Mimi was still focused on Wintersbane. Mimi was very focused and Sardi could tell she was using high level spells, because he couldn’t see most of the weaves, just the lowest 3 levels.“She can use human magic!” Sardi needed to stop blurting his thoughts out loud. At this, Eltast roared with laughter, and even Cardual’s lips seemed to twitch.“Young member of the Imperial family, do not worry, General Mimi is a mage prodigy, your friend is in good hands.” Selena said to calm him down.“Well, I wouldn’t call him a friend, but Sheriff, I mean, Major Wintersbane is a good person.”“Quite powerful too. That venom attack would have killed most humans immediately,” Cardual offered. It seemed that no one was goin

Cardual was too late. He wasn’t sure what spell his daughter cast, but her lips glowed crimson, and she pressed them to the boy’s and then forced air into his lungs. She kept breathing into his mouth, steadily, like a heartbeat. Time seemed to hold still, and then she raised her head and smiled. At first Cardual couldn’t tell why, but then he noticed the slight rise and fall of Sardi’s chest. She had done it, somehow. That was the breathing of a living person, not a vampire.“What have you done, my dear?” Cardual had let his professional mask slip, utterly amazed by what she had done here. ‘Human magic is indeed powerful,’ it sent a shiver through his spine. His daughter was powerful, and dangerous.Mimi smiled up at him, a smile he hadn’t seen since she was a little girl. “I saved my betrothed. It was the least I could do, right?” Her head dipped a little after she spoke. She was drained of energy. Cardual knew that magic tired her, and she was injured earlier, and jus