Loren was energised like never before. She tried to speak to the professor after the lecture, but he was surrounded by a throng of students and she lost her nerve. Instead, she went straight to the Administration building and switched her major, again. “What is your new Major?” the administrator asked, a slight smile tugging at her lips. She had processed Loren’s other transfers and thought it was funny. Not a lot of students could afford to be so indecisive, but this one brought out her banking sigil like it had unlimited funds behind it. Banking sigils were small mithril plates with a simple but powerful spell on them that could be used to transfer money between sigil holders. Their use had revolutionised commerce so much that the banks no longer moved silver, gold and platinum between accounts, they just maintained the architecture and log books of the vast and complex banking sigil spell.Loren’s sigil had a delicate engraving of grapes on a vine, and she waved it towards
Loren approached like a thundercloud. It was a testament to how self absorbed the male students were that they didn’t notice as she came upon them. Each step her plan changed, ranging from yelling at them to blasting them with a bolt of lightning.She could see the small person they had surrounded. The little girl was dressed like most zombie villagers in a sturdy homespun cloth dress that reached her ankles, an unbleached cream shirt and a dark woollen vest. On her head, she wore a simple linen kerchief that kept her long hair from blowing into her face. ‘Oh, she is so beautiful!’ Loren thought. ‘How could these mages see this perfect angel and not feel protective of her?’ This only made her angrier.She could hear the girl now.“I’m sorry I’ve upset you. I thought Zombies had access to all public spaces?” Strangely, the girl didn’t sound afraid, just curious.Loren wondered how a Zombie, with all the prejudice they normally faced, could be so calm?You see, I was led to be
Shinra had a limited view of the world above him, but he could see through his dark mirror enough to know the heads of the guild were unleashing a lot of magic to where he had been. It was impressive. He couldn’t make out the colours, but there were flashes of elemental magic, and things more powerful, like that blue wave that had pushed him back at the last second.Shinra knew enough about magic from word of mouth to understand that elemental magic was the easiest for mages to use, because it required less weaving. Elemental spells were usually destructive, and were often the strongest spells most mages could do. Since the weaves were simple, they could put more of their magic into it. When Shinra thought about it, it made him more impressed by Loren. She was building things with magic that was several levels beyond what these Assassin mages were showing right now.‘Don’t get cocky,’ he reminded himself. ‘They aren’t the ones hiding inside a protected dimension trying not to t
Shinra waited a full minute after the leaders of the guild left before emerging from the shadow. He was surprised he came out dry, because it felt so much like he had been submerged. Though he was bleeding from several wounds on his back, he didn’t have time to check them. It hurt to make big movements, but the pain was manageable.He crept through the open door, past the first 3 bodies, and looked for the last 3 assassins’ trail. He could do this. They were strong, but now he’d have the element of surprise.It wasn’t hard to find the men, they travelled slowly through the Manor, looking for survivors. They didn’t find any, and Shinra was wary of getting too close. He couldn’t see the attack weaves they’d spun, but the air around each man crackled with energy. Shinra was starting to regret not pressing the attack earlier, while they were surprised and disoriented. Maybe that state would only have lasted a few seconds more, because the men in front of him now were all business.
Shinra decided he had nothing to lose. These guys looked like they had no small amount of pride as well. 'I guess I can use that to my advantage.' "Huh it looks like I'm the only one being drawn out by your spell. I wonder what that means?"Shinra affected of cocky questioning grin on his face. He had to admit he didn't feel nearly so confident right now but men were looking at him like he was a mouse that had come out to play with tigers. But this mouse had killed all the other cats and he needed to remember that." I guess they all fell asleep? I expected so much more from the Akasooki guild. "Even though the force was still tugging Shinra forward, he found yet much more control of his motion if he didn't fight against it too much. Which was why he was able to plant his front foot and do a 180 side step and then reverse it in the other way traveling forwards and something like a zig zag line for three steps. Which was important because he heard the crash of high velocity project
“What do you mean I can’t see him?” Loren was not the kind of woman who let anything, or anyone stop her.“Ma’am, you can’t just walk into the palace complex and go where you want.” The speaker was a nervous looking young mage, wearing the green robes of an imperial administrator. Administrators were the grease that kept the machinery of the empire moving, an army of them worked with each minister and department, and they did everything from schedule meetings to collecting taxes.In Loren’s experience though, they were bureaucratic piss ants that pretended to help people, but really just wanted to exercise their authority whenever they could. They hid behind rules and process, rather than actually getting things done. If Loren had tried to innovate farming closer to the capital, where these administrators held sway, she would still be filling out applications for the right to change the spacing between her grape vines. The Administrator smiled, and the little glint there told
Naori was a calm girl, but even she had trouble keeping up with Loren’s energy and forcefulness. The woman was a force of nature. ‘Are all mages like her?’ She knew that wasn’t true. Naori hadn’t even been in the city for a day, and she’d been treated terribly by every mage but Loren… and that one Sheriff. She realised Loren was special, and was glad Shinra had made a friend.‘Hard to believe he works with the Sheriffs. I think the village elders would faint!’ Shinra was the village thief, and everyone looked down on them for it. Shinra didn’t care. He told Naori often that the villagers’ opinions didn’t feed them. ‘They look down on us, but most of them would do worse to save their families. I’d actually lose more respect for them if they weren’t even willing to steal for their loved ones,’ Shinra had said.He always made Naori feel safe, and he never let her feel ashamed. Their life was hard, but they had each other. ‘Brother, you haven’t been fair to me. I want to see
“Hahahahah!” Iga laughed. Long and hard. “Well, you are interesting at least.” He looked at his two Colonel’s, and then at the rest of their compound. The spell was visible now, a tight, blinking ring of green that should have compelled anyone living over to the courtyard they were in. Iga’s face darkened. “You’re dead, your family is dead, any friends you ever had are all dead. They just don’t know it yet.” The menace in his voice was palpable, Shinra could feel it as clearly as the spell that had moved him to the courtyard. “You see, the Akasooki is my family, and if you hurt my family, I hurt yours. You don’t have too long to regret it, but I hope you can see what we are going to do to your loved ones from hell,” Iga barked out. Scanril and Elihar looked more calm, but the calm of professional killers. They were just ready to do their job.Shinra had a job to do too. He didn’t have many friends or family left, but he wasn’t going to let his actions hurt them either. If h
In the middle of a fight is when Shinra felt most certain. He wasn’t thinking so much as assessing and deciding in real time. It was happening faster than thought, and it was addictive.He looked at the wand, death in a slim package, bearing down on him.‘I just need to be somewhere else,’ he decided. His vision highlighted vectors for diving, rolling, and jumping to avoid an attack originating at the sword tip and covering an area of 2 metres around it. He couldn’t just avoid the attack though, he had to finish this one off before the other 4 combatants got their shit together.He jumped, hard, into a forward twisting flip, easily clearing the guard. Even in Daemon time, he could see the surprise on the man’s face as a powerful green blast made a crater in the f
Shinra’s vision filled with the measurements, vectors, grids and critical strike paths that he basically associated with life, but now knew was his combat vision.[Ready?][Status: Shinra][Health 3000][Shinra: Death Stalker - Assassin: Tier 2, LvL 5 ][Shinra: Night Squire - — : Tier 0 ][Experience Points: 77,500 | Skill Points: 0][Stats][ Tier 2: Strength | Speed | Dexterity ][ Tier 0: Intelligence | Wisdom | Charisma | Magic ][Skills Status:][Tier 1][ Active: Fade | Sprint ][ Passive: Silence | Knife Mastery | Assassin Kata | Archery | Wall Climbing][Tier 2][Passive: Deadly Aim | Deception | Visual Reflexes][Hidden Path][Passive Skills: Critical Strike | Daemon Prediction ][Shadow Path][Active: Shadow Strike* | Shadow Meld* | Shadow Heal* ][Passive: Vampire Vision ]“Who the hell are you?” Loren was saying, even as her wand came up. Shinra knew she might be able to handle this all on her own, she was exceptional.The chains hit her face and torso, knocking the wa
Shinra was leary of all magic, so he almost bolted from his place as soon as he saw the glowing sphere hanging in the air. Well, he did bolt, but luckily he heard Loren’s message from the hall. He was still trying to wrap his head around what she said, even as he stood in front of her door. ‘Naori was here?’Shinra loved his sister, he never had any doubts about his feelings towards her. She was the kindest, most capable, and brilliant person he had ever known. And, though he spent every moment since his parents died trying to take care of her, he knew she had taken care of him even more. Being in the city without her had been difficult, but, if he was honest, he worried about her less after sending her his wages. ‘My life has been pretty complicated this last little while,’ he thought. He knew he was making excuses. He did believe her life would actually be better without him. She was more resourceful than he ever was, and the other villagers liked her much more than him.‘So why
The room was Pitch Black, so Raisd wasn't sure if his eyes were open or not at first, so he blinked a few times. ‘Definitely open.’ The fact that he was lying in a bed instead of bleeding in a gutter was a good sign, but he wasn't sure of anything else. He slowly moved his hands down his chest and body, feeling for any bandages or gaping wounds.‘Huh, not only am I naked, I seem to be in one piece.’ Which was amazing in and of itself, because the seven finger Gremlin counter attack is enough to kill most mages. Clearly he was both lucky and, maybe, tougher than he thought.He tried to stand, but that is when he noticed the weight across his legs. Not able to see, he reached down and realized the weight was a pair of legs draped across him. His fingers traced their way up those legs until he found their intersection. It was warm there, and his fingers were tickled by the fine hairs they brushed up against. ‘God I hope this is Mimi,’ was all he thought before the
“I promise, it is usually cleaner here,” Loren said as she rushed around trying to stuff books and scrolls back onto the shelves while gathering up a precarious pile of dishes. She definitely didn’t care what the place looked like when Naori’s brother broke in. Funny how something so random could lead to Loren trying to clean her place. She looked over her shoulder to see Naori just standing still, eyes widened by the mess, no doubt. ‘I need to distract her maybe? Where am I going to put all of this stuff!’ Loren was not used to caring what anyone thought about her, her space, or anything she did, really. “Wow. Just…. Wow,” was all Naori said, eyes still wide.‘Oh god, she thinks it is worse than living on the streets, she’s never seen anyone live like this… dammit!’, but what Loren said out loud was, “I just need a few more minutes. Why don’t you sit down over … “ except she hadn’t cleared any of the seating surfaces yet.“This is the most amazing home I’ve ever seen! It is
The office was surprisingly orderly for an assassin, Shinra thought. Tastefully arranged sofas, end tables with a high polish, and a full bookcase. He went straight to the desk though, to see if he could find what the assassin guild leader was talking about.‘Would it just be on top? Is that too easy?’ Shinra looked, but the few pieces of parchment on top of the desk were innocuous bills and tally of equipment. He opened the top drawer and only saw quills and inkstones. The larger drawer underneath was locked.“Why don’t I have lockpicking skills? I can do everything else…” He flexed his newly healed hand, still amazed at how whole and pain free they were, after the devastating burns he’d suffered. “Well, I’m strong enough to just rip it open,” he said, then gripped it tightly and pulled with all his strength.He felt the small release of power, ‘shit,’ he thought and then flung the drawer behind him as hard as he could. It was the right move, as the entire desk exploded in a sho
“Filthy blood slut," was all the lesser Earl of Clodven had said. It wasn't a nice thing to say about anyone, and Raisd had heard much worse. This time though, it was directed at his betrothed.To his credit, Raisd showed enormous restraint by only breaking the man's nose. The young lesser Earl and his friends didn't agree, and so now Raisd was in an honour bout.“The first to ten wins the bout,” one of the hangers-on was intoning, "and may request an honour payment." “I think I'll ask for one of Its fangs," the arrogant noble said.Raisd paid him no mind. ‘Foppish, useless nobles think life is a silly game. This bout is probably the highlight of his week’. He knew the type well. The lesser Earl’s father, or grandfather, had been useful to the Empire once upon a time, but then they produced entitled, talentless wastes of flesh like this. The patriarch of the family has probably all but disowned him.‘If I'd punched Shinra, he probably would have punched back and we'd be having a
Raisd was having a weird night. Actually, everyday had been weird since his betrothal. He couldn't get over the fact that suddenly people knew he was an active part of the imperial family. Well, maybe vampires didn't count as people, but they knew. If that was all that had changed, he could deal. After all he had been in military intelligence, and had infiltrated many places as part of his work, including the deputies office. Unfortunately he was quickly apprised of how different human and vampire customs were. Which was why he was lying in bed with General Mimi right now. Uncomfortably. Wrapped up in his own blanket and wearing a full set of clothes. He wasn't 100% certain, but he was pretty sure that she was naked under the thin sheet she had draped over herself. He made sure all the lights were off though and just laid there staring up at the ceiling in the dark. It had been like this for a few days now, ever since the rest of the vampire delegation went back to their capital
Shinra was surprised. ‘Shadow Heal isn’t one of the skills in the list. Does this mean they are all low level skills? Or are there a tonne of skills that the System just doesn’t show me?’Either way, this wasn’t what he was expecting. ‘Healing is high level magic… what does Shadow Healing mean? Am I a mage now?...’ He knew he wasn’t though. He looked around and did not see the primal flow of mana in the world. He was a zombie. One with interesting skills, but a zombie all the same.“Unless a Ninja is a different class of being?” The head Assassin said Ninja enough that it did make Shinra wonder. Not that he had time for that mystery right now. [Skills Status:][Skill Points: 20][Tier 1][ Active: Fade | Sprint ][ Passive: Silence | Knife Mastery | Assassin Kata | Archery | Wall Climbing][Tier 2][Passive: Deadly Aim][Hidden Path][Passive Skills: Critical Strike | Daemon Prediction ][Shadow Path][Active: Shadow Strike* | Shadow Meld* | Shadow Heal* ][Passive: Vampire