“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
Iga was a mage, but, like most mages, his power and talent were not awe-inspiring. Nothing like the emperor and his family, who could level an army or defeat a murder of dragons with just their weave craft. No, Iga was powerful because he knew the value of information. He collected the dark and dirty secrets of anyone who is important in the empire, and use them to further his own agenda or his clients. He wasn't afraid to use blackmail and murder to position his clients for success. That is why he became a powerful tool for certain nobles in the empire, and his wealth and influence had grown.His guild was small, but it had been respected and feared in the parts of the empire that mattered the most. 'And this fairy tale monster has dismantled it all on its own, a Ninja. 'He watched the young man standing over Elihar's body, blood dripping down his face. He hadn't used a whiff of magic, not even a bit, and yet he had seen him teleport behind them, and just now had sliced through Elih
Naori's life had turned upside down in the space of a day.Not only was her brother alive, which she has suspected, but he was a deputy not a convict. He was friends with a rich country witch, and the man who had arrested him had become his mentor somehow. 'I knew Shinra was an amazing brother, but no one else had seen how great he was before. 'The realisation had brought tears to her eyes in Wintersbane's office, and it had flustered the older man. All of these revelations had caused a problem for her though, she had expected to come and visit her brother in jail and make sure he was okay. Then she would have to go back to the village. Now though, her brother was off having fun somewhere on his day off from work and she didn't know when he would be back."I might be speaking out of turn here, but why would you even go back to the village?" Loren asked.Loren had become Naori's unofficial guide. Not only through the city, but through Shinra's life. The University student was fierce
Shinra had not seen much magic in his life. He could maybe remember a handful of times he’d witnessed magic more impressive than cosmetic changes for the nobility, or for transportation in the city. He could recall an illusionary dragon display for some festival once… but, up until he received the System, no one had weaved spells directly at him.Which was why, even though he was about to be hit by a proper war level fireball, he was a little awed by the sight. The guild master had only made one sign, that Shinra noticed, and a pulsing blue sphere of energy coalesced out of the air. He saw wisps and strands of power coming from the man himself, but also out of the air and ground, until the sphere was the size of two fists and floating in front of him. Except for the pulsing, it could have been made of glass or some rare jewel.“Natus Sol,” Iga said, and the sphere shot towards Shinra, and transformed. It expanded to the size of a large barrel as it shot forward, in destructive sp
The system gave him a clue, the whisper of hope, and Shinra took it. His desire for more power, more reach even, in this tense situation was palpable. Maybe because he didn’t have time to think, or maybe because he was holding his short sword in one hand and his shadow blade in the other, but his need crystallised into one idea.‘Shadow Katana,’ he thought, and his shadow wakizashi unformed and slid over the dragon short sword. The shadow was so dark, it was almost bright as it covered the sharp blade. First it moulded tightly around the blade, then the short sword burst into an exceptionally long black katana in his hand.There was no time to think, as he gripped the new blade with two hands and swung down at the huge fireball upon him. The outer flames whipped around it, unaffected. When it reached the bright orange sphere within, it parted it like a wisp of silk. The blade touched an inner space that was a pale yellow, and it cut through with the light resistance of an apple.
"I won. Holy shit I did it!"Shinra fell to the ground in the courtyard, surrounded by bodies and blood but untroubled, finally.He knew that this quest was going to be tough, as Tim wouldn't have made a penalty for non-completion. Wondered how bad that penalty would have been? After all if the system could make him stronger, it could also make it weaker right? He couldn't imagine losing any of the power and advantages he had gained. Or what if the system made him go blind as a punishment? Shinra shuddered.His adrenaline had been high, but he was starting to feel his injuries now. He had been hit hard by that stone shard spell, and he was glad he didn't have a mirror to see how burnt up the rest of his body was. If it was anything like his hands, then he was going to need to spend a lot of money with a healer.Money he didn't have. Couldn't go to the staff healer the sheriff's either, because they would note it and that there would be some uncomfortable questions about what he got up