Chapter 4a: Takeover
Saralyn stood outside the storage room and planned her next move. She had recalled seeing a big gate that had to be the one that Laura had mentioned. The only problem was, between it and her were dozens of prison guards all on the lookout for her. Even now, she could hear them talking faintly from the observatory that they had been fighting in mere minutes ago.
"You're right, Adrian… I need to find a quieter method of fighting." Saralyn began to cautiously retrace her steps to the observatory, instead taking a path to a nearby stairwell. Peering over the railing, she saw dozens of guards, running around, some of them barking orders at each other. She and Adrian clearly stirred up the hive with their little encounter earlier.
Saralyn looked to the other end of the massive hallway: there was no cover she could use to sneak past the guards. She could try and find another way around, but that would take too long, and lives were at stake. Saralyn didn't know what the Order wanted with the monsters, but it couldn't have been good if they had opted to keep them alive as opposed to just killing them like the Order would usually do to most monsters.
An idea popped into her head. A disguise. Dhampirs being monsters completely identical to humans meant that all she needed to blend in was the prison guard's uniform. After some careful consideration about what she would say if she got caught, she began to stalk around the halls of the prison looking for a lone guard.
After a few minutes of darting from room to room she eventually found a woman that mostly resembles herself, albeit with slightly longer and lighter brown hair than her. "Perfect." She whispered. She was about to go in for a takedown when a man walked out of one of the rooms and joined her. The two of them began talking to each other.
If Adrian was here maybe he could've helped me with this guy…
…
Why am I missing him already? It's only been a couple minutes since I left him.
She shook her head, trailing the pair of guards while keeping a safe distance away from them. Saralyn listened in on their conversations to see if she could pick up anything useful on the situation.
"Carla, why aren't you on patrol? You know the entire prison is on high alert right now because of an infiltrator? Everything that the Order has been working on here is at risk of being leaked to the rest of the world."
"I know, I know. But I just wanted to make sure you were okay. The guards found several bodies just several rooms over."
"I'm fine, thank you for being so considerate. You should go back on your patrol route before the head mage yells at you again. You know how he is when his work isn't being protected one hundred percent of the time."
"Persistent bastard." Carla paused for a second, looking over her shoulder. Saralyn barely managed to duck into shadows in time. "Okay, looks like he isn't watching. Either way, It's not even his work. It's the Order's work. This entire prison was built on the Order's demand."
Interesting. At risk of being leaked to the entire world? The Order must be doing something very unsavory down here. And this "head mage" must be the guy that Laura was talking about.
As for you two… The two of them obviously have feelings for each other. Don't worry, your relationship is going to be moving up a notch once my plans for this shithole are complete.
Saralyn trailed them for another few minutes, growing impatient. She needed to get rid of this head mage quickly. Adrian and Laura wouldn't be safe forever. Sooner or later, someone would discover their hiding spot. Neither of them really knew how to fight although Saralyn had seen potential in Adrian during their little scuffle in the observatory. After the two of them got out of enemy territory, maybe she could teach him a thing or two about fighting.
Of course that would mean him getting injured, which means he might bleed. Blood. Dri- Saralyn shook her head. She needed to stay focused. She couldn't be focusing on her bloodlust right now. She could do that when she freed everyone in this prison.
"Alright, see you later. I'm going to go check on how the prisoners are doing. Make sure none of them somehow managed to escape their cells." The man turned around and began heading in Saralyn's direction. She pushed herself as far into the shadowy corner she was in as she could and held her breath, hoping that he wouldn't see her. He walked past, none the wiser.
The female guard continued on her path, eventually stopping to take a break. She pulled a book out of her pocket, and began reading, blissfully unaware of the threat nearby. Saralyn crept up behind her, and plunged one of her mamono realm silver knives into her back. She gasped in shock, and fell forwards, her book dropping to the floor. Saralyn collected her knife from her backside. Saralyn began to reach for the guard's uniform and armor, as the incapacitated woman began spasming and gasping in pleasure.
Wait, what?
"Oh no. Shit, shit, shit…" Saralyn muttered in panic. She knew that human women could be transformed via an injury by realm-silver weaponry, but she had assumed that it would take several hits before the woman would turn. She looked at her knife. The blade glowed soft purple, a sign it contained heavy concentrations of mamono mana.
"Should've just used a sleeper hold!"
She watched as the guard began to sprout small, translucent wings and a whip-like tail, alongside white horns. The woman quickly got up and looked at Saralyn, a look of joy on her face.
"Oh, thank you so much, whoever you are! I feel amazing! I was so nervous about confessing to my crush… He'll have no choice but to accept me now that I look like this!" The woman began to push past Saralyn, presumably going to her crush.
"No!" Saralyn yelled at the lesser succubus, shoving her into the wall. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if a mamono got killed because of her mistake. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to do this. I mean… this place is dangerous. You can be with your boyfriend later. Right now, I need to ask you some questions."
"Okay?" The confused lesser succubus responded.
"I overheard you talking about some sort of project the Order was doing. Why are you keeping mamono here?" Saralyn looked directly into the woman's eyes.
"They, uh, don't tell the guards much, but somewhere deep in this place, there's a lab. I got assigned guard duty once there. I saw unconscious monsters being taken there and not coming out." Carla trailed off as she realized what was going on. "Oh my god… What have we been doing to these poor people?"
"Do you remember where this lab is?" Saralyn inquired, grabbing Carla by the shoulders. "I'm going to tear this place to the ground. The Order isn't going to hurt anyone anymore. Mark my words."
"Thank you…" Carla expressed her gratitude shakily, a single tear leaving a streak on the lesser succubus's otherwise perfect skin. "Free those poor souls."
"I will. But I need your uniform. I can't fight all these guards at once." Saralyn uttered impatiently while holding her hands out. Carla took off her breastplate and leggings and dropped them in Saralyn's hand, then took off her uniform, pants and boots.
"Ok, here. But I don't have any other clothes besides my uniform and armor. Are you really going to leave me here naked?" The lesser succubus asked sheepishly, embarrassed.
Saralyn quickly changed out of the clothing she was wearing and tossed it to Carla. "Here. Wear mine."
The lesser succubus took a step back, shock clear on her face. "Ummm…"
"For fuck's sake, just wear it! And stay hidden! Don't go charging towards your husband, that's going to get you killed. I'm leaving now." Saralyn finished putting on Carla's uniform and armor, shoving her revolvers into the pockets the best she could and set off towards the main cell block, not bothering to look back to see if Carla followed her instructions.
"Hardass." Carla muttered as she hid under a table and draped a cloth over it.
Saralyn speed-walked to her goal, nodding to her fellow prison guards, some of them waving and even calling out her name. Saralyn kept her interactions to a minimal level, only giving a quick "Hello" or wave in response.
Eventually reaching the main cell block Saralyn finally got a good look at the conditions the mamono were being kept in. The "cells" were more like stone boxes, not even having anything to sleep on. Some of the cells were empty, a note posted on the bars. Saralyn took a quick look.
"Taken for siphoning"
Don't like the sound of that. Saralyn quickened her pace, heading for the massive gate. She was about to pass through when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She froze, her heart skipping a beat.
"You're not supposed to be here." A tall man wearing the same uniform and armor as her with a helmet said gruffly. "You're supposed to be guarding the-"
"Change of duties. Higher-ups said so." Saralyn retorted, hoping that would deter the man from probing any further. "They said they want more people guarding the important stuff." Saralyn continued on.
"Really?"
"Yes. Now get out of the way, I need to-"
"None of that. Carla, come with me." A man wearing gray robes and carrying a tall staff stepped in front of the guard, waving him away. The guard scoffed and shook his head before walking away. "I apologize for yelling at you earlier. You were right, we need all the security we can get until we can catch the infiltrator. Come with me."
The mage took Saralyn by the hand and began leading her down a winding maze of corridors. Saralyn hoped that he wouldn't notice her shorter hair. Luckily for her, the prison didn't have the best lighting. They eventually reached a room with a red door.
Upon entering Saralyn immediately noticed several mamono hooked up to chairs with strange wiring connected to their body leading to tubes glowing dark purple. Some of the monsters looked like they were on the verge of dying. She tried not to puke. The mage however, seemed completely unfazed by everything.
"The monsters drain humans they catch of their energy until they die. So we decided to do the same. Poetic justice, is it not?"
"Yeah." Saralyn managed to force out a single word. The mage sighed.
"You were never particularly enthusiastic about what we were doing here." The mage continued, his voice genuinely hurt. "I'd like to let you know that the Order is closer to collapsing completely than it's ever been. We need to do everything possible to maintain our control on what territory we have left."
"No. I'm interested. Tell me more." Saralyn responded, trying to force herself to sound as enthusiastic as possible.
"What a change of interests. And so quick, too. Just a few days ago you were saying that you weren't interested in what we were doing her-"
Saralyn grabbed one of her revolvers out of her pocket and fired on the man. The man raised his hands, blocking what would've been a point blank headshot with a small shield made of energy. He retaliated by punching Saralyn, sending her sprawling to the floor.
"I knew something was up. You are clever, targeting someone who looked just like someone I knew. But your cover has been blown." The man threw another punch at Saralyn, the dhampir rolling to the left and under a table. She kicked it and turned it on its side to create cover for her.
"That strength. You're a monster. I knew it. You were taking out groups of heavily armed guards. No human, unless they're a hero, can do that so easily. Now I wonder, what species you are?" The man yelled as he launched several icicles towards the table, some of the icicles just barely missing Saralyn's body. She peaked out of cover to take a shot at the mage, only for one of the icicles to clip her cheek. Saralyn hissed in pain, the cut feeling hot and cold simultaneously.
The mage paused his constant barrage of ice spells for a moment, allowing Saralyn to breathe. She heard footsteps as the mage began to go around her cover. As the man crossed into Saralyn's side of the table, he unleashed another explosive ice spell. Saralyn was tossed to the side, slamming into a wall. A groan of pain escaped her lips as she got to her feet. Things were getting out of hand. The ice magic had some sort of life draining property. If she got hit more, it would be over for her.
She searched her mind for anything that could help her in this situation. Then, she realized. A couple months ago Saralyn had come across a dark musketeer from the mamono realm Lescatie. She had watched her practice her aim in the forest, which piqued Saralyn's interest. Saralyn offered to pay her a hefty amount of gold to teach her some firearm-based magic.
One of the magical techniques was called "Magic Ghost Smoke Bullet". It would essentially create a smokescreen full of mamono mana. It was perfect for the situation she was in. Saralyn quickly uttered the spell under her breath. Praying that she was using the technique correctly, she fired into the ceiling.
"What the hell?" The archmage cursed and thrashed around violently, firing off ice spells indiscriminately. Saralyn's eyes widened as one of them hit a lizardman strapped into one of the chairs.
"No! Bastard!" Saralyn screamed in anger. She charged into the cloud of smoke, whipping the mage across the face with her revolver. The man shouted in pain and dropped to the ground. Saralyn grabbed the man by the arm and dragged him to a corner of the room undamaged by his onslaught of spells.
"Tell me everything about this project. Now!" She demanded while shaking the man by the shoulders. All she got was incoherent mumbling. "Speak!"
More incoherent mumbling. Saralyn scanned the room, her eyes falling on a pile of papers knocked over during their confrontation. Two of them stood out to her; a detailed map, along with a brief description of the Order's project.
"I'll be taking this. Mark my words, the world will hear all about this sick science project you people are doing." Saralyn didn't get a response. The mage was completely unconscious.
Turning her attention to the mamono strapped to the chairs, one by one Saralyn tore the wires out of their bodies and felt for a pulse. All of them had a faint heartbeat. Some even opened their eyes, only to close them in exhaustion. "Thank Ares…"
Doing a quick headcount, there were about twenty mamono in the room in total. She'd come back later, she promised. Right now, the mage maintaining the magic keeping the mamono from escaping from their cells was down. She wanted to be there to see the chaos. In fact, she could already hear shouting if she listened closely. She took the map, a couple copies of the project description, and left.
Back in the cellblock, it was pure anarchy. The magic surrounding the cells containing the mamono had dissipated, allowing for the stronger mamono to break the cell doors down, leaving nothing between them and a free husband. The others followed suit soon after.
A hellhound slammed into a guard, pinning him to the ground. Her tail began wagging furiously and her eyes flared up as she straddled the guard.
"Wait, maybe we can talk about this. I didn't-" The guard stammered out, bargaining for his life.
"Too late. You taunted me. It is only natural that I take my revenge." The hellhound growled.
On the other side of the cell block, a small pack of werewolves had formed. Each of them got their own husband. In the corner, a lizardman dueled with a guard, using a bar taken from one of the cells. The guard managed to knock the makeshift weapon out of the lizardman's hands, but the lizardman immediately retaliated by tackling him into the ground, eyes full of lust.
In an adjacent corridor, a new recruit rushed down the hallway, looking for his partner. He wanted nothing to do with this place anymore. He was just a lowly guard, nobody would miss him or bother tracking him down if he deserted. He would get Carla, and the two of them would leave together. As he was searching for her, a chill went down his spine as he heard a familiar voice.
"Paaauuuulll…" A lesser succubus stepped out of the shadows. The recruit realized his partner had been monsterized, and began to run away, but the lesser succubus caught up to him in less than a second, restraining him.
"Time to have some fun…" the lesser succubus said as she began removing his armor. She tore off her borrowed clothing, and got to work.
Coming out of the shadows, Saralyn watched as the lesser succubus straddled the man's hips and began to bounce up and down wildly. She scooped up her clothing and dressed herself. After that, she tossed her own borrowed clothing to the lesser succubus. Saralyn retraced her steps to the cellblock and ran past all of the mamono taking their anger out on the prison guards to a ladder leading back up to the observatory. She eventually found the exact store room that she had left Adrian and Laura in, and knocked on the door.
"It's me! I've taken care of the mage that's keeping everyone in the cells. It should be safe for us to leave now."
The door opened a crack and Saralyn saw Adrian's head poking out. The man sighed in relief as he saw that Saralyn was alright. Laura practically pushed past Adrian, a tired smile on her face. "Does that mean I can see my parents again?" The devil bug asked as her eyes sparkled.
"I believe so. Come on, let's go." Adrian creaked the door open to check if the hallway was clear, then gestured for Laura to follow him. The girl shrieked in excitement, practically pushing past Adrian to get to the cell block. Laura reached the observatory and began looking around frantically, eventually spotting a similar looking but taller devil bug with chestnut hair standing in the center of the room. Laura waved her hands around wildly, shouting.
"Mommy! I'm alright!"
Saralyn waved for Laura to follow her. "There's a ladder, come on!" Laura quickly followed Saralyn and climbed down the ladder, rushing into her parent's arms. The two hugged each other tightly, Laura's mother practically crying tears of happiness. Adrian climbed down the ladder, watching the scene with a smile on his face.
"Mommy! Those two are the ones who saved me!" Laura told her mother happily as she pointed to Adrian and Saralyn.
"Thank you, you two. I thought I had lost her forever. Is there anything we can do to help you?" Laura's mother thanked them.
"You're welcome. I understand mamono can sense their husband's spirit energy from far distances. Where is your husband right now? We might be able to pinpoint where they're being held." Saralyn requested.
Laura's mother closed her eyes and focused. She turned around in a circle and eventually pointed to the west. "He's being held there. Please, rescue my husband. I feel empty without him, and everyone else having sex around me doesn't help."
"Will do. Thank you." Saralyn nodded.
"There's no way the two of us are going to be able to rescue all of them. The remaining guards have probably gathered at the western cellblock. Whatever they're doing, they don't want the prisoners to escape."
"You're right. So we're not going alone." Saralyn pointed at a group of disappointed looking mamono talking amongst each other. Around twenty of them. Consisting of a couple werecats and wolves, a pair of centaurs, a grizzly, a large group of succubi, and some hellhounds sprinkled in. Adrian also saw a strange woman with white hair and foreign looking clothing. All of them must have missed their opportunity to get a husband.
Saralyn walked over to them. "Lonely?" she asked.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" a very irritated looking hellhound snapped at her. "There's plenty of men left for us to grab."
"That's why we need your help. We're going to free the rest of the humans. Sounds good?" Adrian told them.
"Actually…" the woman with white hair chimed in. "You look quite handsome. Maybe you could satisfy all of us at once?" the woman said.
Saralyn quickly stepped in front of me. "No." she said very sternly. The woman looked even more disappointed.
"Fine…"
"Ok, do we have a detailed layout of the prison? A map?" Saralyn asked the group.
One of the werecats took a folded up piece of paper out of her shirt. "Yeah! I swiped this from one of the guards when they were transferring us. Idiot didn't even notice it." The werecat laughed proudly.
"Thanks. Now, I'm going to need everyone with some degree of magical skill to stand where I'm pointing. Nympomancy, Archaeomancy, Theriomancy, I don't care. You're going to be an important part of the plan…"
Chapter 4b: Eve of Chaos
Aperia
Ophelia tapped the armrests of her throne impatiently as she waited for her guest. After her little spat with the Fallen God and the incident involving Lescatie's spies several days ago had forced her to delay her speeches by a few weeks, she had been hard at work making sure Aperia was completely clear of spies. Just to make sure, she did a final check in on how things were going.
"Valkyrie Novak, have you and your team completed a full sweep of all areas with heavy concentrations of monsters?"
"We believe we have. No signs of any Lescatian intruders anywhere. My guess is that Lescatie is holding off after we caught them red handed trying to spy on you. Still, we're going to sweep the area again to make sure we didn't miss anything. Monsters, especially ones from Lescatie are quite skilled at staying hidden.
"Good. Vigilance is of utmost importance right now. Do not hesitate to use other monsters to sniff out any interlopers." Ophelia ended the telepathic communication with her subordinate, feeling a sense of self-satisfaction. She was reaching the final stages of her plan and she would stop for nothing. Still, she had a long way to go.
A hard knock on the throne room door caused Ophelia to raise her head. "It's open." She called out. In came a valkyrie dressed in light mobility based armor and an assassin's mask entered the room. Immediately, she kneeled in front of Ophelia.
"What are your orders, Matriarch?"
"It is almost time that this underground war we've been waging against the Order goes public. We will make one more move against the Order. Are you familiar with Ichoriya?"
"Yes. You have told us that it's a major supplier of food and other essential supplies to the rest of the Order. A location of critical importance for the Order." Raniel answered, her voice muffled by her mask.
"I believe you know where I am going with this, yes?"
"The city must fall."
"Correct. However, you will not be doing that yourself. You are to destroy their sources of food and essential supplies, which will seriously damage the rest of the Order." Raniel nodded, her eyes shining with excitement. "Make sure to stay hidden, or find a way to draw the blame away from us. The rumor amongst the Order that there are angels that have gone against the Chief God in Aperia is not without evidence, yet it is not widespread enough for the Order to acknowledge it and take any serious action against us.
"I understand. Me and my team shall see it done."
"Good. You're dismissed. Do not disappoint me, Raniel."
"I won't." Raniel turned and exited the throne room. Ophelia sighed. Raniel was the closest thing she had to a friend nowadays, and even she could be robotic towards her at times.
"Make me proud." Ophelia said to nobody in particular.
Raniel flew across the sky, heading to her base outside of the city. This was going to be harder than she thought. The Order would no doubt be guarding their resources diligently. But she was not the type of person to turn down a challenge.
Fire could work, but the Order has ways of putting out fires quickly. Something more subtle would be a better trick. A disease, parasite infestation, rats… Raniel brainstormed ways that she could pull her mission off.
After a while, she landed back at her base outside of Aperia. She knocked on a seemingly inconspicuous dirt face of a small hill. It glowed white for a second, and then vanished. Raniel walked in, and the rock face reappeared behind her.
Raniel's base of operations was small, but comfortable. A small living room with a bookshelf was connected with a slightly larger room for meetings, as well as a small kitchen. Despite angels not needing food or water, they enjoyed human food every once in a while. She went to her personal quarters, and began to flesh out the details of her plan. Several hours later, she called for a team meeting.
"Team, we have a new assignment." A group of two angels and two other valkyries quickly stood up, saluting their leader. All of them were equipped with similar, or identical gear to Raniel.
"We've been ordered by the Matriarch herself to do some demolition." Raniel addressed her team.
"Oh my, this is going to be so much fu-" One of the valkyries began, sporting a large battle-hammer on her back. Raniel shushed her before she could continue.
"Please, Nuriel. This is a serious matter. The Matriarch is going to give her speech about declaring war on the Order very soon. This is going to be our last conflict before the war goes public, and we need to be discreet about this. If we get caught, things could get very out of hand." Raniel's team hadn't seen action for several months now, and they were getting a bit overenthusiastic.
"I apologize, boss. What are we to do?" Nuriel calmed down.
"We must travel to Ichoriya, one of the major suppliers for the Order. Our orders were to destroy their means of creating essential supplies for the Order. I've identified several key points that we are going to target. The five of us are going to split up and destroy them." Raniel paused, glancing at Nuriel. "It is imperative that we stay out of sight or at least use a disguise. Is that understood, Nuriel?"
"Come on Raincloud, I've only lost control of myself during a stealth mission once. Why do you have to single me out?"
"Because your lack of self control caused us to lose three weeks of work. I still remember how I had to chase someone for three days because of you." Nuriel's twin, Ophaniel grumbled bitterly in response. "Be glad that Raniel vouched for you when Ophelia was about to put you on garrison duty."
"That was nearly three years ago now. I've been good all this time and yet you guys-"
Raniel raised her hand. "Everyone stop! We must all focus. We are at a stage of utmost importance in Ophelia's plan." Raniel produced a labeled map of Ichoriya from her jacket, and placed it on the large table. She pointed to several X's on the map, all labeled with the word DESTROY on them.
"Here is what is going to happen. Once we get to Ichoriya, we will split up to, you guessed it, destroy all key points. Two team members will destroy the main forge hall, one member will destroy the farms, and the remaining team member will accompany me to the main supply bridge." Raniel explained, pointing to each X on the map. "Understood?"
"Understood."
One of the angels raised her hand. "Raniel?"
"Yes, Cassiel?"
"What about the civilians? Won't this hurt them greatly?" Cassiel asked with a slight tinge of worry on her face.
Raniel sighed. The rest of the team had accepted that they wouldn't be able to do their jobs without some innocent people getting hurt in the process and moved past it. But Cassiel, while still performing well amongst the team, often had concerns when innocent people were involved in their missions.
"Do not concern yourself with the civilians, Cassiel. When Aperia comes to seize control of Ichoriya, we will make sure they are comfortable." Nuriel snickered at Cassiel, while Ophaniel shot her a nasty glare. Pahaliah, the only other angel in the group, gave Cassiel a quick sideways glance.
"Fine. I understand." Cassiel responded after a long pause.
"Good. Arm yourselves, and practice your disguises. I'd recommend disguising yourself as a dark priest, dark angel or valkyrie. It should draw the suspicion away from Aperia; The Order is well aware of our hatred of the Fallen God's acolytes. After all, it is the one thing we can agree on."
The rest of the team groaned at the idea of having to disguise as their worst enemy, but none of them complained any further. All of them went to their personal quarters to prepare themselves. Several hours later, Raniel called everyone out to leave. The five of them spread their wings and flew off towards Ichoriya, following Raniel's lead.
Border of Ichoriya
The team touched down on a large river, flowing towards a waterfall overlooking a massive bridge; One that they needed to destroy. A shame that we have to destroy such a grandiose and beautiful location. Raniel observed several wagons, presumably carrying supplies like food and water to Ichoriya. She took a look around her environment, noticing a small opening in the rockface nearby. The valkyrie could sense something hiding the cave entrance, a magic spell by a stronger monster most likely.
She would investigate later, she decided. Raniel glanced at her team, flexing their wings which had become sensitive after many hours of flying. Retrieving her map of Ichoriya from her jacket again, she called the team over again to assign orders.
"Pahaliah, you alone are responsible for the fields. Your goal is to either make the crops inedible somehow, or destroy them. Preferably, the former. Subtlety is key. Nuriel and Ophaniel, you are responsible for the forges. You can either sabotage the Order's supplies of iron or eliminate the most skilled weapon and armorsmiths, either way is fine. You have your orders, now move." The angel and the two valkyries nodded their heads and applied their primary disguises as normal human travelers.
Raniel turned to Cassiel. "Apply your invisibility spell. We will investigate the bridge." Cassiel nodded and applied their invisibility spell silently. Raniel followed suit, and the two of them flew to the bridge.
They eventually reached the bridge. There were around ten supporting pillars made of a mixture of wood and stone on each side of the bridge for a total of twenty supports. All of them looked to be in great shape. But if the supports fell, the entire bridge would collapse.
"So, got any ideas boss?" Cassiel asked.
"A couple. But we need to pull this off without Ichoriya knowing it was us. Spread out, see how we can use the environment to our advantage." Raniel began scratching her chin. She thought back to the cave she had discovered earlier.
"Affirmative." Cassiel flew to the east of the bridge, scanning the area.
Raniel began flying back to the cave that she had discovered, still invisible. As soon as she reached the cave entrance, she suddenly stopped, something compelling her to turn around and leave. She pushed onwards, reminding herself that it was just a spell that the inhabitant of the cave had used to keep people away. It might've kept a human away, but not an experienced valkyrie like her.
Casting a spell of night vision to see past the darkness, she entered the cave. It didn't look natural; it looked like something had carved it out. Further into the cave, she saw something sleeping. A wurm, a mamono known for being very instinct controlled and more importantly, destructive.
You don't seem like the spell-casting type. Whatever, you will suffice for the task at hand.
Cassiel was having moral quandaries about their mission. She had joined this group because she excelled at stealth. She had expected to be a spy for the Matriarch, but now she was working with what were essentially terrorists.
Cassiel knew that destroying the bridge that Ichoriya used to transport supplies and several of their farms would hurt the citizens greatly. They would have to suffer before Aperia came to their rescue, and the notion of Aperia swooping in to solve the problem that they caused seemed incredibly backwards to Cassiel. The internally distraught angel saw Raniel reappear near the supports of the bridge.
"Cassiel, did you find anything we could use?" Raniel asked.
"I believe a wildfire would be the simplest way of destroying the bridge. The foundation of the bridge is made of stone, but the pillars themselves are made of wood."
"Interesting. I found a wurm living in a cave several miles away. I say we lure it over here and have it take out the supports."
Cassiel bit her tongue. If it was a wildfire destroying the bridge, anyone on it would have time to get off. But if the supports were destroyed at once by a wurm, they would have much less time to escape.
"Boss, with all due respect, I think a wildfire would be bet-"
"Nonsense. That could be traced back to us with enough effort. A wurm would be more effective."
"..."
"No objections?"
"No." Cassiel was crestfallen. This was going to happen whether she liked it or not.
"Good. We will carry out our plan at midnight."
"Understood…"
"Good. Let's see what the others are up to."
Cassiel and Raniel went back to the entrance of the bridge, where the rest of the group were waiting. All of them had smug smiles on their faces; Not a good sign for Cassiel. There was going to be a lot of destruction tonight.
"Pahaliah, how did your investigation of the farming district go?"
"Splendidly. I located several devices that the Order uses to irrigate all of their crops. They use a device capable of spreading water over a large area. I plan to poison the water, which should render the crops inedible." Pahaliah explained.
"I found a wurm cave near the bridge. We're going to lure it to the bridge supports to destroy them."
"Sounds good. When should I destroy the fields?"
"A few days from now. The bridge comes down first. If we destroy both of them at once, people are going to get suspicious. Aperia's already not on good terms with the Order; We don't need them putting two and two just yet." Raniel said.
"Understood."
"Good. Pahaliah, where are we staying tonight?"
"I bought a couple rooms in a small hotel on Chief Street. Follow me." Pahaliah led the group down the streets.
A wurm laid in her cave, sleeping contentedly, dreaming of her future husband. She dreamed of all the things they would do together. They would eat together, sleep together, cuddle, and best of all, make sweet, sweet love to each other every single night.
The wurm's dreams were interrupted by footsteps coming from the outside of her cave. She opened her eyes, and yawned. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and she saw someone standing a few yards away from her. Looking closely, she saw a man.
"Follow me." the man whispered to her.
The wurm jumped up, squeaking excitedly. "Husbaaaaaaaandd!" she yelled with joy. She began slithering towards him, but he began running away. No matter, she would catch him no matter what.
She exited the cave, looking for the man. She saw him, farther away, next to a tree. Nothing stood in her way. Trees and rocks folded under her as she began to advance towards the man.
He began running faster, even being fast enough to stay ahead of the wurm. It excited her even more knowing not only she had found a husband, but an athletic one too. Or magically enhanced.
Eventually, the wurm reached an area with lots of tall looking pillars. She saw her man hiding behind one of the pillars. She smashed through it without a second thought, only to find him hiding behind another one. She destroyed that one too. They went on and on for two minutes, the wurm growing even more energetic and excited as time went on.
Eventually after the last pillar was destroyed, the wurm looked around. Her enthusiasm faded as she searched the wreckage. No man to be seen. Disappointed, she began heading back to her cave to rest when suddenly she saw something sticking out of the debris. An arm. She quickly slithered back, grabbing the arm and pulling it out of the wreckage. It was a human male, but not the one she had been chasing.
"Oh no! Are you alright, human?" The wurm asked worriedly. There was no response.
Cassiel watched as the bridge groaned and began folding inwards. Eventually, it collapsed into the ravine, kicking up into a huge dust cloud. She had seen a couple wagons atop the bridge before it collapsed. A group of unfortunate people, in the wrong place at the wrong time. Before she could mourn their losses more, Raniel reappeared next to her.
"It is done. Thus begins the fall of Ichoriya and the Order as a whole." Raniel gave Cassiel a toothy grin.
"Yeah…" Cassiel said without looking at her. Her mind was filled with thoughts of the poor people that happened to be on the bridge. She looked over Raniel's shoulder at the wreckage at the bottom of the river, wondering if anyone could've survived such a fall.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Yeah, it better be nothing. Are you having moral quandaries again?"
"It's nothing. Trust me, I've gotten over it." Cassiel lied. "Let's go check on Nuriel and Ophaniel and see how they're doing."