"The Great, Wise, and Powerful King of Faubrey hears you supplicant. Speak your words that their weight might be judged by His Grace," said the Seneschal of the court, and the messenger from Melromarc was put out to be so stated, though he knew that her Queen had apparently had much the same treatment. In fact, she had never met directly with the King, for all her words were most certainly weighty enough for it.
Now, however, she had used the weight of her position to force this meeting, effectively blackmailing the local lords to arrange this in a way that Queen Mirellia had been unwilling to do, since it would, more than likely, set their nations on the edge of war. The Shadow cared little for what would come, however. Her orders were to make her Queen's message heard by this pigheaded oaf, and she would, by the Weapons, make it so.
She approached the throne, looking around and finding it not at all odd that the only ones in the room were herself, the Seneschal, and the King. This was a man, after all, that needed no guards. He was, in fact, supposedly one of the strongest individuals in the world, with the power of the Vassal Axe, Claw, and Hammer at his disposal, so she made to show him respect, bowing her head.
"My Lord of Faubrey, I bear words from Queen Mirellia of Melromarc," she said, to make sure he understood what was behind her words if he chose to ignore them. He raised a single finger, telling her to continue.
"The Heroes of the Cardinal Weapons, summoned by my nation, have laid low the ravages of the last two Wave, and have recently emerged victorious against foes both from the Waves, and from beyond them, as invaders from another world have apparently declared their intent to see our world ended to preserve their own," she said, something that caused the Seneschal to scoff at her.
"And? How is that my…I mean His Majesty's problem? Kill them, or let the Heroes die and we'll summon more. Either way," he said, with a tone that was implying either possibility was satisfying to him, making her glare. She had seen Naofumi, delivered her Queen's will to him in fact, and she had seen a man in him worthy of respect. The others might have their foibles, but they had proven just as sure of heart, mind, and body in the weeks since, and even defended Cal Mira when it was not their duty to do so. In her eyes, they were Heroes, not just in name but deed, so to insult them was almost criminal.
"If the Heroes die, we may not be able to summon more. The information the invaders gave claims that if the Heroes fall, our world will fall with them. We obviously should doubt their intentions, but given no holy book speaks of the Heroes falling and being resummoned, merely that it is possible, the Queen believes we should operate under the assumption it might be a fact," she said, and the King seemed to sag a bit forward, like he was letting out a long sigh, but then stood up straight.
Anyone else would have seen only that, but the Shadow was trained as an assassin first and foremost, so her eyes caught something in that motion. Specifically that the sag was strangely…boneless, like the head lolled just a bit too far forward, and the arms drooped just that bit too much. Better, she spotted that he only rose back up as the Seneschal did something with an item in his hand.
"So, you're saying that these guys are our last hope then? Is that certain, or just speculation?" asked the Seneschal, who tugged at the red bandana on his head when he saw her looking at him closely.
"We can't KNOW it for certain, to be fair, but if there is a possibility of it, we must take precautions for it. As such, my Liege Lady requests of you, your highness, with her husband, your brother, and his support, to allow access to the Seven Star Weapons in your possession, the Axe, the Claw, and the Hammer," she said, making the King sag forward again, with him going back up when the item moved in the young man's hand again.
"And why would we, the Great Nation of Faubrey, ever allow such people access to our nation's great treasures?" he asked, and the Shadow opened her mouth to speak, only to surreptitiously toss a small blade towards the young man, who moved out of the way before it could touch him, knocking it aside with the weapon he'd been fiddling with the whole time, which was some kind of fancy looking whip.
She didn't say anything after that, her training kicking in as she tossed more small blades, needles and daggers really, designed to buy her some room. At the same time, she noticed that, as the whip uncoiled from around the man's arm, the suit of armor with the royal crest of Faubrey fell to the side…sadly not empty, as the helmet fell off, and a bleached skull was visible now, grinning at her as she fought for her life.
Her battle was quick, and brutal. She tried to run, but the royal chamber was not easy to get out of. Only the large doors entered here, save a windowed skylight far, far overhead. Meanwhile, her foe, along with the whip in one hand, proved to wield other weapons, a throwing knife like her own, which seemed to twist in the air, forcing her to dodge it, even dropping to the floor to get beneath its arc, before it came back around.
With retreat not an option, she surged into the attack once the flying weapon was thrown at her again, diving beneath a sweep of the whip, only to go wide eyed as yet another weapon appeared in the, or rather around the, hand of the man. One she recognized by all the horrible paintings of it in the castle she'd grown up. The Seven Star Claw, which even as she tried to throw herself to the side to escape, found its talons digging into her stomach, lifting her up.
Her stats, her hard earned EXP, was stolen with that, her body growing weak and frail, as she felt the power of Levels leave her, and when she tried to say something, the man, now far, far stronger than her, tossed her aside, the crack of her spine and shattering of her ribs echoing in her ears, even as she, through tear filled eyes, brought her hand to her lips, and kissed her ring.
"A prayer? Now? Ha! I knew this world was weird with the religion thing, but by the old gods, you really should find salvation before you're laying in a pool of your own blood, lady," he said, and the claw…the Claw vanished from his hand, replaced a moment later with the Axe, which glinted in the light of the sun from above. She faced him, in that last moment, with hate in her eyes, before her world went dark, as he brought the thing down on her neck.
"You know, I was told if I did my job right, I'd be getting a kingdom of my own here on this world. They never said that it would only be when the world was ending. Bastards," he said to the woman's head as he held it up by the hair, staring into the lifeless eyes.
"Still, I bet my bottom dollar, those 'Heroes' are coming whether I like it or not. So I guess I'll have to make sure they behave with some 'Takt' while they're here, right?" he asked with a laugh at his own bad pun, while throwing out a hand, and summoning a bolt of fire that blasted her body to ash in seconds, even as he tromped outside to go tell a guard to take the head back to its master, to send a message.
If the Heroes were coming, well, they'd better be prepared for war.