WELLAN DEGENARUS
This kid… I couldn't believe, in his position, Denzel was demanding things from me. Wasn't he supposed to be our prisoner? Wasn't he supposed to be cannon fodder that barely counted as part of the Thorns?
Still, his boldness was admirable. It made me chuckle inwardly as I reached out my hand and pulled a bottle of painkillers from thin air. This bottle had been pulled from the Sun Palace, a mini dimension created by a Nexi known as Teleskia.
"Here," I said as I tossed the bottle at Denzel in response to his complaint. I didn't wait around for his thanks, instantly materializing my body in Teleskia's Sun Palace. Due to the high affinity I had with Teleskia, I didn't have to chant her incantation unless I was injured.
My body appeared in the golden city but I didn't take the time to observe my surroundings. The Sun Palace's clairvoyance told me something was deeply wrong.
I looked up at the yellow sky above me, darting my eye from star to star. Once I identified the one I needed, I extended my will towards it and dematerialized.
The guards jumped seeing me appear from the light in the surveillance room.
"Drake, security footage, 6 AM to Now, 4x speed" My voice was calm and carried its usual nonchalance but in my heart was a little concern.
Drake nodded and with a few clicks made a scene appear on screen. My eyes immediately darted to the corner of the screen.
Sh*t… There was something missing. When I designed the Thorns security system, I had used a series of Nexi to give the cameras the ability to see through invisibility, illusions, etc. This came with the bug of a slight distortion in the top left of the screen, a bug I had intentionally kept in.
Now, the distortion was gone.
That meant someone had tampered with the security system. In this entire complex there are maybe five people, myself included, who know about the cameras 'True Sight', even less when it comes to the bug. That means there's either a mole or a frighteningly intelligent intruder… I took an exasperated sigh, this was starting to look like an extremely bothersome mission.
"Elena!" I called. It didn't take long for the woman made of shadows to appear, taking a knee by my side.
"Sir," She said, her head bowed to hide her malice-filled eyes. Elena's outfit was strongly Victorian, reminiscent of the late 1800s. She wore a fitted bodice with a high neckline decorated with lace appliqués and floral rosettes, deep black velvet in color. Her skirt had a traditional bustle shape, the back dramatically gathered and puffed to enhance volume. It was black, transitioning into rich burgundy ruffles and pleats in the back.
My eyes briefly darted towards her before turning back to the screen. "I've found an abnormality in the security system, do a building wide search for me please."
She didn't need to be told twice, Elena's figure dissolved into shadows and shot through the gap under the door. I observed her through the cameras, above the moving shadow was an almost ghostly recreation of Elena's appearance. That meant the cameras 'True Sight' was on.
Interesting… I thought as I disappeared and reappeared once more in the golden city. My eyes aimed for the yellow sky and I injected my will into another star. I appeared in Denzel's room.
"Sivis," I muttered as a golden card reflexed in my eyes, turning them amber. This was Tier III Sivis, a Nexi that allowed my eyes to burn through any illusion or invisibility. Only another Tier III could interfere with it.
The red on Denzel's sheets was the first thing to catch my eye, how had I not noticed it the first time? Its strong smell confirmed it was blood, but how could anyone lose this much blood without dying?
I cut off a piece of the bloodied fabric and disappeared.
I reappeared outside the Complex, my plan now was to see if there was anything wrong with the Complex on a macroscopic scale.
It hit me immediatly.
With Sivis active, not only was I immune to illusions, all influence on my psyche were burned away.
Without any interference, I immediately understood that someone had removed the Complex's Anti-Nexi field.
"Well, aren't you a quick one!" An arrogant voice said from behind me, the voice accompanied with a gunshot. A golden card appeared behind my back, blocking the bullet.
I turned, and my relaxed expression fell. My pupils dilated when I saw a familiar figure behind me.
"Leto Mario…" My voice overflowed with animosity as I locked eyes with the businessman.
What the hell is a Head of Hydra doing here?! I thought, my panic rising to a level it hasn't risen to in a long time. A Head of Hydra, Deci's "shadow goverment", had gotten involved with the people who infiltrated the Thorns Complex.
This whole thing is starting to get a little to complicated… I lampooned internally, a blade of light appearing in my hand.
Leto Mario flashed me a sadistic smile and parted his lips to speak, "Tell me, Wellan, what kind of delicious chaos will be bred when the Thorns are burnt to ashes? Oh, I'm salivating at the thought!"
Taking a blade out of one of his pockets, he cut his palm and muttered words in a language most humans couldn't understand. A red-black card flashed in his hand before turning into a blade of blood.
I activated Sivis again, not to burn illusions but to remind myself that everything I was seeing was real.
…
DARWIN MELLIS
"The Serpent and Lion have engaged, it is as the Lord predicted. Let us only wait to see how long it takes for the Serpent to betray us." I said, both to the Lord's Blessed, who I knew were watching the scene through my eyes, and to my disciple Deborah.
"Good," I heard a voice say in my ear. I nodded and looked at Deborah, she was trembling.
I forget this is her first time seeing two people of this level…
"Don't worry," I comforted her, "The Lord's protection is on us, nothing can kill us."
This seemed to help as she stopped trembling. Still, I could read the fear in her eyes. I traced a circle on my chest with two fingers and tapped it twice, "Trust the Lord" I reminded her.
Deborah copied my words and action but the fear in her eyes still didn't subside.