On the evening of the next day, as the sun was setting, NSLICE-00P, Ateia, Taog, and Estrith moved out to meet with Consul Noxisius. Princess Caecila was apparently called back to the palace for an emergency, and had not been included in the invitation in any case. Agedia followed at a distance with a drone to keep her abreast of the situation, since she was uncomfortable meeting with the Consul herself.

The meeting was to take place at the villa of an unaligned Senator, a neutral meeting ground that could still provide appropriate hospitality. Agedia took up a position in the street nearby while NSLICE-00P and the rest made their way inside.

The Senator in question led NSLICE-00P into an open courtyard with a fountain in the center, lit by the moonlight and a handful of torches. A woman with black hair sat at a small table, flanked by two guards. NSLICE-00P noticed a strange anomaly. There was a gap in her perception underneath the courtyard. All of her sensors, mundane and otherwise and even her Dungeon Field, couldn’t pierce through that specific area. NSLICE-00P assumed it was a dungeon.

The presence of a dungeon within Corvanus, especially underneath the villa of a Senator was unexpected. The lore of the Empire from the library led NSLICE-00P to believe the Empire was generally hostile to dungeons, and did not permit them to exist within major population centers, much less the capital city. But she was here for a diplomatic meeting, not a dungeon termination or a subordinate upgrade routine, so NSLICE-00P simply devoted some processing power to keep an eye on things and moved on.

The black haired woman rose to her feet and saluted.

“Hello. You must be NSLICE-00P. I am Vipstana Apelles, Consul Noxisius’s assistant. I greet you, and thank you for coming.”

“Greetings: This unit is designated NSLICE-00P. It is nice to meet you.”

Vipstana nodded her head.

“Nice to meet you.”

But Taog frowned, and crossed his arms.

“Excuse me, Miss Apelles, but where is the Consul? We were under the impression he would be here to apologize to the Queen of the Dobhar in person.”

Vipstana nodded her head.

“That is fair. Consul Noxisius deeply regrets that he could not be here; he has been called into an emergency meeting with the Emperor. He did not wish to cancel on Her Majesty NSLICE-00P, however, so has tasked me with entertaining her until he arrives. He will make his way here as soon the Emperor releases him. In the meantime, I will take care of Her Majesty today and demonstrate our intentions in full. Do I have your permission to proceed, Your Majesty?”

Taog frowned, but NSLICE-00P’s robotic eye flickered. From Taog’s discomfort, NSLICE-00P predicted that diplomatic etiquette had been broken. But at the end of the day, the apology was secondary to NSLICE-00P. Her primary goal in this meeting was to determine what resources the Consul possessed regarding spatial magic and to secure access.

“Affirmative.”

And the moment NSLICE-00P responded positively, the anomaly sprung into motion.

It turned out what she detected was not a dungeon after all. The gap in her perception surged up out of the ground and wrapped around her, some sort of black amorphous substance. NSLICE-00P found her sensors cut off from the rest of the world. She was about to respond with the Equalizer...

But before NSLICE-00P, Ateia, Estrith, or Taog could react, the substance vanished.

And NSLICE-00P along with it.

Ateia’s eyes widened.

“Seero! You! What did you do with Seero?!”

But Estrith was faster. The Dobhar scowled and immediately threw her harpoon at the woman. The black substance wrapped around Vipstana and she vanished just before the harpoon struck. She stepped out of the shadows in another part of the courtyard.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“With her permission, I have reverse-summoned her to the Realms of Mana, the Realm of Eternal Night to be specific. There, she will be cut off from the Aesdes and the power of the world. She will lose access to all of her skills and her Holy mana. There is no escape, even for a hero. She is gone. And now, the Heralds of the New Dawn will accomplish our mission.”

Just then, water rose out of the fountain behind the group. A figure rose up out of the fountain and jumped forward. Ateia shrieked as the figure grabbed her and pulled her back into the water. Taog turned and his eyes widened.

“ATEIA!”

He ran forward as fast as he could, but the two fell into the fountain with a splash. He ran and peered over the edge.

Both Ateia and her attacker were gone. Taog spun around and snarled at Vipstana.

“WHERE IS SHE?!”

Vipstana motioned to the guards.

“That does not concern you. We have no use for you, and so you are about to die.”

The woman’s guards drew their blades and began fighting with Estrith. Estrith was warding them off with her harpoon, but these were the elite guards of a Consul. She blocked one strike and tried a counter stab, but the other guard stepped in and swung at her from the side. She snarled and leapt back, barely avoiding the blow, when the first soldier stepped in again and swung his sword up. He knocked Estrith’s harpoon out of her hands while his comrade stepped in for the kill.

Taog threw the Dark Blade at them, and the attacking soldier blocked on reflex. That gave Estrith time to pull her harpoon back with a mana-chain and jump back. She gripped her spear and grit her teeth.

Just the first exchange and she had nearly died. Taog had helped but he was too low level to take on either of these guards alone…and he had already lost his best weapon. The situation was not in their favor.

The guards slowly approached. Estrith had failed to guard the Queen of the Dobhar, she had failed her debt to Ateia…and now it looked like she and the other Imperial were going to die themselves. She cursed.

“My King…I am sorry. This warrior was not worthy of you in the end. But I will not let these Imperial dogs hunt me like helpless prey. They will bleed before I die!”

“About that…”

A shadow passed over the moon and everyone looked up. The two guards stepped back as something crashed into the courtyard, tossing up a cloud of dust. A shining lance pierced out of the dust cloud and stabbed straight through one of the guards.

Agedia leapt out of the cloud and wrapped around the other guard. One quick squeeze of her tail and she snapped his neck. She narrowed her eyes.

“I didn’t think you demon-lovers would move on the shiny girl like this. I guess the joke’s on me, huh?”

Vipstana tilted her head, placing a finger on her chin.

“Oh. You’re the failed Imperial Knight, aren’t you?”

Agedia glared at the woman and lifted her lance.

“In the flesh. And you and I have a score to settle.”

Vipstana stepped back into the shadows, appearing to melt into the darkness.

“Several scores. You already failed to protect the mother. Now you have failed to protect the daughter, even with a hero at her side. Your resistance was and still is completely irrelevant.”

Agedia suddenly leapt back and swung her lance over Taog’s head. Vipstana leapt out of a nearby shadow, swinging a knife towards Taog. Agedia’s lance barely deflected the attack.

“Barbotter, take the kid and go! I can’t protect you both!”

Estrith scowled but nodded and grabbed Taog, running for the entrance. Additional guards stepped out to block them but Agedia tossed her lance across the courtyard. The lance pierced through several of the guards and pinned them to the nearby wall, opening enough of a gap in their formation for Estrith to jump through.

Vipstana reappeared in front of Agedia.

“Disarming yourself. Foolish.”

And then Agedia’s tail wrapped around and slapped the woman on the side of the head. Agedia scoffed, then curled up her tail like a spring and launched into the air. She landed by her lance, then pulled it out of the wall and took down the remaining guards with a single swing.

“A Mélusine is never unarmed.”

And so Agedia faced off with one of the Heralds of the New Dawn…

Estrith and Taog ran through the hallway of the villa. Several of the guards had broken off and chased after them.

“Come, Imperial! The hunter who falls behind is left behind!”

Taog grit his teeth and ran.

Just then a pair of guards stepped out in front of them. Estrith growled and leapt at them. Fortunately, these were the guards of the lower-ranked Senator, so Estrith was not outclassed this time. She stabbed into one before they could act. She growled as the other grazed her shoulder, but her fur prevented any serious damage. She spun around and bit the man’s hand. She retrieved her harpoon as he stumbled back and then stabbed him as well.

A third stepped out from the side of the hall and swung his blade towards her back. Taog let out a shout, stuffing as much mana into a Dark Slash as he could and swinging his remaining sword. The man grunted, Taog didn’t do much damage to him but a skill slash to the back of the neck still hurt. As a result, Estrith had a chance to roll forward out of the way of the guard’s attack, and swept his feet with her tail. The man fell to the floor, and then Estrith scrambled to her feet and stabbed the guard before he could do the same.

She looked at Taog and nodded, and then the two continued on.

But then Estrith cursed.

A full contingent of guards now barred the path before them. She and Taog turned around to double back…but the pursuing guards had caught up and now blocked the rear.

They were trapped.