Docere's face was etched with delight, his eyes glinted with joy, and his smile curved up sinisterly. He was glad to see the gullible masses before him as he played with them like a puppeteer controlling the strings. However, something felt amiss at the back of his mind.
[...Make sure to find the lost calf.]
Those were the words that the Enlightened One commanded to him that morning. Despite the success of seizing the Palace of Anima last night, their brotherhood had failed to secure all of the key figures to obtain total control of the capital.
Crown Prince Athos Dimitte Ferre, was nowhere to be found. They were only able to detain the Emperor and the Empress.
Docere's brows creased in frustration. 'We have the parents here… the prince should come as expected, putting them in a miserable state would aggravate him so. He should be jumping into the fire soon.' he folded his arms as he pondered.
[...We cannot afford to have loose ends!]
The Enlightened One's voice rang once more inside Docere's thoughts as he contemplated what to do next.
He started riling up the audience before him by torturing the incapacitated Lucis and Florestella. He tried waking them up violently by repetitively smacking their heads until their bruised cheeks rip and their noses and mouths started leaking blood. Unfortunately, it didn't work and his audience grew tired due to the lack of excitement.
'If the prince or his supporters are here, then this wouldn't sit well on their minds.' Docere snickered as he cast an electrocution spell on the unfortunate couple.
"I said wake up!"
"AAaaaahhhhh!"
"Aaarrggghhhh!"
"Good! Still alive and kicking!"
He waited for a bit to check for any suspicious movements from the audience, however, nothing occurred out of the blue. Docere was getting frustrated as his taunts were not working. The fish didn't bite despite him tossing a generous bait.
Suddenly, he felt a field of mana building up within the sea of people.
'That's strange... the Church put up mana barriers in the plaza, yet someone is still able to use it.' Docere's eyes squinted with curiosity. 'Could it be…?' He then felt the mana fade to nothing, it felt so fast that it was like someone was trying to hide oneself in a hurry.
It struck him that uninvited guests were hiding amongst the revelers.
Docere had a gut feeling that the intruders he perceived were connected with the missing prince. Seditio had already eradicated most of the Palace's men and women last night, he needed to capture and subdue any survivors who would pose as a threat to their brotherhood.
"Find the intruders, and put them to their rightful places."
He had ordered half of his men to search the plaza, the Church of Arbor also joined in to help trace the mana.
'I hate playing hide and seek.' Docere snorted and clicked his tongue as he deliberated on methods that would help expedite the search.
'Haaah… this is taking too long.' He surveyed the movements of his subordinates in the plaza, they were a mess. The guards were scattered and sorcerers were flagrantly using search magic to detect any mana users in the sea of people.
'Hmm, our audience members… they might be useful.' Docere's eyes sparkled with glee as he thought of an idea and his mouth arched to form a cruel grin.
The troublemakers he detected several moments ago, were not yet found. His lackeys and the aides from the Church had struggled to locate them as the presence was hard to trace. Docere then insinuated to the audience before him to play a game.
It was a game to capture the intruders dead or alive and the rewards were promising. A heavy pouch full of platinum coins were thrown in as partial payment, it was generous and it fed the greed of the audience.
'Time to smoke them out of their holes… I can't wait for heads to roll.' Docere chuckled as he imagined the positive results of the hunt. He watched the attendees scrutinize each other, no one was standing odd in the crowd but Docere noticed that the guards and the sorcerers who initially started the search, were all gradually moving towards the center row as if to give chase to something.
'Hmm? Why are they going there?' He observed the area where his men were heading towards, and he spotted a pair of siblings. Docere watched the pair with suspicion.
'Those look...odd, no more like familiar.' Docere recalled the parade earlier, he met a pair of siblings who had brown hair. Now that he thought about it, he wasn't able to keep tabs on the pair after he dragged the both of them to join the parade.
Docere then watched the pair from a distance. They seem to be bickering about something. It looked like the elder brother was restraining his younger sibling with a rough grip, and the younger one was crying.
'Ah, children's tantrums.… probably got scared of the blood and doesn't want to watch-' Docere's thoughts were suddenly interrupted as he saw the pair vanish like thin air.
'Holy shit.'
Docere's eyes dilated in shock, he was taken aback as he saw two grown men disappear right before his eyes. His lips then arched and gradually, a wicked grin appeared on his face.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!" Docere cackled like a mad man. The crowd before him fell silent as they were slightly taken aback by his behavior.
'I found them! They're the damn troublemakers!! Looks like I'll be able to keep some of the coins to myself… The Church should be able to pin their mana down.' Docere was pleased that his lackeys had finally tracked down the unwanted guests.
'I'll let the men deal with those intruders.' he let out a soft chuckle and activated mass telepathy to his men.
[[Look for a pair of siblings, an older brother and a younger one. The older brother had brown hair and his cloak was torn near his right sleeve, his younger brother is half his height and should have brown hair as well…]] Docere's expression darkened.
[[A word of caution my brothers and sisters, it seems they are capable of handling mana. I expect all of you to not make a careless mess, don't make me clean your corpses later.]] Docere snickered as he reminded his subordinates their orders.
[[Find them and bring them to me.]] Docere's eyes were full of enthusiasm and his face beamed with joy. Looks like his desire for a great bloodbath will be met by sunset.
"Everyone! Our game will end shortly. Kindly settle down, let's move on to our main agenda!"
Cheers resonated throughout the fervent crowd. It was now the time for the Great Judgement to come.
Docere was pleased to hear the cheers of the expectant onlookers. He then turned his attention to the weakened monarchs who were barely hanging on with their lives. As he got closer to the restrained couple, he felt Lucis and Florestella's mana seep out from their bodies. It looked like they were currently invoking a spell.
"To think both of you had the gall to do shit behind my back?"
With one swift movement, Docere bashed Lucis' face with his left fist and punched Florestella's abdomen with his right.
"Urk!" Lucis' nose broke and fresh blood dripped anew from his face, his mouth also bled profusely, he must have lost some of his teeth due to the harsh impact.
"Agh! Aack! Haah!" Florestella vomited bright red blood as she gasped for air, her face grew paler as she struggled to breathe.
"Both of you, don't even try doing something unnecessary." Docere wiped the blood off his left fist.
"Your son... would join us shortly if all goes well… Hehehe!" Docere chuckled at the miserable couple as he saw their broken faces. "So, how does it feel to be so helpless? I can't wait to see your heads roll together with your son." Docere's cackling evolved to a hysterical laugh.
Lucis and Florestella glared back at Docere with a deathly expression.
"D-don't… you… dare…!" Lucis' voice broke up as he struggled to speak due to his wounds, he stared down at Docere as if to tell him to learn his place.
"L-leave… my s-son… o-out of this!" There was anger in Florestella's voice, although she was weak, her spirit remained strong.
"Hahaha! Hehehe! Wow, to think both of you can still talk shit!" Docere's hysterical laughter encouraged the crowd to squawk alongside him.
"Both of you are so eager to die…" Docere then drew out his staff to invoke a calamity-level spell. "Then… I shall grant your wish-"
Docere suddenly felt a phantom pain on his face. He wasn't able to finish his sentence as the pain took over his body.
His laughter quickly died down and was replaced by a bitter looking face, he fell to his knees on the platform. He felt the pain intensify, his face winced and his breathing became uneven. It was unbearable, Docere felt like lightning had struck him down a multitude of times.
The audience grew silent and their jaws dropped, seeing their host suddenly collapse in front of the weakened prisoners was an odd sight.
"Argh!" Docere gripped his eyepatch and stared at the couple with rage. "T-this scar… M-my face... it fucking hurts!!" He then crawled pathetically towards the couple and tried to invoke a spell towards them. It was futile as his mana did not manifest.
"Ha...haha!"
"Haha! Ha...haha!"
Lucis and Florestella's chuckles broke the silence of the crowd. Everyone stared at the wounded monarchs with mocking eyes.
"That wound… Won't ever...heal." Florestella replied to Docere in a condescending tone. Her eyes radiated with a faint golden glow.
"We'll make… sure that you will… live with that pain for an eternity." Lucis replied with a weak but mocking voice and his golden eyes stared down at the weakened Docere.
"What did you fuckers do?!?" Docere's face had become pale, his eyebrows curved in annoyance and his breathing had become labored. Some of the guards and the sorcerers he sent out earlier had retreated and rushed to Docere's side to assist him.
Docere was not aware that the two monarchs forcefully thinned down his Fate Threads with their divinity. He sensed his body grow weak and his old injuries started to ache and swell. It was all to prevent the man from pursuing their son as they escape from the plaza.
'We're sorry Athos, we truly are…'
Memories started to flood Lucis and Florestella's thoughts. They recalled their happiest memories with their son, Athos. They remembered his birthdays, his innocent expressions, and the family bondings they had in the past. They recollected Athos' adorable smile during his infancy, his curiousness, and eagerness concerning the world around him...
And they also recalled how brave he was when he bore the pain of their blessings last night.
*Plip*
*Plip*
*Plip*
Tears gradually fell from the couple's eyes. It was time for them to meet the Divine End. With the remainder of their divinity, they severed all their bonds with the city of Anima, including with Athos.
Fate sensed the vast amount of bonds being cut down from the capital. The skies blackened and slowly, shadows of the Abyss started to crawl through the plaza.
*Plip*
*Plip*
*Plip*
*Plip*
Raindrops started to fall to the ground, slowly drenching the earth. The timing felt ominous as the heavy overcast almost turned the day into night. Thunder started to roll with lightning flashing from the overcast, the rain showers then intensified into a deluge.
From a distance, a crimson shadow watched over the events happening at the Plaza. He saw the farce that had unfolded a while ago and let out a snicker.
"Docere's density and ignorance never cease to amuse me." The shadow groaned at Docere's patheticness.
"To think they did summon the Calamities into their city! Wow, what an efficient way to deal with things! Good attempt at clean up, but terrible planning..." The shadow observed the panicking crowds at the plaza as the Calamities descended one by one to wreak havoc.
The shadow noticed a cloaked man moving away from the plaza. The man seems to be carrying a child on his shoulder as they hastily run away from the plaza grounds.
"Wow! That's no ordinary barrier… How did that bastard manage that enchantment?" A smile slowly formed from the shadow's face as he observed the fleeing pair.
"I really wanna learn that technique. I should ask the guy to teach me before they vanish somewhere."
~~~~~
To be continued.
~~~~~