Selicia finished her trial like most people with normal but satisfying results. Still, even with that boost in power, she felt a bit strange. She couldn't exactly tell what bothered her, it was a more general feeling. She feared that the trial altered her body in a way that was irreversible.
Still, that upgrade made her feel a bit better, yet she also looked towards the future. To her, stopping at Rank 2 was a disgrace. She felt that she needed to grow a lot more. She wasn't exactly power hungry, but if she garnered enough strength, she hoped she would become confident in herself.
Like how the words of a God are decrees, if she was powerful enough, wouldn't people follow her and become loyal to her? Her feeling of incompetence and shyness would vanish if everyone around her wanted her to acknowledge them. Or that was what she believed.
Now, she felt a bit more confident, but that really didn't matter when talking to Augustinus. He acted as if her growth in power was absolutely insignificant. When she arrived in his mansion's underground meeting room, she was met with a beautifully decorated desk with a few candles and the master behind it all.
He sat there looking over papers with dead eyes until he noticed her. "Ah, you've arrived. Tell me, did you get anything good out of the trial?", Augustinus sat in a comfortable chair as he stared at her eyes. His relaxed demeanor told her he was cooking up some scheme.
Whether she told the truth or kept it hidden, would it make any difference in front of this fox of a man? "I got the Tier 1 body as a reward.", she said with a soft voice. Using a spell to calm her nerves she found little to no satisfaction in knowing this strength didn't change anything to her speaking habits.
"Same as the ogre then? Well, I wasn't expecting much in the first place.", hearing that, Selicia was a bit annoyed but also confused. Were there other rewards that were better than this? She had the option for a tome, but chose not to pick that.
"Oh, you might want to know this. See this letter here? It seems our dear friends from the throne are about to visit us. You might want to see your partner to discuss this.", he shoved a letter forward for her to read.
She read through the entire letter carefully instead of believing Augustinus outright. They were partners, but that didn't mean she had to trust his every word. After she was done she slowly pushed the letter back towards him.
Seeing she had no need for it anymore he grabbed the paper and classified it between his other letters, keeping a beautifully categorized archive containing all the communication and documents that he had ever received. If the information in this archive ever got released to the public of the Empire, chaos would most certainly ensue.
After classifying the paper, Augustinus just went back to work, ignoring her completely. Selicia felt a bit awkward sitting here in silence.
She was expecting some kind of instruction or demand, yet the only sound came from the pages being turned and their soft breathing. Eventually the silence became too much and she left him alone. As she turned her back, Augutinus donned a big smile.
It didn't take long before she got the notice from one of Augustinus's subordinates that their target was about to arrive. Following Augustinus to the meeting place they arrived a bit early. Finding no better opportunity, Selicia covered the surroundings with her strings.
You could barely see them in the low light of the Stars. Still, like cobwebs, if you positioned yourself correctly, they were easy to find. Grok, who had been in a good mood lately was waiting in the woods. He said that there was someone nearby that he wanted to fight again, but according to Selicia, there was nobody besides them.
Setting up a bunch of different traps, Selicia was confident that with Grok's strength, they should be able to get rid of their target. She still remembered the words of her Master before she was sent out.
'Be careful of not his power, but his potential. His history records show how shrewd he truly is. I guess he's not our Master for no reason. We were sent to get rid of Conrad yet here we are hunting a Lucas. I wonder if that's his true name now or some other nickname to hide behind.'
Selicia had read all the reports on their target more than once. Someone who appeared from nowhere ventured into a nearby academy and took classes from teachers who rarely accepted students in the first place.
'He brought a body to one of his teacher and a noble disappeared nearby. He seemingly had ties to the Demonic Cult yet also has a dear friend at the Order of Light. He fought off a group of mercenaries on his own, scored the highest in the schools competition and went to win the national competition as well without any kind of backing or power.'
These results should've been the result of some high ranking family with a powerful backing, yet the person in question was alone. Not only that, if a commoner with no renown got so powerful, there had to be a lot of investigations into him.
Yet when she looked for the records on his fights there was barely anything. The best they had to work with were testimonies from random mages which were exaggerated and hard to verify.
All that was known about his usage of spells was that he had access to low level spells and runes. There was the Blue Flame, a special kind of flame that the academy had created through trial and error, but Lucas, or Conrad then, never received the correct runes to form this kind of spell.
The issue lied exactly there. He had access to low level spells and weaponry, yet managed to always win over his opponents. Even Simon, who according to the records was a promising Rank 2 mage, was single-handedly defeated by him.
The fact that their information about him was so shallow already told them enough that this wasn't just your average mage. Still, with all her training and experience, Selicia felt that this contract they had was one that was just a bit too difficult.
She didn't want to admit it of course, thinking that she and Grok were enough to handle him, yet when she met him at the castle there were some alarm bells ringing. In close combat she would lose to him, at a distance, she might stand a chance, but her heart told her otherwise.
Now, it was time to see if that feeling was justified or not. She had only met the man a few times from spying on him, but each time he went out of the castle, something big happened. This time was no different, the plan was for Grok to face him while Selicia held Lucas back. Perhaps working together they could get rid of this man.
It didn't take long before they appeared, in tow with their king and a few recognizable faces, Selicia felt her tiny heart start to beat a bit faster. She stared at Augustinus from afar between the trees but his bored look and demeanor told her she shouldn't expect much from the man.
Grok appeared, and it was clear they would start to fight. Selicia knew not to view Grok in high regard, but his approach was terrible. The only redeemable fact about him was that he had the strength to avoid underhanded tactics.
"Name's Grok, let's fight."
"You're not the one who assassinated Alex, are you?"
"Assassination? Hah! Like I need to hide from my enemies, now come! Let's see if you're any better than that bearded guy."
'You stupid buffoon! You were supposed to lead him to the middle first! Argh, why do you not think?', while Selicia was angry, it was somewhat inevitable. Seeing them fight each other on even ground Selicia was somewhat surprised.
'Grok's stupid, but not weak. I'm certain Lucas only got to Tier 2 and he isn't using magic. How come?', the image of Augustinus's disappointed face when she told her results popped in her head for a moment. Were there better rewards?
She kept a close eye on Lucas, but more so on his mana. The moment his mana started to flow to one of his gateways, Selicia pulled her strings together to stop him in his place. She meant to slice off his limb right away, but the threads were destroyed in an instant due to Grok punching him away.
'Tch, stupid, I had him.', having no time to lament, Grok and Lucas were fighting each other again. Seeing a large amount of mana activate again, she pulled her threads extra hard this time, to just rip his arm apart.
Yet the moment her threads hardened and tightened around his skin, they disappeared.
'Huh?' She didn't see it clearly, but her threads were destroyed without a spell. Without runes, it was extremely hard to force magic to take a certain shape since you would have to use your willpower to form it. The issue lied in the fact that you had to think about the shape while you were fighting for your life.
Not many would be able to focus so hard on using magic purely based on willpower. What was easier was to produce the element at your gateway in large quantities, since that required practically no willpower. The issue was that Lucas didn't summon any kind of element through his gateway but also got rid of her strings somehow.
She wasn't certain, but the next time she grabbed one of his limbs, they disappeared quicker than last time. After carefully inspecting the flow of his mana, there was but one conclusion she could make.
'His gateways are off! This is?! He doesn't have to use his gateways?!', a bomb was going off in her mind, this was revolutionary! This would change the entire world if they knew about it! The ability to freely use mana throughout the body was a wish many had, yet none had it fulfilled.
Seeing that mana was being gathered once more, she pulled his arm back since slicing it off wasn't on the table. The mana instantly moved towards the center of his body, but knowing the risks, she hurriedly gathered a bunch of her strings to pull Grok aside without hurting him too much.
The blast that came out of his chest was something she had never seen. The power to use Dark Magic so proficiently was rare, especially in a world where the Order of Light forbade any kind of use for it. She knew Lucas, or Conrad, came from the Frigus Kingdom where it was allowed, but being legal didn't mean it was used publicly. Especially since the Church of Light were spreading their influence all around the border.
She was surprised for but a moment before she had to focus on the battle again, protecting Grok from a bunch of spells.
As the fight moved on, Grok seemed to get the upper hand, dealing a few serious blows to their target. Aura started to flow into the environment, changing the world slightly. Still, it was a surprise to see that Grok was able to absorb Lucas's willpower. He was now weak and tired.
'Good job! He's down, now finish him off!'
Yet she swallowed her excitement the moment Thurin moved towards the battlefield.
'What are you doing just standing around! Finish the job!', all her pleading sadly didn't reach the man as he was surprised to see such a cool looking mana armor enter his field of vision. Thurin started to swing his weapon around, destroying her threads.
Normally this wouldn't have happened, her strings were more than powerful enough to handle a simple weapon. The only reason they now had effect was because of the aura's infecting the surroundings, weakening her strings.
The one from Lucas was chaotic and made mana extremely volatile while the one from Grok was heating up the environment.
'No, no, dammit! Stop standing around! Move!', she was starting to panic a little as the soldiers all started to remove her strings. Without her, Grok was done for. Her mind told her to intervene and fight Lucas head on to finish it up, but her heart held her back.
The moment she stood up, a massive amount of mana was being gathered in Lucas's body. It was something someone of his level shouldn't be able to conjure and control, yet what she saw defied common sense. Her eyes were laser focussed on Lucas's core, the total amount of mana was hypnotizing.
A blast powerful enough to reach the Stars appeared, completely removing her will to interject. She stood still in place, frozen for a long time. The situation was too dire to stay around, yet she didn't want to miss the conversation between Augustinus and Lucas.
Once she had enough information she started to run away into the forest to hide from Lucas. He might be weak now, but his physical state was still stronger than Grok in the beginning. Even if his mana might be low, she stood no chance. The crystal Augustinus gave him gave her enough warning.
Especially now that all her strings were practically destroyed. She ran, hid and waited for a time to come back out. She had lost track of time, moving out when she found no mana response in the area.
Hiding her aura, she went back to Augustinus's mansion. Sneaking inside she easily found her way back to his office. At first, he didn't notice her presence, but the creaking of the wooden boards in the floor gave it away.
"So you've returned, what does the losing side have to say?", he said with a teasing smile. It was clear that he cared little for her or Grok. Summoning all the spells she knew to control her voice and emotion she wanted to argue for once.
"You betrayed us."
"When did I do that? You wanted to eliminate our dear Starborn. I provided access to the trials, fake identities, a place to sleep and recover, information, tools and outfits to trick your opponent. In return, you got rid of a few of my thorns. Never was it once stated that I had to personally fight."
"If you intervened, we would've won.", she said, certain of herself. The look in Augustinus's eyes darkened for a moment.
"My dear, you wouldn't have won in your wildest dreams. If you think you got him cornered that was only because there were people around him that he had to protect. If he was alone he would've killed both of you."
Augustinus sounded so certain, but how could he possibly know anything about how mages fought? She looked confused to him, so he cleared it up.
"While he was on the ground, did you know how he looked? He didn't look hopeless, he didn't look afraid or scared. No, he looked like he would abandon everything to take you both down. Knowing him, he would've run away while grabbing Thurin. You would undoubtably chase after him, right into his trap."
"You don't know that."
"True, I can't wield magic, nor can I perceive it. But did you know there were a bunch of scribbles that looked like this quite a distance away from your little battlefield? I'm clearly no expert, but I believe this is what you call an array.", Augustinus pulled out a few papers and laid them out in front of her.
'A recovery array and...', Selicia was surprised to see that there were a bunch of different elemental explosion arrays. While basic, they were prepared to hold enough mana to hurt even Grok. An explosion with this much mana would obliterate her.
There was even an array that produced a mist with high mana density, making it difficult to differentiate between mana types. If all of these were prepared, Lucas wouldn't have any mana to begin the fight in the first place.
Her eyes shook for a moment, signaling to Augustinus that she finally caught on. "Looks like you get it, that man was here cycles upon cycles ago creating a bunch of strategies for the coming battle. Always carefully removing his tracks, he was already done with this little game before you thought it started."
"But...."
"You're wondering why? It's a back-up plan. He got the best results, didn't he? Thurin became a leader to his people, he showed his limits to both you and his own group, lessening the distance between them. He almost sacrificed his own life to protect their Emperor and their poor soldier's lives. He is being heralded as a hero and is on his way to becoming a legendary figure."
Selicia thought she understood how Lucas fought and was not underestimating him in the slightest, but hearing how all that transpired was but an act to appear better than he was scared her deeply.
If push came to shove, he would've minimized his losses while also getting rid of Grok or Selicia in one fell swoop.
Wanting to deny the papers in front of her and the cold feeling gripping her heart, she pushed it all away to focus on Augustinus's actions, or lack there off.
"If you were on our side you would have helped him, and we would've won.", not backing down she kept her voice steady throughout the entire sentence, clearly angry at Augustinus, even if he looked like he couldn't care less.
"Our side? Honey, I'm on no-one's side except my own. I don't care about anyone or anything as long as I can keep my business running."
Suddenly, threads appeared around his neck. They tightened slightly, making it a bit harder to breathe. Still, the man in front of her didn't even blink. "You think I care for my life? You don't have the courage to do so anyway. Hmm, did you make them thicker?"
She did indeed start to improve her strings after meeting Lucas as a precaution, but that wasn't the point. "Why should I keep you alive?"
"Hahaha, girl, I know you don't like me, but who do you think can lure your target out to the open now? Or are you going to invade the palace in hopes of finding a perfect opportunity."
His relaxed demeanor threw her off, how could he be so happy and nonchalant when his neck could be shredded to pieces in an instant. She had to use this man as much as she could now, since any time she gave Lucas now would result in higher chances of her failing.
"The third trial, where is it.", hearing those words, Augustinus's face froze before turning into the most serious look she had ever seen.
"Do you think you're ready to face that trial? You're not even close."
"I'm an assassin with years of experience."
"Your experience does not matter, nor does the amount of people you've killed. Nothing can prepare you for such a trial. There are but three people who beat that trial, all the others have perished. Don't bother."
"You don't care for me, right? So why not tell me?"
"Even I don't wish this kind of fate unto just anyone."
"Then why tell him?", she just couldn't understand why he was being so stubborn but was willing to help her target.
"He is... different, I believe he is like me. This makes his chances for survival slightly higher. Plus, giving him that information made him owe me one, if I'm correct, he'll view me as a partner."
Selicia and Augustinus stared at each other for quite some time until he finally gave in. "Fine, I won't give you the exact location, but I'll give you the route he'll have to take. That should be enough."
Hating that she couldn't return to the surface just yet, she found hope in that slight possibility. Her chances were low, but if she prepared enough she might be able to win. Determination blossomed in her as she disappeared from the room leaving Augustinus behind with a few scratches on his neck.
'Thinking you can clear that trial because you're good at fighting. How ridiculous, she's an absolute fool.', Augustinus needed a moment as he remembered what he experienced in that trial. Grabbing his head for a moment, he sighed deeply.
"Truly a fool."