When she approached the facility, Cassandra could already see the guards cowering I fear as Johann began his brutal rampage.
They decided to move into the building for safety and Cassandra took the chance to sneak in alongside them.
Since she had no idea how she would go about actually finding the generator itself, Cassandra would need to be creative. After all, this was a mission she absolutely could not fail.
Minutes passed as she silently followed several guards around. She began to wonder about how she would go about her plan.
"Hmm...what do you think, Intelligence?"
[I believe you have the necessary tools, Lady Cassandra. Your illusion magic seems to deeply affect the minds of others. But stealth, as you know, is key. Above all else, they must not have any reason to check the target for irregularities.]
"But of course! My darling Mizik would be so upset if he learned of such a thing! Now then...mind eater should work..."
Cassandra waited until a guard was alone and raised her hand to invade the woman's mind.
Her eyes seemed to glaze over and she began foaming at the mouth.
Cassandra never had the chance to really use this power, before. But she smiled as it seemed to allow her to see the memories of the individual in question.
"Let's see..."
Cassandra searched for a while until she found what she was looking for.
Then she warped the woman'a mind and rearranged a few things to make it seem like the guard was simply terrified of Johann.
Yes...she would believe that she froze in the hallway out of fear. She wouldn't remember anything beforehand...
Once the guard got up, she truly seemed to believe that she was terrified of Johann.
She quickly ran to get further underground and Cassandra followed.
She was, after all, heading straight for the barrier generator.
And as the sounds of explosions overhead began to grow faint, she stopped and went into a safe room.
It was populated with other higher ranking officers and they proceeded to yell at the woman for being a coward.
Cassandra slipped right by without a single sound. Just before the woman was thrown out of the room and told to keep watch somewhere else.
Based on the information Cassandra had taken, it wouldn't be much longer until she found the generator.
She only needed to place the device in an area where it wouldn't be detected.
Then she would leave and grab Johann before departing back to the abyss.
Cassandra smiled as the thought of being in her darling Mizik's arms once again crossed her mind.
"Soon, my darling... I'm almost done! Please just stay safe!"
* * *
Johann continued his rampage as he flew through the skies of Excelsis.
Many times, small legions of winged Excelsis guardians would fly bravely up to him only to be turned to ashes.
Eventually, they started firing at him from a distance.
"Hilarious," Johann thought to himself.
The ballistae they fired at him would be melted into slag before it even touched his mighty scales.
The magic they used was easily dodged and nullified.
To Johann, these 'guards' were little more than fleas.
And he incinerated them all.
Johann flew around as he turned the city below into molten rubble. The landscape became charred and all around, other lesser gods burned in his flames.
Although lesser gods were generally very difficult to kill, Johann had managed to end the lives of plenty thus far.
Lesser gods were strong, but dragon gods were much stronger.
And then, something else happened.
Johann felt a rising power from below and dodged to the left as a gigantic black lance nearly slammed into him.
It violently exploded near him and caused him to flinch.
Then the source of the attack flew up to meet him.
"Well well, it's been some time since anyone was dumb enough to actually attack this place. Tell me, who are you?" The man said.
"I AM JOHANN, THE PHOENIX DRAGON GOD! WHO ARE YOU?"
"Abbadon, god of destruction. General of the Excelsis military force. It looks like you've gone and delivered a gift to me. See, I really like fighting. A lot. But being the Oracle's right hand man as well as the leader of the Excelsis military means I don't get to see the front lines. I'm going to savor every moment... I'll rip those scales off you one by one!"
Since Johann wasn't stupid enough to actually try to fight someone like him in his dragon form, he reverted to his human form immediately.
Johann readied his staff and looked coldly at Abbadon.
"Oh? So you can change forms? Won't you be weaker like this?" Abbadon said.
"Not a chance. My power is equal in both forms. I don't have to be bigger than you to tear out your throat."
Abbadon smiled.
"Good! LET'S DANCE!!!"
Abbadon shot forward and tried to impale Johann with his lance.
Johann parried the strike easily with his staff and punched Abbadon across the face.
Once he was stunned, Johann slammed Abbadon over the head with his staff, sending him plummeting into the ground.
Johann followed up the attack by creating several pillars of fire that converged on Abbadon's location.
But before they could land, there was an explosion and several more black lances flew up at Johann.
He dodged them and shot straight down to avoid the explosion they caused. Then went to meet Abbadon.
Abbadon tried to block his staff, but...
Johann had no intention of hitting Abbadon with it..
He parried the lance away and lunged at Abbadon's throat.
He sunk his teeth into Abbadon's neck and blasted him with fire as he tore out his throat.
Then Johann slammed his fist into Abbadon's chest and sent his motionless body flying backward.
Moments passed and Abbadon regenerated.
"Shit...you weren't kidding about...gah...tearing out my throat. I guess I should stop messing around..." Abbadon said.
Johann spit out the bits of flesh and blood he had torn from Abbadon's throat.
"Ugh...disgusting..." Johann said.
"I guess he's not done. I should wrap this up quickly."
Johann stood silent as he observed Abbadon for any movement.
"TAKE THIS!!!" Abbadon shouted.
He leveled his lance at Johann and it split apart.
Energy condensed between the two halves and fired a massive beam of black energy at Johann.
Instead of standing still, he jumped into the air and threw his staff at Abbadon... Hitting him square in the chest and knocking him back.
He dropped his lance and Johann quickly closed the distance between them.
Just before he could land a blow, Abbadon caught his fist in his hand.
Energy welled up all around Abbadon and violently exploded...sending Johann back.
When Johann landed, he summoned his staff and looked coldly at Abbadon.
"ENTERTAIN ME, DRAGON GOD!!!" Abbadon yelled.
Without a word, Johann summoned fire from the sky and blasted Abbadon's location.
Abbadon dodged and lunged at Johann.
He once again deflected Abbadon's lance with his staff and violently slammed the end of it into his jaw.
Abbadon reeled back in pain as Johann let go of his staff and set his claws ablaze.
Johann let loose with a rapid flurry incinerating claw strikes that burned through Abbadon's armor with ease.
Once he had finished, he slammed his head into Abbadon's and punched him straight in the face.
Abbadon was sent back and slowly got up soon after.
He was wincing from the pain in his body as he glared at Johann.
Johann had not changed his cold expression. Not even an inch.
"What the hell are you!? HOW CAN YOU JUST-"
"RRRRAAAAAGHHHHH!!!!!" Johann roared.
As he shouted, he opened his mouth, and a tremendous blast of white-hot flames blasted the area in front of him towards Abbadon.
Abbadon tried to dodge...but he did not escape unscathed.
His arm and part of his torso were completely incinerated.
He clutched his side and tried to focus his energy to regenerate, but Johann already planned for that.
Johann breathed in deeply as he prepared for another roar.
"SOLDIERS!!! KILL HIM NOW!!!" Abbadon yelled.
Moments later, a huge legion of solders charged in and rushed him.
Without flinching, Johann spread his wings and sent out a wave of white fire that incinerated many of them.
The rest jumped back in terror.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? KILL THAT DAMN DRAGON RIGHT NOW!!!" Abbadon screamed.
They hesitantly charged in.
And for Johann...the bloodbath truly began.
* * *
As Cassandra approached the final door to the generator room, she made an illusion to trick the guards.
She made it look like the doors had opened on their own.
They looked around and immediately typed in the code to close them.
Which also happened to be the code to open them...
The doors opened for Cassandra and she made it seem like they had closed for the guards.
"That was weird..." The male guard said.
"Yeah...do you think the system is acting up?" The female guard asked.
"Could be. But this happens occasionally, anyway. That's what you told me, right?" The male guard said.
"Of course. It's odd...but perfectly normal. They should really get these doors fixed..." The female guard said.
The truth was that this wasn't a common occurrence at all.
Cassandra just implanted the memories of these events in the guards brains.
She walked in and analyzed the generator.
It was a strange machine... Very large and very complex.
It was reminiscent of the Abyss Engine from Ignitus that she had seen in her sister's memories, but also different.
There were seven orbs floating around a large cylinder with a transparent casing around it.
Within the center, Cassandra could see a shard of light.
She took out the device that Vakra made and immediately began searching for a place to put it.
After looking around, she found an area directly below the main unit. She got down to her knees and laid on her stomach as she peered under it.
Cassandra smiled as she saw dust, cobwebs, and old pieces of trash that had accumulated from lack of diligent cleaning.
It was likely that she could place the device underneath here and no one would notice it.
Cassandra deployed an illusion to trick any cameras that might have been in the room and quickly made several layers to it.
She clicked the switch on the side of the device and reached her hand as far underneath the machine as she could.
She angled it and stuck it to the bottom of the generator.
Then she pulled her hand out and brushed the dust and dirt from her arm.
She frowned as a few spiders found their way on her arm and flicked them away.
Once she finished brushing herself off, she cleaned the floor by pushing everything back under the machine.
Except the spiders, of course.
They would take care of themselves...
Cassandra had no need to trouble herself with filthy insects.
She walked out of the room just as easily as she had entered and reversed the illusion.
The guards closed the doors which were actually open this time and commented on how strange it was that it had happened again.
Then subsequently forgot everything as Cassandra wiped the entire event and the previous memories from their minds.
She smiled again as she quickly made her way out.
Her hands were shaking again.
"Mizik is going to be so happy!!! I know he'll praise me lots!!! I was a good girl! I did exactly as I was told and no one saw anything! As long as I escape, no one will have any reason to suspect a thing!"
And as she exited the facility, she saw something that made her worry, slightly.
Rose was standing outside and speaking to one of the guards.
"Did you see anything happen here? Is the generator safe?" Rose asked.
"Yes ma'am. Nothing abnormal to report. It's unlikely that the dragon god even knows about it," the guard said.
"Good...then Excelsis should be safe. Now, I'm going to go help Abbadon. Stay here and look for suspicious activity! Report in if you see anything!" Rose said.
Before turning away, she looked around.
"That was odd...ngh...my head..."
Rose clutched her head and grabbed her sword. Then she made a portal and left.
Suddenly, another idea formed in Cassandra's head.
"If I could assassinate my sister and bring Bravery to him...wouldn't he be so much happier!? Kyaaa!!! I have to! Mizik will smile so much that he'll hug me and give me so many kisses!!!"
Cassandra's hands just couldn't stop shaking...
She was so excited to see Mizik again.
Even better, it seemed like Mizik had survived.
Rose looked angry as far as Cassandra could tell. To Cassandra, that meant she failed to kill him.
And what's more, was that nothing had reset.
Mizik was alive and well.
Cassandra felt her heart relax in relief.
Next, she followed the carnage to find Johann and tell him the good news.