The A-Class hunter is still shaking with wide eyes, but over the last few minutes, he's come to terms with the reality in front of him.
He pushes himself up off the floor and stays as outwardly calm as possible while the dead king and queen stand on either side of me.
I speak up again while doing a quick scan of his status.
"How much time do we have...? And what can I call you?"
The [Lv. 2944] mage with two skills, Mythic Grade Dagger mastery and Extreme Grade Lightning Summoning, responds while pulling a silver tablet from his item box.
"Roughly two minutes...-and M-Marcus. You can call me Marcus."
I nod slowly.
"Good... Marcus. This is just enough time for you to tell me everything I need to know about the District of Ashmore. I'll be attending the meeting with you all. Is it another order member we'll be meeting there?"
The red-cored hunter responds in a shaky tone.
"The District of Ashmore is one of the main trading checkpoints in the outer ring of central headquarters. It's well secured... With emergency protocols much more dangerous than what we have here. Even the True Core's do business in Ashmore."
I cross my arms and listen to his lengthy descriptions of how the fortress works and what you can and cannot do. My curiosity grows, but he ends his description quickly as we don't have much more time to waste, and I'll be able to understand most of it when I arrive at first glance.
"We won't be there for long, it's just a simple drop-off of goods and pickup for new quotas, -And yes, of course, there will be another Order member present, Angelica runs the place- but how would you know of the Order... if... You're not one..."
He gulps mid-sentence as a wave of fresh terror washes over him.
"Wait... Have I said something I shouldn't have? This- isn't a test, is it...?"
He looks at the truly lifelike puppets of the king and queen, questioning if what he saw was all an act.
"Y- You're not one of the big three in disguise- Are you? -there's no one else that could have-"
I let out a small amount of pure mana control without any divine threads, and it's enough to stop him from talking further as I shake my head.
"No, this is no test. They're really dead. I am not allied with the Order..."
The hunter is pale, silent, and still questioning everything around him.
I just let out a sigh, as it doesn't look like I'll be getting any more information out of him in this state.
Then, I throw him the two teleport crystals and containment cases.
"Act as naturally as you can, we're going for a trip. You can ask all the questions you want when we're back."
The moment he catches the shimmering white crystal, I activate stealth and move to make contact with the young man's shoulder while bringing the king and queen in closer as well.
Marcus takes a deep breath in and out, silently praying to himself while closing his eyes and crushing the gem. A bright white light flashes, and the largest of the finger islands is left devoid of any divine cores moments later.
—
Thousands of kilometers away, a flash of white light appears on a teleport platform in the center of an empty circular room.
Marcus, the two lifelike statues, and I materialize onto the bright white floor, and I take in a very confusing sight and barrage of readings to my senses.
Everything around me seems to be made of very pure yellow divine energy...
The bright white floor below the teleport crystal is tethered with it, and the clear dome overhead that is about 10 meters high shimmers with yellow threads as well.
The room we stand in has two silver doors on each side, and they lead to thin hallways, though even the halls are made of the same white flooring and clear glass-like transparent material overhead to make them look like miniature tunnels. In both directions, more of these white and clear domes are connected, making a structure of connected and isolated rooms all over this fortress.
There are hundreds of them in all directions.
It feels immensely strong, far stronger than the near S-Grade shielding I broke through minutes ago, however, my main attention is more focused on what's outside the odd bubble structures.
The ground they rest on outside looks to be made of dark grey ash, and coming up from the grounds are endless yellow flickering flames.
The fires roar for dozens of kilometers in all directions, enveloping the countless domes, and roaring without any sign of going out.
They flicker and roar kilometers up into the sky.
I'm unable to sense anything through the thick divine energy imbued flames. With my stealth mode activated and my greater form not turned on, my perception may be limited, but I can clearly sense that whatever or whoever created these flames is far stronger than myself...
On the outer edges of the domes, where the white and yellow divine energy meets the flames, steam rises up through the air like fire and ice are meeting and canceling each other out.
While I examine the structure in awe, Marcus stands upright and still, with sweat trickling down his temples.
Next to him, the dead animated statue of Alfred carries both of the containment cases, and I have Fiona give an uninterested and disgusted look as she stares ahead.
The silver door they all face clicks open, and two women walk through into the dome.
One is an orange core and the other is a yellow. They look almost identical, with dark brown hair cut short at the shoulders, and bright white eyes.
The only difference is the yellow core is a few centimeters taller, and is [Lv.8519], while the shorter orange core is [Lv. 4405]. They both have superior wind magic skills.
I wonder if this is even the Order member in front of me, as I was expecting a fire or ice user, and the yellow core doesn't even have half as many divine threads in her core as the king or queen I killed.
Marcus bows toward the taller woman and speaks up, answering my suspicions.
"Angelica, we've completed our quotas, I hope all is well for you here in Ashmore."
He grits his teeth at the end of his words, as the intense yellow divine core pressure in the room is getting to him, but he side-eyes toward the containment cases despite the pain.
I channel wind magic through my invisible divine threads and into the statue holding the cases.
It appears as if Alfred is letting them levitate over to the two women.
When his hands are free, I use my [Master of Illusion] buff and Mana Manipulation to control his body to twist his mustache and respond.
"It is all accounted for."
Then, I make Fiona scoff and add to the act.
"This place makes my skin crawl... Can we get this over with quickly?"
The orange-colored woman catches the containment cases and looks through the logs quickly while tapping on a silver tablet of her own, making notes of all the new inventory and making sure the new quotas are updated.
In the meantime, Angelica responds with a professional smile.
"You'll be on your way shortly, don't you worry Ms. Fiona..."
There's a pause as her assistant continues to shuffle through the item boxes, and she speaks again to fill in the silence while looking up toward the ceiling's dome in an oddly specific direction.
"I do hope this shipment makes Redgrave happy. With all of the Order members being picked off, and that announcement earlier today about the Flame Emperor in the Dark Continent, I'm almost glad I'm stuck here under the abyss of flames..."
Marcus reflexively gulps, as another rush of understanding hits him, and I believe he's connected the dots to understand who I am.
The woman catches onto his nerves as well, but I have Alfred speak up to keep the mood in the room constant.
"Yes, yes. Being so far out in the ocean, we're away from all the trouble as well. Stronger members than us were taken down just before the throne showed itself, what a shame."
Alfred's head shakes, and he twists his mustache again while the orange-cored girl finishes up her task with the containment cases and sends them flying back our way.
Alfred accepts them, but a phenomenon occurs that makes my heart skip a beat...
The yellow core, Angelica, nods a few times to be professional, then speaks up while reaching into her item box to pull out a silver transmission tablet.
"Very good, I'll be sending a message to central that your quotas have been met. The shipment for your contracted hunters should be processed very soon as well."
As she puts on her fake professional smile, I see yellow crystals glowing on the front side of her tablet that she's pulling out, and realize there will be quite the issue if I don't do anything in the next few milliseconds.
I've seen a tablet like this before, it was the one Raven used to talk to the other Order members, and I vividly remember each lit crystal representing the Order members that were alive and well, able to respond on the other line.
There were two crystals that were dull when I saw Raven's, signifying Sebastian and Mr. Freeman's demise. However, those should be the only ones...
If she pulls it out right now, she'll see that the two she's talking with are no longer alive.
This also means... all of the other Order members will be notified of the king and queen's death the next time they check these tablets.
This was all within the outline of my plan, but I didn't realize it would start so soon...
I make the split-second decision to cause a scene right here to expedite things.
If the King and Queen are meant to be dead, there's more than one way this can occur. The first being a rogue force from the dark continent, but the other would be another Order member that made contact with them within the timeframe that their lights went out.
I grin beneath my stealth veil, and have Alfred push the silver containment cases and teleport crystal toward Marcus in a quick, fluid motion.
In the same instance, I use water magic to make it seem as if Fiona is sending out two high-pressure jets of divine energy imbued water from both of her index fingers.
One flies straight toward the silver device in Angelica's hand, and the other toward the teleport crystal that flies at Marcus.
In a flash of white and yellow light, the A-Class hunter is transported away back to the island of Palmyra; and the silver tablet that is about to be exposed is destroyed and fractured into hundreds of metal and crystal pieces.
The Order member's eyes widen in surprise, and I have Fiona blurt out a believable line in the same arrogant, condescending tone that she was using back in the mansion.
"You know what? You're right, this world is changing hands, and who cares if a few Order members go missing! I always hated this place!"
I make her yell out in a loud, annoying laugh while filling the room with more yellow threads of divine light.
In the same moment, the orange-cored hunter that has been silent this whole time turns and presses a tablet of her own, opening up the door they came from with impressive reaction speed.
The yellow core doesn't even question what is going on and makes a wall of wind in front of them with divine threads and wind magic strong enough to make me believe she's going all out.
I have Alfred and Fiona send attacks of wind and water at the wall she's made to pierce through her defenses and hit the wind mage in non-vital areas, hoping that she'll attack back, but no attacks come, she just yells out loud while jumping backward.
"Activate the emergency systems! Call central and have Redgrave notified of this betrayal at once! All fatal attacks between Order members are not permitted! The rulers of Palmyra are well aware of emergency procedure here, they have just failed their assassination attempt... This is well within my pact rights to activate protocol."
My smile grows as the silver door is shut, and from behind it, the outline of the slightly injured wind mage pulling a large red lever is clear to see.
I contort the King and Queen's expressions to be scared and confused. While, in reality they are already dead, and this woman's actions are helping me stage the perfect cover up.
In the same moment, the center of the clear dome cracks open evenly and begins to come apart slowly and mechanically. The bright yellow flames outside start to flood in.
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