the underground of the land's between

"speak" is all he said, and she obliged. "My name is Olani master, I am daughter to duke Archibald who lords over storm hill city and its surrounding area, I run the underground network that connects the city to many others in particular its slave trade" she said in utter glee to have her lord know more about her. He clenched his fists as mana thrummed within him but controlled himself and motioned her to go on. "The underground business is quite lucrative master I urge you to take it over through me, you'll have access to anything you wish, from Caelid princesses to even if you so wish it a Carian noble child for you w-" she was stopped by a mana enhanced slap which sent her flying towards the wall before stopping.

she got up and walked back and kneeled with a happy smile. "You will robe yourself and come with me" he said. she gladly did so and soon they stepped out of the cave. "Amazing master! your skill in combat is incredible for such a young age" she exclaimed upon seeing the corpses. he didn't reply and just placed her atop Sarabi before jumping up as well then heading straight back to the city. they arrived quickly as the forest was all but ignored on the way there. no guard questioned him fortunately and he made his way into the Carian Hall with no issues. " Ah welcome young knight, I was begin-" he was stopped by the head of the duelist being dropped atop his table like a wet sack of potatoes.

"Tell me as to why the duke has such incredible reach in his underground network to be able to smuggle a duelist from leyndell straight through liurnia without any scrutiny?" he asked in a calm tone. the clerk just stood there, mouth agape as he too realized the gravity of the situation. if a duelist was smuggled so easily across liurnia then what else could be smuggled? a platoon? half an army of golden warriors? "This doesn't end there you see the lady behind me knows plenty of their system apparently, tell me what the Carian Hall will do about this?" he asked. " Nothing for now kid" a voice came from behind them.

he turned around to see a large man with the head of a wolf, upon his back laid a large great sword. " I am Blaidd, a shadow for a certain noble of the Carian family, believe me kid you aren't the first to realize this problem, for now let's go to the back rooms to speak" Blaidd said. seeing that the half wolf was the only one thinking of doing something Leonel obliged and followed after, Olani right on his heels. " Now then let me properly introduce myself, I work for lady Ranni, she too noticed this problem and wished it dealt with and thus she sent me, as far as I know no Carian knight has taken on an apprentice, who are you?" the half wolf asked.

"I'm Leonel and I'm apprenticed under knight Ansel in service of lady astra, you probably haven't heard of it because it's been about a week since I began my training" he said surprising him greatly. "Interesting, to think he would get an apprentice, well it matters not, tell me all you know of their operations, ill reward you handsomely for all useful information you could spare" he said. " Then how much would you give me if I handed you the daughter of the duke who is in direct control of the branch here in storm hill?" he offered. Blaidd was quite confused, but he realized that there was another in their room, he turned to the other presence "is she her?" he asked.

"Victim of her own enslaving tools, she is utterly loyal to me, Olani tell Blaidd here all you know about your organization" he said. Olani happily obliged and too off her hood before going into great detail. the cities underground network was run by three main members with her at the top of it all, the first one and her right-hand woman was Grelude, the matron of the city's orphanage, she is in charge of scouting talent within the children and selling them to the highest bidder as well as the undergrounds main finance network. Next was their enforcer Ivan, a nasty piece of work, responsible for their gangs within the city and their information network. The man loved to torture important information out of anyone he could get his hands on then sell it to the highest bidder.

the third and final most important member was Stoloff their head auctioneer, he controlled all important auctions selling all manner of import goods or people and he was the one to bring in most of the coin flow which made him the most paranoid of them all. bellow them where all manner of important people, most of the nobles took part in it even the city guard willfully avoided their operations. atop everything was duke Archibald, the man was a vile fiend not above even having his way with his own daughter to satiate his ever-growing appetite for depravity. " We must rid this city of it, not for its people but for our kingdom's safety, they cannot be allowed to grow any further, even if we have to decimate this city, I will get in touch with some old friends and make sure that should we fail to deal with it they step in, will you help young knight?" the half wolf asked.

" of course, I will, who do you want me to go after first?" he asked. " First use her to call in as many as possible to this location in the name of a meeting, we will spring a trap there and butcher all we can before hunting down any who didn't go" Blaidd suggested. "Olani, you know what to do, if you can't get the main three then get as many others as possible, should you do well then ill consider treating you fairly" he said, she smiled widely and bowed before leaving the hall. " I'll go prepare my part of this operation, you should go to the meeting point and prepare traps, if possible, should we get through this then I owe you greatly friend" the half wolf said before shaking his hand and walking out. Leonel followed soon after and quickly recounted everything to Sarabi as they rushed to the meet point.

' You know cub, your spirit tuning will come in handy for the traps, ill teach you how to create ashes and then you can sprinkle them outside the building to create a deathly trap' Sarabi said. night fell and everything was in place, bit by bit people entered the old mansion they used for the meeting. they all gathered before Olani in a large hall within the mansion, from guards and informants to even some nobles although none of the big three showed up. Olani stood before them all calmly as they all intermingled, eventually the last one arrived, and the doors closed suddenly. everyone was dead silent then; the walls of the place began to glow and eerie blue and anyone of delved in sorcery would know that the entire place has turned into a coffin. "Welcome everyone to the annual yearly meet, and your last meet" Olani said as she turned into motes of light and disappeared from there.

pandemonium soon struck as they all began to panic and fight with one another but that all changed when spiritual monsters began to appear. from undead skeletons and soldiers from wars past to dangerous beasts such as bears and all manner of storm hawks, even a juvenile dragon appeared at the front of it leering down at the terrified people. "Kill them all in the name of Caria" was all that they heard before the beasts descended on them and the blood flowed. atop it on the glass ceiling stood six figures. " Watch it all kid, the faster you get used to bloodshed the better we can serve the Carian family" the half wolf said. Leonel nodded and only watched the slaughter with a grim look as Olani stroked his back.

" don't see why you called us Blaidd, way I see it this operation is in the bag" a tall and lanky figure said. "you three are assurance Darriwil, incase things don't go as planned" the half wolf said as he too watched the carnage. " My this is far more interesting than sitting and collecting dusty tomes, a pleasure to meet you, young knight I am preceptor Seluvis at your service" the other figure said as he held his hand out in a handshake. something told him not to shake it, but it would seem unkind to treat your allies fairly and thus he shook it. next to them standing silently stood a black knife assassin although its eyes never left Leonel much to his confusion. " And that's the last one, good riddance, well then you all know what to do, spread out and make sure none leave the city, deal with any and all stragglers" the half wolf said before jumping off the roof.

the others left in their own way all except the black knife, "lady Marika says you have incredible talent, the talent to bring you towards demigodhood without her interferences, do make sure to be worthy of the tittle empyrean" it said before disappearing into thin air. Leonel stood there utterly confused but didn't ignore that tidbit of information and stored it for later, he jumped off the roof with the spirits enhancing him and jumped atop Sarabi. as he left the mansion behind him slowly but surely fell deeper and deeper into the earth util nothing, but an empty field of grass was left.

the next day was filled with chaos, nearly 70% percent of the nobility vanished overnight alongside a large portion of the gangs and even some guards. many search parties were sent out, but none found anything other than a missing mansion. the ones in the know where secretly shitting themselves. one being Grelude, she paced around her study in utter worry, no one she tried to contact responded back, as if she was walking blind and this was terrifying her greatly. suddenly the rooms walls and exits glowed blue stopping her dead in her tracks. "No, no no no PLEASE I BEG YOU ILL GIVE YOU ANYTHING PL-" she was stopped suddenly by two large blue hands holding her in place.

a man dressed in rather lavish clothing masked and wearing a rather large hat stepped through the wall as if it never existed. " Oh, you'll make a great puppet, mhmm yes yes you will" Seluvis said in a husky tone as he forced her to drink the contents of a small bottle. " Come along now my new plaything" he said as they all disappeared in blue motes of light her fate unknown. at another location deep underground stood a rather large man wielding two large swords behind him a large half wolf and a tall and lanky man with a curved sword stood. " So, it's finally my time huh? very well then let me hear some sweet screams before i go" he said before he turned around and rushed the two warriors sealing his fate.

in a lavish auction hall, a man with a rather pronounced mustache sat in the corner of a room holding onto a noble's sword. " SHOW YOURSELF ASSASSIN" he yelled out in utter fear but all he got in return was silence. some time passed and he stayed in the same position eyes bloodshot. eventually he blinked for the last time as a black blade pierced his skull. not a peep was heard, and the room descended into tranquility soon after. that was a rough night for duke Archibald, someone had ripped apart his lifetimes into pieces from right under his nose. that night several maids where raped and tortured to death but nothing could alleviate the fear he felt.