9

------------------------------------

**The days slowly passed.**

Mark, using the children, quickly built a simple network of information and gossip in the city. There was a saying in any era:

*"If many people believe it's true, then it is true."* Mark murmured to himself as he looked at the numerous files and documents Katarina had stolen, now spread across his table. In just a few days, Mark had enough evidence to blackmail half of the wealthy merchants in the city.

Despite its wealth, the city suffered from many of the problems common to other rich city-states. *"It reeks of corruption,"* Katarina muttered as she sat at the table.

*"Noxus would never have so many corrupt people,"* she said, and Mark had to hold back a laugh for a moment before continuing to read and sort through the documents.

His plan of action was simple: extort the corrupt and bring them to his side, fragment the local military forces, and finally stage a coup. The task seemed straightforward but was far from easy.

However, as Mark read through the documents on the table, he had even bolder ideas. There was enough evidence here to initiate a mass purge not only in this city but in nearly all the nearby Shuriman villages and states.

Allied Vastaya trafficking, selling spoiled food, embezzlement—if Mark dug deeper, he might even find one or two romantic scandals among the nobility.

*"I think we'll have to expand our activities,"* Mark murmured with a brief smile. Katarina looked at him, not understanding for a moment, but he handed her a letter sealed with a raven. *"What's in this letter?"* Katarina asked curiously.

*"A request for reinforcements, along with a report. If I'm right, we might be able to conquer much more than just a city,"* Mark said. Katarina looked at him with curiosity but took the letter anyway.

------------------------------------

**14 days later.**

*In the castle of the city of Urzeris.*

King Xerco, ruler of the city, was having a hard time at the moment. Letter after letter from merchants with demands against rival groups kept arriving.

Even as he sat on his throne, he began to feel fear of what might happen if all the merchant guilds suddenly started a street war in the city.

Not only that, but there were rumors that the allied tribes were on the verge of betraying them. It had all started as mere gossip in the alleys but quickly escalated to another level.

Merchants began talking about neighboring tribes gathering troops and holding secret meetings, while his soldiers reported hooded figures moving across the rooftops.

Just yesterday, two of his close advisors had been found dead in one of their residences, with documents detailing human trafficking involving nearby allied tribes scattered across the room along with their blood.

Worst of all, the bodies bore the marks of tribal weapons. Xerco immediately ordered the guards to search the city and arrest any tribe members to prevent the information from spreading.

But it was already too late. An imperial guard ran into the hall, followed by several other soldiers, many with various degrees of injuries. *"What's happening?!"* the king asked desperately, and one soldier knelt before him.

*"Sire, the merchant guilds have joined forces with our allied tribes and initiated a revolt against our forces. Our soldiers were caught off guard, and almost all were either subdued or killed!"* the soldier reported, and the king fell silent.

The guards quickly shut the palace gates and gathered in front of it. *"Your Majesty, you must flee,"* the soldier urged the king, but he remained paralyzed in silence.

**BAM!**

The gate closed with a loud noise, but no one felt at ease. The soldiers pointed their spears at the gate as another loud noise echoed.

**THUMP!**

The gate shook from the impact.

**THUMP!**

Again, the palace trembled, and dust began to fall from the structures.

*"Please, Your Highness, you must flee!"* The soldier shouted at the king again, who remained paralyzed.

**BOOM!**

The gate shattered, sending splinters of stone and wood flying. *"Xerco, you traitor!"* A man's voice echoed as several tribal soldiers and mercenaries stormed in, accompanied by the leaders of the merchant guilds.

At that moment, the king could no longer bear the slander and shouted back, *"You traitors!"* Xerco said, but his words fell on deaf ears.

A man clad in the hide of a wild beast and mounted on a giant rhinoceros stepped forward. *"You dared to sell out your allies, our children!"* the man shouted, and the king rose from his throne.

*"I never did such a thing!"* he declared, but the tribal leader scoffed at his words.

*"These merchants confessed everything!"* he retorted, and a mercenary stepped forward, tossing a sack full of heads onto the floor. Xerco gasped in fear at the sight.

Those heads belonged to all his close allies in the city and beyond, including his spies among the tribal forces. *"How?"* He knew that at this moment, any claim he made would be futile. He had ordered the arrest of any tribespeople in the city the day before.

But now, all he wanted to know was how they managed to track down all his allies and kill them. Many of them were extremely well-protected—it should have been impossible for the tribal leaders to kill them without him knowing.

Unfortunately for Xerco, his questions would remain unanswered. The next instant, he felt the cold of metal piercing his back and lifting his body into the air, making the soldiers around him scream in despair.

Looking behind him, he saw a man dressed in black and red with a sheep mask. His gaze shifted to the back of the hall, where he saw well-equipped Noxian troops entering through the secret passage he was supposed to use to escape.

He looked forward and saw the imperial soldiers in a panic attacking the tribal and mercenary troops with all their might, initiating a clash between the two forces.

Xerco wanted to say many things at that moment. He wanted to scream that this was a Noxian trap, to warn his soldiers and the tribes to unite against the real enemy, but it was too late.

*"Noxus...."*

**Thud!**

Mark watched the king's lifeless body fall to the cold floor, blood spreading down the throne's steps. *"Now let's finish the job,"* he said, signaling to the Noxian soldiers behind him, who threw several gas grenades into the midst of the kingdom's and tribal forces.

Slowly, the dust rose in the hall, and the sounds of carnage and battle grew louder. He removed his mask and tucked it back into his robe as his blood-red Sharingan glowed in his eyes, and in the next moment, his blood-stained sword ignited in flames.

*"Murderer, die!"* One of the king's captains shouted at him, leading his troops to avenge their fallen leader. *"It's your time to shine,"* Mark said, and a crimson flash passed him, slicing into the troops.

Soon, blood lotuses began to fly, and bodies fell with daggers embedded in them. *"Now it's my turn,"* Mark leaped from the throne toward one of the soldiers on the ground.

**Slash!**

A clean slicing sound echoed, and the soldier's body fell, split in two, engulfed in flames. *"Die!"* Two enemy soldiers wielding swords charged at him fearlessly, ready to sacrifice themselves in exchange for his life.

But it was all in vain.

*"Sun Breathing, Third Form,"* Mark murmured, positioning his flaming sword behind him.

*"Raging Crimson Sun."*

He unleashed two flaming slashes in the air that sent blades of fire flying toward the two soldiers, slicing them in half without resistance.

Mark didn't stop there. Seeing the captain who had ordered the attack on him standing among other soldiers, his eyes locked onto him. *"Sun Breathing, First Form!"* At that moment, the guard captain, seeing the crimson eyes staring at him, froze.

*"Dance of the Fire God!"*

The floor beneath Mark cracked, and a flash of fire swept through the soldiers like a dragon's mouth, splitting them apart as it headed toward the guard captain. *"It can't be,"* the captain tried to say, but before he could finish, his head was severed, and he saw his burning body fall rigid to the ground.

The rest of the combat posed little challenge, and soon all the guards were dead, leaving only the Noxian and tribal forces in the palace. The tribal leader, now with his rhinoceros covered in wounds, advanced to greet Mark with a smile.

*"We owe you our thanks, Noxian. If you hadn't exposed the schemes of these evil kings, not only the tribes near Urzeris but all the tribes near the coastal cities would have been wiped out. Thanks to your warning, I was able to alert the other tribes, who launched attacks against those kings,"* the tribal leader said, and Mark nodded with a diplomatic smile.

*"It was a pleasure working with the tribes, sir,"* Mark replied, pausing as his smile faded and he took out a piece of paper. *"But as you know, Noxus does not allow any other government to exist within its territory."* Mark's cold words gave the tribal leader a bad feeling, but it was already too late.

**Swoosh.**

The sound of an arrow cutting through the air was heard, and the leader looked down at his chest, where an arrow had pierced his heart from behind.

*"Damn you,"*

 were his last words before he fell from his rhinoceros. The tribal soldiers stood in shock for a moment and turned to see where the arrow had come from.

There, the leader of a merchant guild held a crossbow with a smile on his face and signaled to the mercenaries, *"Kill them."* The mercenaries, mingling with the tribal troops, immediately attacked them. Caught off guard by the betrayal, the tribes couldn't react quickly, and soon their lifeless bodies lay on the floor.

At that moment, the leaders of the merchant guilds quickly approached Mark and Katarina and knelt before them. *"We pledge our allegiance to the Noxian Empire!"

---------------------------------------

Swain slowly read Mark's report and the findings from his spies, allowing a smile to slip across his face. *"Vision, power, and cunning—he seems to have understood my teachings well."*