Low-Fantasy Occultist

It took less than a day for Toneburg to catch fire.

What began as isolated scuffles in the outer wards, as word of the sudden quarantine spread, quickly swelled into thugs marching through the streets, looking for any excuse to commit violence.

It didn’t take long before one of these men, known for several run-ins with the murdered broker, was accused of the deed. When he immediately retaliated by cutting down the one foolish enough to point at him, he was riddled with arrows and swords, along with his companions.

Furious over the murder of their men and the tightening grip of the Ultimer loyalists, the Black Hounds began to retaliate systematically, pushing city watchmen and other mercenaries away from ‘their land’.

There had been a brief attempt at reconciliation. At noon, a parley was held in the central merchant square, mediated by a coalition of lesser nobles seeking to prevent their city from burning.

Nick, observing from a shadowed rooftop, watched the peace shatter in real time. A King's Shadow, invisible to the mundane guards, slipped through the tense crowd and drove a poisoned needle into the neck of the Ultimer envoy before fading away.

The ensuing bloodbath turned the surrounding streets into a war zone. Even several nobles were caught up in the chaos, only pulled away from the jaws of death thanks to the foresight of bringing their own sworn swords to keep them safe.

Now, under the cover of night, Toneburg echoed with the clash of steel and the roar of burning tenements. It was a tragedy for the citizens locked in their homes, whose lives and livelihoods were at stake and would remain uncertain for days to come, especially with the city wards locked down and preventing any escape. But for Nick, it was the perfect distraction.

"The riot is drawing the city watch away from the noble district," he murmured, crouching on a rooftop overlooking the Opal estate. To the east, the night sky glowed an angry orange, and he could only hope the local mages stirred from their guildhall—for there was no Tower in Toneburg, after a severe clash with the previous Duke convinced its Master to relocate to Stonegate fifty miles to the east—to put the flames out before they spread too far. "The patrols are light and more interested in watching the fires’ path than in looking for intruders.”

"Then we should move," Gaelen said in a low voice. His eyes were cold, fixed on the estate of the man who had betrayed his family. Though Nick couldn’t sense any corruption left in him, his natural emotions were dark enough to tell that Lord Opal’s death wouldn’t be a clean one.

Weaving the [Mire] around the three of them, Nick bent the light and muffled their mana signatures, rendering them little more than a trick of the darkness. They dropped from the roof, landing silently in the manicured gardens of the Opal grounds.

The estate was heavily fortified, bristling with warding stones, but Gaelen had spent the day studying their construction. He led them through the gatehouse, where the wards were weakest and couldn’t penetrate the [Mire], and bypassed the main detection arrays by weaving through the decorative hedge maze in a pattern he’d seen the servants use.

Two guards patrolled the inner courtyard, their halberds resting nervously on their shoulders as they kept glancing toward the distant glow of the riot.

Nick didn't break his stride. He raised his left hand, pointing two fingers at the guards, and unleashed twin [Jet Streams].

There was no time for pity. If he hesitated to do the deed, these men would fight back and alert the rest to their presence. He could only hope their next life would be luckier.

Highly compressed, razor-thin currents of air shot forward in total silence. They were entirely invisible in the dark and acted like guillotine blades.

The wind tore through the opening in the first guard's armor, severing his brainstem. The second guard flinched, probably using a sensory skill, but Nick flicked his wrist, redirecting the flow to cut his throat before he even realized what was happening.

Gaelen and Rhea caught the bodies before they hit the ground, lowering them silently into the decorative bushes.