Chapter 63: A Trap?
"Interesting," Lady Vex said. Her voice was calm, almost amused. "I was wondering when you’d show yourself, Siren."
Nacho’s eyes narrowed. "You knew I was coming."
"I suspected. The Gilded Lily reported an unusual client last night, one who asked questions about my operations before putting Elena into a very deep sleep." She smiled, and it was the smile of someone who’d been playing this game since before he was born. "I’ve been dealing with unusual clients my entire career. You’re not the first person to think they could bring me down, and you won’t be the last."
The two resistant guards moved forward, drawing swords that gleamed with enchantment. Combat Precognition painted their attack patterns in Nacho’s mind, a dozen different ways they could kill him and three dozen ways he could stop them.
He chose the messiest option.
His Sovereign Tentacle lashed out at the guard on the left, moving too fast for unenhanced eyes to track. But the man was ready for it, his blade coming up in a parry that deflected the strike with a shower of sparks.
Fast. Too fast for a normal human.
[Combat Precognition active. Enemy combat style: Enhanced Bladework. Recommended counter: Overwhelming force.]
The second guard came at him from the right, sword sweeping in a horizontal arc aimed at his midsection. Nacho twisted aside, feeling the blade whisper past his ribs, and retaliated with a punch that should have caved in the man’s chest.
Should have. Didn’t.
The guard caught his fist on a reinforced forearm, the impact sending shockwaves through both their bodies. Pain flared up Nacho’s arm, sharp and unexpected. He hadn’t felt real pain in weeks.
[-340 HP | 5,500 / 5,840]
[Titan Body passive activated. Damage reduced by 60%.]
They’re good. Really good.
He stopped trying to end the fight quickly and settled into the brutal rhythm of close combat. All Weapon Mastery guided his movements, turning every strike into a potential killing blow and every defense into a setup for counter-attack. The guards matched him move for move, their coordination suggesting years of training together.
But they couldn’t match his tentacles.
While his hands and feet kept both guards occupied, his five secondary appendages swept through the warehouse like serpents hunting prey. They wrapped around the charmed guards and squeezed, not to kill but to restrain, piling bodies against the walls and clearing the playing field.
One of the resistant guards overextended on a thrust, and Nacho made him pay for it. His Sovereign Tentacle caught the man’s sword arm and twisted, dislocating the shoulder with a wet pop that echoed through the warehouse. The guard screamed and dropped, his artifact flickering as pain disrupted whatever concentration was required to maintain its protection.
[Target resistance compromised. Sovereign’s Domain effect increasing.]
The tentacle pressed against the fallen guard’s throat and pulsed with Charm, flooding his nervous system with sensation until his screams turned to moans and his struggling stopped.
One down.
The remaining guard backed away, his eyes wide with something that might have been fear. He glanced toward Vex, clearly seeking guidance, but the High Chancellor had already moved toward the back of the warehouse.
She wasn’t running. Nacho could see that in her posture. She was repositioning, putting distance between herself and the chaos while she assessed the situation.
Like the Rat King. Like Sera. Like every dangerous person I’ve ever met.
He finished the second guard with a combination of fist and tentacle that left the man crumpled against a stack of crates, then turned his attention to the warehouse’s other occupant.
Lord Daven hadn’t moved from his spot by the table. He stood frozen, his face the color of spoiled milk, his eyes darting between Nacho and Vex and the fallen guards like a rabbit trying to decide which predator to flee from.
The decision was made for him when one of Nacho’s secondary tentacles wrapped around his ankle and yanked him off his feet.
"Ahhh!" Daven hit the floor hard, the breath knocked out of him. He tried to scramble away, but the tentacle held firm, dragging him across the stone like a fish being reeled in.
[Target subdued: Lord Daven.]
Anticlimactic. The man who’d been the center of a three-year investigation, who’d corrupted half the city’s officials and murdered who knew how many rivals, went down faster than the Stone Servants in floor one.
"Please!" Daven was babbling now, tears streaming down his face. "Please, I’ll give you anything, I’ll tell you everything, just don’t kill me, I’m valuable, I know things, I can help you—"
"Quiet."
The single word, spoken with the weight of Sovereign’s Domain behind it, silenced him instantly. His mouth snapped shut, and his eyes went glassy as the Charm effect overwhelmed his pathetically weak resistance.
Nacho turned his attention back to Vex.
The High Chancellor stood near the warehouse’s rear entrance, her hands clasped behind her back and her expression unchanged despite the destruction of her security force. She was watching him with those ice-colored eyes, and what Nacho saw in them wasn’t fear.
It was interest.
He brushed against her surface thoughts with Mind Fortress, expecting the usual chaos of panic and desperation that accompanied combat situations.
What he found instead made him stop cold.
—fascinating specimen, clearly evolved recently based on the power fluctuations, potential applications are significant if he can be acquired, offer standard terms first and escalate if necessary, calculate acceptable losses—
She wasn’t afraid. She wasn’t even worried about escape.
She was evaluating him. Like a merchant appraising merchandise.
[Mind Fortress active. Surface thoughts detected.]
[Target is... evaluating. Not afraid.]
The rear door burst open, and Vance’s team poured through with weapons drawn. The warehouse became controlled chaos as they secured the charmed guards and took positions around the perimeter, their movements quick and coordinated.
Vance herself made straight for Nacho, her eyes sweeping the scene with professional assessment.
"You work fast."
"Had motivation."
[Apex Senses active. Tracking 14 combatants.]
He kept his attention split between the Inquisitor and the High Chancellor, aware that this was far from over. Vance’s people were efficient, binding the subdued guards and confiscating weapons, but Vex hadn’t moved. Hadn’t tried to flee or fight.
That bothered him more than anything else.
"Lady Vex." Vance’s voice carried across the warehouse, hard and official. "By the authority of the Imperial Inquisition, you are under arrest for conspiracy, corruption, and treason against the Empire."
Vex smiled. It was a patient expression, the kind a teacher might give a student who’d made an amusing error.
"Inquisitor Vance. How delightful." She turned to face the approaching Inquisitor fully, her posture relaxed despite the armed personnel surrounding her. "I must admit, I wasn’t expecting you specifically. The reports suggested you’d been reassigned to border duty after your last failed investigation."