Reign of Villainy | Ch. 25 (Part 2)

“The honor?”

Akemi could laugh. Some prize a dead piece of snake-hair was.

“Shut up,” Pyre said, elbowing her painfully. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Nocturne set the serpent back down in the closet. Then, once the doors were closed, he turned one final time to face her. His eyes had a bright, curious look to them.

“She is new to this plane. Her ignorance can be forgiven—but heresy, that’s another matter entirely. A bite from the Dark Mother is a System blessing, Akemi. A blood drop of pure power. You are best to remember that,” he said sharply. “Now, on that topic. Entertain me one little onboarding inquiry. Something I like to ask all of our new recruits. What are your intentions with our humble organization?”

Akemi narrowed her eyes.

“My intentions? Let me think.” She paused for effect. “Oh, right. Kill people, get money.”

Nocturne laughed. Genuinely laughed.

It was a terrible sound, like static noise turned up on high volume. His vocal cords must have been burned to an ashen crisp. Even Pyre looked pained to hear it.

“You’re a curious subject, you are,” Nocturne said. “But I doubt your ambitions are that shallow. Actually, I do not doubt. I know. I have a few levels in Mindshaper, after all.”

Akemi frowned. The class Agnor had. It had left an unpleasant taste in her mouth.

“Shall I expose the truth, or do you want to?” he asked, feigning politeness.

“Go crazy,” Akemi said. She had no idea what he was talking about.

“You want to kill me,” he said, and Akemi swore she could sense a smile brimming under the thin cloth covering his mouth. “Not in the psychotic sort of sense. You want to kill what I represent. The thin veil of power I hold over you. You detest it. It boils your very blood. You hold admiration for me just the same—but next to that respect, cuddled right up to it, is a very present drive to kill anything that’s higher up on the hierarchy.”

Akemi blinked. Ah. Now she knew what he was talking about.

Denying it felt stupid. Who lies to a mindreader?

“You got me,” she admitted, shrugging. “But it’s not personal, and I’m sure, in the immediate future, you’d kill me first, no contest. But I want to be the most powerful villain on this planet, bar none. You and everyone else lives inside that none.”

Nocturne hummed again. From his cold expression, Akemi had no idea if it was a hum of approval or a hum before she got violently stabbed through the gut.

“Excellent. You and Pyre are a better fit than even I could have devised. I am positive you two will bring out the”—he weighed his words, then raised his eyebrows— “best in each other.”

“Master Nocturne, with all due respect—”

The guildmaster moved on without hesitation, as if murder wasn’t mentioned at all.

“Pyre, you will be on blades this trip. Akemi, you will be on numbers,” he instructed, cutting her off. “This first quest will be one of simple forgery. You are to infiltrate the viscount’s den and change a few numbers in their Book of Digits: the ledger which controls all money flowing in and out of Grimguard. Make the current government look worse than they already do, so our influence can grow. And, if bodies drop, bodies drop. But Akemi,”—he looked at her with a raised eyebrow—“remember that too much blood spilled makes it easier to trip.”

As Nocturne trailed off, a new quest notification greeted Akemi:

New Quest Acquired! Your Friendly Neighborhood Shadow Auditor

Requirements:

• Politely adjust the Viscount of Grimguard’s Book of Digits

The System certainly does a good job of making the whole thing look wholesome.

“And what about the map?” Pyre asked.

“That is a subject we can explore once you’ve proven yourselves.”

He cleared his throat.

“Now, you will find everything else you need with Dread. Let the night caress you well, disciples.”

Nocturne drew his cape over his face, and evaporated into ash once more.

Silence enveloped them for a few moments before Akemi broke it unceremoniously.

“What a show off. That cape trick has the same energy as the stuff you see from magicians at second grade birthday parties.”

Pyre looked like she was about to blow a fuse. Not just figuratively—her red hair had started fizzing at the end, blue flame tickling her neck.

“You are—I cannot even put it into words—threatening to kill Nocturne, are you out of your damn mind?”

Akemi drew an eyebrow upward.

“I didn’t threaten to kill him. I just admitted to wanting to.” That didn't seem to diffuse the situation in the least, so Akemi tried again. “If you’re planning on shooting me with a fireball, I suggest you do it somewhere else. Nocturne probably wouldn’t like you blowing out his windows.”

For a moment, Akemi thought she just might fire that spell, but she didn’t. Her arm lowered. Her shoulders fell. The rage which had flickered like a fuse seemed to die out just as fast.

“I can’t believe I have to work with you,” she sighed, resigned to her fate.

“Who says we have to work together?”

“Um, were you not listening at all? Nocturne.”

“He said we were the only ones fit for the job. Not that we had to do it together.”

“You have very selective hearing.”

Akemi smiled broadly. “Yes, I do. Thank you. I’ve worked years on cultivating it.”

Pyre groaned.

“Listen,” she said coldly. “You want to be the best villain there ever was. Great. I couldn’t care less. All I’m concerned about is earning Nocturne’s support, and moving up in the ranks of the Coterie. That takes more than just combat skill. It takes patience. It takes political finesse.”

She stepped past Akemi, getting so close that they were only breaths away.

“Completing my first mission is vital to that. And, tragically, working with you is now vital to completing my first mission. So I will try my best to work with you. I hope you return the favor. But if you don’t—if you try and get in my way—I won’t flinch.”

Without another word, Pyre lowered herself onto the ladder, leaving Akemi in the empty, silent chill of the rooftop chamber. In the reflection of the eight windows, she could see the sun begin to rise over the horizon, painting Grimguard’s rooftops yellow.

That woman is a little… intense.

Akemi found herself quite endeared by it.

The burn of Pyre’s breath still fresh on her cheek, she stepped lazily forward, so her hands touched the cold railings. The city of obsidian was so wide from above, the maze of narrow streets and grandiose squares in full, spectacular view, like she was gazing at them from a space shuttle.

But the city was a mere dog park compared to the citadel that loomed over it. A palace of impenetrable gray. It towered like a sleeping god of death in the distance, gargoyles stationed at every corner, hundreds of gates and guards surrounding its basin like crocodiles.

Akemi smirked.

This mission was going to be, if nothing else, interesting.

—

Akemi knew, instinctually, that Pyre would wait for her at the entrance (even if it would drive the woman crazy), so she took her sweet time in scoping out the rest of the building.

She discovered that besides the nave, the chapel also had an attached monastery located underground. It was a maze of crumbling hallways that felt almost like cars on a sleeper train—bed after bed was jam packed inside its narrow corridors. Trainee disciples slept on cots on the floor, while their higher level counterparts had lofted rooms where they could store their necessities: knife collections, tubs of poison, the like.

Coming to the end of the makeshift dormitories, Akemi found herself in front of a set of boarded-up doors. Above each doorway was a rune, engraved in stone, but shining no light.

The magic had long died, it seemed.

“I wouldn’t go in there,” a recruit warned her as she pried at the edge of the doorway. He was one of the lower disciples, sitting in his cot a few paces away, stirring a potion. “They’re boarded off for a reason.” Judging her curious expression, he added, “And not for an interesting reason. The foundation in there badly needs renovation. Walking around on those decades-old catwalks is just asking to fall to your death.”

“Hm. That so?”

Sounds like the perfect place to dispose of someone.

If she had more time, and less prying eyes, she would have investigated further. But she wasn’t too keen on trying her luck any further. At least for today.

She made a note of it, gave the recruit a salute, and decided it was finally time to meet Pyre.