"All this paperwork is going to be the death of me...," Muttered Jules wearily, as she leaned back in her seat and rubbed the sides of her head with a strained sigh.
Thanks to all the drastic changes being made in the Kingdom of Persona, her workload had increased astronomically, reports and requests were constantly flooding in from the other Knight Squads, and going through all of them proved to be rather mind-numbing work.
She was just going through the motions at this point, and she didn't even remember most of the documents she'd approved and responded to, including Aster's request to update the Knights' uniforms...that was one she likely wouldn't have approved otherwise.
As she slumped in her seat and let out a yawn, she then stiffened and quickly sprang onto her feet as the window behind her shattered, a couple of spherical objects flying in and erupting into clouds of smoke.
She quickly opened one of the drawers in her desk and pulled something out, letting out a cough as she inhaled some of the smoke, before leaping out of the broken window as the smoke billowed out and spread throughout her office.
As she landed on the ground outside the Knights' headquarters building, she grimaced as a trio of hooded figured swiftly surrounded her.
"Who the hell are you? Do you realize who you're up against?" She inquired icily, as she eyed them warily.
"Watch your tone, you sorry excuse for a Royal...you and your siblings are nothing short of a disgrace to the great Royal bloodline," One of them responded disdainfully.
"You may be powerful, but thanks to the poison smoke you inhaled, we can kill you easily. It should take effect any second now."
"Indeed, we are duty bound to restore our great Kingdom to its former glory. And killing you will be a major step towards accomplishing that goal."
"Poison, huh? Yeah, that doesn't sound good. But unfortunately for you, it won't work...before I vacated my office, I was able to grab this," She informed them, as she held up an Antidote Spell and activated it, before adding as a dark look appeared in her eyes, "Now, remind me...who exactly is going to be easy to kill? Because it sure as hell isn't me."
"Shit-...!" One of them began to exclaim as he sprang back and charged up a mass of lightning between his hands, before Jules swiftly shot towards him, bringing her sword out of her Storage Ring.
Flames erupted around the blade as she zipped forward, before whipping the blade up as she closed in on the figure, who fired off the charged up lightning in alarm.
Her blade sliced right through the lightning and dissipated it, before he cried out in pain as the tip of the blade sliced up his right cheek, searing the wound before nicking his eye and blinding him, an agonized yell of pain ringing out.
She then swiftly fired off pressurized jets of flames from the soles of her feet to launch herself up as the other two hooded figures charged up and unleashed Spells at her from behind her, a blast of wind and a burst of water, which struck the figure she'd just attacked, eliciting a sharp cry from him and knocking him onto his back.
He coughed out blood with a sharp wheeze and quickly tried to scramble back onto his feet in desperation as Jules burst out jets of flames from behind her shoulders to launch herself back down towards him, plunging her blade into the middle of his chest before he could get out the way, before swiftly unleashing an intense burst of flames inside his body from the tip of her blade.
His body seized up sharply as smoke burst out of his mouth, before he went limp, slumping against the ground as Jules pulled the blade back out and turned her gaze towards the other two, narrowing her eyes at them.
"Commander!"
"What's going on here!?"
Jules glanced to her left as a group of Knights came rushing over, the commotion from the brief battle having alerted them.
"W-we need to retreat, quickly!" Exclaimed one of the two remaining hooded figures, before linking up with the other one and taking out a Spell Card.
"I don't think so!" Snapped Jules as she shot towards them, unleashing a burst of flames from the soles of her feet to launch herself forward.
She swung her blade across as she closed in on them, but she was too late, as they activated the Spell and vanished from sight, the blade whizzing across the air.
"Damn it...they got away..."
"Are you alright, Commander?"
"Who were those people?"
"I don't know...but based on what they said when they first showed up, they're probably among the Nobles who were opposing the Queen before going into hiding," She replied, as she walked over towards the one she'd killed and pulled back his hood.
"Hm? Hey, I recognize him...he's one of the Nobles we were investigating along with the Inquisitors," Spoke up one of the Knights.
"That confirms it, then...there's a good chance that all, or at least most, of the Nobles who've gone into hiding have banded together. This isn't good...I'm heading to the castle, they may target the Queen. Find the Vice-Commander and tell him to come there too, and contact the other squads, let them know what's going on. Hm...I'd say there's a strong possibility that the Commoners among the Knight Order might also be targeted. Instruct the other squads to stay vigilant and on high alert," Commanded Jules, before turning around and hurrying towards the castle, while thinking to herself, "I knew there was a chance that this could happen, but I didn't think they'd make a move so soon. And just as we've been making such good progress in improving the nation too...we need to deal with this as quickly as possible, we can't afford to let them undo what we've accomplished over the last few months..."
Meanwhile, in Opal Town...
"Hold on...have you not mastered a Combat Template? Don't tell me you're a noncombatant. Are you insane? How does someone who doesn't even know how to fight actually think they would stand a chance against me? Just how deluded are you?" Remarked Ravella in bewilderment, staring at her opponent, who was hunched over, covered in cuts and struggling to catch his breath.
"Sh-shut your mouth, Commoner bitch! I am of Noble blood, I am better than you!" He snapped in response.
"Not sure what logic you're using to say that, considering that you're all bruised and bloodied while I don't have so much as a single scratch on me. Now, while I did say that I'd grant your death wish, I've changed my mind...I think the more prudent course of action here is to take you in for questioning. So, time to knock you out and wrap this up," She declared as she swung her whip across, a sharp crack ringing out.
"H-how dare you...!? I will not be defeated by a lowly-...," He began, before trailing off as she shot towards him, starting to charge up a lightning bolt before crying out as she unleashed a blinding flash of light.
"Your Spellcasting is way too slow, dumbass, and I'm not gonna just stand around and wait for you to finish charging up your attacks," She scoffed, before swinging her whip across as she closed in on him, hitting the side of his neck and wrapping around it, eliciting a choked gasp from him.
She then swept her foot across at his feet, knocking him over. And as he hit the ground with a thud, she planted her foot onto the middle of his chest and pulled on her whip, strangling him.
He gasped and writhed around as he tried to break free of the grasp of her whip, to no avail, before she swiftly fired out piercing needles of light at his wrists as he began to raise his hands, a sharp cry of pain ringing out as the light needles burst through his wrists.
His eyes then rolled back as he wheezed and gasped for air, foaming at the mouth as he struggled to breath, unable to get out from under Ravella's foot.
It wasn't long before he passed out, with the constriction of the whip cutting off his airflow completely, his body going limp and slumping against the dirt.
Ravella then unwound the whip from his neck and bashed the side of his head with the handle, to make sure he'd remain unconscious for a while, before going through his pockets.
"Hm? Is this a Teleport Spell? I see, he must have been planning on retreating after killing me...what an idiot, he should've used it as soon as I proved that I'm way stronger than he is. But I suppose that'd only happen if he was willing to admit that he was weaker than I am," Ravella thought to herself, before grabbing his leg and dragging him away as she began heading for the Knight outpost.
Meanwhile, in Amber Village...
"Tch...what a waste of my fucking time. This was disappointingly easy," Grumbled Lexia, as she plunged a bone dagger into the back of the head of one of the hooded figures to finish him off, the other two already dead.
"Yeah, I was planning on toying with them for a while, but they were just so weak...they're definitely noncombatants, their Spellcasting was barely even amateur level, and their physical combat skills were basically nonexistent," Sighed Colt in agreement, a disappointed look on his face.
"Uh-huh...if I'd known they were this weak, I would've held back a lot more," Replied Lexia, as she pulled the dagger back out with a sharp twist and tossed it away, before adding, "I guess we should probably go report this, huh?"
"Might as well...they were obviously some of the Nobles who went into hiding, so we should let headquarters know. Hm...now that I think about it, in hindsight, we probably should've kept one of them alive to interrogate," Mused Colt thoughtfully.
"Oh, right. Well, whatever...not much we can do about it now, after all, that ship has already sailed."