"You bastards...," Muttered Nile, as he evaded a fireball from one of the hooded figures before quickly crossing his axes defensively as one of the others fired a beam of light at him, blocking the attack before glancing to his left as the third figure came charging in, holding a sword with lightning crackling around it.
"Now, die, you lowborn scum!" He exclaimed as he leapt forward and drove the blade towards the Knight.
Nile whipped one of his axes across to deflect the thrust of the blade, the figure wincing as the impact jarred his arms, losing his grip over his sword, the lightning around it fading as it hit the ground with a clatter and skidded away.
He then began to charge up a lightning bolt, before gasping sharply as Nile leapt forward and slammed his foot onto the middle of the figure's stomach, knocking the wind out of him and sending him stumbling back.
"Who are these people? They're clearly not trained, they're fighting so clumsily, they wouldn't even qualify as Third-Class Knights...unless that's a ploy to make me let down my guard? No, I doubt it, I'm not getting the impression that they're putting on an act," Nile thought to himself with a perplexed look on his face.
"D-damn you...how dare a mere Commoner plant his filthy foot on me!?" Snapped the figure furiously.
"I mean, technically, it was the bottom of my boot, so-..."
"Shut up! Blast this rat until he's dead!" Yelled the figure, as he and the other two began to take aim.
Suddenly, their Spells abruptly faded, before the one with Lightning Magic got sent flying across to his left with a startled yelp, his left shoulder slamming onto the wall of the dead end at the back of the alley.
"Captain, it's you!" Greeted Nile with a sense of relief, as Aster came strolling into the alley.
"Uh, I'm here too, you know," Spoke up Tacitus dryly.
"Er, I apologize, I meant no offense."
"Don't worry about it, he's just moody...well, moodier than usual, anyway. Now, then, we've evened the odds, so let's eliminate these guys," Remarked Aster with a smirk, before raising his hand towards one of the figures, who let out a yell as he found himself getting pulled rapidly through the air towards Aster.
As the figure got within his reach, Aster grabbed his throat and slammed him onto the ground, eliciting a sharp gasp of pain from him, before blood erupted out as Aster tightened his grip around the figure's neck and unleashed a fierce telekinetic burst from his hand, crushing the man's throat.
Tacitus then shot towards one of the two remaining figures, who stumbled slightly before firing out a slashing wave of light at him.
"[Nullify Spell]," Tacitus swiftly chanted, firing out a burst of nullifying energy and dissipating the incoming Light Spell, before he leapt towards the figure and swung his sword across, the large blade slicing through the air and slamming against the side of the figure's neck, a loud crunch ringing out as his neck snapped upon impact.
"It's over, your allies are dead...surrender yourself if you don't want to meet the same fate," Stated Nile as he cornered the third figure.
"F-fuck you, you damned insect!" He shot back, firing out a blast of lightning.
Nile took a quick step back and raised one of his axes, blocking the blast with the head of his weapon.
"It's no use, that isn't going to work-...," Began Nile, before trailing off and leaping towards the figure as he took out a Spell Card.
Nile swung the flat of one of his axes down towards the top of the figure's head to try and knock him out, but he was too slow to react, as the figure activated the Spell and disappeared from sight.
"Hm? Oh, looks like one got away, must have been a Teleport Spell," Mused Aster, as he walked over.
"The other two are also carrying Teleport Spells on them," Tacitus informed them, as he searched the pockets of the two they'd killed.
"I'm sorry...if I'd moved just a step faster, I might have been able to stop him," Apologized Nile with a frustrated grimace.
"Hey, it's fine, man. Everyone makes mistakes, just make sure you learn from this and don't make the same mistake again. Next time, just kill them when you have the chance," Replied Aster as he patted his shoulder with a wry smile.
"Uh, well...I thought we should capture one of them to interrogate, that's why I didn't try to kill him. I doubt these three were working alone, they made it pretty obvious that they're Nobles, likely among those who went into hiding. So, in all likelihood, they must have more allies."
"Oh...right, yeah. I didn't even think of that...l-like I said, everyone makes mistakes," Muttered Aster as he sheepishly averted his gaze.
"Whatever, what's done is done, no point in dwelling on it. We should probably head back to the outpost and report this to headquarters," Sighed Tacitus in response.
"Uh, right...yeah, we should do that. Come on, let's go."
Meanwhile, in Opal Town...
"Too slow!" Exclaimed Celia, before she shot towards her opponent and slammed her right fist onto the middle of his stomach while grabbing his arm with her left hand, a fierce explosion bursting out upon impact and blasting a hole through the middle of his stomach.
The force of the blast knocked him off his feet, but Celia's grip on his arm kept him from flying back, a pop echoing out as his shoulder got dislocated. He let out an agonized wheeze as blood poured out of his mouth, collapsing onto his knees before Celia yanked him back onto his feet with a sharp tug on his arm.
"Y-you bitch...!"
"Time to die...this should be a good opportunity to test out my newest Spell," She remarked, before chanting, "Now, [Countdown Explosion]!"
An orb of explosive energy formed in her hand before she jammed it into the hole in the figure's stomach, a shudder of pain erupting across his body before she tightened her grip on his arm and flung him high up into the air, the glow of the explosive orb in his stomach brightening sharply before a fierce explosion burst out above, blasting his body to pieces.
"O-oh...ohh, shit. That might've been a mistake...," Celia muttered as blood and gore rained down, splattering across the ground.
She then glanced towards Raven, who was fighting the other figure who'd attacked them.
"Come on...," Said Raven as he tried to form a nozzle out of his palm, managing to extend it out before firing out a jet of flames from it, but his aim was off, veering off to the left of his opponent, as Raven thought to himself, "Damn it, guess I've still got a lot of work to do before I can reliably use this is battle, I haven't really even gotten the hang of it yet."
"Is that the best you can do, you freak!? I'll slaughter you, you abominat-...!" Exclaimed the figure, before being abruptly cut off as Raven shot forward with a sharp burst of speed and grabbed his face.
"Time to die," Remarked Raven coldly, before unleashing a blast of flames from his hand and turning the figure's head to ash in a matter of seconds...
...
...
About an hour later, in the Knight's headquarters in the Capital...
"Damn it...I'm glad no one got hurt, or worse, but this doesn't bode well," Jules muttered to herself with a frown as she paced around.
A short while ago, she'd gotten reports from the outposts in the locations that had been attacked, and the incidents had her more than a little concerned.
But that wasn't even the worst of it. While the castle hadn't been attacked and the Queen was safe, plus none of the Knights who were attacked had been injured at all, during those attacks, the prison in the Capital had also been attacked, and several of the Nobles that were imprisoned had been freed.
"This is really bad...unfortunately, the worst case scenario is probably the most likely scenario; all the Nobles who've opposed the changes we've made have banded together and are plotting to attempt a coup. We have to crush them before this gets too out of hand...we finally resolved our last internal conflict against The Irregulars, the last thing we need right now is a long, drawn-out civil war.
But if there's a silver lining, it's the fact that The Irregulars are on our side now. Thanks to that, the Knight Order is much stronger now-...oh, wait, I suppose I shouldn't refer to them as The Irregulars anymore. Getting back to the point, on top of the boost they've given the Knight Order, they have years of experience in fighting against the nation while staying in hiding.
So, they might have a rather valuable and unique perspective on where this new enemy is hiding out. I'll have to consult them about this later. Before that, I'll need to implement measures to increase security, there's no telling when and where they'll attack next..."