The ground trembled beneath the steps of the amber-colored figures. They were very tall, taller than any man or woman of any mortal race, and carried an oppressive presence that no rational being could help but regard with respect and fear.
The chaos had spread with absurd speed.
It wasn't monsters from legends that were sacking the city, but the citizens themselves: impoverished Argenteans, and even Ferreans and other races subordinate to the Hegemony. It was an open rebellion of men and women. A rebellion of the lowest class of society, slaves being freed, servants killing their masters. Freedom was in their hands, they could grasp it, they only had to spill blood for it.
"How naive," said a sinister figure that suddenly emerged behind the ringleader of the amber-colored warriors. "They seek freedom, but they will die enslaved beyond death."
"Who isn't a slave in this world?" the group's leader replied indifferently.
He was the only one wearing a helmet different from the crude design with a visor for the nose and eyes. He had a crested helmet similar to a mane, but purple, with two feathers in the ear area. That imposing figure, standing over three meters tall but seeming ten times taller due to his oppressive air, looked coldly at his counterpart.
An equally sinister figure.
She had four pairs of limbs; the upper ones were two pincers like those of a crab, and the other two were delicate hands of a pale marble hue. A scorpion tail rhythmically struck the ground. She had two pairs of ordinary legs down to the ankles, which ended in feet with only two chitinous toes. Meanwhile, her face, distorted with pitch-black lines staining her skin, revealed fangs protruding from her lips.
That creature was a Quicksilver, the distortion of the Argentean race, but obviously, she was no ordinary Quicksilver: her bright scarlet hair gave her away.
"Interesting answer, Captain Primus. But I have no interest in conversing with you more than necessary. My lady ordered me to watch you to ensure you do your job. Her orders are clear: destroy the cult and you will have a reward," the woman said in a sardonic tone.
"Your master was already clear enough," Primus replied indifferently. "But doesn't it bother you that I'm killing your kin?"
His words carried the provocation and malice of a schemer, but there was a strange, almost innocent sincerity to them.
"I have no kin, Primus. Just like you."
And with those final words, her figure simply vanished into the shadows just as she had arrived. And so, the group of warriors, like hunters arriving in a beast-filled forest, began their massacre.
She barely managed to emerge from the ground, when, dazed, she undid her almost intangible form as she phased through the solid floor.
The feral creature that had held Korelia was a member of the mercury race, a Quicksilver, creatures with a rather feral appearance. Quicksilvers had a grotesque look by Argentean standards; after all, they were a degeneration of them. But if one had to describe them, it would be something akin to beastmen from fiction: coarse, unsightly faces, with fur covering their heads and bodies, as well as traits from other animals similar to wolves and dogs.
In that moment she had used the oldest strategy in the book of war:
"Goodbye."
Retreat. In an instant, she had run dozens of meters, fleeing rapidly.
"Master, I can feel you, where are you?" she heard a worried, familiar voice.
Smiling, Korelia muttered, "Monday, find the cult's base quickly, hurry to the location..."
With those words, her field of vision suddenly expanded, allowing her to perceive not only dozens of meters around herself but also Monday's own expanded field of vision. Thanks to her telepathy, she could see through the eyes not just of Korelia, but of all living beings within a five-hundred-meter radius.
Which is why I'm glad I left my psychic signature with Monday, Korelia thought to herself with a smile while waiting for her subordinates to arrive.
But then the Quicksilver appeared. His appearance was quite crude, with yellowish hair and an aquiline nose, alongside a slouching back and a face covered in patches of hair on various parts of the skin.
Despite that vagabond look, when he unleashed his power, it was enough to suppress even an ordinary noble.
He tore through the air with a speed no human, not even a trained one, could match, and grabbed the chains that, despite not limiting her movements, were still tied to Korelia's feet and arms. Without saying a word, he yanked her; with a forceful pull, Korelia's body hit the ground violently as her battered, half-naked figure was revealed before the monster's eyes.
Korelia's physical prowess was low, and she couldn't physically resist a noble, much less a beast like that.
For a brief moment, she sensed the animalistic lust that many men—with fewer impulses and perhaps more wisdom than this Quicksilver—would harbor, but fear flashed in his eyes at the thought of the price he would pay for doing what he wanted to do. Though Korelia herself didn't know what he feared.
Even so, Korelia reacted quickly. In an instant, the air began to fill with carbon monoxide; in a matter of seconds, the room would be completely saturated, and even a noble would lose consciousness. But just as she was madly considering filling the entire room with lethal gas at the expense of her own health, while the Quicksilver approached with a lustful gaze...
A head went flying.
The Quicksilver's body took a few moments to understand what was happening before collapsing to the ground, falling completely still.
Sighing, Korelia looked at her subordinate, only just realizing she had nearly committed suicide. Tuesday emerged from the shadows wielding two kukris made of crimson steel.
"You arrived faster than I thought, Tuesday," she said with a smile, evaluating her own nakedness with an indifferent expression.
Tuesday quickly averted her gaze and handed her a change of clothes, which Korelia put on swiftly while explaining the chaos in the outer section of the city of Tesara. Or at least, a minor part of it.
The city was large, home to a quarter of a million people. The rebellion had caused widespread chaos, but nothing overly exaggerated since, as if the shadow of death had fallen over them, by the end of the night the blood had dried and the metropolis had returned to a tense tranquility.
"Something scared them, but not us. It seems something else is moving in the shadows besides us..."
But before they could dwell on it much, Korelia's consciousness clouded. Physical exhaustion, combined with the toxic gas she herself had released, took its toll. Without understanding what was happening, nothingness devoured her completely, as if it were a second death.
The situation had resolved itself quickly, perhaps too quickly. Apparently, a rebellion of this kind wasn't as epic as she had previously thought, and she had gained more questions than answers in the process.
The Princeps' palace was bustling, and she hadn't seen any suspicious Quicksilvers again. The Onyx legionnaires left her alone after she shed a few tears; it seemed the story of them being rescued by someone who sowed chaos among the Quicksilvers was more plausible than she had imagined, and they let her go shortly after.
"My lady, news has arrived," a small, slender figure emerged from her bedroom door, emitting the scent of jasmine and medicines. It was Bihar, or rather, Tuesday, though this was the identity she had forged to keep her informed without raising suspicions.
"Tell me," she said.
She was practically naked, wearing only a muslin nightgown so thin her body was visible through it. The Southern Continent was warm, unlike the cold mornings of the Eastern Continent; this heat made it so she couldn't help but think about walking around the entire city naked, though obviously, that would be impossible.
"Apparently, the reason everyone in the palace is nervous is the arrival of the Elektrum Hunters," Tuesday said in a solemn tone, frowning, seemingly worried.
Tuesday's appearance, outside her usual attire and mask, was quite ordinary; she had a beautiful, sweet face, making her look almost like a maiden. She had olive-toned skin from her Feymor ancestry, as well as light scarlet hair, bordering on pink.
"The Elektrum Hunters?" Korelia asked, dumbfounded, trying to process the information.
There were several Magisteriums within the Hegemony, for example: the Onyx Magisterium, in charge of public security and surveillance; the Achates Magisterium, in charge of commerce and tax collection; or the Adamas Magisterium, in charge of the masonry and engineering guild.
This organization of Magisteriums had been established during the time of Donallus, though, after more than twenty hegemons over thousands of years, several Magisteriums had disappeared and others had emerged.
And one of the most mysterious was one of the latter: the Elektrum Magisterium, led by the Elektrum Hunters. Rumors varied regarding their functions; some said they were a specialized assassination corps, others spoke of the hegemon's personal guard, but their presence always suppressed even other Magisteriums and the archons themselves—nobles who were supposed to be above any other branch of power.
Korelia's expression transformed into a sigh as her mind darted in several directions.
"Have you managed to deduce anything?" she asked Tuesday.
Despite having little information, it should be enough to know something basic about them.
"That's the problem, Master, I haven't been able to discover anything. Despite having their name, it's as if their presence is an error within an equation, an anomaly." Tuesday's eyes shone with frustration, a sign that she wasn't lying; there really was something she couldn't uncover.
An uncomfortable feeling flooded Korelia's mind as she felt her eyelid twitch slightly. Dazed, she frowned as a strange sensation—as if something important were about to happen—blanketed her mind. The sound of a knock on the door pulled her from her thoughts.
A maid entered the room and handed Tuesday a note. She didn't read it, but quickly handed it over to her lady.
Puzzled, Korelia felt a pang of caution as she brought the note to her face. When she finally held it in her hands and read it, she was dumbfounded to see that it contained only a single sentence:
"I have lost my head."
What an ominous message! That note seems to be directly tied to Pandemonium's headless wolf form from the previous section. Would you like me to translate the next part so we can uncover who sent it?