Arcane Era-Chapter 90: First Night

The banquet ended quite early due to the intrusion of the two assassins and the accidental death of one. Liyah had expected them to be very durable, since they were daring and skilled enough to invade the Royal Palace, but her estimation was wrong.

Not only did these assassins have no Armaments, they were also no match for her Pink Teddy.

She turned one into meat paste within a flash, and after seeing this, she pulled her punches and captured the retreating partner, nearly shattering his neck just from how strong her Arcane Instrument was. In the end, she was barely able to capture one, but the gruesome death of his partner was enough to end the party early.

No, just the mere fact that assassins invaded Sarvos’ Royal Palace was enough cause for people to lose all of their partying mood. Even with the Ak’ashi Guild present, many no longer felt safe and after concluding their felicitations, they hurriedly left the banquet.

To save face, the Sarvos Royal Family had to officially end the party and send everyone off.

’Which brings me here...’ Theo sighed as he collapsed on his bed, a relieved smile spreading across his mildly exhausted face.

The entire team was taken to their residence after the Royal Family offered them words of thanks, particularly focusing on Liyah and her accomplishments. Naturally, they promised a separate reward fee for her actions, further raising the esteem of the young girl.

’She did well... though I would have preferred it if she didn’t interfere.’ Theo sighed, a dark gleam shining in his eyes. He had only spent some minutes conversing with the first prince, and he already hated him.

’Such an arrogant, idiotic and utterly foolish man...’ Theo felt rage just thinking about the face of the person called Raimund, first prince of Sarvos.

There was a way Prince Raimund addressed the lower-class members of Sarvos that absolutely irked him. He spoke about the army the same way, especially the criminals forcefully drafted to fight in a war they had nothing to do with.

’My friends are most likely on the battlefield fighting for their lives right now, while he gets to sleep tight in a warm bed after eating to his fill tonight...’ Theo kept gritting his teeth in anger the more he thought about it.

’... That’s not fair!’

However, this moment didn’t last too long.

Theo quickly shrugged his boiling thoughts aside, deciding to focus on the task at hand.

’I’ll be heading to the battlefield with everyone in order to stop the Civil War. Hopefully, I’ll be able to spot them...’ He sighed, picking up the Divine Chronicles of Antiquity on his bedside table before more thoughts invaded his brain.

The room he occupied was relatively small, compared to his place in Sarvos, but it had a lot of grandiose designs and shiny furniture that made it appear grander than it actually was.

Theo couldn’t care less about these details, though.

He simply placed the book on his lap and flipped the pages until he found himself right at the moment he stopped.

Endless Ambition got advice on how to get rid of his desires from an old Sage called Nameless, leaving for the High Realm while the latter perished as a result of Endless Ambition’s blazing heat.

He wasted no time at all, looking in no other direction but up—at the darkness that filled the sky.

In those days, there was no concept of night and day, and the sky was always dark.

The only source of illumination were the sparks of life that dwelled in the Divine Ones and the other living creatures that occupied Trae’h at the time. The High Realm was completely black, which meant it was completely devoid of life.

Endless Ambition journeyed for an unquantifiable amount of time.

Wings sprouted from behind him, and he jumped on clouds, letting him traverse the distance between land and the sky. He was hesitant at first, since the High Realm was barren and filled with darkness, but Endless Ambition was determined and brave.

"If I can get rid of these desires, I can return to my family!" He thought with resolution.

Finally, after rising for so long, he was able to reach the High Ream... a place occupied by sheer nothingness. The moment Endless Ambition stepped into the dark vacuum, it suddenly felt like he had been blinded.

There was no sign of life around him, and so with no source of light, he felt completely lost and hopeless.

But do not forget... Endless Ambition had his burning desires.

They were blazing at the moment, shimmering so bright with intense radiance that they lit the way for him. Even his spark of life did not burn as bright as his desires, but this was a good thing for him.

With the radiant display of his desires, he could now see.

The very thing he tried to get rid of showed him the path to take. This made Endless Ambition wonder how he would return home without the help of the light from his desires, but he decided to keep going.

Finally, he reached his destination: a dazzling white lake called the Milky Way.

He remembered the words of the sage and knew he couldn’t bathe in the water for too long. He only needed to alleviate his burdens and let go of some, not all, of his desires.

He still needed the light of desire to show him the path home.

Endless Ambition entered the Milky Way, his body covered with the white liquid, bubbling gently as he felt at ease for the first time for so long. The soothing feeling coursed through him, and he was at rest... at long last.

No more was he afflicted, but he was stuck in a never-ending bliss... to the point that he totally forgot about the words of the sage and didn’t remember to be watchful of time.

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, ten breaths of time passed.

’What an idiot...’ Theo shook his head as he reached this point, but suddenly snapped out of his thoughts as his senses picked up on something.

’Hm?’

He raised a brow, narrowing his eyes as he activated his Armament: [Transparency Mask].

Since they began their journey to Sarvos, Theo was yet to take the mask off. He was worried about being recognized by anyone, and even in his private quarters there was the fear that he was being observed.

Unless Kamara told him it was alright to, Theo wasn’t going to jeopardize the mission and reveal his identity. That would undoubtedly link the Ak’ashi Guild to the destruction of Sarvos’ fortress.

He couldn’t have that.

Once [Transparency Mask] was activated, Theo found himself able to see through any obstacle in his path, like they were translucent, almost transparent. He couldn’t see through himself, due to the Ne’sh he produced as an Arcane Vessel, but he could see through the book he held, and the bed he slept on.

It was a strange sensation, but Theo had gotten used to it already.

He sent his gaze to the walls that surrounded his room, easily having access to the hallway existing beyond it. There, he saw someone lurking... walking rather slowly and stealthily.

The person had a concealed weapon and was suspiciously dressed—evidently separating him from the Royal Palace’s guards.

’Also, I’m pretty sure our floor is a secluded domain, so the guards aren’t allowed in...’ Theo slowly rose to his feet as he had this thought. ’Looks like this person is a man, and he’s clearly an intruder.’

Without hesitation, Theo went ahead and put on his [Ashen Hood] Armament. He felt a misty fog surround him as his body began to turn invisible. A smile coursed through his face as he confidently neared his door.

’Let’s be a little patient. Which room is he targeting?’ He wondered, maintaining his position while watching the mysterious intruder from behind his door.

Within a few seconds, the man stopped at the entrance of a particular room.

—Liyah’s room.

Of course, the room was locked, so the man brought out a lock pick and quickly got to work.

At this point, Theo reckoned he had been patient enough.

His room was a considerable distance from Liyah’s, so he knew he had to act fast while maintaining his stealth. Swift movements would cause sound, which could alert the intruder.

’[Ashen Hood] only makes me visibly undetectable. I still have the weakness of other forms of detection...’ He reminded himself, slowly opening his door so he could step out.

He did this very quickly, closing his door in a hurry.

Naturally, despite how much noise he tried to eliminate, a bit of it leaked out.

This immediately alerted the intruder.

He looked in Theo’s direction, his bloodthirsty eyes focused on his door before quickly scanning the area. After doing this for a short while, and not spotting anyone, the intruder proceeded to pick Liyah’s lock.

’Looks like what he has isn’t an observation-type Armament.’

Theo had already searched the man with his mask, and found out he was wielding an Armament in the form of a ring on his right finger. Even if it wasn’t an observation-type one, the mere fact that it was an Arcane Instrument meant he had to be cautious.

He couldn’t take any chances.

Theo carefully approached the man, his strides quick but quiet. He was an expert at these sorts of covert actions, even without the help of Armaments. With [Ashen Hood] ensuring his invisibility, sneaking up on his target became several times easier.

Within seconds, he was already behind the man.

"Hehe!" He heard the man snicker under his breath. "Finally got it!"

Right as he successfully unlocked the door, the assassin felt a bludgeoning force behind him, causing him to pass out almost immediately.

Theo grabbed his head, preventing him from falling to the ground and causing a commotion, his eyes shining with a cold light.

’He really was targeting Liyah, which means he’s most likely affiliated with the people she stopped at the banquet.’

There was no doubt in Theo’s mind at this point.

’This guy is an assassin!’

"Well done." A voice suddenly appeared from behind Theo, causing him to nearly yelp in shock, which would waste all of his previous efforts.

He quickly controlled himself, though, dashing away from the sound while maintaining a grip on the man he captured. His expression turned dark and his heart raced, anxious about the person that sneaked up on him so easily.

"Relax... it’s me." Kamara’s voice wafted in the air as she revealed herself in the darkness.

Everything happened so fast that Theo’s vision was too blurred to realize it was her, but once he was able to detect her, he quickly eased up.

"Miss Kamara, what are you doing?"

"Same thing as you." She pointed at the assassin and chuckled. "Looks like we both had the same idea."

"... Ah."

She took a step forward and appeared in front of Theo in an instant. "Since you were kind enough to capture him for me, why don’t we interrogate him together?"

"Okay..." He mumbled.

"Go wake everyone up and gather in my room." Kamara instructed, swiftly taking charge of the situation as she took the assassin from Theo’s hands.

"Let’s find out who these people are."