Chapter 179: Chapter 179: The Dead Envoys
Chapter 179: The Dead Envoys
The neutral zone between the human diplomatic sector and the lower military camps was eerily quiet.
Nyx crouched low on the thick, twisting root of a dormant oak tree. She pulled the dark hood over her head. Her pitch-black eyes scanned the dimly lit pathway below.
She did not rely on her physical vision. She filtered the ambient mana, looking for a very specific, sickly corruption.
"I have the trail," Nyx whispered into her comms.
A few yards away, Lucien stood perfectly still in the shadows of a stone archway. He adjusted his grip on the hilt of his Thunder Rapier.
"Numbers?" Lucien asked quietly.
"Six targets in total," Nyx reported, tracing the dark, residual magic lingering on the damp cobblestones.
"Lord Lionel sent a mixed envoy. Four corrupted human knights riding heavily armored war-horses. They are escorted by two bribed traitors. One is a high-ranking Elven ranger. The other is a Dwarven vanguard captain."
Lucien frowned. The political implications were horrifying.
"He is using traitors from their own races to deliver the fake declarations of war," Lucien analyzed grimly.
"If an Elven ranger delivers a confession to the Elven High Council claiming they murdered the Dwarven ambassador, the Council will believe it implicitly. Lionel leaves nothing to chance."
"They are moving fast," Nyx warned, dropping lightly from the tree root to the cobblestones.
"They are heading straight for the Glass Bridge. Once they cross the gorge and split up, we will not be able to track them all."
"Then we intercept them on the bridge," Lucien stated firmly.
They moved through the shadows with terrifying, synchronized speed. Nyx utilized her [Shadow Domain], slipping through the dark patches cast by the glowing crystal streetlamps. Lucien followed her path flawlessly, his footsteps completely silent.
The Glass Bridge was a massive, terrifying structure. It was built entirely from thick, enchanted Elven glass, suspended over a deep, roaring chasm that separated the diplomatic sector from the main city roads.
The six envoys were already halfway across.
The heavy hooves of the human knights’ war-horses clacked loudly against the thick glass. The Elven and Dwarven traitors rode alongside them, their faces hidden beneath dark hoods.
"We take the humans first," Nyx instructed, drawing her twin obsidian daggers. "I will drop the rear guard. You take the front."
Lucien nodded. He drew his rapier. A faint, crackling spark of blue lightning danced across the silver blade.
"Remember," Lucien whispered.
"No noise. If those horses panic, the patrols on the other side will hear the commotion."
"I am a Phantom, Lucien," Nyx replied, a cold, arrogant smirk touching her lips. "I do not make noise."
Nyx melted entirely into the shadows of the bridge’s archway.
Lucien took a deep breath. He channeled his core mana into his legs. He did not prepare a massive, flashy lightning strike. He compressed the volatile electrical energy, forcing it inward.
The four human knights rode in a tight formation. The Dwarven traitor rode at the front, guiding the envoy through the mist.
Suddenly, the shadow directly beneath the rearmost human knight twisted violently.
Nyx materialized directly on the back of the moving war-horse, sitting silently right behind the heavily armored knight. The knight did not even feel her presence.
She raised both of her obsidian daggers. With a flawless, simultaneous strike, she drove the blades directly into the microscopic gaps between the knight’s neck armor and his helmet.
SQUELCH.
The knight stiffened. He did not scream. Nyx’s daggers were coated in a paralyzing neurotoxin that instantly seized his vocal cords.
She grabbed him by the collar, effortlessly dragging his heavy, dying body off the side of the horse before the animal could even register the shift in weight.
She lowered the corpse silently onto the glass floor, instantly melting back into the shadows to stalk her next target.
At the front of the formation, Lucien made his move.
The Dwarven traitor suddenly felt the air pressure drop. He looked up.
Lucien dropped from the high stone archway above the bridge. He fell like a silent, silver ghost.
As he plummeted toward the lead human knight, Lucien unleashed his highly concentrated lightning magic.
[Volt Sting]
He did not swing his rapier. He thrust it forward with impossible, pinpoint accuracy.
The incredibly thin, electrified blade pierced directly through the top of the lead knight’s helmet.
The concentrated voltage did not explode outward. It traveled straight down the steel blade, frying the knight’s brainstem in a fraction of a millisecond.
The knight died instantly, slumping forward onto the neck of his horse.
Lucien landed flawlessly on the glass bridge. He did not stop his momentum. He spun gracefully on his heel, pulling his rapier free from the dead knight’s helmet.
The Dwarven traitor gasped, reaching for his heavy axe.
"We are under a-"
Before the Dwarf could finish shouting the warning, Lucien’s rapier flashed a second time.
The silver blade pierced the Dwarf’s throat, severing his vocal cords entirely. Lucien yanked the blade out, stepping aside as the heavy Dwarf crashed onto the glass bridge.
Behind them, the remaining two human knights realized they were under attack. They drew their heavy broadswords, looking wildly around the misty bridge.
"Where are they?!" one knight panicked.
He looked down. A pair of pale hands erupted from his own shadow on the glass floor.
Nyx grabbed the knight by his heavy iron boots. She violently yanked him downward. The knight lost his balance, tumbling off his horse and hitting the thick glass face-first.
CRACK.
Before the knight could recover, Nyx slipped a single obsidian dagger directly into the base of his skull.
The final human knight saw the shadow assassin execute his comrade. He raised his broadsword, preparing to swing wildly.
Lucien appeared in front of him in a blur of blue static.
Lucien grabbed the heavy broadsword by the flat of the blade with his bare, leather-gloved hand. He channeled a massive surge of electricity directly through the metal weapon.
The knight convulsed violently as the high-voltage current surged up his arms and stopped his heart.
The knight collapsed. The horses finally stopped walking, confused by the sudden lack of commands, but they did not panic. The executions had been terrifyingly silent.
The Elven traitor was the only one left alive.
The ranger dropped his bow. He stared at the five dead men littering the bridge. He looked at the elegant swordsman standing in front of him, and the terrifying shadow assassin materializing from the mist.
"Please," the Elven traitor begged, holding his hands up in surrender.
"I am just a messenger. Lord Lionel forced me to do this."
Nyx stepped forward. She did not offer a single word of sympathy.
She drove her dagger directly into the traitor’s heart.
The Elf gasped, clutching his chest. Nyx casually pushed him backward. His body tumbled over the edge of the Glass Bridge, disappearing into the dark, roaring chasm below.
Lucien wiped his rapier clean with a silk cloth. He sheathed the weapon with a soft click.
"Search the bodies," Lucien instructed quietly.
Nyx bent down and searched the dead human knights. She pulled five heavy parchment letters sealed with black wax from their saddlebags.
She broke the seal on the first letter. She read Lord Lionel’s forged declaration of war.
"The mission is complete," Nyx confirmed, striking a match and setting the forged letters on fire.
She dropped the burning parchment over the edge of the bridge, letting it turn to ash in the wind.
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