Timeless AssassinC381: The sixth color
Chapter 381: The sixth color
(Vault Chamber, Timer: 09:49)
Leo's boots barely made a sound as he moved deeper into the chamber, scanning the next row of objects.
[Ring of the Ember Saint]
A crimson band imbued with endless fire. Grants the user control over flame-based techniques, with immunity to all heat below 10,000°C.
[Pursuer's Air Bullet]
A self-homing skill attack, which cannot be evaded and shall relentlessly pursue its target until it hits the target's body.
[Fleshroot Seed]
A parasitic plant core. Once implanted, it slowly replaces dying tissue with regenerative bark, increasing survivability but gradually altering the host's physiology.
[Heaven's Prism Shell]
A translucent orb that can absorb and release a single spell up to Monarch-tier. Works only once and then shatters.
[Whisperer's Chisel]
A cursed sculpting tool that reveals the hidden essence of any metal or stone it carves. Each use feeds a sliver of the user's mind to the chisel, and there's a chance that the creations made with this chisel gain partial sentience.
Leo moved swiftly past them, admiring their design and descriptions, but nothing felt quite right for him to choose.
He continued this process row after row, until suddenly, when he was inspecting objects near the left most wall of the room, his body suddenly began to glow with a faint Golden Aura, as he passed close to an old and rusted necklace.
"Huh?"
Leo wondered, as he couldn't believe that he spotted the sixth color of the codex in a place like this, or what that color even meant? But all he could be sure of was that he saw faint wisps of gold covering his body for a brief moment.
"I didn't even consciously plan to keep the codex active…. But I guess at this point it has become a subconscious part of who I am," Leo mused, as he thought about how he did not even consciously pool mana behind his eyes to keep the codex active, but was doing so anyway out of habit.
However, the question here wasn't why he saw the golden color, but rather what that color represented, as he turned his head and looked at the pedestal beside him, which seemed like it contained nothing more than an old and dust covered chain.
[An old and rusted necklace]
That was the entirety of the description.
No more details. No explanation of what it did.
As unlike every other item in the room, there was no glow, no magic signature, no aura to this object, nothing to suggest this belonged in a vault housing the rarest treasures of the known galaxy.
'What is this thing? And why was my body enveloped in a golden aura when I passed by it?' Leo wondered, as he stepped closer, with his breath hitched.
A golden hue, faint but unmistakable, began to thread its way from his chest, snaking outward toward the necklace like a slow-moving river of light.
It was unmistakable now, for the closer he walked to the necklace, the stronger the golden aura became.
'Why…? Why only this item?' Leo wondered, his brows furrowing, heart beginning to pound again, as he anticipated that this golden aura had something to do with opportunity or goodluck.
His attraction towards this item wasn't mana based.
It wasn't even something that he had prior knowledge about, or something that caught his eye because of the description.
But it was an attraction set-up by the [Sevenfold Revelation Codex].
He moved side to side, testing the distance, confirming the aura's presence only near this specific item. Every time he stepped back, the thread faded. Every time he approached again, it returned—glowing more clearly now, as though recognizing him.
"No way…" he muttered, voice low, as the timer ticked on.
[08:11]
'It doesn't make sense,' he thought. 'This item here has no description, no leaking energy, no proper record. It looks like junk. Why would this be in here?'
But the feeling gnawed at him.
The necklace wasn't just random.
It was deliberately placed.
And the complete lack of description felt less like negligence, and more like someone intentionally hiding what it truly was.
'Fuck… Do I really gamble everything on this?'
He could already imagine Antonio's face if he walked out holding this scrap of metal.
But then again, why would the Codex ever respond so strongly to a fake?
*Sigh*
Leo exhaled sharply and clenched his fists.
"No regrets," he muttered, as he reached out and picked up the necklace, the golden thread flooding fully into the metal the moment he touched it.
It was warm. Not with heat, but with familiarity.
Like holding a memory he had long forgotten.
And in that moment, Leo just knew he had made the right choice, for the necklace just felt right in his hands.
—————–
(Meanwhile, Antonio on the elevator ride back up)
Antonio folded his arms and leaned against the cold wall behind him, eyes half-lidded.
He rarely allowed himself to feel nervous.
But today, he was slightly nervous.
Not just because Leo was inside the vault and his instincts told him that the boy was up to no good.
But also because of what he might take out from it.
'Just don't pick either of the two…' Antonio thought, closing his eyes for a moment.
There were hundreds of priceless artifacts inside the vault, each of them rare, each of them powerful, but two items in particular haunted the back of his mind like ghosts from a vault keeper's worst nightmare.
The first—
[Sun God's Bracelet]
A radiant wristlet bound in black gold, stolen from the corpse of Monarch-tier Guildmaster Evos during his duel with Dupravel Nuna.
It was more than just a beautiful accessory, for it was functional, and terrifyingly so.
It regenerated mana at double rate under sunlight.
Restored stamina in near real-time.
And could channel a devastating beam of compressed solar energy, enough to vaporize entire squads if fired on an open-sky battlefield.
It was, in every way, a weapon designed to dominate on sun-kissed planets, with an estimated value of: 7.2 billion MP.
And the second—
[Indestructible Necklace]
The last known surviving remnant of the legendary Indestructible armor set once worn by the Dead God, Xula.
While the other pieces of that seven piece set had vanished into history, this one remained.
By default, it provided permanent protection to the neck down to the lower chest, making the bearer immune to all penetration strikes when active.
But that was only its basic mode.
Its true strength was in its mobile mode—
Where the wearer could will the armor to manifest on any part of their body for a split second, allowing them to block even the most precise, high-speed penetration strikes by directing the armor's core effect to that point.
And while the necklace without the support of the full set, couldn't negate the impact force entirely, what it could do was ensure that penetration was impossible.
The blunt trauma still passed through, sometimes shattering bones.
But it made piercing and fatal strikes impossible by providing the user with a one of a kind defence in the universe.
Only a weapon forged from Origin Metal, could destroy it outright, and it was only because the Timeless Assassin possessed daggers made from Origin Metal, that he managed to kill the invincible Xula, all those years back.
'No one can ever replace an artifact like that… not even with a thousand years of trade and theft,' Antonio thought, eyes narrowing slightly.
Over the last fourteen days, he had gone out of his way to erase the mana signatures of those two items, reset their vault descriptions, and have them both listed under false names with dull, non-glowing interfaces.
Not enough to make them invisible.
But enough to make any ambitious man or greedy prodigy glance past them, assuming them to be broken trinkets or old failures.
"I even swapped their positions, placing them between other lucrative items so that the boy would not focus on them too much"
He sighed, as he hoped that Leo went for anything but one of those two items.
Mass release chapter 6/6.
Thankyou so much for your patronage! Each of your contribution made this mass release possible.
A big cheer for all of you!
Contact - ToS
Timeless AssassinC382: Fate
Chapter 382: Fate
(Basement Level V, Leo's POV)
As soon as Leo walked out of the treasure vault, the guards stationed outside stepped forward without a word, their faces cold and unreadable, as though they'd been waiting for this exact moment with bated breath.
"Pause. Let us inspect you!" one of them said, as the other had already begun moving, gloved hands sweeping up his arms, down his ribs, pressing against his legs and circling behind his neck in search of hidden treasure items, scrolls or gems.
They didn't ask permission.
They didn't need to.
Leo remained calm, standing still as their fingers traced across his body like professional pickpockets in reverse, searching every inch for anything he might have smuggled out.
They checked his mouth. His throat. His ears. His soles.
And when they found nothing apart from the rusted necklace dangling from his neck, they exchanged a quick glance.
"Clear."
"Clear."
They stepped back in unison, as though the inspection had never happened at all, as though he hadn't just endured one of the most invasive checks of his life from a man, for the sake of walking out with what appeared to be scrap metal.
"Start walking back…" the one on the right instructed, as they began to flank him once more on his way out of the vault.
No words were spoken.
Only the soft echo of boots against polished stone followed, as Leo was ushered through the secondary checkpoint, where yet another arcane scanner lit up the hallway in pale blue as it swept a horizontal band of light across his body.
It chimed once. No red. No alarms.
Leo exhaled softly, the necklace still tucked beneath his collar, cold against his skin like a coin left under moonlight.
He was directed toward a curtained chamber to the side, where his original robes had already been laid out, freshly folded, and ready for him to slip into once more.
He changed quickly, not because he was in any particular hurry, but because he wanted to get back into thick and private clothing as soon as possible.
Once he was done, the guards resumed their silent escort, matching his pace step for step, not a second faster nor slower, until finally, the silver doors of the elevator shaft appeared in view.
They didn't follow him inside.
They simply stopped at the boundary, backs straight, eyes forward, with neither of them saluting nor speaking, as though his presence, and everything he might have chosen, had nothing to do with them anymore.
"Go–" The one on the left said, as Leo stepped into the lift, and the door automatically hissed shut behind him.
*Elevator Music*
Elevator music began to play once more, as Leo was left completely clueless on whether the elevator was moving up, down or no-where, as the long wait to reach the surface resumed.
—————-
12 minutes later, Leo reached the ground floor lobby of the Black Serpents Headquarters, and walked straight out of the exit with the necklace hidden beneath his robes as a free man.
Nobody stopped him. Nobody seemed to pay him any special attention, as he was allowed to walk out of the Black Serpents Headquarters, just like any other guild member.
He was cautious to check for trails.
Paranoid, that someone may suddenly jump him from behind and try to assassinate him, however, nothing of the sort happened, as he made it back to his apartment building without facing any attacks.
Upon reaching his apartment door, Leo did not enter immediately.
Instead, he stayed rooted in place, his body turned slightly sideways, fingers barely brushing the edge of the lock as he activated [Absolute Vision].
A subtle pulse of mana rippled outward from his body, washing through the apartment walls, the ceiling, the floor, everything within a thirty-meter radius suddenly laid bare before his mind's eye in full detail.
No one in the corners.
No mana signature in the bathroom.
No heat signatures near the window.
No living aura.
And no signs of a threat.
Only stillness.
Only silence.
He waited three more seconds just to be sure, his fingers tightening against the frame, before exhaling softly and turning the key.
*Click*
The door creaked open as he stepped inside without a word, only to immediately lock it again behind him with both the bolt and the physical lock.
And only then… did his shoulders drop, just slightly.
Leo made his way toward the wall mounted cabinet, brushing past the sparsely decorated living space, as he reached for the second drawer, where his storage ring sat hidden beneath a pile of miscellaneous clothes.
He slid it onto his finger without hesitation.
A flicker of blue light later, the rusted necklace vanished, sealed inside the spatial fold of the ring, far away from prying eyes or possible interference.
Only after securing it, did he allow himself to sit down on the bed, as he grabbed the [Sevenfold Revelation Codex] from inside the storage ring.
*Flip*
He flipped it open, heart still slightly pounding, as he couldn't wait to get out of this planet now, as fast as he could.
*Glow*
The moment the Codex's parchment was exposed to air, it responded.
Golden ink bled across the page like molten sunlight, twisting and dancing as words slowly formed in their usual cascading elegance.
——————
>"You have witnessed the sixth color of revelation: Gold."
>"Gold is not a reflection of power. Gold is not a measure of worth. Gold… is a whisper of Fate."
>"When the golden light wraps around your form, it means your path stands at a precipice."
>"It does not tell you where that path leads, only that it diverges from everything before it."
>"To see gold is to stand at the edge of destiny."
>"What you choose to pick, whom you choose to trust, or the road you choose to walk… will shape not only your life, but the lives around you."
>"Gold offers no certainty. It offers only magnitude."
>"For Fate does not promise fortune. It only promises consequence."
>"Those touched by gold often rise higher… or fall farther… than any other."
>"Heed this color with the reverence of a flame….. beautiful, but able to burn."
——————
The glow slowly faded.
The Codex turned silent again.
But Leo didn't close it.
He sat there for a long moment, thumb resting on the page, his thoughts distant.
So it wasn't good luck that he saw at the vault, but rather fate.
Fate that could prove to be both good or bad for him depending on the circumstances, as the only thing assured when the golden aura appeared was that choosing one way or the other may alter one's life forever.
It represented a turning point.
A fork in the road.
'So the necklace… it might get me killed as well,' Leo thought, the realization settling cold and deep into his gut.
For a moment, he cautiously activated [Absolute Vision] once more and began to check his surroundings for threats, as somehow his instincts screamed at him to not linger around on planet Twin Fang anymore.
"Well, I've done everything the Cult wanted me to do, it's time to get the hell out of here now—" Leo concluded, as he quickly began to pack his bags with only one thought in mind…..
Which was to get off this planet before fate caught up.
Contact - ToS
Timeless AssassinC383: License To Kill
Chapter 383: License To Kill
(Meanwhile, Back at the Black Serpent Headquarters, Vice-Guildmaster Antonio's Office)
Antonio leaned back in his chair, finally alone in the dim silence of his private office.
His fingers moved swiftly across the interface of his data slate, as he logged into the vault transaction logs to confirm the item Leo Skyshard had chosen.
He sincerely hoped that it was an item of no significant value, something worth a few dozen million MP at best, however, his breath hitched when he found out what Leo had actually selected.
[Retrieved Item: Indestructible Necklace]
For a full two seconds, Antonio didn't move.
Then—
"No… No. No! No, damnit!" he roared, slamming his fist onto the long wooden desk hard enough to send a spiderweb of cracks racing across its surface.
The data slate embedded within trembled, as Antonio clenched his teeth so tight, that his gums began to ache.
"Of all the fucking things…!"
His hand shook as he gripped the edge of the table.
"That little bastard knew. He had to have known!" he spat, fury overtaking disbelief.
"Nobody, and I mean nobody, in their right mind would have picked that item unless they knew exactly what it was and what it did.
Without prior knowledge, why would someone pick an item with no proper description, no mana trace and no appealing looks?" Antonio wondered, as something about this selection did not sit right with him.
Somehow, he couldn't wrap his head around why Leo would make such a choice, as if he were put in Leo's situation, he would never do the same.
"This was planned for sure…." He muttered, as he stood up now, his thoughts spiralling out of control.
"All that looking around, all that hesitation, it was likely just a front. An attempt to make this look like a spur of the moment decision"
Antonio's jaw flexed.
"But the reality is, he did not go in there to explore. He went in to collect the indestructible necklace"
Antonio stopped, as he stared out of the office window overlooking the city.
"You're clever, Skyshard. I'll give you that. Smarter than most, even. But you don't understand the line between ambition… and suicidal greed."
He turned back to the desk, eyes glinting with a colder light now.
"You picked one of the two items I made sure no one could identify. You probably understood that I did not wish anyone to take it, but you took it regardless…. And by doing so, you did not just cross the line. You pissed on it."
A bitter breath escaped his lips.
"I was willing to value your life, and your favor for completing the near impossible mission at 6.5 billion MP. That was the magic number. But now that you've taken something that surpasses that valuation, you've breached the good faith I had. And that gives me the license…"
A dark pause.
"…to kill."
He sat down again, slower this time, composing himself as he tapped a contact into his inter-comm panel.
*Beep*
A low static hum answered.
"Fredrick."
"Yeah?"
Antonio's voice dropped, razor sharp now.
"The kid took something he wasn't supposed to. You know what that means."
Fredrick didn't reply for a moment.
"Are we taking him out, boss?"
"Yes we are, but not yet. We can't afford to make it obvious in case he's talking about it right now to other guild members.
We first need to make sure that he's alone and that it looks like a robbery gone wrong, so that the idea that spreads is not that the guild can't be trusted but rather that having more wealth than you can handle can get you killed…." Antonio instructed, as "Understood." came the response from the other end.
"Retrieve the item. I don't care if you have to carve it off his corpse with a spoon, just make sure we get it back by tomorrow before he has time to master it, or get any funny ideas about selling it."
A click.
The line went dead.
Antonio exhaled again, rubbing his temple, but there was no relief in the gesture.
Only a deep, simmering rage.
"Enjoy your final few moments alive, Skyshard," he muttered. "Because tonight, you're going to learn why exactly you shouldn't bite off more than you can chew."
—————–
After putting the Codex back into his storage ring, Leo made a quick call to Mu Fan, informing her of the mission's success, before packing everything that he needed to take from the apartment and putting on the face-covering mask that he had bought from the store.
Then, he slid open his apartment's window and jumped out while having [Vanish] active, as he used [Blade Switch] to descend silently, as he landed on the ground without so much as a sound.
*Land*
Without glancing back, Leo immediately began making his way through the silent city streets with swift and calculated strides, as he stuck to the shadows and tried to minimise his presence as much as possible to slip out undetected.
He did not pause at all, running at his top speed wherever he could, as his instincts continued to scream at him to move faster, as though something, someone, might catch up to him if he did not.
His heart pounded like a war drum in his chest, louder than his footsteps, louder than the world around him, but he refused to let that fear touch his hands or cloud his eyes.
He didn't stop.
He didn't breathe easy.
Not until the blinking lights of the private hangar bay finally came into view, a full 30 minutes later.
Still masked, Leo approached one of the side terminals and waved down a freelance pilot, an older Terran man with a sunburnt neck and lazy eyes, who perked up instantly upon seeing the huge offer of 100,000 MP for an emergency trip.
"I'll give you ten thousand MP extra if we leave right now," Leo said, his voice deeper than usual as he tried to conceal it.
The pilot didn't even blink.
"Done. Destination?"
"Rodova. No stops. No questions."
"Get in."
The ramp lowered, and Leo walked aboard, eyes scanning the empty corners of the craft twice over before finally stepping inside and locking the door shut behind him.
He felt the rumble beneath his feet as the engines began to hum.
Felt the faint sway of the world tilting.
And only once the screen on the interior dashboard marked "Exiting Planetary Gravitational Field…" did Leo finally, finally let himself breathe.
The anxiety hadn't gone away.
The paranoia hadn't vanished.
But the noose around his neck had loosened just enough for him to unclench his jaw.
He sat in the far back of the small passenger bay and closed his eyes behind the mask, feeling the ship jolt into hyperspeed a few minutes later, tearing away from Twin Fang at a velocity no pursuer could match without a faster ship of their own.
'Just a few more minutes before I kill the pilot,' Leo thought internally, as he waited patiently for hyperspeed to put some significant distance between them and planet Twin Fang, before he killed the pilot and redirected the plane to the coordinates that the cult had given him for rendezvous.
Contact - ToS
Timeless AssassinC384: Long Gone
Chapter 384: Long Gone
(45 Minutes Ago, Fredrick's POV, Outside Leo's Apartment)
After being assigned the mission to eliminate Leo Skyshard by the Vice-Guildmaster, Fredrick quickly traced his trail from the Guild Headquarters back to his apartment, completely unaware that Leo had already slipped away nearly ten minutes ago.
Upon reaching the apartment, he was about to take his usual position in the corridor just outside Leo's door, intending to wait till nightfall to break in and kill the boy, when he was suddenly alarmed by the fact that there was no trace of life inside Leo's apartment.
Leo wasn't inside his room, and that made Fredrick's brow twitch, as he couldn't understand what was going on.
'I clearly traced his trail from the headquarters to here…. If he went back out of this door after returning, there should be a second trail running back out from here, but there isn't one….' he noted, as he searched around for signs of faded mana signature, but found nothing.
'Hmmm… Weird,' he thought, as he stepped forward and retrieved a thin pair of runic gloves from his coat pocket, sliding them on as he crouched before the door.
*Tap*
*Tap*
Tapping one finger against the lock in a practiced rhythm, Fredrick snuck a piece of molded wire into the lock, as he picked it open with ease.
"The kid used a double lock today…" he muttered under his breath, as he stood up and pushed the door open to enter, only to be shocked when the door did not hinge open completely but was stopped midway by a chain.
It was at this moment that Fredrick froze from the implications of this, as he realized that there was something horrible that was afoot.
'No… it's chained. From inside?' he wondered, as his stomach dropped.
"Well shit."
He instantly backed away and glanced to the left.
The apartment had one entry point and one exit.
If the door was chained from the inside, then it meant that after entering his apartment, Leo didn't walk back out but had rather escaped through the window.
'Only thieves… or spies run out of windows,' Fredrick thought, as he did not waste another second.
*CRASH!*
He slammed his shoulder into the door with a burst of mana, as he broke the chain and burst into the apartment with both hands raised, before casting an area sweep spell.
[Reverberation Echo].
Waves of mana pulsed outward, mapping the interior instantly.
The bed was bare.
The cabinet half-empty.
And there were no food utilities left lying around, as he seemed to have packed everything.
Fredrick's eyes narrowed as he scanned the wardrobe, from where Leo's daggers were now all gone, alongside his spare robes.
Only the guild-issued uniform remained, hanging limply like a husk.
"He's on the run."
The words escaped before his brain fully processed them, but they felt true, absolute.
Fredrick spun around and lunged toward the open window, leaping out as his body vanished mid-air in a blur of speed.
His boots barely touched the rooftop as he activated the [Thermal Residue Tracker], a specialized hunter's technique that allowed him to follow faint aura traces through residual heat signatures and mana trails.
'There,' he thought, as he spotted a faint trail that was fresh and moving eastbound with haste.
He chased it without pause, dashing across rooftops like a starving hound on a blood trail, his breath steady, mind sharp, footsteps landing one after another in a rhythm built for pursuit.
Ten minutes passed.
Then twenty.
Until finally—
Hangar Bay 3.
Fredrick skidded to a stop on the overlook of the launch platform, his head snapping up just in time to watch the tail-end glow of an engine vanish into the clouds.
Not even two minutes gone.
"No. No. NO! NOO! NOOOO!"
He leapt down and sprinted across the platform, eyes locking onto the command center, where two startled employees turned toward the screaming man storming their booth.
"LOGS! I NEED LOGS! SOMEONE GIVE ME THE MOTHERFUCKING LOGS!" Fredrick bellowed, his voice raw with urgency as he slammed both palms against the desk, making their holopanels flicker.
One of the staff stepped forward, firm but apologetic.
"I'm sorry sir, no matter how much you scream at me, I cannot give you the log details. Unless you can present me with the necessary security clearance, I cannot break protocol—"
Fredrick slapped his own face with both hands, dragging them down slowly, his nostrils flaring as rage curled into a snarl.
"Are you kidding me right now?"
"I'm acting under direct orders from the Vice-Guildmaster of the Black Serpents, and you're worried about clearance?" Fredrick spoke with anger, however, the employee did not budge.
"I understand, but without authorization from—" he began, as Fredrick put a finger to his lip and did not wait for him to end.
*Beep*
He opened his inter-comm.
"Boss. It's me. He's gone. Escaped. Took a ship."
"…What?"
"They won't give me the logs. Putting you on speaker now, give the employee a good shout for me…"
A moment of silence.
Then—
"GIVE HIM THE MOTHERFUCKING LOGS!"
The voice of Vice-Guildmaster Antonio exploded from the speaker, sharp enough to make both employees jump.
"Yes sir!" the lead tech stammered, immediately pulling up the manifest as his fingers flew across the console.
"One private departure. Hangar Bay 3. No crew listed except one freelance pilot. Destination: Planet Rodova."
Fredrick's fists clenched.
Planet Rodova.
He was headed straight back to the Academy.
The window was closing fast.
"I need one of the fastest Galaxy-Class interceptors in our fleet. Right now. Use Vice Guildmaster Antonio's authorization."
The technician hesitated only for a heartbeat before nodding.
Fredrick turned on his heel, storming toward the launch pad with his coat billowing behind him.
'You're not getting away that easily, Skyshard. I don't care if I have to chase you across a dozen star systems. I will gut you mid-flight if I have to. But I am completing this mission….' Fredrick resolved, as he quickly went searching for the fastest plane and a competent pilot.
As within twenty minutes of Leo departing, he took a ship to chase after him as well.
Contact - ToS
Timeless AssassinC385: Unheeded Advice
Chapter 385: Unheeded Advice
(Somewhere on a Mu Clan Controlled Planet, Mu Fan's POV)
"Lord Twelfth, I have just been contacted by Skyshard," Mu Fan reported softly, her gaze lowered as the elder's holographic projection flared to life in front of her.
The Twelfth Elder did not speak.
He simply stared.
And so, she continued.
"The mission was a success. The dimensional portal link has been established... and he's currently en route to the designated meet-up zone. The patrol ship is already in position. He should arrive in under two hours."
A long silence followed.
Then, slowly, the elder's expression began to shift. His shoulders eased just slightly, as a small smile crept up the corners of his lips.
"I see..." he murmured, his voice carrying the weight of something between relief and pride.
"It's been a long time since someone delivered this cleanly on a mission of that scale... but if it's the future Dragon who carried it out, then of course he succeeded," he added with quiet satisfaction, as the smile on his face deepened.
Mu Fan remained still for a moment before raising her eyes to meet his, her face devoid of the same joy that now animated his own.
There was something about Leo's immediate future that had been gnawing at her for the past two days. Ever since she discovered the change in plan, the discomfort had grown steadily.
And although she had held her tongue until now... today, she chose to speak her mind.
"If you don't mind, may I offer a warning, Twelfth Elder? Regarding your decision to have him visit Tithia before his family... I humbly ask you to reconsider."
The elder's eyes sharpened in an instant.
His features tightened with quiet disdain, as he raised a single hand in curt protest.
"Enough," he said with finality, and in that instant, the air around Mu Fan seemed to grow colder.
"You have done well so far as Skyshard's handler, Fan. But if you continue to behave so belligerently, then I will have no choice but to replace you."
Mu Fan's breath hitched, her spine stiffening instinctively.
The Twelfth Elder leaned forward ever so slightly, his words now cutting with calm and deliberate precision.
"It is not your place to tell me how I groom the next Dragon. That prerogative lies with the Elders Council and the Elders Council alone."
His gaze bore into hers, unrelenting.
"Do not forget that."
"The only reason I inform you of my plans is because I expect your support in executing them smoothly and not because I value your opinion on how they should be shaped. So know your role and stay within it," he said coldly, before disconnecting the call in a quiet huff.
*Click*
The projection vanished.
Leaving behind only the low flicker of the communication crystal and a slow, growing tightness in Mu Fan's chest.
'I still think you're making a mistake,' she thought, as her hands slowly dropped to her sides, her fingers curling tightly into fists.
They had made a promise to Leo.
A promise that after retrieving him, the Cult would take him to Planet Vorthas to see his family. But now, with the elder's sudden decision to divert him to Tithia first, that promise was on the verge of being broken.
To alter the destination without warning, without so much as a discussion, risked turning what should have been a moment of trust into one of betrayal.
Knowing exactly how little faith Leo already had in the Cult, Mu Fan could feel the danger in this decision with every fiber of her being.
To her, it felt like a blunder waiting to happen.
A move capable of fracturing everything they had so painstakingly built with Leo.
Because the Leo of today was no longer a pawn. He was a Dragon Candidate, one who stood on the cusp of coronation, and the road forward demanded cooperation rather than coercion.
"I really hope the elder is wiser than me," Mu Fan whispered under her breath.
"I sincerely hope that I'm still too young to know what's best for the Cult..."
Her voice trailed into silence, as she turned and walked out of the secure room with disappointment pressing firmly against her chest.
—----------------
(Aboard the Cult's Undercover Patrol Ship, Officer Jayden's POV)
A faint blue light flickered within the control chamber of the Cult's patrol vessel, its walls humming quietly with stable mana flow as Officer Jayden stood at attention before the main console, waiting for the encrypted call to connect.
*Beep*
The transmission snapped into clarity.
The Twelfth Elder's face appeared on the screen, his demeanor as stable as ever, though there was an undeniable hint of excitement in his eyes.
"Officer Jayden. The mission to retrieve the lost scroll is a go, the future dragon has completed his part of the plan perfectly," the elder declared without preamble, his voice firm and decisive.
Jayden's eyes lit up, and he immediately lowered his head in a crisp salute, his fist pressed against his chest with ceremonial precision.
"Praise be to the Future Dragon, We shall not let his efforts go to waste!" He said, as the call ended just as abruptly as it had begun.
But that was all the confirmation he needed, as spinning around, Jayden clapped his hands loudly, his voice booming through the narrow metallic corridors of the vessel.
"You heard the elder! This is not a drill! We are greenlit! Move to your stations and prep the shuttle!"
A wave of energy coursed through the crew.
The tense silence that had gripped the patrol ship for the past few hours gave way to an atmosphere of sharp focus and thinly-veiled excitement, as cloaked figures dashed through the halls with practiced efficiency, strapping on gear, checking weapons, and syncing mission clocks.
Jayden entered the deployment chamber, where a smooth black shuttle was already humming to life, marked with counterfeit delivery insignias, as the smaller mission ship masqueraded as one of the standard delivery vessels belonging to the Universal Logistics Corps.
Twelve soldiers boarded, all in black-tinted armor, their faces hidden behind shaded helmets, as they performed one final equipment check.
"Masquerade protocol is in full effect. Air Control on planet Twin Fang has been informed of a delivery ship with your code expecting to enter their Air Space, we are a full blown courier ship on paper now" one of the cult techs reported calmly, flashing a thumbs-up, as Jayden nodded.
"Good. Keep comms on silent until we hit the atmosphere. No risks. Today's the day we retrieve our lost pride."
"Yes, sir!"
A low hiss filled the chamber as the patrol vessel's lower hatch opened, exposing a launch tunnel that jutted out toward the vastness of space.
*Whirr...*
*Click*
The undercover logistics shuttle detached smoothly from the belly of the patrol ship and entered half hyper-speed instantly, its core engine running at dampened intensity to avoid suspicion.
Jayden stood by the window, arms crossed, as he watched the sleek craft vanish into the black of space, the faintest curl tugging at his lips.
The Future Dragon had handed the Cult an unprecedented golden opportunity, one they had been waiting nearly three decades for.
And it was up to him and his team now, to complete what the Dragon had already begun.
"Lord Future Dragon.... You seem like a capable man.... I can't wait to serve under you soon!" Jayden said, as he hoped for the day where he could enlist under the future dragon's army, and join him to rebel against the righteous faction!
Contact - ToS
Timeless AssassinC386 386: Space Chase
(Somewhere in deep space, aboard the Private craft headed for Rodova, Leo's POV)
A few minutes after the craft had left the gravitational field of Twin Fang Planet, and was sufficiently deep into space, Leo finally left his seat and walked towards the captain's cabin with calm steps.
He combed his hair back with his fingers, his expression relaxed, as he approached the door and pretended to enter in a nonchalant way, his posture loose, his gait measured, as he did everything in his power to not spook the man behind the controls.
The captain glanced back briefly as Leo stepped in, offering a casual nod before returning to the console.
Leo returned the nod politely and walked over, stopping just behind the pilot's chair.
"How long until we reach Rodova?" he asked casually, as though he were simply bored and making conversation to pass the time.
"About twelve hours," the captain replied, checking a dial. "The route's clear of any asteroid or floating comets and there are no nebula clouds in our current trajectory, so this should be a pretty smooth ride."
Leo tilted his head slightly, feigning mild interest.
"And this is as fast as you can go?"
"Already pushing her to the edge, my friend," the man said with a chuckle. "Any more and the regulators'll throw a fit. You don't want to burn out the mana coils mid-transit."
Leo gave a quiet hum in response, as if satisfied.
"You know, I always wanted to know what that small red button–" Leo began, as he pointed towards a specific button on the console with one hand, drawing the pilot's attention towards it….
While with the other, he stabbed him.
*SPLAT*
A silver flash streaked through the air as the dagger plunged straight into the side of the captain's neck.
The man's smile didn't even have time to vanish before his eyes glazed over, a spray of blood coating the control board as he gurgled once and collapsed forward.
Leo caught the body before it could hit the floor, laid it to the side, and slid effortlessly into the command seat.
The pilot's lifeless fingers twitched once before going still, but Leo paid it no mind.
Instead, he reached over the blood-smeared console and began tapping in a new flight route, the coordinates provided to him by the Cult stored in the corner of his mind like a sacred script.
A few seconds later, the ship's trajectory shifted. The artificial gravity hummed as the engines adjusted course, veering away from the Rodova-bound route and heading toward the barren void ahead.
*Ding*
A small blinking message appeared on the corner of the screen.
[Estimated Journey Time: 19 minutes]
Leo leaned back in the captain's chair and exhaled softly, his fingers resting against his chin as he stared out into the distant stars.
All he had to do now was wait, and in roughly 19 minutes, he would arrive at his intended destination.
—----------
(About half a solar system away, Fredrick's POV)
In the cockpit of the Black Serpent chase craft, Fredrick's sharp eyes stared intently at the blinking screen before him.
A red triangle had just appeared on the edge of the radar sweep, pinging faintly as it moved through a quiet sector of space.
"There," he muttered. "That's him."
The pilot nodded. "Craft ID 20H3 bound towards Rodova, that's indeed the craft we are supposed to chase."
Fredrick's eyes narrowed. At their current speed, they would catch up to the craft ahead in roughly seven to eight minutes.
But then, something unexpected happened.
The red triangle suddenly drifted off-course, as if it had changed its flight path without warning.
Instead of heading toward Rodova, it began to veer toward a less populated sector of the starfield. A region that had no habitable planets for at least a couple days' worth of journey ahead.
"Why?" Fredrick whispered, more to himself than anyone else. "Why has the direction suddenly changed?"
The pilot turned toward him. "Should we follow?"
"Of course. Stay on him. Don't lose visual," Fredrick ordered quickly, his mind already spinning through possibilities, none of which he liked.
A moment later, as the distance between the two crafts reduced to under four million kilometers, which was the maximum range at which inter-flight radars worked, the pilot of Fredrick's craft finally tapped into the communication system and sent out a ping.
"Black Serpent Craft 20H3, please come in. I repeat, Craft 20H3, do you copy?" he requested, but received no response.
"Black Serpent Craft, this is a pursuit ship sent by Vice Guildmaster Antonio. Please stop at once if you copy," the pilot warned, his voice tense as he waited.
But once again, there was no response from the craft ahead.
The pilot turned back to Fredrick, uncertain. "Still nothing, sir."
"Try again. Change frequency," Fredrick said, jaw tightening with each passing second.
The pilot nodded and cycled through three more channels, sending the same message repeatedly, but they all ended in silence.
"The craft ahead is not responding, but we are closing in on them. We should be right at their tail in two minutes," the pilot informed.
Fredrick nodded, expression unreadable as he stood behind the pilot and stared straight ahead.
The next two minutes passed by in a focused blur, the silence in the cockpit thick enough to be felt, as the rogue shuttle loomed larger and larger in their forward view.
Once they were directly behind it, Fredrick leaned in slightly.
"Try again. One last time. This time, let them know that if they don't stop immediately, we'll shoot them out of space."
"Yes, sir." The pilot flipped a switch and transmitted with a hardened tone.
"Craft 20H3, if you don't stop now, we will blow you to pieces. I repeat, we will blow you to pieces."
The words hung in the air for a few seconds, but there was still no answer.
Another three nerve-wracking minutes passed.
The chase craft now flew directly above the rogue shuttle, its full silhouette visible through the main viewport, gliding silently ahead like a ghost.
Fredrick stood behind the pilot, arms crossed, his fingers twitching at his side.
"I don't like this," he muttered under his breath. "Why the silence? Why did the course change? What the hell are you planning, Skyshard?"
A quiet tension settled into his chest as his mind weighed the options. On one hand, he did not actually want to blow the craft to pieces, because that would make recovering the item Leo had stolen nearly impossible amongst all the craft debris.
However, letting him continue forward like this, toward unknown coordinates and with unknown motives, was also something Fredrick could not allow.
Something needed to give.
And so, Fredrick made his choice.
He stepped forward and issued one final command. "Point the mana guns towards their rear thrusters, the aim is to disable and not destroy."
The pilot acknowledged, fingers flying across the console as the ship's weapons locked on.
Fredrick's gaze never wavered from the craft ahead, his instincts screaming at him that whatever Skyshard was planning, it needed to be stopped before it was too late, or the damage it would cause would be irreversible.
Contact - ToS
Timeless AssassinC387: Adoration
Chapter 387: Adoration
(Back to Leo's POV, aboard Craft H203)
Leo sat comfortably in the bloody craft cockpit, as he waited to reach the rendezvous point without any hiccups, when a voice suddenly crackled through the comms panel.
"Black Serpent Craft 20H3, do you copy? Please respond. This is Captain Makwana of the pursuing vessel dispatched by Vice Guildmaster Antonio."
Leo's eyebrow twitched.
"Oh, for fuck's sake," he muttered under his breath, dragging a hand down his face as he stared at the source of the voice.
"I knew in my gut that someone was following me."
He had hoped his escape from Twin Fang would be clean.
Had hoped that his escape raised no major alarms or red flags to make the Black Serpents chase after him.
But fate clearly had other plans, for someone had picked up his trail and was still red hot on it.
"Craft 20H3, please come over the radio, this is not a request.
Not responding to a senior officer is a crime. State your status immediately, or we will shoot you down."
The other pilot threatened, as suddenly Red Warning signs began to flash on every control panel in front of him, with the ship warning him that some enemy had them locked for an attack.
*Sigh*
Leo exhaled sharply through his nose, his fingers drumming against the armrest.
[Expected time before arrival: 3 minutes 48 seconds.]
The countdown to the rendezvous point with the Cult Patrol ship ticked forward slowly, and Leo's mind began to wonder as to how he could make it to that point without being shot at.
"Alright… let's play the innocent bystander act," he mumbled, before opening the comms channel, his voice suddenly panicked, as he pretended to stumble over his words.
"Hello? I—I hear you!" he began, forcing a frantic tone. "There's something wrong with the pilot. He collapsed! I think he's having a seizure or a heart attack or something, I don't know—"
The other side went silent for a moment, then responded.
"This is Captain Makwana. Am I speaking to Leo Skyshard?"
"Yes, I'm Leo Skyshard! I—I don't know anything about flying this thing. I came to check on him, and he was just convulsing, the ship was veering, I panicked!"
He even added a shaky breath for effect.
Fredrick, listening quietly from the command seat behind his pilot, narrowed his eyes as Makwana glanced back for confirmation.
"The story doesn't add up, A craft locked on its path to Rodova would not veer off course even if the pilot dozed off…. Unless there was a navigation failure," Fredrick muttered.
Still, Makwana nodded and spoke again.
"Okay, remain calm. We'll guide you through stabilizing the ship. First, you need to identify your current throttle and hyperspeed state. Do you see a yellow button near a black thrust lever?"
Leo kept his face serious, hand hovering over the exact button, already familiar with its layout.
"What? I—no, wait. Could you explain again? There's so many buttons on the console… everything's flashing red with warning that weapons are locked onto this ship!"
"You need to find a yellow button beside the thrust lever," Makwana repeated slowly. "Press the yellow button to disengage the hyperspeed drive, then slowly pull the lever back to reduce speed."
Leo blinked.
Arrival Time: 1 minute 12 seconds.
"Copy… I think I see it," he said vaguely, stretching the syllables as much as possible. "You said… Pull then press the yellow button?"
"No! I said press the yellow button, then pull…" Makwana repeated the instruction a third time.
Leo delayed even further, staring at the screen, watching as the estimated arrival dropped to 50 seconds.
"Copy. Okay. I think I got it now," he said, finally reaching out and pressing the yellow button, then inching the lever back ever so slightly.
Outside, the craft's engine let out a subtle shift in tone as its momentum slowed.
Fredrick's ship, still trailing behind and mirroring the movement, began to slow as well.
"Maintain distance and track speed," Fredrick said, his voice low, gaze narrowed at the ghostly outline of Leo's ship.
Makwana was about to respond again when suddenly, the space around them changed.
A burst of pressure rippled through the starfield, silent yet undeniable, as from the shadows of a drifting asteroid field ahead, an enormous craft phased into view, its black hull gleaming with a quiet menace, the surrounding light bending around it as if refusing to touch it.
The cult's patrol ship had arrived, and Fredrick's chase craft didn't even have time to process it, for they could not spot the ship on their radar.
*FLASH*
A flash of bright white energy surged forth from the hidden vessel, its beam concentrated, quiet, and absolutely merciless.
In one instant, the Black Serpent chase craft was reduced to fragmented metal, its engines erupting in a cloud of violet and ash, as the explosion scattered across vacuum with no sound but all the fury of a star imploding.
Inside his cockpit, Leo watched the burst of firelight with an excited expression.
It was about time that the Cult did something right, and thankfully they understood their mission here perfectly.
"Good job!" He said, as he leaned forward slightly, tapped a few keys to disable the red alert warnings, and wiped a bit of dried blood from the armrest beside him.
Then, as the guiding beacon from the cult patrol ship flickered on screen, he adjusted course slightly and angled the ship into their magnetic pull for docking.
"Welp, Sayonara Black Serpents," he murmured, voice soft and cold, as he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The stars shifted slowly from his view, as his ride glided inside the hull of the Cult Patrol Ship, it's underbelly closing as soon as Leo's craft was inside, as the air-pressure inside the docking area restabilized.
Leo rose slowly from the captain's chair, brushing nonexistent dust from his robes as he adjusted the collar and tightened the straps on his utility belt, his expression unreadable.
He stepped through the exit ramp without hesitation, boots clinking softly against the grated walkway as the scene that unfolded before him, was not one that he had expected.
Rows upon rows of soldiers, engineers, robed technicians, and maintenance workers lined the massive hangar bay, all standing in perfect formation on either side of the corridor that led from his craft to the inner sanctum.
Some of them cried softly when they gazed towards him, some dropped to both knees in a show of respect, while the rest simply stood frozen, their eyes wide and shimmering with something that caught him completely off guard.
Adoration.
Pure, unfiltered, almost frightening in its intensity.
Cheers erupted like a wave, but it was not the kind of applause he was used to. There was no bravado, no chaos. It was solemn. Worshipful.
They looked at him as if a savior had stepped down from the stars. As if he were not merely a man walking among them, but a figure out of prophecy finally returned to fulfill a promise no one else understood.
And it sent a chill crawling down his spine.
With every step he took forward, the reverent silence between the cheers deepened, thickened, as if the weight of their hopes was being laid at his feet.
Leo didn't speak. He didn't raise a hand or acknowledge the crowd. He simply walked, expression hard and calm, even as his gut twisted with a thousand unspoken questions.
Because no matter how many corpses he had stepped over to reach this point, this was not the welcome of a killer.
It was the welcome of a messiah.
And that felt far more dangerous.
Contact - ToS
Timeless AssassinC388: Uncomfortable
Chapter 388: Uncomfortable
(Leo's POV, aboard the Cult Patrol Ship)
Leo followed silently as two cloaked attendants led him through the metallic corridors of the patrol ship, their boots tapping softly against the spotless floor.
Every turn they took revealed another hallway lined with curious eyes, all of them pausing in their duties to glance at him from behind terminals and bulkheads.
Some pretended to be working, only to glance sideways the moment he passed. Others stared openly, unabashed in their awe.
Wherever he passed, conversations halted mid-sentence. A few whispered behind their hands, and one woman even giggled openly before quickly silencing herself, cheeks flushed as her eyes met Leo's briefly.
He felt like a creature being paraded through a glass cage.
A creature who was not feared but rather worshipped.
The attention made his shoulders tighten slightly, as although he did not enjoy such reverence even slightly, he somehow managed to keep his expression neutral.
By the time they reached the far end of the ship, the corridor widened into a curved antechamber with silver-paneled walls and soft ambient lighting.
A single door slid open soundlessly, revealing what could only be described as a captain's quarters, for it was the biggest and best furnished of all other rooms on the ship.
It was basic in its design, having only one bed, one cabinet, one table and one chair, however the furnishings were undoubtedly high quality and premium finished.
Leo stepped inside slowly, eyes flicking across every detail.
"My Lord, please rest here," said the man who had been walking slightly ahead of him.
He wore a deep blue uniform adorned with silver trim and a seven-pointed star on the collar. His voice was formal, yet trembling with something Leo couldn't quite place.
"We will arrive at our destination in approximately thirty hours," the man continued, lowering his head into a deep bow. "This is Landen. He has been assigned to stand outside your door. He will not allow any disturbance to reach you. If you require anything at all... food, drink, clothing, information... Please let him know."
Leo nodded, not saying a word.
The captain bowed once more, then stepped back and allowed the door to slide shut behind him, leaving Leo in the quiet, dimly lit room.
He remained standing for a long moment, his fingers twitching faintly at his side, his eyes locked on the plush bedding and golden glow of the room.
It was too soft. And far too quiet for his liking.
He felt no comfort in this luxury, no ease in the reverence. Only a crawling sense of being watched—even when alone. Like somewhere, just out of sight, someone was observing every movement and scribbling notes about his preferences, his silence, his gaze.
He took a slow breath and sat down on the edge of the bed, elbows on his knees, fingers steepled together as he stared at the closed door.
Outside, Landen stood at rigid attention.
Inside, Leo felt the weight of every pair of eyes that had followed him through those hallways still lingering on his skin.
And though the mattress was soft and the lighting gentle, he knew he would not rest easy tonight... not in this ship atleast.
'I hope I see my family soon....' Leo hoped, as he finally lay down on the bed, and relaxed his muscles, letting the tension that had been a constant on his body for the past few days finally melt away.
—-----------
(Officer Jayden's POV, near Twin Fang Planet Airspace)
The disguised cult vessel drifted silently through the void, its appearance humble and unassuming—nothing more than a civilian-grade delivery ship by all exterior scans.
But beneath the false plating, 12 powerful cult soldiers stood at the ready for a heist.
Officer Jayden stood near the back of the cockpit, armored in sleek matte gear, a dark helmet tucked beneath one arm as he monitored the holographic readings.
His expression was calm but alert, eyes sharp with focus as the ship steadily approached Twin Fang's orbit.
Once the planetary sensors pinged their clearance for low-priority docking, Jayden turned to the onboard crew.
"We'll breach in under two minutes. Calm your nerves, there can be no mistakes now," He instructed, as the others nervously tapped their feet and rubbed their hands.
The moment the ship reached the minimal required distance from the Black Serpent Vault's dimensional anchor point, Jayden quickly unfolded the portal diagram given to him by Master Argo, and powered it with four high grade mana stones to start the connection.
*BRRRR*
A soft hum filled the air, as the portal diagram onboard the ship made connection with the portal frame inside the vault, opening a dimensional gate.
"We have approximately an 18-minute window," Jayden said sharply, pressing the countdown timer on his wrist console. "Everyone sync mission clocks with me now."
*Tchik*
One by one, the eleven soldiers behind him tapped their gauntlets, aligning their clocks with his. In silence, they donned their oxygen masks, checked their gear, and prepared to step through.
Jayden took the lead, diving into the portal without hesitation.
The transition was instant.
His boots landed softly on a polished floor, the temperature chilled and the atmosphere silent.
Around him, the vast inner vault of the Black Serpent Guild stretched like a cathedral of greed, treasures floated gently in stasis fields, suspended via anti-gravity runes.
Weapons, artifacts, ancient stones, crystal orbs, glittering gems.... everywhere he looked, the air was thick with unguarded wealth.
One by one, his soldiers emerged behind him, weapons drawn, eyes wide.
Jayden didn't need to speak.
Hand signs.
He moved his fingers in a tight, deliberate sequence, signaling the plan.
Three men, including himself, would move for the target scroll.
The rest? Cleared the chamber of as much loot as they could fit in their storage rings.
The team dispersed in perfect formation. Looting squads moved swiftly, sweeping artifacts into their storage rings without any resistance, as if the vault had never been designed for theft from within.
Jayden, meanwhile, darted toward the far end of the room where a narrow glass enclosure pulsed with protective runes.
Within, hovering atop a black velvet stand, was the scroll—sealed behind seven distinct layers of thick transparent glass, each layer humming with its own defense circuit.
He threw more hand signs.
The soldier to his left quickly unlatched a small vial from his belt. Inside sloshed a greenish-black liquid, thick as tar, with tiny bubbles that fizzed violently even within containment.
Ancient Swamp Frog Poison.
Jayden took a step back as the soldier popped the vial's seal and, with surgical precision, poured its contents along the seam of the outermost glass panel.
*SSSSHHHHH*
A hiss erupted as smoke poured upward. The poison clung to the glass and began eating through the molecular weave, the surface sizzling and cracking slowly under its weight.
Then—
*CRACK*
The first layer gave out with a clean, brittle shatter.
And instantly, the vault's ambiance changed.
*VREEEEEEE*
*VREEEEEEEEE*
*VREEEEEEEEE*
The lights overhead shifted from soft white to blazing crimson.
Alarms screamed across the vault with feral intensity, drowning out every other sound in the room.
Jayden didn't flinch, he had expected this, but that did not make it any less dangerous.
He tapped his communicator once and made a slicing gesture with two fingers, as immediately, two soldiers stopped the looting process, tossed their loot rings to their colleagues and stepped towards the vault's entrance door, ready to guard it with their lives.
These two were going to be the last to leave, alongside Jayden, as while the others were instructed to leave as soon as their part of the mission was completed.
Jayden and the two of them could only leave with the scroll.....or not at all.
Contact - ToS
Timeless AssassinC389: So Close
Chapter 389: So Close
(Vault Chamber, Twin Fang Planet)
*VREEEEEEEEE*
The alarms were deafening now. Red lights flashed like blood veins pulsing across the walls, bathing the once-pristine vault in a hellish glow. The temperature felt like it had risen by ten degrees, and the air inside tasted like static.
Officer Jayden's heart pounded against his ribs as he gave another sharp hand signal.
The cult operatives moved with manic efficiency, their boots thundering across the polished floor as they grabbed the last of the treasures floating in their stasis fields.
Storage rings flickered, locking down weaponry, rare minerals, ceremonial relics—anything they could grab.
They had mentally prepared for this operation for the past 10 days. And for the first sixty seconds after the alarm began to ring, it almost seemed like the team would pull the heist off without any fatality or consequence.
But then came the glass panels built around the scroll.
Jayden wiped sweat off his brow as he turned back toward the pedestal. Three layers of the reinforced security casing had been shattered already. Poison, brute force, even a few mana based spells had helped.
But the fourth layer? It wasn't budging at all.
No matter how hard they hit it, sprayed it, or tried to smash it, that fourth layer simply did not break.
"Move, let me hit it with all my strength," One soldier shouted, jabbing his blade forward with [Kill Thrust].
But although the point of contact sparked violently against the casing, the glass did not so much as crack, as all it did instead was send a tremor through the cult operatives wrist.
"If you can't stab through it. You might wanna slice it," Another grunted and brought his longsword down in an overhead arc, a heavy slash that should have cleaved through steel. However, the glass still refused to break.
"It won't hold forever," Jayden muttered under his breath, though he wasn't sure if he believed it himself.
Seconds felt like hours.
The air inside the vault grew thinner as the automated defense systems began to partially depressurize the chamber.
A low hiss filled the room, and the lights began to flicker.
Then, the sound they had all been dreading could be heard down the corridor.
Footsteps.
And not the clumsy kind. These were measured, militarized. Boots with weight, discipline, and fury behind them.
"Go! Go! Go!" Jayden barked, waving his hand frantically as the remaining members of the looting squad sprinted toward the still-active dimensional portal.
One by one, they disappeared into the gate, their armor and gear flashing in the strobe-like red light of the vault.
While Jayden himself turned back to the scroll.
"Enough of this!" He said to himself, as he stopped trying to crack the protective glass and focused on the base supporting the whole damn thing instead.
If he couldn't have the scroll directly, then he decided to take the entire goddamn pedestal with him instead.
*CLANG*
His blade sang through the steel beneath the pedestal. It wasn't clean. Sparks flew everywhere. The runes protecting the base screamed in protest. But the structure wobbled.
Another slash. Then another.
But by the time he was done slashing just halfway through the base, the vault door finally opened, as Black Serpent guards started to pour through.
*CHING*
*CHING*
*CLANG*
The sound of clashing metal and missed attack spells filled the chamber, as the two remaining Cult Operatives guarding the vault entrance tried their best to buy time for their commanding officer to escape.
"Come on! Come on! Come on!"
Jayden said to himself as he sliced the pedestal clean off with one last full powered slash, before lifting it over his shoulder in a full-bodied heave.
"HAIYAAAHH–"
His bones strained, muscles screamed, but adrenaline carried him.
He ran.
Each step felt like a mile. The weight slowed him, but he didn't let go.
He could see the gate now. Just a dozen more strides and he would make it. He would bring the scroll home.
But then.
A shadow moved.
A shadow of a man running on all fours. A beastly man. One that had not even been within the vault a second ago.
Jayden barely had time to react.
In a blur of motion, he felt an icy pain explode through his chest. His body convulsed. His knees gave way.
His eyes widened as he looked into the face of Dupravel Nuna, the Guildmaster of the Black Serpents who looked furious to see that some rats had managed to infiltrate his vault.
"You, rat.... You? Think you can steal from me?" Dupravel mouthed in fury, as he tried to tear Jayden's body in half.
Blood poured out from Jayden's mouth as he tried to say something—anything—but nothing came out.
The pedestal slipped from his grip and landed with a heavy thud behind him, rolling once before stopping just short of the portal.
There was no way in hell he could fight against a Monarch like Dupravel with a hole in his chest, and hence he did not even try.
However, looking at how the Dimensional Portal was still active and how Dupravel could probably get to his team if it was left open, Jayden took a last breath and pointed his fingers towards the portal frame.
Mana gathered at his fingertips.
And in one final act of heroism, he sent out a razor-sharp [Wind Blade] from his fingertips, as it sliced through the air before slamming into the outer rim of the portal frame.
*SZZZZT*
The frame crackled violently, the damaged conduction circuit losing power, as the connection collapsed and the portal vanished.
*Tear*
Dupravel tore Jayden in half like an animal, splitting him down the middle like he was made of play dough rather than bones and muscles, as his blood splattered everywhere.
The last thought that passed through Jayden's fading mind was not of failure or regret, but a quiet relief.
'At least the others escaped—' he thought dying with a small smile, as his torn body was left with a half grin on both sides.
His blood pooled beneath, as Dupravel stepped over his body and picked up the fallen pedestal.
"What mine! No-one take!." He declared, as by now the other Black Serpent security guards managed to take down the other two Cult members as well.
As in the end, the mission to steal the scroll ended in a failure.
—---------
Meanwhile, on the other side of the portal, the rest of Jayden's team eagerly awaited his return with bated breaths, until the portal connection collapsed—and he still did not show up.
For a while, nobody spoke, as nobody could believe that even after everything, they had still failed.
However, in the end, no matter how much they wanted to deny it, the truth of the matter was that they had failed—despite the Dragon opening a clear route for them to get the scroll back.
Despite the days of planning, the disguised courier ship, the dimensional portal made by Master Argo, and the perfect breach... they had still failed.
"Well fuck! We were so fucking close! How can we even fuck this mission up?" The youngest in the squad finally spoke up, as he threw up his hands in frustration.
However, although everyone in the squad mirrored his emotion, nobody really had the answer to how they could fail, as every single one of them was asking themselves the same damn thing right now.
Contact - ToS
Show menu Novel BinNovel Timeless Assassin Chapter 390: Public Enemy Number OneTimeless AssassinChapter 390: Public Enemy Number OneChapter 390: Public Enemy Number OneIn theory, it was impossible for Dupravel Nuna to reach the vault room from his office in under five minutes, since the elevator ride to the basement itself took 12.
However, being the man beast that he was, Dupravel had torn open the base of the lift with nothing but his bare hands, as he leapt into a dangerous free-fall to reach basement level V faster than what was humanly possible.
And it was perhaps this unconventional leap by Dupravel that saved the Black Serpents from the fate of having their most precious treasure stolen, for although the rest of the vault room was emptied, the invaluable scroll still remained in their possession.
"What happened here? How did the cult members manage to teleport directly inside the vault?" Antonio asked in a huff, as he arrived at the vault room a full thirty seconds after Dupravel had.
By the time he arrived, the cult members left behind were already dead, and the treasures already long gone, as he found himself staring at a mostly empty room, except for a few blotches of red blood.
Dupravel said nothing. He only stared at Antonio with his teeth bared in anger, snarling and hissing like a cornered predator, as if he expected more from his number two.
"Skyshard..." Dupravel muttered, pointing towards the frame, and it was only then that Antonio connected the dots, his eyes narrowing in fury as realization dawned.
"So that's why you wanted to enter the vault..." Antonio muttered in disbelief, running a hand through his hair as he stared at the Dimensional Portal Frame with eyes wide open.
From the start to the end, he had underestimated Leo and his motivation behind joining the Black Serpents.
His background seemed too clean to suspect him of ties to the cult.
Plus the fact that the cult had tried to kill him twice made him strongly believe that the boy would not be related to them.
However, it seemed like his assumption was wrong.
The cult had definitely grown more sophisticated in how deeply they disguised their men undercover, and with a background this solid, Antonio doubted whether even the Universal Government could sniff a spy out.
"Rodova Instructor Muiyan Faye... you were the one who sent a TV-sized package to Leo Skyshard, were you not?" Antonio recalled, holding the dimensional portal frame in his hands and admiring its craftsmanship momentarily before smashing it on the ground with savage force.
*CRASH*
"Put a hit out on Leo Skyshard. Issue a golden mission within the guild. Anyone who kills Leo Skyshard will be rewarded 700 million MP.
And if anyone can retrieve our stolen treasure partially or in full, they will be paid 10 percent of the treasure's value for their services.
Additionally, inform the Universal Government that Leo Skyshard is a Cult Operative.
By tomorrow morning, his face should be printed on every newspaper, and he should be branded a traitor.
I don't want there to be a single planet in the righteous faction where the boy can hide.
I will force him to live the life of a rat from now until we hunt him down," Antonio ordered, as the other Serpent Guild members present in the vault saluted him and bolted out to relay his instructions at once.
"Muiyan Faye.... Time to look into you as well...." Antonio mused to himself, his eyes narrowing as he left the vault in anger, his blood boiling at the loss of nearly 40 billion MP worth of treasure that was now stolen from their vault.
—-----------
The news about Leo's cult operative status didn't just spread.
It exploded.
Like wildfire touched by mana, the story of Leo's betrayal leapt from planet to planet, transmitted through private channels, guild networks, military bulletins, and government alert systems until the name Leo Skyshard began to flash across every major commscreen in the righteous faction.
One notification at a time.
Incoming Secure Transmission...
Sender: Black Serpent Guild.
Priority: Top Urgency
Subject: Cult Operative Confirmation – Leo Skyshard
———
"Hello, this is Leslie from the Universal Government Administrative Office, who am I speaking to?"
Her voice was tired, flat, accustomed to late-night bureaucratic nonsense. But as the transmission loaded and the Black Serpent insignia burned onto her screen, her tone shifted.
"What? Wait... Leo Skyshard? You mean the circuit boy, the champion from Rodova?"
Her words trailed off as she scrolled the attached documentation.
Arrest warrant.
Golden hit.
Cult operative status.
She didn't say another word. She just began forwarding it up the chain.
———
"Hello, this is Alric, the principal of the Rodova Military Academy."
His voice was stern as ever, but it faltered halfway through his sentence, as the arrest warrant flashed before his office screen.
The name flashed first.
Then the bounty.
Then the accusation and finally the attached proofs.
"No... This has to be wrong," he whispered to himself.
But the seal was official.
And the evidence attached was damning.
He stood up and removed his glasses, staring out the window of his office as memories of Leo's entrance test, his duels, and the last few months began playing in reverse.
As he wondered if his demeanor had all been a lie?
"If true, this will be the biggest blow to Rodova's reputation since its inception" he mused, rubbing the sweat now pooling on his forehead, as he prayed that this was but a false call.
———
"Hello, this is Su Fan from the Su Clan."
She was on her morning walk when her communicator buzzed.
The moment she saw Leo's name, her hands froze in midair.
"Interesting," she muttered as she glanced at the bounty, the order and the accusation that the boy she once considered a potential ally to her son Su Yang, was now branded a universal traitor.
"This news will surely have an adverse effect on Su Yang's growth. I will need to consult with his father on this...." Su Fan mused to herself, as she continued with her morning jog as if nothing happened.
———
"Hello, you have reached the White Lion Guild."
The receptionist answered with a cheerful tone, but her words broke when she saw the red alert scan across the central console.
"Guildmaster! Guildmaster you need to see this!" she shouted, bolting up from her seat.
Dozens of other guild members gathered as the screen flickered to life, Leo's face plastered across it.
Some gasped.
Some laughed in disbelief.
But the veterans said nothing.
"A 700 million open kill bounty! A guild as small as ours can sustain our operations for the