City of Sin (Yanyu Jiangnan)

Annihilation

Richard was sitting in the conference room of the Deepblue alone, staring at a stack of information in front of him. He looked through it all one by one, piecing the various clues together to form a big picture in his mind. Although there were many gaps, he still had a vague idea of what had happened.

His focus was currently on a piece of magic parchment that had some strange creatures drawn on it, something he had found in Sharon’s study. He had made up his mind to go look for her, but he still had to be careful and learn about the enemy first. While he could now at least keep up for a few minutes, Sharon would still beat him in every single battle. An enemy capable of restricting her would trounce him instantly if he wasn’t ready.

The paper looked common and was mixed with a stack of useless documents, the writing on it almost a scribble, but taking a closer look he had realised that the Deepblue didn’t carry this kind. The papers of both the normal mages and other stuff like moonscar paper was different from this one, which was designed to lock in a huge amount of mana. Although the paper wasn’t particularly good, the workmanship was similar to what Sharon used personally. It was definitely far too expensive for normal mages to afford, and no one would just scribble randomly on it.

Richard couldn’t recognise a single creature drawn on the paper, but they all had some similarities. Besides, while the strokes in the drawing seemed mediocre without any pattern to them, randomness was a clue as well. A cold glint flashed across his eyes as he thought of a possibility, but he shelved it until he could be sure.

Memorising everything on the paper, he had someone bring Fayr over and passed the sheet, “Help me find out what’s on this, and where the paper itself is from.”

Fayr looked at the paper for a few seconds, having to suppress his discomfort from the chaotic energy. He stowed the paper away and nodded, “I’ll try my best.”

Richard nodded, “I won’t be here for a week or two; I hope you can give me an answer by then.”

“You’re going to…”

“Praton was clearly involved in a plan to lure Master into a trap. I don’t care whether it was intentional, whether he’s dead or alive, he’ll pay the price. His family will be dead next week, and any friends or students who had even a finger in this.”

The grand mage shivered, but he couldn’t think of a way to persuade Richard to be merciful. He eventually just went quiet, leaving the room.

…

A few minutes after Fayr left, two more mages walked in and placed letters on Richard’s desk. Both were labelled confidential, and one was from Saint Martin while the other was from the Shadow Brotherhood. The Brotherhood was Norland’s most powerful information network, and had charged a full 300,000 gold for the contents of this letter.

Richard had known to expect the information letter from the Brotherhood, but Martin’s came as a surprise. Both had similar contents, pertaining to those close to Praton. Richard frowned at the similarity— how did Martin know he wanted this? However, he decided to ignore it after a while. He had far too many things on his hands right now to worry about this uneasy ally.

……

Afternoon the next day an enormous number of experts and rune knights surged into the territories of Marquess Praton Junior. Staring at the powerhouses flying in front of his castle, the Marquess could barely turn his head to the haggard youth in the middle of it all, “Your Grace, why do you attack my lands for no reason? The rights of lords are sacred, and any disputes can be resolved by the— NO, RUN!”

Praton Junior realised that Richard wasn’t listening to him at all, a fist-sized ball of blue fireball being strengthened by three faces that were chanting spells all around it. The fireball quickly grew to five metres wide, destroying morale in the castle and prompting people to flee. However, Richard’s rune knights covered all routes of escape, killing them immediately.

“WHY?” Praton Junior shouted in desperation, “WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?”

“Because you’re your father’s son,” Richard answered, pushing his palm forwards. The enormous blue fireball suddenly descended upon the castle, starting to gain speed along the way.

The world went silent as blue flames exploded in the middle of the castle, spreading out in all directions. Everything lost colour, the buildings disintegrating as the castle walls blew apart. When the flames subsided, all that was left was a patch of shining earth.

“Next one,” Richard said calmly, flying south. The legends and saints followed behind him, while the rune knights formed up behind them.

……

Richard led four legends, thirty saints, and 500 rune knights over thousands of miles to annihilate three marquesses and two dukes. This defeated all of Praton’s direct family, only leaving some side branches. He didn’t plan to let them off either, but for the small fry he split his troops into troops of ten rune knights led by one powerhouse each.

The other lords of the Alliance finally realised what he was after, but by the time they tried to interfere, a family that could very soon contend to join Faust had been annihilated. This challenge to noble order shocked all the lords of the Sacred Alliance, but despite a deluge of protests nobody dared to try and stop him.

While Praton’s family was being destroyed, Richard personally led his followers and legends to capture the smaller group of people that he had been informed about. They caught five in total, three men and two women. One of them was a close friend of Praton, while the other four were his students.

Richard looked through their profiles as he leaned against the table, “You should know why you’re here, so answer honestly if you don’t want the same treatment.”

The five of them shivered, glancing at each other before deciding to cooperate. They told him everything they knew, not daring to hide a single thing.

Richard listened silently, but at one point he suddenly interrupted one of Praton’s students, “He visited Faust?”

The thirty-year-old mage nodded immediately, “Yes. Master Pra… No, that bastard Praton told me about it himself!”

“When was that, and why would he go to the palace?”

“Well… He said it was something important and involved someone powerful, but I don’t really know the details. I heard it was about another mage…”

Richard fell into deep thought, considering the timeline. Praton had gone to the Deepblue only a short while after his visit to Faust, bringing Sharon away. Whatever he did there, it was likely related to the conspiracy. His worst suspicions were starting to come true.