Chapter 146: Book Three – Chapter Five – Part Six – The Act of Subterfuge and Sabotage

Immediately, Servi walked away and made her way back to the empty lot located at the end of the alley she was at before.

However, it wasn’t vacant anymore.  

She saw a group of four. Two men and two women. All were dressed like they had plans to go to a ball or some sort of fancy get-together. That, however, was only accounting for their clothes. Their faces, mannerisms, and body movements told a different story. It was an angry scowl from irritation, erratic twitches from a lacking desire, and heavy breathing from the missing substance that revealed their real aim.  

An empty pill bottle sat in one of their hands, prompting Servi to realize that they were going through withdrawal. The only pill that she knew of was Monotonia, and she had a 33% chance of it being the white variant.  

“My friends, are you perhaps looking for this?” Servi pulled out a white pill from her bag.  

“It’s about fuckin time! You were supposed to be here two minutes ago!” said a man in a velvet suit. His hair was slicked back and tied in a rat tail.  

“Sorry about that. I was a bit tied up from looking at that big-ass building. It’s quite impressive, isn’t it?” 

“Hey,” said a woman wearing a low-cut dress that stopped at her thighs. “You ain’t our regular man. Where is he?” 

“Ah, him? He’s sick with the flu. He told me to take over. Now, I have eleven pills to sell, but there’s a catch.” 

“Flu? Wait, fuck off with the catch. We ain’t paying more than what we usually pay!” shouted the velvet-suited man.  

Servi mockingly waved her fingers. “This place is rich. It’s fancy. You four are bound to have a nice amount of money. Each pill is 1,500 dupla.” 

The second guy, in a tiger-striped suit, silently scowled and rushed forward with his hands out. His eyes seemed to roll to the back of his head. Servi sighed and kicked out, impaling his abdomen with the heel of her shoe.  

“Gguuhhh….” he coughed, splattering blood down his chin. Servi shook her foot, knocking the man to the ground and off of her foot. But he left a present behind. Part of her heel impaled his intestines, leaving a bloody, fleshy rope connecting her heel to his body.  

“The price just went up. Give me all of your money, and you can have the eleven pills,” Servi stomped down, breaking the bloody connection between her and the suited man.  

“Hey! Fuck you! We had a deal with the Mafia. We pay for the pills, and you don’t hurt us!” the woman wearing the low-cut dress chanted for a moment and pulled out a dagger from her Dimensional Storage.  

“Why does it always end this way…” Servi sighed. Four swords appeared from beside her and launched forward, impaling each would-be attacker to the wall of the empty lot, including the tiger-striped suited man, who already had half of his intestines hanging out.  

Blood poured from their wounds like water from a crushed water balloon, covering the clean ground in an ever-growing layer of crimson. At the same time, four openings in the fabric of space and time opened up next to the four corpses.  She jumped back and recalled her weapons. The bodies slumped lifelessly to the ground as stacks of coins fell like a waterfall from the four holes.  

“Now, why did you go and kill them? They were an excellent source of money.” Servi turned around and saw two Elves. Both had a '7' marked on their forehead.  

“I thought Numbered had to hide their numbers in public?” she said. From behind Servi, the coins continued to pour nosily and splattered about in the ever-accumulating crimson, staining them with the blood of their owners. Servi had already done the math and correctly deduced that the coins came out from their owners’ Dimensional Storage. If they hadn't, then that dupla would’ve been lost forever, but she had one question on her mind.  

Were the four she killed the first ones to have Dimensional Storage? It didn’t seem possible. When Albert died, nothing of the sort happened. But perhaps it was because he was forbidden from having anything stored? Servi didn’t know, but she thought it was weird. It could’ve been because she had killed lowly guards and people who never bothered to use it, or they just didn’t have the skill learned. From what she had been told and concluded on her own, Dimensional Storage was a pretty advanced skill. It was very possible that the four she had just killed were the first ones to have the ability to use it. If she had killed Fisher, then all of his items would’ve fallen out as well. At least, she thought so.   

Regardless, Servi wouldn’t lose sleep over this worthless mystery. She turned her attention back to the two Elves.  

“We are, in most cases. If you know we’re Numbered, then you know we’re ranked higher than you,” the Elf on the left said. Part of his left hand was gone, leaving two fingers and a portion of his palm. Servi internally named him Handy.  

“If so, then you fucked up big time. Who’s your Numbered? What’s your base?” said the one on the right. A nasty scar covered his left eye, leaving it permanently closed. It would never again see anything. Servi decided to call him Blind.  

“Like I’m gonna tell you. What if I told you I’m not part of the Mafia? Hey, better idea; why don’t you two tell me about that big ass building? The one with the Kobold and the watchtowers and the ballistae?” 

Handy drew a small axe from his waist with his functional hand. He pointed it towards Servi.  

“Why do I have to keep killing?” Servi sighed and drew a sword from her ring. Appearing from nowhere, Servi used Telekinesis to pull Handy to her. Her blade impaled through his head, and by using her favorite skill, she forced his body to fly up until he was cut in half.  She made sure to step back to avoid any blood being tossed on her.  

Blind, in a sudden panic, angrily drew his bow and nocked it in a flash. He launched it so quickly that the falling brain matter from his friend coated the metallic arrowhead. Servi caught it out of the air by clapping.   

“Good ole' Soul Essence of Primal Combat… I love you.” she muttered. Using Telekinesis, she pulled Blind towards her while absorbing the two halves of Handy. She forced him against the sweet-smelling brick walls and smiled.  

“I’ve been waiting for this chance for a while. To make sure we’re not disturbed, I’ll cut off the entrance,” she said. Pointing to her left, she used Earth Wall to block off the passageway to the empty lot. It used the wall as a base, so color-wise, it looked like it had always been there.  

With an unnecessary snap of her fingers, Servi’s dress and heeled shoes disappeared. A familiar cloak, tunic, and pants adorned her body. She had absorbed her clothes from the bag she still held in her hands and equipped them.  

“I don’t want to get blood on the dress,” Servi said. “I quite like it. Now, I can finally get some info. Oh, before we get started, I need to do something,” Servi walked over to the giant pile of coins, corpses, and scattered weapons. She absorbed it all. It was like a magic trick. One second it was there, and the next, it wasn’t. To her surprise, all of the coins she stored were in two denominations: 100 and 500. By her rough estimate, she made close to 45,000 dupla from this one encounter.  Unfortunately, she couldn’t get rid of the wet blood that stained the concrete. That kind of precise Absorption was still beyond her current skill level.

Servi, I know you can’t hear me, but I’ll go ahead and clean the coins.  

“Ah, I forgot your pills,” Servi reached into her bag and pulled out eleven little pills; White Monotonia. She formed a fist, crushing the deadly drugs until they were dust. Her palm opened, and a breeze snatched the dusty remains, scattering them to the bloody ground and staining them red. “It was a pleasure doing business with you.” 

Turning her attention to Blind, she retrieved a coin and began to flip it. “Now then….. I do hope you can answer me.” 

---

“Let’s see…. That’s four fingers, ten strips of skin, the tip of your nose, six fingernails, and your left ear,” Servi said, counting the bloody objects hanging in front of her. “And you told me jack shit about I want to know.” 

She looked up and saw an Elf crying his eye out. Blood dripped from numerous spots on his body. The only reason he wasn’t dead was simple: Remedium Lux. Servi had it going constantly, but stopped it for a moment. 

“If you want the healing, you gotta tell me. What the fuck is that building for, and where the fuck is the Boss at?” 

“Aaaa….hhhhhh…lp…..” Blind croaked.  

Servi balled her fist and cracked his jaw. “That’s the wrong fucking answer. Look, I ain’t got all day to sit here and play with you.” She healed Blind. In a matter of moments, every single wound he suffered, sans his missing eye, healed up. His lost blood wasn’t restored, and the pain was still there, but his body was nearly in the perfect condition to endure another round of torture.

“Where. Is. The. Boss?” 

“I TOLD YOU!! I don’t know!!! We’re led to a dark room, and he carved our numbers into our flesh….. Please….I…I…don’t wanna die…” 

Servi sighed and used Telekinesis to crush Blind’s throat to the point where he could only breathe. He couldn’t talk, scream, or whimper. Then, she grabbed hold of his arm and snapped it like a twig. His mouth opened as wide as it could, but absolutely nothing came out. No screams. No yells. No cries of anguish.  

Then she snapped it again. And again. And again and again and again and again until it was broken in seven spots. Bits of white bone peeked through Blind's skin as if saying good afternoon.  

With a quick slap to the face, Blind bared his teeth and cried even more. The sheer pain was building up to a breaking point, and he didn’t think his body could handle it anymore.  

“Then the building! Is it Mafia-related? Is that a base for the 5th? 4th? What the fuck is it?! And this area? What’s it for?!” 

Servi undid the Telekinesis, and Blind eked out a simple response. “I don’t know….. We…we were never told…. I’m not….auth…orized…to..k..n..o.w…. ple—” 

Just as Servi was about to break his other arm, she heard a piercing cry. “WILLIANA….I…. CAN’T…BREA…..” 

“FUCK!!!” Servi cursed under her breath. She had no time left to spare on her target, so she grabbed a sword from her ring and decapitated Blind. Finally, after an hour of torture, he was put to rest. The sweet embrace of death was what he longed for. She would never admit, but Servi was quite impressed in his ability to withhold information. Well, it was either be impressed with him or upset because he really didn’t know anything. Just like she thought, she had to get her hands on a 5th or higher to find out what she really wanted to know.  

After absorbing his corpse and head, Servi used her ring to put on the dress and shoes. After using a little bit of water to clean the blood off her heel, she absorbed the Earth Wall she had made and ran out of the alley. There, just a few short meters away from her, was Old Man. He laid on his side, clutching his chest in false pain. Two armored men surrounded him, but their swords weren’t drawn. They were thinking of what to do when Servi screamed.  

“Grandfather?!!” she quickly walked over to him and crouched. After putting a hand to his back, she spoke urgently and rubbed it. “Grandfather, I’m here. See, is that better?” she applied a bit more pressure than what he predicted.  

After combining a cough and a yelp of pain, he slowly got to his feet with Servi's assistance.  

“Williana, I..I..” 

Servi tapped him on the shoulder. “Easy, Grandfather… Let’s go sit down, okay? You probably got too excited. My dearest soldiers and friends, thank you,” Servi said, doing a courtesy bow. She walked away slowly from the diminishing group of rich ladies and guards. A few seconds later, they sat down at a small table a few meters away from a quaint restaurant.  As soon as their bottoms touched the stone seats, a waiter came out.  Servi politely waved him away and announced they were only taking a rest so her 'grandfather' could make the trip home.  He was convinced, wishing Old Man the best in his recovery while walking away to a separate table.

“Damnit, we were supposed to meet up at 1!” Old Man growled. “It’s 1:47! I had no choice but to make a scene!” 

“Look, I was busy, alright? Calm the hell down.” Servi retrieved 10,000 dupla from her bag and subtly placed them on the table. “I had to make a sale.” 

“Dear Gods above! How did you sell them for 1,000 a pop?!” Old Man exclaimed.  

Servi chuckled and stood up. “Let’s leave, and I’ll tell you.” 

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Old Man pushed in his chair and followed Servi out through the gate. There, she saw the guard with the blue feather. He nodded his head and looked back down at his paper. Neither Servi nor Old Man said anything. Once they were just far enough, Servi made up some excuse and said she had to tell the guard something.  

“Can’t you leave it?!” he asked.  

“No. We might need to come here again. If I leave behind a good impression, I probably won’t have to kill the guard standing out front. If I ask for the man with the blue feather, he’ll probably let us in,” she said.  

Old Man threw his hands up in defeat and leaned against the wall.  

Servi ran back, her heels clicking and echoing against the hard surface.  

“Yes?” the guard with the blue feathered asked. Unbeknownst to him, that three-letter word would be the last thing he would ever utter. A moment later, after he and the four other guards had their necks broken, their bodies disappeared from the world. The only evidence that remained was the four sets of valuables that appeared from tears in space.  It was what they had inside their Dimensional Storage.  A dead man couldn't provide Skill Energy, which was what every Dimensional Storage needed.  There was always a constant drain from the day it was learned to the day the user died. When that happened, the skill failed.  What followed was its contents spilling out as the Dimensional Storage blinked from existence.

They might’ve been good honest family men with daughters and wives, as indicated by a family portrait one of them dropped. Maybe a mother and father they sent money to, as evidenced by a letter from a parent to her son. Perhaps they had never stained their hands with the blood of a criminal, as unveiled by a heartwarming letter from a son to a grandfather, who stated that life was hard and rough, but he had never forgotten the core values he was taught.

Servi would never know the truth about them. And if she did, it would’ve been an acceptable loss that was calculated within her margins.  

“They wore the uniform and the armor, so they were ready to die.” That would’ve been her answer. “I’m ready to burn this entire town to the ground. The only reason I haven't done it already was because Momo’s heart probably couldn't take it.” Servi would say that, convincing herself she had absolutely no problem massacring hundreds of thousands of potentially innocent people for the life of her best friend.  

“I put her into this mess,” she would say. “I must save her. I have to save her. These are my sins to bear. These are my sins to hold. These are my sins to live with for the rest of my immortal life.” 

A single thought, flashing like a lost spark of lightning, compelled her to run back to do the deed. Perhaps it was a quick flash of her past? But as soon as it popped into existence, it disappeared. When the five red souls floated into her ring, she couldn’t remember why she wanted to kill them.  

It didn’t matter. “They were my enemies... They wore the uniform,” Servi whispered to nobody before running back to Old Man. He was none-the-wiser to what had just happened.  

---

“You see, that rich area is full of rich people who don’t want to mingle with the common folk. I’m talking super-rich, like how I used to be. And try as I might, I couldn’t get any info about that building. It’s like they really didn’t know even the smallest bit of info about it. For some reason, the people there tolerate it. Hell, this one man told me that he only lived there because he believed the warriors guarding it will protect him from the Mafia. And others believe the group of warriors is the Mafia. It seems like none of them know the truth. Oh yeah, I managed to meet up with two Numbered,” Old Man said.  

He and Servi were currently walking back to Deset. After stopping off in a dead-end alley, Servi changed into her tunic and cloak and stored her dress and shoes in the bag. She still had on the wig, having grown quite fond of it during their little adventure together.  

“Did they have 7s?” Servi asked.

“Don’t know. The ones I saw were Elves, though. One guy had a scar on his face, and the other was missing part of his hand. They cornered me and asked who I was with. I told them Deset, and they let me go,” Old Man said. 

“Yeah, I met them,” said the girl who killed them. “How much did you get for your pills?” 

Old Man pulled out eleven 100 dupla coins. “I don’t know how the hell you managed to get to a thousand for each.” 

“Let’s just say I can be very persuasive. Hell, all I have to do is show a little skin or flash my tits. Coincidentally, that’s what I did,” Servi lied. She couldn’t say she slaughtered and robbed four people. And since Old Man already knew she was whoring herself out to Carrie, the lie didn’t hurt her at all. Even if he did think of her as a whore, it wouldn’t bother her. Aside from herself, Momo and Itarr were the only people whose opinions she cared about.

“Ahh, using your Gods given talents to their utmost, are you?” 

“That’s right. Anything for cash. Say,” Servi began to say after they turned a corner, “do you think the Boss lives in that building?” 

“I don’t know. I want to say yes because that’s a lot of men and defenses. Even that Kobold out front with his three nadrium axes had to cost a pretty penny. Not to mention the full nadrium armor. Those axes aren’t light, and his Telekinesis has to be a high level. But at the same time, isn’t having all of that a little too much?” 

“I get what you mean. If the boss does live there, then isn't having all of that a bad thing? Why draw attention to yourself with 40 guards and giant watchtowers? Wait, what if it’s the biggest decoy?” 

Old Man coughed and rubbed his chin. “You mean he might actually be in a place like that?” Old Man pointed to a random desolate building.  

“He might. Hell, it’s like nobody knows anything around him. Oh yeah, did you find out anything about the guards?” Servi asked.  

“I did. I actually found out something I didn’t know. Except those surrounding that giant building, a good 80% of the guards are the firstborn sons of their family. It sounds weird and confusing, and I don’t rightly understand it myself, but that’s how it is. Though, I don’t know if we can go back. I overheard this one woman talking about a new rule that would prevent anyone from leaving.” 

“That makes sense. Why would anyone even leave anyway? It seems like it’s pretty safe. Well, maybe not as safe since we were able to intrude.” 

Old Man stopped and took a breather while leaning up against a nearby wall. “That’s the other thing. I overheard this little boy loudly speaking about how more and more people on the outside are trying to finagle their way inside by doing what we did. That’s the other reason why they’re going to lock it down.” 

“I see. What’s even the name of that place?” Servi asked. She took out a coin and flipped it a few times.  

“I never told you?” Old Man said. Servi shook her head, and he continued. “Believe it or not, it’s called New Arcton.” 

“Really? 

“Yeah. I don’t know if those pretentious bastards believe that, one day, they’ll be the only remaining people in Arcton, and they want to get a start on it, or if they just wait to lay claim to the name. Honestly, it doesn’t bother me none at all.”

“I see. Well, you ready to continue on? According to you, we ain’t that far away,” Servi said. After pocketing the coin she had been flipping, she raised her arms up to the sky and stretched.  

“It’s just around there,” he replied, pointing just ahead. He sighed as he resumed walking.  

After turning one more corner, Servi and Old Man were at the remains of an abandoned house.

“Don’t take what she says at full value. This son of a bitch isn’t hurting for cash,” he whispered.  

Servi nodded.  

The two of them were at a particular shop that sold the vital life-saving medicine that Old Man’s granddaughter desperately needed to live a life free of pain.  

With no sign or any other easily identifiable objects, Servi never would’ve guessed this was a shop. To her, it looked like trash that needed to be burned away so something better could take root.  

Servi stood down off the steps and allowed Old Man to knock on the door. The sleeves of his suit fluttered faintly in the sudden breeze.  

I guess he really likes that suit. Servi, that wig is pretty, but I like your black hair better. Itarr commented.  

Soon, the door swung open to reveal a short woman.  

“I have 600 dupla, so give me five pills and a pencil,” Old Man said. He dropped 600 dupla into her outstretched hands, and she slammed the door in his face. Servi went to walk forward, but Old Man stopped her. “It’s just how she does business,” he told her.  

A few seconds later, the door swung back open, and the short woman had five brown bags and a single pencil in her hands. Old Man snatched them out and walked down the steps. The short woman slammed the door in response, and Servi shrugged.  

“That old bitch is always rude. If she didn’t have those guards inside, I’d kill her myself and take her whole stock of medicine.” Old Man stomped his foot but immediately calmed himself. Then with a practiced hand, he proceeded to draw five little foxes on the five bags. Each one was of a different style, but Servi felt the love that radiated from it. She thought his ‘loving grandfather' routine was a simple act, but it wasn't. He really did care about his granddaughter.

“Where to now?” Servi asked.  

“To drop off the pills. They both should be working, so no one will be at the house. I've just got to stick em’ in the mailbox and leave.” 

Twenty minutes later, Servi watched as Old Man stared lifelessly at a small house. It wasn’t big at all, but it was cozy. A nice set of chairs, well used and worn, sat on the little porch that looked freshly built. No doubt the owner cared a lot about the house. The door had a little heart, made of leaves and twigs, that added a rustic and heartwarming feel to the area. It was almost like a house that someone would be welcomed into on a Sunday and invited for dinner.  

“Williana… I’ve come to terms with the fact I won’t ever see my granddaughter again. I’m worried that when I’m gone, there’ll be no one to give her medicine. I’m not asking you to pay for it, but if I do die and you’re around, I want you to take everything I have and sell it. Sell it until you can buy as many pills as possible and give it to her. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell her it was from me, but I’d be dead at that point. It’s not like I can stop you at that point. Goodbye, Angie…..” Old Man whispered a single name as a single tear fell from his eyes.  

Servi handed him a cloth, and he thanked her.  

“If I’m still around, I’ll do it.” 

“If you’re going to agree so readily, then how about finding a way to cure her for good? Say, for instance, finding someone with Lux Dei Omnipotentis?” 

“Don’t push your luck, Old Man,” Servi said, “I'll sell your shit and buy the pills. That’s all.” 

He laughed and walked away, heading back towards Deset. “I guess that’s the most I can ask for, and I’m alright with that.” 

Servi chuckled, finding herself genuinely happy for the first time since her fight with Momo, and immediately frowned. As long as Momo was kidnapped, Servi felt like any happiness she felt betrayed their friendship.  

“Mosie…..” Servi whispered as she and Old Man made the long journey back to Deset.

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