32 Boiling Point

When the dust settles, silence resumes where the rubble lies scattered and burnt. The blast powerful enough to rip a hole in the infirmary sent shockwaves throughout the academy and has caused the guards to mobilize. Bedtime will have to be postponed to uncover what goes on under the moon.

"Damn humans," Arierane groans as she slowly gets up, her cloak covered in dust.

Exceeding her expectations, Ken turned out to be far more capable than she predicted. Having initially assumed that Ken might have been a scholar at best, finding that he was a warrior of some kind came as a shock.

As she dusts herself off, Arierane looks around. She needs to leave the scene and go after Ken quickly. She might still be able to salvage her objective somehow.

Arierane jogs away from the blast site until it's no longer visible. She slows to a walk and puts up her hood, hoping that no one sees her.

When Arierane approaches the front gate to the campus, she hears footsteps and shouting in the distance. Academy security personnel are likely scrambling to find out what happened. Crossing through the large stone gate, she attempts to leave campus, but not before being stopped.

With a bright flash and a thunderous crack, a lightning bolt strikes her down. Electricity races through her body instantly, and Arierane falls onto the ground, her limbs twitching as she attempts to regain control. She can't even scream, only letting out growls.

Approaching her from all sides are mages—men and women wearing the academy's robes while expressing hostile facial expressions. None of them look young enough to be students, so Arierane can only assume they are of the academy's security. It seems like they were waiting for her.

Control over her body returns, and Arierane quickly thinks of an escape. She swings her arm across and sends a powerful wave of fire at the mages, but the attack is deflected harmlessly into the sky, briefly illuminating the area.

From the mage group, an electrical arc strikes Arierane. The constant stream of electricity immobilizes her and causes her to drop to her knee.

"Now, now, no need for further violence," a calm voice says.

Stepping out from the group is an elderly man carrying a staff from which the electrical arc is generated as if it were a Tesla coil discharge.

The electric discharge ceases, and Arierane falls on her hands, panting from exhaustion.

"Grandmaster Alberich Geiszler," she says in between breaths.

"Miss Arierane. It seems my suspicions were, unfortunately, correct. Would you care to explain yourself?"

She tries to stand; she shakes her head, then she says, "This is a misunderstanding. I was simply passing by." She breaths. "I know not what you suspect."

"I see. You wouldn't know anything about the explosion felt moments ago, would you?"

Arierane shakes her head again and says, "No, I know nothing of that."

"Hmmm… It is not wise to lie, Miss Arierane. You wouldn't dare suggest a proud elf be so unwise given their years."

Arierane's eye twitches at Geiszler's comment, feeling slightly insulted. Moreover, she's shocked Geiszler can see right through her ruse and discover that she's an elf. Looking around at the mages that surround her, there's no way she can escape. She has no choice but to surrender.

"I concede. I am indeed involved with the explosion at the infirmary."

"Wise decision, young lady. Am I correct to assume that you meddled with Kenneth's mental integrity?"

Arierane nods in defeat, knowing Geiszler figured it out when restoring Ken's memories.

"What was your goal?" Geiszler asks.

"Admittedly, I was attempting to seize and condition his mental state so that I can transform him and use him as a spy."

"Spying? Here in Scorcia? Where do you originate from?" Geiszler asks, suspicious of her nature.

"The Nanatian Empire. I—" Arierane pauses and debates if she should tell the Grandmaster her identity.

Grandmaster Geiszler scoffs in disgust. "Those bloody empires never cease with their blind ambitions. I would have thought the elves, with their wisdom benefitting from double the human lifespan, would see the absurdity in these wasteful games."

"We have no choice when the Venesians see us elves as nothing more than cattle," Arierane retorts.

"They do indeed seem to have a peculiar sense of superiority. I suppose your empire decided to send their Rangers to come to observe their trading company."

"Royal Rangers. I'm a Royal Ranger. And no, I came for Ardai Industries."

"That's equally as damning."

A few blocks away, three shadows are walking towards the campus. Matt, Jax, and Eleanor are nearing to investigate the explosion they heard. They have no way to confirm its relation to Ken's whereabouts, but seeing that they have no other leads, they might as well check it out.

Matt walks in front, leading the trio through the streets. Under his baggy clothes, he clutches his HK416, ready for any situation.

Right as they turn a corner, Matt sees a group of people who have encircled a blonde woman. They are right in front of the academy gates.

Matt stops and immediately steps back behind the building.

"Back up, back up, back up," he whispers.

"What?" Eleanor asks.

"There's a group of people at the entrance. Looks suspicious."

Eleanor peeks around the corner to see what Matt saw and sees Grandmaster Geiszler and other mages speaking with Arierane.

"They are wearing the academy's robes."

"Must have heard the explosion too," Jax comments.

"Recognize any of them?" Matt asks Eleanor.

"No, none of them."

"Let's just hide and try to listen."

.

.

Meanwhile, Lana and Ken are moving towards a supposed relative's house in a nearby city area. Owing to her warning, Ken felt thankful, if only slightly. She hasn't spoken much while she led him to the house, but he doesn't mind. He is too busy struggling with some sort of fatigue. He has been spacing out and feeling lost since his fight with Arierane.

"You seem tired. What did that elf do to you?" Lana asks.

"No idea."

Coming up to the front door of a two-story Tudor house, Lana knocks. Ken rubs his eyes as he waits, feeling heavy and dizzy.

The door opens slightly, and a voice asks, "What do you want?"

"It's me. I brought a friend," Lana says.

The door fully opens, and Lana leads Ken inside. An older man greets them once they enter.

"Well, who might I have the pleasure of meeting?"

In stark contrast to Lana's colorful mage robes, the man who greets them is more akin to a commoner. Ken can see that he looks nothing special, and he thinks this might just be Lana's dad. Another man is also inside. He's sitting at a table by himself, but he decides to avoid interaction by standing up and leaving the living room, and entering through a doorway in the back.

"This is Kenneth. A friend from the academy," Lana introduces Ken.

"Handsome young man. Name's Cal. You have a good eye, Lana."

"Please, I'm just helping him. An elf inside the academy attacked him."

"An elf? What reason would them be here? No matter. Kenneth, make yourself at home."

Ken makes his way to sit down at a nearby table. His fatigue is nearly getting the best of him, and he feels a strong urge to sleep. But this unfamiliar circumstance just barely keeps him awake.

"So, are you like her dad or something?" Ken asks groggily.

"Yeah, sure. I am. She's my precious little daughter. So, what can you tell us about yourself, Kenneth?"

Ken closes his eyes, feeling sleepy, and scratches his head. "I don't really know. I can't think straight right now."

"You can't? That's odd. Wouldn't happen to be because of that elf, would it?"

"Yeah, she did something to me. Now I don't know what's going on."

"I always knew those cursed elves were up to no good. Should have been rid of them long ago, like the Empire always intended," Cal snarls.

"W-what?"

"I think this is the best time to tell you," Lana says. "We are followers of Aliticism. It's the religion we hold dearly, and it tells the true nature of the elves."

"Really? Aria is the only elf I've seen so far."

"Aye," Cal says, "meeting one is meeting them all. You quickly face their evil nature. Backstabbers they are. Nothing but bloodthirsty, greedy, selfish monsters. They will exploit you to their heart's content, always looking down on us humans."

"I guess it might be true," Ken mutters. "Aria was always suspicious. Acting nice but always seeming to want something from me."

"That's how they trap you, son. Lure you in with their beauty and kindness. Before you know it, they rip your throat out and laugh while you bleed and die."

"Enough of that," Lana says. "Why don't we get you something to eat? I'm sure you're famished."

Ken nods his head gently. He's starting to space out and is having a hard time keeping up with the conversation. He doesn't understand what Arierane did to him, but he's beginning to believe that Lana and Cal are right about elves.

"Earnan! Innis! Get in here!" Cal yells.

Responding to his call, two people walk into the living room, and Ken's attention focuses on them. They are a young boy and girl, visibly frightened by Cal's yelling. They look to be in their early teens, and chains bind both. A collar is locked around their necks.

"Prepare us food, will ya?"

The kids bow and exit the living room to go to the kitchen. Ken is dumbfounded by what he just saw as he tries to process it.

"Who were they?" he asks.

"Those kids? Slaves," Cal says. "They help around the house and whatnot. Can't ask them to do more than that nowadays."

"By the way," Lana interrupts. "We've been thinking of leaving Scorcia and moving to Venesia soon. Why don't you join us?"

"Venesia…"

"It's one of the Great Powers. And no elves will ever bother you there. They are only allowed in Venesia as slaves. Any other status is illegal for them."

"Why go…?"

"Why not? It would be great. We could properly introduce you to Aliticism, and with what you presented in the academy, I'm sure you'd find a job."

Ken stares off towards where the boys ran off and had hardly been paying attention to the conversation. Cal and Lana notice this, and they look at each other in a questioning manner. Cal nods his head at Lana while Ken continues to stare mindlessly at nothing.

"I'm going to head upstairs. I just remembered something I need to attend to."

Lana leaves the room, climbs up the stairs, and leaves Ken alone with Cal, who simply observes Ken.

As Ken has seemingly lost himself in his inner thoughts, Cal becomes restless.

"What's taking those two so long, I wonder. I'm bloody hungry."

After a few minutes of waiting, the slave girl slowly enters the room with a dish in her hands.

"You! Took you long enough. Bring it over. What are you waiting for?" Cal yells at the girl.

Jumping from fright, the girl quickly walks to the table but slips on the chain attached to her collar. The food falls on the floor with a thud, and both Ken and Cal watch as the boy struggles.

"My food!"

Cal stands up and strikes the girl across her face, angry at her mistake. The girl falls to the ground holding her face in pain.

Seeing the strike, Ken slowly comes out of his trance. He's seen too many kids suffering in his life, regretful that he has been the cause of many. A fit of slight anger boils inside.

"Stop that," Ken mutters.

"Don't mind her. She's just a slave. As useless as they come, isn't that right, Innis? You can't do nothing right."

The girl crawls to the spilled food and attempts to clean it up quickly to avoid further problems.

"I-I'm sorry. I tripped and I-I—"

"Shut it." Cal forcibly pushes the girl with his foot. "Earnan! Come in here, clean this mess up!"

The slave boy named Earnan quickly comes into the room and attempts to clean up the split food, ignoring the girl in pain.

"I said stop," Ken repeats more firmly.

"What? You don't have sympathy for these things, do you? They are slaves for a reason."

Cal, at this point, is irritated that the slaves created a mess. The typical person he initially presented himself to be is slowly changing to something eviler.

"Don't touch them again," Ken says, this time with more hostility in his voice.

Cal scoffs as he looks at Ken. His face is slowly becoming colder as he realizes that Ken has strong and perhaps problematic opinions.

"All right, I won't."

Cal walks across the living room towards a cupboard. He takes out two shot glasses and a glass bottle without a label. It appears to be some sort of alcohol.

"How about a drink?"

Cal fills the two shot glasses with the alcohol and passes one to Ken, who simply stares at it.

"This is some of the finest liquor in the market. Take a drink."

Ken examines the brown liquid, unsure of why Cal decided to offer it. "You first," Ken says.

Cal smiles and says, "Guest always takes the first sip."

From the corner of his eye, Ken sees the other man he saw previously has returned and is peeking around the door from the kitchen. Nothing looks friendly about him, and Ken senses danger.

"I really do think you should take the drink," Cal says firmly.

Now Ken is sure that these people are hiding something and hold bad intentions. Whatever drink they want him to drink must have something in it. Could it be poisoned? Why would they want to poison him when they just met?

"I'm not drinking that," Ken says as he shakes his head.

The man in the kitchen comes out and slowly walks over.

"Drink it." Cal takes out a dagger from under his clothes and places it on the table. His face is completely rid of any friendliness. His voice has deepened and sounds more threatening than before.

This is not good.

Ken's dizziness and insomnia-like feeling completely dissipate, and his combat instincts take over.

In a swift motion, Ken takes the dagger and kicks the table over. The two slaves are startled as they are still cleaning their mess, and Cal falls onto the ground from having the table flipped on him.

"What are you doing?" Cal growls.

Ken immediately throws the dagger at the approaching man with extreme force and velocity, still utilizing the magic provided by the earrings he didn't bother taking off.

The dagger implants itself into the man's neck before he falls to the ground, bleeding profusely. Cal stands up and attempts to attack Ken but is easily outmaneuvered. He tries to punch Ken, but his arm is caught, and his elbow is struck, breaking the joint.

As Cal growls in pain, Ken kicks his knees and wraps his arm around Caliz's neck, placing him in a chokehold.

"Who are you," Ken says threateningly.

"I can ask you the same thing, pal," Cal mutters.

Ken squeezes his arms with more force and asks, "Don't bullshit me, what do you want? What are you after?"

Cal spits in anger. "Let go, or you won't survive a step outside this house."

Angry that he's not saying anything worthwhile, Ken uses all his strength to crush his neck. Eventually, a loud pop emanates from Cal, and he loses all strength in an instant. His body falls dead on the floor, and Ken looks around the room.

The other man is still twitching, but he, too, is about to die. Next to him are the two kids sitting on the floor, terrified at what they just witnessed.

"Shh, it's all right, I'm not gonna hurt you," Ken says as he approaches the kids. Both back up, scared of Ken as if he were a monster.

"Just relax. I just want to help."

The boy suddenly turns to the man next to him, takes out the dagger stuck in his neck, and attempts to swing it at Ken. The girl turns and runs into the kitchen while Ken backs up from the boy. He's astonished that the kids are attacking him. He just wanted to help.

"Wait, stop! I don't want to hurt you," Ken says as the boy continues to swing the dagger. "I only want to help you."

The boy isn't listening, so Ken decides to subdue him. Ken catches his hand as he swings the dagger and pulls the boy towards him. He grabs the boy's other arm and twists it behind his back.

"Why are you fighting?" Ken asks as he thinks of what to do.

Immediately after, Ken hears footsteps coming from the kitchen and turns to face it. The girl has returned, and she's holding a flintlock pistol in her hands. Flimsily aiming the flintlock pistol, she fires, and a bright flash and puff of smoke fill the room. Because Ken is holding the boy in front of him, the lead shot hits the boy in his chest.

"Fuck!"

Ken falls with the boy, and the girl drops the flintlock pistol. Turning the boy over, Ken sees the boy's clothes soaking in blood where he was shot, and Ken's eyes widen in shock.

The girl dashes at Ken while he's distracted and attempts to jump on top of him. Ken instinctively moves the dagger in front of him, pointing outwards, and the girl lands on top of him.

Feeling the knife sink into the girl's abdomen, Ken panics. "What the fuck," Ken's voice breaks as he pushes the girl off to the side. He crawls back and leans against the table flipped on its side, staring at the two kids. The boy stops moving while the girl tears as she breathes heavily, slowly losing consciousness.

"Shit, shit, what did I do?" Ken's voice cracks, and he hyperventilates. He's in complete shock at what transpired, and he's horrified that he just killed more kids.

More footsteps echo, but they come from the stairs. Ken looks over and sees that Lana has returned, but she has ditched her colorful academy robes and instead wears darker clothes, looking more like an assassin than a student.

In her hands are two flintlock pistols, primed and ready. She lifts one of them and aims. Ken rolls away as a gunshot rings out, striking the ground millimeters from hitting Ken. He then hides on the other side of the table, using it as cover.

"Bastard! You killed them," Lana angrily says, completely having changed her attitude and tone from before.

Ken stays silent. His hands are shaking, and his mind is racing.

"I should have known we couldn't capture you. Now I'll have to kill you instead."

Ken stands and darts towards the kitchen, and Lana takes a shot with the other flintlock pistol. The lead shot barely misses Ken, and he enters the kitchen, trying to find a way out.

Lana throws away the spent flintlocks and takes out daggers instead.

"There's no point in fighting Kenneth! Just give up now!"

She rushes to the kitchen, where Ken attempts to ambush her. Ken manages to strike her hand and knock one of the daggers away. Lana swings the other dagger, but Ken blocks her arm.

"You'll pay for my teammates!" Lana yells as she generates a fireball with her free hand and tries to ram it into Ken's stomach. Ken acts fast and tries to counter the fireball by attempting to redirect the attack upwards, but it explodes prematurely. The blast makes a mess of the entire kitchen, and Ken is thrown back onto the floor.

Remembering that he still has the Glock 19, Ken reaches for his gun tucked between his waist and pants. He swings around the gun and aims at Lana, who quickly tries to defend against it. Dust is kicked up as if a gust of air rushed into the kitchen and a translucent shield appears in front of Lana; her hands are held up.

"You won't win!"

Ear-shattering gunshots echo as Ken opens fire and bullets strike the shield. One shot after the other, the bullets create no effect as the shield is surprisingly effective in deflecting them away. Several bullets embedded themselves onto the walls, a few striking foodstuffs, and bottles that had fallen over.

Surprised at Ken's strange handgun, Lana reevaluates his threat level and thinks killing him is still doable. However, stopping bullets takes great effort on Lana's end, and so she begins walking forward, closing the distance. Ken, on the other hand, stops firing after spending eight rounds, making no effect. He then tries to get up onto his feet.

Lana's shield violently dissipates with a powerful pressure wave erratically pushing away debris. Her hand moves over a broken bottle where its liquid has spilled out, and she freezes the liquid into a spear before throwing it at Ken. He jerks to the side as the frozen spear flies past, planting itself firmly into the wall behind him.

Lana then lunges her dagger forward in an attempt to stab Ken. However, Ken swiftly moves to his left and catches her arm with his left hand. Finding this the perfect opportunity, Ken places his gun right up onto her right lumbar region in her abdomen and pulls the trigger.

Five gunshots blast into Lana's body. Some rounds exit through her back while others wreak havoc to her organs.

Lana's hand lets go of the dagger, her face expressing astonishment as her eyes lock with Ken's.

"You…" Lana mutters before she falls to the ground. Leaning against the counter, Lana breathes heavily as she stares at Ken and the gun he used.

"Who are you…" she softly says before she stops breathing.

Ken is also breathing heavily. He looks at Lana with a saddened face. Everything just went sideways in the worst way possible. Worst still, he doesn't know why.

Unknown to him, the memory restoration is still incomplete as it struggles to process while Ken is awake.

He walks out of the kitchen, and his eyes move to the two kids. His mind is in turmoil, and his emotions are at a boiling point. Briefly falling into a trance of sadness, depression, and guilt, he keeps seeing the faces and mutilated bodies that have permanently scarred his mind. Knowing that he's done such evil acts of inhumanity himself, he just wants to escape the world and live in seclusion, far away from any conflict. He has become entirely disillusioned with the career path he has taken and regrets ever joining the military. If this is what it takes to fight for his country, he may have made a colossal mistake.

Breaking him out of his trance are footsteps coming from the front door. Many people are heard talking on the other side of the door. They sound concerned.

When the doorknob turns, Ken quickly makes his way back to the kitchen to hide. Several men enter the house, all looking like commoners, but some look more like the mercenaries he occasionally saw throughout the city.

"Curses!" a man yells angrily. "We're too late! The Ardai dog is gone!"

One of the men walks over to the dead bodies to inspect them. He says, "Cal is dead, sir. He failed to capture the target."

"Where is that witch, Lana? She should have killed him if they couldn't bring him alive."

"I don't know, sir."

"Sir! People spotted outside!" a voice yells from the door.

"Who is it?"

"It appears to be a blonde woman. She's just—"

"It's an attack! Watch out!" someone else yells.

All the men scramble throughout the living room right before a powerful explosion tears apart the building. Most of the men are caught in the blast, and shrapnel and debris fly everywhere. Bodies are thrown around, and Ken ducks into the kitchen.

Blonde woman? It must be Aria. She is still coming after me, Ken thinks.

Outside in the dark streets, Arierane has finally found where Ken should be. Unfortunately, it seems the Venesians lured him into their safe house.

Before arriving, she had been speaking extensively with Grandmaster Geiszler. She was forced to tell him everything about what she was doing but carefully expressed that her ultimate goal was to fight the Venesians. The opportunity for a new strategy arose when word of Ardai Industries spread around the Kingdom. Her superiors in the Nanatian Empire then found it worthwhile to dispatch the Royal Rangers to attempt to take control of Ardai Industries. Since she was one of very few elves to know mind control, Arierane was tasked with infiltrating Ardai Industries through one of their employees, and in effect, turning Ardai Industries into an economic and political weapon in Venesia's newest vassal.

Despite Geiszler's reluctance to allow a spy run amok in his city, his strong desire to stay out of politics and international affairs made him change his mind, especially since Arierane is a member of the elusive Royal Rangers. It the end, when gunshots started popping off in the otherwise quiet night, Geiszler let her chase after Ken so long as she kept trouble away from his academy.

So why is she still after Ken? Even though her opportunity to take control of him may already be gone, her pride as an elf makes her want to try at least to salvage the idea. Furthermore, her multiple attempts to breach his mind have caused her to learn quite a bit about him. All of it was remarkably unknown, mysterious, and wild. She has concluded that Ken's true identity may be worth chasing after.

Now, she faces mercenaries. She wasn't the only one who noticed the commotion, and a swarm of people arrived. They all look like the standard mercenary recruited for people's dirty work, but she knows that Ken's attempted assassination is the work of the Venesians. Suspecting them all to work for the STC or even be members of the Tabellarii, she unleashed a powerful explosion upon them, killing most.

The mercenaries scramble all over the streets and take out weapons. They are all confusingly equipped with flintlock pistols and start taking shots at Arierane. She quickly sets up a translucent barrier to block all the incoming bullets and prepares to attack.

While everyone has to reload their flintlocks, Arierane collapses the shield as it quickly expands into the surrounding air, creating a concussive pressure wave directed at the mercenaries. The ground shakes at the shockwave, and a gust of air sweeps over the area. An enormous amount of dust is kicked up as visibility is significantly reduced.

Arierane jumps into action from the distraction she caused. Having left her ranged weapon elsewhere, she has to get in close. Arierane easily dispatches the first mercenary. Taking the daggers they carry, she slices away from one mercenary to the next. Some try to take more shots at Arierane, but she is too nimble and elusive. In the distance, more yelling can be heard. It sounds like more people are coming to the scene.

Then she hears two distinct gunshots. Louder and crisper than that of a flintlock, she looks around as the dust begins to settle and sees two mercenaries drop dead near the building she blew open. A single figure jumps out and makes a run for it, disappearing into the city's alleyways.

"Where are you off to now?" she says and sighs, sweating from exhaustion.

.

.

A few blocks away, Matt, Jax, and Eleanor are rushing to the scene.

They couldn't hear much of what Arierane was saying with the Grandmaster, but they noticed something spooked the old man. As they were about to leave the area, gunshots echoed through the night. The kind of gunshots that Matt and Jax are very familiar with. Surprisingly, Arierane jumped into action when the gunshots were heard, leaving them confused at what her role was. Despite trying to follow her towards the scene, Arierane proved to be extremely quick, arriving at the scene far sooner than Matt, Jax, and Eleanor.

Now, as they approach the scene, it sounds like a gunfight has begun.

"Look, there's a whole lotta dust!" Jax says as they approach the scene.

"He has to be there, right?" Eleanor says in between breaths.

While Eleanor only carries her flintlock pistol, Matt and Jax are holding their HK416s. Knowing that they are about to enter combat, Eleanor is extremely curious about how their foreign weapons work.

"Get ready for action!" Matt says. "Eleanor, you're with me! Jax, cross the street! Lay down fire from the flank!"

"Roger!"

Jax crosses the street as the group nears the ongoing battle. They can distinctively see a lone figure massacring a group of people in the dust cloud.

Arriving at the scene, they take cover behind the few stone archways some buildings have for their doors.

"Weapons free!"