“Maribelle, you were out tonight?”

  “Yes, the Kitchen needed more spices. I drew the short stick.”

  “Should Marcus not go shopping if something was amiss?”

  “Normally, but it was my fault and you see I was made an example.”

  “Huh, sounds rough. Get in, it is rather cold outside.”

  “Thank you, by the way, there is another rumor, come a bit closer.”

  “Huh? You should know I do not care for rumors that mu-”

  “[Amnesia]”

  “Huh? Did I fall asleep? Shit, better not let the Leader know.”

  Before he got his senses back, the Servant had entered and the Guard forgot letting her in. The Servant herself was walking briskly to the backdoor and looked around.

  “[Unlock]”

  *Click*

  Silently entering she noticed right away something off. While it is deep in the night most places had at least some Servants working through the night, but it was way too still.

  “Seems like something is not right. I really do not want to work crudely, but it seems I have no choice.”

  Putting her hands together the Maid which slowly transformed back to Seria started a long chant.

  Markings appeared on her Skin, black runes which showed ferocity and the will for battle, before they suddenly vanished into her skin.

  “Fuh. Better hope I am only a bit paranoid.”

  Walking through the Mansion, there were no sounds. Entering the Bedroom of the Count’s son he was already dead with a hole in his skull.

  “Not good.”

  Hurriedly Seria ran to the Study to find some Documents before nothing could be found again. When she opened the door she could already hear someone inside.

  “Missed one.”

  A wind blade came hurling at Seria and as it hit her everything got dark.

  —

  “Wait, where are we? Oh, a rite to battle? How interesting, you are not a simple Maid, are you not?”

  “Perceptive. Are you the one who killed the count’s son?”

  “Who cares, you are dead in a second.”

  Another windblade came crashing to Seria but she evaded it and countered with an icicle spike. With a wave of his hands the Assassin broke the Ice and threw three more Wind blades which two could be evaded but the third cut Seria’s head clean off.

  “Rite over. Two go in, one comes out. your Corpse will never be found whoever you were… huh? That is strange, should the pocket space not break right now?”

  Noticing movements the Assassin turned around and saw how the Maid just put the head that was removed back on her shoulders.

  “Wait, what!? What are you!”

  “Does it matter? Now to you, who sent you?”

  “I do not know what you might be, but I just need to destroy whatever core keeps you alive Monster, and I am out of here!”

  More Wind blades are thrown but they are now just cutting slight skin wounds anymore.

  “Doesn’t work twice. You just showed me how you work your Magic. I can neutralize it now.”

  “Tsk! [Rock spike]!”

  Piercing through Seria a large Spike made it through her body but the hole just closed again after a few seconds.

  “Claydoll? No, transformative Jelly, but how can it be that intelligent?”

  “I am human, thank you very much. I just am a bit different, because… reasons.”

  “Don’t kid yourself! You are just a Monster under some kind of Control! [Flamebreath]”

  Using Flames against a Jelly is the best way to incapacitate it. The moisture of the Monster gets vaporized and the Creature will not be able to move before breaking apart. This was the thought process of the Assassin, but reality showed how the charred Skin just returned to smooth skin, while shooting different Magical abilities at him.

  “Tsk! Monsters are Monster! [Dominate]!”

  “You can even use Mind Magic? You are rather adept in the arcane arts, but as I said, I am no Monster!”

  “Impossible, you are surely no Human.”

  Incensed Seria breathed in and out.

  “Fine, I have not made my regrets fully heard ever. You can listen to my plight while we fight, so better survive until the end!”

  After repelling many attacks the Assassin noticed his reserves rather quickly deplete. He had the fear of the Monster in front of him having some kind of Magic storage, so he started to mostly evade for a while to let it tire itself out for him to counter attack.

  “Unlike the other Maids around Master I am the one who is not compatible! What kind of Joke is that? I worked hard and came back to life just because of him, and suddenly I am not worthy of his blessing?”

  From the flurries of Fire, Ice and Rock attacks Seria was firing at the Assassin now came with it some Lightning attacks. The more she spoke the more incensed Seria became.

  “I tried really hard to be the best Maid possible for him, but my original body was not compatible! Do you know what that means for me? Of course you don’t! My Body was recreated by him to be as beautiful as I always was, but the rest was rejecting his magnificent powers!”

  “What are you talking about, you crazy beast?!”

  “Oh shut up! I had to go to hell to finally find a way to stay with him! Magical Skin and Body Parts turn slowly into the originals and become stable. I had worked hard to reverse it. I reversed it!”

  Evading the attacks getting stronger and stronger, the Assassin hoped the Magic was close to depleted. Nothing can just keep firing that much Magic without passing out after a while. He beared the brunt he could not evade and was already amassing all his powers for one final attack.

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  “Instead of my Flesh turning the Magic into me I turned the Flesh into Magic to make a new me! I had to work so hard to be compatible and had such a slow start before I could get the first drop of Blood!”

  The Storm of different Magical Elements made it hard for the Assassin to hold a magical shield but could barely make it.

  “And now I can stay as his head Maid, but will ever know I was originally not destined to be by his side, while the others are! I do not resent my Sisters, I really don’t, but the reminder of it burns deep in my mind and always brings me back to the question, if I really belong with all of them being so happy.”

  Tears started to fall from Seria’s Eyes behind her veil. Her attacks reduced and stopped for a second. This was the Time the Assassin needed for one final attack to end this creature forever.

  “[Thousand Frozen Blade Tornado]!”

  Using his best Magic he summoned small ice shards and composite them with Wind Magic to create a grinder to just destroy everything of that creature before it had the chance to save its core somehow.

  The Blades churned Seria into fine frozen dust, layer by layer until the ragged maid costume was the only thing that was ravaged inside the Storm. Seeing her completely gone the Assassin fell to his knees and started to breath heavily. To use so much Magic for only one creature was totally new to him, as he was a professional. Coughing up some blood he noticed how he must have internal Damages from the defense and overuse of his Magic.

  While breathing he noticed something horrifying, which took his breath completely away. Looking around he was still in the Pocket dimension and while he was denying even the possibility, slowly he turned his shaking head to where the remains of the Creature lay.

  The frozen particles just slowly came together as if a slight wind turned the dust into a pile right under the Dress. Slowly flowing upwards inside the Dress a voice started to speak again.

  “That is why I need to try so hard. I work as hard as I can to be worthy of his presence. I give him everything I got without remorse and while I still have this painful doubt, I am his head Maid which covers the doubt. Sadly it does not douse it, but covers it and sometimes it breaks out again.”

  “...Demon… Devil! What in the Nine Hells are you, Creature?!”

  Bowing to the Assassin she said more relaxed while her Maid dress starts to repair itself under the magical imbuements it got:”My name is Seria. I am head Maid of my beloved Master. Thank you for listening, and goodbye. [Thousand Frozen Blade Tornado].”

  Using the same Spell as him, Seria had not only understood the principle but was able to recreate it herself. Being ground to frozen Dust the Assassin cried out in agony, before the place just vanished before the Magic finished destroying the body. The moment the Assassin died the Magical Rite was fulfilled and Seria was taken back to where she was. The Pocket Dimension had other time rules so only a few Minutes had passed outside as the speed of time was five to one.

  Still Seria was quickly searching for clues of who orchestrated the ambush while thinking about the bigger picture.

  “If there is an Assassin here, there will be more in the other youths Mansions. No use in searching for clues in the other Mansions after this, but somehow I feel sorry for who might be facing Alice.”

  The Search was not that fruitful but had some clues. Before the Night ended Seria was finished and already on the way to the dead end street not liking how they have to get back.

  Time flew by slowly, when Alice finally came into the street casually walking with what seems to be a small binder of Documents.

  “You are late. Did you find anything?”

  “I was sadly too late to search through the child as he was already dead. I found some clues in the documents though~”

  “Did you just take them?”

  “No, I copied them and let the Originals where they were, like ordered~”

  “Good work Alice. I had an encounter with an Assassin, what about you?”

  “So that was the fight I had~”

  “...Anything from the person?”

  “Oh, he was no one and sadly it showed. He had no recollection of who even his Contractor was. Most of his lifetime was empty, purged by Magic~”

  “Whoever is behind that is rather high up. I have found some Documents that might depict involvement of diverse Royal Bloodlines.”

  “Found the same~”

  “Somehow it does not surprise me but this goes against their true purpose of collaring the Black Merchant. Something is not right, we should talk to our Master about this.”

  “You are right. Better find out what he might want to do first~”

  Throwing a piece of cloth on the floor at the same place where it was before a hole appeared where shouldn’t be one.

  “...Here we go again.”

  Jumping into the hole Seria vanished and afterwards Alice hopped into it herself. As the hole vanished nothing showed they had even been there and the workers started to bring out their trash like usual for the Cleanup to arrive later. It was a normal start in the day except the high alert of Guards running around frantically for four Noble Children were massacred with all of their Servants inside their houses. While the Guardpost was spared it was a deliberate move to not let people find out the attack too early.

  Searching the Houses brought back many clues which lead to completely opposite directions, obviously fabricated to make the culprit unable to be found. Still the work had to be done and many investigations got started.

  As the surface of the busy City was only somewhat strained, the undercurrents were dramatic. Killings in Noble Families were common, but four at a time was close to a declaration of war against not only those Families but the Security of the School City. Being so brazen was not only a slap in the face of the Mayor of the City but the Royalty itself, as they were the ones who had their full support in this special City.

  In a particular large Mansion Guards came in with brazen demeanor and thoughts of easy findings. Princess Eleonora’s involvement was with how many leads pointed to her one of the main Subjects. Sure of her being one of the Ringleaders they came at the opportune time when Royal Guards were already searching for double agents and would have deduced Eleonora being not faithful to the crown… if not she was bedridden for the whole time not even close to be able to lift a finger.

  The leads showed her involvement directly at night where she must have given the Orders herself in a quick strike as the rescued Documents were still wet and had notions of being seen by the victims, which can not be true if she was seriously ill. As the Royal Guards who searched for the Double Agents could not take her to a secure place she was sealed inside her chambers while the Search for dangerous individuals between the original Servants was also going awry because of the impromptu need for security and could not work as fast as they wanted to.

  A Royal Guard was caught with some Papers which would have shown Crow working for underground Militants, if they had already searched his Notes, which they didn’t.

  The Guards would have not found a thing, if the Royal Guard Captain explicitly allowed them to search his own men, as he was a hardened Veteran against any Counter Spy operations and had a suspiciously strong sense of coincidences which were too convenient.

  The Royal Guard who had those Documents was directly taken into custody and sent for further interrogation.

  This total Chaos which made no sense created a huge Storm of investigations and made the second suggested Culprit even more suspicious; Drak Berklin.

  Finding out he was not under Surveillance even as he was a target of a Calamity appeasement Strategy made it hard to not think of him as the culprit.

  The Documents were sealed for the Guards, but they heard he is not the main Target and therefore not the Calamity itself through long and hard talks about what they could know and what not. Knowing how two of his Maids were known for their combat abilities made the case clear, for the Noble’s children came from his Kingdom and he might have a grudge of some sort against them.

  Finding out he was out of the City was no evidence he had not his hands in their execution, but finding through the Network of Spies he was seen in a far away Hotel in a Town where many Nobles go after hunting made it even more complicated again. Even if there were a teleportation path, the timeframe was too short to enter the City without being seen. Finding hired assassins was less plausible, as he might have Money but not much prestige.

  Eyes now had gone back to the Calamity, which might have a hand in it, but the Spies denied this too, for the Calamity was active in the Underground, but had no long term Connections inside the Central Domain for him to do exactly this. He is a new face and could not just break into a Fortress City without a trace. Also the hints which pointed at Eleonora and Drak were too convenient and already proven false. If those clues were not found out the Calamity would have suffered an enormous hit, which made him unlikely to fake those documents.

  The Guard Captain was so incensed and wished he could just grab someone and incarcerate him for the Killing spree, but there was not even one clue he could follow without looking silly. It was like the whole Royalty was somehow involved by how a Royal Guard was trying to plant evidence, but he could not just point a finger at any Royalty without at least a possible reason.

  At the same time the Royal Castle was in an uproar. If Eleonora were the culprit, it would have been easy, as she was of a Branch which had declined rather low. The Involvement of one of their own Royal Guards, who are strenuously picked and put in place made it even worse. While internal Struggles were normal, such an act of sudden Bloodshed in their own Cradle of making the Nobles listen to their orders was too brazen and led to the Justicia Branch to intervene. The power of the Justicia Bloodline of the Emperor has deep roots and as the third highest Family has high power to search and find the culprits.

  As even the Justicia Branch found only slight clues but no specific lead, suddenly the infighting between the Bloodlines paused with heavy momentum. Right now they are aware something dangerous is happening and every Branch of the Empire’s Blood knows this could be an upheaval. Being accidentally seen by the Justicia doing something might make them look guilty so everything got halted, aborted or buried for good.