Published at 24th of May 2026 6:41 am

Chapter 358: Intervention

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There was no talk of leaving. Partly because they all recognised the high likelihood they needed to intervene here, and partly out of simple confidence that there was little chance of them being discovered so long as they remained Cloaked, thus little actual riskso long as they didnt venture too near to the group they were newly sharing the roof with, that was.

A company of skeletons bearing bows and arrows ofsomewhat predictablyflesh and bone had emerged, rising from a few trapdoors further down the rooftop. The buildings of these streets were all connected townhouses, so these skeletons had a lot of room to spread out and take aim. They did so, under the direction of a hooded Person wearing the same type of robe as the rest of the Morvain. This individual performed a quick sweep of the roof with Soul Sense, but Nicolai and the others had already backed out of range by then.

Hed expected the Morvain troops to surge forward and the skeletons to open fire, but the People surprised him. Instead the Morvain just spent a while forming up, then their leaders made themselves known.

The first was a man with a very large, powerful Soul Sense, who hovered in the air toward the back of the Morvain troops. He wore excessively long robes which trailed below him, the kind of clothing that would never work unless you spent literally all your time flying, and was bald with the typical tentacle beard. In one hand he held a long staff.

Next there came movement from a group of extra-large variants of the black armoured undead. These ones had significantly more ornate, gold-trimmed armour, and Nicolai was pretty sure, from the spiritual energy he saw around them, that at least a few of the undead were armed with Artifacts. These ones gradually raised a large black metal disc up to the height of their shoulders.

Standing on that disc, arms crossed and glaring across the way at the Thrynn noble, was a young noble woman with the typical black and gold Morvain robe. Once the metal disc had risen to the proper height she began to speak.

Youre surrounded, Thrynn! she cried, raising her arm and pointing upwards dramatically. In her hand she held a long, thin rod, which looked like some kind of wand. Based on the faint glow of spiritual radiation, it was an Artifact. Surrender, and maybe I wont kill you! Her mouth was stretched into a vicious grin. For some reason Nicolai was reminded of the Person working at the Information Guild, who was so very fond of his Black Gift.

The noble from House Thrynn was a young man, who at some point had fished a glowing crystal ball from his pockets. He frowned across the undead at her, uncertain. The armoured man with bat-like wings leaned closer to him and they briefly conferred.

What reason do I have to trust you? he called out.

Before the young woman on the shield could reply, the noble floating above her replied. She is lying. She wants to torture you all to death. He wore a dour, bored expression.

Shut up, uncle! she screeched up at him. I was negotiating!

It would never have worked, he replied dismissively. You only waste time.

While the pair argued, the noble from House Thrynn had stiffened, eyes widening. His Soul Sense extended into his orb which projected a faint barrier, one that quickly grew. It was like a large spiritual soap bubble, in which all the ghouls were contained.

Word has been sent, attempted the Thrynn noble. The rest of my House will be here soon. Flee, or be crushed!

Your House couldnt crush an ant, Thrynn, replied the young woman dismissively. She flicked her wand like a conductor and the ranks of black-armoured undead shifted, growing ready. Then she began to perform rapid tapping motions, and with each tap the undead stepped forward. Nicolai saw her Soul Sense was emerging from this wand in many roving snakes which dove into all the undead around her. These undead then pressed their own Soul Senses onto the ones around them, and her Soul Sense seemed to move within, chaining outwards.

Meanwhile, the one above spread his arms, Soul Sense stirring. It split into two and shot forwards, crossing all that distance without issue, then the tips turned needle-sharp and adopted a faint blue glow as they dove down in a series of rapid probing attacks at the soap-bubble shield. From above, the skeletons began firing, while the hooded Person released powerful ripples. Dark mist flowed from his hands, forming into a dense ball that he cradled.

The skeletons arrows pierced without any issue at all through the soap bubble shield, which led Nicolai to conclude it was purely spiritual in nature. The Thrynn noble activated a golden shield which protected him, but the ghouls had no defence. Still, the arrows didnt seem to cause them too much bother, mostly deflected from their armour and even when it dug into their flesh, they showed little reaction.

However, the Thrynn wasnt willing to wait there, battered by arrows and Soul Sense while the enemy closed. With a simple wave of his hand he sent the ghouls charging out.

The Morvain noble spun his wand and the black-armoured undead clanked to a halt, raising their shields and bracing. Just in time, as the ghouls crashed into them moments later. Each ghoul was a big thing, and just the weight of them drove the line back. But the undead behind had already positioned their shields, and so the House Morvain undead absorbed the hit as one mass.

Nicolai watched all this with interest, gradually forming a clearer picture of the two sides and their methods. He was partly waiting for Xyrrith and Drekhul to get further away, and partly simply interested in learning what these People looked like in battle.

This was a good opportunity to gather information, and hed already put some tests into practise. The first had been when that notification appeared warning them to leave. Hed pressed on his mental impression of his Mark, investigating one of its functionsthat of opening a portal. This had been available, so he couldve opened his portal as a quick and easy method to exit the area before the countdown ended. Once the countdown was over, however, the function had become unusable. No portalling out once in an active combat area. He wouldve liked to actually open the portal in those first twenty seconds and see if he could have his bots come out. He felt most likely the portal would turn out to only be one way when inside an area which would soon become active for combat, thus preventing him calling up a small army of combat bots, but you never knew.

It had been decided that he and Serrin would intervene, here. This was because Xyrrith and Drekhul had already made inroads of some kind with House Veyron in their previous visit to the City. They believed theyd receive some kind of preferential treatment when they worked to join that House, and they worried that aiding the Thrynn here and now might damage that.

Since Thrynn had the other half of the Relic, they needed to either ensure the House didnt lose it, or steal it themselves. Once Nicolai had finished discussing this with them, the pair had floated off to lurk further afield, so as not to be detected in the fallout of Nicolai and Serrins intervention, but close enough to come in and help out if there did turn out to be a good chance to grab the Relic.

The pair of them briefly communicated, trying to work out the best way to ensure Thrynn came out victorious, here, or at least drove off their enemies, and that there was also no good opportunity for them to grab the Relic. Since it was currently stuck in a large, very solid looking metal box which definitely had some powerful spiritual defences woven into it, that didnt seem to much of a danger in any case. But the best way to ensure that continued was to make sure the Thrynn didnt take too much of a battering.

That being the case, it was about time for them toact. Nicolai and Serrin crept into position, moving behind the skeletal archers, angling in to try and get close to the hooded Morvain. They had to go on a careful, circuitous route to avoid the skeletons Soul Senses, though at least the Morvains Soul Sense was extended purely down and towards the battle.

In the moments of their preparation, there had already been some developments.

The ghouls had crashed into the front line of Morvain undead, using their greater size to try and grab the tops of their shields and rip individual armoured undead out of formation. The Morvain undead, guided by that wand bearing noble, responded to this by putting a hand on the shoulder of the one directly in front. They became practically a solid, linked mass, but even so the ghouls were strong enough to rip some of them free, especially when two ghouls managed to get a grip on the same shield.

The armoured undead torn free were then set upon and swiftly dismantled by the ghouls. The powerful, flying Soul Sense user had briefly sent his Soul Sense into attacks on these ghouls, but was stymiedeach of them immediately gained a smaller version of the bubble shield the moment they left its protection, and from what Nicolai saw, it seemed that these smaller bubbles were somehow linked to the main one. Attacks against one caused all to flare, as though the strain was dispersed.

Alas, the ghouls initial success didnt last long. The Morvain just filled in the gaps then, in a burst of powerful ripples, released a synchonised attack. All of them bore short swords and shields, so Nicolai had assumed they would just use those. He was thus quite surprised when the noble woman made a great sweeping gesture which the front row mimicked, and a great blast of fire and force erupted from them.

The ghouls were punched away, sent tumbling across the ground. Many of them were aflame and this flame seemed rather sticky, as even those still standing were forced to throw themselves down and roll around to put themselves out. Simultaneously the hooded Morvain on the roof finished forming his orb of black mist and tossed it out. It detonated between the lines, quickly spreading into a great miasma. The Morvain undead pressed forward into it and the moment they felt its touch they quickened, gaining some kind of strength and speed. The ghouls, on the other hand, were weakened. The Morvain surrounded and chopped apart any ghoul too slow to retreat, then marched after the disordered mass of ghouls flowing back to the cart and its soap-bubble shieldwhich the black mist piled up against, unable to penetrate into.

That wasnt lasting, either, as the Soul Sense users probing attacks seemed to have found some kind of weakness. He was now throwing a rapid combination of Soul Sense attacks into a specific spot on the shield over and over, and it was clearly struggling more and more under the strain.

This led the winged, armoured Thrynnto Nicolais eye, a bodyguard rather than a nobleto leap into the air. He flew out from the protection of the bubble, heading straight for the roof and the robed Morvain.

The Soul Sense user immediately shifted his attacks to the flying bodyguard, tendrils darting over to him. Meanwhile, the hooded Morvain began forming some kind of black, floating spike, Soul Sense tendrils extended and ready. It was clear that the moment the flying bodyguard came into range, hed use Soul Sense to guide what looked like a very powerful attack. The skeletons also shifted fire, and even swooping and veering madly wasnt enough for the bodyguard to avoid it all.

The bodyguards Soul Sense and Shield were hammered. The powerful Soul Sense using Morvain seemed to crush through almost effortlessly, which said a lot about the strength of the Thrynn nobles bubble shield.

Nicolai could see the future easily. This desperate attempt from the bodyguard would accomplish very little. His Soul Sense would be broken, then the Soul Sense user would annihilate him with unavoidable follow up attacks, if the black spike the robed Morvain was forming didnt do that first.

That was how it was meant to go, anyway.

Now, he rippled to Serrin. The bloody ember that was the thrill began to burn brighter as he levered his M99 into position. The Dark stirred, coming awake and beginning to rise, eager. The Mask pressed against it, aiding his control.

The boom of the M99 drew every eye as he blasted round after round into the robed Morvains back. Simultaneously he lashed him with the Spectral Claw. Though Tier 2, this Person didnt have great defence, and he was taken completely by surprise. He had time to turn in shock, trying to throw up some kind of barrier but mostly just flying in panic, when the last of his Shields fell. The next round blew a great big hole through him and sent him tumbling off the roof.

He wouldve loved to use the Knife for this, but he couldnt use it in sight of Xyrrith and Drekhulif he did, the Queen would know hed removed the tracker. An exceptionally irritating problem, and one he hoped to permanently solve that very day.

Meanwhile, Serrin tore through the surrounding skeletons, Artifact spear making short work of them. Nicolai flicked his wrist, Spectral Claw smashing apart those left. The Hornet had been unwilling to attack the Person, had said he would fight the undead, and that he would defend Nicolai, but he wouldnt kill someone he didnt know to deserve death. Nicolai was just happy the Hornet hadnt given him trouble about doing so himself. In time, and in spite of the Masks arguments, he would sway Serrin into seeing things his way.

Their entrance to the battle had caught the attention of all, causing a brief pause in the fighting. The flying bodyguard seemed unsure what to do, staring at them in shock.

Over here! yelled Serrin, waving at him, and the man quickly came their way. He was chased by the Soul Sense of the now furious floating noble.

You dare! the man boomed, raising his staff. Ripples poured from it as he activated it in some fashion, and immediately his Soul Sense became somehow denser, more real.

The bodyguard landed beside them and immediately linked his Soul Sense up with Nicolai and Serrins own. The tendrils came from either side, scything toward them like great spiritual swords. But the pair stood close together, their Soul Sense overlaying one another, further reinforced by the bodyguards. Both extended their tendrils, one to the left, one to the right, tense and ready, utterly focused.

The Soul Sense user brought his arms together in mimic of his Soul Sense, striking simultaneously. That turned out to be a serious mistake on the Persons part, because it meant that they were both able to parry at the same time.

Nicolai felt the moment, read the movement of his enemys Soul, and flicked. He caught the attack on the side, and an impossible sight occurred. On both sides, unified, the monstrously powerful Soul Sense attacksTier 2, reinforced by Symbiotes and Artifacts bothwere flicked aside by two far, far weaker.

At the exact same moment, the two stunning waves of the perfect parries rolled through the two tendrils and slammed together into the Soul of the noble who spasmed, face flinching in utter shock and confusion.

Nicolai smoothly aimed the M99 and shot him. The weapon shook pleasantly against him, a part of him. He absorbed the recoil with his entire form, each shot slamming dead centre into the target. This Person had a skin shield, a powerful one, but he had no Silver Net.

The rounds were capable of smashing even through Tier 2 Shields given a little time. By the fourth shot, the nobles shield was broken. But alas, a golden bubble burst into life around him. A type of single-use Shield Nicolai recognised, the Golden Feather Shield.

He hadnt seen one of these in a while. Theyd been given as rewards to those whod completed certain quests and challenges, and had also been available in the Market, but recently they ha disappeared with a note that the limited number of them had been sold.

Nicolai just kept on shooting. Six more rounds fired in only seconds was enough to nearly break that golden Shield.

By that time, the noble had dropped down. He joined the young noblewoman, who seemed so shocked by all this that she wasnt properly gesturing with her wand, the attack on the Thrynn thus letting up.

By the time hed reloaded, however, shed dropped to the ground. The two nobles were quickly surrounded by the larger black-armoured undead who formed her personal vanguard, raising shields towards Nicolai.

He didnt fire immediately. As that powerful Soul Sense rose again, angling to come back at him, Serrin, and the bodyguard, he pulled free another anti-materiel rifle from the Big Mouth.

Though Serrin was unwilling to kill those he didnt know, he was happy to help out in pretty much every other way, which included shooting undead. An odd blurring of boundaries which Nicolai was pretty sure had come about because the Hornet was simply eager to fight.

He handed the second rifle to Serrin, then they both took aim. Every time he shot at someone these days they seemed to have a Silver Net or some other countermeasure, and he was delighted to find that wasnt the case here. A grin pulled at his features as he took aim, secure in the knowledge that Threat Analysis was keeping an eye on the silent bodyguard, just in case. There didnt seem any chance of the man doing anything other than helping, if anything he seemed very happy, though also very confused, by their intervention.

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