As a few brave heroes either fought or prepared to fight an oncoming storm, Riza watched as the Mage's Guild meeting concluded. Sebas of course had showered the prince with praise and platitudes, and did absolutely nothing suspicious, just the usual stuff people would do in his position. Well, scummy people trying to curry favor would do anyways.

  He had thought things might turn out bad, but so far it was fine.

  Frankly speaking, Ruka can handle most things by himself. He has quite the nasty tricks in him, and more then a few trump cards to be wary of. But he cant move around in public like that, even if he seems perfectly capable of adjusting perception and slipping away.

  Riza was well established in his strength, but Ruka had been alive for simply too long. He has discarded a plethora of identities right now, which made him very careful and annoyingly suspicious. His Aruu identity was meant to be a longer term cover so he couldn't discard that so easily however. Riza suspected Ruka doubted him quite a bit though, given he noticed he went to speak with Kuroki's group.

  He shot Ruka back a glare. "This is your fault you idiot".

  "...my bad?"

  "What the hell did you tell them?"

  "Secret~"

  Right now, Riza could feel the stares of Kuroki's group watching him from the distance with clear suspicion. Riza knew it would happen eventually, but that didn't make it any less annoying.

  The Prince let out a sigh as he saw this unfold.

  "You two...can't you just get along? Like normal group members?"

  "Our group is hardly normal".

  "If the truth was ever discovered, most kingdoms, especially the shittiest, would take measures that would be very unfair and stupid, and it would cause trouble for friends and family".

  "Ours or theirs?"

  "Both".

  "...anyways, at least try to get along?"

  At the moment they were heading to the manor at the center, where the lord of the city was and where the prince would be sleeping along with those who accompanied him. It was a spectacular and well fortified manor. Even Riza could not infiltrate its outer layer solo, let alone his inner later. It wasn't even its magical defenses, its physical ones alone would make any infiltrator have second thoughts.

  But as they turned the street, Riza felt something overcome him. A huge bloodlust, an aura of darkness that also felt alien and uncertain, as well as something else mixed in. Something dangerous. Something unnatural.

  Something familiar.

  It can't be...they are making a move this strong? The guildmaster already went out, why would they come here? What is so special about this place? Unless its everywhere? That raises more questions than answers, but that's not the point. I don't know what they are exactly, but they can't reach Kuroki. Even entering the city would be dangerous.

  Riza racked his brain, thinking of any solution he might have.

  I could awaken Ebinaril, but that might cause more issues in the long run, and if Chianthias attacks she could get me before I could react if I used my full focus to defend the city. Oz will call as many dragons as he can in the name of patrolling the sky. Keeping them outside of the wall would be best, but if I just need to worry about what gets past The Guildmaster and Ozlo, then I...no its still too flashy as well.

  Riza was truly puzzled on what to do. He was known to be powerful, so he had some flexibility, but it would be best if people did not notice the entities heading towards them, these Shrouded.

  It was only then that a ray of hope entered his gaze. It was Amyris, who had emerged from...somewhere...to greet the prince. He had been with them for awhile now, but he had been lurking in the shadows ready to counteract other issues.

  "Excuse me, Prince Aztazia. I believe it would be best to pick up the pace. It appears we will be getting some bad weather soon, and should seek shelter indoors at once".

  "I do not fear the rain".

  "Still, it would be best to get indoors. You never know what could happen after all".

  "...I see. Thank you, Magician of the Silver Hour. Very well, I shall retire to my quarters for the night" Aztazia said, heading into the manor.

  "Glad you got the hint".

  Riza telepathically sent that to Aztazia.

  "Yeah. This will make it easier to fight now right?"

  "Indeed. Make sure you set up the wards properly".

  "Yeah yeah, I have my wardstones handy".

  With that settled, Riza went down an alley where he spotted a figure, watching them in the distance.

  "Hey, who are you?"

  They appeared small, like a child. That made it unlikely it was a Devil or Demon, who never took child form out of pride. As he took a step closer though, a chill ran down his veins.

  What? I get the feeling I just stepped inside their attack range, but from so far away?

  It was an absurd range. It wasn't magic, but more akin to a swordsman sense. And yet they were all the way at the other end of the alley. Only a genius on the level of Anna could pull that off. Even Riza would have to move in closer or move his sword in closer before being in attack range like that.

  "Who are you..."

  Riza ended up asking that, but all the figure did was point at the sky, in the opposite direction of where Riza sensed The Shrouded.

  "...something else is...wait what?"

  When he looked back after looking in that direction, the figure was gone. Riza was not sure what happened there, but he had an inkling. Still, now was not the time to confirm it. For now, he had to go and deal with whatever threat he was warned of. He got the feeling that wasn't something he could just ignore.

  "Ruka, there is a mysterious figure about. They just warned me of a threat coming from the other side of the city".

  "I thought I sensed someone, but when I tried to probe, I got blocked hard. Actually rebounded into a wall".

  Riza was chasing down the street, towards the location he was directed to, when he felt it. For a moment, a magical blip right in front of him. In the next moment, a huge beam of darkness came down in front of him, a violent torrent of black smog that seemed to create a cyclone right in the alley. He braced himself as the wind tried to tear him asunder, lashing out around the cyclone as it intensified in size and strength. Eventually however, it began to decline, dissipating before it revealed a humanoidish figure. It did not quite stand or have legs like a human, and it clearly possessed tentacle like arms. It was as if someone had put the silhouette of a four armed octopus and combined it with one of a minotaur. It was actually a pretty terrible and inaccurate description, but it was the first thing that popped into Riza's mind. In one of its arms, it held something that was like a large axe or a naginata or something like that. It didn't seem practical at first glance, and frankly it appeared rather unwieldly. That said, Riza had seen how unwieldly things could be quite lethal.

  "We are Harbinger. You will obey".

  Riza braced himself. "Harbinger huh? Thats a rather ominous name".

  "Obey. You will surrender what was stolen".

  Riza took a step forward, and was then suddenly behind Harbinger. At the same time, cut marks appeared all across Harbinger's body, although they all regenerated quickly.

  "Stolen huh? Last time I checked, but you can't steal people. That would be wrong. You can however rescue them from filthy slavers like yourself and your master, Harbinger" Riza spoke, his voice so icy it could send shivers down the spines of any who heard it. His gaze was not his usual playful or carefree self, but something different. It was the eyes of a parent who was genuinely pissed off and offended.

  "You know of the truth. You will tell us what happened. About the summoning".

  "How about I cut your head off instead" he muttered, as his six swords were already out. "Raiyas Giladrias".

  Almost instantly, countless magic circles appeared around him and all fired beams of light. They bounced around and pierced Harbinger at various points throughout its body, with enough force and light to be several times stronger than anything Ayazi used. And yet, the Harbinger stood there, flinching but otherwise enduring.

  "You will submit to our inquisition".

  "And you will go back and tell your masters that the Starfallen are off limits".

  "Interloper. You interfered with the Master's Ritual. You will be executed".

  "Hou, finally figured it out huh. But unfortunately, you have no idea what the full truth is".

  Riza stepped forward, and immediately cuts appeared over Harbinger's body again. At the same time, three blades made of light appeared in its back.

  "You are more durable then the last Shaded I encountered. I suppose you are a Harbinger after all, so it would make sense. But first, a question...what happened to all the babies and the very young children?"

  "We will not comply, you will comply. Obey".

  "Unfortunately for you, such trivial tricks don't work on me" Riza said, brushing away the dark miasma that approached him. It landed on some leaves instead, and they immediately eroded away.

  It suddenly began talking in a language Riza did not recognize, so Riza decided it would be best to not let that incantation go off, at least perfectly. Several blades made of pure light went and pierced him, while Riza attacked him with his swords. While the blades of light made it through, he blocked all the physical attacks.

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  "I see now, you are far more solid than the others, but that means physical attacks are more effective against you in turn. Still, you are quite different".

  "We are Harbinger. And you will kneel".

  At that point, Riza felt his body shake for a moment.

  No way. I maintain an elaborate array of mental defenses after the Anna situation. Not only that, I have the addition protection of being one of The Hidden. It should be impossible...

  Riza was able to fight it, but it hurt his concentration. Furthermore, Harbinger moved fast to attack the moment Riza had faltered, swinging its weapon down right on him to try and cut him in half. A barrier appeared in time, blocking it, and Riza managed to deflect the force right back at Harbinger even.

  However, the reverberations of the impact carried enough force to make Riza fly backwards, though he just barely managed to land on his feet and maintain a combative stance. He even unleashed several rounds of magical projectiles back at Harbinger, who proceeded to deflect almost all of them with its weird arm tentacles. A few however flickered out right before hitting the tentacles, and then flickered back in behind them, hitting him straight and doing enough force and damage to knock it back this time.

  "What the hell? This thing isn't normal".

  "We are Harbinger. Obey. Tell us what you know. Submit to our control. Submit".

  Once again, Riza felt the voice permeate his mind, and compel obedience. It was like a drilling echo, a compulsion that would make him instinctively obey, and punish him for fighting back. And yet, Riza fought it out once more, managing to shield himself from Harbinger's next attack just in time.

  "I see. So this must be the Compliance that has been affecting the Starfallen. Truly, you are quite the annoyance. But you won't ever get me to tell you a thing. A parent's will is far too strong for such crude tactics".

  "A parent's will means nothing for those who come from different worlds".

  "That only shows how much you don't know. And especially how much you don't know about family. Your master must be quite the arrogant sociopath, Harbinger. I have dealt with his kind plenty of times, and they always end up the same way. Dead and buried in an unmarked grave".

  Harbinger rushed towards him. It showed no emotion, but its haste gave away its annoyance at Riza's defiance and his words upon Harbinger's master.

  Riza however seemed to just dissolve into light right in front of Harbinger, only for Harbinger to then get attacked by six swords from behind. Immediately he felt light erupt from inside of his body this time, causing him to scream in pain.

  And yet, in that moment, spikes shot out of its back. Most were dodged, but Riza got stabbed by a few. The injuries seemed serious, but he was already beginning to regenerate them.

  "I see you are quite the annoyance...I haven't been hurt this bad in awhile".

  "We are Harbinger. You will submit, or you will perish" it declared, as it reformed itself. However, Riza was just looking at him with a smile.

  "Sorry, I am not a big fan of long drawn out conflicts. Especially when I have Chianthias to worry about, as well as the Empire's moves in the shadows. So I wanted to make sure this was over quickly".

  Suddenly, a huge amount of light began to erupt from his center.

  "I am just glad you didn't notice I was incanting that whole time. And now for the trigger word...Lightmass Bomb".

  Immediately, the light coming from inside of Harbinger began to erupt in a terrifying way. Cracks appeared all across its body, with huge amounts of light pouring out of it. Meanwhile, Riza already began incanting another spell.

  "A tipsy topsy Anna and Riza Spell. A spell to bring warmth and light, from sky it fell. Me and Riza's friendship so strong, it amplifies the light and banishes the wrong. Erase the shadows and darkness, bring the hope and kindness. This is our spell of light, a spell that shines so bright. Light of Hope!"

  With the spell triggered, a huge column of light shot down from the sky. As Harbinger tried to resist the Lightmass Bomb spell Riza had implanted within him, he was assailed from the outside as well. The combination of this light broke through whatever resistance and regeneration he had, and wiped out Harbinger completely. By the time the light faded from view, having encompassed the entire area, there was no trace left of Harbinger.

  With this, Riza collapsed against a nearby wall, resting.

  "Oh, that took way too much of my strength. Consecutive heavy spells like that seriously sucks, especially when I need to keep up my enhancements and defend against overwhelming attacks at the same time. I nearly died there so many times".

  Riza looked towards the night's sky, and let out a sigh.

  "I guess I will need to leave the heavy stuff to others for tonight. I need to conserve my remaining strength in case of an emergency. Still, its good I took care of him. That thing...it was a bad matchup for Amyris, and I am not sure if anyone else other than Ruka could actually handle that thing".

  "You look like shit" Ellie said, emerging from the shadows. Only she looked a bit younger now.

  "Ellie, back to your 20s I see. Or is that your 30s?"

  "Well, you know how it goes. Anyways, what the hell was that thing I sensed?"

  "It called itself Harbinger. I suspect there are others as well, but it appears only one was sent here. Still...that was quite painful".

  "I would bet. I haven't seen you use Light of Hope in decades".

  "...its a hard spell to use" Riza lied, a fairly obvious lie at that. Still, Ellie decided not to push it.

  "In any case, we may need to think of encouraging the kids to go off on an adventure sooner rather than later. It appears they don't actually know where they are, which means they might be tracking most likely locations and cities close to where they appeared".

  "Agreed. It seems like these Shaded cannot track them. However, we have to finish with Chianthias first, only then can we start making preparations".

  "Indeed. However, shouldn't you share what you know? It can only help us in this case".

  "What I know?"

  Ellie nodded. "I'd been avoiding it for awhile, keeping myself out of sight and cooped up so it wouldn't show. But Riza, I saw what happened that night. What you did. I believe Vanessia knows as well for that matter, not that I have seen her much lately myself".

  Riza frowned. "It's rude to spy. Furthermore, weren't you outside of the city gathering materials at the time?"

  "Indeed. Or rather, you are the one who gave us the information and ideas to go out during this period. Because you wanted us to be the ones to recover some of the Starfallen, correct?"

  "Ellie..."

  "What happened that night? What do you know? Did you help set up the Starfall?"

  Riza grimaced.

  "Its...not easy to explain. To tell the full story, I have to reveal something I cannot reveal. At least so casually. I have to reveal one of the greatest kept secrets for thousands of years. Its not just my secret to keep, others keep it as well. We have sworn to make sure that it never gets out, so it can never be abused. If I tell you, if Chianthias somehow overhears, or something else, a lot of people would suffer. A lot of families would get torn asunder".

  Ellie narrowed her eyes. "You truly believe that?"

  "Its more than belief. Records we have safeguarded confirmed it. Firsthand accounts guaranteed it. It is too dangerous of a secret to ignore".

  "I see...you won't tell me why you did what you did then?"

  "No. I cannot. It would be far too dangerous".

  "I understand. I know how important secrets are. Me and Amyris carry our own burdens after all. However, if you cannot tell me why you did what you did, can you at least tell me what you did?"

  "Sorry, I can't. It would lead to the path of forbidden knowledge. You are absolutely smart enough to figure it out".

  "Well, I suppose I can't fault you there. It's nice to know you see me so highly. Fine then, why did the others do what they did as part of the Starfall Ritual. Surely you can tell me about the others involved".

  "...fine then. I learned about it from Sebas. I know he was working with a few mages, at least a dozen, in both this country and other countries. I secretly stole supplies he was stealing from the Mage's Guild for my own ritual, partially to spite him. I don't know all of their motivations, and I don't know any of their identities, but Sebas was in it because someone offered him more power and talent and skill in exchange for helping to secure plenty of Starfallen. It appears he planned to skim a few for himself also".

  "You worked with Sebas?"

  "Worked is a strong word. More like our interests were temporarily aligned, and I made sure he never figured out it was me. Even without Sebas they likely would have been able to complete the ritual, so this just let me have some influence over it".

  Ellie nodded.

  "I see, you stopped it from being so much worse didn't you?"

  Riza grimaced. "Ellie, let it go".

  "They wanted to target..."

  "Ellie, like I said. Don't. Especially since we never know who is listening".

  Ellie nodded, covering her mouth with her hand before speaking next.

  "I understand. I cannot say if I fully approve of everything you did, but it appears you at least felt like you had no other choice. That is...sympathetic, at least".

  Riza grit his teeth.

  "I am sorry you know".

  "I know you are. That is why you have been running all over the place, being extra active about helping everyone, especially the Starfallen. You feel guilty".

  Riza nodded.

  "The infants and young children are still missing. If they were just left behind in their previous world, that could be dangerous. Who knows if emergency response will find them in time. But if they did come here after all, then where did they go? Its weird".

  Ellie nodded. "You want to figure out what went wrong, don't you?"

  "Yeah...I don't have to leave yet, but I will eventually".

  "Well Riza, remember this. Because of you, there are millions of people still alive, still able to live their normal lives, thanks to you. And far less people who need our help. Good job".

  "Thanks".

  "Also, Amyris probably has figured out most of it already. You should have a good and honest talk with him sooner rather than later".

  "Uhg...yeah, probably. Where is he anyways?"

  "He made sure Kuroki and the others went home safe, and then...he went to blow off some steam".

  "Ahhhh...I think the Guildmaster did that as well. Guess we can just rest for now".

  "About that, Chianthias also made her move".

  Riza looked over at Ellie.

  "Who?"

  "The Prince. That is her target".

  Riza just smiled. "Then in that case, I can rest easy. I am worried about a larger plot, but they wont die. Chianthias is a dangerous opponent, but the Prince...he has his own royal secrets".

  At the same time, a group of devils surrounded two young boys on the rooftops in the noble district. Despite the fuss, it appeared a barrier was in place as no one seemed to notice a thing.

  Normally, one might think the two boys were goners, and yet it was the devils who had been weakened and beat up, and some were dead. Meanwhile, the two boys were largely unscathed.

  "Go, Ashiago".

  The moment he said that, the ground beneath Ruka's bare feet fractured, and quickly spread to the nearby surroundings. From those cracks, swords shot out and penetrated just about everything possible, stabbing through countless demons and devils. At the same time, the prince proceeded to control two spinning rings with blades curving out of them, slicing through countless enemies as he maintained flawless control.

  "I must say, they really are quite relentless" Ruka commented.

  "This is their tenth assassination attempt in the last five months. Really working hard" Aztazia agreed.

  They went back to back, with Ruka deploying swords from the ground below. The Demons and Devils had wings to keep them in the sky, but that did not change the fact that they were fighting in a city, and as the prince was the target, they had to try and get close eventually. Those who tried to stay at range, in the open sky, were able to be attacked by Aztazia's spinning blades all the more easily. It was a terrifying combo to fight both of them together, and Chianthias who was watching this unfold was all the more convinced by it.

  "Still, to think he had the Godblade Ashiago. No wonder we could not find it, it was with The Hidden the whole time. At least if that Advisor is to be believed".

  Chianthias still harbored some doubts herself. The Hidden were this mythical group, a secret society that existed in the shadows undetected for hundreds of years. The idea that they had gone for so long without any of the Demon Kings being aware of their existence seemed incredibly unlikely, and yet now after hundreds or thousands of years, two of their members were possibly known. No proof was given, so it was only suspicions, but Riza and this Aruu were apparently among them.

  But the biggest surprise of all is The Prince. I knew he was adventurous, but...those two are way too in sync.

  "So mister Advisor, would you care to explain what I am looking at".

  "...I am as displeased as you are. The Hidden have somehow infiltrated the royalty of this kingdom. This is by far one of the worst developments for us yet. It basically means we will be fighting an uphill battle in this kingdom, if they have people who can grant such free access inside the kingdom".

  "Certainly, but even moreso is a common trait now. Riza has been alive for decades but looks about thirteen. Aruu I spotted even before that and still looks young. The Prince hasn't shown any notable growth either".

  "The Hidden...could they all look young?"

  "I see...no one ever pays much attention to kids. They often go unnoticed, hidden in plain sight. When people look at a portrait or the like, they look at the adults, the big figures, not the little ones. The Hidden don't need to actually hide. Their appearance makes it easy to overlook them in the first place".

  "But how do people join? Did they replace the prince, or..."

  "Somehow I doubt that. They are clearly a secret society of immortals, and yet...there are just far too many mysteries and unknowns still".

  "And we can't even keep our focus only on them because..."

  "Yeah, because of the Hero".

  Indeed, nearby in a different battle, fighting against their weaker minions, was The Hero. Chianthias clicked her tongue.

  "Because of the summoning aura, neither of us could take the field and end her even if we wanted to".

  "Indeed. That aura would weaken and poison us. By the time that protection weakens, the hero may be strong enough to face us head on".

  "Its bullshit is what it is, but I digress. We managed to set up our spell at least, so while our first objective is done for, we gathered good data and we set the grounds for the next phase of the operation".

  "Very well. Make sure to eliminate them thoroughly".

  Chianthias was not thrilled at him bossing her around, especially given how she couldn't identify anything about him, but for now that would have to wait. She had to take measures to counteract all this new data she had gathered, after all.