He was Almost Absorbed by the System

Chapter One Hundred And Forty Six - Turning Of Tides

One would think that it would be a simple task for three experienced assassins to invade the city unnoticed, despite the numerous soldiers guarding the entrance and patrolling the outer walls and it would have been, if not for the two magi and one Witch that tagged along.  In the end, they relied upon Saewulf, who was still in his child like state and guided, unknown to most of the others, by a small black viper.  They followed the boy, who had wandered off to one side of the city and 'discovered' a boulder covered tunnel.  This tunnel had been formed decades ago by an enterprising smuggler and was now used to sneak paying commoners and merchants out of the war torn city by those who dabbled in the darker market of things.

Naturally, it lead to the hidden caverns nestled between the two slums, where thieves and murderers took to do business.  The assassins had not been that involved with the underground side of things for although some of their handlers were once a part of these people, their clients generally were not.  As if not being actually linked made their business more legal or above board.

The unsavoury members of the underground naturally knew when the group of six entered their territory, the smarter ones observed from the shadows, while prostitutes and drug dealers attempted to lure them into doing business, but there were those who insisted on challenging them immediately.  The dealers in flesh and poisonous euphoria fled as the gang sought to recklessly show their superiority over these newcomers and possibly steal anything of value upon their bodies, money, treasures even that beautiful boy innocently smiling at them.  However, these people were not the soft persimmons that they had assumed, they had thought only the large muscular being amongst them would give them trouble, but he actually stood back as the others swiftly dealt with the gang's challenge.

The boy that they had admired was possibly the most vicious amongst them.  One had simply burst into flames to intimidate them, one had thrown seeds at their feet which had instantly grown into vines and entrapped them, but the boy had danced among them with tiny knives, cutting flesh and tendons, slicing key arteries to cause them to bleed profusely and even letting the snake hidden in his robes bite and poison them.  They had thought that they had safety in numbers, but as bodies piled around them, the deaths caused by this boy and a silent young man whose blades were only merciless in their swift disposal, they saw their error and the survivors turned to flee.

Those in the shadows melted into them, they simply informed their masters, who snorted in laughter.  They had let the gang alone, feeling sorry for the group of rejects, but they had grown in the recent months of the war thanks to the growing number of displaced orphans and deserting soldiers that were too useless to join the lowest of their own ranks.  These hidden masters were satisfied that the problem had been dealt with and told their subordinates to advise them if this deadly group caused issues to their own or tipped the always precarious balance within their dark world.  They did not try to recruit them, knowing if anyone did, it would be like declaring war upon the others and during already unknown times, that would be a fatal play right now.

And so the six wandered through and out of the shadowed underworld without further challenges to enter quietly the city that was otherwise preoccupied.

*****

The building shook, the mortar that held it together crumbled a tad with the remnant force that the magic shields could not withstand.  They were weakening.  It would not be long now until the Council's pet magi finally succeeding in bringing them down.  But then, it had been close to two months since the siege had begun and only paused as the magi attacking them ceased to regain their magic.

In the beginning, the magi and school were naturally the stronger side with their numbers and varying talents. The children all knew the magic transfer technique that could keep their Teachers able to continuously pump magic into the key crystal that sustained the barrier. The barrier was originally meant to keep the children's potentially explosive energy from destroying parts of the school and fellow students. It was the true reason why children with magical abilities were brought to the school in the first place, to prevent such accidents like the one that had occurred in the lost village. Had this been explained to the commoners, they might not have come to this, but at the same time they had not wanted the commoners to fear their own infants and babes in arms, when most would not have the potential to lose control so spectacularly. Now the barriers's function had been reversed and was keeping the magi and soldiers from the little ones it protected.