This chapter is brought to you by Lock Me Up by The Cab.

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"I think I just misheard you," Valerius spoke. His voice was low but sent shivers down the messenger's spine. Every word he said was like a threat. "Say that again."

The messenger stared at the floor, unwilling to meet his gaze.

"The... the city lord wishes to take Lord Arcadia into custody in light of an investigation into his background."

Vermillion eyes stared at him like he was an ant.

"Tobus is on a mission. A classified mission that the city lord gave him."

"Well--um--yes, but..."

"Enough," Valerius snapped. He stood up from behind his desk and tugged on his coat.

"My Lord?" The messenger was startled.

Valerius scowled at the man's incompetence and strode the door.

---

"Eartha!"

"I told you this wasn't a good idea, uncle," Mercury said, shooting the man a look.

Eartha rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Valerius? Wonderful to see you as usual. I am doing well, thank you for asking."

Valerius slammed the door shut, causing everyone in the room to wince.

He stomped to Eartha's desk and gave him a death glare. "What is this about taking Tobus into custody?! Are you out of your mind?!"

Eartha drew back a little at the immense ball of fury that was Valerius.

"Calm down, Valerius. It's not what you think!"

Venus gave him a deadpanned look, because how else was he supposed to explain it?

It was good to know none of his heirs respected him. A perfect time to have this revelation as the entirety of Vesna's security was now in question.

"Then what is going on?" Valerius growled.

"Oh, that's hot..." Mercury quipped.

This was not the time, Mercury.

Eartha sighed.

He brought out the documents from the interrogation with the Mantle agent and placed them in front of Valerius.

"Last night, a Mantle agent broke into Vesna--"

"What!?"

"--and snuck into your estate."

Silence.

The room was dead silent as everyone anticipated Valerius' reaction.

Seconds went by and Valerius stood stock-still as he looked at the papers.

He blinked, and then his face contorted into a cold mask of fury.

"Is this agent still alive?"

From the corner of his eye, Eartha noted that Mercury had bolted the door shut and activated the emergency locking mechanism.

He took a deep breath before he delivered the news.

"... No."

---

The guards patrolling the Tower of Truth suddenly heard a bout of shouting from inside the Tower. The noises seemed to be... from the top floor?

They all raised their heads and spotted the commotion.

Someone was trying to jump out from the top-most window, and several people were persuading them not to.

"--Are you out of your fucking mind--!"

"--He has information! He has important information!--"

"--Please just calm down and get inside--!"

"--Let me go! Let me go at once! How dare that--!"

"--Don't let him go--!"

The guards decided it was not their problem.

"Isn't that Lord Eartha's office?"

"Don't question it. Professionalism hasn't been a thing since the cats took over the city."

"Oh."

---

They knocked out Lord Calypto and had someone take him to the healing ward.

"Someone go send for Lady Calypto," their uncle tiredly ordered.

His messenger quickly ran to do his bidding.

The only people left in the room were him and his heirs, who hadn't slept since they brought the Mantle agent into custody.

"Cat will understand if we tell him," Pluto suggested.

Venus folded his arms, unimpressed. He leaned back against his chair.

"He will understand, but will he listen? Prioritizing the safety of our strongest agent already sounds ridiculous. He will not be happy."

"It doesn't matter whether or not he's happy about our decisions. He will obey as an agent should," Mercury interjected. "Cat has made many enemies over the years, and now his actions have finally caught up to him. There will be more people like Ines targeting him from now on."

"We can't just trap him in the city. He's the best we have," Venus argued.

Pluto pursed his lips. "No, that is not a viable solution," he agreed. "We will need to get rid of this threat as soon as possible, and warn Cat of the the impending threat to his life. Speaking of which, where is he, right now?"

They all turned to their uncle, who refused to look at them.

"He's out on a classified mission. I debriefed him the day before the party. He should have left before dawn."

And before they extracted the information regarding Tobus from Ines.

"..."

"... Fuck."

Venus almost threw his uncle's desk through the wall.

---

It was supposed to be a simple mission.

Kill the target and get out.

It turned out to be a not-so-simple mission when it turned out the target was already dead by the time he got there.

Before Nine could even react, the door was kicked down and two figures appeared.

The familiar dark green of the cloaks they wore around their shoulders alerted him of their identities.

Mantle agents.

Of all missions, it had to be the one where Nine was all alone in the field without backup or a handler speaking into his ears.

That was, after all, the point of a mission being classified.

He narrowly dodged an arrow, and then another, and quickly fled through the window.

The two enemy agents jumped after him, and a game of chase began.

Nine ran into the treelines and the agents followed.

A blade flew past him, cutting the tip of his ear slightly as it went by before embedding itself into a tree ahead.

Nine glanced back and knew he couldn't outrun them.

He abruptly stopped, taking them off guard, before launching himself at one of them.

Blades drawn, he used the momentary surprise to stab the agent, who was too slow to dodge.

His blades sunk into the agent's shoulders, and the agent grunted in pain.

It didn't stop them from trying to stab him with an arrow tip.

Nine took an arrow wound to the hip and he quickly kicked the agent away.

He held his daggers steady in front of him as the second agent joined their partner and steadied them.

"What do you want?" Nine demanded.

He was tensed, his body rigid with adrenaline and animalistic instinct.

Very rarely did he engage in combat during missions, and he was reminded of the agents he encountered during Jovette and Rowan's first mission.

Memories of another lifetime full of war and battle cleared his head from distracting thoughts.

While he was not armed with the right tools, nor trained to take on agents of equal caliber, it didn't mean he had forgotten how to fight the way soldiers did.

And it was not an army he needed to take on, nor was there a mission at stake.

It was two experienced agents who knew how to kill with swords and arrows, and one of them was already wounded.

"We thought you were an assassin," one of the agents spat out angrily.

"I am," Nine replied emotionlessly, taking a step toward the agents.

He was an assassin, but he was also a soldier. Open combat was nothing if there was nothing else at risk besides himself.

The agents stared at him carefully. There was the scent of fear in the air at that moment, but Nine didn't care.

Blood dripped down from his blade. The blood of his enemies fed the ground.

"I will ask you again." Cold emerald green eyes flashed with killing intent. "What do you want from me?"

The agents looked at each other. One was already pale from blood loss while the other clutched their partner close with dread.

---

Peit and Katrin knew it was too late by the time they arrived at the mission point.

The target was dead, the door was kicked down, and the window was left open with evidence of an intruder.

"Tamer, Shrew, I located the person of interest."

Their handler spoke through the communication stone.

"Where?" Katrin inquired.

"Forest to the south. He is being chased by the enemy."

The two Padova agents moved.

They jumped out of the window and followed their handler's instructions, making their way into the treelines with one focus in mind.

To keep the person of interest alive.

---

There was a chilling aura around their target as he forced them to talk.

It was not the torture games of normal interrogators.

He did not laugh at them with sadistic glee and mad intent.

No, their target was calm as he slid the blade across their skin and froze them in place with nothing but a threatening and solemn weight in his gaze.

This was a chore for him, they realized. He did not need them alive. He was extracting information for the sake of convenience... for future encounters with other agents.

The first thing the target did was forcefully remove the poison capsules in the back of their mouth.

He was skilled in pulling out the molars that hid the poison capsules, and he didn't hesitate when he pulled them.

They were forced to stay alive while he asked questions.

Questions that were spoken in a low voice. As if he was speaking to a colleague rather than enemy agents.

Yet, their lips moved before they could stop themselves, and they sang like birds to his horrific tunes.

The intel had been wrong.

It was all wrong.

He was not merely an assassin.

Not just a boy from a burned-down village seeking revenge.

When they looked at him, they didn't see anger simmering beneath his skin, nor hatred in his eyes.

He was not an avenger as their clients claimed.

His tragedy did not move him to want retribution.

This man was a weapon in human flesh, a beast with terrifying eyes.

He could kill them with no remorse, and they knew it.

His head tilted to the side, a gesture that made their hearts pound anxiously.

The target had done that several times now. Whenever they answered something, he would cock his head in thought. They were too scared to guess what he was thinking.

"Oh, thank the gods, you're still alive."

The voice of a stranger sounded, and then two people appeared from behind the shadow of a tree.

They were dressed in the dandelion-yellow cloaks of the newly established Padova city.

A traitor city.

The minds of the Mantle agents screamed, still incensed by the Houses that left their walls.

"I remember you," their target said, his eyes flickering over to the newcomers. "You are not from Mantle anymore."

One of the Padova agents grinned, and it was then that the Mantle agents recognized who they were.

They wanted to shout in fury at the defectors, but they couldn't. Not while their target stood in front of them with his daggers drawn. Any hint of a struggle could mean dying by his blades.

"Yeah, a lot of things happened since the last time we spoke. Let's just say revolutions tend to occur when there's too much suppression going on."

Their target hummed but didn't relax his posture.

"What do you want from me?"

Shrew, for that was her designation before she fled the city, took another step closer to their target.

"Our city lord wishes for an alliance with the City of Vesna." She handed him a scroll.

Their target stared at the paper in silence. "I cannot make these decisions. Find another channel, or request an escort mission from the Imperial Family."

Shrew made a face at that.

"We offer you--"

"It is against protocol for me to accept bribery."

"You--!"

"We will wait outside the entrance of the city and won't step a single foot inside. Take us wherever you want us to wait," Tamer quickly said.

The target looked at him. Then, finally, he nodded.

"If you try to break in, or attempt to kill me, you will die."

The warning was loud and clear, spoken as if it were a fact of life. He did not lower his voice into a deep and foreboding growl, nor did he smile with a manic delight.

It was a simple statement to be taken seriously.

The Mantle agents didn't realize that the statement applied to them as well.

They had already tried and failed, yet...

They were still surprised when twin daggers slashed across their throats without a hint of warning.

---

The author has something to say:

A nitty-gritty sort of chapter, with a bit of comedy, and a bit of... not funny. Writing Nine through the perspective of the enemy is always fun ^^. I love multiple POVs.

Also, Kaitou_Gay, thank you so much for the lovely fanart!