《Hidden》 Chapter 1: hidden in Plain sight If one was to ask the girls classmates what they thought of her most of them would say she was quiet with no real prescence. However it was this lack of presence that helped the girl in many different ways, especially in her line of work. The girl was not the world''s best fighter, nor was she the world''s best killer she was however the world''s best assassin. Due to her complete lack of prescence she was easily able to get close to any target and kill them effortlessly, afterall an assassins job wasn''t to fight but rather to kill cleanly with one swipe and then to leave unnoticed, which was precisely what the girl had always done. Of course none of this was known to her classmates, to them she was just the quiet girl in the corner of the classroom. No one saw through her disguise and no one ever would, unless of course she wanted them to, not that she ever would. And so it was on a perfectly normal day that the girl as usual sat down at the back of the classroom passively listening to the mundane conversations of her classmates when all of a sudden a giant circle illuminating the floor appeared. "What''s going on?!?" screamed a majority of the class while the girl just sat at the back of the room quiet as ever trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, nothing she could do would change anything anyway so why bother doing anything at all? Those were the girls last thoughts as the circle let out a glaringly blinding light and she found herself on the floor of what looked to be a great hall. Looking around she saw all her classmates on the floor with her inside the lingering lines of the glowing circle. Surrounding the circle were twelve old men in white robes carrying staffs, all of whom were sweating profusely. "Welcome sacraf..I mean heroes, we welcome you to this world." said a large man dressed in lavish jewels who was standing behind the circle of old men "My name is Duke Alter and it is my pleasure to welcome you the heroes to our world." The girl stood hiding at the back of the students to avoid standing out and had a small frown on her face, this didn''t sound promising. The Duke continued to talk "now I''m sure you all have a lot if questions so if you follow me to the throne room the king will explain everything." This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Slowly and without much protest the assembled students followed the Duke towards the throne room. Upon entering the room immediate focus was drawn to the large and smiling man at the front of the room sitting on a golden throne "welcome heroes, my name is King Aeon and I have summoned you to this world to beg for your aid in defeating the demon king." The king sighed "I am sorry I stole you from your original world, but I am a selfish king who couldn''t bare to see his people suffer even at the cost of involving innocent bystanders. So please if you must hate someone hate me and please help me to defend my people." as he said this tears appeared from the corner of the Kings eyes as he looked at the students as if begging for forgiveness. Will, the most popular boy in the class took a step forward and bowed lightly "I may not be of much help but I will aid you in defeating the demon." the king smiled "thank you, thank your so much." Slowly one by one the rest of the class stood forward and pledged their aid, no one noticed that amongst the students there was one small girl who had said nothing, but then again that was exactly what she wanted. Following one of the soldiers the students were led out of the hall, the girl hidden amongst the other students snorted in her mind "idiots don''t believe anyone just because they have a sob story to back it up Iv seen those eyes before, those are clearly the eyes of a politician you''ve just been played and you don''t even know it." sighing the girl decided for now the best thing to do would just be to remain hidden in Plain sight until she had enough information to leave. Afterall if there were politicians in this world there would definitely be assassins, that was one thing she had learned from all her years as an assassin smiling the girl continued to hide within the group. Chapter 2: listening quietly Following the rest of the students out of the hall the girl quietly slipped out of the group and hid behind a large pillar watching as the rest of the students as well as the guards moved past her. She quietly slipped back into the throne room just in time to see the king and Duke burst out into laughter. "I can''t believe we managed to summon such gullible fools as heroes, not one of the noticed a thing. They didn''t even call me out on my story, oh gods it''s too funny." the Duke laughed alongside the King''s words "now now your majesty they may be gullible but at least they''re useful, any useful one will be used to defeat the demon lord and any useless ones can be sacrificed for magical power, it''s a win win situation." The king nodded "That''s true, they should be getting their statuses checked now, let''s go watch to see who we need to keep an eye on." the two men continued laughing as they walked out of the room, completely unaware of the small girl hiding in the shadows who had just heard every word they had said. "I thought as much." sighed the girl, she didn''t really care for the classmates but at the same time she didn''t feel quite right abandoning them, sighing again she ran to catch up to the king to silently join the rest of the group. Several minutes later and the girl had followed the king to a large room filled with the students, sneaking back into the crowd the girl watched as one by one students approached a large crystal column in the center of the room and placed there hand on it before one of the robed men from earlier would nod and designate the students to one of two groups standing at different sides of the room. "I bet they''re trying to separate the useless ones from the useful ones." thought the girl as she noticed the smartest and most athletic students on one side and the mediocre students on the other. Deciding to get more information the girl raised her hand and walked forwards to go next to touch the crystal pillar, carefully approaching the pillar she slowly touched her hand to it ignoring everyone else in the room suddenly a screen appared in front of her Status race: Human name: Lilly gender: female age: 15 level: 1 class: assassin Health: 100/100 If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.Magic: 120/120 strength: 12 dexterity: 204 intelligence: 213 willpower: 1500 vitality: 10 endurance 12 All of a sudden the display flickered then disappeared, the old man looked at the girl, Lilly in shock "excuse me but the crystal broke just now so i didn''t see your status would it be possible for you to tell me what you remember about it?" Lilly nodded in relief she wasn''t sure about strength vitality and endurance but her dexterity willpower and intelligence seemed way to high for her class, she would rather be put in the average group than the gifted group . It would be easier to slip away in. "I had 10 points in everything, and i don''t remember the rest." the old man looked at her in annoyance and disappointment. "go stand over there on the left side of the room then." said the man indicating to the mediocre side, Lilly smiled and slipped into the group of forgettable faces. As she slipped to the back of the group she started to pick up snatches of conversation going around the group "I wonder when well learn to use magic." was the most common topic however Lilly just sighed unbeknownst to the others in her group they would likely get the bare minimum of teaching before they were killed for their magic power. Wondering about what she would do she suddenly noticed that Will was walking towards their group to join them. This was perfect if she could warn Will he could help the rest of the group escape and maybe help them survive in the real world all she needed now was information. Just as Lilly was about to ask one of the guards a question the old man spoke up again "Thank you for your help heroes we now ask for you to follow the guards up to your rooms and rest for training begins tomorrow. Mentally mindmapping the routes throughout the castle Lilly quietly followed the guards to her new room. Once she had entered the room she noticed how the door was locked firmly behind her, she smiled such things were trifling for an assassin of her caliber, taking the lockpicks she always carried out of the sole of her shoe she quickly picked the lock and snuck outside her room. Within this castle their had to be information somewhere, she just had to find it. chapter 3: who needs keys? Lilly carefully snuck throughout the castles corridors searching for anything that might give her some information about magic or the world they had been summoned to, she had been searching for one hour and was just about to give up when she noticed a young girl sitting in an adjoining garden courtyard. The girl was overly beautiful with pure white skin and jet black hair, however it was not the girl specifically who intrigued her but rather the Shadow watching the girl. Quietly as a mouse Lilly approached the Shadow, as soon as she was in touching distance she reached out a hand grabbing the shadows arm. The Shadow, now clearly a man, let out a gasp and turned to look at her "be quiet," said Lilly raising one of the knives she had brought with her to his throat before he could turn round and see her "I''m not here to hurt you nor the girl over there, I just want information." The man nodded but stayed silent afterall if he couldn''t detect her what hope did the girl have? And besides there wasn''t much he could do with a dagger to his throat, "What do you want to know?" he asked his eyes still watching the girl. "I want to know about this world, as well as about the war." the man paused to consider the strange question then let out a gasp of realisation "you, your one of the summoned heroes aren''t you?" "Answer the question." said Lilly in a cold voice neither confirming nor denying his statement. "This world is called Aegis it is made up of two continents the demon continent and the human continent. Last year the demons invaded the border counties wrecking havoc however none of the nobles care as long as they don''t have to fight, they are happy sending innocent commoners with no experience to their deaths." The man let out a deep sigh to quell his anger still watching the young girl "however war is no longer profitable for the nobles so they wish to end the war by making you do the dirty work for them." Lilly nodded thinking over what she had just heard "Is there anywhere the heroes could escape to that the the nobles and royalty couldn''t interfere?" The man nodded slowly "if they joined an adventurers guild, it is technically out of the nobles duristriction, the assassins guild also looks after their own." Lilly smiled pleased at the idea of an assassins guild in the country "thank you that is all, as a thank you for your help I will inform you that over in the West Wing of the courtyard there is currently an assassin aiming for, the girl who I believe to be the princess''s life. The man stared in shock at the west Wing and realised she was right, quickly rushing over and dealing with the assassin he turned to look aback only to find the mysterious hero to be gone. Shrugging his shoulders he went back to observing the girl who was indeed the princess, unfortunately for the man he didn''t notice that during the conversation his keys had gone missing. Smiling back in her room Lilly started to think through plans, if she could get Will to assume a leadership position and lead all the useless students into becoming adventurers then they''d be safe from the king and the war, all they needed were weapons and funds and she knew exactly how to get them, Lilly smiled she had come across the treasury earlier during her wonderings and had decided it was time to pay it a little visit. The next morning panic ran throughout the castle, it appeared that late last night an unknown assailant had secretly stolen the keys to the royal treasury and had cleaned half the place out leaving behind a note saying I will not forgive nor forget -Arachne Although the meaning was unclear one thing was for sure, an unknown thief had stolen half the treasure in the treasury, in a furious rage the king sent out all of the remaining guards to capture the thief whatever it took and as such all the heroes were to be confined to their rooms until the crisis was over, well that was the plan anyway. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Once all the guards had left Lilly quickly put on a disguise she had "acquired" the previous night and went to find Will. After quickly finding Will''s room due to memorising the location Lilly picked the lock on the door and took walked in. Will was sitting on the floor doing sit ups when he turned to look at her "What are you doing here? Who are you?" said Will as he stumbled backwards to his feet "I''m a friend," said Lilly in a deeper and more masculine voice "in truth the king had planned to use you and the people in your group as sacrafices to gain more magical power so you must escape before it is to late." Will looked at her in shock "Who are you and how would you know this?" asked Will looking worried bit still suspicious "I''m a thief who''s got a grudge against the nobility, the reason I know all this is because I was scouting out the castle yesterday and heard the king and the Duke talking." Lilly stopped talking and prayed that he accepted this made up backstory, apparently he did as he started nodding "Ok I believe you, but say we escape where do we go from there we have no money no family no knowledge. How the hell are we meant to survive?" Lilly smiled she had hoped he would ask this "I''m going to give you the funds I stole yesterday from the treasury as soon as you leave you need to use these funds to register as an adventurer as it is an independent organisation free from the nobility, there''s also enough money for lodgings and food for a while though I''d suggest you find a house and live together to be safe." Will nodded "Thank you for the warning, may I ask your name?" Lilly paused then decided to give the name she signed on the note in the treasurey "Arachne. And anyway I have to leave if you are going to leave do it now while the guards are out looking for me and only take the students in your group, the other group will be treated well for their talent." Will nodded, if given the option he would have tried to bring both groups with him, however even he saw the necesity of getting the less talented group out of the castle. "Ok," said Lilly "go downstairs into the room with the crystal pillar, I will send the rest of your group down shortly. I have already left a variety of armour and weapons in the room as well as the money I stole however you must make haste." Will nodded and headed off towards the room while Lilly promptly knocked on everyoneelses door conveying the same message she''d told Will. Once she''d made sure she''d got everyone she headed back to the room to see the entire group dressed with armour and swords by there sides. "Ok," said Lilly her voice still lowered "I''m going to send someone with you to make sure you get to the adventurers guild safely, can the Shadow from last night please come out of hiding." the other students looked around confused but sure enough the Shadow man from yesterday descended from the ceiling. "Damn," he Spat out "How did you know I was there?" under her disguise Lilly smiled "there was an extra person breathing in the room, plus I assumed after yesterday you would be interested enough to check out the heroes. So how about it, will you help these guys?" The Shadow man nodded "Ok, I don''t approve of what the nobility did anyway." Lilly nodded gratefully then turned to adress the students "follow this man to the guild and then register as adventurers, after that purchase a safe house for you all to stay in, I wish you the best of luck at surviving." After saying this Lilly walked off without a word, she didn''t really care what happened to her classmates from here on out but felt better knowing they weren''t going to be killed and drained for the magic they couldn''t use. Anyway she had bigger things to worry about and a demon king to visit. Chapter 4: assassins guild Exiting the castle Lilly ditched her disguise in favour of one of the maids outfits she had "found" on her way out, quietly slipping out through the gate Lilly started to follow the path into town hoping to find where the assassins guild was. In the other world Lilly had been the world''s best assassin but before then she had apprenticed in a variety of different guilds under different different masters and as such she was very adept at spotting assassins. Walking into the centre of town Lilly sat down on an available bench and started to watch the people going by hoping to find an assassin that could lead her to the guild. Inexperienced assassins were usually quite easy to find if you knew what to look for as they tried to erase their presence but could usually only manage to erase about half of it successfully making them harder to spot to ordinary people but very easy to find with a trained eye. However what Lilly was looking for was not an untrained assassin but rather a highly trained assassin who she could get information off. She had been sitting on the bench for ten minutes when she first noticed the old man in the corner of the town square, like her he was sitting on a bench with a relaxed and natural posture. The only indication that he was not what he seemed was his eyes, his eyes were not filled with dull relaxation as one might expect but rather with a razor sharp bloodlust. Smiling at her deduction skills Lilly slowly and quietly walked across the square letting her prescence be known then sat down next to the old man "Nice weather were having, isn''t it?" remarked the old man, Lilly smiled amicably "It''s lovely, however I''m not here to talk about the weather." The man kept a calm face but was starting to panic slightly as he felt the cold touch of a blade pressed against his side Who in the world was this girl? He could sense her prescence as clear as day, it felt like nothing more than an average persons which is why he let her get so close, he couldn''t even detect bloodlust from her! He turns his head slightly to face her being careful not to move his body in case he got stabbed "Who are you and what do you want?" Lilly smiled sweetly "I would like directions to the assassins guild, I''m planning on registering there." the man let out a sigh of relief. "alright move the blade for me and I''ll take you there I had plans to stop by anyway." Lilly smiled and gently took the old man''s arm quickly concealing her blade, if one were to see the two they would see nothing more than an elderly grandfather and a kind young granddaughter assisting him. Letting the old man guide her they soon arrived at an old restaurant, letting the old man enter first Lilly followed behind and took the time to survey her surroundings, the restaurant was clean but had no customers and there were several conveniently placed easy to acces doors. Suddenly the old man stopped and Lilly looked over to see a middle aged man blocking there path "Oy, Oy Gin what''s the meaning of this? And who''s that girl?" the old man, who was assumed to be Gin let out an irritable grin "why don''t you ask the girl that?" The middle aged man turned to face Lilly with one eyebrow raised "Well?" he asked, Lilly smiled slightly and moved towards the man, when she reached him she bowed solemnly "I''m sorry for the trouble." the middle aged man relaxed upon hearing this and was just about to ask another question when he noticed the knife pressed to his throat. "You, what''s the meaning of this?" Lilly grinned "it''s simple you and that old man are assassins, high ranking ones at that, so I came to register with the guild, the quickest way to do so would be a demonstration of my skills however if I had told you this before I attacked you would have been prepared which is not at all compatable with my skills. Afterall I move to kill." The middle aged man looked at her in surprise then burst into laughter "your interesting kid, but how did you know we were assassins?" Lilly let out a pleasant smile "Your eyes, neither of you hid your bloodlust." the two men grinned at each other "well I guess that''s true and your methods weren''t wrong either, we''re not warriors were assassins. We don''t give warnings." Lilly nodded and retracted the knife "Ok then," said the middle aged man "my name is Kai and you''ve already met Gin I am the current guildmaster, though I don''t seem like it, due to your uh excellent demonstration of practical skills I''ll enter you as a bronze rank you can increse this rank by carrying out assassination requests and you can take requests up to one rank higher than your own rank." This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Kai looked over at Lilly to be sure she was following then continued on "the ranks go copper, iron, bronze, silver, gold, platinum, diamond we accept requests of any kind and we will protect any members who carry out high profile requests as long as they are active members within the guild." Lilly smiled "Where do I sign up?" Kai smiled and pulled a bronze coloured card out of his pocket all you need to do is say the name you''ll be using and then put a drop of blood on the card, due to the magic used on it, it will update as you accept requests automatically as well as transferring the money owed onto your card. Any questions?" Lilly nodded "yeah just one you said the name you''ll be using, does that mean you can use any name?" Kai nodded "yeah as long as no one else is using it, seeing as most people prefer to keep their real name a secret in our line of work." Lilly smiled that was certainly true afterall that was why she''d used her old assassin name Arachne on the note she left in the treasurey. "ok then," she said as she held out the dagger she had placed next to Kai''s throat moments ago "Arachne," using the knife she carefully cut her finger and let a drop of blood easily slide onto the card, the card gave out a flash and when she looked back down onto the card she noticed there was now writing on the card similar to her status but much less detailed. Name: Arachne Rank: Bronze Number of requests currently taken:0 Lilly smiled and looked over at the two men only to see them looking shell shocked "Arachne, you don''t mean that Arachne do you? The one that broke into the castle treasurey?" Lilly nodded "Yes, why is that a problem?" the two men smiled ruefully at each other "well not for you exactly but the person you got the keys off was another guild member who was on a request at the time." Lilly was just about to comment when a someone walked through the door "Kai are you in? I need a drink, you wouldn''t believe the day I had." Kai smiled "speak of the devil." suddenly the man came into sight, and Lilly smiled she recognised the man easily even without his disguise "hello shadow man thank you very much for all your help earlier." The man turned to face her, although he didnt recognise the face he recognised the voice "It''s you, your the one who stole my keys!" Lilly smiled and gave a mocking curtsey "at your service, I also disguised my voice and made you help the heroes." at this Kai and Gin looked between the two interested and amused at the same time. "Well nevermind that now," said Lilly "can you show me where the request board is?" Kai nodded and was about to show her when he was stopped by the Shadow man "Wait one second I have a question for you, how did you know the girl was the princess?" Lilly smiled "it was obvious really I mean she was being watched by a shadow, who had obviously had training as an assassin and yet the Shadow hadn''t killed her despite the oppertunity, meaning you were there to protect her. I cannot imagine there are that many high ranking young women in the castle with an assassin as there private body guard no? So that meant she was either high nobility or royalty and seeing as another assassin was there to try and kill her I assumed she must be royalty otherwise she wouldn''t be important enough to kill." The Shadow man looked at her with respect and offerd out his hand "clever, my names noir by the way, and you are?" Lilly took his hand and shook it "Arachne, it''s a pleasure to meet you." Kai smiled "Good to know that no one holds a grudge now I''ll show you to the request board." Walking through a door at the back of the shop lay a clean and spacious hall, at one end of the hall lay a large display board filled with sheets of writing "As I said before you can take requests up to one level above you, so for you that''s up to silver, when you want to accept a request just tell me or Gin and we''ll get it sorted for you, as well as providing past information if we have any."Lilly smiled and nodded as she surveyed the board, it was time to get to work. Chapter 5: first request As Lilly surveyed the board up and down looking for anything interesting when a request suddenly caught her eye Please kill slave trader Johan and release all of the slaves he has held captured Difficulty rank: Silver Reward: 10 gold coins Time limit: 5 days Eying the request she turned to Kai "How come no ones taken that one yet? it seems to have quite a high pay compared to others of its rank." Kai looked the request she indicated too "oh the slave trader quest huh, in truth it''s just because freeing the slaves is hard work, killing the guards can be arranged but unless you time it well you may get caught while trying to pick the lock to let the slaves escape." Lilly nodded while thinking carefully, with her ability to go unnoticed as wells her lockpicking skills she may just be able to pull it off, however could she be bothered? In truth she still had a good lot of treasure taken from the treasurey so she didn''t really need to work but she did want to try and help clear some of the corruption. Deciding on her next course of action Lilly tore the request of the board and passed it to Kai "I''ll take it." Kai just let out a crooked smile "I had a feeling you would." walking back into the shop Lilly sat down on a bar stool and faced Kai "pass me your guild card a second." said Kai, passing him the card she watched as he muttered a few words under his breath before the paper disappeared. Smiling Kai handed the card back to Lilly who noted the number of requests had increased to 1. "Can you show me where this slave trader lives?" she asked Kai who shook his head "sorry but no, someone has to hold down the fort, I''d get Noir to take you if I were you." nodding Lilly turned to the bar stool where Noir was casually talking to Gin. "Noir can you show me where I can find slave trader Johan?" Noir looked at her in surprise "So you chose Johan for your first request that''s gonna be hard." Lilly smiled "It''ll be fine, but anyway can you show me now, I want to be done by the end of the day." Noir laughed "you do know have five days to gather information and complete this request, right?" Lilly smiled mischievously "Who cares, I want to be done quickly, and besides I have more than enough experience to pull this off smoothly." Noir shivers at the look on Lilly''s face "r..right anyway just let me change into my disguise, then we''ll go." Lilly shook her head "nope no disguises you bring less attention in civilian clothes." Noir looked at her worriedly "Oy Oy are you sure this is gonna be ok?" "Of course," Lilly smiled "besides by the end of the day anyone important who may have seen you will be dead anyway." Noir once again let out a small shiver and then brought his emotions under control and nodded. "Ok then lets go now." Lilly smiled pleased and gestured for Noir to go first. Stepping outside the bar Lilly followed Noir through a labyrinth of twists and turns before finally they arrived at a large warehouse "Well this is the place," said Noir Lilly nodded "Thanks for your help, by the way can you give me a basic description of Johan. Iv just realised I have no clue what he looks like." Noir stared at her in exasperation "you took a request without even knowing what the target your aiming to assassinate looks like?" Lilly nodded "yup that sounds about right." Noir burst into laughter "God that''s stupid but oh well, Johan is a man about my height with medium build, blond hair and a cross shaped scar on his left cheek. Make sure you aim to kill because he''s an ex adventurer and a good one at that which is another reason no one accepted the request till now." Lilly nodded "Thanks for the info, I''ll be careful." Noir smiled and walked off back in the direction of the bar. Taking a deep breath Lilly worsened her posture and put on a distressed and nervous expression. Preparations complete she went up to the the warehouse and knocked on the door. Almost immediately the door swung open and a large muscled man walked out "Yes?" he sneered at her "he..hello I''m the apothecaries apprentice, I was asked here by a mi..mister Johan to help one of the more valuable slaves who was apparently not feeling well." The guard took one look at her mousy face and nervous demeanor and designated her to not be a threat "sure come in, but if you mess up mister Johan ain''t gonna be happy." Lilly nodded and let the guard show her inside, as soon as she stepped into the warehouse she knew she had to do something and fast. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. The warehouse was filled with two large cages, the one on the left was filled with men and the one on the right women. In both cages the ones who looked the strongest were bound with handcuffs. Although Lilly may have been an assassin she still had some basic human decency and this was far beyond what she considerd decent. Lilly turned to face the guard "Where is Mister Johan, he said he Wanted to meet me before I started to discuss price." the guard nodded and gestured towards a door at the back of the warehouse "The bosses office is through that door." Lilly smiled sweetly at him "Thank you." and without further a word she slit his throat. The slaves in the cages stared at Lilly in shock as the tall man fell to the floor silently and she put a finger on her lips gesturing for them to be quiet. Wiping the the blood from the guard off her dagger she once again concealed the dagger within her sleave taking the keys from the guards dead body she silently gave them to one of the slaves with free hands in the women''s cage seeing as it was closer "Stay silent until after I''m done." Smiling Lilly walked up to the bosses office before knocking on the door."come in." came a voice on the other side of the door. Assuming her meek personna once more Lilly walked through the door to find the man she assumed to be Johan. The man looked up "Who are you are you here to buy a slave?" Lilly shook her head "A..are you mister Johan, I..I was went here from the apothecary about a sick slave." Johan nodded and looked confused "I am Johan but I didn''t hire anyone about a sick slave." Lilly shook her head and tried to look remorseful "maybe there was a mistake, I..I''m terribly sorry to have bothered you mister Johan." Giving a short bow Lilly turned like she was about leave praying that he''d taken the bait "Now, now." said Johan "You''ve taken up part of my valuable time, how are you going to repay me?" Lilly feigned cowering hoping he would get a little bit closer while Johan sneered "maybe you''ll become a slave yourself...." Johan was about to say more when the knife slit his throat. As Johan fell to the floor his face the picture of surprise Lilly straightened up and smiled "well that wasn''t to bad now was it?" searching Johan office she found a small pile if gold which she happily took as well as a set of keys. Taking the keys she walked out the office to adress the slaves within the cages who were all staring at her in amazement. "Hello to everyone held in the cages my name is Arachne and I have been sent by the assassins guild to kill Johan and free you all." the slaves looked at her in amazement before a young boy near the front of one of the cages burst into tears "can..I...go..home..and..see...my..family. again?" Lilly smiled gently "of course you can." taking the keys she had found in Johan office she opened both cages and freed the slaves within. "Now that everyone''s out I highly suggest you leave as quickly as possible in case any reinforcements come." the slaves nodded some of them still crying as they ran out the door as fast as they could go. Of course this was an excuse, if there were any reinforcements they would have come already however Lilly needed to get rid of everyone for a minute. Turning around Lilly walked back into the office, while in there earlier something had bothered her with the layout of the room there was something wrong with the floor meaning that there should be cellar or something similar in the room, that meant either there had been a cellar and it had been filled in, or there was a secret passage leading into the cellar. Searching behind all the shelves and cupboards on the room Lilly was just about to get up and leave before she noticed a small button on the underside of one of the bookshelves. Quickly pressing the small button Lilly saw several floorboards move away leaving a flight if stairs descending down into the darkness. Cautiously stepping down the stairs Lilly could hear breathing noises as she reached the bottom of the stairs meaning that meant there was someone down there. Peering through the gloom Lilly let our a gasp of surprise, at the bottom of the staircase was a large black cage like the ones upstairs only much sturdier looking, the surprise however came from the young man within the cage. The one with the two black horns on top of his head, the demon. Lilly grinned, things were about to get interesting. Chapter 6: the demon Lilly continued to stare through the gloom "Hello," she said to the demon curious to whether or not he was awake. Sure enough the demon slowly opened its eyes it''s golden irises shining inspite of the dark "What have you come for human?" Lilly laughed "well it''s nice to meet you too, in truth I was commissioned by the assassins guild to kill the slave trader keeping you here, when I noticed the floor was uneven I decided to investigate and sure enough it led me to you." the demon looked at her in interest "You''re quite the unusual one aren''t you?" Lilly smiled "That''s quite true, but anyway who are you and why are you down here?" the demon laughed self mockingly "I was betrayed by a family member and drugged unconcious until they managed to bond me in these anti-magic chains." Lilly nodded in understanding it was a common story in the underworld back home. "But still," said Lilly "from a demons point of view, who''s to blame for the war?" the demon looked at her puzzled "well it''s obviously the demon king right? I mean he forced the soliders to fight for him to invade the humans." Lilly gave a nod of understanding "Ok just making sure?" The demon looked at her confused "why?" "because," said Lilly exasperated "in cases like these it seems more likely the arrogant nobles of this country would start the war then blame it on the demons so I just wanted to be sure." the demon gave out a surprised laugh "It''s true the human nobles are arrogant and irritating but unfortunately in this case they''re right it was our side that started the war." Lilly nodded carefully thinking things through in her head before she addressed the demon "and you, whose side are you on?" she asked, the demon paused for a minute considering "the side that ends with the least bloodshed." said the demon after a couple minutes consideration. Lilly sighed "You''re the same as me then, in truth the way to end a war with the least amount of bloodshed is to assassinate the opposing commander to lead to a takeover, however in these particular circumstances having the either side win isn''t a good idea." The demon nodded "its could be possible to set up an alliance between nations if the two kings were willing but that''s highly unlikely and I''m not all that happy with the idea of either of the two kings surviving at the minute. Lilly nodded in agreement "What about the heirs, if the demon king even has one. Any chance of them consolidating?" This gave the demon a pause for thought as he considered the idea "It could work, the princess of this continent is well known for being kind and gentle as well as only wanting what''s best for her people, the problem is the demon kings heir." "Oh," said Lilly interested "What''s wrong with him?" the demon sighed This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. "He''s a complete and utter playboy with no sense for the politics and the scheming of upper nobility, it might be useless getting him on the throne, he''d probably just wreck the country afterwards, though to be fair not by choice." Lilly sighed "can we think of other ideas?" The demon smiled slightly "I have a few but before that I don''t suppose you could free me first?" Lilly burst into laughter upon realising they had been talking a good fithteen minutes and she still hadn''t freed him "Sure but if you attack me I will kill you." the demon snickered "you could try." Still grinning Lilly ran back upstairs ignoring the demons cries of protests and picked up the keys from earlier before returning back to the cellar. The demon saw her descending the stairs and let out a sigh of relief "Oy don''t do that, I thought you''d left me to rot in this God forsaken cellar." Lilly laughed "nope you''re much to interesting to leave down here. And besides you may have information crucial to ending the war." the demon nodded "Ok now please free me already." rummaging through the keys till she found one that matched the composition of the cage, Lilly quickly entered the cage only to find multiple chains restricting him. Sighing Lilly looked for the key to the padlock holding the chains together, however after ten minutes of searching Lilly gave up and pulled out her lockpicks. Finally after two more minutes the padlock clicked open and the chains fell to the floor, "Thanks for the assistance." said the demon in an amused voice "you''re welcome," said Lilly "but let''s continue this upstairs where I can see." Without another word Lilly walked up the stairs and sat down in Johans office waiting to see the demons appear. As the demon appeared Lilly had to struggle to hide her facial expression, afterall the guy was gorgeous he was tall and had tanned skin with black hair to match his horns as well as golden eyes. Lilly let out an appreciative whistle "Wow," she said as the demon just laughed. "Anyway, moving on my names Lilly assassin name Arachne, I''m fithteen, and you are?" the demon smiled happily "Navir, I''m seventeen one of the ex demon generals." Lilly looked at him in surprise "interesting it seems like you''ll be useful. So Navir do you want to help me try and end a war?" Navir laughed again "Of course, I''ve got nothing better to do anyway." .................................................................................. Sorry for the short chapter I''ll make the next one longer as well as showing an updated version of Lilly''s status as well as Navir''s Chapter 7: the sacrifices made Smiling at each other Lilly suddenly had an irritating thought, she turned to face Navir "Although i wasn''t planning on telling you this till later I''ll tell you it now seeng as it might affect our plans." Navir looked at her with a serious expression "What is it?" Lilly sighed. "The kingdom recently summoned heroes to help fight in the war, I was one of them. However out of the twenty-three of us summoned only ten are still at the castle, twelve have left the castle and become adventurers and I''ve gone rouge joining the assassins guild." Navir silently considerd it "this is bad, this could shift the war potential too far over to the human side. If this happens the demons will be either slaughtered or enslaved, we need a plan." Lilly nodded "well our circumstances depends, can the demons get access to something of equal fighting potential?" Navir shook his head "No, though we may be superior in power we are low in numbers so troops would not be expended on summoning magic." Lilly looked at Navir "What do you mean?" Navir opened his mouth shocked then lowered his head to avoid her gaze "I see, they did not tell you then." Lilly sighed on exasperation "tell me what?" "The price of using summoning magic." Lilly froze as she imagined what Navir was about to say "No," she whisperd under her breath as Navir nodded his head solemnly "the cost is a soul for each person summoned, I heard the kingdom used one hundred souls gained from either slaves or prisoners in order to ensure a successful summoning." Lilly shuddered at the thought of the sacrafice made and fire burned on her eyes "How dare they, how dare they waste lives so pitifully!" Navir moved to comfort her when he felt an unbearable heat being given off by her body "Lilly stop, calm down getting angry won''t solve anything at least not yet anyway." However the heat became stronger and items in the room began to melt all around them "LILLY SNAP OUT OF IT!" yelled Navir in the loudest voice he could muster, suddenly Lilly blinked and the surroundings cooled while Navir let out a sigh of relief. "What happened?" asked Lilly as she surveyed the partially melted room Navir laughed "It seems like you awakened your magic, if past records are correct then I''m assuming your from a world without magic?" Lilly looked at Navir still slightly shocked at her use of magic "thats true but how did you know?" "Well," said Navir "Although we have not been at war in recent years there has always been conflict between demons and humans, so this is not the first time heroes have been summoned, though they have never been summoned in this quantity before..." Navir trailed off before regaining his focus and continuing "So anyway the last time a hero was summoned we demons sent a spy to gain his trust we then recorded the information in a book paused down between demon generals so they know what the''re up against in fights. Afterall coming to this world with no prior experience on magic placed a heavy burden on some of the heroes bodies making it harder for them to fight which was valuable information for us." Lilly nodded "That''s smart I guess, but I still can''t imagine being willing to sacrafice that amount of people." Navir nodded and smiled sadly "It may have been better for the people sacraficed in the long run, if they were not sacraficed they would have been forced to fight and their deaths would have been much more painful at least they spent their last days in relevant comfort." Lilly nodded but the anger was still burning in her eyes "We must find a way to stop this war, I mean an assassin and a demon general. Between us we must be able to find a way to do something!" Navir paused for a second then slowly a grin came to his face "Why don''t we try to convince the heroes into becoming a neutral third party." Lilly stared at him dumbstruck wondering why she hadn''t thought of it herself "That''s a good idea, if the heroes bring to much war potential to either side then we just have to make sure they''re not allied with either side. However this does not change the fact the two nations will fight." Navir nodded solemnly "That''s true but for now let''s focus on the things we can do for the minute, if the heroes have split off into two groups then we need to talk to both, however it''s pate now so best left till tomorrow. Do you have somewhere to stay?" Lilly shook her head she spent most of last night in the palace and had been busy dealing with the assassins guild today so she hadn''t had time to find anywhere "no, what about you? Will you even be able to find a place looking like a demon?" Navir laughed "it''s fine I have a safehouse near here for when I used to do infiltration missions as a general before the war started. Do you want to stay with me? I have a spare room." Lilly paused for a moment then nodded, if they were going to work together she''d have to trust him. Besides Lilly didn''t think he could fake the sorrow in his eyes when he talked about the sacrafices made. Looking round the office Lilly ran over to a slightly singed cloak with a hood "here use this to cover your horns." Navir smiled "thank you, let''s get to the safe house quickly I also want to check out this magic of yours." You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Nodding Lilly followed Navir out of the empty warehouse and through a maze of alleyways and streets before finally reaching a small and unassuming house surrounded by others if it''s kind. Navir opened the door and quickly gestured for Lilly to get inside, once they were through the door and the door was locked Navir removed his hood. "Feels good to be back." Lilly looked at Navir carefully "How many other demons know about this safe house?" Navir saw Lilly''s worried look and smiled "It''s okay I''m the only one who knows about this house, seeing as I was a general I was permitted to go on missions alone." Lilly relaxed "Ok then just making sure, now can you explain to me about the whole magic awakening thing?" Navir nodded "Sure but first I''d like you to say the word Status, a screen should then come up with your details and the magic you''ve awakened should be listed at the bottom." Lilly nodded "Ok then, Status" a screen appared before Lilly just like the one in the castle only with some differences "What the hell?" Murmed Lilly under her breath as she saw her status Status Race: Human Name: Lilly/Arachne Gender: female Age: 15 Level: 10 Class: assassin Health: 202/202 Magic: 400/400 Strength: 16 Dexterity: 204 Intelligence: 213 Willpower:1500 Vitality: 11 Endurance: 16 Magic awakened: flame of resentment (Asura flame) "What is it?" asked Navir looking at Lilly who''s mouth was hanging open in shock "my level was increased by nine and my magic power is more than double what I started with." Navir just laughed "I forgot you knew nothing about this world''s system." Lilly just glared at him "hurry up and explain it to me then!" Navir continued laughing "Ok listen up so every person in this world is born at level one however by hard work in there class they can gain experience that will automatically convert to levels, the higher level you are the more refined you are at your work. However don''t let this fool you a person can be at a very low level due to lack of experience but still be very skilled." Lilly nodded at this one, she of all people knew the consequence of making assumptions and letting your guard down, afterall that was the reason why she had a 100% hit rate "Once you level up state points are distributed to your attributes such as strength or intelligence, the system will automatically distribute them based on what the system thinks you need the most, the same is also true of magic power and health. Any questions?" Lilly started to shake her head then stopped and nodded "Yes, what type of magic do you have?" Navir looked at her solemnly "I''ll tell you if you tell me." Lilly nodded "deal, I have something called a flame of resentment, an Asura flame apparently." Navir stared at her in shock for a minute and then laughed. "What''s so funny," questioned Lilly curious to why he was laughing "well I was just thinking that the rarest and most destructive magic in all existance and somehow both of us use it." Lilly smiled "That''s great news." Navir looked at her confused "How so?" "Well if you were a demon general I can assume you know how to put your power to good use, meaning there''s no one better to train me in using it." Navir laughed "An ex demon general teaching a human assassin the deadliest magic alive to try and create peace, who could''ve seen this one coming?" Lilly laughed "true enough, but anyway let''s get some rest first, we have some heroes to visit tomorrow." .................................................................................. Descriptions Lilly Medium height with a slender build and fair skin, she has light brown hair and dark green eyes. She is pretty in a simple way and is easily forgettable due to her lack of presence Navir Tall height muscled build but still slender he has tanned skin and black hair and horns as well as golden eyes and is considerd very good looking. .................................................................................. Authors note I know I said that I''d add Navir''s status in for this chapter but instead I''m gonna leave it till the next chapter hope you enjoyed the chapter feel free to comment :) Chapter 8: the past and the present The next morning Lilly awoke feeling well rested, looking around she could see the room she currently resided in, was a small room without any furnishings or decorations. Smiling at how practical Navir had made the room Lilly moved to get out of bed when she heard a knock on the door. "Lilly can I come in? I brought breakfast" "Sure, it''s open." Lilly stared at Navir as he walked in with a breakfast tray, or to be more specific she stared at the breakfast tray which was laden with different kinds of meat."What''s with all the meat?!?" she asked still staring at the tray, Navir laughed at Lilly''s expression "It''s part of your training, the Asura flame can bring very serious side effects if the body can''t handle it." Navir looked down at Lilly''s skinny form "Although I''m sure your capable in a fight you said it yourself, you''re an assassin not a warrior so unfortunately your body isn''t fit for combat and may give way under the flames pressure." Lilly stared at the meat then shook her head "It''s fine." Navor started to interrupt but fell silent when Lilly began to remove her shirt "What are you...." Navir trailed off as he stared at the numerous scars and burns which adorned Lilly''s body. "What the hell?" he said in barely a whisper as Lilly smiled ruefully "torture training, as you can see my bodies plenty resilient. No point changing my physique, the lack of muscles helps me to get people to underestimate me, I don''t want to loose that advantage." Navir nodded without a second protest still staring at the scars as Lilly put her shirt back on "but just this once should be ok." she said as she smiled and picked up the plate. Navir smiled, a bit unsure how to continue then sat down beside her "While you eat I''ll tell you my story in case there''s anything that could help us in it." Lilly smiled encouragingly and gestured for him to go on "Ok so to start off with demon society is quite similar to its human counterpart in the way that titles are passed on due to birth, the only difference is titles do not necessarily pass down to the first born child but rather the strongest child." Navir paused a small while at this and looked off into the distance "I was the second youngest of five brothers and the only one born to a human mistress which is why my appearance is slightly more on par with a humans than a demons. Due to this most of the family hated me except for my oldest brother who did not blame me for what I was, or at least he made me think so." Lilly looked at Navir''s face as his expression drifted into one of rage and anger "anyway I was fifteenth when our Father died so to fill the gap we five brothers had a fighting competition to decide on a successor and obviously I won. However when I found out the demon lord was going to invade the humans I wanted to warn the human border towns I felt they at least deserved a chance. Before I left however I decided I needed to say goodbye to my beloved older brother who had looked after me for so long." Navir''s fists were clenched now "he offered me a drink before I left, a toast for good luck," Navir looked down ashamed "he had drugged the drink he offered me, I was captured and there was no one to warn the human towns. Hundreds died." Lilly set aside the plate on her lap and pulled Navir into a hug "It wasn''t your fault, it was never your fault." Navir relaxed in Lilly''s arms as the tension left his muscles and he hugged her back "thank you." Lilly smiled "What are co-conspirators for?" Navir laughed and pulled away "true enough, now I guess we best be off, we''ve got some heroes to find and convince." Lilly grinned "guess you''re right, we should go see the adventurers group first seeing as it''ll be easier to get to the ones in the castle at night." Navir nodded and walked downstairs to get his cloak while Lilly sighed and quickly stood up, it was the first time she''d ever shown her scars to anyone and she wasn''t sure how she''d wanted Navir to react. It certainly went better than expected though thought Lilly with a smile. .................................................................................. Navir''s POV He didn''t know how long he''d been locked on that cellar, it could''ve been days it could''ve been years, time lost all meaning in the darkness. In the time he''d been trapped he''d had a lot of opportunities to reflect on where he went wrong and whose fault it was. It was his fault, deep down he knew that if he hadn''t been so God damn naive about the entire situation lives could have been saved, not that it mattered now. He''d given up all hope of ever being free when she had found him, for the first time since his imprisonment he saw light and heard footsteps as a girl descended and started to talk to him about the war and how they could end it. He was glad there was someone who thought the same way, he was sick of the death, the betrayal and the corruption. Why couldn''t everyone just say what they think instead of sneaking around like spies, talking to someone while at the same time trying to stab them in the back, what the hell was wrong with this world?! And so he accepted the girls offer to try and help create peace, and he left the cold darkness of the cellar to try and aid in limiting the casualties in such a cruel and pointless war. The girl had grown on him and he found himself laughing and enjoying life more than he had surrounded by the upper class nobility when he was a general. He didn''t know where this partnership would lead them but he was looking forward to finding out. And then one day he''d have his revenge, revenge on the worthless brother he''d once believed in, as well as the idiotic demon king who was willing to sacrifice his citizens for his pointless beliefs. Somehow they would end this war and when that was done he''d ask Lilly about her own past, as well as her scars. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. .................................................................................. Lilly''s POV Walking out of the house Navir led the way towards the adventurers guild "I''m surprised you know where it is." exclaimed Lilly to Navir as he skillfully navigated between streets, Navir laughed "I''m even a member of the guild from when I was saying here, but im more surprised you don''t know where it is, I can''t believe you sent your classmates to a new location in a foreign world and didn''t even have the information to contact them." "Shut up." said Lilly blushing slightly "I didn''t plan on contacting them again, I had just planned to assassinate the leader of whichever group was in the wrong but seeing as how neither sides leaders exactly...virtuous I don''t think it''d be fair to leave the citizens of either nation under the control of the other." Navir laughed again "Quite true, anyway we''re here now." They had stopped in front of a large pub like building, Lilly paused for a minute "by the way Navir when I introduce you to the heroes I''m going to introduce you as Arachne, that way the heroes will believe you helped save them from the castle and should put more trust in you." Navir nodded "Clever, but before that do you mind if I speak to an acquaintance first." "No that''s fine." said Lilly curious to who this acquaintance was, walking into the guild Lilly could see how half the guild was laid out like a pub with a fully functional bar and the other half consisted of a line of receptionists as well as a large request board, for the adventuring side of the guild. Smiling slightly under his cloak Navir made his way over to the bar side gesturing for Lilly to follow, as he walked up to the bar he sat down on a bar stool and tapped the old man on the other side of the counter "What is it brat, I''m busy?" the protest died on the old man''s lips as he turned around to see Navir "Navir, you bastard. Is that you?" Navir smiled and nodded "good too see you too Tom." The old man, Tom pulled Navir into a hug as a tear trickled down his cheek "I thought you were dead, what in hells name happened to you?" Navir looked around "I''ll tell you, but it might not be wise to speak in here." nodding the old man told his coworkers he''d be taking a break and lead Navir and Lilly to a private booth. "Alright start talking brat, where the hell have you been these last two years?!?" Navir smiled gently "before that let me introduce you to my companion Lilly, Lilly this is Tom." Lilly smiled "nice to meet you." Tom nodded "likewise, now Navir, explain what happened." Navir gave a basic rundown of the events that led to his capture as well as Lilly''s part in rescuing him. As it turns out Tom was a guild worker and an old friend back when Navir had been a general posing as an adventurer, he also new Navir''s true identity as they''d met before the conflict started. "I''m just glad your alright kid," said Tom sighing "mind you with your status I''d be more surprised if someone could kill you." Navir smiled looking slightly embarrassed while Lilly stared at him curiously, "come to think of it, what is your status like, you''ve never talked about it?" Navir smiled uncomfortably while Tom grinned "his status it that I''d a monsters, missy one of the reasons he was as successful as he was." Lilly grinned interested "Oh, well don''t keep us in the dark how bad can it be?" Navir sighed in resignation "Status, view select to Lilly and Tom." suddenly a screen appeared in front of both Lilly and Tom Status Race: half demon/half human Name: Navir Gender: Male Age: 17 Level: 62 Class: General Rogue Health: 2000/2000 Magic: 13456/13456 Strength: 204 Dexterity: 156 Intelligence: 211 Willpower: 1200 Vitality: 600 Endurance: 450 Magic awakened: Family Flame of resentment (Asura flame) Tom just laughed "A seventeen year old at level sixty-two with over one thousand stat points in an attribute, I don''t know whether to laugh or to cry." The statuses faded from sight "anyway,"said Navir slightly uncomfortably, while Lilly laughed "moving on, do you know where the group of twelve that should have come and registered yesterday are right now?" Tom paused thinking for a minute "I know the group you''re talking about, their leaders a kid called Will right?" Lilly nodded "that''s the one." Tom nodded "If you''re looking for them they should be in the east side of the forest subduing some goblins, Navir you know the place?" Navir nodded "yeah i know it, thanks a lot Tom. Lilly lets get going." Lilly nodded and smiled at Tom "thanks for the help, i''m sure we''ll meet again" Tom smiled warmly back at her "I hope we do, look after Navir for me." Lilly laughed and then exited the booth following Navir "lets go find some heroes." Chapter 9: former heroes Following Navir out of the guild Lilly laughed at Navir "Wow you have high stats, no wonder you had the strength to be a general!" "Your one to talk!" Navir grumbled "You''ve also got over a thousand in a stat point and your only level ten!" Lilly laughed "you have a point," suddenly Lilly''s face turned serious "but with what we''re doing it doesn''t seem nearly enough." Navir turned silent and nodded solemnly before leading Lilly through a variety of streets and alleyways before they finally emerged from the city area to see flat land filled with trees and grass walking forward several metres and Lilly and Navir found themselves in a dense forest. Continuing onwards the two soon emerges in a clearing to see Will as well as the eleven other classmates who left the castle skillfully finishing off a group of goblins. Most of the group were using swords however there were also a few more people standing near the back of the group holding bows and arrows. Navir and Lilly waited several minutes until the goblins were finished before they approached the group "it''s been a few days, former heroes. I''m glad to see you are well." upon hearing the words "former heroes" the group visually raised their guards and stared hostilely at Navir. "Now now," said Navir in a Calming voice "relax I''m not here to hurt you, why would I go to the trouble of having you freed otherwise?" the group visually relaxed except for Will who still stared at Navir with blatant suspicion "You''re not the man who rescued us, he was smaller than you. So who are you?" Navir chuckled "You''re right i wasn''t there in person, but I was the one who sent Arachne to free you. If you need proof you can ask your classmate here." at this point all eyes turned to Lilly as they suddenly remembered her existance "You''re the girl who sits at the back of the class right?" said Will obviously struggling to put a name to the face. "Yes we''ve been in the same class for three years now." said Lilly, enjoying seeing Will squirm at the fact he''d obviously forgotten about her in this new and dangerous world "but that doesn''t matter, he''s speaking the truth and that''s why I want you guys to promise me to hear him out." The group looked at Lilly and Navir confused "Ok, we''ll listen." said Will sitting down on the ground to get more comfortable, the others looked at him in surprise "come on, if he''s in charge of Arachne he must be stronger than him. There''s no point in wasting our energy in running away may as well listen." Somewhat reluctantly the rest of the group sat down "Ok," said Navir "first of all I''m going to make a barrier so no one can hear or see what I am about to show you." Lilly looked at Navir confused surely you couldn''t make a barrier out of the Asura flame, could you? She''d have to ask him about that later, before Lilly''s thoughts could get any further she noticed they were surrounded by a clear bubble like barrier and Navir had begun to speak again "Ok in a minute I am going to remove my cloak and when I do I want you all to stay calm." Will and many of the rest of the other students nodded "okay then." Slowly Navir removed his cloak to show the black horns and golden eyes bellow that clearly marked him as a demon "What the hell." whispered Will under his breath as many of the group started back away, however no one outright attacked Navir which could be considered a victory. Navir sighed then lowered his head to the former heroes "please help me to end this war." Will looked at Navir as if he was mad "You mean kill the demons?" Navir shook his head "most of the soldiers fighting on both sides are innocent citizens caught up in the fighting, however I won''t deny it was the demon king who started the war. Both kings, the humans and the demons are unfit to rule and I plan to change that, all I ask is that when the final battle arrives that you intervene as a neutral third party so no side suffers to great a loss for the sake of the arrogant kings and nobles." The group unsure of themselves looked to Will for guidance, Will sighed and rubbed the back of his head "We''ll consider your proposal when the time comes but for now we''re simply going to take requests and get stronger until we have enough influence to change this country for the better. That''s what we all agreed on." Navir smiled gently "I couldn''t ask for anything else." as he smiled several of the girls in the group who were originally shying away started looking at Navir with lovestruck eyes instead. Lilly wasn''t happy, stepping on front of Navir to block the girls view of him she addressed the group "anyway we''ll be leaving now, we still have lots to do, right Navir?" Navir nodded, slightly confused to what Lilly was up to but raised his hood and removed the barrier, nodding to the former heroes Navir and Lilly turned to walk back to camp "Wait," called Out Will, Lilly and Navir turned round to face him "Why aren''t you staying with us, I mean we''re your classmates afterall." The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Lilly sneered a cold expression on her face "you mean the classmates who forgot about me and left me to rot in the castle?" At this Will fell silent and different members of the group lowered their heads in shame "That''s what I thought." said Lilly as she and Navir left the clearing. As soon as they were out of earshot Navir burst into laughter "Who left me to rot, really Lilly that''s your excuse for not joining them, poor things they all looked so guilty." Lilly laughed too "It''s not like I blame them, I would have been more annoyed if they had realised I was missing. I just needed a good reason they wouldn''t object to, and besides the feeling of guilt may guilt trip them into helping us when the final battle starts." Navir smiled approvingly as an ex-general no one appreciated the use of tactics more than him "good thinking. Anyway what''s our next move, it''ll be hard to get access to the heroes currently in the castle while it''s still day." Lilly paused for a moment and thought about the problem "information gathering, you''ve been locked away about two years and I''m from another world I doubt we have all the information about the war out there." Navir nodded "Ok I''ll try to talk to some of my old adventurer comrades, you infiltrate the castle maids and try to find out any gossip about the princess to see about her view on demons and the possibility of an alliance." Lilly nodded, "Ok seeing as I''ll already be in the castle meet me by the servants gate by nine o''clock." Navir nodded "good luck Lilly." Lilly smiled back at him sweetly "you too." Walking their separate ways Lilly reached the castle and slipped through the guards with relative ease afterall she was still wearing the maid outfit she had "liberated." walking around the castle Lilly encountered several other maids telling each one that she was the princess''s new maid before rambling on about how lucky she was to be working for such a wonderful person such as the princess too see the servants reactions. The reactions drawn from the maids words were quite boring as they responded to her praise with yet more praise, it was not until several hours of talking later that one of the maids actually revealed something useful "the princess is so kind, it is a shame that it taints her view of the demons." Lilly looked at the maid she was talking to confused "What do you mean?" The maid leaned in and spoke in a conspiratorial voice "well between us two the princess seems to have this deluded idea that the demons want peace as much as we do, can you believe how ridiculous that is!" Lilly tried to conceal her grin "ridiculous." she echoed softly, this was perfect if the princess was willing to accept that not all the demons were bad than there was hope for an alliance yet. Lilly then nodded to the maid and made an excuse to leave and walked to the servants gate, arriving at the gate Lilly saw Navir already there covered by his cloak. "Good to see you''re still in one piece Navir, did you find out anything important?" Navir smiled "Good to see you''re well too, I found something but it''s best addressed in private." Lilly nodded then froze for a second and threw her arms round Navir "W..what are you doing?" asked Navir confusedly with a light blush on his face. However Lilly didn''t need to explain as a guard came round the corner "Oi what are you two....Oh.......nevermind." Lilly winked at Navir then turned to look at the guard an apologetic look on her face. "I''m really sorry about causing trouble it''s just that...." at this point tears began to drip down Lilly''s face and the guard looked bewildered and panicked as he saw Lilly starting to sob. Navir moved forwards concealing a grin "sorry about this, she''s my fiance but I''ve been drafted to go to the front lines to fight the demons tomorrow and I couldn''t leave without seeing her one more time." The guard nodded looking sympathetic "take all the time you need mate, and for what it''s worth good luck." Navir nodded "Thanks mate I''ll need it." when the guard was successfuly out of earshot Navir turned to Lilly with an eyebrow raised "did you have to start crying? It made it so much harder to think of a reason." Lilly smiled "true but that event will stick in his head and now if we''re suspected they''ll look for you in the recently enlisted." Navir rolled his eyes "come on, let''s go find some heroes." .................................................................................. Author''s note Hi to everyone reading I''m really sorry for the shorter chapter the next one should be longer feel free to comment or write a review telling me how you feel about the story or how I could improve it thanks for reading Chapter 10: the current heroes and the princess Sneaking into the castle Lilly lead Navir up a large spiral staircase towards a corridor filled with doors "The heroes are in here, I checked earlier claiming I was a new maid assigned to them." Navir nodded "Ok so where should we have them all meet so we can try to convince them?" Lilly thought for a minute "there''s a music room just a few doors down that should be large enough for everyone to fit In, you wait in there and I''ll convince them to come, we''ll call you Arachne again to gain trust." Navir nodded and moved in the direction Lilly had pointed in before Lilly used her lock picks to quickly gain access to her former classmates rooms. Opening each of their doors she quickly and quietly told all of them to "come to the music room down the corridor if they wanted to learn the truth regarding the country that summoned them." Gathering the last of the heroes into the music room, Lilly closed the door and walked to the front of the room to stand next to Navir "Welcome heroes, I apologise for taking you away from your sleep, but it is not without good reason. First things first I would like to inform you incase you didn''t already know but your classmates have already escaped the castle." At this a lot of muttering arose from the group "What do you mean escape, they''ve been kidnapped haven''t they?" Navir laughed "Wow they must want to cover it up badly!" the group looked at Navir in confusion as his face grew serious "Ok in all truth i uncovered a conspiracy theory that the king planned to sacrifice the second group of heroes with the least talent to gain more magical power." This drew a lot of gasps from the group though some nodded as if this just confirmed what they already knew "I told the heroes about this and helped them escape, I won''t tell you where they are for now in case the king uses magic to question you." the group nodded however Lilly noticed a couple of hesitant or irritant looks. "Anyway they''re safe for now, but that''s not what I came here to talk about. My name is Navir," Navir lowered his hood "and I am a demon." rather than the former heroes who backed away the current heroes fell into fighting stances "relax I''m not here to hurt you I''m here to ask a favour." the heroes still looked weary but at least looked willing to listen. "Thank you, in truth my codename is Arachne." this drew some more gasps, all of the heroes had heard of the notorious thief who stole away half the treasury. "In truth i am using the funds I stole to try and stop the war and so I will ask of you what I asked the other heroes. When the final battle comes please represent a neutral force between the two groups. Most of the demons have been forced into this war, they want peace as much as we do!" After saying this Navir went silent and bowed his head "we won''t ask you to make the choice now, all I ask is that you consider it when the time comes." the heroes nodded silently and left the room one by one until only Lilly and Navir were left. "Let''s head back home." said Lilly smiling "we have some scheming to do." Arriving back at the house in twenty minutes Lilly and Navir sat on opposite ends of a small table staring at each other "so now we''ve got the heroes to consider our proposal what''s next?" asked Navir, Lilly paused for a minute "I have an idea but first let me ask a question, does the demon king have anymore children apart from the son?" Navir nodded "Yes there''s a girl as well, one year younger than the brother." Lilly nodded "is she smart?" Navir nodded again "perfect why don''t we let the demon kings son be a figure head and leave the buissness to the sister or better yet just put the sister on the throne." Navir smiled "That''s not a bad idea but..." he trailed off "What is it?" Navir sighed "the demons have no problem with a girl being in charge as long as she''s stronger, unfortunately the sister has a weaker body despite the higher intellect." This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Lilly sighed "back to square one then, wait a second," Navir looked at her in interest "What if we set up the demon kings son and the princess, if they enter an alliance through marriage then neither side could object and the princess''s brains can be reinforced with the Prince''s brawn, it''s perfect!" Navir smiled "That''s a great idea, our next stop should be the princess anyway, I heard she was a good friend with the sister before the war started anyway so she shouldn''t have to many prejudices towards demons." Lilly smiled "That''s great, well go see her tomorrow." The next morning Lilly and Navir once again donned their disguises to enter the castle, this time however as soon as Lilly and Navir had entered an empty corridor Lilly stopped "finally addressing the person following us, are we?" Lilly laughed "I wondered if you''d pick up on that but don''t worry he''s a friend." Lilly turned to face the direction they came from "Shadow man, save us some time and come out." Noir emerged out of the shadows grumbling "you know my name now why are you still calling me shadow man?" Lilly laughed "cause it''s fun, anyway we need to see the princess." Noir stared at her for a bit then sighed "I''ll take you there, its not like you wouldn''t just defeat me and go even if I tried to stop you." Lilly grinned "glad to see you know me well." After saying this Lilly and Navir silently followed Noir through corridors and stairways until finally they reached a lavish mahogany door with gold inlay. "This''s her room, I''ll wait outside to make sure your not heard." Lilly flashed Noir a grateful smile which gave Navir a small scowl as he walked past Noir into the room. Sitting in the room was the same beautiful girl Lilly had seen back in the courtyard all those days ago "Who are you?" asked the girl quickly standing up with wary eyes. "relax," smiled Lilly "We''re friends of Noir''s, he let us in because we said we needed to talk to you." The princess visually relaxed and sat back down on the seat she had previously been on "What do you need of me?" Lilly smiled glad she was willing to hear them out "We want to end the war, but to do that we want to form an alliance between the younger generation of rulers." The princess suddenly looked downcast "I''m sorry I know what you want but I can''t." Lilly looked at the princess in surprise "What do you mean?" the princess took a deep breath "I love someone else so I cannot marry Alexis." Lilly looked at Navir confused until he whispered "demon kings son." Lilly sighed "It''s fine, we can think of other plans I figured we should check just to make sure." the princess bowed her head "I am truly sorry but I L..love Lunar." suddenly a rosy blush spread to the princess''s cheeks while Navir raised one eyebrow in surprise "didn''t see that coming." he Murmed under his breath "What is it?" asked Lilly still confused "Who''s Lunar?" Navir laughed "the current demon kings daughter." Lilly looked at him in surprise then turned to the princess "you mean....oh..." the princess gave a nod in conformation still blushing deeply. "Well this just got complicated." sighed Lilly as she thought of what was to come. .................................................................................. Authors note Sorry for the late chapter I''ve been swamped with exams, unfortunately I won''t be able to do another chapter till the weekend but I''ll try to get two out by then. Hope you enjoyed Chapter 11: scheming Lilly sighed "So let me get this straight, to bind the two countries together we need an alliance between rulers, you however are in love with the demon countries princess who although is much cleverer then her brother is unfit to ruled to lack of strength?" the princess nodded still a deep shade of red "yes," Lilly sighed while Navir let out a laugh "At least it''s not completely hopeless," he said smiling "we can still marry the two princesses together to show bonds and help make peace. The problem is the brother, even if he''s willing to step aside other nobles may be torn between successors creating internal strife, and a bond between the two means nothing if it''s not between the ruling class." Lilly nodded "true, but how accurate is our measure of the princesses strength anyway? I mean it''s been two years she may be stronger now." Navir nodded thoughtfully "good point, now we know this kingdoms future ruler wants peace we need to make sure the other countries does too." "um," said the princess interupting causing the two to look at her "yes?" asked Lilly "well um even if me and Luna want to get married our parents still won''t agree." Lilly nodded awkwardly, although the king was a bad ruler he was still the princess''s father and she would not take kindly to the news they were planning to assassinate him, so they just had to make sure she never found out. "We''ll cross that bridge when we come to it." said Navir shrugging off her concern as if it was irrelevant "however even if we bond the two countries together we need to make sure there''s no amnesty between the two countries when we do." Lilly nodded then smiled "I have an idea, but is need the princess''s help." the princess looked at her with a nod "What do you need me to do?" Lilly grinned and whispered her plan into the princess''s ear while Navir looked confused "Think you can do it?" asked Lilly drawing away from the princess, the princess nodded grim determination in her eyes "I can, I suppose you''re going to go and see Luna now?" Navir grinned "Correct," he stared at Lilly "It''ll be your turn to wear the cloak next." Lilly laughed "true enough." the princess grabbed a piece of paper and wrote a quick note on it then handed it to Lilly "please give this to Luna from me, tell her it''s from Anna and she should understand. She might also be able to help with your project I left the coordinates on there." Lilly smiled "Thanks for your help, we''ll end this war. One way or another." the princess smiled "Thank you." nodding both Lilly and Navir exited the room to find Noir outside. "You two done in there?" Lilly nodded "yup, thanks for your help Noir, tell Kai I''m going on a trip for a couple of weeks. The guild card updated so he should already know I completed the Johan request." Noir nodded "its alright he knows, and I''ll pass on the message. See you around Arachne." Lilly smiled "see you." as she walked out of the castle with Navir she saw him frown "What''s wrong?" she asked "I don''t like him." Lilly looked at him confused "why?" Navir looked at Lilly then looked away "no reason." Lilly shrugged but carefully hid a grin from him, the ex-general was not skilled in hiding his expressions. "Anyway," said Navir trying to change the subject "What did you ask the princess?" Lilly grinned "secret, you''ll find out later anyway." Navir grumbled good naturedly but followed anyway, finally they reached the house and quickly settled in "I''m gonna get some sleep," yawned Lilly as soon as she entered the house "night Navir." Navir grinned softly "night Lilly." .................................................................................. Unknown hero POV The hero slammed his fist into the wall "Damn," he cursed as he drew back his fist in pain "that damn Arachne finally I had the chance to be a hero, to be great, but now he''s filled all the others heads with that peace mumbo jumbo." he cursed some more "if I can just convince them the demons are evil." A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Suddenly an evil look swept into his eyes "That''s right I just need to convince them. After that I can fight the demons and then finally get rid of my classmates with no suspicion, and then," the boy licked his lips as a disgusting look appeared in his eyes "I can take that bitch of a princess." the boy started laughing as a plan slowly formed in his mind. .................................................................................. Lilly''s POV The next morning Lilly awoke feeling refreshed, quickly getting up she knocked on Navir''s door "Navir I''m going out shopping quickly, do you need anything?" Navir walked out of his room topless "no I''m good." Lilly stared at his chest blushing "What, what is it?" Lilly looked away "nothing, I''m gonna go now. Bye." Lilly ran out while Navir just looked at where she was standing confused "What was that all about?" Still blushing slightly Lilly laughed at herself "that guys an idiot in some senses." still smiling Lilly walked to a market she had passed with Navir the previous day, though she already had a few good knives if they were travelling through demon territory she wanted a more familiar weapon and for her that meant a fan. Although a fan looked useless and ornate, when made specifically with razer sharp blades it made quite the convenient weapon, in her original world Lilly had had to assassinate many high class targets upon which a fan looked highly commonplace amongst them. Smiling as she walked Lilly soon arrived at a blacksmiths, entering the empty shop Lilly called out "hello, anyone there?" "Just a minute." came out the voice of an older woman, several seconds later a discreetly muscled forty something year old woman emerged from the back of the shop "sorry for the wait, what do you need?" Lilly smiled "I''d like to commission a weapon to be made by the end of the day." The woman''s eyes widened slightly "That''s a tall order, what do you need." Lilly smiled "a fan." the woman looked at her slightly annoyed "look missy this''s a weapon shop, I don''t do accessories." Lilly grinned "it''s not for an accessory I want sharpened spikes in the fan and folded spider silk for a binding." The woman''s eyes widened, spider silk was a rare material that was both durable and flexible as well as being unknown to most, a perk of knowing an ex-general is that he''d given some pretty detailed descriptions of the weapons of this world. "well now I take it back, this is an interesting request and an expensive one at that. How much you got." Lilly gave a serious face "I''m going to be honest with you I''ve not got much, only ten gold coins but if I bring you the spider silk myself would you be willing to make it?" the woman paused for a minute considering it "usually the request would be fifty gold coins however most of that is for the cost of acquiring materials, the work itself is only worth seven gold coins however if you want me to acquire the metal it''s worth twenty however I''m willing to give it to you for ten if you let me have any excess spider silk you procure." Lilly grinned "deal, I''ll bring it by the end of the day and on return I''ll extend the deadline till tomorrow." the woman laughed "thanks for the generosity, the names Alysa by the way and you are?" Lilly smiled "It''s Lilly, nice to meet you. I''ll be back later with the materials." Alysa grinned "I look forward to it." .................................................................................. Author''s note Hi guys sorry for the wait on the chapter I''m inbetween exams now and figured I''d write it up, hope you liked the chapters feel free to comment or write a review so I know how you feel about the story :) Chapter 12: procuring a weapon and some information Walking out of the blacksmiths Lilly started to wander towards the forest where Navir had claimed the spiders lived. Spider silk was a very strong yet flexible silk created by a magical spider beast, the silk itself was not rare and quite easy to find its was the getting the silk away from the spiders which made it such a challenge. Vicious spiders guarded the silk and they would not let it be taken for anything so unless a person was strong enough or clever enough they had no chance at gaining the silk. Luckily Lilly was both, several minutes of walking later and Lilly had reached the center of the forest upon which she saw a large opening into a dark cave. Smiling at the fact she had arrived at her destination Lilly thought back on the advice she had gained from Navir once she told him her plan to procure a weapon after rescuing him "the spiders are viscous however they reside in the darkness and are strongly afraid of light which is why the Asura flame is so helpful when dealing with them, the only way to cut spider silk is with the claw of a magical beast making procuring the silk even harder unless you''re string enough to hint beasts or rich enough to buy materials." Lilly sighed as she thought this over and quickly came to a conclusion, she had no choice but to hunt magical beasts to find a suitable material to cut the silk. Walking throughout the forest it would seem luck favoured her as she soon came across a lone wolf that lay bleeding out on the ground, the huge creature had obviously been in a fight with another beast and had clearly not come out on top. Approaching wordlessly Lilly drew her dagger and slit the creatures throat, she was an assassin she wasn''t here to fight but rather to silently kill and take what she needed. Smiling slightly at her fortune Lilly looked at the wolf''s corpse with a suddenly sad smile "thank you." she whispered softly as she carefully removed the wolf''s claws "I''ll use them well." Hiding her daggers amongst her cloths Lilly gripped the claws in her hands and moved back towards the cave. Standing in the entrance of the cave Lilly slowly let her eyes adjust to the gloom. The cave was large and almost as black as night with several indistinct passages leading off into what looked like various caverns. The passages themselves were filled with spider silk however there was none to be found within the first cave, this forced those looking for spider silk to enter the passageways into the spiders home ground giving the spiders an advantage. Smiling at the well put together trap Lilly walked into the cave and near the passage, staring at the silk lined passage Lilly came to a decision. In a typical fantasy world the hero of the story would stereotypically charge forward with sword in hand and stubbornly fight the spiders in a desperate struggle and eventually emerge victorious, Lilly was not that sort of hero. In the first place her charging at highly dangerous spiders with average fighting abilities and recently discovered magic was an incredibly stupid idea, and say what you will about Lilly she was not stupid. Carefully forming a plan Lilly quickly used the wolf''s claw to chop off a huge sheet of spider silk, sensing the vibrations tens of spiders swarmed to her location from within the passageway, expecting an easy prey. Of course Lilly could just turn around and run the way she came but Navir had already explained how spiders were much faster than she would be, and besides she had a plan. Although the spiders would attack if Lilly gave them the chance they didn''t get that chance as Lilly held her small, barely controlled Asura flame towards the remaining spider silk and then ran. The silk itself wasn''t very flammable however the Asura flame was the strongest in the world and for such creatures who had never dealt with flames before the fire would be especially effective in stopping them, not to mention there aversion to light. Running as quickly as she could out of the cave Lilly collapsed the ground as she stared at the smoke rising above the trees where the cave was. Feeling happy Lilly stared down at the large quantities of spider silk in her hand "perfect." taking the acquired silk Lilly quickly made her way back into Alysa''s shop. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Entering the shop Lilly called out "Alysa, Alysa are you here?" it was a good minute later before the older woman appeared "Oh that was quick, less than an hour I might add. Did you find the silk?" Lilly grinned and held up the silk "will this be enough?" Alysa grinned but looked slightly confused "this is great, only it''s too much the excess silk would be worth triple the amount you''d owe me." Lilly nodded "I know, I was hoping I could commission you to make two fans, there should still be enough material for the excess payment." Alysa nodded "Ok that''s fine, come back tomorrow morning and I''ll give them too you." Lilly smiled "Thanks a lot." quickly walking back home Lilly made a plan of action for the rest of the day. "Navir?" she called as soon as she entered the house "yes?" replied Navir from upstairs "come down here a second I''ve decided on our next plan," Navir quickly came down the stairs and was soon face to face with Lilly "What''s the plan?" Lilly nodded "Ok, so I suggest we leave in two days because I commissioned a weapon that will only be ready tomorrow morning, during that time I want you to take as many requests at the adventurers guild as possible, as high ranking as you can." Navir looked at her curious "any reason why?" Lilly nodded "because while we''re crossing the border we need to be as inconspicuous as possible and a high ranking adventurer and his sister, going to check on family on the edge of the country seem a lot more inconspicuous then two travellers who suddenly decide they want to visit one of the most dangerous areas in the world in the middle of the war." Navir silently considerd this then nodded "Ok, what are you going to be doing?" Lilly paused for a moment considering how much she should tell him "information gathering for the project I asked the princess to look into." Navir nodded "Right, well then I''ll head out now." Lilly smiled "see you later." As soon as Navir left Lilly quickly took off towards the castle, it was time to check the princess''s story, even if the princess seemed honest it was quite possible she was lying or being unknowingly manipulated into giving Lilly false information so it was only common sense to talk to the servants to see what they knew. Walking round the castle in the stolen maid outfit she talked to as many of the servants as she could mentioning each time she had heard the princess liked someone and asked if they knew who it was, though in much subtler terms. The answer she got was consistent throughout the entire castle. "It''s true she has someone she likes, everyone knows that, the only problem is no one knows who she likes though there''s a rumor that it''s someone she knew since childhood." pleased with the conformation although still holding a light disbelief Lilly left the castle and quickly changed clothes into a typical messenger outfit she had stolen on the way there. Walking out inti the streets in the stolen uniform Lilly walked towards a street vendor "Excuse me sir, I''m new here and I''m meant to be delivering a message to the army barracks. I don''t suppose you could point me in the right direction?" the street vendor laughed "sure thing kid it''s down the street to the right, then you take the first left and it''s straight in front of you." Lilly smiled sweetly "Thanks alot, you''re a lifesaver." walking off into the direction the man had indicated Lilly soon arrived at a large marble building that looked as if it had never seen a war in its life. Snorting Lilly quickly entered the building, it was time to steal some information. ........................................................................... Author''s note Sorry for the short chapter in truth the chapter wad to big to be one chapter so split it into two so I''ll try to finish of the second part by the end of the weekend hope you enjoyed the chapter Chapter 13: knowledge is power Walking into the luxurious building Lilly could see several rooms filled with maps and models, however that was nor what Lilly was looking for. At present the two sides were at a stalemate until the heroes were ready to fight meaning nothing she could do could give either side an advantage, what Lilly was looking for was information on the high ranking demons and possibly the demon king. Afterall just like the demons had information on past heroes it made sense for the humans to have as much information on the demons as possible. Walking through the rooms silently no one noticed her prescence as she walked around at a steady pace with a purposefully manner. Eventually Lilly entered a small unassuming room filled with cabinets, upon opening the closest cabinet Lilly found information on past high ranking demons "bingo." she whispered quietly as she smiled. Closing the cabinet she began to search the newer cabinets which held the most recent information. Looking through the files she eventually found a large file at the back of one of the cabinets with the words classified: authorised military personal only. Ignoring the warning Lilly opened the folder to find descriptions of five demons, who the military believed to be the current demon generals, she smiled it was time to find out exactly what she was up.against. Succubus violet Ages: unknown Level: unknown Special abilities: seduction magic, soul magic Description: she has black hair, black horns and violet eyes as well as white skin and is 1.7 metres tall. Danger: labeled as highly dangerous, presumed to be one of the five demon generals she is one of the demons last line of defence and can absorb souls of those who fall under her spell. Vampire Lucio Age: over two hundred Level: unknown Special abilities: blood magic Description: he has brown hair, brown eyes and lightly tanned skin, he is about 1.8 meters and looks like an average villager. He often uses his appearance to make enemies lower their guard. Danger: labeled as highly dangerous confirmed to be one of the demon generals the Vampire Lucio has been around longer than the demon king he serves and has perfect control over other peoples blood allowing him to use someone''s body against them. Demon Laira Age: 26 Level: exact number unknown last recorded at over one hundred Special abilities: unknown Description: red hair and red eyes as well as black horns on her head, she is 1.6 meters tall and has dark skin. Danger: labeled as highly dangerous although Laira''s exact abilities are unknown her name is synonymous to slaughter. Unlike the other generals she fights favouring a weapon over magic, she is deemed highly proficient with her weapon of choice, a scythe and all who come up against her have without a doubt died. Name and race unknown: codename shadow Age: unknown Level: unknown Special abilities: highly proficient in shadow magic Description: shadow is an unknown entity who appears in a black cloak with a black mask on, their voice has never been heard and their face has never been seen making it impossible to classify as a male or female, shadow is about 1.7 meters tall. Danger: shadow is mainly known as a non-combatent who appears when a battle is failing and evacuates all demons while defending against the humans without harming them. Shadow has only been seen actively fighting once and during the fight destroyed the full battlefield, due to this they are listed as a high potential danger. Demon Navir Age: 17 Level: unknown Special abilities: only known holder of the Asura flame Description: last known description was of a man with tanned skin, golden eyes, black hair and black horns Danger: unknown, Navir had been confirmed as a general two years ago, however he has not been seen since the war broke out leading to rumors that he rebelled against the upper demon monarchy and was silenced because of it however due to these rumors being unconfirmed he is sill listed as presenting a threat due to his extremely tyrannical magic. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Lilly finished reading and stood still in silence considering what she had learnt, first if all she had seemingly confirmed Navir''s story which put her more at ease but more importantly she had found another potential ally. Shadow, although they were listed as a demon general from the reports it seems they tried to avoid injuring either side. Putting away the folder Lilly started to search to try and find more information on Shadow to see if there was anything useful, she was still looking through records when all of a sudden a soldier walked in "Who are you and what are you doing here?!?" growled the soldier as he raised the sword on his beast towards her. Lilly smiled condenscingly and stood up straighter "name and rank?" she asked in an authoritive tone "What?" asked the soldier clearly confused "I said name and rank?" the soldier stared at her for a minute reluctant to answer before deciding he would do as she said "cadet Ryan." Lilly nodded "Well then cadet you better get out of here now." Cadet Ryan looked at her in amazement "What the hell are you talking about you trespasser?!?" Lilly sighed as if greatly annoyed "listen here, for what reason do you think a messenger would be allowed into a record room? It''s obviously if they''re getting information to deliver, now if that messenger is meant to be finding and delivering highly classified information, who do you think has the clearance to see that information and will not appreciate the hold up." The cadet paled obviously imagining all number of higher ups "not only that," continued Lilly "How do you think they''ll react if they think an unknown cadet knew about this such information, wouldn''t you be a liability?" the guard was as white as a ghost "b..but I didn''t see any information." Lilly shook her head sadly "you think they''ll take that risk?" the guard shook his head and looked at Lilly with begging eyes "please dont tell anyone you saw me." Lilly paused as if considering then nodded "Ok but don''t mention I was here it was meant to be secret and if the upper brass found our anyone knew I wouldn''t like to think of the consequences." The cadet nodded and left without another word, as soon as he was out of earshot Lilly let out a sigh of relief, in truth she had taken a gamble upon seeing how uncaring the king had been with the soldiers lives and assumed useless soldiers were just chucked on the front lines to die. A fate which all soldiers tried to avoid. Going back to the records Lilly searched for several hours more before eventually giving up with the coming of dusk. Although she had not found any more information on the mysterious shadow she had however found and "liberated" a map that showed the suspected domains of the five demon generals, excluding Navir''s who hadn''t been seen since the war started. Arriving back at home Lilly went to talk to Navir "Navir I found some information today that I want to confirm with you." Navir nodded "sure, what is it?" Lilly nodded "the identity of the other four demon generals." Navir looked at her a serious expression on his face "Ok what do you want to know?" Lilly paused for a minute deciding what to say first "Ok first of all who were the other demon generals that were in power before the war?" Navir thought about it "there was the Succubus called Violet, a Vampire called Lucio, a Lich called Karma and a demon called Laira." Lilly froze "Wait a second a Lich?" Navir looked at her surprised "yeah, why?" Lilly paused "apparently in recent years instead of a Lich a creature nicknamed shadow has been said to be the fith demon general. They''re said to be a non-combatent who uses shadow magic to help evacuate troops, and also tries to avoid any caunities both human and demon however they''re also listed as extremely powerful when they actually deem the situation necessary to fight ." Navir sat down silently in thought "I didn''t know anyone like that before my capture, shadow magic is common among demons due to a natural affinity with darkness however very few would be able to use it proficiently like that, and even fewer would be willing to use it to avoid conflict." Lilly smiled mischievously "well if we''re lucky they might make a powerful ally but anyway for now I''m gonna get some sleep, night Navir." Navir smiled tenderly "night Lilly." .................................................................................. Author''s note Hiya just want to say a special thanks to metamorph for the review I''ll try and improve the story as it goes on :) feel free to leave a comment or write a review so I know how you feel about the story hope you enjoyed the chapter!