Heleion Archives

27th of December, 124th of NDE. Pancheng Fortress City. 90th District.

            “Have you brought it?” Chouath asked Shao Bi as they approached their destination on the 90th dis-trict of the fortress city. Every year the parade went through the open areas of the central districts with most folk converging on the balcony like streets and the bridges that connect the outer and central segments. Be-sides most of the commerce shops were located on these levels, with dime a dozen restaurants and clothing shops for the workers located around the outer segments.

Even during the warm lit hours of the day, the streets were busy with life. Workers search for the ideal place to have their lunch, or just looking through the shops filled with nice clothing for their loved ones or them-selves. And some patrols belonging to the Imperial Host’s Police Division clad in their dark tsuklar plates that mimicked the armor of the samurai with silken kimono of deep indigo blue hue.

Currently the two assassins of the Golden Dawn were dressed in a simple qi pao dress of red hue and golden trims. Over it they wore a bland beige coat they both buttoned together as the dress proved not enough protection against the cold winds of the winter.

“Yeah, it is here.” Shao Bi said pointing at her bag which’s strap pushed into her shoulder, creating soft waves on the thick, but soft, layered fabric of the coat. While it wasn’t made of the best materials, if push came to shove, it was still made from materials that could protect them against weaker level spells, or stop blades from cutting through them like butter.

“Good. I don’t want to repeat the incident at Nanzou.” Chouath said as the two took a sharp turn at the bridge towards the inner streets. Not further in, they stopped at the building on the right where a single metallic door led into a small room and further up to the balcony street above. Chouath looked around while Shao Bi procured the device from her bag and attached it beside the door. Its metallic, sharp-ended spider legs dug deep into the concrete, then Chouath knocked thrice on the door.

**

Kaya Sako whistled in the small room that was setup at the central most bridge of the central districts. The room itself was relatively small with the old Mirage Mirror System set up opposite to the door leaving her back to it while sitting in the chair. The table itself only lasted halfway towards the left side where a ladder led further up to the next level.

Sako herself was a member of the Keisatsuath of the Black Lotus Branch of the Black Rose Order. She had a soft, roundish face slightly sharpened by the Black Rose Elixir. Her features that once slightly misaligned now were in perfect harmony. Her pupils in a soft almond-frame once were a faded blue hue, now brimmed with a deep aquamarine color. Her hair once dark as the night now had a snow silvery luster that planted the seeds of envy in many as it reached down to the center of her back while parted fully back exposing her fair toned smooth forehead and soft lines of eyebrows. Even her plump, rosebud lips gained a deeper luster and softer texture and surface.

“One second!” She welcomed the knocks on the door as she was reaching her limit as stationed here was one of the most boring duties one could receive. She stood up from her leathery chair with soft stretching made by her dragonid leather coat resembling a cheongsam dress repurposed for military uses while still looking fashionable. Partly thanks to the dragonid leather that had an unparalleled luster many in the fashion industry tried to recreate through the centuries. The snow silvery slim lace trims enhanced the draconic look often used to describe the Black Rose Style as it replicated the snow silvery frames of the northern black dragon’s scales.

She quickly zipped up her coat at the center and let the veiling strip fold over it by itself while curving at the open round neck which top line was framed in snow silver palladium that created a striped look on the mildly wide inside where the berry blue triangular collars softly caressed her neck.

“Hummh?” Just as she placed her palm on the mirror surface of the tablet built into the wall, she realized her mana stopped flowing tenderly within her body, animus and arcane points. Conviction came in the form of a silken cloth pushed against her face while a pair of hands grabbed her – belonging to Shao Bi as the two agents forced themselves inside within a span of a moment.

Sako’s eye lids turned heavy, her muscles tensed then numbed in tandem with her whimpers slowly dying down. Her berry blue beret fell off her head as it lumped onto the shoulder of Shao Bi who bent her arms at the back while shushing softly.

Then Chouath released the cloth from her face. “That chair will do fine.” She said while Shao Bi looped her arms under Sako’s armpits and dragged her to the chair. After she not so gracefully placed the sleeping beauty into it, she placed her index and middle finger locked together onto her forehead and both tips lit up in an arcane light as she slowly altered the last few moments in her memory. Instead of being assaulted and knocked out by the two, she remembered her boredom prevailing and causing her to collapse into the world of dreams.

“Let’s move on. There are still a few places we have to visit.” Chouath said as she finished placing a similar disk like device into the mainframe of the Mirage Mirror.

**

“On my mark.” Hanakoro said in a low tone as she a four other Heishiaths under her regiment lined up on both sides of the door. Inside she sensed seven vitae moving around in various rooms.

She clenched her fist and swung it towards the door, but stopped it before it would impact the metallic segmented surface. At the same time, all of them poured their mana into their arcane points and the same spells formed in them, making their bodies practically spectral. They rushed through the wall and door with their Rapid-Mana Guns ready.

“We’re compromised.” The native soratanese yelled before his body was riddled with holes emanating arcane residue that resembled luminous mist. The second – a lunar elven man – remained behind the cover of the door in the zig zagging corridor, but his fate was sealed the moment Hanakoro unsheathed his long katana. Lunar runes lit up on its pristine snow silvery surface and with a horizontal cut through the wall, she separated his head from his neck with one clean swing.

Without giving any further orders, the rest of her troops stormed further into the small hideout and took down the rest one by one. “Rest easy now.” Hanakoro said with a warm expression as she walked into the last room where the teleportation circle remained unlit. Before they charged the hideout, the Raven Eyes of the Black Rose – who informed them of this place in the first place – jammed the arcane connection that went out from the circle to another.

“Won’t we go further?” A soratanese subordinate of hers pointed at the circle with a questioning look.

“Not right now. They most definitely set up curses for anyone whose anima length was not registered into the traverse line.” Hanakoro said with the patience of the elderly while she cleaned the mixed blood off of her blade.

“But when we move on to the next, leave some of them alive for questioning.” She looked at her clock and said before she teleported back to the eastern palace where her dear old mother resided. A few close to her could hear her tired sigh.

**

95th District.

“Having doubts?” Junoth inquired in her usual cold, almost emotionless tone as she offered a cup of steaming hot tea to Katsuranea. Her mauve eyes focused to the other side of the window, gazing into the deep abyss that led to the lower districts of the city.

“No. Just wish we could flush them out without all these unnecessary steps. And that we could inform Hanakoro-san about it.” Katsuranea said as she accepted the tea with a warm smile. The large room they were in were filled with tables and a dozen members of the Raven Eyes of the Rose with their eyes focused on the glass-monitors reflecting the streets with the various folk highlighted in ethereal frames of different hues.

Common citizens were framed in a light blue, members of the Hoshigawan Host and the Black Lotus in a cherry red hue while possible members of the Golden Dawn in their preferred orange golden hue. Katsuranea watched while silently sipping her tea as the agent’s of the Raven Eyes of the Black Rose glared at the monitors while also writing notes without the need to look away.

“Hanakoro-sama is just like how Kaguyari-sama was in her youth. Compassionate and a bit naïve. This is for the best for her growing.” Junoth said this time with a kinder expression forced onto her alluring face deco-rated with the small scar and her braid bundled into a roll at the back of her head.

“Oh, now that you mention it, I remember reading about a black haired orii elven Sister who went through hell and worse with the General Princess-sama.” Katsuranea said what came onto her mind as when she first met with Junoth the week before, she had a sense of déjà vu. She was a diligent student at the main Black Rose Academy of the Archipelago with a keen interest in the history of the Order and its many branches that formed through the centuries.

“That would be me – according to some.” Junoth said reflexively that made Katsuranea chuckle a little.

“Junoth-senpai, we found another hideout in the seventeenth district.” A soratanese Sister of their blessed with a creamy tone, paired nicely with her smooth skin and well-defined, shapely figure with near-perfect curves highlighted by her sleek, dragonid leather and aetherna satin outfit. Which itself consisted of a simple leather trench coat with elevated neck and angular, notch collars, a tight mini skirt with asymmetrical hem and her indigo blouse with triangular collars roughly buttoned up paired with a matching black neck tie. Her hair sleek and soft, tied into a high bun slightly towards the right side of the back.

“Thank you. Report its location to Hanakoro-sama immediately. I have feeling she will be thrilled to receive it.” The young appearing Sister of theirs bowed swiftly and returned to her table. She tapped her right temple as her mind connected to the aether line set up between the higher ups and all the agents of the Raven Eyes – forming an unseen web.

“Hope this will ease her heart a bit.” Katsuranea said after the Soratanese Raven Eyed Agent confirmed the information reaching Hanakoro with a slight nod.

**

67th District.

“Rest soldiers!” After Shao Bi and Chouath arrived back to their headquarters on the central districts – they headed straight to the cell area where their captured Black Lotus and Imperial Host soldiers were kept. The two guards bowed to the two before they left while stretching their tired shoulders after standing with stave rifles on them for nine hours by now.

“Let’s have some fun.” Shao Bi said as she rubbed her hands together with an eager grin on her face. The two upon entering the room immediately faced the three captive held inside – Song Chen who noticed them and let out a muffled groan, Pan An with a vicious expression that amplified the warmness in Shao Bi as she noted the orange golden tape fitted her pepper toned face perfectly and Briahell with eyes that lost their light as her sealed cheeks buried into her berry blue collars.

All three were sitting on a chair – or to be more precise, bound to it with orange golden sealing tape that wounded across their chest, pressed their wrists against the chair’s arms and their legs spread out without trousers or their silken rosy undergarments. Their own pristine white mucus forming a dried lake on the chair and under it.

“Ladies, I know our men can be rough so do not worry. We’re here to talk.” Chouath walked up to Briahell and lifted her head from the front. “We know nothing.” She spoke in her trembling voice after the lunar elven assassin peeled the tape off partially. Their lips touched for a short moment, then she sealed her lips and right cheek once more.

“And don’t forget. Those who speak the truth receive our gentle reward.” Shao Bi said as she placed her hands on the shoulders of Pan An still covered by her aetherna satin blouse and corset vest. “Much, much gentler than them.” She leaned closer to the stygian’s face and for a short moment their lips touched as her enchanted words charmed the Keisatsuath while from her finger tips, warm water cleaned off the drying cum from her exposed vulva.

“Now let’s begin.” Chouath clapped loudly her palms together as she towered over the still groaning Song Chen with a hungry smirk.

**

45th District.

Hanakoro walked down the stairs with heavy steps. Her raven black sleek uniform drenched in blood and gut which owner laid motionless at the top of the floor. With a graceful hand-gesture, she swept the drying blood and innards off from her slender body and fixed her triangular collars before she continued on the corpse riddled corridor.

The continuous bellow of rapid mana guns and the final screams of the separatists echoed through the corridor, muffled the clanks of her combat boots that wrapped tightly and finely around her legs. The enormous and wide corridor started from a hidden door in the apartment facing one of the most popular restaurants in the whole city, a place where many of the working folks – including the Black Lotuses – converged. An ideal place to kidnap them as she concluded in her mind while walking forward on the blood covered floor.

Katsuranae did mention to her once that the Golden Dawn may have a hideout near the restaurant, but she never though it was right in front of it. The idea seemed idiotic, although she did commend the Golden Dawn for setting it up and managing to stay hidden until now. She also felt anger aimed at herself as she halted on inspecting the area for months now, allowing many of her subordinate Sisters to get captured and killed.

As she made her way through the swathes of corpses, she stopped at each room to inspect it while the as-signed troops continued showing no mercy to the Separatists. In the first room she found nothing of note-worthy. Mostly just an enlarged room with rows of bunk beds tainted by gruesome corpses and the contents of their bodies splattered all over.

The next drawn her attention as through the mixture of bloods on the table, she could make out the blue-prints of the surveillance areas within the city, including the warehouses. She even spotted the blueprint of the Lotus Factory pinned to a chalkboard with numerous photographs taken from a high vantage point of the staff, including the patrolling guards.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she walked closer to the chalkboard. A separatists high elf grabbed her ankle and screamed from his mouth missing its lower jaw part. The high elf fell back into silence as Hanakoro’s katana sliced his head into two pieces, splitting it into a blooming macabre flower of flesh and bone with contents spilling at her feet. Her eyes focused onto the blueprint and the photographs as her eyes flashed with an arcane light before she left the room to catch up with her subordinate Sisters.

“We caught two alive.” An orcish subordinate of hers reported proudly as she stood in front of the two captive man cuffed and sealing tape gagged with wide green strips across their tired faces just as Hanakoro arrived.

“Good work Sisters. Found any of our missing?” Hanakoro asked and her answer was a solemn head shake from the orc.

“I see. Tell the interrogators to tear their minds apart after they finished extracting the memories from them.” Hanakoro said with a cold stare directed at the two whom tried to protest against their fate with feeble and incoherent groans. Her mind focused on the images of the blueprints and notes on the chalkboard as she headed out to reexamine it before returning to the 120th District.