Supreme Magus

"Investigate crimes, find evidence, track suspects, interrogate them, and then offer deals to the small fish to uncover the chain of command." Lith nodded for the Queen to continue.

"That's an oversimplification, but yes." Sylpha said. "The problem here is that we can't track our suspects. Or rather, we find them but fail to capture anyone above the level of grunts and even those are hard to catch."

"Why is that?" Lith furrowed his brows in confusion. "Not all Constables are like Lady Ernas and not all soldiers are like Captain Locrias but they are pretty good at their jobs."

"Indeed, but most of our opponents are just as good. Even those who are not, possess an ace in the hole. Have you ever seen one of these?" Meron handed Lith a piece of paper depicting a series of runes arranged in a familiar pattern.

"Years ago, as a child." He nodded. "The Talons had tattoos like this on their necks. What does it do?"

"You don't know?" Meron was pleasantly surprised to discover a gap in Lith's seemingly boundless knowledge. "These are a special kind of body-enhancing potions developed by the late traitor mage, Hatorne.

"They are injected in the skin with an unknown spell and the bearer can activate them with a mental command, reproducing the effects of Fusion Magic. Even the least important member of the organization has them.

"It makes them hard to catch for regular humans and even when a raid succeeds, lots of blood gets spilled."

"Alchemical potions activated with the mind?" Lith was flabbergasted. "Is that even possible?"

"It is. Sadly, we have no idea how." For once, it was Sylpha who lied through her teeth.

After Hatorne's escape, Tyris had retrieved the spells necessary to synthesize the potions and inject them in the skin but they were currently reserved for the Queen's Corpse and the Royals. No one else was allowed to know they even existed.

"On top of that, we are worried this might not be the only piece of Hatorne's knowledge the organization has gotten its hands on. There are the concrete risks the parasites might be under development as well if not even more dangerous strains than the ones you contributed to eradicate, Supreme Magus."

"I can see why you want me to take this case." Lith nodded. "Still, I don't understand how it is possible that you haven't already solved the problem by deploying a few Archmages or maybe a couple of members of the Queen's Corpse."

"We actually did, but they had no better success." Meron sighed. "They captured a lot of hired muscles but things went awry when they found the local leaders. All of our soldiers and the mages leading them were killed.

"Until we deployed the Queen's Corpse, we had no idea how it was possible since there were never survivors. According to Farg, her mark turned out to have a monstrous strength and was capable of using true magic."

"Was he an Awakened?" Lith was flabbergasted.

"We can't be certain because they wore cloaking devices but we doubt it." Sylpha sighed. "Even rogue Awakened have better ways of getting rich than committing crimes."

"They?" Lith echoed. "There was more than one?"

"Correct." Meron nodded. "Not only the slum's boss but all of his bodyguards possessed considerable strength and magical powers. Farg was taken by surprise and despite her violet core, she failed to capture even one of them.

"To make matters worse, other members of the Corpse confirmed her findings. Everyone but the lowest ranks of the organization showed great magical abilities and astounding physical prowess.

"Once they activated the tattoos, even the members of the Corpse found themselves cornered."

"There's no way the Council would let so many rogue Awakened run rampant." Lith pondered. "Where did those guys come from?"

"We have no idea." Sylpha conjured a few holograms from her communication amulet. "We've tried running background checks but they all come empty. Not clean, empty. It's like these guys came out of nowhere."

"This is disturbing." Lith said.

'This sounds like something Vastor could do.' He actually thought. 'He's one of the most brilliant mages I've ever worked with. Just a page or two from Hatorne's grimoire is all he needs to recreate her work from scratch.

'Not to mention these super strong minions with no past sound a lot like his Abominations. Fighting them shouldn't be a problem but if there's an Eldritch in charge of this branch of the Organization, things will get ugly.'

"We'll continue this discussion during your official appointment, after you've had the time to read through the case files." Meron said. "If there's nothing else, consider your request approved and yourself dismissed, Magus Verhen."

"If I have any questions, I'll ask them during our next meeting." Lith nodded. "Thank you for your help, Your Majesty."

"Thank you for your service, Supreme Magus Verhen." Sylpha nodded back. "And give Magus Menadion our regards. Tell her we'd love to meet her again."

"I will." Lith gave them a small bow and then took his leave.

'Do you really think this might be Vastor's doing?' Solus asked from her ring while Lith briskly walked toward the Warp Gate of the castle. 'I don't like the idea of fighting people as powerful as Kigan.

'Not only because you would risk your life but also because they have helped us numerous times. We might lose a precious ally and gain a dangerous enemy in one fell swoop.'

'I'm not sure, Solus, but I'm going to find out.' Lith emerged from the Gate in his barn and then opened a Steps leading straight to the Trawn Woods.

Once the tower appeared, he used the Heart to conjure powerful cloaking arrays that would encrypt the signal of his Council amulet further. He didn't want anyone who might keep an eye on him or Vastor's home.

'It's supposed to be untraceable but better safe than sorry.' Lith thought. 'I can't meet Vastor in person so soon or call him at the White Griffon. It would leave a trace Marth might follow and then the Royals would ask questions I don't want to answer.'

"What a pleasant surprise, Lith." Zoreth said. "Please tell me this is a social call and not another business meeting."

"I'm sorry, Big Sis, but this is urgent. Is Zogar there?" He asked.

"No, but why are you calling me if you need to talk to him?" She tilted her head in confusion.

"Can you please find him and ask him to call me from a safe location as soon as possible? It's urgent. Also, tell him it's about a potential conflict of interest between us." Lith replied.

"You're scaring me, but sure." She nodded. "May I ask you what's this about?"
Your next read awaits at My Virtual Library Empire

"You can spectate the call. No point in repeating myself. Lith out."

It took Zoreth a few minutes to dress as Vastor's niece, go to the White Griffon Academy under the pretext of a medical emergency, and leave with the Master.

"I've got only a few minutes, Lith. Jirni is covering for me but she can only buy me so much time by faking contractions." Vastor had used the Warp Gate Network to reach the Ernas Mansion before using Chaos Steps to get to the safety of his secret lab.