1019 Sikas Retaliation Part 1 (1/2)

Daniel's current methods with things were courtesy of Nailisi. She knew many ways of torturing people, and her methods were devised by exploiting the weaknesses of the human mind.

Even the emperor of the First Dynasty had weaknesses in his mind—his thirst for power.

Nailisi went about lying mostly for fun, yet Daniel studied her ways diligently nonetheless, and his efforts paid off. Other than that, one stubborn assassin who refused to yield still, the minds of all the other four were shaken, their thoughts wavering in a very apparent manner.

There was a myriad of methods with which death mages used to deal with prisoners, and they eclipsed even those thought up by the most bloodthirsty elemental mages. Daniel left the back room 14 hours later feeling very satisfied. He rarely had such opportunities, as he was short on materials all the time. Simply going about the city taking someone in for experiments was not an option after all. Some of those experiments required enemies specifically, especially those whom he deemed unforgivable.

Daniel could have gotten all the intelligence he needed from the weakest of the assassins, however there was simply no telling how long it would have taken before Sika was able to send such precious research materials to his doorsteps again. The stubborn assassin possessed a tough soul, remaining intact even from all the experiments performed on it, yielding great amounts of data.

The five assassins provided quite a bit of useful information. They were not of the same group. After cross-referencing their testimonies and the memories extracted from their soul with those of each other, as well as comparing, selecting, and compiling the information acquired, Daniel compiled a comprehensive, detailed written report for Sika.

Those assassins were planted in Phoenix by the Holy See quite a while ago. The target of their missions had initially not been Saleen, however after the events where Saleen ended up annexing one-third of Phoenix's lands, and had recently bagged the remaining portions himself, the Holy See assassins planted in Phoenix gained entrance to Metatrin easily.

Metatrin City was only strict when recruiting troops and practiced quite a loose policy with the inspection of the citizens. All those assassins possessed official identities in Phoenix, with some even being the lesser of lesser nobles, the kind without their own estates.

After the assassins infiltrated Metatrin City, the Holy See did not assign them any missions, even those such as poisoning water supplies. It was because the defense of the city was too tight. There were no wells to be found. The water was all in the unidirectional pipes, which were buried under the white stone, accessible only to mages.

The Holy See did not want those people to be exposed easily. When the civil war between the Caucasus people inside and outside of the city broke out, those people took no part in it. The Sregl Island mages came shortly after, and quashed the unrest swiftly, allowing the Holy See to see that their decision to have the assassins lay low had been a correct one.

With the enmity and conflict between both sides intensifying by the day, the Kingdom of Metatrin became an archenemy of the Holy See. It was only then the tribunal thought of getting those assassins into action by taking Saleen's children to be used as hostages.

With both children being so young, it would be easy to fool them if they were taken to the Holy See and converted to their faith. Saleen would not be able to do anything about it by then. The children shared the same blood with Saleen, and the Holy See had countless brutal ways of using them to destroy everything Saleen had built.

The opportunity was right there to be exploited in the eyes of the Holy See. Despite the city having so many sorcerers about, they leaned towards being defensive. The ones capable of serving as Saleen's main attack force were all assigned to the Sikeqinya Empire. As such, the assassins made their move as soon as the order from the tribunal reached them. With the exception of the ones at sea, which were sent by the tribunal in a hurry, those who had infiltrated the city had been planted a long time ago.

Saleen's series of defensive measures allowed the assassination attempt to only have a flashy start. The one with the longsword killed more than a dozen demons and severely injured the supreme demon. They had almost succeeded. The ones who attempted to infiltrate the temple and obtain the secrets within however, were all intercepted and killed.

There were only three types of people at the temple which served as the city's core—Caucasus people, temple guards, and Sregl Island mages. All three types had undergone magical tests, and no spy would be able to infiltrate their ranks without being detected. Saleen's defensive measures were built on such purity alone.

Without anyone from the temple itself leaking any information, no one outside would be able to learn of Saleen's weaknesses.

Sika frowned while reading the words on the report.

”Three more head inquisitors promoted in the tribunal? There are six head inquisitors now then.” The position of head inquisitor came with a strict level requirement. No one below grade-9 would ever become a head inquisitor.

Sika was deep in thought. With her vistas opened up, she became capable of looking deeper into problems. Such abilities were nurtured only when she became a steward to the throne. A common Caucasus warrior, even after becoming the most powerful priestess there was, would not have opportunities to learn such skills.

The Holy See was one whole entity in itself, and all plans were interconnected. The Kingdom of Metatrin had yet to be able to truly centralize its powers or be used on one specific goal yet.

The Kingdom of Metatrin had too short a history to speak of and had yet to be able to learn such things. Lex was capable of handling such matters, but she was not allowed direct command over Saleen's nation, and she did not want to do so. She wanted Saleen to learn as he went and teaching him hands on might not yield ideal results.

Sika was not able to help but ask for pen and paper after thinking on it and wrote a personal letter to Saleen.

There was one thing she needed to do right then, and that was going to Qin and crushing the army attacking Lonestar City. She was not acting out of impulse. It was just that the Holy See had been too bold for daring to assault her children, and she needed to teach them a lesson for doing so. She needed to discuss the matter with Saleen nonetheless. Saleen did not expect her to be away for long, yet she would lose contact with him for the time being nonetheless. As such, she needed to inform him beforehand.