Chapter 190: Operations (1/2)

As Torix rested, I walked over towards Althea, finding the room still in chaos. I leaned over, seeing the assassin's face still intact. It was unusual since I killed the assassins most of the time. When I did, the face was usually the first thing to go. Most often because I punched it.

Anyways, I sat on the bed beside her, manipulating my mass, so I didn't crush the thing beneath me. I laid a hand over her shoulder, and Althea leaned against me. She shook her head,

”Damn. The bomb was so close this time. My head got blown away, so I'm kind of woozy still. I was able to get in contact with Helios though.”

I squeezed her to me, ”You did great. Can you answer a few questions though?”

Althea let out a breath full of air, ”Uh, yeah. I can do that for sure.”

I pulled myself from her, letting her sort out her thoughts. I pointed at the assassin, ”Do you know who she is?”

Althea shook her head while Torix walked into the room. The lich brushed himself off,

”I'm ready to continue our inquiry. How are you doing Althea?”

Althea stood up, ”I'm fine. I got rid of the assassin. Don't know who it was though.”

Torix nodded, opening his status, ”Well, the humanoid body and three spikes protruding from her spine lead me to believe she was an Elektra. They're a rather nomadic species with a knack for assassination. I'll see if her face isn't registered in some database somewhere...wait a minute.”

Torix's fire eyes flared brighter, ”She's Jockovia Nitch. She's a capper trying to unlock her class after graduating at an academy on Boracosta. She's been a nomad for the last decade according to her social media. Hmm...”

Torix shook his head, ”After reading her last few posts, it seems she's been growing desperate to unlock her Breaker class. She must have chosen us as her victims due to our unknown status. Perhaps someone tipped her off...”

I opened a palm to Torix, ”Wait, why would she kill us to unlock her class?”

Torix balanced a hand, ”Most sentient unknowns are considered easier to handle than the equivalently leveled eldritch unknown. This makes unlocking a class simpler if you just find an unknown that's relatively squishy. Jockovia likely thought a bomb ought to do it.”

Althea crossed her arms, ”If you think about it, our disguises weren't the best either. You're being broadcasted on a galaxy-wide stream too. There's bound to be some people who've discovered our identities already.”

I detected a bit of an accusation in her tone, so I rolled my eyes, ”Your disguise is a thin sheet of cloth that's almost see through.”

Torix shrugged, ”And why did they do it? To look cute.”

Althea's head dipped down. A pang of guilt ran up my chest, so I laid a hand on her shoulder, ”I'm just saying that we can't, er, point the finger at anyone. Besides, now's not the time to be placing blame. Let's, uh, move forward instead, alright?”

Torix dragged his hand down his face, ”Right...My fault in judgment. To the task at hand...What is the task at hand?”

I cupped my chin, ”So, what we need to do is get this disk decrypted, set-up a meeting with Helios to give him the lowdown and figure out where the final Skyburner base is at. And beat the tournament. And probably kill Thisbey and Lehesion. All that in about a month and a half.”

I leaned my face into my hand, ”Fuck.”

Torix scoffed, ”By Baldowah, you make it sound so easy when you say it like that. Kill a god while fixing a world in less than sixty days. It should be the title of a game show.”

Althea looked up, ”Uh, I can get the talk with Helios done if you like.”

One of Torix's eyes flared, and the other narrowed. It was as if he was raising an eyebrow,

”How did you get in contact with Helios?”

Althea shrugged, ”Caprika gave me his contact info. That's how I sent for him to help Caprika in the first place.”

Torix looked back to the scorched room we stayed in, ”It's rather apt of her to do so. That monster can create interplanetary wormholes. The furthest I can manage is a portal spanning several hundred meters at most.”

I grimaced, ”Those medical personals where albony. I wonder how far away the portal was?”

Torix shook his head, ”Many light-years no doubt.”

Althea let her hands' flop on her sides, ”How common are powers like that? Are there just world enders everywhere?”

Torix tsked, ”Not everywhere, but that kind of potential is more common than I'd like to imagine, unfortunately. Now, I believe the first order of business is finding Kessiah before we set up a base of operations elsewhere. Putting it lightly, our position has been compromised.”

I gestured a hand to the group, ”How about I just burrow us out somewhere in the middle of the forest? We can hunt for food, and the lodging wouldn't be much worse than here.”

Althea yawned, ”Do we have to live under dirt again?”

Torix clapped his hands once, ”In fact, we do. Daniel, go and find that new base location. I'll collect Kessiah and rendezvous with the new coordinates. Althea, get that meeting set up and give us the times if you could.”

Althea let out a joyless laugh, ”Just like old times. Living in a cave.”

I spread out my arms, ”Oh come on. It's not so bad. It'll be nostalgic.”

Althea sighed, opening her status, ”If you say so. I prefer having a bed though.”

I turned to Torix, ”It'll take me an hour to make the new base. I'll send you the new coordinates then.”

Torix nodded, forming a portal beside himself, ”Then we'll meet in an hour. Good luck.” He towards the corpse of the assassin while flipping open his grimoire. After channeling some mana, the fleshy bits of the would be Breaker condensed into a jiggling circle.

”I'll take care of the evidence as well. We can't have any news outlets knowing who the assassin was. Otherwise they might connect the dots and realize we're unknowns.”

Althea scratched the side of her head, ”That's kind of...gross.”

”Why waste these resources? I'm a necromancer after all.” Torix stepped towards his portal, ”Hmmm, wormholes...perhaps I should learn the same skill.”

Torix walked through the portal, leaving Althea and me alone. I gave her a thumbs up, ”You did damn good killing the assassin like that.”

Althea grimaced, ”I'm just glad Kessiah wasn't here. She'd have died instantly with her level being low as it is.”

A shiver ran up my spine hearing that. Kessiah was the only one among us that wasn't level capped at this point. Hell, she and I were the only people in our group that lacked a class.

I shook my head, ”Damn...That's true.”

Althea raised her eyebrows, ”You know, sometimes I'm glad Yawm used Etorhma's Tears on me forever ago. It's why I'm alive.”

I shrugged, ”It's why you're hunted.”

She shook her head, ”Yup, but after we get rid of our damn unknown statuses, it will be a good thing.”

I put my hands on my hips, ”How did Helios find out about your unknown status?”

She pointed at the singe marks on her clothing, ”Well, I didn't have time to dress again before calling him. Caprika's a good friend, so I was willing to risk it.”

”It's kind of crazy you still have an unknown status after becoming a Breaker too, isn't it? You're like Schema's police force. It's weird that you're still hunted.”

Althea shrugged, ”I mean, if you cleared your bounties and unknown status after getting a class, anyone could commit any crime. If you think about it, you could murder thousands of people then have it just washed away just like-” Althea snapped her fingers, ”that.”

I raised my eyebrows, ”Hmmm, it would be a pretty potent loophole.”

Althea waved a hand, ”Yeah when I researched it, it was like...a classer gets a quest to clear his bounty, but here's the catch; the worse your crimes, the harder the quest becomes...or something like that.”

She waved her hands back and forth, ”So it, uh, balances itself out or something. I didn't research it a ton or anything. I'm just telling you off memory.”

I shook my head, ”No, I think you got a good handle on the concept. That sounds about right. Makes a lot of sense too.” I turned towards the exit, ”We should get out of here before something else happens.”

As I turned to walk out, Althea grabbed my arm, ”Hey, I'll send a message to Kiki Mosk about our change in living arrangements too.”

I glanced at her, ”Why?”

”So you're entering the quarterfinals in the next fight. They want to do a prefight interview with your opponent.”

My shoulders drooped, ”Wait...an interview?”

Althea smiled, ”Yup.”

I looked up at the sky and spread out my arms, ”Noooo...my ultimate weakness.”

Althea giggled, ”I figured you'd say that. Good luck, deary.”