The last time Asher had come to Whikoga, he'd followed Rosh's lead and gone in through the main gate. The cost of five shards wasn't any sort of issue, but this time around, he wanted to avoid having to give his name and purpose for entering to the gate guard. Lying was off the table with the guards' fancy truth-detecting rings, so he'd have to make his own way into the city.

If his would-be assassin was checking the entrance ledgers, entering through the city gates would be essentially screaming from the rooftops that he was still alive and on the hunt.

As soon as Whikoga's outer walls came into view, Asher split off from the main road. There were plenty of farms and workers wandering around on this side of the city's defenses, so Asher didn't look too out of place walking straight up to the giant wall. And after a quick glance to make sure nobody was watching him, all it took was a simple slip into the astral realm for him to bypass the outer wall altogether.

Damn, I love my elements, he grinned as he suddenly found himself within the city's first ring. The loud clanging of craftsmen hard at work in their workshops wasn't quite enough to drown out the rabble of conversation as citizens of Whikoga went about their days buying and selling their various wares, and Asher slipped into the chaos as he found the main road and began heading deeper into the city. He didn't have Rosh to lead him this time, so it took him a bit longer to find the entrance to the second ring than he would have liked.

I suppose that settles it. First thing I need to do is find Rosh, he decided after entering the second ring. The question is…

How exactly do I go about finding him?

The last time Asher had seen Rosh was right after he had freed him from Loratta's underground compound. Rosh had escaped with some of Draken's men, who had presumably kept him safe at least until the end of the battle. There wasn't any guarantee Rosh was still holed up with Draken, but it seemed like as good a place to start as any.

His destination picked out, Asher began doing exactly what Rosh had warned him against the first time they'd entered the city as he made a beeline straight for the seedier parts of the second ring. These were the streets and alleyways he'd found Loratta's elites wandering around within, and he knew thanks to the map of the different gang territories he'd Incorporated that this turf had once belonged to Loratta.

Though he didn't have the faintest idea who ran these streets now that she was gone.

Asher tried not to make eye contact with anyone or draw any attention to himself as he pulled his hood further over his face and made his way toward Draken's base of operations. There was still plenty of light in the sky, and a good number of people wandering around, despite the area. Hopefully, he wouldn't run into any trouble.

He didn't know why he even bothered.

When his map required him to head down one of the countless twisting alleyways deep within the second ring, Asher immediately realized he'd wandered into a trap. A man with bright red hair and a shirt that showed off his scarred biceps leaned against the alley wall, grinning at him as he came to a slow stop. Asher sensed movement behind him, and a quick glance over his shoulder confirmed two more red-haired gang members were now blocking the exit. An older woman holding a nasty looking dagger, and a young man wearing a dark colored cloak of his own that hid most of his features.

"Hiding your face and walking through Cinder's territory like you own the place? It's like you're practically begging for us to stop you," the first man sneered, snapping his fingers and summoning a large ball of fire over his hand. "Tell us what gang you run with, and we might just let you off with a little charring."

"I don't suppose any of you were a part of Draken's recent coalition against Loratta, were you?" Asher asked, despite not recognizing any of their faces. He recalled a small group of elites that mentioned working for Cinder at the coalition meeting, but he didn't think these three had anything to do with that. None of them looked particularly strong, which meant they were almost certainly fodder rather than actual elites.

That's certainly what his Identify was telling him anyway.

[Thug] - 2/3 Elements

[Thief] - 1/3 Elements

[Thug] - 1/3 Elements

On top of seeing their class and number of elements with Identify, his new Judgement skill gave him even more information to work with. The two thugs both had fiery red auras that reeked of murder and pain, and Asher had to concentrate on keeping his nose from wrinkling under the sight. At the very least, the thief's aura was a good bit more pleasant to stomach. He certainly hadn't led the life of a saint by any stretch, but Asher got the impression he stuck mainly to picking pockets rather than actually hurting people.

Other than the man in front of him who clearly had a Fire element he'd picked up somewhere, the two behind him only had their origin elements to their name. And while he'd prefer not having to deal with eradicating an entire gang on top of hunting down whoever it was that had tried to kill him, he certainly would if he had to.

"I'm the one asking the questions," the man snapped, squinting at him as if he were trying to figure out who was under the hood. The fact that Asher didn't seem concerned for his safety in the slightest seemed to be giving the thug pause, and Asher's mentioning of the coalition no doubt had sown the seeds of doubt that the man might have stopped an actual elite rather than just some random gang member.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The elites played by their own rules, and Asher saw the flicker of doubt on his face as he realized he may have made a grave error in judgement. It seemed like this thug wasn't quite as dumb as he looked.

Though the same couldn't be said for his tag alongs.

"Come on, Carston, cook him up a bit!" the woman behind Asher called out, grinning as she brandished her dagger toward him. "The guy's all talk! If he were anyone important, why would he even bother stopping for the likes of us?"

"Yeah, give him Cinder's mark!" the thief quickly added, rubbing his hands together and forcing out a high-pitched laugh that sounded more nervous than anything. "That way anyone who sees him knows not to mess with us!"

Based on his voice and smaller frame, unlike the two thugs, Asher guessed the thief couldn't have had his origin element for more than a year or two.

A bead of sweat trickled down Carston's forehead as he listened to his friends' jeering, and his eyes flicked back to Asher's covered face. The man clearly didn't want to look weak in front of his fellow gang members, but it seemed his intuition was surprisingly sharp.

If he threw that fireball, it would be the last thing he ever did.

But just as Asher was about to commend him on his decision making, the thug finally gave into peer pressure, his face warping into a twisted snarl as he hurled the ball of fire directly at Asher despite his misgivings.

Damn it, Asher sighed, as he watched the fireball travel toward him in almost slow motion thanks to Comprehend. So much for keeping a low profile.

Slipping into the astral, Asher let the fireball pass harmlessly through him as he darted forward. While the thug no doubt had plenty of experience grilling people weaker than him, he clearly didn't get into many fights based on the way he simply stood there in shock, staring at where Asher had vanished.

He didn't even move when Asher reappeared behind him and dragged his dagger across his throat.

"Carston!" the woman with her own dagger screamed as her boss' blood sprayed out across the alley walls and the man dropped to his knees before falling face first onto the ground.

"I'd say I'm sorry about all this, but you clearly aren't any more innocent than he was," Asher said bluntly, eyeing up the woman's flickering aura. "Normally I'd try and have an actual fight, but I'm in a bit of a rush at the moment."

"You'll pay for that!" she shouted, yanking out a second dagger and taking a step toward him. "If you-"

Whatever threats she was about to make were cut off as Asher's dagger lodged itself deep into her eye socket, killing her instantly. Sighing, Asher yanked his dagger back through the long tunnel of compressed space, watching the woman's body crumple to the ground from nearly fifteen feet away.

Despite the fact that neither of the two thugs had many shards on them, Asher snagged the floating violet orbs anyway as he turned to the last member of the trio who was currently banging his fists uselessly against the impenetrable, invisible barrier Asher had erected right before dodging the fireball. He'd had a feeling that the thief would try and run rather than fight, so the very first thing Asher had done had been to throw up Spatial Lock to ensure the thief couldn't get away.

So long as there weren't any witnesses, there was a chance none of this would end up blowing up in his face.

"You're not going to be able to break through," Asher said as he watched the thief continue slamming his hands against the barrier, his breath coming in rough and ragged bursts as he panicked. To Asher's surprise, the man's entire body seemed to turn jet-black for a brief moment and press almost flat against the barrier as if searching for the thinnest of cracks to pour through, before it snapped back to normal, causing him to panic even more.

Some sort of Shadow element, then? I suppose that makes sense for a thief. Somewhat ironic that the guy would end up picking one of the few people in the city that actually has an evolved darkness resistance to try and fight. I bet there's at least a little overlap there.

"Please!" the thief begged, finally spinning around and looking at Asher with tear-filled eyes as he realized he stood no chance of escaping. Dropping to his knees, he clutched his hands together in prayer as he started begging. "We didn't know you were an elite! I'll do whatever you want! You want shards? I can get you shards!"

"What's Cinder's mark?" Asher asked, buying time as he tried to decide what to do with the trembling thief. Seeing as he was trying to keep his existence a secret, the smart thing to do would no doubt be to kill the young man. That way he couldn't tell anyone Asher was still alive and back in the city. The only reason he hadn't already done so was because his aura didn't reek of murder like the thugs' had, and he'd made no actual attempt to attack him.

"Cinder's mark is a big red letter C her Embers leave on people as a warning," the thief quickly explained, wiping tears from his eyes on his sleeve as he realized he might actually get out of this alive. "I don't like seeing Carston kill people, so I always try and goad him into giving them Cinder's mark instead! The mark is pointless unless he lets them walk away!"

Damn it, Asher mentally cursed as he took in the hopeful eyes of the young man kneeling before him. He had no reason to believe the thief was lying, which meant he'd actually been trying to help Asher get out of that shakedown alive, in his own twisted way.

He very well couldn't kill him in cold blood after that.

"What's your name?" Asher sighed, trying to come up with an alternative plan on the spot.

"Creep, sir," the thief said, giving him a trembling smile. "Never got a real name, so that's what people call me."

"You're serious? They call you 'Creep?'"

"Yeah," the thief nodded, wringing his hands together. "Better to have any name than none at all."

Well now I just feel bad for the guy!

"I'm not calling you 'Creep,'" Asher frowned, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he wondered how the hell he'd gotten into this situation. Part of him briefly hoped the thief would try and attack him while he wasn't looking so that he could just kill him and be done with it. But no such luck.

"I'm calling you, Kree, alright?" Asher said, the statement less of a question and more of a command, which Kree clearly understood based on his silent nods. "Look, I'm kinda in the middle of something here and really don't have time for all this, so I'm going to make this real simple for you."

Reaching down, Asher ignored Kree's startled yelp as he laid his hand on the thief's shoulder. Imbuing a piece of himself into him with Eternal Mark, Asher stared directly into his wide eyes as he grinned.

"You're coming with me."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.