Asher simply stood there for a few moments, trying to get his racing heartbeat under control as he thought over everything Owl had told him. The fact that Samantha and Brian had been put at risk simply because the Head of the Guild wanted to test him largely diminished any sort of pride he would have felt at his skills being recognized by what sounded like one of the more powerful people in the entire kingdom.

Though I suppose Eight was the one that chose to send me the magadrine powder, not the Head… Anyway, I'll worry about the Head later. Regardless of any weird test or whatever crap he's trying to pull, it sounds like our own interests actually align in this regard.

Eight has to die.

Naturally, that was easier said than done. At this point, Asher was all but back to square one in terms of figuring out where Eight was hiding. His attempt at tailing Jennifer and Leonard's corpse, while leading him into a trap, did in fact bring him face-to-face with two more assassins that he could potentially have gotten answers out of.

One of whom he killed, and the other could have killed him if he wasn't playing his own game.

Thankfully, checking the status of his Eternal Marks was part of the passive effect of the skill, so he was easily able to sense Jennifer high-tailing it out of the city altogether rather than sneaking up on him to finish him off. He didn't know where she was going, but based on her speed, she clearly wanted to get there quickly. She'd even left Leonard's body behind on the cobblestones, which meant there was a solid chance she was giving up the Guild life entirely.

Damn, even less than square one in that case, he thought as he felt the only other lead he had on the Guild flee the city. Guess it's back to waiting until Kree can get me another lead.

At this point, Asher nearly had enough energy back to activate Recall, and he prepared himself to trigger the skill.

Which naturally, was when a glowing chain erupted out of the ground and wrapped itself around him, snapping taut and locking his limbs at his side.

"What in the-"

"I got him!" he heard a girl's voice call out from somewhere behind him. Despite his best efforts to turn around, the chains seemed to have him bound quite thoroughly from head to toe, preventing him from moving a single muscle.

To hell with this…

Even if he didn't have the energy just yet to activate Recall, which was his most energy intensive skill to use, he had enough for at least a few uses of Astral Dip. Tensing his muscles like he'd done thousands of times before, Asher went to slip into the astral and escape the chains.

And nothing happened.

Asher stood there, stunned at the realization that his skill hadn't worked. Tensing a second time, he desperately tried to slip into the astral, only to finally release his muscles a few seconds later, panting at the exertion. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't call upon his skills. He couldn't even call upon his interface.

He was trapped.

"What have I told you about running ahead, Clare?!" an annoyed voice called out, quickly growing closer. "What if they'd laid a trap for you, or they stopped their own fight and decided to team up and focus on you instead? You have to think about these things!"

"But they didn't, did they?" Clare answered, sounding entirely too smug for her own good.

"Just turn him around," the man sighed, clearly used to her attitude.

The chains binding Asher suddenly began moving, and he wobbled in place as they twisted him around to face the mysterious duo.

They couldn't have been any more different from the assassins he'd just fought if they tried.

[Truthseeker] - 3/3 Elements

[Unclassed] - ???

Standing slightly in front of the girl controlling the chains that had him bound was a large, broad-shouldered man wearing gleaming armor with a greatsword strapped to his back. He was clean-shaven and had bright blond hair clipped short to his scalp. Despite the pristine shape his armor was in and the lack of any noticeable scars on his face, he carried himself like a seasoned warrior, and Asher had no doubt he'd been through countless battles.

Judgement helped confirm that as well.

The man's aura was a shining gold, all but beaming out of him like the sun's rays. This was a man that believed in justice, and while his blade had certainly claimed plenty of lives, it had done so solely because the man thought what he was doing was right. Frankly, the aura was almost blinding to Asher, as though the large man believed a little too hard in what he was doing.

The girl behind him that his Identify couldn't read also wore an expensive-looking suit of armor, though she was a bit more slouched and had a lopsided grin on her face. Her hair was jet black and quite long, currently secured behind her head in a tightly made braid.

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Her aura was strange in that it reminded him largely of Draken's. It was thick and dark, and there was plenty of death present. But just like the gang leaders, Asher got the sense she was determined to use whatever skills she resented having to the best of their ability in order to make the world a better place.

"My apologies for the rough treatment," the man said, nodding toward Asher while clearing his throat. "My name is Bordan, and I am a truthseeker of the Noala Kingdom. This here is Clare, my apprentice. We noticed someone firing a dangerous skill into the city from the outer walls and came to put a stop to it, but it would appear as though the battle is already over. We simply have a handful of questions for you, and if it is determined you had nothing to do with that attack, you'll be on your way in no time."

…Crap, Asher thought, staring slack-jawed at one of the few men in the entire kingdom he'd been desperate to avoid all this time. Of all the bad luck…

"Bordan…" Clare said, her grin fading as she peered more closely at him. Suddenly, her eyes shot wide open, and she gasped. "It's him! It's The Reaper!"

"What?" Bordan asked, his own eyes widening as he looked between Asher and his apprentice. "Are you sure?"

"Oh yeah, plenty of the gang members he killed got a good look at him in the split second before he drove a dagger into their eye," she nodded, her grin coming back in full force. "Talk about good luck! And I've even already got him chained! He's not going anywhere!"

Asher took little solace in the confirmation that it was the chains that were preventing his active skills from working. At the very least, his energy was slowly replenishing like normal, so if he could just manage to escape the chains for a fraction of a second, he could Recall and get away from these two.

Though seeing as he couldn't move so much as a pinky finger, that was easier said than done.

"Well, that certainly changes things," Bordan frowned, looking Asher up and down. "In the event we are mistaken, my apologies for using one of my skills on you, sir, but it's part of a greater investigation." Walking up closer to him, Bordan cleared his throat again, and a glowing white ring suddenly appeared around him, just large enough to encompass the two of them.

"To start, were you the one who fired that deadly skill off the wall into the heart of the first ring," he asked, his eyes hard as if preparing himself for what he might have to do depending on Asher's answer.

Asher had absolutely no intention of answering the man's questions, which made it all the more surprising when he felt his mouth moving almost entirely on its own, the truth seeming to bubble up from within his core and being forcefully drawn out of him. "No."

"Who fired it then?" Bordan asked, relaxing slightly now that he knew it wasn't Asher that had loosed a deadly skill toward helpless civilians.

"Owl, an assassin from the Guild," Asher found himself answering, Bordan's strange skill pulling the truth right out of him.

"Ah… Yes, I'm familiar with the name," Bordan frowned. "We can deal with that later. Are you the one known as The Reaper?" he asked, watching him carefully.

"Yes… But I think the name is stupid," Asher admitted, earning a surprised blink from Bordan and a cackle from his apprentice. He was pretty certain he hadn't had to say that last bit, but he certainly hadn't fought against revealing that.

"I think it's sorta cool," Clare grinned, earning an annoyed look from Bordan.

"Clare, we do not tell criminals their monikers are 'cool,'" he sighed, shaking his head and turning back toward Asher. "Were you responsible for the collapse of two city blocks the other week, which resulted in fifty-eight civilian deaths and countless more injured?"

"Fifty-eight deaths?" Asher repeated, his annoyance at being bound and interrogated fading for a moment as he gaped at the number. "No, I didn't cause that. Loratta tried to take down her own compound to save herself from the coalition. I killed her right before it happened, but the damage was already done… Were there really that many deaths?"

"Yes," Bordan said, his frown deepening. "So, you admit to taking a life?"

"What, do I admit to killing the largest gang leader in Whikoga that had kidnapped and tortured one of my only friends alongside who knows how many others?" Asher asked, snorting at the absurd question. "Happily. I probably would have admitted that even without your fancy circle."

"What of all the members of her gang that you personally killed?" Bordan asked, his eyes boring into Asher's own as if searching for something. "Did they take part in torturing your friend?"

"Not that I know of," Asher hissed through gritted teeth, the truthseeker's skill forcing him to answer honestly. "Look, you want the truth? Trying to make me feel bad about killing Loratta's underlings is a waste of both of our time. I know some of them might not have had any choice in what they were doing. Maybe they were being blackmailed as well, or they grew up on the streets and didn't have any other options. None of that matters. They worked for a bad person, and when we tried to take her down, they fought to defend her. They were complicit."

"So, you believe Draken is a good person then? Seeing as he led the coalition to 'take her down' as you said?" Bordan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," Asher said willingly, beating the skill before it could force him to answer. "He's a hell of a lot better than Loratta, that's for sure."

"Regardless of what you believe, you have admitted to playing a critical role in the gang war that led to the deaths of fifty-eight innocent people of this nation," Bordan said, taking a step back and drawing the greatsword from his back as if it weighed little more than a dagger before lifting it high over his head. "We are aware of your skills that allow you to seemingly vanish at will, meaning locking you up would be costly and potentially ineffective. By the authority invested in me as a truthseeker of the Noala Kingdom, I hereby sentence you to death for your crimes. Do you have any final words?"

Asher could only stare down his impending death in shock. He was at a complete and total loss for words at the sudden realization that his life was mere seconds from finally coming to an end. After all the battles he'd fought and everything he'd gone through, it seemed crazy to him that he'd be executed on the street by this world's version of a super-cop. Desperate to come up with some way to save himself, he spat out the first thing that came to mind.

"I think I can lead you to the Head of the Assassin's Guild!" he barked, wincing at how the truthseeker's skill forced him to add the word 'think' in there.

Bordan paused at his sudden proclamation, his greatsword still hanging threateningly overhead. Slowly, he lowered his sword as he stared at Asher, and Asher could practically see the different questions flitting through his mind as he tried to pick which one he should ask. After a few seconds of tense silence, where Clare looked back and forth between her master and Asher, waiting with clear excitement to see what would happen, Bordan finally decided.

Sheathing his greatsword once more, he leaned in closer and narrowed his eyes.

"How?"

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