To Asher's surprise, only seconds after he'd launched into his explanation about how the Head of the Guild was personally testing him, Bordan silenced him with a gauntlet-clad hand.

"Not here," he said, changing his mind as his eyes scanned the alleyway as if searching for eavesdropping assassins. "Clare, bring him with us."

And so it was Asher found himself floating along beside the apprentice truthseeker as she followed Bordan deeper into the city. While the larger truthseeker kept a careful eye on his surroundings and never seemed to lower his guard, Clare was a lot more relaxed. Especially for someone currently dragging a chain-bound prisoner alongside her like he was some strange-looking balloon.

"So, what's your skill like?" she asked, ignoring the concerned looks they were getting from some of the early birds in the city that had gotten up to start their day, only to be greeted by such a strange sight. "The one that lets you vanish, I mean. I watched the memories of the dead guys you killed, and it looks crazy."

"Wait… You watched their memories?" Asher asked, surprised enough to actually engage her in conversation. "Hold on, do you have a Death element?"

"Yep! That and the Chain element, if that wasn't obvious," she laughed.

"Clare, we do not tell prisoners what elements we have," Bordan sighed, not even bothering to look behind him.

"I'm pretty certain he could guess the Chain one," she said, rolling her eyes before turning her focus back on him. "So, what's it like?"

"I… Don't think I should tell you," Asher slowly admitted, earning a snort from Bordan and a pout from Clare. "Sorry."

Wait, why am I apologizing? I'm literally being kidnapped.

Or arrested, I guess. Same thing.

"Come on, I've never seen a skill like that before!" Clare whined. "And they made me study practically every skill there is! Seriously, have you ever read The Big Book of Elements? It's awful! Seven entire volumes of awful!"

…Seven volumes? Asher blinked, recalling that the one he'd read and presumed was most up to date was only volume six.

"Clare, if you continue giving the prisoner any more details regarding the classified truthseeker training program, there will be consequences," Bordan said, finally turning around to frown at his apprentice. "All you need to do is keep your skill on him and walk silently. That's not too much to ask, right?"

"Fine," Clare huffed.

"Thank you," Bordan nodded, his eyes flicking to Asher. "…and thank you for not screaming and trying to make this any more of a scene than it already is. All it would get you is a gag, and I prefer not having to do that to people."

Asher decided to remain silent rather than respond, and the three of them quietly made their way through the waking streets of Whikoga to a building that ironically reminded him of the Guild's cell he'd broken into to kill Leonard. It was a small, unassuming building tucked away between two stores that were in the middle of being set up. Both owners gave Bordan respectful nods as they walked past, and Asher was easily able to tell with his Identify and Judgement that the two shopkeepers were far more than they appeared.

As soon as the door had closed behind them, Bordan sighed, cracking his neck and motioning for Clare to follow him as he led them down some stairs into what looked like a small prison. There were four cells lining the walls, each one clean and currently empty. Bordan directed Clare to deposit him into the first of the cells, and as soon as he closed and locked the door, the entire cell suddenly began glowing a soft, dark purple. Only then did Bordan finally allow Clare to retract her skill, the flexible chains stripping him of his bandolier of daggers in the same moment.

It pained him to leave his daggers behind, but naturally, the moment he was freed from the chains Asher attempted to activate Recall and teleport away, only to find that his skills still refused to activate. Attempting to use Astral Dip and Distortion also proved pointless, and he sighed, turning to look at his jailors as Bordan fixed him with an intense stare and Clare began examining his daggers.

"You most likely have already noticed, but your active skills will remain locked for now," Bordan said, carefully watching him. "This is for your own protection as much as ours."

"Bordan, this dagger is made of wood," Clare laughed, turning the wooden blade this way and that as she examined it. "I mean, who would even make something like this? It's ridiculous!"

"Clare, we don't mock the prisoners' weapons in front of them," Bordan said, somehow managing to not sound the slightest bit fed up with his apprentice despite the weary look on his face.

"How is she even a truthseeker's apprentice?" Asher finally had to ask. As annoyed as he was with these people for snatching him off the street, his curiosity was eating him alive. "You're so stoic and straight-laced, and she's so… not."

"Oh, I didn't go through the usual truthseeker program," Clare said happily, now squinting at his cold iron dagger and holding it up to the light of the hanging gemstones. "The whole 'apprentice' thing isn't even normally done, I'm a special case."

"Clare…" Bordan simply sighed, finally cracking slightly as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just… Just go upstairs or something. I'll deal with you later."

Shrugging, the girl left his daggers lying on the nearby table before taking the stairs three at a time as she ran up them and left the two of them alone. Bordan took a moment to compose himself, straightening his back and taking a deep breath.

"In the event that I don't end up killing you here for your crimes, I will have to ask that you don't reveal any aspect of the truthseeker training program you may have discovered through Clare. She is a… special case, and one I am admittedly not used to handling."

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"Is it because of her Death element?" Asher asked, feeling just the tiniest bit bad after watching Clare completely disregard all the rules Bordan held so dear. It hadn't been that long ago that Asher had been all but ready to throttle his lazy, good for nothing coworker Tyler for disregarding the many rules they were supposed to follow in the funeral home. He certainly hadn't forgiven Bordan for snatching him and interrogating him on the street, but he could at least sympathize with the man a tiny bit.

"Surely you know I'm not going to answer that," Bordan said, shaking his head as he grabbed a nearby chair and took a seat outside Asher's cell. "Now, I'm going to reactivate Ring of Truth once more. Depending on your answers, you might just walk out of here alive."

Just as he'd said, that white, glowing ring sprung out from around Bordan again, and Asher didn't miss how his cell seemed just small enough that there was nowhere within his tiny room he could go without Bordan's skill enveloping him.

"Now then. How could you possibly lead us to the Head?" Bordan asked.

Seeing as his life was on the line here, Asher didn't even fight the skill as he dove into his explanation. During the walk over, he'd realized the truthseekers might even be able to help him with his current mission. At the moment, all they knew was that he was The Reaper, and that he'd killed Loratta. Unlike Eight and the Guild, the truthseekers had no idea where he'd come from or where Samantha and Brian lived. He had no doubt they wanted to take down the Guild just as much as he did, if not more. If he could use them to his advantage, he might even be able to find that Finger capable of scrying him and take them out as well. Once they were gone, he'd feel a lot safer about Samantha and Brian returning to their cabin.

It took a while to get through the story, but by the time he was done, Bordan knew just about everything related to the Guild. He told the truthseeker about how Eight had made an attempt on his life seemingly out of nowhere. How Asher had then gone after their safehouse and taken out Leonard in return. Even about his fight with Frostcut and Owl approaching to explain he was being tested.

Thankfully, Bordan seemed content to just let him talk rather than ask specific questions, which meant he was able to omit certain details here and there. For example, he only mentioned Eight making an attempt on his life, rather than specifically stating it was the fabled magadrine powder that had been sent to him. He also left out any mention of Draken or Kree helping him, making it sound like he'd found the Guild safehouse all on his own.

He threw Jennifer under the bus, naturally, but the woman was long gone by now anyway, and he certainly didn't owe her anything.

Finally, after he'd wrapped up the bit about Owl approaching him, he was done. Bordan, who had been a wonderfully passive listener, merely sat there for a few moments with his arms crossed, digesting everything and taking it all in.

"We are aware that the Head does not hesitate to replace Fingers he is displeased with via promising up and comers. But this is the first time we've managed to come face-to-face with one this early on in the testing," Bordan admitted, thinking out loud as he tapped his foot. After a few seconds, he sighed, getting to his feet and shaking his head as he canceled his Ring of Truth skill. "This is above my paygrade. My apologies, but you're going to have to wait in there for a bit as I contact my superiors and ask them how they'd like me to handle this going forward."

"How long is that going to take?" Asher asked, frowning at the thought of being trapped in here for hours, or even days.

"I have a direct spell-stone to the capital, it shouldn't be more than a few hours," Bordan reassured him. "However, I have to leave you while I contact them. As a precaution, I ask that you hand over any shards you have on your person."

"Are you serious? Kidnapping me wasn't enough, you're robbing me as well?"

"I'm a truthseeker, I did not 'kidnap' you. I arrested you," Bordan frowned, holding out his hand as he waited for Asher's shards. "It's standard procedure. Either you temporarily hand over the shards in your possession, or I have Clare come back down here again and use her chains on you once more. While I can see that your class is that of an assassin, you've somehow managed to hide your elements and skills from me, which means I can't leave you alone with any number of shards in your possession."

Asher stared at the impatient truthseeker, his mind racing as he tried to figure out what he was missing. Why would the number of shards he had on his person even matter in this situation? Just like Clare's chains, whatever enchantments the cell had prevented him from using any of his active skills, and he couldn't access his interface either. As far as he could tell, there wasn't-

Wait…

Was that actually the case?

Realizing he hadn't actually tried after confirming the cell blocked his active skills, Asher quickly tried summoning his interface once more.

And let out a huge sigh of relief at the familiar window that appeared before him.

I guess the cell is a less powerful version of Clare's chains, Asher realized, hurrying through his interface to the skill he had in mind. There was only one thing he could think of that might get him out of this situation, and thanks to a surprisingly generous donation from the recently deceased Frostcut, he had more than enough shards to pull it off.

Spend 100,000 shards to evolve Complete Resilience?

"Whatever it is you're doing, stop it at once," Bordan ordered, his frown deepening as he realized Asher was using his interface. Grabbing his greatsword, he shouted over his shoulder. "Clare! Get down here!"

Not wasting a second, Asher confirmed his purchase and grinned at the new ability he'd received.

Shards: 48,429

Complete Resilience (active/passive) - Lvl 21

Tier 1: You will outlast all negative effects.

Tier 2: Purge all negative effects from your being.

The moment his eyes finished reading over his newly evolved skill, Asher tried to activate it. Unlike the rest of his active skills which felt blocked somehow, the second tier of Complete Resilience erupted forth from somewhere deep within his core, eating through a massive portion of the energy he'd managed to recover during his chat with Bordan. A huge pulse of energy blasted out of his body as the effects of the cell were dispelled and countered for the briefest of moments.

Which was all Asher needed.

Even with the large consumption of Complete Resilience's tier 2 effect, he still had enough left for his current purposes. The moment the skill-blocking effect was disrupted, he slipped into the astral and darted through the cell bars. Reappearing beside his bandolier, he activated Spatial Lock in a small bubble around himself and the table just in time to block the massive overhead swing of Bordan's greatsword.

The impact of the greatsword on Asher's barrier was enough to shake the entire building, and it took everything Asher had to stand there smiling at the truthseeker as he tried to look unfazed by the man's attack.

In reality, that single strike had nearly drained all his newly replenished energy right then and there.

Spatial Lock - lvl 12

It had taken almost everything he had just to stop a single one of the truthseeker's mighty blows.

Asher had to leave, and now.

"I'd say it was fun, but that'd be a lie, and I'm pretty sure you guys aren't big fans of those," Asher said, snatching his bandolier and waving at the truthseeker who stared in shock at the barrier preventing him from reaching Asher. As he heard the sound of Clare rushing down the stairs, Asher gave Bordan one last wink, before activating Recall and getting the hell out of there while he still had the chance.

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