Kael stood with his arms crossed, surveying the Luminaire market before him.
Ever since the state of emergence had been officially declared, the setup had never been removed from the square.
This was where representatives of Valthorne appeared each week to announce news, missions and collect mindstones from every Luminaire. It was a simple system, crude and hastily assembled, but it worked well enough.
Now, not only because they were required to attend but also because everyone wanted first claim on the easiest missions, the market was packed with Luminaires.
Kael himself was not listed within the city, and while that anonymity had its advantages, it also limited him severely.
Vael had anticipated that Luminaires would try to maneuver around the system. To counter that, he had introduced something close to identity cards. Each card was stamped by an unknown mote every time mindstones were turned in at the market. Without that stamp, any official shop, food stall, or clothing vendor was required to refuse service.
Selling to someone without the proper markings was considered a grave betrayal of Valthorne.
And naturally, no one was foolish enough to test the noble families.
A Luminaire wearing the Valthorne crest stepped onto the stage.
"Good evening, Luminaires of Velthoria," he began. "Bounty status. Kael Sinclaire, alive. Syleena Eiriendale, alive. Melrose Eiriendale, alive…"
Kael turned his head slightly as the announcer continued, listing dozens more names marked with bounties.
'The Eiriendales have managed to get this many people inside Velthoria already?'
From a distance it looked impressive, but Kael knew he was only seeing one side of the story. He had no doubt Valthorne had planted just as many Luminaires within Farkath's walls.
The crowd remained eerily silent as the announcer went over recent developments and what to expect in the near future. Only when he flipped the pages and began speaking about missions did low murmurs ripple through the mass of bodies.
Kael staggered a step as a woman bumped into him.
"Sorry," she said, flashing a nervous smile.
She squeezed past him, struggling to push deeper into the crowd.
Kael watched her for a moment before turning his attention back to the stage.
"Mission one will be available to forty Luminaires," the announcer said. "You will be required to enter the mountains…"
He continued, presenting each of the weekly missions in turn.
'They must have already earned a fortune in mindstones from this system.'
Kael shook his head and leaned back against a wooden wall.
"And finally," the announcer said, "the last mission will be the usual patrol, available to two hundred and fifty Lum—"
The announcer suddenly dropped to his knees, both hands flying to his throat.
"GARHGH."
The sound tore out of the announcer's throat before his body collapsed forward, hitting the stage in a spreading pool of blood.
The crowd crunched down instinctively, bodies folding in on themselves as if the ground itself had dropped away. No one spoke. Eyes darted wildly, each Luminaire staring at the nearest one beside them, as if someone else might already understand what had just happened.
Slowly, one by one, they straightened again with pale faces and mouths still half open.
"IT'S EIREINDAILE. THEY'RE ATTACKING."
The shout ripped through the air.
Before the words had fully settled, a golden light flared from the center of the crowd.
A woman stood there, untouched by the panic around her, head tilted upward as she stared toward the heavens. She raised one hand and spread her fingers.
For a single heartbeat, the light burned blindingly bright.
Then it dulled.
Thunder cracked.
Golden spears erupted from her palm like rays torn from the sun itself.
One spear punched through a man's collarbone, tearing it apart and pinning him backward. Another drove straight through a skull, bursting out the other side in a spray of red and white. Those closest to her were reduced to gore almost instantly, bodies shredded as the spears formed dense around her hand.
The spears did not stop.
They tore through the crowd, impaling one Luminaire after another, punching through flesh and armor alike. Bodies were staked together mid-motion, dragged off their feet, slammed into one another as the weapons continued onward.
Screams finally broke loose.
Pain rippled through the market with the spears, a rolling wave of agony and death that tore the order of the square apart in seconds.
Blood rained across stone and wood alike.
She raised her remaining hand toward the heavens.
Swoosh.
A blue arc tore through the air.
Her arm came away at the shoulder and hit the ground with a wet slap, skidding through blood and broken flesh before coming to rest among the body parts already pooling there.
"SHE IS ONE. SHE'S FROM EIREINDAILE. KILL HER."
The man who had launched the arc screamed the words.
The Luminaires around her reacted instantly. Hands cut through the air preparing to launch an attack.
She did not flinch.
Her severed arm lay bleeding on the stone beside her as Luminaires rushed in, and she simply opened her mouth.
Her head fell back.
She stretched out her tongue.
Golden light flared once more.
Spears erupted in every direction.
Several drove straight back into her, punching through her torso and pinning her to the ground. Others tore through her skull, blowing it apart before continuing onward, ripping through more Luminaires behind her without slowing.
Bodies collapsed in heaps.
The woman's body twitched once, then went still, staked to the stone like a sacrifice.
Kael flicked a hand across his chest as a spear stacked with dozens of bodies hurtled toward him.
Sparks erupted as the two collided.
He was blasted through a wooden wall, furniture exploding around him, then smashed through another wall and was hurled across the street before crashing through a third. The force ripped the air from his lungs.
The spear came to an abrupt stop.
Kael did not.
He slammed into the wall behind him and finally went still.
Blood spilled into his palm as he coughed.
'So it's finally happening…'
He slumped against the wall as curses and screams tore through the market outside.
Kael placed his hand against the chest of a panicked Luminaire lying beside him.
In the same instant, Point Blank flared.
The Luminaire's chest collapsed. The pressure did not stop there. It tore straight through his body and slammed into the ground beneath, spiderweb cracks racing across the stone floor.
'I should take advantage of the chaos.'
Kael brushed dust from his coat.
"What happened? Are you alright?"
A rank one Luminaire stood in the gaping hole Kael had just smashed through, eyes wide as he took in the destruction.
Kael waved a hand vaguely through the air.
"It seems the Eireindaile have finally launched their first attack."
"What? No way."
Cold sweat beaded along the Luminaire's forehead.
Kael brushed past him, and let his fingers graze the man's torso.
Blood burst from the Luminaire's mouth as his stomach caved inward, the collapse continuing deeper until the spine snapped with a sharp, final crack.
The body folded in on itself and hit the ground.
Around him, house doors slammed open as Luminaires poured into the streets to aid their own.
Kael's hand rested loosely on his knife until a Luminaire sprinted past him.
"Come, we mus—"
The man's head twisted sharply to the side as a gaping wound split open across his skull.
Kael stepped over the collapsing body and slid his knife back into its sheath.
'I must avoid rank threes.'
A Luminaire wearing a hat skidded to a stop as he watched the Velthorian Luminaire crumple.
"Here. There's a bastard here."
He shouted the warning before breaking into a sprint toward Kael.
Two more Luminaires peeled away from the market and rushed in from the side.
One dropped to a knee and began forming a summoned bow.
A streak of black cut through the air.
The knife tore straight through the bow, then through the man's throat, continued through a wooden sign, and finally buried itself deep into the stone behind him.
"What the—"
The hat-wearing Luminaire had not even tracked the weapon when Kael appeared directly in front of him.
Panicked, the man activated every strength mote he had and swung towards Kael, only for his fist to meet Kaels.
He hadn't even registered the mangled hand when Kael's other hand shot forward and plunged into the man's throat. A low grunt escaped Kael as his muscles tensed. He wrenched and hurled the body away with all his strength.
The head tore free mid-flight.
It spun violently through the air before slamming into the remaining Luminaire like a cannonball.
Bone met bone in a dull, meaty explosion.
Both heads collapsed inward at once.
Kael walked over, pulled his knife free, and slid it back into its sheath.
His gaze returned to the market.
The spears looked like solidified sunlight, bursting outward in every direction like a grotesque, blooming flower. Countless Luminaires remained staked along their length, some impaled mid-motion, others pinned helplessly to walls and stalls.
Between it all, Luminaires hurled themselves at one another, unleashing everything they had in desperate attempts to kill the impostors.
'It won't be long now before the Eiriendaile Luminaires are dead.'
Kael turned away and slipped into an empty alley.
What Eiriendaile had done went completely against noble standards. No family would ever dare launch a surprise attack like this, afraid their reputation would be irreparably ruined. And yet, Kael understood the reason.
Though the two families were said to have been equals for centuries, the truth was simple. Velthoria had far more Luminaires. Nearly two to one.
If Eiriendaile wanted even a chance at victory, they had no choice. Consequences later meant nothing if they lost now.
This attack was never meant to kill Valthorne outright. It was meant to weaken them.
Kael suspected Eiriendaile had planted no more than a dozen Luminaires within the crowd, each carefully chosen with hand picked motes.
Kael brushed blood-soaked hair away from his face and stopped.
He turned back.
Leaving the alley, he moved through the carnage, stopping at each lifeless body. One by one, he stripped them of the mindstones they carried.
Just as he turned to leave, a hand closed around his shoulder.
"You did all this?"
The voice was calm.
Kael stopped.
The man beside him looked down at the bodies scattered across the street. A long scar ran from his chin down his neck, pulling his mouth into a permanent, thoughtful slant.
"Of course not," Kael replied evenly.
He stepped forward.
The grip tightened.
"Release me," Kael said, his tone turning cold.
A quiet chuckle followed.
"You really think I wouldn't recognize that knife anywhere, Kael?"
The man smiled as he spoke.
Kael twisted sharply, his hand snapping up to clamp around the man's wrist.
"Don't start, Lucian."
Kael's blindfolded gaze lifted.
And met Lucian's.