The cold, damp stone of the city's outer wall bit sharply through Elias' feet as he crouched, his posture loose and mocking, looking down at the absolute sea of human madness churning below him.
The masses had completely turned their attention upward. The sea of faces, distorted by rage and the toxic, aerosolized paranoia of Black Dandy, bellowed a deafening chorus of profanities, threats, and hysterical screams.
"FREAK!"
"COME DOWN HERE AND FACE US!"
"TRAITOR!"
"MONSTER!"
A half-eaten apple sailed past his head. A brick followed. Then a shoe.
Elias let out a long, heavy, thoroughly exasperated sigh from behind the Kitsune Mask.
'What exactly am I supposed to be doing here?'
A short while ago, they had been standing just inside the heavily reinforced gates of the residence. The protestors outside were slamming against the iron barriers with battering fury, while a line of elite Knights and Enforcement officers scrambled to hold the threshold. For the time being the seemed to have the situation under control.
Raileigh had been uncharacteristically serious as he stared at the bedlam, at his people.
"My idea is simple," he turned to face Elias.
"You want the fragment of the oblivion cube right? Well I know where it is. I was putting of on retrieving it but things have changed, probably due to the machinations of the other deities. I can go and retrieve it before they do."
Elias had frowned.
"And the riots? Why are you suddenly putting some rock over the current situation, and even if the goal was to get the fragment, we can't exactly waltz through a city on fire."
"If getting out of this place is the goal, couldn't we just use Suppression and sneak through?"
"There might be awakened among the people as well as people possessing artifacts to detect it." Raileigh answered.
"It wasn't a problem when we were sneaking around before." Jamie said folding her arms.
"Because before there wasn't a riot." Elias pointed out.
"Besides, we can pretend to be lost in the chaos and will be mostly ignored but they moment they see Raileigh, they are going to go after him."
"Why?"
"How many normal people do you know with jet-black hair and golden eyes?" Elias had asked.
Jamie thought for a bit.
"Now that you mention it he is easily recognizable. So how do you plan on getting around the crowd in order to get this Fragment thing?"
Raileigh had smiled—that infuriating, knowing smile.
"That's where Elias comes in."
Elias had looked at him blankly.
"Me?"
"Yes you. The Lords are occupied with trying to salvage the situation an plan the next move at Amberose's estate. It will be a while before they can come up with a solution. Until then the situation will remain virtually the same until another variable comes into play or the crowd looses its momentum and dissolves. This is the only period we can act before things change unexpectedly. So, I want you to use that transformation you have-"
Jamie's head snapped around at Raileigh.
"Wait, what transformation?"
"His body becomes more like mist and his Presence changes, becomes...heavier. He also becomes more....I dunno how to describe it..."
Raileigh began to describe it, and the more he said, the wider her eyes got.
"So it's like the first time he wore the mask, but cooler?"
Her face crumpled into a pout as she turned to Elias.
"Why didn't you show me first?!"
"Why didn't you show me first?!"
"It was life or death," Elias said flatly.
"I would have appreciated it!"
Elias ignored her.
"Let me ask you again, is the fragment really a priority?"
"Laplace told me the fragments hold powers outside the normal twenty-two traits," Raileigh said.
"Powers the deities couldn't consolidate into themselves when they first became what they are."
Elias felt something stir in his chest.
'Powers beyond the traits? Beyond the gods themselves?'
This was more information than what he originally knew. He opened his mouth to ask more, but Raileigh pressed on.
"I have to admit that I don't know how to deal with the current events. I'm sure my siblings are just as stumped and by now are thinking of how to take advantage for their own plans. Leon and Hermes most especially."
Fe folded his arms.
"But here lies the case where the fragment carries godly power. We can use that power to fix whatever mess this is. And even if not , we would have foiled the deities plans of getting it so they will withdraw their influence and make things easier for use to solve."
'That's the plan?' Elias thought. 'Find a bigger hammer and hope?'
'It's a better plan than no plan,' Tamamo murmured, her voice curling through his mind like smoke.
'We must reach that fragment as soon as possible, Elias. Don't screw this up.'
"And if things go wrong?" Jamie asked quietly.
Raileigh smiled at her, bright and sure. "I've planned for that. Don't worry." He turned to Elias.
"I know where it is, so I'll go with Jamie. Until then, just do something."
"Do what? Wait Railei—"
But Raileigh had already taken Jamie's hand. She yelped as he bolted, dragging her along, and in the space between one step and the next the air folded around them and they were simply gone.
The 4.0 Dimension could apparently allow him to traverse distances in almost no time by using it as a shortcut, basically teleportation.
Elias stood alone, mouth half open around a protest.
'Ahaaa, so that's how come he was able to enter my room this morning. Tch, I need to utilize my own 4.5 Dimension more.'
He sighed again, which brought him right back to the present moment. Crouched on a cold wall, wearing a mystical fox mask, transformed on the absolute spur of the moment, and having literally zero idea what he was supposed to do next.
'Should I be causing more havoc? Should I try to pacify them? And speaking of which—Raileigh didn't even tell me where the damn fragment is! I know its in the palace but I don't know where exactly. If that's the case, shouldn't I be somewhere else? And If I go somewhere else, where am I supposed to be the distraction? Am I just supposed to distract the whole city? How on the bloody hell am I supposed to do that?!'
Elias sighed again, letting his head droop as he stared down at the rioters. But right at the edge of his peripheral vision, a flicker of movement caught his eye.
Stepping forward with an irritatingly confident, unbothered swagger was none other than First Prince Leon. Flanked by his immaculate butler Leif and his sharp-eyed maid Sonnet. Both of them had expressions of concern clearly worried about their master.
Leon however didn't seem to notice the concern and kept walking, ignoring the sea of chaos below as if he were taking a leisurely stroll through a royal garden, clearly unfazed by the angry mob. Guards who tried to stop him as it was dangerous were casually brushed aside by Leif with practiced, effortless authority.
Elias blinked behind his mask.
'Why the absolute hell is that bastard approaching me? And why does he look so ridiculously smug while doing so?!'
Leon stopped just a few feet away from the crouched Yako form, looking up with an ambitious glint in his golden eyes. Without a hint of fear, Leon turned away from the masked entity for a second, raising his voice to address the surrounding masses of rioters.
"People of Aethelberg!" he called out, his voice carrying across the square with practiced ease.
"You need not despair!"
The crowd quieted, their attention focused on the first prince.
"You need not suffer in vain! This noble intervention is here to address your righteous grievances, to bring accountability to those who murdered a Lord in cold blood, and to ensure that strict, unyielding justice is meted out to any and all officials who engaged in illegal dealings with her!"
Elias stared at him.
'What the fuck is he talking about?'
But the crowd was listening. Even the ones high on Black Dandy seemed to be responding to Leon's silver tongue. The prince had a gift—a way of speaking that made people believe him, even when his words made no sense.
Leon stepped back slightly, adjusting his cuffs, and looked up at Elias. Keeping a warm, diplomatic smile plastered on his face for the crowd, he hissed in a low, conspiratorial whisper.
"Listen to me, Fox Mask," Leon muttered quickly.
"Agent Orange."
"Whatever name it is you go by. I don't know where you crawled out from, who sent you or what your goals are or why but you've got timing. Play along with me right now, and you will be rewarded handsomely." Leon reached out, placing a surprisingly bold, familiar hand directly onto the Yako's smoky shoulder. Elias looked at it.
"I'll even pay double whatever your employer paid," Leon continued.
"All you need to do is lead a witch hunt and draw the people away. Once that's done, I'll have my soldiers sift through and eliminate the Revolutionists and the infected from their ranks."
'He thinks I'm for hire. He's trying to buy me'.
The absurdity of it almost made him laugh.
'Did I overestimate his intelligence?'
Still, as Leon kept whispering his grand master plan, Elias felt a strange, twitchy impulse blooming in his chest. A toxic cocktail of exhaustion, sleep deprivation, annoyance at Raileigh, and absolute disgust at Leon's unearned arrogance bubbled over.
'You know what? Screw it.'
Before Leon could finish outlining his treasonous outsourcing, Elias moved with lightning speed. He reached out, grabbed the crown prince firmly by the shoulder.
"Hm?" Leon raised an eyebrow.
With a swift, brutal heave, threw Leon completely over his shoulder, body-slamming him hard against the stone walkway the air leaving his lungs in a choked gasp.
CRASH!
Gasps of utter shock erupted from the crowd below.
Leif and Sonnet didn't hesitate. They lunged forward, their hands reaching for weapons—
But Elias was faster.
He dodged their attacks, his Yako form flowing like water, and grabbed Leon by the collar. He dragged the prince to the edge of the wall, using the chakram threads to bind him like a mummy with its knees tied to its chest on to his back like a backpack.
"Unhand me, you lunatic!" Leon choked out, muffled against the smoky fabric.
"Do you know who I am?!"
"Oh do shut up Lord Fauntleroy," Elias said in a whimsical yet annoyed tone as he jumped to the edge of the wall.
Just then, a sharp, piercing female voice sliced through the chaos from the courtyard below.
"AGENT ORANGE!"
Elias raised a palm horizontally above his eyes and squinted. After e few seconds he saw Layl pushing through the masses, her eyes fixed on him with cold fury. Behind her were several other Inquisitors, following with weapons drawn.
Panic and erratic inspiration warped in Elias' mind. He had no plan, no script and no idea what he was doing.
So, leaning entirely into his Agent Orange persona, he decided to wing it.
Throwing his head back, he let out a theatrical, echoing laugh that sounded like
chimes in a graveyard.
"People of Aethelberg!" He called out, his voice carrying across the crowd.
"I am an agent of chaos and chaos my friends." His voice dropped.
"Is Orange. Thus, call me Agent Orange."
He bowed. The crowd murmured, confused.
"In light of this name I'm going to have to cause a little disturbance for my own pleasure. I understand that some of you are unhappy."
He glanced around.
"Well it serves you bastards right! I mean look at you, have you seen yourselves? Its no wonder you've all been used like toilet paper and discarded."
This angered the crowd which started to act up again, slowing the approach of the Inquisition.
"What? Its not my fault you're treated like trash, its people like him."
He turned and gestured towards Leon with his thumb.
"If you have anything to say, you'll have to say it to him but to say it to him, you'll need to catch me."
He laughed again as the rioters exploded and began pelting him with all manner of objects.
They, of course, passed through his mist form and rather struck Leon.
"Hey what do you-" he paused, taking a sniff.
"EEWWW! Is this.... feces?! How dare-"
Elias gagged him.
Leif and Sonnet who had been waiting for a chance lunged at him but Elias had already stepped of the wall. His chakrams spun vertically under his feet, ignited with gold flames. That and the artifact on his bicep made from the horn of the Diredeer that could influence gravity and he was airborne.
Still laughing, he flew away.
"Catch me if you can, mongrels!" Elias cackled merrily, doing a ridiculous mid-air spin as he soared across the plaza.
Behind him the crazed mob moved. Layl and her inquisitors surged after him, Leif and Sonnet right on their heels, and the crowd followed them in a tide of shouting and boots and torchlight, pouring away from the gates and into the streets.
The remaining guards stood frozen in stunned silence, their weapons slack in their hands, staring blinkingly at the vacant plaza where a full-scale riot had been raging just moments before.
Meanwhile, up in the air as Elias flew, his only thought was.
'Note to self: Never let Raileigh plan anything ever again.'