Chapter 75 - Arriving at the Ruins: Big Net Operation begins

What was the Highest Call of the Royal Eagle? It was a special permit, granted by the King to his most loyal Generals and, of course, the Dragon Generals, so in time of an emergency situation, they could deploy any personnel from any of the army encampments in any place in the Kingdom, as if the King himself was giving the order. It also demanded the immediate obedience from all nobles and officials below the rank of Prince which had to support the bearer of the Sigil with all their effort and even use their personal troops as well.

Of course, the Highest Call of the Royal Eagle could not be easily used, and every instance had to be recorded. Also, each of the Generals and upper ranks that had been granted a Sigil could only use it once. If his Majesty then saw fit, he could grant another Sigil to the previous user. There were probably no more than 5 Sigils in the whole of Ansem, and the fact that Serena actually got hold of one was nothing different from astounding.

Also, His Majesty would be notified of the use of the Sigil. If his Majesty disapproved afterwards of what had been done, the person would be on the receiving end of the king's ire. Also, the Sigil was a symbol of status and it could also serve as deterrence against one's enemies.

"Lieutenant Serena. Even though that is the Highest Call of the Royal Eagle, it's not like you can boss us around and turn black into white. The negligence committed by House Vanilla during these days can not be erased even with the Royal Sigil."

Rudolf Dai Salento knew for a fact that Serena had, normally, no access to a Highest Call of the Royal Eagle, and he was trying to delay Serena and her plans. However, his plans came to naught, when Serena simply responded.

"I'm not asking for your support, I'm commanding. As the bearer of the Royal Sigil, I'm currently in possession of the King's Authority. Should you keep protesting on our advance, I'm afraid you'll leave me no choice but to declare you in rebelry. So, I will ask only once. Are you rebelling against his Majesty?"

Rudolf went pale with Serena's words. Perhaps the accusation of resisting Authority and rebelry would not hold, but he was not willing to bet on the King's mercy. Even though the King enjoyed a magnificent reputation, he was known for hating corruption and for dismissing officials for the simplest dereliction of duties. All of his family would be doomed if his Majesty simply gave the word.

In the end, Rudolf could not help but acquiesce. "It will be as you command, Lieutenant. I just hope that whatever it is you're planning actually amounts to something. Otherwise the repercussions will not just be the deposition of a County governor. In the meantime, we are at your service."

Then he went on one knee, as did the rest of the nobles. No one dared to resist the plate, lest they were accused of treason.

"HONOR BE TO THE KINGDOM!" all shouted.

"Very good. I need all of you to assemble your more trusted and powerful men in the next 10 minutes and follow me to a place. We are about to apprehend the kidnappers and save all of the captured children. Your men need to make sure that there are no escapees. Should there be one, you will be held responsible for dereliction of duty. You personally will join my operation in attacking the main force of the kidnappers."

Rudolf's hand slightly shivered when he heard Serena's announcement. 'A trap'. All of this was a set up, Serena had let the man go on purpose as well as let the children be kidnapped again, all in order to make sure that she could capture the kidnappers in one fell swoop. She even used a Royal Sigil… Since Rudolf could guess up to here, all the rest of the nobles as well as Saras and Oliver did as well. Nevertheless, many of them thought it was a bit of an overkill to use a Royal Sigil just to save some commoners and catch some kidnappers. That was because they did not really know the implications of the kidnappings. If they knew, not only the Army would have been mobilized, even the Temple would have used its full force.

When all of the nobles were about to leave to get ready, when Serena spoke again: "I forgot to mention, I have commanded the complete lockdown of the city. No one can leave nor enter the city. No messages can be sent as well, if there is any messenger bird flying out of the city; I'll take it as treason. It's not that I don't trust your lordships, but that we must proceed with utmost care."

All of the nobles agreed once more and then quickly left to get ready. Rudolf's face was as dark as coal as he left the building.

The 10 minutes quickly went by and all of the nobles prepared their personal guards and followed Serena out of the City and went in the northeast direction. They rapidly approached the ruins of the olden Dukedom of Gad. The sliver of hope that Serena did not really know the location of the operation quickly went up in smoke.

The Ruins of the old dukedom of Gad looked solitary and creepy in the setting sun. There were several men making rounds to make sure there were no intruders. These men were mercenaries. One of them was a member of House Cortana.

Inside the ruins Carlos was talking with Sombra and another young man. The young man could be considered somewhat handsome, with a powerful build. He also had large sideburns. His name was Eren Salen, and was actually Rudolf's bastard with a commoner woman. Because of this, he was ostracized by the main family when young and developed a twisted personality. However, he was quite talented, even among the rest of the descendendants of House Salento, so Rudolf actually helped him become stronger, and he proved to be quite capable, so Rudolf put him in charge of the dark side of House Salento. He was hoping to gain power from the ritual so he could barge into the main house and assume what he thought should be his rightful position since he was more talented than even the main sons of the Family.

The men were discussing the final details of the Ritual, when they heard the clamor coming from the outside. They looked at each other, and made an ugly grimace as they left the building. Sombra went towards the dungeon where the children were imprisoned, and both Carlos and Eren went to see what had happened.

When they left the room and approached the destroyed entrance of the ruins they saw Serena, her men, and many of the local noble lords, including Oliver and Rudolf coming towards them in the distance. They were quickly approaching were already less than 500 meters away and in less than a minute they would be able to apprehend them.

Carlos' first thought was to escape quickly and deny any involvement, but soon they noticed that there were men all around them, though a bit farther. They would not be able to run away far enough before they encountered opposition and were trapped like rats. Serena was a Qi General after all, and Oliver was Qi Emperor. Just him would be more than enough to quickly end their lives.

'Doomed. We are doomed', was the thought commonly shared among the mercenaries when they saw the army that had surrounded them silently before Serena and the rest actually made their approach.

"Well… Carlos Dai Cortana. Are you truly involved in these kidnappings? Apparently, I had thought too much about you, being a noble and all. Also, Rudolf's bastard is here as well. Do you have anything to do with this, Rudolf, you old reindeer?." said Oliver as he arrived. He looked triumphantly towards Carlos and Eren.

"Oliver, watch your mouth. I have no idea what you're talking about. This is just a temporary base of my mercenary company, we are currently on an entrusted mission, and I would appreciate it if you do not just hurl accusations to my face. What kidnappings, do you see any children here?" said Carlos, trying to win some time.

He was hoping for Sombra and Alistar to quickly get rid of the evidence. It might be a bit difficult, but Sombra in particular had a lot of means to himself. It was not totally impossible that he might be able to come up with something.

"Ma'am Lieutenant, I'm sure that Carlos and Eren being here have no relation whatsoever with the kidnappings. It's perfectly normal that some operations are performed outside. Besides there are no signs of any children around" said Rudolf trying to help his subordinate.

"They are violating curfew, and having a meeting right now. I find it highly suspicious. Still, we will investigate the premises and see if they are truly innocent" interrupted Serena.

"Lieutenant, a warrior may be killed but never insulted. I have done nothing at all, and your accusations are deeply shameful on a noble as myself." Carlos was playing the noble card, hoping to find some support in the Nobles surrounding Serena. She could not just investigate a Noble's business without evidence. However Serena showed him the Royal Sigil, which made Carlos's pupils contract somewhat.

As Carlos was trying to stall for time, Sombra quickly arrived where the children were being held. Alistar was a bit nervous when he noticed the commotion outside, and was trembling from head to toe. If the deeds he had done were found out, it would all be over for him. His family as sure to disown him, it was quite likely they would even be the ones to kill him personally to extricate themselves from this matter. Actually, they had no idea that Alistar had agreed to help Carlos, Sombra and Eren in this endeavour.

"What do we do, Sombra? If we take the children out of the dungeon, our participation in this matter will be known to all and we'll be doomed." asked Alistar frantically.

"Useless!" sneered Sombra. If he put himself into the matter he could actually escape easily, by using the shadows and going into one of the weak points of the encirclement. He would probably be able to run before anyone noticed. However, he was reluctant to do so, since this would mean that all of his effort would have been for naught and his mission would be deemed a failure.

"There are two ways right now. Night has already approached and the moon will soon reach the expected position. We could perform the ritual right now, and with Dagan's appearance we could try to kill all of the offenders outside. The power received by you all would diminish, but with everyone's death no one would be the wiser about the matter. Of course there would be some repercussions and investigation afterwards, but you could claim to be ignorant of the matters and even reap some benefits. The second is to kill the children. I'm confident of being able to erase the traces of their deaths with my shadow powers, and all of the evidence would be gone as well."

Sombra talked about killing the children as if he was simply cutting grass. Even Alistar could not help but feel some trepidation, even if he was also prepared to do the deed for power.

"We don't have much time. We need to choose now." said Sombra. If it were him, he would actually go ahead with the Ritual. That way, even if they failed, the chaos caused would also allow him to gain some merits. Carlos was doing everything he could to stop Serena and company, and even Rudolf was questioning Serena since she seemed to have no evidence. However, it would just be a matter of minutes before someone was led into the dungeon and found the children.

However, before Sombra and Alistar could make a choice at all, one of the cell doors quickly busted open, and a small pup jumped towards Alistar and Sombra attacking them with an Icy Breath.

Sombra quickly reacted and used a shadow to blink away from the attack, and appear behind the wolf pup, attacking him with a Dagger that had a purple glint in its blade. At that same moment, a figure appeared right beside him, kicking him with extreme force, which made Sombra stop attacking Whitey and defend himself. He felt that the kick had enough strength to actually threaten him.

- CLASH! -

Sombra actually had to back up from the strength of the attack and he quickly flipped backwards and gained some distance from the attacker, while throwing some needles smeared with poison towards his opponent.

Nerun was a bit shocked from Sombra's quick response and agility, and using the second form, he created a small wind whirlwind that managed to divert the needle's attack. Sombra was a bit shocked when he saw Nerun. Such a young boy could actually attack him without him noticing, and he was actually powerful enough to be a threat to him.

In the mean time, Alistar used all of his Qi to resist Whitey's attack, and managed to do it with difficulty, however his arms had been frozen somewhat. Right at that moment, a small bird came out of nowhere and attacked Alistar once again, forcing him to defend himself by barely reaching for his sword. Alistar was a Qi Praetorian after all, and from a Noble lineage, so his power was not too shabby. He would not go out without a fight.

"I thought you said you could take care of the silly looking one", said Nerun as he talked to a place inside one of the cells.

"Hey, it's not that easy either. But don't worry, I've got this. Be careful of that shadowy guy, he looks quite strong. Are you sure you don't need my help?" said Evelin as she left her cell. Her dark eyes looked enchanting right now, as if the starry night could be seen in them. The natural energy of the world seemed to be responding to her beck and call, and her hair started floating by itself. Her magic undulations showed she was actually a Great Mana Adept.

"It's ok. Let the Big Net Operation begin" said Nerun while smiling and looking at Sombra. This would be his true debut fight after his 6 years of training.