CH 8 - Henry Hera of Vatica

Henry

Henry stood upon the cliff overlooking the fortress. Fort Blackreign, built and manned during the Imperial War a hundred years ago, though it long since fell to monsters, bandits, and now a drug lord.

The drug was known as ReBless. It was advertised to awaken a Blessing, but in actual fact, of the hundreds of people that have been tricked so far, only one actually got what they were promised. However, unlike Blessings from the Trinity, which were always boons, that man was driven crazy with his heretical gift. From what Henry heard, it had been dubbed Insatiable Gluttony, due to the fact that they found him surrounded by the half eaten corpses of those that tried to stop him. In the end, it had taken a Divine Orange mage to kill him.

The drug lord was called the Chemist by the criminal underground and his men, but Henry already found out his true identity. He was the Apollo family court mage, of Kyudo. His true name and title was Rikito Gellings, Royal White mage.

Henry had to respect him a little bit, since he did test all his products on himself first. He could recover using his own magic.

But for those who didn't have the skills of a high ranking White mage, the outcome was all but certainly a shattered mind and loss of motor function control. Together, this resulted in essentially mindless rage zombies that fought to bloody and painful deaths.

So, in response to countless incidents popping up in Nubia, the Council sent word to Henry Hera, giving him a kill order. It was the true duty of the Hera family, to carry out covert assassinations of persons of status who decide to use their positions for ill. It would be a bonus to figure out his intentions behind all this, but it didn't matter. Rikito had become a tumor amongst the Empire, and he couldn't be allowed to spread.

The fortress had a tower in each of the cardinal directions, with a twenty foot high wall connecting them. Only a single entrance gate existed, on the southwest side. Inside the walls was a four story castle, with the top floor being a single, domed office.

Henry could see his target in that office from the cliff. He cracked a wicked smile. "This is great, Alfred! I can see him, meaning I don't need to be all quiet and sneaky to confirm he's here! You know what that means, Alfred?" It had been so long, and the unending feeling of impending doom he's felt for the last five days was making him lose his chill.

"It means you can go all out, my Lord?"

Henry raises one hand, and summons forth the full reserve of his mana. He would sleep a full fifteen hours afterwards, but Alfred was always the dutiful servant.

He imagined the spell he wanted to do, and inscribed it onto a ring of golden light, forming it around his wrist. He did the same thing again, adding a second, third, and fourth ring.

A spell of this magnitude, of Chosen level and higher, couldn't be cast by intent alone. It required an incantation to solidify the vast amount of mana into reality. "Indeed."

He cast the spell known as Saint's Wrath. "Oh mighty Three, hear my prayer! Joy, give hope for the future to the victims of these fiends! Death, make sure these sinners suffer in your playground! Order, make sure they are offered redemption and rest!"

The rings exploded into dust, soaring into the night sky like fireflies. The golden light spun and swirled as it reached the sky above the fortress. By now, the men serving Rikito would have seen the light, while Rikito himself likely already felt his unavoidable doom.

The magic reformed in the sky into a larger ring, one large enough to cover the entire fort. Henry could hear the horns, the alarm bell, the screams of orders being given to the panicking masses.

Four pillars of light blasted down and disintegrated the towers in an instant. The screaming stopped immediately, because everyone in attendance was stunned silent.

It wasn't over yet, either. The pillars began to move in a spiral along the ring, removing any hope of avoiding the devastation as it closed in on the main fortress. Henry watched in awe at the pinnacle of his power, his vision going blurry.

"Alfred, I'm trusting you to pick off any survivors. After you're done, make haste home."

Alfred bowed at the order, staying that way until Henry laid down to rest, his job done. "It will be done, my Lord. When I am done, there will be no evidence we, or the fort, were ever here."

Dainn

Lord Henry returned after twelve nights, but acted like it was the next day like always. I felt his return thanks to my alarm. I sensed something predatory, but unlike Yanxa's own aura, this one wasn't that of a ready killer. No, it was a resting killer.

Henry had left to kill, that much was certain. I was able to recognize his aura from the times I was able to detect it in the past, but it was a little different this time. More unrestrained.

I had a theory, and it was confirmed when he arrived at ten the next day, a day before Emilia's birthday. When he arrived he was his usual roguish Lord self, and his killer presence was all but hidden.

It would appear as though he had taught himself to hide his killer side, but once he let it out, it took time to reel back in. He had been recovering from a post-bloodspilling hangover.

I was all ready for the next day, and had already checked in with Eifa to confirm she was still available, so I decided to do a little investigating today.

Of course, that first involved me figuring out what to do with Emilia. She came out to watch me practice my second magic class of the day, which was with Delugia today, along with Hannah. They tended to watch in silence, save for the occasional cheer and applaud.

Hannah was friendlier with me, but she still tended to do her own thing after lessons each day. Emilia had been spending more time with her, per my request on her behalf, but today was certainly a Dainn Day in her mind. I didn't mind, but how do I explain that I plan to stalk her father to try and gleam what kind of man he truly was?

I was just so conflicted. On the one hand, I did have zero reason to distrust the man. But on the other, I knew there was blood on his hands. Fresh blood, too. How could I ignore the very real possibility that he could end up losing control and turning on his own kin?

"Emilia," I said as I came over at the end of the lesson, toweling the sweat off my forehead. Hannah was already gone. "I need help with something. Can I count on you?"

She beamed immediately, jumping up and down. "Of course! I'll be your affliction!"

It took me a minute to connect the dots. "Yes you will, but the word is assistant."

She nodded like she understood, but I wasn't sure. It didn't matter. "Okay! So what do I do?"

"Just follow me around. I'm going to try and maintain a new spell as I move around the manor, and if I get dizzy I'll need you there to help." It wasn't entirely a lie, nor the whole truth. In actuality, I was planning to plant one of my alarms directly on Lord Henry. I discovered that it did more than I ever intended the night before.

When I sensed Henry, I also found that I could feel vibrations. They were muddled, but also clearly identifiable as a horse-drawn cart on cobblestones.

I figured that with a little fine tuning to the spell, I might be able to create a scrying spell, of sorts.

"Okay! But, uh, don't expect any White magic. I'm tapped out from class," she laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of her head apologetically.

"Ok, so…" I had to make it seem like I only just thought of this. "Well, I'll need a test subject, so how about…" I tried to make it look like I was weighing our options, but she beat me to it surprisingly.

"Oh! What about daddy! He's been gone for so long, so how about we include him!"

I tried my best to not seem too eager. "Great idea, Em! But he does seem a bit tired, after his trip. Maybe we should do it secretly, so if it doesn't work we won't have bothered him."

She paused, looking up at me with those pink eyes. "That's… a great idea!"

I hid my smug smile, since convincing Emilia wasn't the hard part. Besides that, I felt kind of bad for manipulating her like this.

We set off, leaving the training grounds, heading through the locker room and then the south gallery hall. From there we had to guess where to go. He could be upstairs in the master bedroom, but more likely he would be planning for tomorrow's event, in the grand hall where everything was being set up.

I led her there, and as we approached, I held up a hand to slow her down as we crept to peek around the corner.

"We're like spies!" Emilia whispered excitedly. I looked around the corner. The Hera estate had hired a crew of thirty workers and Gauss to set everything up. Six large banquet tables have been brought in, including one at the Lord's throne. Brand new chandeliers have been brought in and are being installed. Gauss was supervising everything and using light to pinpoint where he wanted certain things to go.

Henry was also here. I didn't know what he was doing, but it seemed he was zoned out. He was standing in the center of the hall, swaying slightly as he held his head high, eyes closed. He was expressionless, and eerily so. It was as if he were a mannequin.

"Wait, what is that?" I whispered to myself in horror.

In all my time here, not once have I felt any trace of mana on or surrounding Lord Henry. He was magicless, as most people were, or so I had thought.

I could feel it, here in this moment, faintly swirling around him.

It was like a painting of a raging maelstrom, only I could see now that this entire time he had the opacity turned all the way down, to the point I couldn't see it. He had been dampening his magic, and based on what little he was letting seep out now, I could tell he has more potent ability than any of the instructors he hired.

Even Sara Leanna, his only Chosen master, was dwarfed by the Lord of Vatica.

I swore to myself. How could I possibly put anything on this man without him noticing? It would be near impossible. Someone so adept at hiding his own strength would be able to detect any foreign spell with ease.

More than that, it seemed to me that a man this careful wouldn't be slipping like this unless he was actively searching for someone or something. My plan was done, before it ever even began.

"Hey, Emilia, this might be a bad time. He looks stressed out. How about instead we go grab some mochi?"

"Yeah!" She was much too loud, and I had to grab her hand and drag her away before we were seen.

Henry

Henry was in high alert mode. Upon his return to the city last night, on his way to the Trinity Church to debrief with Mother Michelle, when he had felt an unmistakable presence right here in Vatica. It would seem he had been right.

Death's Hand was here in Vatica, but for what purpose? He's been searching for signs of them, and in doing so he's lost his grip on his concealment, thus exposing himself.

In short, he was panicking. Henry, who was a trained and practiced assassin, and had even served Death's Hand for a few years. But that was long ago. They worked differently now, went from a discerning organization to nothing more than hired killers.

But still, he's heard that their current leaders, a triumvirate, were nothing to be scoffed at. If one was here in Vatica, and was blatantly oozing bloodlust, then there was only one thing that could mean. It was a declaration, a dark omen sent directly to Henry himself.

He opened his eyes and put his concealment back in order. He turned and marched out of the grand hall to find Bartleby. He needed to amp up the defenses before tomorrow.