“The first layer is to avoid notice altogether. The second is to be seen, but disregarded. The third is to be seen and regarded as someone who belongs. The fourth is to be suspected—but not of your true crime. The fifth is to be exposed, but make them confused about your next step.

There is no sixth layer. The sixth layer is where you are burned and cast aside, no longer any use to the Stolen Throne.

And many of you will be burned. Many of you will be dead. Many of you will be forgotten for years and years. But in this time you will hone your Path. You sink deeper into whatever darkness you are assigned, mold to whatever face you are told to wear, and deceive even yourself if you wish to survive and ascend to the status of a true noble.

For that is the prize of this service: rulership. For the Stolen Throne can only be held by the Council of the Faceless—and that is something which must be proven.

So, beware, little rabbits. Beware. For all the world will be your enemy, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you. So shed your fur fast and quick and take your masks off the ground.

Give up your old face, and take up a new one…”

-Lecture at Aviary delivered to new trainees

33 (I)

Mask

“A-a-and then, i-i-it told me it w-w-wanted my f-faacccee!” the Umbral child sobbed loudly, holding onto one of the Umbral sisters. “H-e-e—” She took a ragged, wheezing breath. “He said he was going to take my face from my boooodddyyy!”

And she wasn’t alone. There were hundreds of slaves being gathered and guided in the aftermath of the battle, and all of them bore scars of one variety or another. However, a specific group of slaves were trapped in the throes of absolute terror, refusing to follow the members of the Arachnae Order—who were definitely not there—or even the Weaveress Jump Magi trying to get them to safety.

The reason behind their refusal: They wanted to know if the Skintaker was still out there in the woods. And they would not go unless they were absolutely protected the entire time, every step of the way.

“I saw its eyes… it glowed in the darkness behind the skin… Its face was a mask of death! Death!”

“It ripped the slavers apart! Taunted us with their blood! I—I still taste the foulness in my mouth, oh—oh, Great One, I can still feel the hotness of the viscera soaking my arm…”

An automaton wept softly, their electronic voice breaking down to crackles. “One shudders to imagine the lusts and desires of such a beast. Of what darkness lurks behind those pale eyes…”

Far above them, Shiv stood at the edge of a titanic mushroom cap as he clutched his head with both hands. More wails of terror came from the slaves, and that earned them even more assurances from the Umbral Sisters that the Skintaker had been slain and dealt with and would never be seen again.

“Godsdammit,” Shiv muttered, feeling slightly worse than terrible at all the trauma he just caused.

“Yeah,” was all Adam managed, looking over the edge with an equally uneasy look on his face. Uva pinched the bridge of her nose, unable to look at either of the men.

“Say the thing, Adam,” Shiv muttered. “Say the thing.”

“What thing?” Adam asked.

“‘You’re a godsdamned bastard, Shiv,’” Shiv said. He wasn’t as good at doing Adam’s voice as Adam was at doing his.

“I… no, I don’t think I can this time. I bloody encouraged you to do this. I thought—It was a good idea. It was! I wasn’t wrong to suggest this. You said the slavers broke. They were too terrified to fight back. You got multiple levels in Intimidation from this encounter alone!”

“Yes, and some of that was from a child,” Uva said, her voice flat. “A child who will likely need many, many sessions with a Psychomancer to truly heal from this experience.” She eyed Shiv. “What possessed you to say those things?”

“I was trying to scare the slavers for more levels. I’ll… I’ll make it clearer next time. Oh, I finally managed to perfectly extract skin off a body.”

Uva blinked. “You did? I remember you complaining about how you didn’t get how the Sculptor did it.”

“Yeah, I was trying to do too much at once. There are just a few parts you need to move and alter, and then the body practically handles itself. Biology is like that in a lot of ways.”

“Interesting,” Uva said. “Very disturbing but…” She rubbed his arm. “It seems to make you happy. So. Good.”

Shiv managed a smile despite hearing the child starting to hyperventilate below. “Oh, I also heard how you put the cave biter to sleep. Real quick too.”

The Umbral Psychomancer offered the slightest of smiles. “Its body was large, but its mind was simple. It had a bit of Magical Resistance, but getting through took little effort on my part. After that… Well, it was a matter of shifting frustration into weariness. I also took hold of its eye stalk and used it to burn some Compact dungeaters. That was cathartic.”

“I wish I could’ve seen that.”

Uva pressed her lips together. “Take off your helmet and mask then.” Shiv did that briefly. He got a memory of a massive dangling eye releasing streams of fiery mana into fleeing slavers, breaking their formations, while lighting-tipped arrows struck down others. Shiv promptly got a few other memories too, but those more of a private nature.

“Have I told you how glad I am you’re a Psychomancer?” he asked.

“You have told me many things,” Uva said, holding her head high proudly. “That is among them.”

Shiv smirked. And looked at the carnage they left behind. Who would have thought an ambush comprised of six Umbrals and two surfacers would leave over a hundred slavers dead and almost six hundred slaves rescued. The only way things could have gone better is if they were more precise and had more time to prepare. Or if they had more support.

“This was pretty magnificently planned, Young Lord,” Shiv said, feeling a bit awkward at complimenting Adam. The sentiment seemed shared as Adam just managed a stiff nod before he changed his mind and shook his head.

“No. Still too many died. I—I should have been more aggressive with you. In fact, I should have helped you reposition with my arrows. I didn’t think of that at the time—”

“Yeah, but—”

“There is no but. People are dead. People are dead because I didn’t perform to the optimal standards.” Adam gritted his teeth. “There is no excuse for any failure. Even if the success seems greater.”

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Shiv studied Adam, and realized just how much pressure the Young Lord placed on himself. “Did the academy teach you to be this rigorous?”

“No. I just… I can hear them die. I can sense their hearts stop—their last words…” Adam swallowed. “I was close to them. But still too slow. Too far. Too damned passive.” His expression hardened. “It won’t happen next time. I won’t let it. I won’t let Blackedge be this.”

“We won’t,” Shiv corrected.

The Young Lord regarded Shiv and begrudgingly nodded. “Yes. I must admit, Omenborn, you are… adequate at following instructions.”

Shiv frowned at Adam. “Adequate? How should I have been better? Should I have praised your name every time you called me?”

“It is customary for a soldier to offer due respect to their superior.”

“But I’m the Master Pathbearer here.”

“Lesson one, Shiv. Lesson one.”

Uva snorted. Shiv laughed. Even Adam managed a slight smile. The Umbral let out a breath. “You have both done something noble here today. I shouldn’t be surprised, but… I will thank you on the Composer’s and the Order’s behalf.”

“Unnecessary,” Adam said, holding his bow high and grinning. “I feel that I have yet to properly pay out my debt to her for this work of art. He paused. “Shiv. Give the rapier, too. I am finished with fear.”

“Fear?” Shiv asked.

Adam nodded. “I—the reason why I didn’t ask for it before despite… despite what it offers is because I was scared. I was terrified when I held the blade because I remember her coming at me, the rapier slashing against my armor over and over.” Adam grimaced. “She battered me for the pleasure of hearing me cry out. If I didn’t have my armor… I still see her in the edge of the blade. Still.”

Shiv blinked. “I didn’t know that. I—do you want the mask instead?”

“No,” Adam said. “I prefer the blade by far, and deception is not of my nature. I just need to—”

“You should see a Psychomancer. That can help.” Both Adam and Shiv looked at Uva as she finished speaking. She rolled her eyes. “One specializing in healing trauma, not dealing it.”

Adam shook his head. “No. I must… I should do this alone. For myself. For my—” He was about to say pride, but then turned, glared at Valor who was just staring at him. “Godsdamn you, skull.”

“I said nothing,” Valor replied, though Shiv could hear a grin in the Legendary Pathbearer’s voice.

“Your presence says enough,” Adam spat. “I’ll go see a bloody Psychomancer later. Never mention this to me again.”

“Are you talking to them or me?” Shiv asked. “Because… I’m going to make fun of you for this. And everything else. At some point.”

“You’re a godsdamned bastard, Shiv.”

“There’s the line,” Shiv snorted. “Alright. Time to find a face I prefer and see which corpses I want to keep.”

Both Adam and Uva let out a mutual sigh.

“This is your fault,” Uva muttered.

Adam’s eyebrows practically shot over his forehead. “What? He was always like this! You know this better than I do! He babbles to you constantly about cooking or Biomancy and you just stare at him longingly.”

Uva narrowed her eyes. “Yes. Because he’s actually sweet, but you’re encouraging him to be some kind of war demon intent on scaring small children.”

“One of the slavers passed out,” Shiv said, trying to defend himself. “I think I scared them more.”

“And then you killed them, dear. So, they’re not really scared anymore at all, and the child will need years of therapy. Ergo, focused on scaring small children. Because your friend encouraged you to wear your own flayed skin.”

“I’m not his friend!” Adam spat.

Shiv thought about what Uva just said and frowned. He felt bad again. “Damn. The logic tracks.”

Adam looked at Shiv like he was simple. “No, it doesn’t! I—go rip someone’s face off and see if you can wear it, you psychopath!”

Unfortunately, Adam was a bit too loud then, and his voice reached down. Where the freed slaves were. Where a certain already traumatized child was prompted to look up while Shiv looked down. Her eyes widened. She held up a small, shaking finger. “S-S-S-S-Skintaker.”

She shrieked. The people around her looked up and shrieked. The Umbral sisters below were soon forced to take desperate measures to keep the situation under control.

Shiv went back to holding his head again. Adam adopted a look of despair. Uva pinched the bridge of her nose harder.

“I’m—I’m just going to put them all to sleep,” Uva hissed.

“That might be best,” Shiv said, taking a few steps back away from the ledge in shame. The screaming continued. And then they turned to yawns. And then silence.

“Great job, Cherished Sister Uva,” Ikki cried from below. “Now, flood their minds with more memories of your boyfriend so they will never heal properly! WHAT WERE THE THREE OF YOU DOING ON THE LEDGE LOOKING DOWN? WHAT POSSESSED YOU TO DO THAT?”

Uva drew in a suffering breath as her Psychomancy spell broke apart. Slowly, she leaned over to Adam. “This. Is. Your. Fault.”

***

“Shiv, no, let her go, you’ll make a terrible girl,” Uva said, shaking her head.

Shiv sighed. “Yeah, I thought so too. Alright. Back in the no pile.” He chucked the dead slaver into the second mass grave—the one filled with those he intended to discard entirely. The first mass grave was technically his cloak, as Adam muttered sarcastically. A moment later, all three of them—and Valor—agreed that there was nothing actually sarcastic about the statement, and thus Shiv’s Cloak of Midnight’s Kindred was unofficially named Mass Grave One.

Mass Grave One was packed mostly with dimensionals and the good-looking slavers. Because if Shiv was going to pretend to be a piece of shit, he might as well be disguised as a polished piece of shit. Tragically, the pretty slavers were running thin, and Shiv still hadn’t found the perfect one…

Cloak’s getting really heavy, too. Even for me. I’m starting to sink into the soil. I’ll need to offload some of these bodies back in the city. Maybe I can sell them to Dven or something.”

“Just choose one of them,” Adam cried. “By the Auroral Council, what are we doing?”

“We’re finding someone that I can actually mimic,” Shiv snapped back. “Now, Young Lord, since you don’t want to be sorting through the bodies because your nice-smelling boy hands might be contaminated by all these corpses—some of which you have made, maybe find something else to do instead of badgering me?”

“I cannot believe—” Adam let out a loud growl of frustration. “Valor. Valor, please just tell him to pick a body. And tell him this corpse-defiling is undignified and beneath a Pathbearer.”

The skull looked at Shiv for a moment. “I hid inside the rectal cavity of a large ogress for three days and three nights to assassinate a rival Master once.”

Shiv froze, a body dangling from his hands. “What?”

“Shiv, focus,” Uva sighed. She shot a look at Valor from the corner of her eyes, but was otherwise too respectful of the Great Valor Thann to voice anything close to disgust.

Adam had no such compunctions. “You what?”

“Three days. I thought of many things while I was in there. I understood that sometimes… one must do the distasteful to achieve what they truly desire. But being able to do the distasteful at times is freedom in of itself. And so it stopped being so disgusting for me.”

“I don’t know, Valor, it still sounds kind of gross,” Shiv muttered as he shook his head at a headless body. “Hey, Adam, you know I was going for faces, so why did you shoot so many of them in the head?”

“I’ll deal with your madness later,” Adam snarled at Shiv. “Valor. What in the gods possessed you to tell us this?”

The skull bobbed as if slightly offended. “I just think you’re being judgmental. Stealing the face of a slaver to infiltrate and liberate many is a noble sacrifice on his part.”

“How about this one, Uva?” Shiv asked, holding a new option.

The Psychomancer frowned after staring at the corpse for a while. “Where are his teeth?”

“Don’t know, ask Adam.” Shiv grumbled.

“No,” Uva declared. “Go through the rest. Be thorough. I think there was one that looked like he wasn’t carrying some kind of disease of the face.”

“Got it, Sister Uva.” Shiv saluted.

Adam stared flatly at Valor through the entire conversation.

The skull didn’t respond immediately. “I think… it is heartwarming how love can bloom. And how people from different worlds can understand each other.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep