45 (II)

Deception

“Gate Lord!” Shiv said, doing his best imitation of Oldsmith. The automaton was such a pompous prick in life that it wasn’t hard to get some of the traits down. “I am so very, very glad that you came!” He rose awkwardly from behind his chair and temporary desk, trying to sell the appearance of internal damage. “Can you imagine? After he dared to attack you, he stole a new identity and came after me! Why, if it weren’t for Pathbearer Siggy finally managing to escape from the assassin’s foul clutches and warn my personal bodyguards…” Shiv gestured to the disguised Tran and Heather. “I shudder to imagine the, uh, the—the disaster!”

Shit, I need to learn more words or something, Shiv grumbled internally. My rich jackass vocabulary isn’t large enough.

The Gate Lord ignored Shiv altogether and glared down at the corpse. A few seconds passed as Confriga just glared at the body with his single, black eye. Shiv noted that the Gate Lord had ivory-bright skulls planted against his radiant chestplate where three children once were once impaled. Thing was, these skulls were pretty small too…

Absolute disgust rushed through Shiv, and he fought to hide it. What is with this psycho and child-murder? Is killing kids part of his Path? He studied the Gate Lord more carefully, and to his pleasure, noticed parts of the Heroic Pathbearer’s flesh were still burned as well. Looks like I wasn’t the only one that got a good licking.

Shifting his attention away from the Town Lord, Shiv took in his entourage’s magical display first and foremost. Most of them seemed to have a uniform degree of Magical Resistance—which made Shiv realize they probably had Enchantments on their armor instead of the actual skill. Most of them wore plates that were similar in design to Confriga’s, but theirs glowed far dimmer, more like a sunset than a solar flare.

Besides the automaton, the eight biological signatures flanking Confriga were of the same race as him as well—all single-eyed, vertically-mouthed, tentacle-headed humanoids with varying tones to their odd, slick skin. While they were clearly all of the same race, their builds differed greatly.

There were two Psychomancers, a dedicated Pyromancer, and the Biomancer who had a far wider and layered mana field compared to his own who he’d sensed earlier, all of whom were of the tall and thin variety, like Confriga. There were also two massive, 811-sized bodyguards who each had two thick, corded whips hanging off their hips, a demon with a prosthetic focus crystal lodged in place of their original eye, a six-armed automaton who was entirely torso aside from the limbs, and someone Shiv had encountered before.

He recognized her immediately. Wearing the guise of the dead merc from Siggy’s search party, he’d passed her as he and the goblin left the long-term storage building, while she went down the way he came alongside a dedicated team of Pyromancer automata.

He also remembered the glimpse Foreshadowing gave him into her history, then. Considering she was brought along by the Gate Lord, Shiv suspected Confriga really didn’t know anything about her personal vendetta.

Her armor was the dimmest of all the demons, and Shiv noticed how she didn’t seem to carry any weapons. Still, something told him she was armed and more than ready for a fight.

As he studied her, she was glaring back at him. Her bright-red eye gleamed ominously in contrast to her dark-pink skin. Something hardened inside Shiv as her gaze lingered. He could practically feel her gaze burning through him. A second later, her eye flashed once with a spark of mana. He knew she used her Analyze Skill.

Shit. She’s definitely suspicious already. Also, I need that skill at some point.

After regarding him a moment longer, one of her head-tentacles twitched, and she began observing the corpse on the ground.

At the center of the room, Confriga still stood over Shiv’s body. Shiv couldn’t read the Gate Lord’s facial expression very well, but the asshole’s body language was definitely a rage-tremble people did when they were trying to keep themselves in check. Slowly, Confriga reached down and picked the body up by the face. Shiv applied a series of horrific wounds to the corpse—but mostly left the face spared. That way—

Confriga roared and tightened his hand. After a split second of struggle, Shiv saw channels of force surge through the Gate Lord’s clenching arm, and, with a sickening noise, the corpse’s Diamond Shelled head came apart. The skull lifted off like a lid from the pressure and shot into the ceiling as everything inside came spraying out everywhere. A jet of viscera hit Shiv’s shoulder, and one hit Heather’s face and splashed through her visor.

And this was when the first major cracks in Shiv’s great deception began to show.

The disguised Jump Mage froze, convulsed for a second, and then began a desperate struggle not to heave. Several of Confriga’s entourage eyed her with vague interest, while Shiv wanted to leap over the table to strangle her. If he still had that Orcish Skill, he probably would have.

Godsdammit, Heather, Shiv thought. He needed to lure their attention away from the elite bodyguard who was bothered by a little gore.

“Yes, truly,” Shiv began, talking to Confriga as the Gate Lord was focused on squeezing every bit of red out from inside the headless corpse like it was a length of toothpaste. “I felt like doing that as well, Great Hero Confriga. You truly have avenged us—”

The Gate Lord snarled and launched the ruined corpse at Shiv. The sudden explosion of violence took even Shiv by surprise as his old body crashed and folded against him. Diamond was hard, but adaptive adamantine was practically unbreakable in comparison. The already ruined corpse splattered apart against Shiv, but he didn’t even stagger.

More accurately, he forgot to stagger. Oh. Oldsmith would have staggered—the poor bastard was only an Adept in terms of Physicality, and not even that when it came to Toughness. The difference in Shiv’s true skills and the ones used by his Perfect Semblance were so absurd that Confriga stopped mid-step to do a double-take, and the attention of several of the other demonic tentacle-headed bastards snapped to him as well. Especially that of the suspicious one that analyzed him earlier.

Shit,shit, shit, shit, shit,

Shiv thought. His mind raced. A second crack had formed in his great deception. A suppressed groan sounded from the side, and Shiv saw Tran sliding down to clutch his right knee. A single step away, a large fragment of the corpse’s pelvis lay in a small puddle of blood. Shit, godsdammit, Tran! He must have gotten hit by a piece of shrapnel when the corpse broke against Shiv’s body. Using his Biomancy, Shiv sensed that Tran’s inner leg band-things were pretty sprained from the impact and starting to swell. Why didn’t you level your natural Toughness? Dammit!

Now, both his “bodyguards” looked like they were on the verge of collapse, “Oldsmith” looked like he was made out of adamantine while resembling an aluminum can, and the Gate Lord was swinging his eye between all three of them.

Shitshitshitshitshit!

“Ah, uh, yes! Good throw, Gate Lord! Truly, your strength is magnificent. You have completely dismantled the miserable cur! So much that even a-a-a… even a bot of my… bod…y model could withstand the impact.”

Confriga went back to staring at Shiv exclusively. His pitch-black eye narrowed slightly. “Did I give you permission to talk to me, Master-Advisor?”

“I—no?” Shiv said, not understanding what the Gate Lord was implying.

“Then why are you talking?” the Gate Lord growled.

Shiv wasn’t sure what the hells was happening. “To… offer you details? One must speak to do that, yes?”

The Gate Lord fell silent, but never stopped glaring. “Did you find a spine with this body, machine? This—this fake body you brought me.” And that was the third crack in Shiv’s plan. “I faced the assassin. I struck him twice, and it only moved him. He has Master-Tier Toughness. Not Adept. He also threw a fake body at me during our encounter! One like this! One that was easy to break and shatter!”

Huh. I didn’t really consider that part either, now that he mentions it… Confriga stormed forth with fists balled. Shiv choked back a sigh but rolled his arms as he felt a surge of an adrenaline rush through him. Well, I wasn’t good at this stealth and spy Aviary shit anyway. Alright, asshole, let’s pick up where we stopped last time. Best to see if I can kill most of your guys first, though…

Just as Shiv was preparing to kick the table into the Gate Lord to start off the fight, a voice came from the back of the room. “Lesser Marshal. Wait. Something is wrong!”

The Gate Lord stopped just a step away from Shiv’s desk, and both of them turned to face the speaker. It was, to Shiv’s immediate dissatisfaction, the damned pink-skinned, red-eyed one. Because of course it would be.

“There is no need, Guardshead Leu,” Confriga said, his tone sharp and sibilant. “I noticed the problems as well. I noticed that this machine is lying to us. Everything in this room is a lie! These are not bodyguards.” Confriga sneered at Heather and Tran. “Clearly no bodyguards worthy of you, Master-Advisor. But what was that you said to me before? That you were just a thinker? That your Physicality and Toughness have always been lacking due to your peaceful and diplomatic nature?”

This book’s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

The Gate Lord let out a vicious breath. “And yet, you remain unbroken. Unscathed. Even after I flung an Adept-Tier body at you. How curious. Is this not curious, Guardshead?”

The female demon bowed slightly. “Indeed, Lesser Marshal. But I fear the situation may be even worse than we feared. For how would they have access to the spy’s body?”

“Perhaps the true spy is right in front of me,” Confriga said.

The second time, Shiv prepared to hit the bastard first.

“That cannot be,” Guardshead Leu said.

The second time, Shiv stopped. What the hells is her game here?

“Just what are you implying, Guardshead?” Confriga said, impatience seeping into his voice.

“I suspect the Republic is lying to us. But in a different way. This is not the Master-Advisor. That much is obvious. But he is no New Albion spy.” She added a scornful laugh to her remark. “Just look upon this scene. Think of it, Lesser Marshal. Would a trained agent of Aviary do any of this? This… poorly thought-out ruse? These bodyguards who are Adepts and no more. This singular body that is in such ruined condition, but whose wounds do not match what could be delivered by a Stellarite blade. And this imposter, whose acting is so poor even a tadpole could see through it.”

Shiv felt both offended and embarrassed by this point. This was his first and only time doing a spy thing, and it turned out a lot harder and more complicated than he expected. Worse, he didn’t even have reliable support. Now, he was getting mocked by some squid-head to serve System knows what end she was trying to achieve.

But then he remembered she wanted to kill Confriga. And where inexperience failed him, his intuition picked up.

Okay. We’re not good at the whole planning thing yet. Time to go back to what works for me: Instinct and making more shit up as I do it.

“Godsdammit,” Shiv said, holding up his hands. He didn’t exactly know where he was going with this, but anything to confuse the squids more was a win in his book. “You got me. Fine. I’m not Master-Advisor Oldsmith.”

Confriga went still before turning to glare at him. “Then, who are you?”

“I’m… a body-double, dumbass.”

The insult made Confriga stomp forward. Shiv smashed his own table in half before the bastard could toss it out of the way. Splinters shattered and bounced off both of them. The Gate Lord towered over Shiv, but the Deathless just sneered. Compared to 811, this bastard was tiny.

“Insult me again,” Confriga growled.

“If you insist, asshole. But the Republic doesn’t pay me to talk shop to felling squids, so let’s start dealing in the truth, yeah?”

Silver Tongue > 6

“The truth?” Confriga said, his voice high with outraged disbelief. “That you are the spy?”

“He is not,” Guardshead Leu said. Confriga turned towards her, and she continued. “No spy of Aviary would allow this to happen. This one is…”

“I’m here to make sure the Master-Advisor stays alive, the Inquisition stays happy, and you stay ignorant. Well. So much for the last part.” Shiv was just trying to go with what Leu was doing. She seemed to be making a way out for him, and right now he would take it. Not that he still didn’t have half-a-heart that wanted to finish his fight with Confriga right here, right now. But if a fight did start, he didn’t think he could keep Tran or Heather alive. Definitely not Siggy. Confriga was a Heroic Pathbearer. Shiv guessed the others were all Masters.

This would end with more than a few deaths. A good portion of them probably Shiv’s own.

“What is your game?” Confriga hissed at Shiv. “What is the point of this deception?”

Shiv thought about it for a moment. And decided to go for a modified version of the truth. “Because the New Albion rat was going for the core, you dipshit. He was trying to steal our core.”

And suddenly, something in Confriga’s posture changed. He took a step back, the air of hostility replaced by confusion, and… was that tension? “What? And how does he know?”

“Do you think I would know that? Why do you think the Inquisition had Master-Advisor pompous prick moved out and me put in? Because some Aviary face-taker is in the area, and they needed a harder target. Someone that could actually put the bastard down.” Confriga wanted to keep talking, but Shiv spiked his Dread Aura. Cracking his aura against Confriga felt like running into a steel wall as a mortal, but even if the Gate Lord wasn’t scared whatsoever, he was briefly stunned. “And before you flap that ugly head of yours, no. We weren’t going to tell you. Because this is your fault.”

“My fault? My fault!” the Gate Lord snarled.

“Yeah. You let him in. You were supposed to keep this place secure. But hey, considering how fast your security responded to his little brawl, I don’t know what I expected.”

“Silence!” Confriga roared. “You will not demean me.”

“And you will stay out of the Republic’s way while we finish this thing off. You’ll take the body, announce the gate lockdown’s over, and you’ll give the core to me.”

“Impossible.” Confriga let out a laugh. “You… you have already greeted me with one flimsy deception. And you expect me to simply offer you my trust? My submission?”

Shiv got the sense that he might end up in a fight with this guy anyway, no matter what he said.

And then, once again, Leu stepped in. “I have a solution, Lesser Marshal. The Republic has breached our trust and broken the contract. We are no longer dealing with the Master-Advisor, but forces from the Inquisition itself. As such, this one is not protected. But we can still make use of him.”

Confriga’s rageful stare never left Shiv, but he replied to Leu all the same. “What do you have in mind, Guardshead?”

“Leave me with them. I will discuss the price of their infraction. They must pay greatly for offending the honor of those who signed the contract. Your’s. Compact’s. And Lord Scorn’s. But now we also know what the agent wants: The core.”

The Gate Lord let out a growl. “Indeed. Wise, Guardshead. Who knows what we might obtain through interrogation.”

“Interrogation best handled by a colder, lesser heart,” Leu said. “You stand righteous and offended, Lesser Marshal. You would be right to strike these deceivers dead, but I beg of you to grant me the pleasure of extracting results and delivering pain. They know more than they reveal—and I suspect that, since they have the agent’s body, they experienced an encounter but failed to slay or seize the true agent. And we all know how desperate Vicar Sullain is to finish his retributive war. Thus, this one must have come up with the plan to use a decoy they obtained from the assassin—like in similar circumstances to the one the assassin used on you, Lesser Marshal—to deceive us and bid us to open the path and hand over the core.”

She turned her glowing, red eye on Shiv. “Tell me, double, do I speak true?”

Shiv regarded her for a moment. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to kill her first if a fight broke out or give her a big hug for handing him a ladder out of this spy mess. He held up his hands. “You got me. Was it that obvious?”

Acting > 12

“The deception? Yes. But the other details are mostly guesswork,” Leu said. “I suspect you will have a good deal more to tell. Cooperate, and the penalty will only be financial.”

“Fine. The core’s the thing that matters. No expense spared.” Shiv chuckled bitterly, trying to sound like some of the veteran soldiers that ate at the Swan-Eating Toad. “What the top says, goes, right?”

Confriga considered the situation for a moment. “I will not forget what the Republic has done to me today. When the true Master-Advisor returns, tell him this consulate will be demolished. Your people may infest a different gate than mine.”

“Yeah, looking forward to forgetting you soon too,” Shiv said.

“You—” Confriga whirled. But Leu was already headed for Shiv, both arms clasped behind her back. The Gate Lord let out a vicious snort. “Make them understand their folly, Guardshead. That is an order.”

“It will be done, Lesser Marshal,” she said.

Confriga shot a final look at Shiv before twisting on his heels and commanding the rest of the group to follow with a snap. The Psychomancer stared at Siggy—who had stayed remarkably quiet during the entire conversation—for a moment before calling out to Leu. “Guardshead, should we—”

“I will see them delivered to you soon after, Truthseer Huvew. I wish to uncover what I can through gentler means first, so that you may conduct your work with higher efficiency.”

The Psychomancer’s head-tentacles curled as he bowed. He left the room alongside Confriga and the rest of the entourage. Now. The only one of their number left was Leu, and Shiv wasn’t sure if he was out of the frying pan or into the fire. The Guardshead walked over to close the door, which thankfully hadn’t been blown entirely off its hinges when Confriga entered, so the wardings should still be in effect. He kept an eye on the others in the meantime, using his Biomancy to track their progress. If Confriga wanted, he could probably tear through the entire building in an instant and get back to Shiv. The bastard had the temper for it, too.

Need to watch that one. Don’t want to get ambushed by someone that hits that hard. But first… what’s her deal.

Shiv folded his arms and regarded Leu. “So. How do you intend to extract results and deliver pain?”

She just stared at him. “I have a question first: Are you genuinely stupid or just incompetent?”

“What?”

“Because only a fool would believe the second story you made up on the spot. A fool like Confriga. Truly. A body-double. A conspiracy to combat a conspiracy?”

Shiv stared at her. “It… How do you know that’s not true?”

“Because the Inquisition would still make sure a proper body-double is supplied by adequate guards.” She eyed Heather and Tran. “There are still many, many parts that don’t fit. And you are greatly fortunate that I was here.”

“Right.” Shiv nodded, becoming annoyed with this condescension. “Listen, I’ll be honest with you if you’ll be honest with me.”

She laughed. “You assume you hold any position of power here. Why should I give you anything?”

“Just to satisfy my curiosity,” Shiv said. “I want to know: How does it feel to work for someone who butchered your brother in front of you?”

Every last bit of confidence vanished from Leu’s posture. She staggered as if struck, and her eye widened. “I… You… How…”

“So. Can we be honest? Because I’m actually curious.”

Silver Tongue > 7

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