'What is he planning?'

Standing in the meeting room, with a large map strewn across the ancient wooden table that had come with the castle. Small figures were placed on the map, as well as miniature structures, representing the individual forces and the forts.

Lord Corvus stood at the table, leaning on it as he looked over it in deep contemplation, while his lowly assistant Seth stood behind him, his back pressed against the wall as if he was trying to blend into the wall itself. A feat he was actually becoming closer in achieving, thanks to the new piece of jewellery he wore on his finger.

His thumb idly played with the ring on his index finger, rolling it back and forth as he was deep in thought. He still wore the controller for the shock collar even though his rabid dog had been put down. But he had shifted that to his ring finger and now wore something new on his index.

It was actually inspired by that rabid dog. A pure silver ring, with small runic lettering intricately carved into its circumference and which gently pulsed with energy.

It was a crude recreation of Tiff's abilities. He couldn't turn invisible, or make someone completely ignore him, but with it he could at least suppress his natural presence and reduce it down to the unassuming level he was supposed to be at.

Whenever anyone looked at him, they would simply see an average man, a sight they would quickly get bored of and choose to ignore themselves. Simple, but effective. He had called it his 'Ring of the Background Character'.

After the assassinations, it seemed like an extra step in his scapegoat routine was needed, just to be sure.

His puppet scapegoat lifted a piece of paper from the table, reading through the report quickly before moving onto the next. As he read, he casually waved his hand towards the table.

At the same time, two groups of figures standing atop the map came to life, marching across until they met in the middle. They drew swords, fought and killed each other. Their deaths exaggerated and performed in a very dramatic way, like children performing theatre.

One little figure grabbed a box and scampered away, while the remnants of the other group started to march back towards a miniature castle on the map.

When he finished reading the report, a different group started to move and perform their own miniature battles.

"You're such a show off, you know that? How can you be the only one here, and still be showing off?"

Astra laughed softly as she leaned against the door frame, watching his miniature theatre in action. Pushing herself off the door, she strolled over at a pace that seemed intentionally slow enough to give Seth ample time to appreciate her appearance, while still looking casual.

Her pretty civilian clothes had been replaced with a leather training outfit. Crafted from the hides of beasts and given proper padding, they were functional enough to protect during training but weren't as good as Requital armour. But that had to do for many, as a lot of their newest recruits had never fought beasts nor man, and had gained no Requitals.

They spared what they could for hunting parties in order to farm and get experience, but thankfully while he didn't get his production line set up like he dreamed of, Seth's boys were more than enough.

They could control their own group of his puppets and use them like apprentices. Thus two men had the capability of dozens, and still had time for their own project.

Speaking of, the 'Ghost Possession Armour' was progressing well, even if it needed a new name. They had found the right metal for it to work stably, and were now working on creating a better body for the ghost girl.

Apparently, she wasn't entirely happy about looking like a 6 foot tall man in full armour. God knows why, though.

Astra leaned over the table, looking over the figures with a soft smile. She lowered her hand, holding it flat in front of one of the mini soldiers, who immediately hopped onto her palm.

She let out a soft giggle that immediately brought a smile to Seth's face as she lifted the figure up to examine him.

"Where did you even find the time to make these guys? They're so detailed."

"Do you remember when we went to the market that day, the day of the Shattering?"

"Hmm, hard to forget that day. But what does that have to... oh, the clay doll girl! What was her name again? Vanya?"

"Rania. As it turns out, I technically never paid her for the demonstration she gave. I gave her a gift, but I promised to pay her and... well things got in the way. But she came looking for me when this war stuff broke out.

I paid her, finally, and offered her a job. Turns out her transcendent ability was simply creating better Ushabti bases. She can turn clay into anything she can imagine.

This isn't all she's doing. She's working on creating her Ushabti for supply lines and such, but I couldn't resist."

He laughed softly as he moved away from the wall to stand next to Astra, while his Lord puppet gestured to the figures on the map.

Astra smiled softly at him, picking up another figure, then a second and examining the pair closely.

"Is this supposed to be you? And I take it this is me."

The miniature versions of the two of them bowed to her, before starting to ballroom dance on the top of her palm.

"You have no idea how much I wish I could do this when I used to play Dragons and Dungeons. But this is different from a game..."

He let out a sigh as Astra placed the figures down, which had grown still once Seth stopped providing them with instructions. A serious expression took over Astra's face once more, although to many others it looked no different than her happy or angry expression, as she looked over the map.

"Are those positions right?"

"Yeah... It just makes no sense... I wish I could figure out what he was trying to do."

He let out another sigh as he glanced over the positions of the Lightbringers forts. He had reviewed the reports multiple times, got them double checked for authenticity. But no matter what, they came back and told him that they were true. This was how his enemy had laid out his forts.

The issue was, they made no sense. Their positioning seemed random, with tiny forts placed in strategically illogical positions and utterly abandoned after building a few things in them. Some of them didn't even have proper defences.

It seemed too planned and thought out to be simple incompetence. But no matter how much he looked at it, he couldn't figure out the importance of the positions. His first thought had been some focal points for a giant rune, but nothing in his understanding fit the bill.

It was infuriating.

"You're looking at it wrong."

Whirling around, the pair immediately summoned their weapons and turned to the cold, monotonous voice that came from the shadows of the room. When the owner of the voice stepped forwards, revealing a woman with dark features and glowing green eyes, Seth let out an annoyed sigh and dismissed his weapon.

Astra glared at the dragon, who simply shrugged and gave an amused smirk in response, before she reluctantly dismissed her weapon too.

"I was waiting for a better time, but watching you two whelps was beginning to turn my stomach. So sickeningly sweet. I thought it was best to step in before you start going at it like feral animals on the table.

I have no desire to see your mating process."

The smell of ozone in the room quickly rose as sparks flew around Astra's eyes. The table where her hands rested started to smoke and smoulder softly. Only when Seth placed his hand on her shoulder, did the rising storm begin to quell.

Letting out an amused, condescending chuckle, the dragon strolled over and handed Seth the small, wooden box she held in her hands.

"Do not open that. Ever. It is enchanted wood, made to perfectly preserve what is inside. If you open it, you ruin it. This one is the only free one. If you ruin that one, It will cost you dearly to get another.

My energy reserves are already dwindling pathetically low in this world. Ugh, the mana density is simply pathetic."

Her face twisted in disgust as she passed off the box to Seth, looking thoroughly unimpressed and irritated as she discussed their world as if it was some kind of run down slum.

But even if Seth couldn't open the box, he still knew exactly what it's contents were. A wide smile spread across his face as he stroked the box softly, and focused on the message that his faithful guardian Angel was displaying before him.

[Evolutionary Catalyst Detected!

Untainted Tear - Acquired]