Nameless King

'Black Sun Aristocrat definitely knows what he's doing, I had no idea he could be such a good leader.' Wain inwardly muttered while watching the memory.

After they got the artifact from the Vampire in the cave, Black Sun Aristocrat proceeded to the next step - weakening the enemy.

Whoooooosh.

Several shadows leaped from rooftop to rooftop under cover of darkness that enveloped the city on a cloudy night. It was a Dark Hand scout squad. Their leader was Raik, as he decided to take charge of the operation.

"Mr. Raik, the entrance is over there." One of the assassins said before pointing to a dark alleyway.

"Good. I remind you, try to avoid any fighting. Our job is to find the main vault and set up a portal there so the leader can destroy it. Understood?" Raik asked with a serious look.

The Assassins simply nodded as they turned into shadows.

The Dark Hand was a huge organization, those nobles at the feast were the organization's elders, but apart from them, many more people reported to the Black Sun Aristocrat. It was a whole mechanism in which every detail was important.

...

Raik and the assassins went down to the basement, that was the secret passage to the vault. Raik believed that information was one of their most powerful weapons, so Dark Hand won several crucial battles thanks to this approach.

"Mr. Raik, what shall we do?" Assassin asked while looking at several members of Scarlet Tree in the distance.

"Just go around them. It's a regular patrol. Sure, I'd like to slit their throats, but that's an unnecessary risk. That's it, let's go." Raik gave the sign as he disappeared with the assassins.

Whoooooosh.

Shadows whizzed by beside the patrol that caused a faint stream of wind.

"What was that?" One of them asked.

"Probably rats or a draught..." The other carelessly waved a hand, "The walls here have all been falling apart for a long time. Forget it."

"Okay. Let's get out of here quick, we've been making the rounds here every day for weeks now, but nothing interesting has happened. Why is the management so worried about these Dark Hand? Can't they do anything against us?" The first one said with a slight smile on his face.

"You talk too much! This is an order, so we must obey it, preferably in silence!" The second stomped his foot with an annoyed look.

...

The Assassins moved quickly and carefully. They had to pass through many patrols on their way to the vault, but no one noticed them.

"It's a real maze. They took no small effort to hide everything here." Assassin whispered.

"Yes." Raik nodded, "That's why we have to deal with it. Otherwise, many of our people will die just because the enemies have so many more artifacts. However, we won't let that happen."

"Maybe we should take these artifacts for ourselves then?" The other assassin suggested.

"No. Stick to the plan. There's no way we can empty the vault unnoticed, but destroying it with a random spatial explosion is fine." Raik said with a serious look as he disappeared.

The vault was in a large room that looked like an underground crypt. Many guards stood in front of the massive scarlet gate that a high staircase led up to it.

There were massive statues of ancient warriors in the walls, but the guards didn't notice that there was someone else there now.

Raik stared at the gate that protected the massive magical barrier.

"Shall we open the portal here?" Assassin asked in a quiet voice.

"Yes, but first, we need to prepare for unexpected consequences." Raik muttered as he gave the sign to the Assassins that stood on the opposite statue.

The assassins nodded and pulled scrolls from the pouches on their belts. They carefully placed the scrolls on the statue before pointing to the barrier.

Raik slowly removed the purple ring from his finger and sprinkled it with his blood. Then the runes on the ring glowed brightly, so Raik tossed it into the center of the room.

"Look!" One guard exclaimed while pointing to the glowing ring.

"Everyone, get ready for battle!" The commander exclaimed as bloody armor with a scarlet spear appeared on it, however, no one was going to attack them.

Crackle.

When the ring reached the ground, it exploded. The energy surge destabilized the space, so there was a gap the size of a man.

From the portal, a silhouette in a long red coat and a white mask that covered his face looked out at the guards as if from an abyss.

"It's him...!" The guard exclaimed with a scared look.

"All attack!" The commander ordered as he threw a spear at the Black Sun Aristocrat.

Whooooooooosh.

Suddenly a magical circle appeared on the statue, from which chains burst out that stopped the spear. The same thing happened to several guards as various spells immobilized them.

"Great. Get ready to leave!" Raik shouted before handing the assassins special potions for speed.

"Raik, good job. We have just saved dozens of lives of our mates and come close to being the sole rulers of Daeron." Black Sun Aristocrat uttered in a thunderous voice as he clenched his palm into a fist.

Crackle.

A massive dark orb appeared in front of the gate that looked like a star with an enormous amount of energy.

"Let's go." Raik said in a calm voice before turning into a shadow as well as the assassins.

They left the vault at breakneck speed since the Black Sun Aristocrat exploded the orb a moment later.

The dark flames consumed everything like a plague and took the lives of all the guards, turning them into handfuls of ash. The barrier could not withstand such pressure as cracks appeared on it, then the flames tore the gate apart.

The artifacts were left unprotected, so the fire melted them into puddles of metal or stone.

"Good. Now our victory is only a matter of time." Black Sun Aristocrat muttered, swung his coat, and the portal closed.

The vault was in the east of Scarlet Tree's territories, so many inhabitants had to flee from the violent jolt and massive pillar of smoke that night. Though the threat was over, the panic was just beginning to spread.