The Red Hand

Chapter 468 – Inflection Point.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

{That's them. Right on schedule.} (Tanya)

"It's about damn time!" Valuru grumbled as he finished wrapping a new bandage over his wounded eye. The damage wasn't that bad, and while he'd lost use of his eye for now the Cult had healers who could easily restore it. "If they'd taken any longer..." He sighed before walking to the door and sliding the small hatch to check who was outside.

"How did you know of this place?" Valuru asked the three hooded and masked figures that stood on the other side of the steel door. They had a series of pass codes set up to help those within the Cult ensure secrecy, some of which changed daily.

"I have friends everywhere." One of the hooded men replied with the correct answer, to which Valuru reacted by closing the latch and opening the door.

"Get inside, quickly!" Valuru growled at the three agents as they stepped inside before closing the door behind them and locking it securely with a massive bar. "You three certainly took long enough! I've been hiding out in this place for days! The Demon Lord's forces are actively searching for me!"

"Given the circumstances, I'd say we arrived quick enough." The masked man snapped back, clearly annoyed by his tone. "You're lucky that we managed to slip in at all with how busy this place has become."

"Indeed, the Demon Lord's servants are quite adept at surveillance. We were nearly spotted several times as we made our way here." Another one of the hooded agents spoke, a woman.

"Then we should make haste with our escape!" Valuru growled. "Are you certain you weren't followed?"

"We took every precaution, but there are no guarantees." The man replied, his lack of certainty aggravating Valuru.

"Which is even more reason for us to leave now." Valuru said as he grabbed a coat off one of the wall hangers. "The sooner we leave, the sooner we distance ourselves from the Demon Lord."

"We're not leaving yet." The man stopped him as Valuru tried to open the door.

"What?!?" Valuru's said, shocked.. "Are you mad? We need to leave now! There is no time to lose! Every minute we stay here is another chance for the Demon Lord to find us!"

"If we walk out that door without a plan, the odds of us getting caught is far too high for my comfort." The man spat back. "The Demon Lord's forces are tightening the search area as we speak. First things first, we need to observe their patterns and find a gap in their rotation. Going out and just blindly hoping we're not stopped is basically suicide."

Valuru wanted to argue back but knew the man's words to be the truth. Akagi's forces were slowly searching the city in a circular pattern as they went door to door. With each pass inward, the Ninja grew ever closer to the safe house, and it was only a matter of time until they found their current location and the jig was up.

"This City never really goes dark, so leaving under the cover of night isn't possible. We're going to need to do this carefully and wait until just the right moment to make our escape." The man said. “This is the best way for us to all get out alive.”

{Once you're clear of the barrier, I'll use our emergency teleportation to get the four of you out. It seems to only cover up to the City limits and doesn't extend far into the mountain itself, so you don't need to go very far.} (Tanya)

"Can your ability not detect these miscreants? If we know where they are, then avoiding them will be easy." Valuru said to Tanya, referring to her ability to sense souls.

{Possibly, but this is still a Demon Lord we're talking about. I'm unable to sense her soul, and thus, it stands to reason she could obscure her followers. If you want to take that risk, I can try and guide you out of the City, but I'd still advise listening to the stealth team. The three of them are among the best we've, and this is exactly what they're trained for.} (Tanya)

"Combining our external recon with Lady Tanya's ability would be our safest bet." The second hooded man spoke up, his voice sounding a bit drier and scratchier than the others, indicating that he was a bit older. "I can go back outside and analyze the Demon Lord's minions' search patterns. While Lady Tanya can then use her ability through her telepathic connection to me to pin down how many and how close they are. If I know that information, then plotting a 'safe' route back out of the City shouldn't be that hard."

{In fairness, you three did get INTO the City and to Valuru without being caught, so I think we can get you out!} (Tanya)

"I'm sure you all realize what our fate will be if the Demon Lord gets hold of us." Valuru said, reminding them that failure was not an option.

"We'll end our own lives before being captured." The first hooded man replied.

{Well, let's hope that's not needed...} (Tanya)

"Fine, do as you wish." Valuru grumbled as he took a seat on a rickety wooden chair. "Just hurry up. I do not want to stay here any longer than we need to."

At his words, the three hooded figures nodded to each other before the older man snuck back out the door. The City was incredibly alive at this time of day, it being roughly the period when the work day for the average person had ended and entertainment shops were starting to open.

The older man under the hood had been in the service of the Vikes' Cult for decades and, while not officially being in any kind of leadership position, was well regarded due to his lengthy service and experience. As he was highly adept in stealth and wind magic, effortlessly making himself invisible to the average person, though he still kept to the shadows to avoid any unwanted attention. With Tanya's aid, he quickly tracked down several groups of Ninja who were slowly tightening the net around the safe house. As he watched from afar they asked questions from locals in an attempt to find any suspicious characters and were even going in and out of dark alleys hoping to find criminals or homeless people to 'extract' information from.

He'd been doing this for a long time, and yet he found himself impressed by the professionalism of the Ninja. Where a group walked around openly and interacted with the public another sat in the shadows, waiting for the opportunity to strike if the need arose. He debated ditching his cloak and mask in an attempt to blend in better but quickly discarded that notion since both were enchanted with glamour spells to aid his stealth and he wagered that removing either would make it more like he'd be caught, not less.

Over the course of four painfully tense hours, the older man kept watch on the Ninja patrols. He counted fifty-three individuals, some of which were clearly from a separate branch of the Demon Lord's forces since they weren't dressed like the others and, with Tanya's aid, was confident that he knew exactly where each of them was and what their future search pattern would be, deciding to head back to the safe house. However, despite his best efforts and Tanya's incredible gift, his stealth was not infallible.

*CLICK*

"It's about time!" Valuru growled as the older man returned from his recon, irritate at how long he'd been gone. "How long did you plan on making us wait?!?"

"How does it look?" The younger man ignored Valuru's yapping as he spoke to his teammate. "Can we get back out?"

"The Demon Lord's agents are good, very good." The older man replied as the hooded woman came up from the basement after having planted a set of bombs to destroy the building. "They're running a tight pattern through the City, and the way they're doing it tells me they're confident we're close by. I'd wager it won't be long until they find this place, so we're cutting it dangerously close."

{Most would question why part of their ranks are deliberately visible on the street, but I can see right through it. They want the people of the City to see their actions and fixate on the visible members while those in the shadows do the real work. Whoever these beastkin are, they're highly trained and I honestly shudder to imagine what they could do if they were let fully off the leash.} (Older Man)

"Then we need to leave now." The younger man agreed.

"Finally!" Valuru sighed, happy to put this place behind him. "The sooner we leave the sooner-"

*WOOSH*

Before Valuru could speaking finish the inside of the hideout went completely dark, as if someone had extinguished all light in an instant. The lack of light inside was unusually disturbing as not even the lights from outside the building seemed to seep in.

"What?!? What happened?!?" Valuru cried out in shock but received no response from the other Cult members. "What's going on?!?" He said as he held out his hand to use fire magic, but was shocked to find that, while the magic did activate, he still couldn't see anything and the fire generated no visible light. "What the fuck is going on?!? Tanya! Tanya what's going on here?!?" He called out to her, but received no reply through his telepathy. "Dammit! Did that idiot get followed?!?"

Valuru fumbled his way throughout the room, knocking things off shelves and nearly tripping over various items as well as the rug as he looked for the door.

{Dammit! What the fuck is happening?!? If the Demon Lord or her minions have found us then where are they?!?} (Valuru)

"Where is that blasted door?!?" Valuru yelled as he waved his hands around in front of him before eventually landing on the metal nob. "Ah-ha! I don't need those idiots! I can get out of here myself!" He said as he turned the nob and opened the door.

"Oh, I'm afraid that escape is no longer an option my friend." Akagi's distorted voice sounded from the darkness as he opened the 'door' revealing the Demon Lord's form illuminated against the darkness around her. There was nothing in the 'room' that Valuru had entered save for himself and Akagi, though behind her were just over two dozen sets of red glowing eyes floating in the inky blackness beyond.

The Demonkin man wanted to scream but his voice was muted as if he was in a vacuum, fear spreading throughout his body as the realization that he was doomed crashed into him like a tidal wave

{NO! NO!) (Valuru)

"Bring him to me." Akagi said as her form vanished into the darkness, the red eyes growing closer to Valuru before his vision and consciousness went dark.

_____________________________________________________________________________

"Chloe is pretty good on the kitty scale, but she definitely loses points for-" Halifax paused mid-sentence as she sensed something. She, Chloe, and the Twins were taking a small break at a local inn for lunch when a feeling washed over her. "He's here..." The Divine Blade said quietly as she quickly stood up, startling the other three.

"What's going on, nya?" Chloe asked as she set down her drink, guessing what Halifax was referring to.

"He's close... I don't know how... But... I can just tell." Halifax said as the four of them nodded to each other, departing the inn for an encounter four thousand years in the making.