Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Chapter 203: Old Enemies?

Kalliope and Lyrah had started getting closer since she had her vision and explained some of her strange behaviors. At first, the girl was a bit of a brat. However, knowing the truth behind her methods smoothed things over.

Now, Kalliope had every agent they had in the capital posted in and around the academy, save for a few on standby for their critical projects. Just as Lyrah had said, they could not work jointly with Arcadios's forces because it would require them to reveal how they obtained the knowledge.

Lyrah was still avoiding returning to the castle and avoiding being found by the elders that monitor the Oracles. She also continued to go out on her strange errands. A few times, she invited Kalliope and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The woman would occasionally give her the slip for a few minutes, but later returned with a smile on her face and a teasing gaze in her eyes.

To Kalliope, it seemed like Lyrah enjoyed making a game out of disappearing from an excellent tracker and beastman like Kalliope.

"Lyrah… you are half-beastman as well, since you are Lucius's twin… do you also possess the same strong senses that your brother does?" she asked out of curiosity. They had never discussed it before, but it was a question that popped up occasionally.

Lyrah shook her head slightly. "No, it seems that he got all the good genes. He has the senses, the compatibility, the strength… though I think we were equally lucky in the looks department at least."

There was no other option but to agree. Kalliope had to admit that her crush's sister was a very attractive young woman. Her and Lucius looked quite similar, save for the latter's scars and one golden eye.

"Did Lucius always have that strangely colored eye?" She asked while sipping a warm cup of coffee.

"No, from what I remember of my visions, he started life with the same silver eyes as mine. However, a traumatic event triggered some sort of change in him that I don't understand… maybe he always had it and the incident triggered the trait's expression… I honestly do not know, but it's pretty cool, right?"

"Yes." Kalliope answered dreamily.

They continued to converse while walking through the markets and sipping drinks in these new 'to-go' containers that had been introduced during the Exhibition Tournament. They were made of ceramic and if you brought it back, the drink was cheaper because you did not need to buy a new cup with it.

"Have you found anything about the incident?" Lyrah asked.

Kalliope had to answer honestly, which was that they had not. So far everything they looked into came up empty. It was like the threat that Lyrah had seen was completely spontaneous because there was not so much as a whisper of anything regarding an attack on the academy.

At the moment, there weren't even any conversations about frustrations with it, aside from wishing their representative would have won in the tournament.

Every once in a while, they would check with Lyrah to see if the attack had been thwarted somehow because of the sheer lack of evidence. However, each time, Lyrah would inform them that nothing had changed and the academy would still come under attack. Your journey continues with M-V-L

Since they could not seem to figure out how to prevent it, they moved to the next best option from prevention, which was mitigation. King's Shadow agents could support the academy when the attack began and assist in keeping as many students and faculty members alive as possible.

The two of them continued to browse the marketplace when Kalliope caught a whiff of something familiar. It was the scent of people she had met before, but a very long time ago. She looked around quickly to find whoever was the source of the scent because she could not place who it might have been.

Her eyes settled on a human man with a large axe strapped to his back and a much smaller human woman wearing light clothes and robes. The woman appeared to be a mage. Once they turned slightly so Kalliope could see the sides of their faces, she immediately bared her teeth in anger. It was Renton and Marie, the two surviving members of The Marks.

Without thinking, Kalliope lunged at their backs. They were unable to react in time, so both her hands found purchase on the backs of their necks with ease. The strength of her attack forced both humans to the ground without issue, which shocked onlookers who compared Renton's size to Kalliope's.

Marie yelped in pain, but Renton said and did nothing, only moving his hands above his head in a surrender-like pose. "Lady Kalliope… we mean no harm, we are only shopping."

"K-Kalliope? Gods… we… we d-didn't…" Marie stammered.

"What do you two creatures want in the capital?" She roared. "Tell me why I should not just kill you right now. I need only to apply a little more pressure and your lives will be snuffed out."

There was a crowd starting to form around them. People looked on in panic and started shouting for guards. Though they were far away, Kalliope could hear the metallic clanging of running soldiers rapidly approaching. She needed to end this quickly and started to squeeze her hands tighter. Marie began to whimper.

Renton on the other hand remained calm and shouted out, "There is no need for alarm everyone… this is all a misunderstanding, please do not fault the young Lady here. We have not properly explained ourselves for an incident. Everyone please remain calm."

His request to the crowd surprised Kalliope enough for her to relax her grip and remove some of the threat to their lives the two former allies felt. Marie still sobbed slightly, but attempted to control her emotions through a series of breaths.

"May we move somewhere else to talk, Lady Kalliope?" Renton asked. His hands were still raised awkwardly in a surrender and his face was pressed against the ground.

Kalliope thought about it solidly for a few seconds before releasing them and standing up. Marie and Renton immediately stood. Renton approached the guards that had finally appeared and indicated that there was no need for any actions on their part.

They looked reluctant to let such an incident slide after such a public display, but since Marie and Renton were the victim party, the guards would look the other way for them.