Supreme Magus

'Don't worry, we can do it on our own.' Tista said. 'Solus?'

'I'm already back at my full strength.' The stone ring switched hands and the Eyes split into two Monocles.

'Are you sure you don't need help? My Golems are too big, but I can still send Locrias and Varegrave with you. They are the strongest of my Demons.' Lith asked.

'No need. Besides if you give them enough power to be stronger than me or powerful equipment, they'll become visible from a distance by anyone with Life Vision.' Tista checked the corridor and left the room, looking for the final piece of the puzzle.

She tracked down a female clerk and sucker-punched her from behind. Then, Tista bound and gagged the unconscious civil servant before shoving her in the broom closet with Lith.

'If she wakes up, just knock her down again. Just make sure to not kill her.' Tista said while stripping the woman of her uniform and badge, putting them inside the Scalewalker armor that turned into a perfect copy of the clothes down to the smallest detail.

At the same time, Tista used Invigoration to study the clerk's life force and gradually altered her own until she became an identical twin of the woman.

'This way, even if she has a communication amulet, her rune will remain. Also, I can now move freely between the floors without having to hide whenever I meet someone.

'You get rid of the guards before they can check my badge and this suit of flesh will do the rest.'

'I like your idea, but taking a prisoner is overkill. What are the odds of a civil servant having a communication amulet?' Solus asked.

'During peace times, none. Yet this is war and Thrud has proven to be a sly opponent. In her shoes, I would give an amulet to all the people with clearance to access key facilities, even janitors.

'It's a small price to pay for making sure that no one has killed them and found a way to tamper with the badges.' She replied.

Lith nodded in approval and gave the Demons new orders. In his book, there was no such thing as "too paranoid".

'Change of plans. On my command instead of killing the guards and possessing their bodies, just suck their vitality with Abomination Touch until they faint. Manipulate them like puppets and keep them alive until it's strictly necessary.'

The Demons grumbled in annoyance. The scarce energy they possessed made them hungry for warmth and life, but they resisted it. Lith had promised them a feast and a fight that would sate their needs.

Meanwhile, Tista moved along the corridors of the third floor of the city hall and reached the first node of runes.

'Elemental magic is sealed and using Spirit Magic would light a beacon that will alert the Forgotten.' Solus pondered. 'I can guide you step-by-step on how to disable the node with first magic but it will take a long time and-'

'Don't worry. There's a reason why the Royals requested my presence. While you and Lith were on honeymoon, I worked my ass off with the Phoenixes. Also, I've been working with Phloria's Awakened corps ever since our family got the clearance to return to the Kingdom.' Tista cut her short.

'I was not on honeymoon! I- You know what? I don't want to talk about it. Let's focus on our mission.' Tista could feel Solus's emotions turning into a chaotic mess through the mind link.

'The baby messed you up that bad?' She asked.

'Worse, but now it's not the time. Eyes on the prize.' Solus pointed at a couple of guards standing right in front of the node.

One of them was using a device the size of a remote to scan a male clerk while the other guard kept her communication amulet in hand ready to call for reinforcements.

A focused beam of green light hit the badge, quickly spreading to the rest of the clerk's body in search of anomalies. A single red dot appeared on his shoulder, where a fly was resting its wings and rubbing its legs.

The guard emitted a small pulse of darkness magic that made the red dot disappear, even stomping on the fly to make sure it was really dead.

"You, get back to work. You, line up for inspection." The guard said with a tone far from intimidating.

The man was bored out of his skull, forced to make the same rounds day after day just because the Queen was a paranoid mess. He and his partner scanned the same people every day dozens of times and the worst they had ever discovered was a bad case of head lice.

Tista swallowed in anxiety, hoping that Lith knew what he was doing. Instead of leaving, the male clerk had just moved a few steps back and taken out a civilian communication amulet.

He hoped that for once something exciting would happen and that he would be the first to catch it on camera.

'Shit! That clerk is carrying documents.' Tista thought. 'Even if Lith's Demon knocks him out before the clerk manages to sound the alarm, Lith has no idea where to deliver them. It will be only a matter of minutes before-'

The eyes of the guard holding the scanner rolled up for a fraction of second, his knees going weak with a shudder as the Demon hidden in his shadow sucked his vitality. The other guard was so bored that she never lifted her eyes from the communicator that she was using to read the news instead of working.

As for the male clerk, he was too focused on Tista to notice anything. The moment the green beam of light hit her badge without changing color, he groaned and walked away briskly to make up for the lost time.

"Another day, another copper coin down the gutter." The voice and the intonation were right, but the mouth didn't move since the Demon used air magic to mimic the phrase she had heard every time a round of scans proved to be just a waste of time.

"Let's move on. I ate too much for lunch and if I stand still, I start to get drowsy." The second guard said.

"Get out of our way or we'll be forced to take another scan." The Demon ordered Tista with a deadpan voice while walking past her. "Anything new on the interlink?" 

"The usual crap. Loads of pictures of the royal baby, reports from the battlefront, and of course, the umpteenth propaganda about the final weapon the Queen is on the verge of completing." The female guard sighed.

"I was so happy when it was announced for the first time but almost two months have passed and still nothing. At this point, I think it's just a ruse to keep the morale high."

Tista's eyes went wide at the images of the infant Bahamut in all of his forms.

'Oh gods, he's adorable! Look how cute he is while puffing smoke from his nose and those fluffy wings. Do you think Lith's baby will look like that?' She asked.

'I hope s- I mean who cares about that?' Solus had a hard time holding her inner turmoil at bay. 'Since when did Thrud have a baby and what weapon are those guys talking about?'