Book 2 - Chapter 1 - Paint the Town Pink (3/3)

The market stall shattered as a Captain’s Sabre crashed into it at blinding speed. On impact, the weapon broke out into light, folding in on itself before vanishing among the debris.
[Tantrum - Skill: Princess Class Exclusive]
[Throw a random non-consumable object from your inventory at an opponent. The object returns to your inventory upon impact.]
[This action can damage items]
The Silencer was off the stall by the time Lillia’s attack hit, but he was running out of places to hide. The previously crowded market was filled with the rubble of two dozen stalls smashed across the courtyard.
Unfortunately for Lillia, the Silencer landed on the one stall in the market she was unwilling to smash. He touched down on the roof of the tailor’s stall. Lillia raised a hand to threaten her tantrum even when the skill was still on cooldown. But the Silencer saw her fingernails curl inward as she hesitated.
Seizing the opportunity, the Silencer reached deep into their cloak and then lashed out, unleashing a flurry of knives in Lillia’s direction. She dove to the side, trying to preserve the charges of the battlegown, but two nicked her as she dove. The first cracked against chitin, the second caught her ankle halfway through the awkward roll.
“Oh come on!” Lillia shouted.
[Lillia used ‘Indignance - Level 3’ - Avoided by Silencer’s [Like Shadow] !]
Yeah. Lillia knew how that went. Though it wasn’t as if using indignance was anything other than habit.
The Silencer quietly put their blade away. Lillia placed her palm on the amulet around her neck. The glass wrapped around her palm before she threw it out onto the battlefield in front of her. The Glass Spellmite spilled out onto the floor, tumbling once before righting itself on the cobblestone, glowing in the surrounding fire.
[Lillia is poisoned!]
[Passive Ability - Royal Taster Activated]
[Poison Transferred to Companion - The Glass Spellmite]
[The Glass Spellmite is Immune to poison.]
Lillia rushed at the Silencer with Vianaffir primed to strike.
“That’s right! I was ready for that you spooky looking bag of—”
The Glass Spellmite laughed and raised a finger to the Silencer. A harsh orange light formed on its finger tip. Lillia’s eyes went wide.
“Wait, wait, wait, no, not that, stop!” Lillia changed course, diving in front of the Glass Spellmite as it turned its fire toward the Silencer. She tore the Burnmite cloth just in time, the battlegown widening into the flowing sleeves of her Spellfire Dress as the Glass Spellmite’s magical inferno crashed into her.
The fire wrapped Lillia like a wreath, coiling around before settling into each thread of the dress. As she righted herself, the fabric near hovered behind her, flowing with the energy of the magic it absorbed.
The Glass Spellmite Squeaked.
“I thought I explained this!”
More squeaking. Waving arms.
“We did talk about it! We can’t ruin that cart. Come on.”
Three little hops.
“I’m not going to bring you out if you’re going to destroy something every—Oh shit!” The sound of unsheathing steel interrupted Lillia’s rant. She ducked as the Silencer flew through the air toward her, his blade whistling overhead, barely avoiding Lillia’s braid.
The Glass Spellmite chased after the Silencer as he landed softly behind them. Lillia righted herself.
“We’re not done! I’m going to bring this up—Whatever.” She followed the Glass Spellmite, almost reaching the Silencer in time to prevent the Glass Spellmite’s Inevitable death.
The little guy was certainly ambitious, but a headlong charge was not the strategy.
Just before Lillia reached the Silencer, she dismissed Viannafir, letting it fall back into her inventory. As the weapon was a mote of light beside her, she raised both hands. In the right, she wove a rune in the air, with the other, she focused on how unfair this all was.
[Lillia used ‘Tantrum’]
Hooke appeared just above her left shoulder, hovering in the air for a breath before following Lillia’s next footstep and launching itself forward. The Silencer lashed out with his blade, deflecting Hooke. Sparks flashed between the blades as they clashed, only for Hooke to careen off into the night sky.
[Lillia used ‘Backdraft’]
All of the Spellmite’s fire ran through the fabric of the dress into Lillia’s fingertips. Bright orange hissed in her nails before it exploded outward into a roaring beam of fire. The Silencer raised his arms, but it was too late for him to block.
The fire smashed into him like a tidal wave, knocking the Silencer backward onto the cobblestone and setting his cloak ablaze. As he fell, Lillia summoned Vianaffir back into her hand. The hilt of the blade choked the last embers of fire as she swung down.
Vianaffir should have been embedded in the Silencer’s chest. Instead, it cracked against the cobblestone as the man melted into shadow. The shock of steel on rock shot up Lillia’s arms and she almost dropped the blade.
“Oh come on, what now?”
Lillia rallied, pulling Vianaffir back up and holding it in front of her, just as Havoc had shown her during their first lessons. As she waited for something to happen, Lillia took turns with which hand was holding onto Vianaffir and which one she could shake out.
The seconds passed by. The building that had been behind the Silencer during Backdraft groaned as the first licks of fire began spreading around its foundation.
Whoops. By the rules of the current game, this was her city. She probably shouldn’t have been burning it down.
She also probably shouldn’t have destroyed nearly every cart in the market. Fortunately, the most important one was still standing.
Seconds turned into a minute. Was she going to have to find the Silencer again? He wasn’t dead, the text hadn’t tried to force her to celebrate by barraging her with noise yet.
Did she even have to kill the silencer if she could grab the fabric without finishing him off? Havoc would chide her for missing the XP. And she really should have felt the same about it, but she had only come back to fight him for one reason.
Well, several bolts of reasons that were all draped across one of the few remaining stalls.
Lillia didn’t put Vianaffir away—she had been taught that lesson several times and it had eventually stuck. No she kept the blade out and kept watch as she slowly inched her way over to the stall, Her sliding feet catch on the space between cobbles.
From up close, the fabrics reminded her even more of home. Her bed felt like a legend now, something she kept in the back of her mind that just must have been too good to be true. She spoke about it in the same way people spoke of myths and heroes, wistfully over a campfire
She was in arm’s reach now. It wouldn’t be that hard to reach out and touch the fabric. It was probably so soft. It was probably perfect. A thousand times better than sleeping in old animal skins and—
Lillia wheeled And Vianaffir sung through the air, carrying a sigle perfect note across the entire swing until it carved through the assassin that had been trying to attack Lillia from behind. Unfortunately for him, she knew the sound of the invader’s cloth from the hundred times she’d torn it between her fingers.
The first assassin’s knife dropped to the ground, clattering against the stone as another came in from the side.
The assassins had gotten the drop on them once, but without the element of surprise, they weren’t what Lillia was worried about. Free experience and free material.
The second assassin drew closer, but Lillia took one hand off Vianaffir and pointed it in their direction while watching the other direction to keep an eye for the Silencer. Even without turning, she heard the assassin adjust their path, dodging out of the way of a tantrum that was never coming.
Instead, Lillia snapped her fingers around one of the Ambusher feathers and leapt up in the air, kicking the air a second time to gain impossible speed between Quick Change and the acceleration from her Plainsrunner Boots.
Once she was in the air, she saw him. The Silencer stood on a nearby rooftop. Now that Lillia had committed to an arc in her jump, he reached deep into his cloak again. Lillia saw the glint of steel within.
Lillia flew over the head of the assassin as the Silencer threw his knives. Lillia put her sword away. One hand held spider silk, the other on the Amulet of the Creator.
“Cathria!”
“Time For an Electric Battle!”
The glinting firelight on each of the airborne knives flickered for a moment and as the reflections formed something within their core. Cathria appeared just above Lillia, too high to block anything, but on the right angle to catch the Silencer in his follow through. She raised her staff and Lillia’s hair stood on end.
In the breath before lightning, Lillia tore Spider Silk, and Widow’s etiquette once again wove itself across her person. The thousand layers of silk that made her billowing gown shot out as the knives approached, turning into a massive spider web that caught the projectiles.
[Widow’s Etiquette - 3 x Ensnaring Silk]
[Web Weaver - Passively ensnares non-magical projectiles in the web of the gown. This ability as a moderate cooldown.]
[Widow’s Snare - If there are projectiles caught in this dress, they are used to follow up attacks from the wearer. These weapons are thrown with ensnaring silk attached, slowing the target.]
In the reverse of nature, the booming crack of thunder shot across the courtyard before everything went white. Cathria shattered when Lillia was still blinking away, the blindness that came with her magic.
The building the Silencer had been standing on was mostly a crater. Thick curls of smoke rose from what had once been a stonecarver’s workshop.
Upon writing herself, Lillia called Vianaffir back to her hand and caught the assassin that had been trying to sneak up behind her. The sword itself barely touched the mans cloak, but the seven daggers tore themselves out of her billowing gown plunged deep into his person. He fell before he managed to finish his strike.
Lillia shook her head then stuck a finger inside one of her ears. It wasn’t very aristocratic, but she had to try to pull the ringing out.
“Come on, that’s gotta be it.”
She put her hands on her hips and waited. A notification came up, letting her know the gate had been lost. A moment later, the text informs Lillia that Saltarello had fallen in battle.
No lights, no confetti, no fanfare.
“Fine.”
Lillia marched over into a smoldering crater that Cathria had left on the side of the market. For most fights, summoning Cathria after the enemy’s guard was down was a quick way to finish everything up. In fact it was so efficient that Havoc had tried to ban her from using it during some of the early tens, because he didn’t think she was learning how to fight.
“What you’re learning is how to call a friend to do all your work for you,” he’d said. “Do your own job,” he’d said.
Whatever it was, for the first time in a while, it hadn’t worked. Lillia sighed at the idea of getting her hands dirty. Even if she’d gotten better at dispatching certain foes quickly—like the assassins—she’d yet to get over the hesitation that came with fighting someone who was a someone, and also helpless.
The Silencer had barely crawled onto their knees in the time that Lillia had walked over to the smoking rubble they laid in. There was no blood, shadow seeped between their complicated lairs of fabric.
Oh, that made it so much easier.
The sound of the reavers carving their way through the city rose over the general din of the siege. The gate was lost, and Lillia would drown in a tide of invaders soon.
It was too late to change sides, she’d learned that during one of her many attempts. Once the gate was broken, the Dungeon wouldn’t let her swap teams.
The Silencer didn’t look up. He quickly reached into his cloak and pulled out a knife, by the time he pulled his arm out, Lillia already had Vianaffir at his chest.
He dropped the knife. The surrender tasted weird in Lillia’s mouth.
“Bow. Surrender to Princess Ashvalin.”
The command hung in the air. The footsteps of soldiers running through the city echoed down the streets. Screams from guards at Lillia had fought alongside a dozen times, echoed through alleyways.
While the surrender never came, the Silencer also didn’t go for a weapon. It took everything they had to resist the command.
It was time to test out what level 39 had been worth.
“I am Princess Lillia Ashvalin, rightful ruler of all kingdoms.”
[Lillia Activated - Royal Decree]
[If Lillia has overwhelming Authority, she can issue 1 command that her surroundings will carry out to the best of their ability.]
[This ability can be used one per day. If the request is too large, it will not be carried out but the use will be consumed.]
Lillia withdrew Vianaffir from the Silencer’s chest and allowed the weapon to slip back into her inventory. Disarmed, she turned back to the market, walking over to the stall with its myriad luxurious fabrics.
They were so lovely. She would have sheets. Drapes if she could figure out a way to hand them over the stained glass of the cathedral.
Along with a prayer to every god in the Land of Wheat and Silk, Lillia attempted to put the fabrics into her inventory.
[Gained Nice Fabric - Mundane x 27]
Interior decorating was going to be such a nice break.
Lillia twirled once in her dress. Her spin stopped in a way that she could see crumbling ruins of the building the Silencer was still trapped under.
She still had a decree to use.
“Silencer, if you won’t bow, then perish.”
The last standing wall of the stonecutter’s workshop fell inward. Confetti plumed outward with the dust.
[Secret - The Silencer - Vanquished!]