Despite Noah’s best efforts, he didn’t manage to run into anyone else during the rest of the banquet. That fortunately meant that he didn’t run into anyone problematic either. He’d had enough excitement for the night. And, especially with his promised meeting with the Apostles coming up, he really didn’t need any new problems popping up right about now.
He spent the rest of the banquet dodging a few persistent recruiters that hadn’t gotten the memo that he wasn’t interested as he searched for his students, all the way up until the party came to an end and everyone was rather unceremoniously sent back to their rooms.
It was almost welcome. Noah would have preferred more time to try and hunt his people down… but even he had to admit that his search wasn’t going to get him any farther tonight. The room was just too big. If he wanted to get anyone’s attention, he was going to have to pull off another stunt. A big one.
Vivian had requested that he not destroy the place. Noah had managed to limit the damage to a table. It was probably wisest to leave it there. It would buy him a bit more goodwill for when he inevitably blew up something that she cared about a bit more than a party.
Besides, he was about to go meet the apostles. There was a pretty damn good chance that he broke something in the process of that. Having a little leverage to tell Vivian that he’d at least tried not to destroy her city would probably go a long way when he was apologizing for whatever acts of arguable terrorism he was probably going to end up committing at some point in the near future.
“How’d it go?” Brayden asked as he, Lee, and Fist all gathered themselves from their return. Brayden brushed a few crumbs off the corner of his mouth as he rubbed at his stomach with the other hand. It was pretty clear that he’d been taking full advantage of the banquet’s offerings. “Any luck?”
“Found Emily,” Noah said. “Found the Apostles as well. Again.”
“Again?” Brayden asked, his eyes widening.
“Did you kill any of them?” Lee asked.
“Not yet,” Noah replied. “But the night is still young.”
“You think you can kill one of the Apostles?” Fist asked. Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Seriously?”
“Well, I’ve tried it before and didn’t have all that much success,” Noah admitted. He rubbed the back of his neck. “But maybe it’ll go better this time around. You never know. I’m just saying the possibility is always on the table.”
Right now, I’m pretty sure the score of kills to deaths is something around zero to a few dozen. How many times did Garina kill me while we were training?
“Right,” Fist said slowly. “Did you want Mordred’s reports now? I think he’s managed to narrow down a fair bit of the most interesting mages now that the second day is up. There’s still a ridiculous amount, but it might be helpful for tomorrow.”
Noah shook his head as he pulled his black tournament badge out from his pocket and prodded at it. “Maybe when I get back. I’ve got something I need to go and do.”
“Again?” Fist asked. “Don’t you think you’re pushing your luck?”
“Nah,” Noah said. He prodded the badge again. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. Just tell Mordred to keep an eye on things. See if anything happens. It might end up being useful to have some eyes from the outside. You never know.”
“See if something happens?” Fist asked. “Why would something happen? What are you going to do?”
Noah didn’t get a chance to respond. A flash of green light swallowed him as Maria finally woke up, teleporting him out of the room before anyone could say anything else.
He reappeared in Vivian’s quarters a moment later. She sat across from him, with Maria a few paces to her side. The two of them had clearly been talking about something before Noah had started harassing them.
“You blew up my table,” Vivian said.
“Be thankful it wasn’t the rest of my room. I’m trying here, you know,” Noah said.
“I know,” Vivian said. “It was a complement. I was expecting worse.”
“Noted. Good to know I’ve got a bit of wiggle room in the future,” Noah said.
“That was not what I meant,” Vivian said. She shook her head, catching herself before the conversation could devolve. “I thought you were going to go seek the Apostles out. Why are you here? You’ve already made it quite clear that you’re able to move through Aqua Terra with or without my permission.”
“I can,” Noah allowed. “But I don’t have the faintest damn idea where the Apostles are. Tracking them down would be a bit of a pain in the ass. Surely you can just send me over to them. It would save a lot of trouble.”
Vivian’s gaze moved to Maria. “That’s a question for her, not me. I don’t know where anyone’s rooms are. It’s part of how we keep things fair. If I knew where everyone was, I’d be able to privately seek out every single mage that I felt to be competent and try to recruit them when the other Faction Heads couldn’t.”
Noah blinked. “You actually follow your own rules?”
“Yes,” Vivian said. “Because if you don’t follow your own rules, then you certainly can’t expect others to do it. I have a certain amount of decorum that I do my best to conduct myself with.”
“Huh,” Noah said.
Vivian’s eyes narrowed. “What is that meant to imply?”
“Nothing,” Noah said. “Nothing at all. So… Maria? Apostles?”
Maria’s lips thinned. For some reason, it seemed she didn’t much like the idea of being treated as a human tracking system. “Yes. I can send you near them. But if you are capable of passing through Aqua Terra entirely on your own, then it might be best if you go yourself. The Apostles will likely be able to guess that something is awry if I drop you off myself.”
“Close would be more than enough,” Noah said with a grin. “Perfect. Just do that and I’ll be out of your—”
A flash of green swallowed Noah before he could finish his sentence.
Then Vivian’s room was gone, and he was standing in an empty hallway.
Well, that was rude.
He shook his head, gathering his thoughts for a moment. There wouldn’t be any room for a slip-up when he was talking with the Apostles. Fortunately, he was pretty sure Kyyle had completely bought his story. He just had to keep them speaking and avoid being forced into a position where he had to go too deep into his supposed connection with the Truthseekers.
Noah blew out a small breath. Then his eyes narrowed. He drew on the Beyond, letting a sliver of the destructive power slice through Aqua Terra’s miasma. All the senses of his domain rushed back to him for a split instant. He sent them out in that moment to scan the area around him.
And, instantly, he found what he was looking for.
Maria hadn’t been lying. She’d sent him right outside Kyyle’s room. He could feel the Apostle’s presence just beyond the wall, along with Crone and Audren. Then his senses faded. Aqua Terra’s defenses reestablished themselves and quashed his soul once more.
Fortunately, that was all he needed from it. He knew where his targets were. A faint, determined smile crossed over Noah’s features. One that felt appropriate for a mercenary that the Truthseekers might have hired. It was just enough to put the faintest creases in his cloth mask.
Naoh drew on the Beyond.
Let’s pay my dear Apostle friends a visit.
Then he moved.
The world changed in an instant. Noah stepped into the center of Kyyle’s room, drawing a round of surprised curses from all three of the Apostles that he paid little heed to. Noah was more focused on making sure he hadn’t missed anything with his brief scan.
But the room was pretty much as he’d expected it to be. It was identical to the one that Lee and Brayden were back at. The only difference was that it didn’t seem the Apostles had touched any of their food at all. Maybe they didn’t trust Vivian much.
All things considered, that was probably smart.
“What the fuck?” Crone exclaimed.
“Spider,” Kyyle said, his voice ever so slightly higher than normal from surprise. “How—”
“I told you that I’d find you after the banquet,” Noah said flatly. “Did I not? Are the promises you make so easy to break that you expect mine to be worthless?”
Of the Apostles, the only one that hadn’t been taken aback by Noah’s arrival was Audren. The large man just sat at the table, flat-faced.
“I just didn’t expect that you would show up quite so quickly,” Kyyle said as he gathered himself with a shake of his head. “No matter. Are you certain you weren’t followed?”
“Do you really think anyone could have followed me?” Noah asked dryly. “I don’t think even Vivian’s people can move through Aqua Terra as easily as I can. Slipping past her defenses isn’t nearly as simple as I make it seem.”
“Humble,” Crone said in a sharp, bitter tone.
“Competent,” Noah replied. “Which is many can claim. I believe I have already proven my abilities when I adjusted my plans on the fly purely on your request. The only question that should still remain within this room is if the rest of you are capable of proving yours.”
Crone’s eyes narrowed, but Kyyle raised a hand.
“Enough,” Kyyle said. “We don’t have time for this right now. I don’t imagine Spider can stick around forever. The longer he’s out of his room, the more likely that Vivian catches on. This is earlier than I was expecting… but the timing works out quite well. Now we can all align on exactly what our role is.”
“Right,” Noah said.
What exactly does he mean by that?
A buzz cut through the room before Noah could ask anything else.
They all turned as a thin red seam sliced through the air, tongues of hissing, chaotic power dancing out of it. A trill of warning rolled down Noah’s back. But by the time it had arrived, the portal had already split open with a crackling hiss to reveal the form of a square-jawed, heavily muscled demon.
“Well. Isn’t this a surprise?” Og asked, emerging from the portal and stepping into the room. “I didn’t realize you’d be here too, Spider.”