Supreme Magus novel Chapter 1695

"On top of that, there's no way those two idiots created the Doppelgangers.

"If we move too soon, the person who gave them those creatures and took the weapons might just dispose of his accomplices as soon as they outlive their usefulness, leaving us empty-handed. Like it or not, we are their bodyguards."

Jirni's smile was so bright and every one of her movements so tender that no one doubted for a second that the words that she was whispering were sweet promises of love.

"Fine." Orion pushed her hands away. "The backup is waiting outside, but they should intervene at the first sign of trouble. You stick to the Countess, I'm going to speak with our host."

Then he turned around and walked away without looking back.

For the first time in her life, Jirni didn't need her training to express all the sadness and pain that she felt.

***

Outside the City Hall, at the same time.

The group had split into two teams. Manohar and Phloria waited for the Doppelganger inside the City Lord's office while Friya and Quylla stood on the tallest buildings at the opposing sides of the City Hall.

Manohar only cared about capturing the Doppelganger while Phloria was more worried about retrieving the weapons as soon as possible. Dealing with an unknown creature was already bad enough.

Dealing with an unknown creature armed with state-of-the-art equipment while she was incapable of using earth and air magic due to the arrays surrounding the city and Spirit Magic due to Manohar was the stuff nightmares were made of.

As for Friya and Quylla, they used the high ground to keep an eye on the area. Their role was to keep the Doppelganger from escaping in the case something went wrong and to coordinate the members of the Association hidden in the nearby buildings.

The mages didn't like taking orders from someone so young and inexperienced, but the name Ernas carried enough weight to crush a career without the Royals even asking for an explanation.

So, when Orion had given the orders, the mages had agreed with a plastered smile on their faces.

Working alone allowed the girls to freely use Spirit Magic to bypass the restrictions that the elemental sealing arrays imposed on fake mages.

'Man, your Scope spell is really good. At night such a small dimensional fissure is as good as invisible.' Quylla said.

'I created it more for offense than recon, but thanks.' Normally it was impossible to use a mind link from a great distance, but by creating a dimensional hole the size of a pinhole near her sister, Friya could talk with her as if they were just a few meters apart.

Friya kept her enchanted rapier, Dreadnought, on her left side while on her right there was what looked like a stringless crossbow ending in a giant tuning fork.

'What is that thing?' Quylla asked.

'Something that Lith wants me to field test. He tried to explain to me how it works but I didn't understand a word he said except that it's based on a mix of earth and air magic. According to him, it packs quite a punch.' Friya replied.

'I thought he couldn't make Spirit Artifacts yet.' Quylla was flabbergasted.

'He can't. It's not a Spirit Artifact.'

'Then what's the point of bringing it around? The elemental sealing arrays of Ruham make it useless.'

'Look, Lith told me that it would work and that's enough for me.' Friya shrugged. 'Now stay sharp. It's time for the shift change.'

'Fuck! Any luck with Life Vision?' Quylla asked.

'Are you kidding me? If I open a fissure in a well-lit area filled with people, the guards will sound the alarm and our mission will fail before starting.' Friya alerted the mages of the Association while her sister notified Phloria.

'Dammit, Lith made it seem so natural, but I'm afraid of messing up. Manohar is a genius who learned tier one Spirit Magic by watching Quylla perform it once. If he notices my ruse, he'll ask me questions I can't answer.' Phloria thought.

'That's similar to the array that Dawn used to keep her magical lab made of hard-light constructs always active.' Phloria recognized the pattern from the hologram that Lith had used to show her the fight against the Horseman but aside from that, she had no idea what she had just witnessed.