Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit

"There they are...we'll wait till they're done, and once they leave, we'll follow them and take them down," Remarked Aster quietly.

"And we're sure they can't see or sense us, right?" Inquired Lexia with a frown.

"Don't worry, there's no chance of that...having to fight all the Knights in the city would be a pain, so I made sure to be thorough with these Spells. It wasn't easy though, it took a fair bit of trial and error before I finally figured it out," Replied Tacitus with a slight sigh.

"It doesn't look like they're going to be done drinking anytime soon," Spoke up Celia.

"It's kinda crazy that they're so carefree, you'd think they'd be more alert ever since the last time we attacked," Added Colt with a nod.

"Can't I just head to the church now? Because it looks like this is going to take a while," Remarked Raven impatiently.

"No, we don't want to alert the Knights before we attack them, I'd prefer to have the element of surprise on our side. So, we'll wait and make our move after they're done here," Replied Aster, placing a hand on Raven's shoulder to calm him down.

It was the 5th of April, 1917, about a month had passed since The Irregulars regrouped following their hideout getting burnt down.

They were currently in Garnet City, their targets the church and the two strongest Knights of the city; the Third Squad Captain Zilk Plore and First-Class Knight Junne Plore.

They'd tracked down the Knights to a bar in the city, and were currently watching them from the rooftop of the building across the bar.

They had considered targeting more of the Knights, but decided to play it safe and err on the side of caution...while the six of them had grown a lot stronger lately, there was the possibility that their enemies had gotten stronger too.

So they opted not to push their luck and overreach with their objectives, to avoid being too reckless. Tacitus and Aster were intent on taking down Zilk, while Colt and Lexia would target Junne. And as for Celia and Raven, they would be attacking the church.

Last time, their plans had been thrown into disarray thanks to the unforseen presence of a Detection Mage, so this time, they had come up with a countermeasure.

In the couple of weeks leading up to this, Tacitus had been busy making Spell Cards. Besides the usual Teleport Spells, he also came up with a Barrier Spell, one with three distinct elements; invisibility, soundproofing and anti-detection.

In other words, once the barrier was cast, those within it would vanish from sight, any sounds they made would be dampened and Detection Magic would be unable to sense their presence.

The last part was the most difficult to implement, Tacitus pored through a Detection Magic Grimmoire to make sure that the barrier would block detection from any and all of the Detection Magic Spells, and evidently, his efforts had paid off.

"You never cease to impress, man, this is one heck of a Spell," Grinned Aster, as he lightly elbowed Tacitus.

"It was a serious pain to make though, do you have any idea how difficult it was to create a Spell that counters an entire Magic Class?" He grumbled in response.

"It's too bad you only had enough time to make one of these, this Spell could be pretty useful for sneak attacks," Remarked Lexia, as they continued to observe the bar.

"No, it wouldn't, at least not in its current state...the barrier destabilizes if you move it around too much, it's only effective when it's still. That's why I placed the Spell Card down when I activated it," Tacitus informed her, gesturing to the Spell Card he'd set down between them.

"It's still a really useful Spell, we-...," Began Aster, before trailing off as the sound of glass shattering rang out of the bar, as a commotion began inside the building.

"Something's happening...I can't make out what's being said though. Can you hear them?" Colt asked Raven, who closed his eyes and sharpened his hearing, focusing on the voices coming from inside the bar.

"...-sorry, please forgive me! W-we don't have any more liquor available, that was the last bottle!"

"Tch, you damned Commoner...we pay you the great honor of patronizing this shabby eshtablishment day after day, and thish ish how you repay ush!?"

"W-we're expecting a new shipment t-to arrive tomorrow morning! W-we can offer you free drinks tomorrow after we receive it, so-..."

"Hah, ash if we'd ever come back to thish shithole!"

"Let'sh get out of here, my mood is ruined."

"Okay, Captain...conshider yourshelf lucky that we're letting you live, Commoner!"

Raven relayed what he heard to the others, right as the Knights streamed out of the bar, very clearly and heavily drunk, most of them slurring and unable to walk straight.

"Hey, I think that's the Detection Mage who blew our cover last time," Noticed Lexia, narrowing her eyes at the Knight.

"What'sh the plan now, Captain?"

"We could go to one of the other barsh."

"No, thish place is the only one that'sh good enough for my shtandards, the resht are all even bigger shitholesh," Responded Zilk, as he clumsily kicked away a pebble on the street.

"I think I'm going to call it a night...I might have had a bit too much to drink."

"Yeah, shame here, my head is shpinning..."

"I need to go too...my next shift to guard the Viscounteshesh manshion is in lesh than half an hour," Sighed the Detection Mage, before stumbling away from the group with a clumsy wave.

"One of my buddiesh in the Capital shaid that the Commander plansh to shend shome of her Knightsh here to shee if we're doing our jobsh properly...don't know when that'll be, but we better not get too hungover until then."

"Shit, if that'sh true, I'm leaving too."

"Heh, that rhymed."

"U-ugh, I don't feel sho good, can shomeone help me get home?"

"Bah, you guysh are no fun," Groaned Zilk, as most of the Knights decided to leave.

"I'm leaving too, I'll shee you later," Said Junne with a slight slur, swaying from side to side as she began to walk away.

"Hmph, fine...I've got shome top shelf bottlesh from the Capital at my plashe, whoever ish up to keep going, follow me!" Declared Zilk, the few remaining Knights following after him.

"Alright, guys, it's go time, this is it...Colt, Lexia, follow Junne Plore. Raven, Celia, head to the church. Tacitus, let's go," Aster swiftly instructed as the Knights split up and dispersed.

As the other four scattered, Aster and Tacitus followed after the Captain and the Knights who were with him, seven of them in total.

"What do we do? He isn't alone, our plan was to fight him when he's by himself," Muttered Tacitus quietly, as the shadowed the Knights along the rooftops.

"It's fine...we can handle these numbers, we'll take out as many of them as we can with a sneak attack and then corner him once the others are down. We just need to wait till they're in a more isolated area and then we'll make our move," Replied Aster, determined to finish the job this time.

He'd been harboring a sense of frustration over Zilk surviving their previous encounter, so he was intent on correcting that this time around.

"We should really get theshe shreet lights fikshed, it'sh sho dark..."

"Heh, with the way the Viscountesh hash been hoarding the takshes from the Commoners, I don't think that'sh going to happen."

"Ohh, hey, Captain! She that building over there? There'sh some fine ash Commoner women in there, why don't we pick them up and take them with ush?"

"Yeah, right, ash if I'd allow some lowly Commoner wensches into my manshon!" Scoffed Zilk disdainfully.

"I can barely understand what they're saying. Alright, this area looks clear, let's make our move...you ready?" Whispered Aster, narrowing his eyes at the Knights.

"Not really, but fine...let's get this over with."

The pair then leapt off the top of the building they were on, Aster using his telekinesis to soften their fall and ensure that they landed without making a sound.

Tacitus then brought out Berserk, his Relic Armament, from his Storage Ring and shot forward swiftly and silently, as Aster took aim at a couple of the Knights...

"[Telekinetic Bullet Scattershot]," He chanted swiftly and quietly, before cries of pain rang out as he unleashed a barrage of small, rapid telekinetic projectiles, which riddled several holes through the backs of two of the Knights, wounding them fatally as the collapsed onto the ground, blood profusely pouring out of their backs.

"What the-...!?" Blurted out Zilk as he spun around, his eyes widening in alarm as Tacitus closed in on the Knights and swung his large, heavy blade across, violently slicing two of them in half before the weapon slammed onto the side of a third one, severing his arm and slicing halfway through his body horizontally.

As the two he'd cut in half collapsed in a heap onto the ground, the third one coughed out blood with an agonized wheeze before Tacitus yanked his blade back, blood gushing out of the Knight's torso as he fell over and hit the ground, his blood pooling around his body as he bled out.

Tacitus then swiftly stepped forward and drove his blade towards Zilk, who quickly grabbed one of the two remaining Knights and pulled him in front of himself, a sharp cry of pain ringing out as Tacitus's blade slammed onto the middle of Zilk's meatshield's chest, caving in his ribcage and getting lodged in as blood poured out of the man's mouth.

"Using your own subordinate as a shield to protect your worthless life? What a piece of trash you are," Remarked Tacitus in disgust, pulling his sword back and swinging it across to get the blood off as Zilk and the last remaining Knight quickly backed away, while Tacitus thought to himself, "I don't recognize that Knight, he isn't in our list...then, he must be new. Should we kill him or not? Just because he's a member of the Third Squad doesn't absolutely guarantee that he's someone we should kill..."

Zilk frantically searched through his pockets before pulling out a Spell Card, running his Mana through it and sobering himself up, before activating his Storage Ring and bringing out his spear.

"You again...!" He growled as he narrowed his eyes at Aster.

"Ah, I'm guessing that was an Antidote Spell, correct? Alcohol is technically a poison, after all," Surmised Aster, as Zilk eyed him warily.

"We need to get some backup! Let's head back to the outpost and-...!" He began to instruct the other Knight.

"Y-yes, Captain, you can count on me!" He replied instantly, before teleporting several meters away.

"Shit, a Teleporter!?" Exclaimed Aster with a grimace, the Knight already well beyond reach, as he thought to himself, "He's only using short-range teleports, which likely means he can't use Level 3 Teleport Spells...so, at the very least, he doesn't have the ability to teleport to a different city or town and then teleport back with backup."

"Huh? W-wait...wait, you idiot, I meant both of us! Take me with...you...," Zilk trailed off in dismay as his subordinate was already out of earshot, before clenching his fists in frustration.

"Aw, you wanted to retreat? What, are you that afraid of me, Captain? I guess our last encounter traumatized you more than I realized," Smirked Aster tauntingly.

"You damned bastard...!"

"And I see you got your arm back...you must have managed to get to a high-level Recovery Mage in time. Well, no matter...I'll just have to cut it off again!" Declared Aster as he drew out his blades, swinging one of them across and firing out a rapid telekinetic slash.

Zilk swiftly swung his spear up, killing the momentum of the slash before he quickly raised his weapon above his head as Tacitus leapt towards him and swung his blade down at full force.

A loud clang echoed out as the blade slammed onto the middle of the spear's handle, Zilk wincing sharply as the impact severely jarred his arms, his knees buckling under the force exerted, his eyes widening in alarm as the handle of his spear got severely bent.

He then unleashed a blinding flash of light and sprang back as he tossed the bent spear away, turning the dial on his Storage Ring and running his Mana through it, bringing out another spear as he warily backed away.

"My eyes...," Muttered Tacitus with a grimace, his eyes firmly shut as he warily moved back.

"Come on, man, why didn't you have your Nullification Zone active?" Sighed Aster, as he stepped up beside him.

"Shut up, you were firing your Spells, so I figured you didn't want me to activate it," He grumbled in response.

"Activate it. I had been looking forward to unveiling my improved Telekinetic Zone now that I've increased its range, but I think our odds against him in a no-Magic brawl are pretty good, so I'll hold off on that," Smiled Aster as the Knight Captain continued to back away, looking for an opening to try and get away.

"Yeah...I'd have to agree with that. And while you have increased the range of that Spell, it consumes way too much Mana at your current level of mastery, so save it as a last resort. Now, let's wrap this up...[Nullification Zone]."

"[Blinding Flash]!" Exclaimed Zilk as the two of them then shot towards him, before a look of panic appeared in his eyes as his Spell failed to activate.

Tacitus's Nullification Zone Spell covered a range of upto a fifty meter radius, and Zilk was well within that range, his Magic taken out of the equation.

He turned his body across to the left as Tacitus closed in on him and swung his blade down with immense force, narrowly evading it before stumbling across as a powerful gust of wind burst out from the force exerted by Tacitus's swing.

He then sprang back as Aster shot towards him, leaping forward to close the gap and swinging one of his blades across. Zilk managed to block it with the handle of his spear, before he took a swift step back and unleashed a rapid, powerful thrust of his weapon.

Aster narrowly deflected the thrust with his black blade before he slid forward and swung both his blades across at Zilk, who sprang back as fast as he could, grimacing as the tips of the blades cut through his shirt and grazed his skin, shaving off a bit of his Mana and stamina.

He then froze as Tacitus slipped behind him and started to swing his sword as Zilk's back as Aster charged in front the front, before Zilk quickly held his spear by the end of the handle and jammed the tip of his blade into the ground to launch himself up, Tacitus's blade slamming onto the middle of the spear with immense force and bending it, Zilk letting out a yell as he began to plummet.

In his desperation, he focused all his strength into his hands and pushed off the end of the handle, getting himself out of the way as Aster began to slash at him with his blades.

He hit the ground a few meters away before rushing to scramble back onto his feet as he brought out another spear from his Storage Ring, his eyes widening in alarm as Aster shot towards him rapidly, closing in faster than he could react and whipping his white blade up and across.

Zilk turned his body across as fast as he could, yelling out in pain as the blade struck his right bicep and sliced right through, severing his arm.

A spray of blood burst out as he wildly swung his spear at Aster in a frantic panic with his left hand, Aster easily evaded the clumsy swings before backing away as blood poured out of the stump that was left of the Captain's arm.

"D-damn it, why can't I use my Magic!? I-if...if only I could use my Magic, you Commoner scum would be dead!" He snarled, trembling in pain as he glared at them with seething hatred.

"Ah, I guess that means you've been training to improve your Magic since our last encounter? Well, you should've worked on your combat skills too, it's clear that your ability with a spear hasn't improved in the slightest. Still, I'll give you credit for your prudence, carrying two, maybe even more, extra spears with you...how admirable," Aster mocked him patronizingly.

"Let's hurry up and finish him off...don't forget, there's backup on the way, we can't afford to drag this out," Pointed out Tacitus.

"F-finish me off? D-don't...don't get cocky, you Commoner bastards! I am a Captain of the Knight Order, and I will not be taken so lightly!" Snapped Zilk, his eyes bulging with rage...