Reddish sunlight shone down on Sylen. Black smoke veered off in the distance, seeming to wrap around the sun. The Reaver smelled a hint of blood carried in the gales rushing into the Duchy's internal valley.

When he imprinted frost essence into his eyes, which was always on unless he intentionally turned it off, Luke witnessed swirls of ether rushing into the Black Silver Tower from all directions. That was more of an afterthought to him by now. Sooty decided to perch on the edge of Whispering Tome's cover. It erratically glided a foot in front of Luke. Xera hummed to herself. Wayfinder seemed to take solace in the silence of the city.

While this had been a pattern ever since about a week ago, Sylen had well and truly become a ghost town compared to when the Reaver first set foot inside its walls. He'd taken the time earlier to go visit Brisen, but as it turned out, any support class declared non-vital had left by now if they could, with few exceptions. From what he could see, those who maintained the walls, ran supplies, assisted in healing casualties, and others with nowhere else to go stayed. Deemed a support class member too important to risk, Brisen had been requisitioned by the Duchess herself, ordered to stay in the Ducal capital, Aelon, until the Tide had been dealt with.

Kicking an innocent rock by the roadside, Luke internally deliberated, There goes any chance of getting a replacement battle elixir. Next best option is to try and see if I can get some of the more basic potions swapped at the Defier's treasury. Brisen isn't a special case either, from the looks of it.

The artisans ring around the Silver Black Tower was abandoned entirely except for some shop guards, who'd be fighting in the Tides soon. All of the very best civilian craftsmen called this section of the city their workplace, and now, not one remained. Insofar as for regular people, the only ones Luke spotted were dock workers, and others he assumed who performed critical tasks for the city. Of course, a handful probably just had no means to resettle in the interior. He stopped by the orphanage, to his horror, they hadn't been relocated.

Visibly aging when Luke asked what the meaning of this was, the old elf guard, who he interacted with last time, answered in defeat, "The cities have enough orphans as is. Some of the caretakers used their contacts to temporarily get the youngest taken in. With the political infighting between the Duchess and the nobles, the social will to move orphans who are already safe," The guard spat the word out, knowing it was an excuse the more privileged uttered, "are denied permission or resources to enter the orphanages in the other cities."

"Tell me, which fool decided it would be a good idea to risk kids when man-eating monsters are about to rush this city in less than two days?" Luke's icy eyes wafted out freezing mists. The water vapor in the air condensed, forming frost.

Shivering from more than the sudden cold, the guard said, "The leaders of the other cities. Their wealthy. And even many of the civilians in the safer towns and cities in the valley. Everyone's scared, Defier. Calm yourself. The kids don't need more to frighten them. Lady Ophelia will be opening up an evacuation shelter for them tonight."

Blinking once, Luke vanquished the frost like it'd never been then. His tight features softened. "The City Lord," he muttered, "be honest, how safe will they be?"

Standing straight, the old city guard oddly saluted. "Retired hunters, and older guards like myself will be assigned to the civilian shelters opened up. They double as reserve medical bays. So long as the defenders keep out anything above tier 1 out of the city, we fading souls can deal with the rest."

Tapping on Sooty's talons, Luke said, "Go on. I know you want to, you won't have another chance for ages. Play with the kids, come back when you're done."

Rattling, Sooty spread out her wings, took flight, and dove deep into the orphanage, going over the gate. Luke smirked when he heard the surprised laughter of children.

Taking out a small bag of coins, the Reaver tossed it over to the guard. He ordered, "I know supplies must be scarce, but get what you can for them. I'm sure I don't need to say what will happen if I find out it's wasted on something like alcohol. Tell Amelia I said hi."

A sigil stone appeared in the Reaver's hand as he began to make a call. There were things he needed to know about the legacy greed, and one elf might be able to help him.

Sitting around a gray crystal table with silver specks, Luke put his feet up. He made out the runic enchantments and mana lines aura-proofing the meeting room. Extravagant chairs with red cushions and yellow etchings surrounded the table. Artificial mana light came from up above. A calming echo bounced within the small space, produced by an enchanted chime.

Unequipping Xera, the Reaver placed the weapon on the side of the table. She commented on the elf in the room, "Hey, that's the guy who is your servant now, right Master? The look in his eyes changed. I wonder if the taste of his bones did too…"

Thinking the nuance wasn't really necessary for Xera to know about, Luke agreed with a nod. "Janeus is similar to that, yes. Too bad for you, he's not out to duel me anymore."

Sitting stiff in his chair, the golden-skinned elf Spell Sword uttered, "This lowly one wouldn't dare to stand in the way. You called with questions, Lord Luke? I shall try my utmost to answer."

When Luke sent short responses to Janesus' reports through sigil stones, he'd tried to get the elf to stop calling him lord multiple times. All efforts fell flat. He accepted the title by now.

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"I want you to bring up any Interface messages about me applying influence to you through my legacy. From the very beginning, tell me in detail about them."

"A moment." Janeus started to run his eyes over information Luke couldn't see. No matter the level, the Interface concealed its messages from anyone but the intended recipients. Eyes going up and down, they eventually paused minutes later.

"It took some unique filter applications to dredge up log lines in the Interface. However, I'm extremely confident all messages related to your influence are here now."

"Tell me exactly what the first one says, and based on that, I'll decide if I need to know more or not."

"Luke Wallace has planted wisps of an ancient decree within you through application of his abilities. You partially fall under his influence. It is impossible to reveal this effect on you without express permission. The host will naturally forget the artificial influence instilled within them." Sensing the line of questioning Luke was likely to have, Janeus presumptuously answered them. "Further messages speak of the influence deepening as you continue to apply what I now know as the legacy, although that finer detail isn't told until your Greed's Decree stole complete loyalty."

Putting his thumb and two fingers on the ridge of his jaw, Luke pondered over the information. He asked, "Anything else stand out to you from those messages? I'm trying to figure out what exactly makes someone into a Sinned, it's just you and Calista. The others are influenced, nothing more."

Leaning back on the chair, the Reaver thought, It's good to know the influenced can't reveal it. Maybe it's not ironclad, but it should keep a stopper on things in the short term.

Sooty strutted along the top edge of Luke's seat. She took the prime opportunity to pat him on the forehead with her wing. Typical Sooty shenanigans. Whispering Tome lay flat on the armrest of the next chair over. Luke hadn't told the tome to do that. It just chose to.

Xera rocked herself a bit on the table, saying, "Sometimes when you're about to kill someone, but mess it up, master." She went silent for a second. "Is it bad for me to say you made a mistake? It won't get me in sword wand timeout?"

"I prefer you would be comfortable enough to highlight my flaws, Xera."

A sigh of relief left Xera's crystal. She continued. "Okay then! A huge stream of something similar to that gold you put into your ice lately rushes up through me when that happens. It aims for a place inside them even I can't cut."

Eyes widening, Luke said, "The legacy rushes through me without my knowing? Or was I too caught up in the moment to notice? Thanks for the input, Xera, good to know."

"Anytime! When can I get out of this sheath again?"

Sending over some essence, Luke turned Xera into a wand, doing the job of releasing her from the confines well enough. Cheerfully celebrating her freedom, Xera started rolling a bit on the table. The Reaver wisely chose to let her do whatever as long as it didn't interfere with the rest of the meeting.

Coughing, Janeus sheepishly looked at Luke, asking for implied permission to continue. The Reaver nodded, unused to the near groveling attitude. Janeus, in the past, used to be an incredibly different man. Maybe his personality shifted around him from Greed's Decree?

"Several terms are mentioned, Lord of Greed. When we are soul struck enough by you, going from influenced to invoked, we finally learn your real identity. At the same time, any chance of outing you becomes impossible." He put a hand over his chest, leaning forward slightly in submission. "It granted me another sense, weak for the influenced but incredibly strong with other invoked. I knew Calista had become one of the Sinned the moment you defeated her at Ilinal lake."

Which also meant Janeus naturally knew Luke's other alias, Rune. Not all that troubling, still, something to account for. There was no hiding aspects of himself from his 'Sinned' or vice versa.

As if catching Luke's ambient thought, Janeus got off his chair and kneeled, putting a fist onto the smooth floor. "We are Soul Bound to you in duty, Sin of Greed. Your Decree is absolute, our loyalty unwavering. The Sinned go where you point, and investigate what you desire. Say what you need of either of us. Shall I call for the Second Sinned, Calista?"

"No, how she will be used in this game to find the whereabouts of my father is unknown to me as of yet. By some twist of fate, both of my 'masks' are wanted by one Pyrite family member or another. Calista can be…dormant. For now."

"Is there anything else, Lord Luke?"

The Reaver's eyebrow twitched, but seeing the stone-dead serious expression, he huffed for a second. Turning his head at an angle, he got ready for the door. "When they deploy us all for defense against the Tide, whether it be at the wall battlements, or outside them, stay near to my section of the battlefield." Remembering Janeus vice-captained a middle-ranked tower team, he said, "Bring your team too, if they'll listen. How many members do you have?"

"Including the one reserve member, five."

"Small but still enough to be a whole party. I've heard the tower needs larger teams more often than in the three dungeons. How do you handle it?"

"Unlike the teams led by a tier 3, the lesser teams like ours tend to work with one another in pact when the situation calls for it. Relationships become increasingly precious to manage for every ounce of progress attempted."

"That'll be all, Janeus. Wherever I'm assigned, be in the vicinity. Who knows how this will all play out? It goes without my saying, but prepare as best you can. From what little I've gathered, not even tier 3 hunters can guarantee their lives."

Eyes blazing, Janeus said, "I place myself at your will, Lord. Can this servant ask for one small request?"

"You can try," Luke said tersely.

"Guide me once more on Elementalization. The insights you showed—seared into me—I've incorporated the lion's share. That gift already made me a fifth more than I was, even when accounting for your 'curse' price." Janeus smirked at the end. Over time, and upon further review of the Interface messages, the elf spell sword knew the truth.

While the public didn't have access to any of the scant information left on the three sin legacies left in the current era, scraps here or there filtered down. Piecing together those scraps and the Interface messages, Janeus learned more about the Sins than many. In a way, until this conversation, the elf knew things about the Legacies that the Reaver himself didn't.

A ferocious smile ripped across the Sin's face. "Let this be the difference when it matters. Ignite your flames."

Heat rose as Janeus blazed Fire Elementalization over his skin. It struggled to reach past the spell sword's forearm.

Impassively examining the effort, Luke jumped past the table and reached out to Janeus. As an elemental, the Reaver understood Elementalization implicitly to a degree that perhaps only the City Lord qualitatively surpassed. Unless some other hidden monster of technique stewed in a corner he'd yet to encounter in Sylen.

Frost rimmed his eyes, rime formed effortlessly. He tilted up the First Sinned's chin with a finger. Luke exhaled, extinguishing the embers. "You won't be ready for control in time. Perhaps the talent or affinity is too low…" The Reaver stopped himself. This wasn't the situation to go off-topic, as he occasionally did. "You allow yourself to misalign with what you are, Janeus. Your body is flame. A forearm? Try wreathing your heart in fire. Endure."

Placing his palm on Janeus' upper chest, Luke froze him whole.

He signaled to Sooty with his eyes. The corvid landed on his right shoulder, bringing Xera with her. Striding out the meeting room, Luke left some parting words. "I set it to melt even without your efforts in half a day. No other situation is better to let the inner flame reach every part of your body."

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