Extra's POV: My Obsessive Villainous Fiancee Is The Game's Final Boss

"We were simply cautious, Aurelius." Maren replied, stepping into the room fully. "The threads of surveillance in the upper layers are tangled. Even our own clerks are being watched."

"A sign that the others suspect something," Kant murmured. "The Warden of Trade's clerks have tripled their inspections. And the Warden of Light just expanded his reach with another unnecessary levy."

Aurelius, the Warden of Law, raised a hand. "And yet they call us dangerous."

Maren's head tilted. "You summoned us, Aurelius. Speak."

Aurelius took a slow breath. "For generations, our houses have been bound by duty. Bound by function. The Law, the Records, the Ledgers. The gears that keep Carthage turning."

He began to walk the perimeter of the platform, each footstep echoing in the thick silence.

"We enforce their rules. We track their numbers. We preserve their history. And in return, what are we given?"

No one answered. Aurelius didn't need them to.

"They grow fat on tithes for light. They tax water as if the springs are their inheritance. They profit from trade. They hoard the resources, hiding behind their blessed Blood Tree, passing it through their inbred lines like it's a divine right."

Kant's hands folded before him. "They say we are essential. But they treat us like servants."

"They call it balance," Aurelius sneered. "But it is control."

The others said nothing, their silence not resistance, but assent.

Aurelius stopped in the center of the room again. "But the era of silence is upon us."

At that, the crystal overhead began to spin.

"The shard has been planted. The first tremors of silence have already spread through the outer layers. Soon, their lights will dim. Their records will fail. Their guards will lose their ability to command."

Kant nodded slowly. "And the shard… it still hums with Oblivion. Its effect grows stronger. We felt it."

"The Voice of Silence will reach the core of this city," Aurelius said. "And when the time comes, the elders who profited off our chains will be the first to be gagged."

Maren's eyes gleamed behind her mask. "And the Flame? Are you sure it would reveal itself?"

Aurelius' thoughts went to the old book he'd found. He smiled as he recalled what it said about this.

"The Flame will rise from the quiet, as it was always meant to. We will take it, not as servants of Carthage, but as its new rulers."

A beat of silence followed.

Then Kant spoke. "You're sure? What about the group that escaped the district office? You had them. Why did you let them go?"

"The Wardens were watching my every move. You all know that." Aurelius admitted. "But it doesn't change the fact that this group is unpredictable. They're uncomfortable variables. I believed they could be used. But now I see they're a fire we must extinguish."

Maren turned slightly, looking at Aurelius' general. "And they escaped your net."

"I misjudged them." The general said stiffly. "But I won't again."

Aurelius raised a hand to silence the exchange. "None of that matters now. Their presence has only accelerated the need for what we must do."

"The shard is stable. Our soldiers are placed."

He stepped forward.

"I call for a full movement. Tonight, we start the coup and begin our rise."

The room was silent for a moment, then Maren bowed her head slightly. "You have my agreement."

Kant followed. "And mine."

The general, already present, remained silent.

Aurelius looked to each of them in turn. "Then it is unanimous."

He turned his eyes upward, as if seeing beyond the stone ceiling.

"The Choir shall sing," he said quietly, "and Carthage will be silenced."

[][][][][]

Ren crouched beside the alley wall, fingers moving swiftly as he collected the new badges they'd gotten from the district office to gain access to this layer.

The smooth metal glinted faintly under the streetlights, each one etched with the insignia of Carthage, the three towers in a ring.

They were warm to the touch, but Ren ignored that.

Thorn and Lilith stood beside him, their eyes watching the street while keeping their voices low.

"You sure it's wise to keep those?" Thorn asked, eyeing the badges warily.

Ren didn't look up. "No," he said flatly, "but it's smarter than destroying them."

He tapped one of the badges lightly against the stone, the engraved sigil catching the glow of a passing light orb before he slipped it into his spatial pouch.

"We went through too much to get these. They give us basic citizen access, and more importantly, legitimacy. We might be able to use it in a pinch."

Lilith leaned in. "And they could still be used to track us."

"They could." Ren admitted. "But the spatial distortion in my pouch should scramble its signals."

"Even if someone tries to track them, the signal should fizzle out. As far as they'll be able to tell, the badges just vanished off the map."

He placed the remaining two into the pouch, the surface of the metal fading into nothingness as soon as they passed through the pocket's threshold.

"Gone," he said, "but not lost."

Thorn nodded in approval. "Let's hope no one was tailing us."

"They're definitely tailing us." Ren replied, straightening to his full height. "We just need to stay ahead of them."

With no further words, the three slipped out of the alley and onto one of the winding stone paths that connected the layers of Carthage.

The city was still awake, though not as lively as during peak hours.

Even at this late time, wagons passed occasionally, pulling merchant goods across districts.

The street lamps shined overhead, providing their artificial daylight, while shadows clung to the alleys and corners of buildings.

Ren moved with the confidence of an average Carthage citizen, his cloak drawn around him to obscure his face, with Thorn and Lilith following closely.

They kept their heads down, mingling into the slow-moving crowd.

They kept their eyes out as they walked, ready to teleport away again if needed.

And then, just ahead, they heard the rhythmic clink of armored boots.

Soldiers.