Project Seraphina [LitRPG, Magitech, GL]

My swordstaff drawn and my [Archangel's Gaze] flared out to the maximum, I steel myself for a battle I hope isn't going to happen. Through the cracks in the doorframe, I can make out four men, three in metal armor, the fourth in some sort of mage's robes. Two of them, the ones nearer the door, have swords out, while the third armor knight is using some sort of one-handed flail or morning star variant. The last one has a small crystal ball in his hand. I think Anna used something similar when we traveled together.

I don't like my odds of winning this fight. Maybe with [Seraphina Overlimit], but if these are the town guards, they're going to have backup. A lot of backup. And after two minutes, I'll be all but a lamb to be led to the slaughter. No… This isn't the time to fight. Maybe later, once the element of surprise is back in our favor. For now, it's time to see what they want.

Before I open the door, however, I stow both my and Chloe's gear in my [Inventory], including Filia. They might check it with those strange devices, but I'm not sure they will. As long as they feel confident enough that I can't access it, at least.

"For now, I think we need to play by their rules, loath though I am to let them so much as lay a finger on you. I can't fight them as I am."

"I– I understand, Sera. I trust you and your judgement."

"Open up!" their leader, the one wielding the larger broadsword, says.

After Chloe gives me a nod of approval and, fearing the soldiers are going to barge in any second, I open the door for the four young men. She stands a few feet behind me, near the foot of the bed. The two swordfighters enter, their leader sheathing his weapon and pulling a scroll out of his [Inventory], which he opens up and begins reading.

"This is the town guard. By order of Lord Mayor Relain, you are being detained on suspicion of treason against His Majesty and his lawfully-appointed representative. You are urged to submit quietly— we are authorized to use deadly force if necessary."

Really not doing anything to convince me that cops aren't the scum of the earth, Mr. Mayor. Whatever. With a slight roll of my eyes to express a fraction of my contempt, I kneel on the ground, offering my hands to be placed in restraining cuffs. For a brief moment, a vise-like feeling wrests around my wrists as the cuffs try— and promptly fail— to suppress my power again. However, I do my best to act the part, allowing my body to limp slightly and my movements to slow and grow sluggish.

Chloe, on the other hand, is affected. Once the wooden cuff-plate locks in place around her, some of the light immediately drains from her eyes. Her body trembles and her arms lock to the ground. Worse still, her mental voice in my head grows weak and distant, only fueling my anger. At the very least, however, her heartbeat remains steady and her breathing, though a little ragged from the ordeal, is firm. She's in no immediate danger of death from the cuffs, but I know she's not in good straits.

This injustice will be repaid in full.

"Hey, what the fu–!" Kristil's voice shouts from the next room over. "Hey, I didn't–"

My face grimaces and Chloe shuts her eyes as a thud echoes out, followed by a scream of defiance.

"You'll keep quiet from now on if you know what's good for you, lady!" a man's voice shouts.

My anger, already simmering, crescendos to a near-boil. Only my belief in the plan and the knowledge that we can't win a fight while Chloe and Kristil are locked within the Crystal's magic-damping effect keeps me from exploding into a fury of righteous indignation. For now, I will endure as they are, until the time is right.

Kristil's trademark scowl is back, narrowed eyes shooting daggers at me as the three of us are left down the stairs in our pajamas and out onto the moonlit streets outside. To my chagrin, the guards seem to be professionally-trained, both in how they comport themselves with ruthless efficiency, as well as their acumen for operational security.

I spend my time thinking, processing, looking for weaknesses in the chain of command, scanning for any sources of Ether that might alert me to a device I might try to disable or something I might be able to pilfer to secure an advantage, but I see nothing. I do, however, manage to find out a good way for disabling the power-suppression function on the cuffs. Not that it'll be all that effective while we're still under the Crystal's antimagic field, but at least Chloe and Kristil will get their physical stats and passive abilities back.

Eventually, we're led to the manor, along with another woman wearing a set of black robes. But whereas Kristil's robes are revealing, this woman with raven hair and a pale complexion is wearing robes and a headpiece far more modest than Chloe's. She doesn't speak to either of us, merely acquiescing to her fate, head lowered and eyes sullen the entire time.

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Throughout it all, Kristil seems defiant to the point of recklessness, while Chloe remains calm, her breathing now fully steady. She occasionally steals knowing glances at me, her trust in my abilities seemingly absolute. But this new woman seems… resigned. Almost as though she knew this was going to happen and had been expecting it. Is she actually a spy? Or is there something else at play? Something far darker and more sinister lurking underneath the placid streets of an otherwise bustling, seemingly-prosperous town.

After a few coded messages between the soldiers stationed around the manor and the detachment that kidnapped us out of our bedroom like a unit of secret police, we're brought inside, then down into the basement… As though I expected anything like proper hospitality upon such a kind and forceful invitation.

Yuck! Disgusting! It smells like sewage in here! And… yep, that's a rat, scurrying about. Chloe sneezes, and for a moment, I'm scared that one of the guards is going to take the sudden noise as an opportunity to punish her for her alleged 'insolence'. Or, stated in plain terms, for giving him an excuse to do so. But he simply carries on after giving her a small shove. I mentally give her an apology and a Gesundheit, though I can't hear anything coming back through our bond.

After the guards ramble on for another minute or so, we're shown to our new sleeping accommodations for the evening. Not quite a literal cesspit, but not far off from one, either. Cold, hard stone, with a few spots of dirt on the floor, one small raised slab that might function as a makeshift bed. No water, but there is a small pot that… yeah, Earth's most pleasant human invention seems to not even be a twinkle in the minds of Synthir's most brilliant scientists and researchers.

We're released from our restraints after being put in our cells, though it's to little benefit. Inscriptions on the wall carry a more powerful and refined version of the anti-[Ether] formation I saw back in that store a few weeks ago. And unlike theirs, there are no obvious weaknesses I can take advantage of. Thanks to [Indomitable Will], I can overpower it and break out of this at any time, but I shudder to think about how things might've been different had we come to this floor a few weeks back.

Worst of all, they didn't even put Chloe and me in the same cell. She and Kristil are one cell over, while I'm stuck with the mystery woman, who hasn't made a sound louder than a footstep or a breath since I first saw her. Just who is she, I wonder? I don't know if she's friend, exactly, but she's certainly not foe, and this is certainly a time when the enemy of my enemy might be my friend.

With that in mind, I approach the woman, asking her her name. She's sitting against the wall with knees bent, arms wrapped around them, and head folded into some sort of seated fetal position. She doesn't answer. I ask her again a moment later. Again, she glances upward, looking at me with lifeless eyes, then droops back down.

"Cara," she says.

"Seraphina," I answer. "It's nice to meet you."

She shakes her head the tiniest amount. "Not that it matters. We'll all be dead before noon tomorrow."

"Wait, dead? What?" I nearly fail to keep my voice down to a whisper. "What are you talking about, dead?"

"You don't know?" Cara looks around, even peering against the iron bars of the caged wall to search for guards. Being satisfied with whatever she sees— or doesn't see— she looks at me, beckoning me closer.

I tepidly follow, not wanting to do anything that might upset Chloe or even be potentially taken in the wrong way. To my relief, Cara makes no move in that direction, simply speaking in hushed tones. Thankfully in the common language of Synthir and its kingdom, which my mind understands as English thanks to System shenanigans.

"There have been… reports of strange disappearances happening in Synthir over the past several months. I've been sent here to investigate and punish the ones responsible. But it seems that the situation is far worse than I could have imagined. I've done my best to keep a low profile–"

"Wait, back up. When we were arrested and thrown in here, the guards said that it was a lawful order by the Lord Mayor, on behalf of His Majesty. But now you're saying that that's not the case?"

"You're not from around here, are you?"

"No, why?"

"In Threndara, the kingdom where we are currently, His Majesty the King is the highest source of authority in the land. His authority is then passed down to the regional governors and the Lords Mayor who govern individual free cities and city-states, including Synthir. Short of an official diplomatic missive or being ousted by the king or his representative, the Lord Mayor rules with absolute authority. So yes, everything he does is 'under the authority of the king', but only in a nominal sense."

"And what is this Silver–"

"Don't," Cara cuts me off. "Don't mention that name. It's just some rumor people cling to for false hope."

She shoots me a tiny, almost imperceptible wink within the cold, dark dungeon, hard to pick up on even with my Skills. But the message is clear. The organization is real, she is involved, and she doesn't want to ruin whatever operation her comrades in resistance have planned. Even if it means sacrificing herself. Not that I plan to get to that point.

"What do we do now?" I ask.

"What can we do? We're without any magic, trapped in a cage, awaiting our execution in the morning, a public message to all those who plot against the Lord Mayor. All we can do is wait for the end."

"Supposing we could break out of here, hypothetically, of course. What would be our course of action? I can't imagine whoever sent you sent someone too weak to accomplish anything on her own."

Cara grits her teeth. "What does it matter? I have a trinket that can temporarily counter the antimagic field around the city, but I can't access my [Inventory]."

"Could you pull it out if we could get out of here? And if so, would you be strong enough to take out the guards?"

"What do you care? There's no way to bust out of here. The walls are too sturdy and the anti-Skill field is too complex and precise to brute force open."

"Because…" I lower my voice to the point where it's barely a whisper, just mouthing the words. "I have a Skill that negates all suppression effects. And I can get us out of here at any time."

Cara's eyes widen with shock. "Then… we need to formulate a plan. And fast. If what you say is true, we just might have a chance of turning the impossible into the possible after all."