HP: The Arcane Thief

Today, Atlantis has turned upside down. Right after the first explosion, there was a second one. And a third one after that.

Ever since the last war, which had destroyed most of Atlantis, strict measures have been taken right from the start of rebuilding and restructuring of the Kingdom to emphasize public safety above everything else.

Completely preventing every single type of destructive magic was impossible. So, the Technomancers added a new mechanism in the warding scheme of the city, which was programmed to constrict any type of destructive magic from spreading further as soon as it crossed a certain parameter.

Due to this new incorporation, along with the existing and other new additions, there have been no major disasters in Atlantis for the past few decades… until today.

Day 23, Starfish month, year 5106 of the Marine calendar.

This day was marked as an unforeseen and unprecedented disaster in the recent history of Atlantis.

An explosion actually happened in a populated area in Atlantis that the wards failed to contain. Not long after, a second explosion took place, and a third one after that.

What is more spine chilling is the fact that there were more explosions that were set to go off after that.

It was not an impulsive attack, but a planned strike that the Kraken had been preparing for a long time. Having no preparations for this kind of attack, Atlantis was caught completely off guard. Many of the Relic Wielders and other major fighting forces were already occupied and couldn't be immediately deployed. On the other hand, it was out of their capabilities to do much in this kind of situation.

But it is said, in times of crisis, there exist Heroes who would step up to save the day.

The previous leader of the Black ops division and the one with the title Relic Slayer, Kyrin Tenebrous, who had left Atlantis 6 years ago, returned to Atlantis and single handedly stopped further explosions from happening.

But both sides know. This is just the start of the true battle. Atlantis has somehow survived this time. But with the addition of explosives in Kraken's arsenal and the defenders having to protect the whole Atlantis, the battle is now in Kraken's favour.

That's why, an important Council meeting is currently underway in order to solve the various issues that have now suddenly surfaced due to this move by Kraken.

The attendees consisted of the Royal Princess, the Elders, the heads of important departments, and of course, the hero who saved thousands of lives.

"Thank the sea gods that the worst outcome was prevented," One of the Elders was saying.

"Definitely. It's thanks to you, Madame Tenebrous. You returned at the right time," another Elder said, looking gratefully in Mirai Sensei's direction.

The members in the meeting had already expressed their gratitude to her at least once, But the more they think about it, the more they thank her again.

Kyrin Tenebrous, or 'Kurai Sensei', only nodded indifferently. She hated the Elders. Most of them are power hungry fogies who only care about their own Septises.

"It wasn't a coincidence. I had gotten Intel from my spies that the squid were planning something big. That's why I had the Japanese government shift our arriving date a bit early. It's good that we made it in time."

"More importantly, Kraken can now use wide area destructive attacks," she said, raising the major issue. "We have to take countermeasures."

With that, the atmosphere turned serious.

"I still can't understand. H-O-W did they do this?!" The Elder from flame Septis questioned.

This was an important mystery to solve.

"It should have been impossible! Even we don't know how to bypass the constricting sequence! How did they do it?!" Another person voiced.

The Technomancy Enclave head stood up. "Our analyzers have been working non-stop to find out just that, so that we can fix it. So far, we have been able to confirm one thing." he hesitated, glancing at the Princess. "That… The waves emitted from this explosion highly match the explosion that happened 13 years ago…"

Silence descended upon the meeting room. The princess, who had been quietly sitting, turned her head sharply in the Tecnhomancer's direction.

Actually, this is not the first time the constricting warding scheme has been breached. There was one other instance when it had happened, around 13 years ago.

It was the explosion that caused the death of the Crown Princess of Atlantis when she destroyed the key that Kraken was using to bring chaos to Atlantis.

This was an extremely sensitive topic, and that's why, at this moment, no one dared to speak.

"So, what you are saying is, they were able to somehow replicate the explosion 13 years ago."

But, Princess Antilla, who had been silent for until now, mourning the death of her citizens, spoke up, voicing the conclusion that everyone had arrived at. Her eyes were red due to the sadness caused by the deaths, but her slightly hoarse voice had steel in it.

It was clear that she didn't have the luxury to be sad. That's why, she had to break her silence and steer the conversation further.

"Y-Yes. That seems to be the case here, Princess."

"So now, the question is: how do we stop this?" She asked.

With the princess raising the main issue, everyone else was also able to remain focused on the urgent situation.

"We have further tightened the security in the whole Kingdom. They can't smuggle the bombs into the city by ordinary means now," said the security incharge, slightly sweating due to the stress. Even though no one expected this disaster, but there are still people who must take the fall. Being the head of security, he is definitely one of them. That's why he is now trying his hardest to make up for it.

In Atlantis, Teleportation was only possible through portals. And all the portals accessible to the public have been temporarily blocked. Along with the strict monitoring, the Kraken can't smuggle the bombs into the city through ordinary means anymore.

One of the elders just shook his head. "That won't help us much, will it? Nothing would work if we don't stop 'him'. He would just start doing it himself after he is healed."

The meeting came to a halt when this person was mentioned. Actually, the bombs weren't pre-planted. The security around Atlantis is tough to begin with, so the chance of Atlantis finding out about this attack was quite probable. That's why, the Kraken didn't even waste any time. They directly used their ace.

Cravix Marnix, or the Space Eel. He has the most annoying relic that allows him to control space. This guy has been giving the atlantians a headache for a long time. Due to his space powers, he can break through the anti-teleportation wards, making him a particularly troublesome adversary.

With the help of this ability of his, the Kraken didn't need to smuggle the bombs and pre-plant them. This guy could just drop them whenever he wants, wherever he wants.

That's why, in the attack just now, three bombs had exploded one after another in different parts of the city, dropped by the same individual. Kraken already knew that Atlantis currently had no one who could stop him.

Fortunately, their ace relic hunter returned to Atlantis today. With her phenomenal abilities and quick thinking, she was able to ambush the space hopper, catching him off guard. Even though he's not dead, he was seriously injured, inflicted by the Tenebrous Septis magic. This has bought Atlantis some time to think of the countermeasures.

"That slippery Eel! I was this close to killing him," said Kyrin Tenebrous in frustration. If only she had killed him, things would have been much easier. But Cravix is not an opponent who can be killed easily, or he won't be called the 'Space Eel'.

No one could really blame Kyrin right now. Because until now, no one had even managed to scratch the guy, let alone seriously injure him.

"You are not to blame, Kyrin. I will fight anyone who says otherwise," said Princess Antilla, raising her delicate fist. "But I do blame you for leaving without a word. I thought we were friends."

"That..." Kyrin, who wouldn't feel ashamed even molesting children, couldn't meet eyes with the princess at that.

"Anyway. We will have a talk later. Right now, we have to think about our next step," said the Princess.

"It's clear," said the Flame Elder. "We need to kill that slippery cervix."

That drew several laughs from around the room. "Cravix to Slippery Cervix (pussy). It's quite fitting," a division head agreed.

The princess coughed. "Please refrain from vulgarities. But I agree. Cravix Marvix must be eliminated. But it's easier said than done."

The meeting room once again descended into silence. None of the elders and division leaders could speak at this moment. Because all of them were afraid that this task might be dumped on them.

This was the flaw of Atlantian Rule right now. Everyone wanted power, but no one would want to wield it for the just cause.

The princess sighed. She knew that even though she was respected, she didn't really have the power to order the capable people to handle this task. The situation right now looks harmonious, but there are subtle undercurrents. And the current harmony is only achieved because they have a common enemy.

Looking at the bunch of cowards, Kyrin scoffed in disdain. "I'll do it," she declared.

?!

Her announcement was met with relief and surprise, but no one directly objected to it. There was only one person who could do it. Kyrin Tenebrous. Her abilities were a perfect counter to the Cravix. They just didn't have the guts to shift the responsibility on her.

"No, It's too dangerous..."

Princess Antilla definitely wanted to oppose it. She didn't want her friend to put herself in danger after just returning.

"No, I NEED to do this," said Kyrin, standing up. She swept her gaze over the meeting room. "I need to do this... because I can't stand it any further. The great Kingdom of Atlantis, brought to such a state by a bunch of squids. Back in the days, we used to hunt for fun. They were nothing more than a way to pass time. I didn't know that after coming back, things would have changed to this degree."

She turned to the Princess. "Princess Antilla, I formally request to return the commands of the Black ops to me. This time, I'll hunt down every last one of them."

....

On the other hand, not at all aware that he had been seen through yet again, Axel was currently in the room which had been temporarily allocated to him while the result of the trial and his recruitment was still unclear.

The room was minimalistic, but extremely reposeful. The matress was made out of a material that made it seem soft and foamy, but at the same time, when resting on it, you would feel like you've sunk into water. It had the reclining mode, sitting mode, folding mode. There was a table that could retract into the wall, which contained a built-in transparent computer screen for study.

The whole room was self cleaning and there was an ai interface that could do a lot of things for you like adjusting the temperature, opening and closing the window, drawing the blinds, etc.

Overall, it was quite a place to live. There were so many features in the room that it might take him the whole day to explore them all. But right now, Axel was in no mood to do so.

He had too much on his mind. The kraken has already used their bombing tactic. And since he already knew about it from Theron and Nerio, Axel felt partially responsible for the lives that were lost.

But, was there really something he could have done to change this outcome? Even if he had tried to warn the Atlantians, the only thing that would have changed right now is that he would have been in more trouble.

How would he have explained how he got the news?

The alternative was revealing his identity, but that would have been even more dangerous to him. Currently, he can deduce from all the information that Kraken won't be the only force unhappy upon knowing that there was a rightful heir to the throne who has been living in the outside world until now.

Besides, the impact wasn't too severe. Not many deaths were reported. If the matter was big enough, the system would have issued a mission rather than letting him handle the situation at his own discretion.

In the end, Axel decided he should not think too much. For now, he had successfully infiltrated Atlantis and (almost?) got recruited. Now he can slowly climb his way up. Once he has enough security and enough people on his side, he'll reveal his identity and begin fighting for real.

Things... never do go according to his plan though.

The next day, he was slapped with a recruitment offer.

That wasn't the problem. Rather, it was a good thing he finally got an offer.

"Black ops..."

He didn't know there was a division like this here. Furthermore, the job description was: Hunting Relic Wielders, Infiltration, Assassination, Stealth operations, Subterfuge....

It was filled with red flags. But, even this wasn't the main problem.

It was the letter that came attached with it. Funnily enough, it came in a scroll, written in English.

"Dear Axel Hunt (Or Chris Martin?),

Fancy seeing you here. I was very disappointed when you rejected my kind offer and stopped coming to my classes. You've gotten more handsome in the last few days I haven't seen you. I'm going to extend another offer to you. Don't reject this time.

Looking forward to meeting you~

Lots of love,

Kurai Sensei

....

A.N.: F for Axel.