The massive winch gears shrieked as the gate's locking mechanism disengaged. The noise was deafening, but it was drowned out almost immediately by the sound of the North Gate groaning open.

Jake didn't wait. The opening gate was the only signal he needed. He raised his hand and summoned the War Mastiffs.

The air in front of the gate shimmered and tore. Thousands of massive shapes materialized.

"Swarm the place and kill any church member you find," Jake ordered.

The Mastiffs launched themselves into the breach.

They hit the confused ranks of the guard like a battering ram. The first line of defenders, still looking up at the gatehouse in horror, was trampled before they could even raise their shields.

The Mastiffs went through the gates and went into the city streets. Screams erupted, and torches flared to life.

"Let's go," Lena said. "We have no time to lose."

She and Jake reached the gate, using the distraction to scale the section of the wall where the Vorathid Sky-Hunters had already killed the guards, keeping as far away from the walls as possible.

They dropped into the city and landed in a narrow alleyway behind a row of sheds. The sounds of battle erupted from the Gate. The War Mastiffs roared while they tore through the church members.

Many officers shouted orders over the chaos. Alarms rang out from multiple places across the city. The noise pulled every available person toward the northern breach.

Ashwick was a fortress city built to keep armies out. But inside, the defenses were not as effective as the walls were. The streets were narrow and twisted around the huge, blocky Skyscraper.

"That's the target," Jake said, checking his map. "We must go there, right?"

Lena nodded.

They moved through the shadows and encountered the first patrol two blocks in. Dozens of guards were running toward the gate.

Jake stepped out of the shadows as they passed and used the momentum of his step to reach them fast enough to sink his blades deep into the guards' necks. The first man dropped without a sound.

Lena took a second before he could turn around. A third guard stopped, his eyes widening as he saw his squadmates fall. He opened his mouth to shout.

Jake's second strike took his head off, and soon silence ensued.

"Good job," Lena said. "Let's keep moving now."

They pushed deeper into the city, leaving the corpses behind. After all, Ashwick was being invaded, so random corpses around weren't out of place.

The deeper they went, the clearer the Church's war preparations became. They passed warehouses with their doors blown open by the hasty mobilization, revealing stacks of crates filled with food or equipment.

"Are they crazy?" Jake said, pausing by a particularly large depot. He pried the lid off a crate. Inside were dozens of Dynamite Charges. "Where did they get this anyway?"

"Most likely from the vendors," Lena said. There were people collaborating with the church, so for them to have these items wasn't weird at all.

"These are demolition charges," Lena said. "They were likely going to bring down the mountain pass and seal Highmont in," Lena said.

"We need to destroy it," Jake said.

"Great idea. Fireworks would likely be appreciated," Lena said.

Jake reached into one of the open crates and extracted a Dynamite Charge. He carried it over to the base of a nearby support beam and positioned it against the wooden structure. Once it was in place, he struck the fuse, which sparked and began to hiss as it came to life. The flame started eating its way toward the explosive.

"Move," he said.

They ran. The explosion came thirty seconds later. The area went up in a flash of white-hot light.

Jake glanced back. Flames clawed at the sky, and black smoke billowed into the night and spread to the rest of the city. Debris rained down, clattering against rooftops.

"That'll get their attention," Lena said, grinning.

They left the depot and turned onto the main avenue leading to the central district. The skyscraper loomed ahead.

They were close.

But between them and the tower was a checkpoint. A barricade manned by a dozen guards was between them and the skyscraper. Beyond it, the building loomed.

"We go through them," Lena said.

They struck fast. Jake came in from the left. Lena took two on the right.

The remaining guards scrambled to react, but they were too slow. Jake drove his blade through a fourth man's chest, ripping it free in a spray of blood. Lena's dagger found a gap in another's armor.

In seconds, they almost killed all of them. The last few tried to run. But Jake and Lena were too fast. Within seconds, the checkpoint was silent.

"Clear," Lena said, wiping her blade.

They moved past the barricade and into the central district. The skyscraper's entrance was just ahead, flanked by two more guards.

Jake didn't slow down. He closed the distance, moving in a straight line toward the guards. His blade came up fast and cut through the first guard's throat.

Blood sprayed across the ground. The guard dropped without making a sound. The second guard turned his head, but Jake's blade was already moving. It went through the man's neck before he could open his mouth. The body hit the ground. Both guards were dead before they could raise an alarm.

Lena gripped the iron handle and pulled. The door swung inward with a low groan, and the two stepped through the threshold and into the main hall.

The air inside the skyscraper was noticeably cooler. The sounds of the fighting outside faded to a muffled rumble, sealed away by the thick walls. They had penetrated the Central Skyscraper, the heart of the enemy's command. Every order that directed the church's forces in Ashwick came from somewhere in this building.

The first thing they noticed was the echo. The sound of their own boots bounced back at them from hard, smooth surfaces, filling the high space around them.

Then their eyes adjusted. Flickering torchlight from wall sconces danced across polished marble floors, stretching the flames into wavering reflections. Underneath the echo of their steps, they could make out other sounds—sharp voices giving orders, coming from somewhere deeper in the building.

"We're in."

Jake checked his daggers. The Greathelm of the Regenerating Head gave him a clear view of the mana currents flowing through the walls.

"First target?" Jake asked.

"Whoever is giving the orders," Lena said.

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