Rivers of the Night-Chapter 423: Chaos (2)

The Mandate Guild could very well be considered the center of the world. There were many powers invested in them, and their secrets were the stuff of legends. Many-a-genius had been raised by their resources.

However, such a thing was a double-edged sword. As valuable as they were, it was only proportional to how badly others wanted to partake in the treasures they held dear.

Most of the reason the Mandate Guild had avoided being targeted—at least at their early onset—was because there were a very rare few who could control the Mandate to begin with. There was something unique about the Veils that most people across the continent didn’t have. As such, their power was uniquely controllable by them.

That said... the library of Mandate Plaques was a different matter entirely. There was not a single soul that didn’t want to get their hands on it, but the reputation of the Mandate Guild was simply too tall.

Knowing this, the two awakened Ancestor Veils knew that they couldn’t just leave things as is. But dealing with the situation wasn’t just as simple as going to the Black Clan and returning the favor. And clearly, Patriarch Black knew this well.

The problem with doing so was that this entire thing was the fault of the Mandate Guild to begin with. Ancestor Veil Oyner had been the one to command Elder Pipen to take the Mandate Plaque away from Ryuss.

It was unknown what happened to cause Guiss’ crippling after the fact, but it didn’t matter. Ultimately, this led back to the Guild.

What was Elder Pipen worried about at the start? Wasn’t it the reputation of the Guild going into the red because news spread that they were snatching away plaques from those that had already earned them?

If the Guild went to attack the Black Clan now, it would only be magnifying this detail all the more, and others would begin to question whether this was right.

Plus... it should have been obvious, but with how Ancestor Veil Oyner didn’t hesitate to give the order, it was clear this wasn’t the first time the Guild had made such a choice.

This situation could easily steamroll, causing those other suppressed incidents to bubble up as well. If that happened, the entire reputation of the Guild could be ruined in a night.

There was only one path Ancestor Veil Oyner saw out of this. They needed to make a show of force, and yet it couldn’t be against the Black Clan. Luckily, they already had a new target, and suddenly had been given a reason on a silver platter to execute on it without having to be as covert as they had planned to be before.

The Daggers of the Night.

The plan was simple. Accuse the assassin’s guild of impersonating an Elder Veil and sneaking in to steal a key plaque of their Mandate Guild.

Given the power of the plaque, it was a very plausible situation. Ryuss needed over a decade to finally and successfully trade for it. It took not just his standing, but his placement on the Mandate Leaderboard, and a large amount of effort to finally succeed.

According to the policies of the Mandate Guild, they didn’t work with the Daggers of the Night at all. None of the assassins were on the Leaderboard, nor were they allowed to partake.

It was the perfect cover-up, killing two birds with a single stone. Not only would they have a story to shield them from criticism, but they would also be able to remind the world of their power and the scope of their intelligence.

There were supposedly only two official branches of the Daggers of the Night remaining.

Now, there would only be one.

Of course, the Mandate Guild didn’t know that what they were effectively targeting was actually the very last of them... the very last branch with the Dagger Call Platform... a branch that Theron was quite familiar with.

The irony of it all was that the Mandate Guild reached the Nightingale Empire even before Theron did. But because Theron had to take a roundabout method, not knowing the path to get there directly, they never crossed paths at all.

A bloody battle shook the world, and just when it seemed like the Daggers of the Night would be wiped from the face of the world, an unexpected thing happened...

Not only did unexpected support appear in the form of powerhouses the continent had never seen before, but there was a particular Clan that took a step forward...

The Nightingales.

No one could have ever expected such a thing. A small, backwater Empire under the thumb of the Black Clan suddenly rising up against one of the most powerful powers on the whole continent.

It was a twist of Fate that seemed to make a joke of the Mandate Guild.

A battle of epic proportions was kicked up. Casualties mounted until the first Divine Realm existence fell...

The name of an assassin long lost to time was remembered in that moment.

The Cadence of the Crypt.

Injured, and carrying a fraction of his peak abilities, he held the head of an Ancestor Veil in arrogant silence before he faded into the wind, brandishing his daggers once again.

After that death, the entire battlefield froze and a stalemate was forced. No one wanted to be the next, and this chilling effect was the only thing that seemed to force everything to calm down.

However, there were certain things that simply couldn’t be put back in the bottle.

The oddity of the Nightingales, the reveal of the old assassin and the Daggers of the Night’s final resting ground, and all of these unknown experts...

Just where had they come from?

Ancestor Veil Oyner felt like everything was flying out of his control, and what should have been a simple retrieval mission, for both Theron and their face, had turned instead into their worst nightmares.

And yet... they all seemed aware that things were only beginning...

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