I gently place the Assassin against the corridor's wall. From here, I can sense the two guards outside, who are still in position. No one seems to be in the arena or coming this way from that direction.
I sigh in relief as I lean against the opposite wall. I might have gotten stronger, but that was still a risky move.
I wait for a few minutes, and the Assassin eventually wakes up. She looks around, confused, until she sees me. As our eyes meet, we stay immobile for a fraction of a second, which feels much longer to me, as I wait for her reaction. She snaps out of her surprise, jumps on her feet, grabs a dagger and points it at me.
"What did you do to me this time?"
I raise my hands to show that they're empty before saying:
"I broke the control the Architect had over you."
"You... uh...?"
She lowers her weapon and I can see her eyes losing focus as she dives into her memories. She stays like this for almost a whole minute, then drops her dagger and falls to her knees as tears start flowing down her cheeks.
"What... What have I done?"
I'd like to comfort her, but I don't know what I would say, and physical contact seems like a bad idea considering we barely know each other. She continues to mutter to herself:
"Oh, Jacob... To think you would go that far."
She cries for a few more minutes before finally calming down. She gets back up, wipes her tear-covered face with her sleeve, then turns towards me.
"Thank you for freeing me from Jacob's influence. My name is Marian, and I believe I was the very first person he ever branded. I've been with him, against my will, since before he even started this organization. I wanted to be a Healer, but... He had other plans for me, I guess."
As she finishes that sentence, she looks at her now damaged Assassin's armor. She then grabs the dagger she dropped and puts it back in its sheathe before continuing:
"I'm surprised that you found a way to break the brand. Many have tried before, but they all got branded themselves before reaching a solution. Even more impressive is that you managed to make Jacob believe that you did get branded despite clearly not being under his control."
"Someone else had their brand removed when a monster used that same spell I used on you. So I figured that by replicating said spell, I would be able to remove the brand from others as well, granted that I heal them afterwards."
"But what about you? How did you manage to avoid being branded?"
"I didn't. The brand is etched on my body just like it was on yours. I simply managed to isolate it in such a way that it cannot affect me."
"Really? That's... completely unheard of."
"My abilities are pretty unique."
"And thanks to that, we finally have a way to defeat my brother."
Her brother? I guess they do have the same hair color, but since I've never seen his face, I wouldn't have guessed. Her being Jacob's sister would explain why she ended up being the first branded, he tried his powers on his own family. The more I learn about him, the more despicable he appears to me.
"I was hoping you could assist me in doing just that. I don't know how many adventurers he killed, but their families deserve to know the truth, and he needs to pay for his crimes."
"I will do whatever it takes."
I can clearly tell that she's determined. Despite being his sister, she might just be the one holding the biggest grudge against the Architect.
I quickly explain my plan to her, more specifically how I intend to pretend to kill the other adventurers in the arena and then sneak allies into the following one-on-one meeting to ambush him. She nods as I explain, then says:
"I'll agree to go back into that strange power of yours. I have pretty much free reign to move as I wish around our various bases, so I'll simply meet you after your battle. I'm also in charge of disposing of the bodies of dead adventurers, so I'll..."
Without being able to finish that sentence, she retches. She then shakes her head and continues:
"... I'll make sure the adventurers make it out safe and sound. We'll just have to be careful, Jacob is still a level 100 adventurer, even if he hasn't dirtied his own hands in a long time."
"We should be able to handle it. I'll also see if I can recruit more allies before Friday, but you, Jeremy and I together are already stronger than he is."
"Very well. I'll pretend to still be under my brother's spell until Friday, when we finally put an end to his folly."
And that's one more very important ally gained. However, before leaving, there's one last favor I'd like to ask.
"This request might sound a bit strange, but could you use the spell that hides your presence but without fully hiding yourself right now?"
"Uh? What purpose would that serve?"
"I've never been able to see the spell cast in its entirety because it causes you to disappear from my sensing ability before the last movements of your energy happen, so I can't replicate it. If you allowed me to see the whole thing, I might be able to also hide myself going forward."
Her eyes open wide in surprise.
"You believe you can replicate a spell that takes an Assassin years to master by seeing it just once? You might be more foolish than I thought, but very well, I'll allow you to see it cast in its entirety."
She starts focusing her energy and casts the spell on herself, but I can tell it's a weakened version of it, likely one of the versions they learn at lower levels. I carefully observe how the spell works an make a mental note of how I can make it stronger. Once she's done, I cast the spell on myself, creating an invisible and magical shroud around my body. I can tell that my energy is now invisible to others. This is going to be very useful going forward. I don't have to worry about being read as a monster again.
As she watches me, Marian's jaw drops.
"Did you... did you really manage to cast the spell?"
"Yep. Some high-level adventurers have special and unique powers that no one else can replicate, right? I guess you can say that part of my own unique power is that I can easily imitate others."
She sighs and smiles before saying:
"I guess nothing less than someone very unusual was needed to give us a chance against Jacob. Use this power responsibly, okay?"
I smile and nod in return.
"I should probably leave now, before someone finds us."
"And I should go get changed, no way this giant hole in my armor is going to remain unnoticed."
"Ah, right, sorry about that."
"Don't worry, sacrificing a chestpiece to get my free will back was entirely worth it. I'll see you on Friday, then?"
"Yep!"
And with that, I leave the underground arena. The guards let me go without issues, and I exit the small alley. I choose to let them be, they're not powerful enough to be useful against the architect, so initiating a fight here is too much of a risk for too little reward.
With this, I'm confident we have a good chance at defeating the Architect and bringing his organization down. Once he's out of the picture, the people who funded and participated willingly in the operation will be rooted out and brought to justice, and I'll be able to go back to my peaceful life. As peaceful as a high-level adventurer's life can be, at any rate.
