---
Three months of peace.
Three months of boring, wonderful, mundane peace.
Kaito had almost forgotten what boredom felt like. Days blending into each other without crisis, without deadline, without the threat of harvest or war hanging over them. It was strange. Uncomfortable in its comfort.
He sat in a café in the lower district, enjoying an anonymity that had become increasingly rare. A hat pulled low, casual clothes, nothing that screamed "hero." Around him, people went about their lives—arguing about prices, gossiping about neighbors, complaining about the weather.
Normal. Beautifully, impossibly normal.
His empathy picked up the ambient emotions: frustration from a merchant whose shipment was late, joy from a couple holding hands, exhaustion from a mother with three children. Nothing dramatic. Nothing world-ending.
*Is this what peace feels like?* he wondered.
"Mind if I join you?"
Kaito looked up to find Ren standing there, similarly disguised in commoner's clothing. He gestured to the empty chair.
"Hiding from responsibility too?" Kaito asked.
"Celestia has me in meetings fourteen hours a day. I needed air." Ren ordered tea from a passing server. "You?"
"Same. Except my meetings are with demi-human communities trying to integrate into the city. Lots of people with lots of feelings about lots of changes."
"Exhausting?"
"In a different way than combat, but yes."
They sat in comfortable silence, two teenagers pretending to be normal citizens for an hour.
"Do you ever miss it?" Ren asked suddenly. "The clarity of it? When we had a clear enemy and a clear mission?"
"No," Kaito said immediately. Then, more honestly: "Maybe. It was simpler when we knew what we were fighting. Now everything is complicated and political and there's no obvious right answer."
"Welcome to adulthood."
"I'm seventeen. I shouldn't have to be an adult yet."
"We died at seventeen. We lost normal a long time ago."
Fair point.
The server brought Ren's tea, and they sat watching the street traffic. A demon child—maybe five years old with small horns—ran past chasing a ball, followed by a human girl about the same age. Their mothers called after them, laughing together at the entrance to a shop.
"That's why," Kaito said, gesturing at the children. "That's why the complicated politics are worth it. So they can just be kids."
"Sappy."
"You asked."
Ren smiled. "I did. And you're right. It's just hard to remember sometimes when I'm sitting through my eighth budget meeting of the week."
"Could be worse. You could be helping Yuki test barrier modifications."
"How is that going?"
"Loud. Lots of magical explosions. She says they're 'controlled experiments.' They don't feel controlled."
They were interrupted by shouting from down the street. Both heroes immediately tensed, hands moving toward weapons they'd instinctively brought despite the peacetime.
But it wasn't an attack. Just an argument—a human merchant and a demon customer disagreeing loudly about the price of fabric.
"Three gold is robbery!" the demon woman said. "This quality is worth two at most!"
"The market price is three! I don't set the rates!" the merchant replied.
"You set whatever rates cheat demons—"
"I charge everyone the same! You're the one trying to—"
"Should we intervene?" Kaito asked, already reading the emotions. Frustration on both sides, but no real hostility. Just normal merchant-customer haggling complicated by lingering prejudice and mistrust.
"Not unless it escalates," Ren decided. "They need to learn to resolve minor conflicts themselves. We can't referee every disagreement in the city."
As they watched, a city guard approached—one of Daichi's trained recruits. She listened to both sides, verified the market price, and helped them reach a compromise. The demon woman got her fabric, the merchant got his sale, everyone walked away moderately dissatisfied but not angry.
"See?" Ren said. "Systems working as intended."
"One small success at a time."
"That's all peace is. Small successes accumulated until they become normal."
Philosophical Ren was back. Kaito was still getting used to this version of his friend—the one who thought about governance and systems instead of just tactics and survival.
They finished their tea and were preparing to return to the palace when Kaito's empathy caught something wrong. A spike of hostile intent, moving fast, focused on—
"REN, DOWN!"
Kaito tackled him off his chair just as a crossbow bolt buried itself in the wall where Ren's head had been.
Chaos erupted. People screaming, running, seeking cover. Kaito's empathy flared wide, trying to locate the attacker. There—rooftop, two buildings over, already reloading—
Another bolt. Kaito raised his hand and projected pure terror at the assassin. The figure stumbled, the shot going wide, hitting the street instead.
City guards converged from multiple directions. The assassin, realizing the attempt had failed, fled across rooftops. Daichi appeared from somewhere—he'd been in the area, thank god—and gave chase with his enhanced speed.
Ren stood, checking himself over. No injuries, just rattled. He looked at Kaito. "Thank you."
"Thank my empathy. I felt the intent just in time."
"Second assassination attempt in three months. We're popular."
"Sarcasm doesn't help."
"It helps me."
Within minutes, the area was secured. Celestia arrived with more guards, furious and frightened in equal measure. "Are you hurt?"
"We're fine," Ren assured her. "Kaito detected the threat before it connected."
"This can't keep happening. We've increased security, we've investigated threats, we've—" She stopped, taking a breath. "I'm sorry. I'm glad you're safe. But we need to find whoever keeps targeting you."
"Did you catch the assassin?" Kaito asked.
"Daichi's pursuing, but—" She shook her head. "They're professionals. They have escape routes planned. We've caught none of the previous attempts."
Four assassination attempts in three months. Two targeting Ren, one targeting Yuki while she worked in her laboratory, one targeting Kaito himself while conducting diplomatic meetings. All failures, but that wouldn't last forever.
"We need to change our approach," Ren said. "Stop being reactive. Start investigating proactively."
"We have investigators—"
"Who find nothing. Because they're looking in the wrong places or asking the wrong questions." Ren's tactical mind was engaged now. "These aren't random attacks. They're coordinated. Professional. Someone is funding them, organizing them, protecting them."
"Who?" Celestia asked. "Who benefits from killing heroes now? The war is over. The harvest is ended. What's the motive?"
"That's what we need to find out."
---
An emergency council convened that evening. The five heroes, Queen Celestia, General Gareth (who now commanded the city guard), and several trusted advisors gathered in a secure room to discuss the threat.
"Let's review what we know," Ren said, taking charge of the investigation. He'd always been good at this—analyzing patterns, identifying connections, seeing the bigger picture.
Yuki projected her findings on the wall using magic—she'd developed a useful spell for presentations. Four attempted assassinations appeared as data points:
**Attempt One (Month 1):** Poison in Yuki's tea. Detected by magical analysis before consumption. Poison traced to illegal imports, trail went cold.
**Attempt Two (Month 2):** Magical trap in Kaito's office. Triggered prematurely, injured a servant instead. Trap's signature matched black market enchantments, no further leads.
**Attempt Three (Month 3, Week 1):** Sniper targeting Yuki in her laboratory. Arrow deflected by Himari's instinctive defensive song. Sniper escaped, no physical evidence.
**Attempt Four (Today):** Crossbow attack on Ren. Failed due to Kaito's empathic detection. Attacker escaped via rooftops.
"Common factors," Yuki analyzed. "Professional execution. Black market resources. Knowledge of hero schedules and locations. Multiple different methods suggesting multiple different assassins hired for specific jobs."
"Which means organization," Gareth said. "Someone with resources, connections, and specific grudges against the heroes."
"Not all the heroes," Daichi observed. "Himari hasn't been targeted. Why?"
"She's the most publicly popular," Celestia said. "The 'Angel of Lumina.' Attacking her would turn public opinion against the attackers immediately."
"So they're worried about public opinion. That suggests local actors, not external enemies." Ren paced as he thought. "Who did we make enemies of?"
"The list is long," Kaito said. "We overthrew a king, ended a war, broke a thousand-year tradition, forced major social changes. Plenty of people have reasons to hate us."
"But who has the resources to organize professional assassinations?"
"Nobles," Celestia said quietly. "Specifically, nobles who lost power when I took the throne. The old guard who benefited from the war economy and the harvest system."
"Names?" Ren pressed.
Celestia pulled out a list. "The most likely suspects: Duke Thornwood, who controlled military contracts. Baron Ashford, who had family ties to Blackwood and never forgave you for his death. Countess Vale, who was one of my father's strongest supporters. And about a dozen others with means, motive, and opportunity."
"That's too many to investigate thoroughly," Yuki said. "We need to narrow it down."
"Or we set a trap," Daichi suggested. "Let them come to us on our terms."
"Bait?" Himari asked nervously. "Who would be bait?"
"Me," Ren said immediately. "I've been targeted twice. They're focused on me for some reason."
"Absolutely not," Celestia said.
"It's logical. I'm clearly their priority target—"
"Which makes you the worst choice for bait. If you're killed, we lose one of our best tactical minds and one of my closest advisors." She looked at Kaito. "What about empathy? Can you detect hostile intent at range? Use that to identify potential assassins?"
"In theory, yes. In practice, it's complicated. The city has fifty thousand people. Sorting through all their emotions to find one specific hostile intent is like finding a specific drop of water in the ocean."
"But if you were expecting it? If you were looking specifically?"
"Maybe. If I had a location to focus on. A time and place where I knew to be alert."
"That's something," Gareth said. "We could arrange a public event. Announce the heroes will be attending. See who shows up with murderous intent."
"That's still using us as bait," Himari pointed out.
"Yes. But with preparation, backup, and Kaito's empathy as early warning."
They debated for another hour, refining the plan. Finally, they agreed:
A public ceremony in one week. Ostensibly to celebrate the six-month anniversary of the new barrier system. All five heroes would attend, visible and vulnerable. Security would be present but not obvious. Kaito would extend his empathy to maximum range, detecting any hostile intent in the crowd. When an attempt was made—and they were certain one would be—they'd capture the assassin alive and interrogate them.
"It's risky," Yuki said. "Dozens of variables that could go wrong."
"All our plans are risky," Daichi replied. "But doing nothing means waiting for them to succeed eventually."
"Daichi's right," Ren said. "We take the initiative. We control the engagement. We end this threat before it ends us."
They voted. Unanimous.
One week to prepare.
One week until they'd either solve the assassination problem or become victims of it.
---
The week passed in frantic preparation.
Yuki developed detection spells to identify magical weapons or traps in the ceremony area. Daichi coordinated with Gareth to position guards strategically—visible enough to deter amateurs, subtle enough not to scare away professionals. Himari prepared defensive songs, ready to deploy barriers or healing at a moment's notice.
Ren studied the guest list obsessively, memorizing faces, backgrounds, potential motives. And Kaito... Kaito trained his empathy.
He practiced extending his range, pushing his consciousness outward until he could sense emotions from nearly a quarter-mile away. He practiced filtering, sorting through hundreds of emotional signatures to identify specific patterns—the cold focus of a professional killer, the nervous anticipation of someone planning violence, the hate-filled determination of someone seeking revenge.
It was exhausting. By the end of each practice session, he'd have splitting headaches and nosebleeds from the strain. But he was getting better.
"You're pushing too hard," Himari said, healing his migraine for the third time that day.
"I need to be ready. If I miss the threat, one of us dies."
"If you burn out before the ceremony, we all die. Pace yourself."
She was right. Kaito forced himself to rest, to meditate, to maintain his mental shields. He'd learned that lesson months ago—power without control was useless.
Three days before the ceremony, they received unexpected news: Malachar was coming to attend.
"Is that wise?" Ren asked Celestia. "His presence might provoke exactly the kind of violence we're trying to prevent."
"Or it might draw out conspirators we haven't identified yet," Celestia countered. "Anyone plotting against the new order will hate seeing the Demon King honored in the capital."
"That's assuming the assassinations are political. What if they're personal? Someone with a grudge against us specifically?"
"Then Malachar's presence is irrelevant. Either way, I'm not going to tell him he can't attend. He's an honored ally now."
Malachar arrived the day before the ceremony with a small escort—just ten guards and General Velria. The city reacted with mixed emotions. Some were welcoming, others hostile, most uncertain.
"Your city is beautiful," Malachar told them during a private dinner. "I haven't seen Lumina this closely since... well, since I first arrived here two centuries ago as Marcus."
"Much has changed," Celestia said.
"Everything has changed. That's the point." He looked at the five heroes. "I heard about the assassination attempts. Do you need help with security?"
"We have a plan," Ren said. "Though I appreciate the offer."
"A trap, I assume. Using yourselves as bait to draw out the attackers."
"How did you—"
"Because it's what I would do. Proactive, risky, but better than waiting to be picked off one by one." Malachar sipped his wine. "Be careful. Professional assassins adapt to traps. They'll expect security, expect vigilance. The best ones wait for the moment when you think you're safe."
"Comforting," Yuki muttered.
"I'm not here to comfort. I'm here to help you survive. There's a difference."
The next morning dawned clear and bright—perfect weather for a public ceremony. The event was scheduled for noon in the central plaza, rebuilt after the cathedral's destruction. A stage had been erected, chairs arranged for dignitaries, space cleared for a crowd that was expected to number in the thousands.
The heroes prepared in their quarters, arming themselves subtly. Weapons that could be concealed under formal clothing. Protective charms from Yuki's laboratory. Himari's voice kept deliberately clear for emergency healing songs.
"Everyone ready?" Ren asked.
They nodded.
"Remember the plan. Kaito detects the threat. We identify the assassin. We capture, not kill. We need information."
"What if there's more than one?" Daichi asked.
"Then we adapt. Like we always do."
They made their way to the plaza, flanked by guards but trying to appear confident and unworried. The crowd was already gathering—thousands of people, both human and demon, come to celebrate the new peace.
Kaito extended his empathy immediately, feeling the wash of collective emotion. Excitement. Curiosity. Some residual fear. Anticipation. The normal feelings of a crowd at a public event.
But underneath, he searched for something darker. Hostile intent. Murderous focus. The cold determination of someone planning violence.
Nothing yet.
The ceremony began. Celestia gave a speech about unity, progress, and the sacrifices that had made peace possible. Malachar spoke briefly, surprising everyone with his eloquence and humility. Then each hero was called forward to be honored.
Himari went first, receiving thunderous applause. "The Angel of Lumina" had truly become beloved.
Daichi next, cheered by the guards he'd trained and the people whose communities he'd helped organize.
Yuki received respect more than affection—people recognized her brilliance but found her intimidating.
Ren got mixed reactions—some loved his strategic mind and leadership, others were wary of his command power.
Then it was Kaito's turn.
He stepped forward, still scanning the crowd with his empathy, and—
*There.*
Hostile intent. Cold. Focused. Professional.
Not in the crowd. On a rooftop. Four buildings away. Perfect sniper position.
Kaito's eyes flickered toward the location without obviously looking. His hand moved in a subtle gesture—the signal they'd arranged.
Ren saw it. So did Daichi. They began moving slowly, casually, positioning themselves to intercept.
Celestia continued speaking, apparently oblivious, keeping the crowd's attention forward.
Kaito felt the assassin's emotions shift—anticipation becoming focus becoming—
"DOWN!" he screamed.
Multiple things happened simultaneously:
A crossbow bolt flew toward the stage. Himari's defensive song activated instantly, golden barrier appearing just in time to deflect the projectile. Daichi launched himself toward the sniper's building with enhanced speed. Ren's command voice boomed: "GUARDS, NORTH ROOFTOP, CAPTURE ALIVE!"
The crowd panicked, people running and screaming. More guards converged from prepared positions. Yuki was already coding, creating barriers to contain the chaos.
But Kaito's empathy was screaming warnings. Because that sniper wasn't alone.
"MULTIPLE HOSTILES!" he shouted. "CROWD, LEFT SIDE, THREE ATTACKERS!"
Three figures in the panicking crowd drew weapons—swords, not crossbows. They charged the stage, using the chaos as cover.
Gareth and his guards moved to intercept, but the assassins were fast, trained, and desperate. One guard went down. Then another.
The first assassin reached the stage and leaped—heading straight for Ren.
Ren drew his sword, parrying the attack. They exchanged blows, Ren defending but not counterattacking. They needed prisoners.
"REN, BEHIND YOU!" Kaito warned.
The second assassin coming from the other direction. But Malachar was there suddenly, moving with two-hundred-year-old reflexes. He caught the assassin's blade bare-handed, his ancient power overwhelming the attacker. "Stand down."
The assassin struggled, then went limp as Malachar's magic forced compliance.
The third assassin, seeing their companions captured, turned to flee. But Yuki had coded a barrier across the plaza exit. The assassin hit it at full speed and bounced back, stunned.
On the rooftop, Daichi had the sniper—unconscious but alive, slung over his shoulder.
Within minutes, it was over. Four assassins captured. Zero casualties among the heroes or innocent bystanders. A few injured guards, but Himari was already healing them.
The crowd slowly calmed, realizing the heroes had protected them even while being attacked.
"GET THEM TO THE DUNGEON," Celestia ordered. "And someone secure this plaza!"
As guards hauled away the prisoners, Kaito felt something that made his blood run cold. A fifth presence. Not hostile anymore—just observing. Satisfied with something.
He spun, trying to locate the source, but it vanished before he could pinpoint it.
"What is it?" Ren asked, noticing his expression.
"There was a fifth person. Watching. I lost them."
"Observer or coordinator?"
"I don't know. But they weren't surprised we caught the assassins. If anything, they were..." Kaito struggled to articulate the emotion he'd felt. "Pleased? Like this was expected. Like we'd done exactly what they wanted."
Ren and Kaito looked at each other, the same realization dawning.
"It was another trap," Ren said. "Not for us. We were bait, but not for the assassins. For us. To see how we'd respond. To test our capabilities."
"Which means—"
"The real threat hasn't shown itself yet. These were just pawns."
In the dungeon, the interrogations would begin. And hopefully, they'd get answers about who was really behind the assassination attempts.
But Kaito couldn't shake the feeling that they'd won a battle while losing the larger war.
Someone out there was playing a much longer game.
And the heroes had just shown them exactly how to counter their defenses.