Chapter 77 - The Beginning of the Month.

Most every notification I filter through turns out to be a lot of notifications for the fact that the people I removed were worth more XP than they should have logically been.

Even considering their relative fame and infamy, I think only Lucius made much sense for the XP value I was awarded. Still, it got me a grand total of one whole level.

Over two million xp in total, and one level.

The raw speed and skill I have now when it comes to what can be referred to as duelling is absurd. In the fight, I was able to track, counter and then dispatch people on almost a one-to-one basis, and that was without conscious thought. I was letting myself do what I felt needed doing, while making sure I wasn’t killed by something stray, actively.

Also, with the boon from Heltana’s ritual, my ability with Shadow magic allowed me to make jumps which would otherwise be infeasible. Like I jumped, via shadows, from the heart of london to the edges of the city. I went up about a third of a kilometre and across a few more kilometres length-wise to wind up, laying down, on the couch of Tonks’ apartment. Before the boon which rocketed the skill up, and some choice perks, I could maybe do half of that.

I begin turning over the ritual of the Empress in my mind. I know that if you don’t have the requisite control and power, that it’ll drive you insane. But I know my control is the best any human has ever managed to acquire, and my skill with the stuff is impressively high. Is a skill level of 700 enough? I’m not sure.

I could buy some minor perks - the kind which just give you flat skill levels instead of more ways to use those powers, and bump it up to 800, but I don’t know if that’s enough, either. I’ll have to consider it more, and maybe re-read the scroll it was stored on. The ritual will give me a combat form for actually combating divine agents. It helps I can make a pile of gear for it. It’ll take a lot of time, but considering I have the fully charged time regalia…

Well, I could use that now, I guess.

I don’t really want to, but I know I could repeat the same month over and over. I could forcibly get my skills to their highest level. I’m strong, fast and tough enough to max out the skills I want to max out. It would also allow me the time to get my Int and Wis up to the needful break points. I can also use the time to train my combat abilities by going into Gringotts and use the recursive time to figure out who - if any - of my enemies from other lands are in England. If they are, I can follow them back to where they come from and figure out how to deal with them.

Dealing a massive, crippling blow in retaliation for a probing strike could, in theory, make my enemies too scared to try again, or it could make them so mad they throw everything and the kitchen sink at me.

But if I’m a true master of Alchemy, Chronomancy, Charms, Dueling, Dimensionalisim, Enchanting, Smithing and of course Shadow Magic, then it’ll be hard to fight me. I’ll have the best gear for myself I could need, I’ll have a perfect ability to manage time and alter the way things work around me. I’ll probably master some additional skill, because of the allowance of the 7 freebies from the ritual. Maybe rituals themselves, so I can try to unlock more spots for more skills at the highest level.

I’ll have to do Shadow Magic and Chronomancy first, though. Then Enchanting. I need to make sure my progress can be hidden and locked away. I’ll even use some of the boons I have which allow me to weaken myself to appear to be at the level I was before I did this whole looping business, and set it to end when the school year ends, and then take care of business outside of school as quickly as I can. Then Re-apply it for the world tournament - as long as I can win anyways - and then settle any debts which need settling thereafter.

I imagine the rest of my vacation will be spent running around doing divine quests for favours from the gods.

Downsides are, of course, locking in what I’m good at before I know what I’ll need to be good at to save this reality. I’m sure it’ll be a single entity, because swarm type opponents are easily handled by spells like Fiendfyre and a simple answer is never the correct one. Duelling, therefore, is the best skill I can max out, along with the equipment being the best ever. The skills I’ll need to counter, though, are highly in question. Charms are flexible, but intangible. Should I master Transfiguration as well? Will I need to get potions to help give my allies a leg up? I have no idea how I can figure those things out. I don’t know what I’ll be fighting other than the fact that it’s a threat and will, probably, break the order of the world if it’s allowed to go loose.

That could be anything from a True Dragon, a Great Wyrm, or it could be a fledgling god who was put under divine interdiction for using their powers in an inappropriate manner, or it could be some evil from before history which was put away, and that’s when human history started to actually be recorded.

It’s impossible to guess, and having a generic skillset probably won’t work. But, the counter argument is, of course, if I use it sooner I may be able to get it recharged in time to get it usable again.

I suppose if I completely worked on my int and wis, buried myself in the great libraries in Rome and Egypt and China and the lost temples of the Americas, I could learn a lot and grow my ability. I may stumble upon what is the enemy, or run into one of those who fought the enemy last time. They recorded the names of the confirmed members of the prophecy foretelling everything.

Albert Shaw, according to that, had his regalia since the last battle. I suppose I can track him down and ask.

I’d have one-hundred years…

So, yea, I’m going to use the full power. I’m going to lock away my memories of Tonks, so I don’t tire of her company, make sure everything is ready to go, then use my orb.

While I wait for my summons to the debriefing, I should make a schedule.

Study of Shadow Magic comes first, and that means breaking into a Chinese or Egyptian house who has the needful records. While I do that, I should go pick up some impossible questions people are trying to solve. Raw logic puzzles and scientific things I can sink my brain into to help increase my intellect, and then puzzles or battlefield analysis and prediction to help improve my wisdom.

There is no greater chaos to sort out than a battle. Finding good example and then deconstructing what will happen because of what orders will be useful for my training.

I’ll keep doing that as I move past the Shadow Magic to Chronomancy and Enchanting. I’ll probably have to double back into charms to keep my foundational knowledge up to scratch. These are some of the most complex fields of magic, so I’ll be chewing on theory day in and day out. Puzzles and scientific theory on how time travel works probably and intrinsic properties a material gives off would be wonderful to study. All will help me. Searching out anything which might be able to teach me anything about those fields. Different perspectives from someone like me, gifted to shift and slide through time as needed.

Once I have those three fields, I’ll work on Smithing and Charms to ensure I have them as good as I can, and prepare myself for combat. Once I get good gear, I’ll be walking into the bank, and triggering the trap as hard as I can.

Then I destroy the Goblins, and raid their knowledge on how to create better arms, armour and enchantments, if they have any on the subject.

Then I’ll continue to fight them until all of my combat skills with weapons and combat magics are trained as far as they can be reliably. I’ll let those develop naturally, so what I use most naturally gets the most highly skilled.

Worrying too much might see me doomed. I’d like to avoid that.

After I’ve done with all of that, I’ll travel the world for knowledge, unique skills, powers and items to help me stay exactly as extraordinary as I am now.

I’ll make a secondary physical record of people I meet, places I go and what is where, along with how to get it. I need to make sure I know who I should help, who I should hinder and who I shouldn’t feel bad about stealing from.

Even with perfect memory, I know that a long time can make pulling up the right memory hard. You end up having so many memories which can meet any given query that it just doesn’t come as quickly as it should.

Having notes and drawings of who and what and where things are, how I should deal with them and why, will just help. It’s also a chronological log, so if anyone else needs to have proof of my identity, I can hand it to them.

The two Regalia holders will probably want to see it.

So I’ll not record anything about me in there - other than how I feel about anything. Even then, I’ll keep it simple.

That’s a reasonable draft of a plan. I’ll see if I can duel the other regalia holders when I’m getting poor returns on my battles with the goblins. Aside from getting what I assume will be a lot of EXP, even if it’s fractional from no one being able to remember aside from gods, well, impressing the gods with my combat ability and progress will get me xp. The two regalia holders may well have methods to ignore the influence to a degree, but if I can get them to trust me and work with me or give me methods to prove I used it, then it’ll be vastly more productive.

Over two thousand years of study and practice is very tempting, and there are two people with that level of skill I know of and the general locations of them.

Which reminds me - didn’t the Olympian priest, back when I was in Italy, allude - or tell - me that there were a lot more immortals? A couple dozen I think. Maybe one or two per major nation. Probably one per pantheon, then a few strays like Nicholas Flamel.

I tap my chin, slowly thinking through the options, when the door opens, and Tonks stumbles in, and bonelessly flops into my waiting hug after a few slow steps.

I wandlessly and lightly begin using healing magic to massage away her wounds and tiredness. The healers who worked on her were good - but they’re no Madame Pomphrey. I’m almost that good, now, but still better than what she had.

Her delighted groan, and snuggling deeper into me is all I need to confirm I’ll stay the night, and activate the Orb in the morning.

I silently pull a bottle of ink and paper from my inventory, then using wandless magic, control the ink to begin writing a soundless letter to Dumbledore, explaining that I’ll likely be acting oddly for the next month, and that he should ignore any rumors about me because I’m going to be finishing my business, then learning as much as I can. I also ask that if it comes to people needing me back in the school, to hold together as long as he can, because I need to check in on things pertaining to my Prophecy, and I have almost no time to waste in figuring out where and when everything will happen.

I sigh as I finish the letter, then send it floating out the window to a waiting Alyss, who grabs it tenderly and flies off to deliver my message.

Everything taken care of, I sleep for the first time in over a month.

.*****.

The next day I wake up, and first things first, I activate the orb of time.

You have activated the Time Loop function of the Orb.

You have 5,000 remaining loop months stored. You can end the loops at any time.

End Now?

Y/N

Pressing no, I move on to the next prompt.

During your time in the loop, your physical body will not grow. Your mind, skills and magic can, however, grow. Due to the physical limitations, your skills and mental stats will grow at a decayed rate. This is 50% normal growth rate, after all modifiers.

You will also gain less EXP for everything, except for skill ranks. This is a flat 75% reduction to all EXP gains.

You can bring one person into the loops with you for 100 loops. After those 100 loops, they will lose all memories and be unable to be brought back in for the remainder of the time. After they have been reset to the default state, you may bring in another person.

Would you like to bring in any other people at this time? If they die, they will be back when the world resets.

Y/N

I answer yes, here, and bring in Harry, because I need to do some testing and training with him.

I nudge Tonks awake, and gently explain that I will be gone for a while, and that she should make a list of notes on anything important she see’s happen, then I leave for Gringotts on the note that I’ll be back in three weeks.

Coming out in front of Gringotts, I send a mental pull to Alyss and inform her that there’s a letter for Harry to meet me in the Room of Requirement tomorrow morning, then I enter the bank, past the grinning goblin guards, who look at me like a mouse walking into the den of a tiger.

I grin back, and bring forth my full presence for just a moment, leaving them almost trembling.

Lever 52 gate guards do not concern me.

I walk past the desks, down the hall to the room where my personal accountant has his office. As I enter, I note the room is warded against all forms of detection, but with the open door I can feel what’s inside.

The office is pretty large. About 15 cubic metres, and that’s largely filing cabinets and clutter. Lots of places for the 10 assassins, all Human, 4 visible goblin guards, and my manager. Of course there are more Goblins hidden in compartments in the floor and ceiling.

I silently cast the Iron body transformation on myself as I apply an illusion to keep looking normal, while extending my range of influence over magic - recently acquired - to make the space around me seem a magical dead-zone.

Then I step into the room.

The door swings slowly shut, and just before it clicks, I give a grin to my manager. “So it’s to be war, then?” the door clicking behind me, then humming as it seals confirms my guess, and I give my most bloodthirsty grin as I vanish into the shadows, dodging the arrows freshly fired by the assassins.

I have Shadow magic to test, and who better than these folk?

Name- Chisisi

Titles - Shadow Mage, Assassin, The Unwavering Blade (i).

Level - 83

…

Egyptian Shadow mages, sent to cull me.

I flood the room with shadow, using a spell I instinctively understand - Shadow Creation - which is just dumping shadow mana into an area in the natural state.

Darkness.

Then I go to work, testing my Shadow Magic against their own.

And finding them wanting. Very, very, sadly, wanting.

The Shadow Shield one used, and the various shadow beats they summoned were good inspirations, but really, not something to worry me.

In only two minutes, I’ve cleared the room, and am back out in the hall - or what was the hall.

It’d moved deep underground. I’m in a deep cave now. I feel the shadows around me.

Below the vaults, below the underground lake, I’m…

Ah, near an arena, which this cave goes right to. Large shadows there.

Light, too. Bursts of large patches of light.

Dragons?

I smile and put on my armour.

These idiots don’t know what’s about to hit them.

The Dragons - there had been three. Blind, starved beasts I had killed more out of pity for them than need - had taken me almost no time at all. From there, I jumped around the arena's pens, killing the beasts before they could be let out to play with me. An Arrow in the eye, a conjured shadow knife across the throat, and then, after being sure the Goblins running this arena, meant to be my funeral ground knew I was coming, a roiling cloud of darkness, death and blood, I jumped behind them with the last of my shadow mana and laid about me with my sword.

Four Goblin Warriors, two overseers, and a boss. All dead in thirty-two seconds.

It has been fifty-six minutes since I entered the bank.

There are Sixty goblins - as always - in the main hall. Every Noble family - all of the over 200 of them - have a personal goblin, who has three aides.

For every aide there are two guards. There are four goblins in the front doors, and one-hundred in the hall to keep the main hall under control.

There’s another two-hundred or so bankers and accountants and investment goblins running around at any time - around one thousand of them in all, in or under the bank at any time.

The goblin city below the vaults - which I can feel above me - has 100 smithies. One master, five apprentices to a master. Twenty guards on each building.

There’s Fifty weavers, butchers, and so forth.

The palace has around 500 guards on duty, though lazing mostly. 1000 off duty, and another 500 perhaps patrolling in or around the city.

I feel around for anything that might need patrolling, since they’re in a secure underground city which has a very stark Dwarven feel to me, architecturally.

A large next of some kind of burrowing worm, not very large, but seemingly aggressive by the fact I can sense some goblin corpses in the nest might be one reason.

A dragon hatchery might be another.

I might be the third to have so many guards, I suppose.

Beyond the smithies and mundane shops to keep the city running, I note around 30 buildings which are unmarked, but guarded as well as the smithies. They seem stockpiled with gold and gems and items.

Personal store vaults for the city?

Warded, so I can’t get a feel for the items inside other than they are items - and I’m sure there’s gold in there.

Maybe transportation points to other cities the goblins run in Europe? Or, perhaps they’re so well guarded because…

They lead to Dwarven cities? Not yet conquered?

Something to investigate.

In all, about twenty thousand goblins live in the city. Most are mundane task-people, while around twenty-five percent are warriors. Another ten percent are smiths and another ten percent seem to be government officials.

I decide those are the ones who need to die. Dismantling the Goblin city under Gringotts will be the first step to my crushing of my enemies. I can use this to see how they react.

All done scouting, I slip into the shadows - having recovered from my fight, to start in the Palace.

Removing the head and then all of his replacements before the rank-and file know what’s happening will be the surest way to win. Killing the king and the next five in line usually ruins any nation.

From what I’ve seen and figured out, these goblins are about as bad as the ones in my last life for greed. When the hierarchy fails, they’ll all have infighting so hard that they’ll ruin themselves.

Remove the problem, then anyone who might come after you for removing it.

No mercy, not for man, woman or child. This is the way goblins conduct war, and so it shall be the way I conduct war.

I will make it plain that they tried to kill me instead of asking for the thing they stole from the original owner back. I will explain how I figure if they can steal an object from someone who is dead, then so can I. Right of Conquest. Then because they tried to kill me first, and didn’t negotiate, I killed them with interest. If they desire retribution, they can come to my house and acquire retribution at their will, or die trying.

I do not tolerate fools.

The goblin King - Gringott the 14th - is level 98, and while that is impressive, he has absolutely no counter to an arrow going through his eye before he knows an archer is there.

Nor does the crowned prince, Queen, first chancellor, or captain of the royal guard.

None of the guards in the room are surprised by the time I drop from the wall with swords in hand, but neither do they stand a chance.

Level 80 is impressive, but it is, sadly, not going to be enough to stop me.

I have to practise weaving magic into my swordsmanship, after all. I may be a master of the blade and a master of magic, but I have yet to master combining the two.

.*****.

In all, when I leave the city behind, having left the guards, governors and smiths all dead - not taking a single thing - I feel guilty.

They may well be my enemies, but this is not how power should be used. I’m sure this will get the result I want from the Goblins - they simply can’t rebel anymore. They can’t come after me. But they needn’t all have died.

I silently investigate the unmarked building and conclude these are, in fact, gates to other cities. Old fashioned magic which creates an identity between places by them being exactly the same, with the same magical circle, and then you empower the circle and the resonance between the locations puts you in the other.

And that’s Dwarven craft, so I know the goblins stole and killed the Dwarves for what they have - but still.

Justice may be a cold, uncaring thing, but I am not unfeeling. I can turn emotion off to get the job done, but after…

I sigh, tracing the circle’s runes with my finger.

This war took one day, but I won. Now, to go to the Dwarves and see if they want to work with me to take back what is rightly theirs.

I activate the circle, and flare my senses, before sighing.

Goblin city number two - this one is beneath Edinburgh. I shake my head, feeling the branch is much smaller than the last. I go back, to try another circle.

It takes four tries before I find one which goes to a proper Dwarven City, ruled by proper Dwarves with a proper Queen.

Diplomatic niceties take all of ten minutes, when I dump the heads of the King of Goblins, England, Whales, Scotland and Ireland at her feet, along with the Queen, Crown Prince and Captain of the royal guard.

Along with promises I have every other warrior I could find’s head, too. And an offer to put them back in England, if they wish, and a warning about the things which may be around there.

It takes five minutes after that for a treaty to be written up and signed, which amounts to ‘The Dwarves owe you basically anything you want’. That in hand, I take the Queen, her chosen 500 warriors, and war-priests back to England, and let them finish the job of extermination of their racial enemies beneath London.

Justice may be right, but it does not feel good. This was always a difference between my son and I.

I never felt good, after my husband died anyways, when I had to kill something which could think, unless it grieved me in some way.

He never felt anything when ridding the world of some form of evil or another. Goblins, Dragons, Giants, Elementals, Fey, he didn’t care. If they harmed or were going to harm someone somewhere, he’d put them down.

I was never so proactive.

I would follow direction or do what needed to be done, but I’d hold off if I could. Killing for no reason…

Never feels good. Not to me.

I stretch out, leisurely, and read my system messages.

Most are kill confirmations, but a few are very special.

Secret Quest - Return to the Mountain Home - Complete.

Kill 1,000 goblin warriors

Kill the Goblin King

Kill the Goblin Guard Captian

Bring the Dwarves back to their hold in England.

Bonus Objectives,

Kill the Royal Family

Defeat the Human Allies to the Goblins

Discover and use the teleportation chambers

Make it clear why you did what you have done

Secret Objectives

Don’t steal anything from the Goblins

Don’t dishonour the Dwarves

Rewards.

+5,000,000 xp

+Title “Kingslayer”

+Title “Assassin General”

+Title “Hanja Yur Avkir eth Ordraldr” (She Who Returned the Hearth)

+Perk “Noble-Bane”

+Perk “Shadow-Borne”

+Title “Weaver of Stone”

+ Goblin Nation Reputation (-2/10 total)

+ Dwarven nation Reputation (+8/10 total.)

Title: Kingslayer,

You are known to have killed a king to some people, and the knowledge has given you an aura which makes those in power very nervous around you, should you wish them to be.

After all, what’s the head of some guildmaster, when you’ve killed a King?

+50 to Intimidation and Killing Intent.

Title: Assassin General,

You’ve killed some of the best assassins this world has to offer - and you did it without being touched. Assassin’s everywhere are naturally respectful of you - but the best assassins are more likely to try to kill you - if only to raise their reputation.

+5/10 rep with all Neutral factions.

Title: Hanja Yur Avkir eth Ordraldr

As the one who returned the Northern Hearth to the Dwarves, you are considered a Friend, owed one favour. The Dwarves consider this favour to be equal to the life of every Dwarf you saved by doing what you have done, or the life of every Dwarf you avenged. Accordingly, you could ask for an army, and the equipment to suit an army of humans, and they’d gleefully supply you.

This Title is Enforced by Moradin, God of Dwarves. You will find that this will not go away, because actions taken on this scale should not be forgotten, even if they only happen once.

The High Priests of the Dwarves, when you finish your Time loop, will be informed of this, and they will be ready when you call them to take back the Hearth.

Perk: Noble-Bane

You deal 10% more damage to any form of Nobility. Sneak Attacks are much more likely to succeed.

Perk: Shadow-Borne

You are naturally able to adapt forms of Shadow, and manipulate your Shadow-Forms. There is no drawbacks for any type of Shadow-Form being taken.

+50 to Shadow Magic.

Remove all drawbacks from the Shadow Queen skillset.

Title: Stoneweaver.

You can make teleportation circles, like the Dwarves use, with just the circles now. They only take as long to set up as carving them and infusing them with 1,000,000 points of mana takes.

Dwarves can inherently sense this, and name you “Stoneweaver” for it.

I sigh, and nod, understanding what this implies - I can do this month to take out the Goblins with the Dwarves, but to optimise my movement, I should move to finding the others soon. Testing with Harry and getting to know him and figure out how we fight best together will be a must. A month of working with Harry, and killing goblins to figure out how to do it best with the help of the Dwarves.

I grunt in self-disgust and disappointment. This is not how I thought it would go, though looking back on it, I suppose it is obvious the Dwarves would move onto a full crusade if they could.

At least I’m only asked to take care of the fighters. I can do that without feeling too bad…

.*****.

After cleaning up the Goblins, I stretch out on my bed at home. The delighted looks of the Dwarves as they’d taken back their home at long last was too much stress for me. This won’t be forever. I won’t do this many more times. Perhaps a few more to see if I can find a way to get in without getting ambushed. I have to meet with Harry, then go deal with more Goblins and repeat that every day for a month at least.

I sigh and then flop onto my belly, plotting as I relax at home, what to teach Harry and how to convince him I’m not evil. By now, the world will know the Dwarves took back the underground, and while I asked them to keep my name out of it - and any descriptions of me beyond ‘The lady with hair of midnight’ anyone with knowledge of how skilled I am - Dumbledore, Harry, etc. will all know something is up. It’s probably me.

Harry won’t support a wholesale slaughter of Goblins by my actions.

I can explain they attacked me first, trying to bring me down with a pile of Assassins and Goblin Warriors and when that failed pitted me against dragons and then tried to kill me whenever I tried to get away, so I had to kill my way out.

Then I’d ended up taking an old Dwarven transportation to a place with Dwarves who explained the situation and I helped them get back and then helped them take the warriors down.

I doubt he’ll really believe that to be the whole truth.

The alternative is to tell him they killed a lot of people to steal - then keep and empower - the Artefact I have. So I took it back and they’ve been planning to kill me since, and had made a pact with some of my sworn enemies to kill me with them as soon as can be arranged, then this whole story.

How much truth do I give him? Will he care they tried to kill me for removing what they gained, controlled and used through lying, cheating, stealing, murdering and torture? Then teamed up with my enemies who are explicitly trying to assassinate me to get better odds on killing me?

I think he’ll care.

Will he think I did the right thing?

No. He’ll probably say I should have removed the Goblins in charge and then made a deal with the next ones to keep the status quo in tact. No need to so suddenly and harshly rock the boat, and cost the world so many lives.

I tap my chin thoughtfully. Maybe I can ask the Dwarves to get the records of his gold, look over them and see if they’d been abusing the fact a Minor - who cannot access or see his money or anything like that - wouldn’t check the exact amount of gold they had for him.

I’ll bet he never did, until recently maybe. And they probably leeched a bit out of his account before he came to the wizarding world. Removed some items from his vaults - any Goblin made items, enchanted items of use… yea.

They were greedy. I should check in on that, and give him a reason to dislike the goblins, then explain myself and hopefully he’ll take it better.

I have no idea if they did abuse his trust - they did remove variable amounts of gold from accounts I control now when they had no owner or they had an underaged or irresponsible one.

I wonder how much gold has been ‘made’ which is just gold they repossessed from some old house who had a negligent owner. Probably most of it. Then, they make money for themselves and control a majority of the economic power from the sheer weight of gold. Say there’s around one-hundred million galleons minted and in the economic steam right now. They mint fifty thousand a year and it’s around four thousand which get lost every year in spending.

If they just swipe a few hundred here or there from inactive or poorly watched vaults, they mint 5000 by stealing that amount, then the gold coins they actually make are just for them.

A good thing to look into. The Goblins claim honour, but have shown me, at least, they’re greedy and temperamental if they can get away with it.

So I’ll collect proof. Or have it made up. Dwarves have very little esteem for Goblins, and having their memory spit on by making it come out they’d abused the trust of the world will help in my ‘anti-goblin revolution.’ for this month. A dry run.

.*****.

The dry run of the month is already not going well.

Apparently, by killing the assassins, they decided that attacking my home would be a good option - and my wards can’t really stop someone determined to get in with all of the insane perks of Shadow magic for breaking into a place.

But they did set off my alarms.

So I woke up at 2am with the alarms going off in my head, and the knowledge that they were probably going room by room looking for people to kill.

Myself, or people important to me, certainly.

So it was I apparated home, and found that, yes, two assassins were going through my home, and yes, they had in fact found a person.

They did not kill her, they decided to hold her hostage.

My mum is not a very good hostage, struggling and trying to bang their heads with hers, ignoring their knives as they hiss at her to be good while they wait for me.

Did they set off the alarm on purpose then?

Either way, they know I’m coming, and will be here soon. They do not know I’m here, however.

It’s a matter of seconds to kill both of them with clean knives in the back of their necks, though this does have the unfortunate side effect of the one holding my mother at knife point stabbing her in the back with a death-jerk.

It’s in a non-fatal position, being an involuntary spasm, but still, it is a torso wound, from behind. Probably nicked her stomach and a few other things which bleed a lot. Well, I know they bleed a lot, because her bleeding is profuse. As opposed to the dribbling wounds I inflicted, with the two daggers left in the necks, sealing the blood in.

I toss both bodies into my inventory, and then gently embrace my mum, casting a powerful healing spell on the gash in her back.

“It’ll be alright mum. Just relax…” I coo into her ear, letting the magic repair the damage. I can feel it working, but even powerful healing takes a handful of seconds to heal what amounts to a good 8cm deep, 3 cm across and 10 or so cm long gash in her side. That’s not something which just vanishes instantly.

“Wh-Why..?” My mums broken, sobbing question doesn’t fully form, but I understand it to be ‘why are there fully grown men breaking into the house, trying to get a hostage to use against you and kill you?’. Well, good question.

“I made a lot of enemies with how I’ve been progressing with my Shadow magic. A number of factions have made it known that they think I’m a threat to them and are trying to get rid of me. I’m so sorry you got caught up in this. I didn’t think they’d retaliate my removal of the ones who came for me directly so… quickly and harshly.” I murmur, feeling her tensing up. “I’ll be updating the wards, and put the best I can on the place. Do you mind if I put you in the family manor until then? I need to keep you - and the others who’re probably in danger, safe.” I explain, getting a fractional, shaky nod.

If they came for mum, then Sarah, Adrian, Fleur, Alessa, my siblings and of course Tonks are all in danger, not to mention other people they may find interesting. I know for a fact my siblings are safe at school. So should most of my friends be, but I don’t have that certitude with Fleur and Tonks.

I grimace in annoyance, as I apparate my mum to the manor, and wipe my face clean as she turns, and looks up at me.

“Be safe?” She asks tearily.

“Of course. Don’t leave until I give you the all clear.” I respond, giving her arm a squeeze and then snapping my fingers on my other hand three times rapidly, the non-verbal queue for the house to enter it’s ancient ward scheme. Then I put a temporary - 24 hour - ward on the house. One which removes the ability to use anything but basic mana inside of it - or on anything in it’s range. I put this boundary right over the other wards - using five million mana in doing so.

I give mum a purely confident grin, apparating out of the house.

I’m not confident at all, as I cloak myself in shadows and sneak up the stairs towards Tonk’s apartment, then pause, and change my stealth from Shadow magic, which may be detected, and instead use normal mana, along with a few specialty spells which I’ve learned by plumbing journals the room gave me over the last couple of years to help hide the fact anything magical at all is happening, and then feel the place out using my senses.

Two assassins are waiting in her apartment. At least, to shadows are on the ceiling, above doorways waiting for someone to come in through the door, or teleport into the room.

Which does not scream house guest to me. They also don’t match any kind of shadow Tonks might cast - and they have the slightly heavy feeling of a shadow which is infused with magic. Which no one but assassins - or myself - have.

Tonks must be out on patrol for the night - or guard on something. I nod, and pull my bow out of my inventory, then cloak myself from detection via my shadow or other means which I know I have access to.

They probably don’t know how to hide their shadow, but the method is self-evident to me.

Completely remove all light, so there are no shadows. Only pure darkness. With everything which has any line of sight to me fully dark, and my knowledge of where they are confirmed,

I’ll go for non-lethal but utterly debilitating shots. I can fix a severed spinal column, but I need information. And if they’re not assassins?

Well.

I appear in the room, loosing my pre-drawn and aimed arrow into the lower back of the assassin who is sitting on the light fixture - and then turn and loose the other arrow into the shoulder, then the other shoulder of the other assassin, while ripping the shadow beast they send at me to pieces, before wrapping them in magical chains and then covering that with a shadow cocoon and then setting three shadow-wrought hounds to guard them, as I pick up the limp, unconscious, form of the first assassin.

Having your spine severed at your hips as someone lands on your head, slamming it into a steel framed light fixture will knock you out, pretty good. Especially if you charmed that fixture to be unbreakable - and the ceiling it’s on - so it can bear your weight.

I grin at my cocoon wrapped friend with fiendish glee, as the uncovered eyes glare at me in silent hate. My grin broadens as I begin to crush his good shields with my mental pressure, a legilimency attack going full bore on him.

He lasts a few dozen seconds, before his mind opens to me. I nod as he falls - dead - seconds later. Death switch enchantment. Also a tablet in the teeth which can be chewed to kill. Also, poison needles in the palm they can press to kill themselves. I sigh, and strip my unconscious person fully naked, then vanish the death capsule from their mouth and take a few minutes to remove all magical forms of anything from their body. Then to be safe, I set up a runic circle which removes their connection to any kind of magic.

I grunt angrily as I remind myself this will cut me off from using magic on them too. So I pull them out, then alter the runic circle to exclude any magic which doesn’t come from me. Well, someone who has my special blend of powers, level of mana and other parameters only I meet - insofar as I know.

This takes a whole hour, but I’m pretty sure that Fluer is relatively safe. She lives in an embassy suite provided by the French and English governments for important people, which has extra layers of protection on top of that from her family, because they’re important, and then more she made for herself because she’s literally studying wards and enchantments, which means the ancient army breaking wards on the super old buildings in England, which means she probably has more defences than most middling families in England from just what she knows from her families libraries. On top of the stuff the ministries can put on and the Goblins would have put on?

She should be as safe as anyone can be, except for under a very, very old family wards in their primary manorhouse.

So I don’t feel too rushed here, as I kick my subject awake, and then begin my attack on his mind.

Contracts, trying to use my mana to activate and kill him. Rituals to the same effect. No mana to activate as I plunder his knowledge.

He knows the parameters for the mission - sixteen assassins sent to kill me or get hostages to use against me. Some with the goblins, two each to various friends and family. Mission go when I walked into Gringotts, full contact started at two, due to that being the highest chance of my being asleep.

Techniques mastered, known, heard about. Ward theory, Chinese magical schooling… I get most of the way through that before he goes limp, the contract gaining enough mana from my attack to cut his brain and end his life.

I store the body, repair the apartment and lay down alarms and anti-shadow magic wards here for temporary defenses before I move on.

Greengrass family will be fine, Hogwarts will be fine. Tonks and mom are fine. Ministry assassinations for people who support my side?

Less fine.

Thankfully they sent a junior squad to test me, and not a full senior team. After all, how could a girl threaten them enough to need a full team of senior assassins to deal with her?

Laughable to the senior council.

Good. I have work to get to. Long, bloody work. Finding their team leader and raiding his mind for knowledge will be my primary objective, beyond keeping everyone safe.

I ignore the reputation loss with the Chinese ministry and the pile of groups who train and use these shadow-men.

If they really want to send people after me, I need to make sure they know it’ll come with a price in blood.