Chapter 222: The Collector Was Wearing a Noble Seal

The man with the ring wasn’t important. That was the first thing Valeria confirmed.

From her position across from the warehouse, she watched the newcomer disappear through the main entrance while Raven kept his attention on the windows.

"House Velmont," she murmured. "Minor nobility. Old family, enough money to buy themselves problems, not enough power to survive if they buy the wrong one."

Raven didn’t look away from the building. "His position?"

"Concession administrator, most likely. I’ve seen that seal on transport contracts before. I don’t remember his name."

Roland’s voice came from the northern position. "That doesn’t sound like a very impressive Collector."

"Good," Raven said. "Important men rarely carry the boxes themselves."

Valeria unfolded one of the copied commercial records. "Velmont has worked with intermediaries connected to Orbrecht. Nothing direct. Storage contracts, two shared concessions, and one company that changed ownership three years ago."

"Enough to accuse them?"

"Not even close."

Raven nodded. That was better too. They didn’t need to uncover a continent-wide conspiracy every time they opened a door. They needed a man, documents, and a chain that would still exist after they arrested him.

Elise was watching the eight subjects through a side window when her voice came quietly. "They’re moving them."

Raven shifted his angle. Inside, two workers were disconnecting tubes. Another was fastening transport restraints around one of the prisoners. The line had just been crossed.

"We go."

No further explanation. None was needed.

---

Roland disappeared from his position before Raven had finished moving. He already knew which exit to close. Valeria was descending toward the side courtyard, where the magical defenses were densest. Elise didn’t go after the Collector. She went straight for the section holding the prisoners. Raven took the center.

That was new. Not the actions, but the lack of explanation. Months ago, he would have given complete instructions. Now a word was enough. Sometimes a look. Sometimes nothing at all.

The first guard opened the side door and found Roland standing where no one should have been. An arrow punched through the man’s sleeve and pinned him to the frame before he could shout. The alarm sounded anyway. Raven was already running.

Two reinforced plates dropped over the warehouse’s main exit. They weren’t meant to keep intruders out. They were meant to seal the facility. Raven recognized the problem immediately. If both closed, they would lose access, and whoever was inside could start destroying evidence.

He took the Mk.I. One shot. The round struck the lower joint of the first plate and tore part of the mechanism out of the wall. The structure dropped crooked and jammed against its own track.

Raven let the rifle fall back against its sling before the plate finished crashing down. Burst Step, and the distance vanished. He entered through fragments of stone and metal as Stonehide spread across his forearms, shoulders, and part of his face. Several shards bounced off mineralized skin. Others struck normal tissue and left shallow cuts. He didn’t slow down.

A guard came from the right with a short spear. Raven knocked the shaft aside with his hardened forearm, closed the distance, and drove his knife beneath the man’s armpit, where the armor opened to allow movement. He didn’t aim for the heart. He cut muscle. The arm went useless. Raven kept moving.

---

Valeria hit the inner defenses as if she already knew exactly where to strike. Because she did.

The blood seals protecting the western corridor reacted to the first contact and redirected mana toward her. Instead of trying to break them head-on, Valeria forced the system to concentrate its power in one direction. The opposite side weakened. Raven saw it. She didn’t need to shout. He changed route.

A man inside tried to pull an iron door shut. Raven grabbed a piece of broken metal from the floor. Two steps and a short turn, with Kinetic Acceleration reinforcing the throw. The fragment left his hand like a heavy blade and slammed the man’s hand against the lever. His fingers opened.

Raven reached him before he could try again. A punch to the stomach, an elbow to the jaw, and the man dropped. Valeria entered the corridor a few seconds later.

"You could have waited."

"It worked."

"That doesn’t mean you should start using trash off the floor as ammunition."

"It was metal."

"What a relief."

Raven almost smiled. He didn’t have time.

---

The Collector tried to destroy the records. Raven saw him through an open doorway. The man wearing the noble seal overturned a red bottle across a table while another worker prepared a second mixture. Two alchemical lines connected the containers to a stack of documents and sample crates.

An incendiary system. Not fire yet. Worse. Something designed to ignite everything at once.

Raven couldn’t shoot without too much risk to the evidence, and he couldn’t reach them in time by running either. He raised one hand. Ember Spark. The flame didn’t go toward the documents. It struck the nearest connecting line leading into the secondary container. The mixture reacted before the circuit could complete.

WHUMP.

A short burst of fire consumed the conduit and shattered the side flask over bare stone. The Collector stumbled backward with a shout while the flames died before reaching the main table. Raven entered the room.

"Bad idea."

The man drew a dagger. Raven looked at the weapon, then at him. "Worse."

Nothing else needed to be said.

---

Elise found a different problem in the prisoner room. One of the subjects had broken loose. Or something close to it.

It was humanoid only in proportion now. Bone growth had replaced part of the shoulder and neck, while black structures spread across the torso like roots beneath the skin. It attacked the nearest prisoner. Elise stepped between them.

"Back."

The creature struck. A sacred barrier appeared just before impact. The collision shook the room. Elise didn’t move. "It’s no longer responding."

One of the technicians shouted from the floor. "It can’t! It failed hours ago!"

The creature attacked again. Elise drew Mercy. No warning, no negotiation. The woman who had argued with Raven over breaking a knee disappeared. Sacred Light covered the blade. One step. One cut.

Mercy passed through neck, altered tissue, and spine in a single clean line. The creature fell before it could complete the next movement. Elise looked at the body for one second, then immediately turned back toward the remaining seven prisoners.

Raven reached the doorway just in time to see it. He looked at the corpse, then at Elise. "And you question me about my methods."

She cleaned Mercy with one precise movement. "It was irreversibly corrupted. Leaving it like that would have been cruel."

Raven looked at the decapitated body again. "Of course. When you do it, there’s a religious explanation."

Elise actually considered that. "Yes."

Raven blinked. He had expected resistance. Not that. "That conversation can wait."

"I agree."

The worst part was that she sounded completely sincere.

---

Roland appeared at the rear entrance. "North route is closed. Two tried to get out. Neither made it far."

Valeria entered through the western corridor with blood floating around her fingers. "The main defense is down. The remaining guards surrendered once they realized Elise was here."

Raven glanced toward the Saint. "Understandable."

Elise pretended not to hear him. Raven assessed the room. Prisoners alive, records intact, Collector captured, escape route blocked, and only one shot fired. That was what mattered.

For the first time, the group hadn’t fought like four dangerous people occupying the same room. They had fought like a unit: Roland sealing routes, Valeria distorting defenses, Elise protecting the primary objective, and Raven moving between all of it and exploiting every opening.

It wasn’t Black Hound. Not yet. But it was beginning to look like something that could become just as dangerous.

---

The Collector was on his knees when Raven returned. Valeria had removed his ring. She placed it on the table. "Velmont. Confirmed."

Raven studied the seal. "Orbrecht?"

"Indirectly. Nothing that would survive a formal hearing."

"Then we don’t use it as an accusation."

The Collector gave a nervous laugh. "You have no idea who you’re interfering with."

Raven looked at him. "That line loses impact when you’re kneeling."

Before the man could respond, Roland appeared from the back of the warehouse. His expression had changed. Not urgency. Concern.

"Raven."

That was enough. Raven turned. "What did you find?"

Roland pointed toward a door hidden behind the shelving. "This wasn’t on the floor plan."

Valeria moved closer. So did Elise. The door was thick, far too thick for a clandestine warehouse. Raven studied the hinges, the seals, and a small mechanism connected to the frame. It wasn’t designed to stop someone from entering. It was designed to react when someone did.

Raven recognized the pattern too late. The warehouse hadn’t only been an experimental station.

It had also been prepared for whoever eventually came looking for it.