The Price of (dis)Loyalty [Mission]

Things were happening quicker and quicker with each passing day. He had yet to hear how Lagi had fared with introducing the concept of a peace effort with Heliohapt to the council, but nothing seemed to indicate that there were any issues. That was exactly how things needed to be, but unfortunately it seemed like they weren't going to keep being that smooth for long. A third letter had arrived in the last day, bearing rather terrible news for anyone who had aspirations of preventing a war - deserters were flocking into Reim. 

Heliohapt had a long-standing history of expecting loyalty from its people. It was understandable; people literally thought that the man sitting on the throne was a god, so not only was betraying his interests treason but it was also heresy, something that people had been killed for as long as religion existed. Seti normally didn't care one way or another about people who left Helio, despite how angry many of his fellow citizens felt about them, but these ones were especially worrisome because they had been around during the last Helio-Reiman war. 

Similar to the veterans that he had had to deal with the week before, these ones were a very large risk due to their experience - they were reminders of a past that both countries would really rather forget, and these guys held a lot of sensitive information that in the wrong hands could cause a lot of death and suffering. If these people were allowed to go around spreading said information, a war would be inevitable. 

Seti had never particularly cared for his country's habit of sending assassins after people who deserted, but in this case it truly did seem necessary. A branch must be pruned to make sure that the tree stays healthy. He knew this was a slippery slope, but once the peace talks were over he would hopefully never have to get involved with this kind of work again. 

Greasing the Wheels IV - 326/1000

According to the information he was given, the ship bearing this offensive cargo would arrive by the evening in the port. He could, he thought, wait until they came into port and them ambush them personally, but it would be a better idea to take them out before they could even get that far. After all, once they were ashore it would be a controversy, but plenty of ships sink whilst at sea. If the evidence sank to the bottom of the sea, there would be nothing to be suspicious about. He had worked hard to cover his tracks so far, he refused to do something so obvious as to attack them in port. 

Because of that, as the dawn rose above the horizon, Seti flew over the blue waves, his hand gripping tightly around his staff. He was heading along the main shipping route, sooner or later he would stumble upon the ship in question, one "Jewel of the Canopics", and when he did he would make sure to take it out rapidly before anyone could stumble upon the scene. 

---

It took an estimated two hours to finally find the ship. It was a little behind schedule but nonetheless it was there. Floating down onto the mast, he crouched and looked around the people that were currently manning the vessel. A good eight men were dallying around the ship, adjusting little things and making sure nothing was amiss. The one that he should probably pay most attention to, however, was standing at the ship's wheel. 

Going off of his outfit, this was the officer that had encouraged the men to defect. Were he not here for a particular job, Sei noted that he might actually find this guy quite attractive. There was an air of sophistication about him that he approved of. Sadly, he would have to squander such looks to deal with the trouble at hand. 

It was at this point that someone from below called out that there was someone on the boat. The assorted crew began to assemble in front of the mast, looking up at him with confusion in their eyes. Brilliant, he thought with a slight smile, if they assemble like this then I can just...

A golden pillar shot down from the skies, enveloping the group of men and setting the ship afire. The energy was so strong that it physically blasted a hole through the decking, leaving their bodies to fall to the hold, spreading the fire even quicker. He didn't have much experience with this, but the ship would probably be up in flames by the end of the hour. 

765 / 1000

150/200:

The captain, turning to see what was the source of the noise, looked at the now gaping hole in his deck and the pillar of light that was blasting through it and gritted his teeth in fury. It didn't take a genius to understand that that kind of thing didn't happen in nature, so it was definitely deliberate. His eyes banked upwards, until he saw the mage standing at the top of the pillar. The cloak hid the face, but it was clear that this was the man who had just slaughtered his soldiers. 

A bonus of standing here, Seti thought, was that he didn't have to worry about the man's short-sword. As long as he stayed out of range of the man's blade, he was unable to be hurt by this man, but unfortunately he also needed to finish this as quickly as possible. 

The man was clearly cursing under his breath, Seti could read his lips from this distance, but he was too far away to hear what he was actually saying. Oh well, not as if it actually mattered. This ship was going down, he just had to speed up the process somewhat. 

Shooting down from the mast, using his gravity spell to stop him from falling to a gruesome death, he formed a burning suit around his flesh. He didn't even need to hit the man, all he had to do was land on him - which, to the man's chagrin, he did, pinning him to the desk and setting fire to the deck with every step he took. 

---

Half an hour later, the ship was gone. By this point, Seti was just flying back to shore, not even bothering to stick around long enough to watch it sink. If someone caught sight of a magician flying around after the destruction of such a vessel, it wouldn't take a genius to deduce who was to blame for its sinking. 

1000/1000

135/200: