Chapter 221 - Dust (4)

(That's your mark, go get him.)

(Sure.)

Having received the order, Lux acted completely without mercy as she blended in with the crowd. The job was simple, something she had done time and time again. Moving in on the unaware target she prepared her weapon for that time around Lux merely passed by and the deed was done. Leaving town that night she was already long gone before her target fell to a rare and untreatable disease, it was just another day at the office for Lux. Even if she was used to that line of work, the victims she was sent to the grim reaper was not the usual kind of garbage like political dissonance or undercover assets no longer needed, this time it was middle management in various drug operations throughout the Empire. While she had no problem with dealing with that kind of sc.u.m, it was the challenge itself that was the problem. Simple assassination like that was something she could do in her sleep, and sometimes she even did. It was not that she liked killing people, but the lack of challenge was starting to slightly irritate her. 

"Why don't we just hit them with a drone strike?"

"... You know why we can't do that and I don't really have the time to list all those reasons why that's not going to work out."

"Why?"

"Because I already did that yesterday and I don't really like repeating it… What's wrong Lux? I'm asking as a parent here, not your commander."

"Okay then, time to cut the bullshit."

Calling for an increase in the encryption between the two of them, Dax momentarily cut out as a high speed ultra secure data bridge was formed. Establishing a direct neural contact Dax asked Lux a single question.

"How long has it been since you have read up on qiton grand battlefield tactics?"

"... About 500 years."

"Okay, do you remember the basics?"

"Yeah, 'command level strategic warfare deals with space, air, ground, urban and economic level domains to incorporate them with the absolute efficiency' name of the game is cross domain efficiency… That doesn't exactly help me."

"I guess you really did miss the point of that book… Well anyway, the reason for not simply nuking the Empire is mana. Do you know the ignition point of mana in comparison to this atmosphere? And what about how it's generated? Also, it would simply be too good of potential tactical advantage to destroy mana before we learn about it."

"So you want to bring mana back to our world?"

"Yeah, generation of mana is possible, we already know that from the moonbase. With the crazy shit we've already seen mana can do I believe it will come to be a great tactical advantage."

"... That is true, then what about the drugs?"

Finally starting to see Dax's reason for not just igniting the atmosphere and simply just picking up the leftovers, Lux started asking out the other issue weighing on her mind.

"Really?"

"Really."

Hearing that Lux was really completely lost Dax breathed a deep sigh before he asked her a question in return.

"What're the 3 most reliable ways to collapse a country?"

"... Economic crisis, health crisis and insurgent uprising or civil war."

"Exactly, that's why we're hitting the Empire with all 3 at the same time."

Finally seeing the larger picture Lux put on a bloodthirsty smile.

"That's my daughter, now go get the other targets please~"

"Sir, yes sir."

-

(Well, he said that but…)

Having arrived in the north part of the Empire, Lux started to have some doubts about her own abilities as she overlooked an entire town entirely dedicated to producing illegal drugs. With almost endless fields of crops ready to harvest, any other town would be getting ready for a harvest festival, but the atmosphere here was quite different.

(With the crop ready to be harvested, everyone is probably on edge as this is the prime time to steal the product… Now, what should I do about all this?)

While Lux had received orders to reduce this area's output to zero, she was left with the freedom to figure out exactly how to do that herself. The easiest and at the same time hardest way to do that would be to just burn all the crops, but the sheer area to cover made that nothing more than a fever dream for Lux. What she needed was a structural weak point in the entire operation, but sadly there wasn't some space elevator or magnetic levitation train vital to the distribution of the product, even if she went around and destroyed every single carriage in town they could just be repaired. With both the destruction of vital infrastructure, the product itself and distribution ruled out there was really only one thing Lux could strike: refinement. Casing the town, Lux located 5 distinct refinement area's and waited for nightfall. Entering the first refinement building Lux walked around to find out what she could poke in order to throw a wrench in the production.

(It seems like they haven't overhauled these production area's, just gradually built out the buildings over time as the demand rose… That makes my job a lot simpler.)

Finding out what she needed to do, Lux started isolating structural weak points of the building before she started throwing knives at them. Working efficiently Lux made her way through the building as the quiet wisps of her throwing knives flew through the air and impaling themselves in the wooden support pillars, Lux suddenly switched target and cleaved open the skull of a random goon who had made his way into the building.

(That's not a guard… Seems like I'm not the only one targeting this town, that also works out great for me.)

Moving on the 3 next buildings Lux infiltrated them without issue and continued to plant her rune engraved throwing knives, finding the final building to be the by far most secured one. While she could force her way inside without issue, it would be a problem if she was identified. Instead of a head on assault, Lux found a nearby rooftop where she observed the guard's patrol patterns for about an hour before she sent out a short wave electromagnetic pulse. The pulse travelled about a few kilometres in all directions before it dissipated, but not before it hit a backpack Lux had hidden in a tree outside the town. The backpack contained a simple mana interface coupled up to a radio transceiver, which sent out a burst of mana before it self destructed. In turn, the burst of mana activated the throwing knives Lux had left all over the place which exploded and started fires all over the town at the same time.

(Now run, hurry up and put out the fires~)

Watching the guards scatter like baby spiders as they panicked, Lux picked out a few distinct responses. While most of the guards started panicking, there were also a few people who acted like they were allied with the other faction which was also aiming to disrupt the operation.

(Shit.)

And then there were the people who quickly figured out what exactly was happening and immediately started looking after Lux, making her abandon her observation point as they located her and started tossing spells in her direction. While her cover had been blown, Lux was confident that they still hadn't seen her face and thus, she could still complete her mission without any real issues down the line. Covering her face with some cloth, Lux responded to the spells with a hail of throwing knives which immediately detonated and created a smokescreen as she pulled out a bayonet and closed the range.

"Wha!-"

As her first target hadn't expected Lux to charge into a fight with a clear numbers disadvantage, she easily drew first blood as her bayonet sank into the eye of the goon. Pulling out her blade as she kicked the copse into another hostile, Lux threw out a handful of smoke booms and caltrops as she blocked off the larger grouping of her opponents before she charged the isolated prey. Working through the crowd leaving a sea of blood behind, Lux entered the last drug refinery while spreading want and destruction before she escaped into the night.

---

With some ash still in the air, the entire town was on edge after the attack that had happened the night before. With nowhere to refine the product which a certain organization had spent a lot of coin and influence on growing now rendered useless, the scent of blood was in the air. While the product itself had not been harmed, it would lose its potency before it could be transported to a new refinery, so Lux had in effect killed the year's harvest off before it had been pulled out of the ground. With such an extreme loss of profits, the criminal organization which had set up the entire operation sent out a 'cleaner'. Standing about 1 and a half meter tall the blind beastkin woman with short black hair didn't look like much, but most of the guards know exactly who she was and the ruthless reputation she had in the organization.

"Get the fools out here now."

"Y-yes ma'am."

Speaking in a confident tone of voice as the large ears on top of her head twitched as they picked up almost every sound within a kilometre, the beastkin cleaner kept up a blank face.

"Is that all of them?"

"It is, along with me that's all the sur-"

Not allowing the guard to finish his sentence, the cleaner gripped the man by his neck as she lifted him off the ground and before anyone knew what happened she snapped his spine with only a tiny bit of effort.

"What happened here?"

Walking over to one of the other surviving guards, the cleaner asked another question as her clouded blue eyes seemed to look right through him.

"I don't-"

Hearing that the second guard also wasn't of any use, the cleaner punched him in the throat, walking over to the next one as he started drowning in his own blood.

"A-all of a sudden 4 of the refineries blew up and before we knew what happened, a single assailant attacked us."

After seeing the beastkin woman kill two of his comrades, the 3rd guard seemed to have learnt the lesson as he quickly told her what had happened. In response, the cleaner 'looked' at his expression for a few seconds before she walked away, picking up a caltrop which she started examining.

"Boss, we have finished examining the other sites. From the tracks left at the sites, it seems like there only was a single person like these people said."

While the cleaner examined the caltrop Lux had left behind, her subordinates arrived after having examined the other refineries.

"... I smell a trace amount of spices, it seems like we need to visit the As'li desert."

"Understood, we're ready to move out. What should we do with the rest of these fools?"

"Kill them, our organization has no need for such calibre of personnel."

With shouts of requests for mercy and the sound of people dying all around her, the cleaner showed a faint smile as she thought about going south after having spent such a long time in the cold north of the Empire.