Chapter 137: Seize Control

Aurelia’s years of slum-born survival instincts kicked into gear.

She threw herself backward instinctively, and the flash of steel grazed her cheek, drawing a line of blood.

Even in the candlelight, she could calculate the immense power behind the strike.

After dodging the sudden ambush, Aurelia tucked into a tight tactical roll and distanced herself across the floorboards.

"What... what is happening, Lady Envoy?!" Tribune Severus asked, drawing his standard *gladius*.

"It appears that a skilled rat has snuck into your impenetrable fortress," the Imperial assassin licked her lips. "Find a corner to hide in and protect your own throat, Tribune."

"You mean... there is a Syndicate infiltrator inside the keep?!" The Praetorian’s expression suddenly collapsed in terror. "I will immediately summon the outer guard!"

"There is no need. I have not hunted a professional operative in months. How could I possibly let your clumsy, hobnailed butchers ruin this priceless tactical opportunity? Just stand against the wall and observe."

Although the *Umbrae* intelligence network strongly suspected that Consul Valerian was secretly raising a cadre of elite, specialized assassins to counter Lucius’s operatives, it still sent a cold shiver down her spine to see the proof of this terrifying theory.

This woman was entirely owned by the Senate’s Inquisition, possessing a rank high enough to command a Tribune, and she clearly viewed herself as a superior predator rather than a standard Roman soldier...

Aurelia could not help but remember the dead eyes of the Praetorian spies who had attempted to assassinate the Forge Master back in Gaul.

These elite Imperial operatives were no longer human beings; they had been brutally conditioned into remorseless weapons of the state.

With this grim realization locked in her mind, Aurelia did not hesitate to draw her heavy, six-shot percussion revolver from her shoulder holster...

Although she vastly preferred silent, bloodless espionage, she had no choice.

"Where exactly did you receive your training?" The Envoy tilted her head, her eyes locking onto Aurelia’s position in the shadows. "If my Tribune could not hear your footsteps, you possess an exceptional grasp of acoustic dampening. If you can dodge my chain-strike at that lethal range, you have either been rigorously trained for advanced gladiatorial combat, or you have survived a multitude of chaotic battlefields. Either way, such proficiency is incredibly rare for a mere Gallic rebel."

"Where I received my training is none of your senatorial business," Aurelia replied with icy detachment.

She noted the customized armor the Envoy wore, designed for maximum flexibility.

The chain in the Envoy’s hand was still curled by her hip, its bladed tip raised like a striking viper, swaying slightly in anticipation.

"Perhaps you are politically unaware of this, but Consul Valerian is pragmatic. He believes that even radical industrial rebels can be redeemed," the Envoy said, placing a hand over her heart in mock sincerity. "As long as you are willing to betray the Forge Master and serve the Inquisition, the Senate will formally pardon your treason and grant you immense Patrician wealth. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a low-born spy. If you did not infiltrate this fortress alone, you and your accomplices can travel back to Rome with me to secure your new lives."

"Wow, that sounds incredibly generous," Aurelia chuckled dryly, her thumb pulling back the hammer of the revolver. "But if industrial innovation is such a catastrophic sin to the Senate, and Valerian has a method for politically pardoning it, why establish this merciful law now instead of offering it before he sent three legions to slaughter my people? Do you genuinely believe I am an uneducated toddler who has never heard a blatant lie before?"

She inhaled a breath. "I have absolutely no sins to confess to Rome!"

As the words left her mouth, stepped out of the blind spot and squeezed the trigger.

The barrel erupted in a blinding flash of chemical fire, accompanied by a thunderous roar that shook the walls.

The Envoy’s reflexes were utterly inhuman. The bullet struck the steel links, spewing a brilliant shower of sparks across the room.

The force caused the chain to whip backward, tossing a twisted nugget of lead onto the floorboards.

*She deflected a supersonic bullet with a chain!* Aurelia’s eyes widened in shock.

"Oh?" Her opponent raised an eyebrow, her ears ringing from the deafening blast. "What in Tartarus kind of alchemical weapon is this? I have entirely changed my mind. It appears you will be bleeding to death on this floor tonight."

The chain lunged toward Aurelia once again, this time snapping in a wide figure-eight pattern that cut off her lateral escape routes.

Aurelia used her advanced spatial geometry to swiftly backpedal toward the corridor.

Unlike standard gladiatorial strikes, the heavy chain possessed an erratic momentum, making it impossible to parry with a standard trench-knife.

She could only desperately attempt to stay outside its lethal radius... However, the Imperial assassin’s reach was vastly superior.

The steel links cracked like a whip directly by Aurelia’s side. She felt a sickening numbness explode in her left shin as the weighted tip shattered the bone, causing her to instantly lose her balance and crash onto the floor.

The chain gouged into the masonry right where she had been standing, pulverizing the limestone into a cloud of white dust.

If she had absorbed a direct hit to the torso, her ribs would have been instantly crushed.

Ignoring the blinding agony radiating from her fractured shin, Aurelia aimed her revolver from her back and fired the remaining five rounds in a rapid volley.

The Envoy instantly spun on her heel, whipping aspecialized steel-mesh cape off her shoulder to form a barricade, absorbing the hailstorm of lead bullets.

Aurelia knew she had absolutely zero time to manually reload the tiny copper percussion caps and pour fresh powder while under assault...

Once her firearm was empty, she was at a massive, fatal disadvantage... the study was far too cramped to maintain distance from the chain, and her shattered shin severely crippled her mobility.

Panicking, she pulled a second, backup pistol from her belt, fired it blindly into the chandelier to drop it, hurled a chemical smoke grenade she had acquired from Decimus directly at the Envoy’s feet, and threw herself backward down the open vertical ventilation shaft built into the wall.

...

"The rat escaped!" the Envoy screamed, coughing as the smoke filled the study. "Summon the outer guards to initiate an absolute lockdown of the fortress! Send a detachment to reinforce Prefect Flavius’s cell immediately, as the infiltrator is likely here for him!"

"Escaped?!" Tribune Severus glanced around the ruined room, unable to locate a breached door or a secret panel. "Through what route?"

"The architectural ventilation shafts... her spatial awareness goes vastly beyond standard Roman espionage!" The elite assassin gnashed her teeth. "Execute my exact orders! She is suffering from a fractured tibia and will not make it far. Ensure every single Praetorian is equipped with *scutum* shields and interlocking formations!"

"Yes, Envoy!"

After the panicked Tribune sprinted out of the room, yelling for the guards, the Imperial assassin immediately collapsed onto her knees, her right arm trembling.

*By the gods, what kind of terrifying alchemy was that weapon?*

Her conditioning was universally considered absolute perfection within the Inquisition...

Her defensive reflexes were unparalleled among the *Frumentarii*.

Absolutely no arrow, javelin, or thrown dagger could ever penetrate her guard.

In order to perfect this defense, she had spent over a decade blocking blunt-force trauma.

She was capable of deflecting hundreds of standard arrows without ever exhausting her stamina.

However, her opponent’s explosive weapon had transferred such a horrifying amount of energy that it had instantly bruised the muscles and the bones in her forearm.

She was no longer able to even lift the chain.

She felt a profound fatigue that she had not experienced since she was a beaten initiate in the slums of Rome.

*I must acquire that alchemical weapon for the Consul,* she thought with immense clarity. *I will capture that operative, dead or alive.*

...

Aurelia engaged the infiltration route she had mapped out an hour prior, sliding down the narrow architectural ventilation shaft and dropping into the subterranean dungeon block where Prefect Flavius was imprisoned.

Flavius heard the muffled thud and stared up with wide eyes. "How... how did you bypass the guards?"

Aurelia raised a finger to her lips, signaling for silence, and limped out of the door.

Judging from their unscarred armor, the two sentries stationed in the corridor were likely raw Praetorian recruits, untested in brutal combat.

Utilizing the blinding speed of her advanced training, Aurelia instantly closed the distance in the dim torchlight.

She drove her trench-knife directly upward, instantly severing the carotid arteries of both men...

They never expected a strike from within the maximum-security block, and they did not even have the time to turn their heads before they collapsed, choking on their own blood.

After dragging the bodies into the cell, Aurelia finally had a split second to examine her wound.

The trousers she wore had been shredded, and dark blood was pooling rapidly from a jagged gash on her left shin that was at least half an inch deep.

The Envoy’s silver chain had bypassed her guard and shattered the flesh directly against the bone.

If not for the greaves Lucius had insisted they wear, her leg would have been entirely amputated by the strike...

"You are bleeding heavily," Flavius said, his face pale with genuine shock.

"We must extract immediately before you become a corpse." Aurelia explicitly chose not to inform the Prefect of the Envoy’s plan to transport him back to Rome for a public crucifixion. "They had no idea that you were harboring Syndicate sympathies before they launched the ambush. This was a localized conspiracy to seize control of the Noricum iron monopolies."

"What about my brother..."