Ascension of the elder

Chapter 98: Broken rose

"Yup all five down, I've still got it."

Kyle looked around with a look of satisfaction as he felt satisfied with today's training, with a little luck he would be able to whip these guys into shape before the tournament and Archie and Neil could have a good fight as they were in the same age category.

Stepping over the bodies he and Bruno headed to the girls and Bruno took a page out of Elena's book and kissed Alena in greeting making her glow red in embarrassment before she looked at her friends from the corner of her eye.

Kyle was just grinning while Clara and Miranda were staring at her with wide eyes before they looked at Kyle hoping he would do something. Elena however was looking at a bird in a tree and making *cheep* sounds.

Kyle saw the looks he was receiving but chose to ignore them for now as he didn't believe he should kiss the girls just because someone else kissed their girlfriend. Kyle was still a little uncomfortable about this situation due to his mental age and their true youthfulness but he was physically the same age and with his hormones currently being at war it was getting harder and harder to resist.

"Could you make sure these guys are okay and make sure they stay for dinner? If we are training together they should join in with the rest of our house."

Clara and Miranda were a little disappointed that Kyle hadn't acted but still nodded their heads at his request. Regardless of if he wanted to be with them or not they were devoted to him, if only they knew of the conflict raging inside him between his reason and his puberty. Elena was still making noises at the bird in the tree so everyone decided to leave her to it.

Kyle left the training ground and took a quick shower and changed his clothes before taking the letter to his study and quickly decoded it. The letter contained information about the upcoming tournament and also about the large number of hostiles who were descending on New Grange City. Kyle knew most of what was there but there was a good amount of corroboration and even some specifics about the groups and their locations within the city which Kyle would pass onto 'shadow hand' for their campaign against them.

Within the letter were also details about the agreement between the Miles family and their benefactor in the capital. As Kyle believed this benefactor had decided to cut their losses after they received details about the beast attack and the resources that had been promised were now being redirected to elsewhere in the southern regions of the empire. Reading into this Kyle believed that the situation in the city in particular and the northern regions in general would devolve quickly and without funding the Miles family and co-conspirators would quickly lose control of the gangs and mercs they had brought in leading to a total collapse of authority within the city.

Kyle had already begun his preparations for this so he could only wait for the situation to progress further before he could truly act, but the longer they could stall the greater his forces would become. The final note within the letter was a specific location within the Miles family compound which had several detection and protection arrays laid out. These defences were detailed and included some observed weak points. With this was a sentence that caught Kyle's attention with the deeper and more rushed penmanship. 'They're here I beg of you begin your operation as soon you can'.

Kyle went over the details of this area of the enemy's estate and saw several areas that he could breach and also some areas which probably contained traps his man wasn't aware of. This area was separate from the main family compound and although the area was pretty and the building was well appointed, there were bars over the windows and there was always a guard contingent on station.

This was part of his agreement with his spy and Kyle would have probably dealt with this area even without this deal so after thinking and planning for a while he took out a black onyx disc from his desk. This stone was about an inch thick and three inches in diameter, it also had a small array etched on the surface. Kyle placed this disc on his desk and placed his hand above it while not touching it.

Sending his mana through the array it began to glow with a soft orange light for a moment before the light turned green and Kyle put the gem back into his desk before sitting and waiting. It took about 15 minutes until a soft knock was heard on his door.

"Come in please."

Faye opened the door and entered before closing the door behind her. The disk Kyle had used was a means of signalling his people, Kyle had issued one to each of his higher ranked members the disk he used to send was larger than the receiver his people had so they could easily carry and conceal it. Kyle hadn't used it to call the meeting as currently it only had one signal so this was a call saying 'get your butt over here' so he didn't want people to panic when all he wanted was a meeting.

"Sir what can I do to serve you?"

Gone was the teasing and happy feeling, what was left was a subordinate waiting for the orders of their lord even if that meant their death. This was what a call with one of these array 'pagers' meant, if you were called like this it meant there was an important mission and everything else must wait.

Kyle gave the decoded letter to Faye without saying anything allowing her to read it and understand the situation. Faye was aware of Kyle's spy and his identity, she was even aware of the specifics of their deal. Finishing reading the letter she placed it on Kyle's desk before standing at attention waiting for her orders.

"Faye you are going to prepare for operation 'broken rose' I want to do this tonight. I'll be coming as support and as an array breaker; you'll be running the second team. This is a black mission so I want' no witnesses, you can leave the bodies to be found as after this the peace will be broken do you understand?"

"Yes sir, where will be the safe house?"

Kyle smirked at this as he already had a place in mind.

"Why don't we use somewhere right under their noses? The bastion in their territory is now fully stocked I believe, so there sounds good to me."

Faye returned his smirk while her eyes sparkled. In the last few years her and 'steel lotus' had been involved in many missions but this would be the first time they had directly attacked a noble family and their guards. Her opinion of the Miles family was already low before she had joined Kyle and after seeing the crap they were dealing in over the last few years her opinion had fully turned to disgust.

"Yes sir I'll have everyone ready at sundown."

"Good we'll be staging from the wall so have everyone make their way to the tower on the western gate. Remember this has to be perfect so everyone will need to have their game faces on."

Faye saluted before she left, this would be a busy few hours as she would need her girls to gear up and gather so before she left she grabbed the members still within Kyle's home and sent them to the other operational zones in the city to gather the assigned fighters of 'steel lotus'.

Kyle was still sitting at his desk reading the letter again, after tonight the fight will move out of the dark and into the light. He couldn't think of anything else that could help with this situation so instead he moved to his room and opened the attached personal armoury within.

Arrayed on various stands were different kinds of armour and weapons. Kyle took down a dark armour and mask ready for tonight and looked at the weapons he had to choose from. He took a belt with 15 throwing knives and took 2 kukri knives as his selection for tonight's mission.

Looking over his gear he was happy with his selection once his decision was made he headed down to the kitchen and chatted and laughed with his people. He only had a bowl of soup and some bread as experience had taught him it would be a bad idea to do this on a full stomach. The others picked up on this but didn't say anything as they knew how Kyle did things and if he didn't tell them it was because they didn't need to know.

Finishing his meal he headed out while his girls followed him out. Everyone watched him leaving with a worried gaze. Neil, Archie and Clyde noticed this and finally Clyde asked.

"What's wrong with you guys, why do you look nervous?"

"Lord Kyle is going to go on a mission tonight and because he didn't say anything it means it must be important." Zak responded to Clyde's question but his eyes never left the door.

"What do you mean a mission and how do you know?"

Neil was now intrigued as he had served in the army and the feeling these people gave off was similar to when a veteran was sent off on a mission and his long term compatriots would worry for his well being.

"We've all been together for a long time now and we work as one." Ash responded simply as he looked at these new fish.

Returning to Kyle he entered his room with Elena, Clara and Miranda following. Changing into a pair of loose dark green cotton trousers and a dark blue t-shirt Kyle was ready to gear up but Miranda and Clara grabbed his armour and began fitting it and attaching the weapons to the prepared hard points before passing him his mask so he was ready.

Seeing the girls standing there worrying about him Kyle felt his heart go to them and finally he approached them before kissing Miranda then Clara and finally Elena. Miranda and Clara were surprised and happy while Elena touched her lips with a little smile on her face.

"I'm going now wish me luck."

"Good luck and come back to me safely." Miranda said with wet eyes.

"Good luck Kyle and kick some ass." Clara said with a fierce look and red cheeks.

"You don't need luck but do come back as you still need to take my virginity."