Phantom thief Blue Rose with the given name Eve had never stolen anything from the imperial palace despite her almost decade-long career at the imperial capital. So it was about the time for her to correct that oversight.
So tonight Eve was crouching on the roof of the main palace. She had painstakingly investigated for months where the Imperial Dragon Scepter had been stored. It was above the main royal hall in a remote room based on all the stories she had collected about it. Normally the only path that would lead to it would go through most of the palace's internal guard points.
Eve wore her black and almost skin-tight bodysuit with many utility pockets. She even had a mask helmet that hid her tightly tied silky blue hair. As a moon elf, she had natural agility most other races were not able to match but that was not even her ace card. She was also an expert in magic lines and locks. There had never been any lock or puzzle she had not been able to solve in time.
"One more minute... soon. Oh gods... this rush feels so good," Eve panted almost silently while she waited with crossed legs. There was nothing she got more aroused by than penetrating a complex magical protection system without being caught.
"Ten percent success chance they told me. I'm going to show them... and enjoy every second," Eve mouthed before she was forced to do a heavy swallow. The thrill of using the supposedly most powerful magical protection grid in the empire to spy on the contents of the place that it was supposed to protect was almost making her reach a climax.
"No extra variables. Simple route. Only two dead guards needed to make sure they know who did it," Eve mused in absolute silence before licking her soft lips. Then she did her best to focus and enter into her peak performance mode while doing the last check to make sure there was no sign of alarm inside or outside the magic grid.
Before Eve disconnected from the system, she made sure it no longer considered her hostile with a simple lifting of a roof tile. A tilted smile spread on her lips as it was clear she was just an admin ranked utility worker doing her thing to the grid and nothing else even as she had no profile.
Eve suppressed yet another wave of jubilation over just how easily she had done what she had wanted and headed for the edge of the roof. From there she silently dropped to a balcony and entered through a window she had unlocked while infiltrating the protection system.
The room she wanted to enter had a single door and no windows. On the door were two imperial magic-tech knights in full battle armor at all times. There was no way of knowing if they were awake or not inside their red plated protections as they stood still with their large metal spears that could crush most living things with one swing. Though it did not matter to Eve. She had brought with her four special knives despite only needing two of them. One for each throat of these knights.
Even if Eve was hidden from the defense grid the magical sensors on the helmet's of the knights would still be able to detect her if she was not careful enough. So she made sure she approached them glued to the wall until at the last moment she leaned forward to send two silver knives flying. For a moment it looked like both of them were going to miss but then they tilted controlled by Eve's magic to perfectly slide through the magic-tech armors to puncture their throats. Even if the high-class plates were impressive they still were no match for specially made phase blades that slid through inanimate matter like butter.
With a tilted smile Eve walked in the middle of the corridor to inspect the two magi-tech knights that kept standing even as knives had penetrated both of their throats with such surprising speed that neither one had had the time to even think what had happened. Though the alarms on both of their helmets began flaring but it only took seconds for Eve to silence them. Not that they would summon anybody in time as she had also made sure the defense grid would not detect them in this area.
Eve saluted the two guards and reached to grab one of the knives whose hilt still was outside the armor. On it was the blue rose she used as her symbol. In a moment of artistic inspiration, she decided to leave the knives where they were as marks of her heist. Even if she usually left the killing tools with her marks on the crime scene these were way more expensive than her usual tools. But since it was a special occasion she decided to let her artistic vision win and left the knives where they were placed. So instead she spread her hands to the door that opened with them. After all the protection saw her just as an admin coming through.
Inside the windowless room was a simple altar. On it was the golden Imperial Dragon Scepter. There was nothing really special about its almost ancient design and even its magical power was lacking in the current era. It was simply the original symbol of the imperial Dragon Throne. So if Eve was going to acquire something from the imperial family, this definitely was the thing that most suited her tastes.
For a moment Eve felt nothing out of the place but then she sensed something strange. An odd sensation that felt stronger and stronger until she was sure it definitely was not normal. There was no reaction on the defense grid but something was definitely trying to attack her. Pressure built all-around Eve's body and she tried to back away but she stumbled her steps and fell into darkness.
** * **
Eve opened her eyes surrounded by bright lights and a buzz of distant talking. Even before her eyes adjusted she realized she was tightly locked to sit naked on a hard surface chair.
"May I present to you, ladies and gentlemen, the infamous phantom thief Blue Rose. The very one who has terrorized the fine nobility of our imperial capital for over a decade now," a loud male announcer boomed while Eve began picking up faces in a crowd in front of her. Most were human but there were some dwarfs, orcs and elves among them. Their main unifying factor was their ridiculously fancy clothes only the richest beings in the empire used on the fanciest occasions.
"As you can see, she is very much alive despite the announcement of her execution two weeks ago after she dared to attempt intruding into the imperial palace," the announcer kept talking even as Eve tried to struggle like a reflex. She was so tightly locked into the chair to spread her legs to the audience that the part of her body that moved the most were her twitching pointed ears. Even her tongue was tightly pressured in her mouth with a gag that almost pushed into her throat while spreading her jaw apart.
"This is a certification by his imperial majesty of her authenticity that will be provided with the purchase. Though I have to say just by looking at her, the value she can provide just with her body alone should be sufficient to justify our starting price," the announcer declared. Eve suddenly calmed down as her mind overtook the initial shock. The thing she was in was an escape scenario brought to the next level. There was no lock she would not be able to open and puzzle to solve. In fact, the situation she was in was simply the greatest challenge ever provided to her. A chance for her to truly prove just how capable she was and how she deserved her reputation.
"But unfortunately she is not a virgin but her tight moon elf pussy can be guaranteed to feel better than any human virgin for even after years of constant use. In fact, the auction house is so confident in the quality of her pussy that we are willing to offer a ten percent refund for the first year as long as there aren't any signs of permanent damage. As we all know immortal elves can't be damaged even in normal cum-toilet use," the announcer voiced. He kept empathizing certain words like he was doing a pre-written marketing speech to drive up the price of the merchandise. In fact, he almost sounded bored to Eve as she focused to listen to his tone for a moment. Though the crowd looked almost the opposite of him. All their eyes were locked on Eve and there were many varieties of emotions, all the way from hatred to lust. She even recognized some of them as her past heist targets.
"Just look at her perfectly sized perky elven breasts and flawless skin. Even an orc could dig their fingers into those mounds, were it her ass or breasts," was announced and a wave of amazement washed the crowd as they looked behind Eve. Even if she was not able to see it she could have guessed magic was being used to project something on the wall. On it was a series of pictures of Eve's body being tied to different bondage devices in poses that made it look like she was posing with closed eyes. All of them tried to empathize different aspects of her body and some had hands grabbing her ass or breasts to show just how big of a handful she was despite her athletically toned body.
Eve closed her eyes and focused while there was a distraction away from her. The things that bound her were not magical and as she reached towards them she realized there were not even locks in them. It was clear a mage had shaped them to fit her perfectly. Even the material was some strange metal she had never really encountered before. As her magic relied on either enhancing her own body or other objects, this realization definitely added to the challenge.
Though even in the current situation, there were many options for Eve. Many that were dumb and desperate and most likely something even an amateur security mage would have prepared for. So she discarded those as fast as she came up with them as something not suited for her style. If she was going to perform in front of this big of a famous crowd her escape had to be special. Even if she could have succeeded in simply overpowering the metal which even she doubted, it would have been a highly inelegant way of escaping for someone with her reputation.
"Unfortunately we won't be providing any use tests since we are confident that her identity will be more than enough to prove her value despite the liability contract for her any future crimes," came the announcement once the crowd had had some time to look at the projections. None of them showed penetration as even nobles preferred to think their new slaves were unused by others.
"So I should remind you all. This is a very dangerous magic-using criminal that is most suited to be kept... unconscious for your own safety whoever the buyer might be. Also, the imperial archmages have explored her mind thoroughly enough to make sure everything she knew of value has been investigated and confiscated," the announcer declared.
"But that's illegal," Eve tried to gag in shock unable to say it. She might have spent most things she had ever stolen on various expenses but if they had ransacked her lair it would be annoying, to say the least. All her tools and other gear were there. Not to mention all the other emergency hiding locations she had prepared.
"And now that I have said what I needed to say. Let us proceed into the bidding. It will start from ten imperial gold," came another announcement that shocked Eve. It was so low she thought she had heard it wrong until the first bid at eleven gold came. Though it did rise fast but the initial bid was something so insulting to her she kept going over and over it in her mind trying to think just how it could have been calculated if not just to insult her. There was no legal imperial slave elf in the imperial capital that had been sold under fifty gold due to their durability.
