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.