"Really? That''s a surprise. Wasn''t he supposed to be our beacon... or at least a clue to the rest of the Organization?"


    The first to speak out of us four in the room was Aurora.


    Perhaps because she was the most naive, or Elven innocence still clouded her thoughts.


    "It wasn''t guaranteed that he would bring concrete results, in the first ce."


    Damien Lawcroft was most likely a low-ranked member, and ording to the hierarchy, he probably wasn''t privy to a lot of information.


    That made his value lessen in my eyes.


    However, it was a different matter if Damien could lead me to another member of the Cult.


    "If we could rope in more than one member, that would have been epic."


    That was why I was very disappointed to notice his death.


    "How did it happen?" Neron calmly asked.


    "Well, I initially lost the visual and auditory functions of the tracking Magic I kept on him. Not long after, the Magic registered him as dead."


    Whoever the culprit was, they were able to disable certain functions of the tracker, but they didn''tpletely nullify it.


    Was it that they couldn''t, or they simply chose not to?


    I was overwhelmed with curiosity.


    "Well, hisst-recorded location is in the far Southeast—close to the edge."


    I had sent a few Automatons there to confirm the status of Damien Lawcroft, and they were already on the scene.


    >VWUSH<


    Arge window appeared before all four of us, disying the footage that the Automaton captured, with Magic.


    "This is..."


    "Incredible..."


    "Hmmm..."


    As I stared hard at the sight on the screen, I couldn''t help but feel an unsettling emotion, as well as a strong sense of foreboding.


    Whoever the culprit was, it wasn''t anyone I was keeping tabs on.


    Was it the work of the Nether Cult? Maybe they wanted to silence Damien? I had thought that before seeing this footage.


    However, I had no idea what to think at this point.


    "Three corpses... and the attacker doesn''t seem to be any of them," Neron murmured.


    He wasn''t wrong.


    There were definite footsteps of the culprit leaving the scene, leaving the three dead people in his wake.


    Damien Lawcroft was among the three mutted corpses; alongside someone resembling a Fairy, and a Crimson Demon—surprisingly.


    Of the three, Damien''s body seemed the freshest. The other three appeared to have been dead for longer.


    "The charred marks on the floor... they died by electric charges. That one, in particr, was scorched to death..." Neron pointed at the Crimson Demon.


    I was surprised. None of these were within my expectations.


    "Is it safe to assume that everyone in this footage has a connection to the Organization?"


    "Most likely. But, we''ll have to investigate the building thoroughly."


    "If they''re all a part of the organization, though, it begs a lot of questions."


    "Yeah... for example, why is there a Fairy among them? or a Demon?" It was like Jane read my mind when she spoke.


    We had previously assumed that the Organization wasprised of humans—since Damien and Legris were the members we had ever seen.


    However, with this in sight, our whole logic about their group changed drastically.


    "I''d recognize those wings anywhere, even if it''s just fragments..." Jane continued, narrowing her eyes as she murmured.


    Her wavering gaze told me she didn''t want to say any more, so I didn''t press the issue. It wasn''t the most important matter at the moment, anyway.


    Besides, I could read her thoughts whenever.


    "A Crimson Demon, uh? Demons are also members? If that''s the case, why would they agree to the n of using their entire race as bait?"


    The whole reason why the Demons were vanquished was because of the Organization. If a member of that Race was affiliated with them, it meant he was alsoplicit in the n.


    "He must not have had any attachments to his people."


    It was the same with Damien Lawcroft—how he was satisfied with selling out the Eastern Kingdom for more power and authority.


    "Damien''s death was unprecedented, but it wasn''t a total loss."


    At least, this way, we understood more of what we were dealing with. The enemies were more diverse than I initially thought.


    Still, this new yer troubled me even more. Who was the mystery person, and what were their intentions?


    "Are they hunting the Organization Members? Or maybe they''re a rogue member. Either way, the individual must have some degree of power, considering three powerful beings have been killed so one-sidedly." Neron spoke, narrowing his gaze.


    Though we couldn''t be certain that the person in question didn''t receive any injuries, the bodies of the corpses showed they were merciless in their methods of killing the Organization Members.


    It simply showed the kind of brutality the stranger possessed.


    "I''ll do some investigation on my end. Bottom line is, we should all be careful."


    My instincts were telling me that things were going to get very dangerous from this point onward, and I didn''t like the feeling that there was a powerful yer somewhere that was not within my knowledge.


    "At this point, the Organization is our primary target... but they might not be our only enemy," I said, and everyone nodded.


    To be safe, and also to achieveplete victory, it was best to return to the drawing board and perfect my strategy.


    Myst encounter with Legris had shown me just how far behind I was.


    ''Ick too much information. That means I''m at a disadvantage...''


    But, if things went ording to n, the tables would soon change.


    "Ah, I forgot to ask because of the surprising situation, but Jane..." I stared at my Fairy friend.


    "How''s the progress concerning Soul Project: Omega?"


    She shrugged at my question, so that meant it was moving steadily.


    "It will take some months before we reach optimal performance, but it''s going smoothly for now. It would help if we worked on this side by side."


    As much as I would love that, many other things demanded my attention.


    "Maybe another time."


    >VWUUUSHHH<


    Creating a portal that linked me to the scene of carnage, I prepared to depart from everyone in the room.


    "I guess I''ll see everyone in the Kingdom. Till then."


    *


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    *


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    [A/N]


    Two more chapters to go.


    At the end of this Arc, you''ll be seeing ten original Character designs of different characters.


    Your favorite characters, like Neron, Maria, Serah, Jared, Kuzon, etc.


    Ten of them have been illustrated, and you''ll see them soon.


    I hope you enjoy them since... they cost quite some money to procure, as well as time (for the ones I did myself).


    Thanks for reading.