"Found you..." Shin's voice beckoned out within the consciousness of Kin, even though she was kilometres upon kilometres away.
On the other side of the idol, the blonde woman snapped open her eyes while exhaling rapid breaths. Kin slammed her knees upon the hard wooden floor as she desperately attempted to keep the fear from taking over her mind. By her side, the similar-looking silver-haired man instantly pushed his palms onto her back and began to channel some mana into his sister.
"Kin! Don't panic!" Gin cried out, attempting to soothe his elder sister's frantic mental state.
Kin gritted her teeth and used the mana supplied to stabilise her mind. At that moment, she felt as if a thousand needles were poking down all over her body, and a towering gaze was looking down upon her. Her mind started to make hallucinations, mainly about two celestial eyes looking right at her, examining every nook and cranny of her existence. If not for Gin's assistance, Kin would have succumbed to the power like a poor girl that was forced to marry as a concubine.
"..." There was an investigative hint in the powerful eyes that befell upon the woman, and it took everything that Kin had to completely erode that presence from probing even further.
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!" Kin shouted. A golden light, coiled with a tinge of silver, attacked the floating eyes with a vengeance. Like a black cloud that had been struck by a comet, the eyes vanished into thin air, leaving Kin with space to finally take a deep breath.
"That power… That's Shin Iofiel..." Kin instantly deduced.
"Are you certain?!" Gin shot his sister a look of fear. The pair's souls were intricately linked, so he could feel everything that Kin did. That presence that descended upon them so suddenly… It was no less powerful than a Spirit Saint. Or at the very least, the power of that entity's soul easily surpassed that of theirs, given how fearful it could make them feel.
"There's no question… I've seen him once before, and I memorised his mana signature..." Kin spat as she bit her lower lip. "Those eyes were that of the Celestial Dragon, there's no doubt about it!"
Kin wasn't an ignorant Spirit Beast. Yes, she had remained low-key to prevent the Alliance from targetting Gin and her. However, the Spirit Beast also had used a large chunk of her own resources to build up an information network, much like Isadore or the Allfather. After all, in order to protect her interests, the Tier 9 Spirit Beast has to have as much information as she could gather without the Black Masks' interference. She naturally knew what Shin's mana signature and appearance were like.
It was just…
Kin would have guessed that Shin had progressed this far.
"He's seen our location," the woman scorned. "He was able to use the Celestial Dragon to reverse space-time from the golden idol we've left behind to spy on the Alliance..."
"Wait, does that mean?!"
"Yes..." Kin stood up and sent a shockwave flying out upon the old wooden cottage. During their mission, the twins had decided to take up residence in a remote location near the Alliance. For the outposts to fall quickly, Kin and Gin had to be close by to react as quickly as they did. Alas, they had to scratch all of their plans now…
Kin watched menacingly as the cottage they used was crushed right into smithereens. "We're abandoning this mission… We can't risk our lives to take down any more of those outposts now that they know how to counter my ability."
"That's absurd! Wasn't he of the water-element? Even with the Celestial Dragon, how can he reverse-scour the idol?! That's something that only the Allfather can do!"
The blonde woman shook her head. "I don't know, Gin. But the facts are laid bare. We can't dilly-dally here anymore. Let's report to the Allfather that some irregularities have popped up and we're unable to destroy the remaining outposts. Since there's chaos on the other side of the world, I doubt the Allfather would force us to continue on the mission."
As much as the twin Spirit Beasts wanted to one-up their sworn enemy, they weren't dumb enough to throw their lives away just for that cause. Behind Shin were a plethora of Spirit Venerates and more frighteningly, he has the power to move Spirit Saints. If any of the Nine Coloured Noble Beasts were discovered, there was no question that a few of the thirteen remaining Saints would come flying with Shin to decimate their foes.
"Let's leave now!"
❖❖❖
The Neutral Lands. In between Outpost fifty-four and fifty-five.
Fifty shadows spearheaded down like meteorites tearing down from the heavens. The familiar tall oak trees that towered over their compatriots seemingly shivered as the figures passed them by. Terrified, numerous wildlife ran far in the other direction leaving the shadows to completely take over the serene yet, mystical area.
The first of the fifty shadows landed squarely upon the broken down hut and carefully lifted out one plank to examine.
"They left..." Shin frowned.
"That has to be expected, right?" A sombre voice sounded out from behind the Prince. "These two are the most elusive of the Nine Coloured Noble Beasts. The moment you used your spiritual sense to whiff out this location, that was the time where they would bolt back to the Abyss or any stronghold that the Black Masks had." Raphael continued to remark.
"Mmmm, that's right, My Prince." Zishen's nonchalant voice tickled Shin's senses from the left. "Kin and Gin have been eluding our intelligence for the past decade now. Even Sir Isadore has trouble digging up any dirt about the two Spirit Beasts. There's no shame in not catching the pair."
Words of consolation came from all corners of the congregation. They'd believed that Shin had rushed over intending to take down two pillars of the Black Masks in one swoop and that this failure might have severe repercussions on his psyche. Naturally, Shin didn't think of it that way.
"Don't worry, I'm not all that disappointed. Only a fool would stay in an exposed base." Shin shook his head before pointing right to the ruins. "However, this is the place where the two had spent most of their time while they were clearing our outposts. There should be some clues left behind."
"Understood… Men!" Raphael barked at the subordinates that followed the Prince of Water over. Without any further orders, the Spirit Kings and Lords rushed towards the broken hut, turning over every broken plank and every overturned rock.
The men searched endlessly and brought back some items of interest. There were three similar golden idols, each one more crudely made than the last. There were also a few objects that were obviously from the missing sentries that guarded the outposts, and even more knick-knacks that seemed out of place for such a remote hut.
However, none of them really resonated with Shin as the previous golden idol did. Evidently, Kin had severed her connection to many of the items that had been scattered within the cottage fearing that Shin would track her down once again.
Though, there was one thing…
"Wait, pass me that book..." From the corner of his eye, Shin saw one Spirit Lord pulling out a gold-silver book from under the debris. The book was far too clean and shiny for an item that had been buried for at least half a day. Not to mention, the Mind-Elements were dancing about in complete disarray as they surrounded the colourful book.
Shin could feel joy, sadness, fear, anger… Even disgust when he saw the Mind-Elements flying about. Curious, the Prince took two steps forward while heightening his spiritual sense.
And then… He read the five glowing words that were as bright as the heavens itself...
"The Rabbit in the Moon?"