"Apollo was quite hostile to people who did wrong against small children, so I would expect him to be the last person on the planet to entertain and join this mess. But I'm thinking that the person behind these six rogue Mages is another being other than Apollo," suggested Baldwin.
"So, you're saying there's a seventh Mage that we have to tackle?" asked the High Queen, furrowing her brows.
"Not for the time being, but yes, there's a seventh Mage giving the six rogue Mages commands to kidnap the different people across the Five Domains. I don't know why Apollo is an exception, but taking in stray Mages might be good on their part," explained Baldwin.
"Why would that be so? I thought the stray Mages would be angry at what they were doing to innocent lives and strike from within?" asked Tomoe.
"No, these stray Mages don't have a reason to attack these rogues since they do not belong to the Arks. However, if they're as morbid as Old Man Pond, I bet they use the strays to fuel their powers. With Merlin by their side, I won't be too surprised that this is the case."
"Merlin might be a Dream Mage, but he was fascinated with the human body with Magecraft. He'd use dying humans and heal them with Magecraft. Sounds nice on the surface. Until you hear about the methods, he used to cure those humans. Much like how Midori suffered..."
"Merlin did the same as well. But instead of using blood, he created a spell to suck out the Mage's Elemental Energy and stuffed that into humans to see how Magecraft can affect the human body. Soon enough, he created something called the 'artificial human.' I wished I'd stopped him."
"Old Man Pond dubbed that creation to be a homunculus or, as what Z called it, 'Bizzare Dolls.' He used the healthy remnants of dead humans and sewed them up to create one of these 'Dolls'. Then, during the Husks Waves, Merlin had the bright idea to store Elemental Energy into those 'bodies'."
Mavislin, Rina, and Tomoe looked at Baldwin with horror as they understood how twisted was Merlin the Dream Mage.
"So, those stray Mages are being turned to those things?!" yelled Rina, with her eyes quivering.
"Yes, but from what I understand, I've got a good hunch on why Apollo was part of this. Apollo had been killed by a mysterious explosion while at a training area in the records. Merlin was the one who tried to protect him, but eventually, only Merlin survived," explained Z solemnly.
"Merlin wasn't the one who created the explosion?"
"Believe it or not, no. Merlin risked his life to save most of the people in that blast. He managed to save everyone except for Apollo, whose lower body had been crushed by a large stone wall. Oh yes, another thing I failed to let you guys know," said Z before going towards the Map Crystal.
The Galaxian Mage toyed with the files for a few minutes before finally showing everyone what he'd found while looking through the profiles.
"All six rogue Mages know of the Mage who bought that plot of land at the top of the hill in the Briton Domain. According to the Mage who've fought him, his name is Fabian Brookes, and he is a Mage of a certain caliber. But something else looks off to me..."
"Because all the Mages that have reported about Fabian Brookes have been noted as stationery. As in, the Mages have somehow stopped moving after facing off Fabian. Until now, I can't find one Mage that hasn't moved or explained about Fabian's Element," described Z.
The Valkyrie looked at the name 'Fabian Brookes' and stared at it before shutting her eyes. Then, her eyes flew open as she recalled who that Mage was.
"I know who's Fabian! He was that Mage that I had to rescue when Briton got attacked by that tsunami years ago! But why... Why would that guy be against us when he knew we saved him?" asked Mavislin, more confused than before.
"Maybe something changed his mind within him? Or perhaps he's trying to get our attention? We were quite busy for the past few months," asked Raiyen.
"No, it wouldn't make sense to spend your time hunting for other Mages to team up and rebel against all of us by kidnapping kids. And Fabian is meant to be a noble of sorts, relating to the Midford Family somehow. Fabian is a Baron who earns his keeps by selling and making dolls."
"Not the ones Merlin makes but the actual toys that girls love. He makes and sells them to toy stores but donates some to orphanages. But these dolls are more... Fragile, I would say," replied Mavislin.