After doing her duty, a woman with long white hair and a face covered with a black veil returned to her private quarters.
She first made sure that no one was around and that nothing else was on her schedule before she activated her personal teleportation pod.
A second later, she reappeared in a dark room that couldn't be illuminated despite the Teleportation Magic emitting light. She stopped for a moment to feel her surroundings and didn't do anything to turn on any lights because it was specifically designed to be pitch black no matter what.
She then reoriented herself slightly to the left before walking straight. Her pace was neither slow nor fast. In complete darkness, only her confident steps echoed. It was at the five-minute mark of her walking that her surroundings suddenly changed and she reached a very heavy-looking 10-meter tall and 3-meter wide unadorned metal door.
"Welcome back, Lady Corvina." A tall beautiful mature lady with long black hair and bangs parted in the middle and wearing tightfitting black and white combat gear greeted her. She has dark purple eyes that contrast her fair skin.
"You came back earlier than expected, Adrenna." The veiled white-haired woman replied, "Were you able to investigate it?"
Adrenna nodded, "Yes. And you were correct to obscure the appearance of that sword the moment it appeared."
"Is that so?" The lady known as Corvina turned towards the door and it automatically opened. Contrary to its appearance, it opened very smoothly and quietly, "Tell me more about it." She added as she walked inside.
Adrenna followed Corvina and entered the room. The circular room wasn't that big and it's just almost the same height as the door but it was sturdy and secure enough to contain various things. And currently, there is only one person inside it, or rather, two if one considers the obviously autonomous giant mannequin a person.
In the middle of the room was Corvina's beloved daughter, Stralit, lying on the floor unconscious with various stitches on her body and convulsing from time to time. On top of her was the top half of a giant mannequin with long black hair, eyes closed, and hands hovering on top of Stralit, constantly moving.
From time to time, stitches would disappear on Stralit's body but they would soon be replaced by a new one. To this day, they still couldn't understand how the mannequin was doing this and most surprisingly, this 'operation' wasn't just happening on her physical body but also in the soul.
Going back to the day that it all went down, Corvina immediately understood the threat of the unknown man who suddenly appeared from Stralit's shadow, bearing killing intent towards her daughter.
Because this heavily involved her daughter and she still hasn't found the traitorous ones in their ranks, her first thought was to protect her, not just from the unknown man but also from the ensuing aftermath. While it was already too late for the man, Corvina had enough ability to deceive everyone's eyes and was able to change the appearance of the sword that also suddenly appeared.
However, she severely underestimated the unknown man and was hit with an ability that absolutely pushed her away.
Her heart sank the moment the realization of her not reaching her daughter in time set in. But to her relief, her daughter actually turned the unknown man into a black puddle.
Sadly, it didn't end there and the space opened up beside Stralit, and Corvina instantly guessed the intention of the one controlling her. Not knowing whether the mannequin meant harm or even understood her, Corvina sent a telepathic message to the mannequin through Stralit and pointed out a safe place for them to settle. And that safe place was exactly this room.
Since then, however, there has been no movement other than the mannequin moving its fingers and any attempt of communication failed.
And as much as she wanted to pull out Stralit from the mannequin's influence, their own health scans on her told them that Stralit was currently in a very precarious situation with her organs spontaneously rupturing apart, only to be repaired by the stitches.
As long as they can't figure out why Stralit is in this state and cure it from the root, they can only hope that the mannequin will continue what it's doing until they can find a solution themselves.
"As the sword appears to have the ability to manipulate Spiritual Power, there are only a few places to look at. There are some complications but I found a match for it on Draconic Deus."
Corvina turned her head towards Adrenna and under her veil, her brows furrowed, "Draconic Deus? What complication and is this why Stralit involved herself with that place?"
"I'm still not sure about the young miss' involvement with that world but I indeed found a match of the sword." Adrenna took out a terminal and manipulated its screen for a few seconds before a holographic image appeared on top of it, "Apparently, this sword is named Benihime and its owner is someone called Kisuke Urahara."
"...Kisuke Urahara. Isn't that one of the three people designated as [Special Spirit Users] from Draconic Deus?" Corvina muttered while reading the detailed report about Kisuke. It even shows him utilizing the same mannequin in the Underworld incident. But although it's an amazing report, Corvina noticed the problem right away, "He's still part of that designation, isn't he? And even if that's still the case, this is still too much."
The information lock on [Special Spirit Users] is on the highest level because of the implications their abilities could bring. The lock is so thorough that even if Corvina was the head of one of the major households within the Etoulde society, the only thing available for her was their names. Not even their appearance was available in the accessible data bank. Then the question is where did Adrenna acquire this information?
"That's the complication I mentioned. Thanks to the lead I got and the urgency of the situation, I had to go through to a third party to discreetly gather this report. I wasn't really expecting much when I requested it..." Adrenna pursed her lips.
"So you were trapped," Corvina concluded.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. You didn't have a choice after seeing this." Corvina scrolled through Kisuke's profile and said, "So who's this informant and what do they demand?"
"You already heard about her. She was the same informant that helped us dig out those related to Aurelius, Yoru."
Corvina stopped her hand and turned back to Adrenna, "That Yoru? Does she also have access to Draconic Deus? Is she confident or just plain reckless?"
Adrenna shook her head, "I don't know. I couldn't get anything out of her even after talking to her directly. There was also no prior information about her until she registered as a mercenary in Hartagertle. Many are trying to look into her, but none of them managed to dig anything out."
Corvina became quiet. Both of them now realized that when they contacted the informant for the first time, it might not have been a coincidence.
Corvina sighed and said, "There's no point in thinking this now and further investigation will take too much time and put too much attention to what we're doing. What does she want?"
"She wanted to meet Lady Stralit, the current holder of Benihime."
This time, Corvina became very surprised, "...Did she ask for that specifically?" As far as she knows, she only asked Adrenna to search for the origins of the sword and she trusted her not to make any mistake.
Adrenna was silent but nodded.
"I see... You really can't get out, huh?" Corvina clicked her tongue. Yoru doesn't appear to be hostile, but she knows far too much.
Adrenna hesitated for a bit but ultimately shared her opinion, "In hindsight, she's also our biggest clue to solving the young lady's plight. I implore Lady Corvina to consider this."
Corvina was silent for a few moments before she started walking toward the center of the room where Stralit was. But just a few steps in, she felt the threat of the unknown ability and found a cut on her arm. She immediately jumped back and soon the cut mended itself.
She gritted her teeth and while looking at Stralit, she instructed, "Invite her in."