As soon as the Lost Mjolnir team reached their destination, they quickly surrounded the island as planned, scattering upon arrival. Yokoyama and another member stayed behind with Morida.
"Yokoyama, quick!"
Yokoyama received a message from Captain Morida and acted quickly by placing his right hand in front of himself. He gathered an unusual amount of ki into his palm, and after a few seconds, the ki formed into a small cubic green barrier. The barrier continued to grow steadily until it covered the entire 70-hectare island.
Minoru Yokoyama is a barrier caster whose abilities are well-suited for the Lost Mjolnir guild's objective of capturing criminals. He possesses extraordinary skills in crafting S-ranked barriers that can imprison his targets. Though this would be his first mission as a guild member, Morida is confident that having a reliable barrier caster on his team will offer the best chance of catching the elusive criminal, Sakaki Kyoshiro.
"Whoa, you covered the whole island, rookie!" Morida grinned, patting Yokoyama's back.
"Shut it. I'm not done yet. I must ensure the barrier is strong enough to prevent his escape."
"Morida, stop distracting him. You're being a nuisance," the man with a deep, lazy voice said, teasing Morida. The man appeared to be in his mid-twenties, with a beard covering his face, messy sapphire blue hair, and dressed in the guild's attire.
"Roger that. Wait, I'm the captain here, you freaking bastard!!"
After lazily waving his right arm, the man said, "Yeah yeah, blah blah. I'm heading back to the control room. Just talk to me through the radio transceiver."
"Tch. Whatever you say, Harukage. We're counting on you," Morida said before Harukage left them.
Morikawa Harukage is a Divine Knight with sensory abilities, often referred to as the "sixth sense." He's capable of locating criminals through his unique skill set. As Vice-Captain of the operation in Morida, he's a B-ranked Knight. Although he appears to be lazy and spends most of his time in the control room during operations, he's actually a highly skilled sensory warrior and has the best sensory skills in Lost Mjolnir. The success of this operation heavily relies on his expertise, as it's crucial to have the best sensory warrior in the team.
Meanwhile, as the barrier continued to expand, Yokoyama attempted to strengthen the transparent wall that covered the island. Morida looked at Yokoyama with pity, as he could see that Yokoyama was exerting himself to his limit, barely able to catch his breath. He was running out of energy, while struggling to contain and immobilize the tiny island.
Cheering up Yokoyama, Morida said, "You can do it, Yokoyama!'"
Yokoyama tightly clasped his hands, locking the island inside a cubic barrier.
"Barrier locked. We're ready," Morida reported to his team through the radio transceiver.
Voices came out from Yokoyama's radio as if they had already won. "Good job, Rookie!"
"Harukage, it's your turn!" Morida ordered his vice-captain over the radio transceiver.
Harukage, who is in the control room inside the ship, lazily replied, "Yeah, I know..."
"Faster! I'm running out of ki already!" Yokoyama yelled, trying to hold the whole barrier by tightly clasping his hands.
He opened up a gap in the barrier for each member to enter inside.
Yokoyama announced over the radio transceiver to all the guild members surrounding the island, "Once I let go, there will be no escape from this barrier. You will all be locked inside for an hour, so be prepared."
The group cautiously entered the barrier, keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings, knowing the criminal could be waiting to ambush any one of them.
"Everyone in?" Asked Morida.
"Yes, sir." The members spoke in unison through the radio transceiver.
Morida moves forward stealthily, leaving Yokoyama a few paces behind in the space they had created.
"Congratulations, Yokoyama. Please close the doors, you did a great job," Morida said.
"Thank you, Captain, though I've already lost most of my energy," Yokoyama said, panting.
When Morida entered the barrier, Yokoyama locked the transparent wall, trapping them in a no-way-out prison.
The barrier appears transparent but is solid. The green energy is visible from outside, but not within the prison.
Yokoyama collapsed on the ground, feeling completely drained.
"Harukage, Are you done?."
Harukage concentrated on finding the criminal by placing his palms together in a prayer-like gesture and closing his eyes. As he was familiar with the unique energy signatures of his teammates, he had to identify the unfamiliar energy signature within the island to locate the criminal.
"This is bad . . ."
"What is it?!"
"Sakaki Kyoshiro . . . Knew our presence. . ."
The members quickly took up defensive positions, guarding each other's backs, as they heard Harukage's voice through the radio transceiver. Morida sighed, as if he had anticipated this.
"Where is he? And how do you know?" Morida asked, trying to maintain his composure.
"He's outside the barrier . . ."
"What?! That's impossible! Everything beyond this barrier is just water!"
This isn't right though. I'm sure we haven't left any space on the island that wasn't inside the barrier! Morida was deep in thought, furiously biting his thumb.
Everyone, except Yokoyama and the ship, is inside the barrier, making it impossible for the criminal to be outside.
"Is he outside this island the whole time? Does he walk on water or something?"
"I'm not sure, Morida. Wait. His ki is getting close. "
"What??"
"Sh*t! Yokoyama! Behind you!!"
As Morida turned, he saw a man behind Yokoyama, pointing knuckle blades at the exhausted rookie. Yokoyama stood still, with only two choices: surrender or fight to death.
"Great job rookie, you've locked them up for me," the man said in his deep, sexy voice.
Yokoyama was too scared to speak and just gulped in fear for his life. Morida, on the other hand, managed to keep his composure and didn't unsheathe his sword in front of the criminal. Instead, he took a deep breath, collected himself, and glared at the man intensely.
"Sakaki Kyoshiro, as I expected, you are as sharp as ever."
Sakaki Kyoshiro took Yokoyama hostage, while scoffing.
"You're just dull as always, nameless captain."
"Shino Morida! That's my name, you bastard!"
"You tried recruiting a rookie barrier caster this time? Sorry, I don't have time for games, Mr. Nobody," Kyoshiro said, pointing his knuckle blades closer to Yokoyama's neck.
Yokoyama nervously gulped as he felt the sharp blade against his neck.
"Kyoshiro, surrender now or face consequences. This is your final warning," Morida calmly stated.
"Or else what? You'll kill me?"
"No. I don't kill criminals. But that guild will."
"That guild?"
"If you refuse to surrender, we will have to put a bounty on your head and add you to the Kaishi Ravens' list."
"Let them be. . ."
"I knew you'd say that," Morida mumbled.
"What?" Kyoshiro asked out of confusion.
Kyoshiro didn't even notice anything strange at first, but then he began to feel a strange sensation around him.
"Don't tell me . . ."
"Yup. Yokoyama did a good job after all."
Due to his instincts, Kyoshiro quickly jumped backwards as if floating in the air before landing on his feet with ease. This left Yokoyama free from his knuckle blade.
After being released from the blade, Yokoyama let out a deep sigh of relief.
Kyoshiro glanced around him and realized he was now inside Yokoyama's cubic barrier.
"How could this happen?"
The scattered cops immediately regrouped and reappeared behind Morida, as if they had anticipated this.
"You planned this out, huh? I'm impressed," Kyoshiro said with a vile smirk.
Morida planned everything from the beginning. He knew that Kyoshiro had already managed to escape from primary Lost Mjolnir operations on fourteen different occasions. That's why he came up with the "Lonewolf Operation". He used Yokoyama to create a large decoy barrier and used it as a diversionary tactic to lure Kyoshiro behind the barrier caster himself.
Luckily, Kyoshiro bit the hook. Yokoyama created a solid barrier around him beforehand, and they managed to imprison the swift criminal. The tables have now turned into the cops' favor.
Morida takes out a lengthy document and begins to read it aloud.
"Sakaki Kyoshiro. You are under arrest for a mass murder of the royal clan dated May 9th, X505. I, Shino Morida, hereby . . ."
Kyoshiro quickly pulled out a smoke grenade from his sleeve and dropped it, covering the criminal in smoke.
"Oh, come on! Stop wasting your energy! No one has ever escaped Yokoyama's barrier during his lifetime."
As soon as the smoke cleared, Kyoshiro vanished, leaving the spacious cubic barrier empty.
"F*** Not Again . . . . Everyone, Search for him! Harukage! Where the f*** Is he??!!!" Morida suddenly erupted in a fit of anger.
"Negative. I can't locate him."
"What the . . ."
"Good job trying to catch me, Captain. You got yourself a good barrier caster this time." Suddenly, he heard Kyoshiro talk through his Radio Transceiver.
"Where are you? How did you escape again?" Morida shouted into his radio, his frustration evident.
"I can't give you further details, but honestly, I'm impressed this time."
"F*** You!"
"Unfortunately though, I got things to do. I'll play with you next time."
"No! There will be no next time! As I said earlier, the council will try to kill you next time. There would be no capturing whatsoever. You'll be dead instantly! You'll regret not surrendering in my hands, you freaking bastard!"
"Thanks for the tip. I wish you all good luck."
The radio signal is abruptly cut off because Yokoyama's barrier is blocking the signal.
Harukage sighed in disappointment at yet another failure while Yokoyama lost consciousness and fell to the ground. The cops' confidence wavered upon hearing Shino Morida's undertone voice.
"Lonewolf Operation. . . has failed."