The two brothers are currently tailing behind Manong Kanor while hiding their presence.
"Hey are you sure about this?" Leo asked his brother.
"Yes, I sensed 11 men walking mindlessly and seems like they are all heading to one direction. All the members of their families are sound asleep. None of them woke up when the guys walked out the house." Kio said while walking.
"Manong Kanor's wife is still asleep, when she should be awakened due to her husband going out of bed. She might also be charmed." Kio added.
When manong Kanor was already near his house, Kio pulled Leo and Hid behind the coconut trees to observe the man.
Manong Kanor went inside his house and proceeded to sleep beside his wife. The two then waited and observed the man and his family to fall back to sleep before doing their next step.
Time passed and when they both sensed that Manong Kanor and his family are sound asleep, they went inside the man's house and searched.
"Kio this is trespassing! We barged inside someone's house without their permission." Leo said whispering to his brother.
"Kuya chill. Its not trespassing at all. Unless we get caught." Kio said coolly.
"Why are we even here?!" Leo whispered in a panic manner.
"I sensed that Manong Kanor and the others are not Just walking mindlessly. They have a direction, which might mean that they are in a trance." Kio answered also whispering, not letting the house owners wake up.
"So you mean they are the people that you sensed when we are walking by the bay last night?" Leo asked.
"No, they're not. Which might mean that the doer of the spell is alternating the people they control to be less suspicious." Kio answered. "And to cast a mind control spell with different locations, there must be a sentry point or a talisman somewhere here that was planted by the caster."
Kio and Leo looked around the house for anything possible the caster might use to conduct the spell. They searched everywhere from under the bed to the kitchen of the cottage. Even outside the house but they still could not find any possible conductor of the trance spell.
"I can't find any." Leo said when he got tired looking for an unknown conductor of the spell.
"Are you sure you looked everywhere??" Kio asked still looking around inside the small house.
"Yeah… We don't even know what we're looking for!" Leo grumpily said.
"Keep searching. There must be something around here. Something odd or shinny. It can appear as an old paper with a magic circle, a pendant of a necklace, a wood, anything." Kio explained.
"Even a stone?" Leo said innocently.
"Yeah, even a stone. A pearl, a diamond, whatever." Kio got a little bit irritated with his brother who keeps pestering him.
"How about this one?" Leo asked while scanning an almost completely dried flower in his hands.
Kio automatically turned his body to face Leo like a robot when he heard his brother. He then walked closer to Leo and stared at the flower.
Looking closely at it, it still has a vague white color from the petal's part close to the sepal with a velvet hue. There's only a fifth of the petal that retains its color and by Kio's observation, all the flower's essence will dry out by noon.
"Fck! Where did you get it?!" Kio exclaimed when he analyzed the flower.
"I plucked it from the tree where we hid a while ago. Why?" Leo asked innocently.
"Oh sht!" Kio grabbed the flower and ran back to the tree.
Leo followed his younger brother who ran as fast as he can to the tree. When he got closer to there, Leo saw the flower was returned to the place where he plucked it before.
"What's the rush? Is that an enchanted flower?" Leo confusedly asked his brother.
"You musclehead! We almost got caught!" Kio scolded his older brother when he returned the flower to its place. "That is a variety of night flower called la luna petunia. Its effect may not be effective with us cultivators, but humdrums will fall in deep sleep for 8 hours." Kio explained.
"Ohhhh…. I guess we found the cause of the people's deep sleep. Now back to the talisman of trance!" Leo smiled happily looking at the brighter side.
"Ugh! How come you have all the brain when it comes to family and business matters but when its magic, you're a huge chunk of muscles?!" Kio said in frustration.
"Bro, when it comes to magic, there is no need to think. Let everything flow normally. Hahaha!" Leo exclaimed.
"Ugh! I think that's the side effect of your Hunter's instinct talent." Kio said moving his head in a disapproving manner. "Anyway, that flower will dry out completely by noon later so we can see who'll gonna change it. For now, let's focus on the trance spell conductor again." Kio said and they walked back to the small cottage.
Kio looked back at the tree before going back to search for the item.
--
Meanwhile, Butler Elie and the other two servants just finished setting the barrier around the yard. Butler Elie then returned to guard and check Hio's development, while the other servants prepared their cottages.
Hio is so focused and calm while letting all the information from the essence flow in his mind. His progress is not fast but also not slow, maintaining its stability and assessing his mind's capacity. His sensing area is currently at 16.4 miles and still progressing at a moderate rate.
"His growth is fast. We'll se if he'll be qualified tomorrow to start controlling the essences." The butler said while observing the young man.
Hours passed and the two brothers returned to the beach front.
The butler greeted them and asked, "How was the investigation young masters?"
"We're done on our part, all we need is Rico's report." Kio said.
"How's Hio?" asked Leo.
"His progress is stable my prince. Getting better and better by the minute. It's possible that he can cover all his area by noon tomorrow." Butler Elie answered.
"His condition?"
"No injuries at the moment. I think he found a way to easily consume the information from the essences."
The three continued their conversation near Hio while hiding their presence so that the young man's cultivation won't be disrupted.
--
Morning came and before the sun rose from the horizon, Rico appeared in front of them, revealing himself from his poltergeist mode.
"My Princes, Rico is here to deliver his report." The servant said kneeling halfway and breathing a little heavy.
"What's the result of your investigation?" One of the princes asked.
"Eleven people are walking mindlessly inside the forest near the mountain side." The servant began giving his report.
"I almost lost them 'cause I thought they're heading up the mountain so I went there in advance to check the culprit, turns out they walk around the mountain and on its other side is an altar worshipped by some indigenous looking people. I can't go any closer for there are santelmos roaming around the area with eye of detection stone so I just observed from the top of the mountain.
There are 3 statues in form of a demon, a vampire, and a human. There's still some life essence pulsing from the statues and the eleven people are the proof that they are aiming to return back to their physical form. I may need prince Kio's Help to identify the true form of the statues. There is also a witch that stands as a priest controlling the people's mind. In my perception, she's in mid-intermediate stage if not top intermediate stage but her practice is flawed, but still powerful enough." Rico gave his complete report.
"Any additional information?" Asked Kio.
"The ritual ended at exactly 4am. The santelmo sentries went back beside the statues and gathered in an unlit big torch stand. There are approximately 20-30 santelmos that turned back into coals. I followed the men who's under the trance and they went back to their respective houses before 5 in the morning. I was about to return to my observation spot but the witch priest is already there. I didn't pursue further and avoided confrontation as you instructed me to be inconspicuous. I waited but seems like the witch noticed my presence and is waiting for me so I just returned here." Rico added.
"Did she follow you on your way back here?" Butler Elie asked.
"No sir, I'm in complete poltergeist mode since I trailed the men in trance until I returned here." Rico answered.
"It must be a huge toll to you continuously using poltergeist. Thank you, Rico. Please take your rest." Kio thanked the servant.
The servant bowed and left the three men with the guy silently cultivating at the corner.
"Now that we know the cause, may I ask for the next plan princes?" Butler Elie asked letting the siblings decide.
"I think for now we prepare breakfast before we proceed with the battle!" Leo enthusiastically said.
"Of course, my prince. I'll ask Faye and Renzo to help me with the preparation." Butler Elie responded and proceed to the other two servants.
"I'll go help you guys! Hehehe…." Leo volunteered to accompany Butler Elie and the other two with the task.
"I wonder what will Hio say when he sees Kuya Lance as a majin." Kio said massaging the temple of his head then looked at his younger brother.
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Santelmo/s - are sentient entities that can be summoned willingly. They are said have appeared as bouncing balls of fire in the past that usually plays around the graves of cemeteries in the Philippines. They are known to be feisty creatures that plays with kids at night and chase humans that accidentally lost its way to the santelmos' teritory