Spellcaster Ray is comparable to urban legend among magus. No one knows his origin nor the extent of his abilities, but everyone has heard of his incredible feats.
Some speculate that his crest allows him to manipulate space or shadows, others that he specializes in artifact creation, mainly firearms, and his field performance is the result of his training, or he is a skilled assassin supplied by unknown weapon dealer. One group believes that all those stories are a fraud, the other that he belongs to a secret force recently allied with Clock Tower, the third one argues that he must be put down as there is no concrete information on him and they can't be sure of his motives, so he is a potential danger worthy of Sealing Designation.
Among limited verified information available to general magus, it is known that Ray first appeared in the public's eye in 1993. Some rumors about a mysterious figure were already sirculating, but the majority didn't pay them any attention.
Things changed when, on one september day, Clock Tower received an emergency backup request from one of the Enforcer teams in Norway. This particular group was working directly under Barthomeloi Lorelei and was on a mission to scout recent Dead Apostle activities in the area. As it turned out, it was a trap. By leaving several clues and stationing groups of minions, Enforcers were led into anbush. The moment they realized it, it was too late. The only thing left for them to do was to request help and fight their way out of the encirclement.
Back then, the Barthomeloi was at a predicament. On one hand, she she had necessary personnel for such occasions, but most likely, they wouldn't arrive on time, on the other hand, she could call for Ray, but that was equivalent to giving him access to Tomb of Albion. In the end, after wheighting all the pros and cons, she decided that losing a team of direct subordinates would be too big of a hit on her near perfect reputation, while having a powerful helper would boost it instead. With his preference on sicrecy and his abilities to match, she didn't doubt that no one would ever notice him there.
Picking a phone given by him for such occasions, she selected the only saved number. It took a couple of minutes for the call to connect: "Sir Ray, we have an emergency. Come to my office for more details."
After a moment of silence, she heard a reply from the other side: "Haaa... Miss Lorelei, it must be something really serious for you to call me in the dead of night. I will be at your place in three minutes."
'Dead of night... It is only 7:30 pm here in London. Where does he live? He doesn't look that eastern to me, so is he american? But he doesn't have any accent, nor does he use any characteristic slang. One more loose end.'
Three minutes later, he appeared before her in his usual dark gray suit and almost black cloak.
"Please take a seat, sir Ray. These 10 files contain all necessary information about the targets. You need to ensure their retreat. The enemy this time is several Nightkins and a dozen or so Undead with the rest of cannon fodder. It will be good if they are exterminated, but the priority is the Enforcers' survival. The last file contains the location."
While listening to Barthomeloi request that sounded more like an order, young man quickly scanned through all the files.
"Basically escort mission. My price is full access to the Tomb of Albion. Every entrance, every level, everything must be available. I will be exposing myself acting on your request, and you know how much trouble that will bring. I love my peace but am willing to compromise on these terms. Are we good, Miss Barthomeloi?"
There was no hesitation in her reply: "Yes, sir Ray. I will definitely compensate you for all the troubles. I swear on the Barthomeloi family name."
"Good." With this last word of acceptance, he disappeared from the office.
'Even the new wards are useless. How does he do it?.. No use thinking about it now. At least that matter is dealt with. Now to the next problem...'
Connor Fraga McRemitz was the leader of the Norway reconnaissance team. Even though he had a little sister to return to, today he was ready to die for his mistake. When he was assigned to this position, he knew that the team performance would reflect his own, so he tried his best on this case. He had found every clue, had exterminated every stay Corpse and Ghoul on his way, and what did he get in return for his struggles? Mission failure and possibly death of his squad.
It had been 20 minutes since he requested backup. They managed to push through out of the encirclement, but he was wounded several times. It was clear to everyone that without immediate medical attention, he is a goner. Alas, they didn't have such luxury as time to recuperate. Their pursuers were relentless and didn't give them any chances, dead set on not leaving any survivors.
Finally feeling that he wouldn't last long enogh Connor gave his last order: "Continue moving to the escape zone. I won't make it, but I have enough left in me to win a couple of minutes. When you return, tell Bazett I love her."
Having said his last to the people he was entrusted with, Connor stopped and turned to face the pursuers.
"She dreames to become the best Enforcer surpassing me... Sad I won't be there to witness her becoming the best of the best." With those words, he launched himself into the battle.
Standing on the rooftop of nearby building, Len Raito traced with his eyes rapidly moving away figures of 9 still retreating magus.
'I cleared the path for them, so they shouldn't face any problems... What should I do with this one? Good people among magus are rare to come by. On the other hand, he has nothing to do with me... Let's teleport him to Lorelei's office. He can be called the only casualty, but she will decide what to do with him.'
Pulling out his break action revolvers, Donner and Schlag from their holders, he jumped down in the midst of ensuing battle.
"Codename: Ray. Connor Fraga McRemitz, by the authority of Lorelei Barthomeloi, you are ordered to retreat. I will take it from here." Saying this mysterious man put his hand onto the back of the said magus and then pushed confused Connor through momentarily opened portal into female Marshall Wizard office.
With the rescue part complete, Raito proceeded to start a clean-up. The sound of gunshots echoed throughout an otherwise silent city for a dozen minutes before everything calmed down. Everything except highly tensed team of 9 magus that returned hearing that backup arrived early and joined the battle with their team leader.
They were on high alert because the young white-haired red-eye man in front of them alone commenced a massacre their whole group was unable to and also because Fraga McRemitz was nowhere in sight. That berserker never backed out of his fights so either the person in front of them was a representative of the backup team that stayed behind to escort them while the others would join in the convoy after they are done with securing the perimetr and applying first-aid to Irish magus, or the one stading before them is an enemy. A terrifying enemy whose presence they can't pick up no matter how much they focus. If not for witnessing his battle, they would consider him an illusion.
"Codename: Ray. I was hired by Lorelei Barthomeloi to ensure your retreat." The sound of his cold voice and glowing red eyes pearcing into their souls in the dark destroyed urban area under a dim moonlight made a shiver run down their spines. They felt as if standing before them was not a person but a monster in human skin, a fantasmal beast on par with a living dragon.
Seeing them frozen in fear, Raito came to a realization, 'I let out a bit of my bloodlust... These sorry excuses of a vampire made me remember Yue... Shit, now I am in a bad mood, but I shouldn't scare them too much.
After reigning in his bloodlust, he added: "Connor Fraga McRemitz was already transported to the Clock Tower. Norway reconnaissance team, your mission is over, and you are ordered to retreat. Move out."
Breaking out of the trance upon losing the feeling of standing before a predator and hearing his last command, magus silently scolded themselves for the embarrassing display and started wondering where Barthomeloi found such a monster.
When this little episode was over, Ray was seemingly gone, but they were sure he was watching over them, even if there was no way to confirm it. The way back to the Clock Tower went without anything noteworthy happening.
• • •
After this incident, many tried to find more information about this mysterious Ray or make contact with him, but all methods failed. The only result they got was finally having a full picture of many previously solved cases in a similar manner.
The only reliable source was Lorelei Barthomeloi herself, so the majority backed away from prying any closer into this matter. The rest were mercilessly shut down by the assistant director using her authority as the head of Aristocratic faction.
The last time Ray has been noticed was in the company of the female Marshall Wizard during their hunt on the Dead Apostle, which almost made Barthomeloi lose her subordinates. It became a record holder for the shortest casualty free complete extermination of a Dead Apostle and their forces.
With this achievement, even the other faction leaders didn't dare to question her anymore. Neither on the subject of Ray nor on why she started to collect different relics, even if some had their assumptions.