A few days ago, there was the raid on the Hage Village. Arbiters and Guild members managed to defeat the members of Anti-Libra. Everyone enjoyed this short victory but Anti-Libra was not defeated completely. They might be plotting for the fall of Libra. I already did solved some cases in these few days. Chloe is helpful in many ways where she helped me in these recent cases. Reina was not assigned to any city and was assigned temporarily to Rednaught city where Mikazu was assigned but then she was assigned to Vorg city. Curie might not know about Anti-Libra's real goal so It will not benefit if I try to force her to say something instead I was waiting for opportunity to use her well in future.
It seems like the available Arbiters were called for a meeting. It seemed like Reina was not here so that means she might be busy in solving cases.
"I have called you all here to give you the...bad news..." said Jystice.
"...?"
Everyone looked confused at his words.
"What is it?" asked one of the Arbiter.
"Apparently it seems like one of the Arbiter named Zack has been executed last night in Velvet City."
"What!?"
"What are you saying how could it happen?"
"Silence everyone, Lord Jystice is here to explain it. I understand your feelings but don't interrupt him!" said one of the paladin from Libra.
Everyone in the hall went silent.
"I know this is disturbing but let me explain what happened. It was reported that one person with a mask stabbed the Arbiter from behind at night....that Arbiter was left behind in pain and he died...."
"No way!" Chloe said while looking upset.
"We are investigating this unknown person who did this and it seems like he is from Anti-Libra.."
"Those bastards will pay for this!" said one of the Arbiters.
"I can understand your anger Raido but please calm down..." said Jystice.
"It seems like investigation will take some time but I advice you Arbiters to be careful!" continued Jystice.
"Can't we investigate ourselves?" asked Raido.
"Yes you can but make sure to be careful while doing this because you Arbiters are the target of Anti-Libra and furthermore don't leave your assigned places for a long time so make sure you don't investigate for too long if you plan to investigate in some other areas or cities because it is nessesary for you to maintain the city that is assigned for you."
"Alright then..." Raido said.
It looked like that Raido was not in a good mood. Everyone looked a little upset or angry but Raido looked like something else was going in his mind...It was no use by assuming anything related to this If I can't get the answers.
"That's all I wanted to say If the Libra find some informations then it will be revealed to you all until then take care of yourselves."
The meeting was over now.
We headed out of the Libra base and Chloe broke the silence between us.
"So Orion what do you think about this incident..." she wanted some opinion on this.
"As Jystice said, this culprit attacked the Arbiter last night. It might be possible that the culprit will try to do the same thing again." I replied.
"I see...I still feel sorry for the Arbiter....How cruel they are...?" She showed her sadness.
"For now let's just try to gather information about the strange incidents that might have happened. We can get information on the culprit." I gave her the advice on what to do now.
"I see, let's do this..."
"Alright let's go to Velvet city for a while and find some useful information."
"Yeah, but don't forget we can't leave Celestial city for too long.." she said.
"Yeah I'm aware of that..."
After that we headed towards Velvet city. After few time we reached the city.
"So this is Velvet city it looks lively here." said Chloe.
"Let's split up and try to search for informations..."
"Alright." replied Chloe.
"We will meet at tavern at the end."
"Yeah!"
We went to different directions and started searching for information. I stopped at many places and asked people around and trying to find some clues. It seemed like no one knew anything about this masked man.
"Hey! You have amazing skills mister! You can control monsters with your rare ability!"
"Well I really don't want you to think that we are greater than tamers because this magic is not only rare but also hard to master.... besides tamers have their own styles so don't underestimate them kids...!" said the man.
"Yeah sure mister!" replied kids.
"That's great now go home you two..your parents must be waiting for your arrivals."
"Yeah! But can you promise to come again!?"
"Yeah sure!" replied the man.
"Yay! Ok see ya later mister!"
He seemed to be had magical abilities to control monsters? Well that sure is rare one. I started walking while ignoring the man.
"This place is near the noble's society...." I muttered.
I went to noble's society and asked for useful informations but I didn't get any. I looked around but at last I went to tavern and Chloe also looked like she came just now.
"So did you find anything Orion?"
"No luck.....what about you?"
"I see, well I also didn't get any information but people seems to be afraid a little because of the news of Arbiter the other day."
No clues at all, huh? This culprit was quite good at hiding his presence. I even went to the murder scene but I didn't get any clue or maybe I got however it was not clear whether I could depend on that clue or not. It was the slight trace that could not be found so easily. There are magic traces everywhere and this slightest trace of magic belongs to the incident that happened with Zack. I didn't got any evidence or clues but for the time being I will report to Jystice about it.
"Actually I do get a clue or rather just a slight magical trace that maybe was not seen by Libra members but I m not sure..."
"It doesn't matter, even small things that could lead to find the culprit is necessary!"
I told her that there was a magic trace I found but it was so faint that it could get difficult to identify what happened or get any clue. With magic traces you can predict what may have happened in past.
"You mean the culprit is good at hiding evidence or clues!"
The Libra may have missed this trace and may have found the wrong traces back then well, of course even expert detectives would find it challenging If culprit is expert too. This showed how expert that culprit is in hiding clues. I don't have time to find the clue using this slight trace because I had to go back to Celestial city to solve other cases too. I will leave this work to Libra by reporting it.
"Yeah he might be...let's report it to Libra."
"Yes!" replied Chloe.
We were just planning to head back but suddenly a figure appeared.
"Hey you two!"
"Uh, Raido? What are you doing here?" asked Chloe.
"Of course I'm searching for the clues." replied Raido.
It was Raido who showed up.
"I heard you guys were talking and you somehow found some traces left behind right?"
"That's right but..."
"The magic trace is too faint, right? Well It doesn't matter it's good you two found something, please report it so that the experts start searching again at the murder site."
"Yes we were just going to do that..."
"I should make sure to capture that bastard..." he muttered but I heard it.
"Raido, why do you look worked up?" I asked.
".... isn't it obvious that bastard just killed one of us! I won't forgive that person."
"I know but somehow it seemed like you know Zack very well like he is your friend..."
"...!"
"Huh? Is that true?" asked Chloe
"How did you figured?" asked Raido.
"I saw you with Zack sometimes and you both seemed to be enjoying your yourselves in drinking and chatting about stupid stuff....and then when you got the report of Zack being killed your reactions were like that you lost someone important to you..."
".....Yeah it's true we were both buddies...This guy was the first one who defeated me in a certain event in hand to hand combat....I got angry but that guy didn't seemed to look down on me rather he wanted to be friends...and without thinking much I accepted him as one of my comrade and a friend."
"I don't know what really happened but it seems you were both friends....I...will help you find the culprit Raido!" said Chloe.
"...Thank you, I appreciate it..." replied Raido.
"It seems like it's almost night, how about we stay at inn because there will be trouble on the way while fighting with monsters on the way...." said Raido.
"Yes, I think we should just do that, what do you think Orion?" asked Chloe.
"Yeah, It will be better if we stay at inn for now." I replied.
I was originally planning to stay at the inn because of this unsettling presence that was watching over us...
"Raido, is there another Arbiter who is in this city?" I asked him.
"Well I think Mikazu was the one I saw here. What about it?"
"Nothing..."
"Ah..ok if you say so, let's go to the inn." he said.
We went to inn and refreshed ourselves. After that we finished the dinner and went to bed.
"I can't sleep.....maybe the reason I'm not sleeping is...." I said to myself.
I stood up and went outside the inn, there I found a guy setting up something near the inn.
"I think you want to explode inn to kill Arbiters along with innocent people, huh?"
"....!?.....tch damn it I thought I made all of them sleep with my magic..."
"Well I simply neglected your magic...."
"As expected from you Arbiters but it's too late now here I go...!"
He tried to activate the spell to blast the inn. It's true it was late to do for.....
".....!? Gah...!" Raido hit him with the halberd.
That's right it's late, but not for me rather him. I already knew about his presence but I deliberately kept hidden and left the note secretly to Raido to what to do. Raido sneaked through just in time. If I can't do anything on my own then I can make someone do for me... besides I didn't knew what might happen. It's now revealed though, this guy wanted to blast us all along...
"I believe you are not doing this alone...Tell me who gave you orders...." I said so knowing that this guy cannot kill so easily because of his lack of ability.
Anti-Libra would not easily hire these trash.... someone else is pulling the strings behind this guy...
"Tell us! Or die!" Raido violently tortured the guy.
"No! Don't do this.....damn it ...guys help me!"
"..." I silently watched him.
"What is happening here!? Where are other assassins!"
"Oh you mean these guys?"
Chloe showed up and there were guys lying down in the net.
"How come!"
"Now tell us or die...." Raido forced him.
"No don't do anything...it's Llyod's orders to kill you all....!"
"Is he from Anti-Libra?" Asked Raido.
"He didn't said anything."
"Hm, seems like you all got some kind of strange job from him,huh? For money?"
"Ye-yes he said he would offer us money for this."
"You will be sent to prison fools but before that tell me what that guy is planning to do now?" asked Raido.
"Please don't threaten me! I really don't know where he is or what he is planning to do...!"
"Raido leave him it seems like he is telling the truth..." said Chloe.
"Fine, let's just tie them and lock them into the room..." replied Raido.
We did what Raido said.
"Now then, how could we know what is he planning to do?" Chloe
"This member knew his name but who knows what's his real name because he would have hide his identity." said Raido.
I was wondering what that guy might be planning to do but then suddenly I got some hints. It was confirmed that Zack was killed by that culprit at murder scene. As far as I know Zack was strong and smart enough to defeat these people that's why the culprit himself showed up to kill Zack...This time he didn't showed up? And he sent some useless people after us....These guys atleast knew that the Culprit was nearby Velvet city or in the city....
"That culprit is targeting Mikazu, he didn't left this city as far as I know." I said.
"!? Don't tell me he is after Mikazu!" Raido said.
"Oh no! We should hurry up!" Chloe was concerned.
"Actually I didn't told you both about this because I didn't wanted them to know that we noticed their movements....." I said.
"What!? Why the hell did you hide that!" asked Raido.
"It's because he could have changed his Target or escaped this city or would have tried to re-approach his plans if they noticed that we knew there plan. That's why I avoided getting contact in with Mikazu so they think they got a target..."
"We don't have time for arguments let's go right now, we must help Mikazu!"
"Yeah...."
I already knew about Mikazu too, he was also strong capable of handling himself. I believe he might atleast survive until we reach the culprit.....
We started looking for culprit and we heard sounds of battles from the forests outside the city. We followed the sound and saw Mikazu fighting with....the culprit...
"Mikazu!" Raido called.
"!?You guys!" reacted Mikazu.
"Oh well, we got some trouble now....." said the culprit.
"So you are the one! How cruel! I won't forgive you for what you did!!" said Chloe angrily.
"Let's beat this brat and take revenge for Zack!" said Raido.
"Don't let your guards down, this guy is strong enough to slaughter hundreds of warriors..." warned Mikazu.
"Heh! You scared? No matter what I will bring him down right here, right now!" said the confident Raido.
"I will help you too!" Chloe backing up.
"Hm.....You guys are trouble ...I thought I would save my precious time by relying on those guys but it seems they can't do a simple task! Fine then, I will take you on...."
Raido dashed towards the masked man to attack him with his halberd and masked man blocked his attacks with his sword while simultaneously trying to attack Raido, but Raido also did the same thing. There was the sparks spread through their weapons crossing each other. Chloe used her skills to enhance speed, attack and defence on Raido. Mikazu joined the battle and both Raido and Mikazu were crossing their weapons with the culprit's sword looking for opportunities to attack.
"Nice, you guys aren't bad..."
Masked man suddenly used his multiple slash technique on Raido but Mikazu with his katana blocked all the attacks by forcefully interrupting between them. Chloe used wind cutter to launch it towards the culprit and culprit horizontaly used the sword cutting beam. Both Raido and Mikazu jumped and made a distance while avoiding the attack. In that time culprit dealt with wind cutter by deflecting them with his sword.
I used a long range skill, sending the Void Spikes towards him. He deflected them all.
"Void magic? This sure is rare element that only few gets but it doesn't matter which element, only the strongest one will survive here today...."
He rushed towards me to attack me, he was attacking with his sword on me. I used my own sword to block all the attacks while trying to attack him when he shows even the slightest gap and he showed...I deflected his hand that was holding sword to avoid getting hit and used my another hand to attack him with my sword but he suddenly tried to launch the kick towards my abdomen. I immediately dropped the weapon and suddenly grabbed his left kick that was about to hit me but he didn't gave up and tried to attack me with sword that was in his right hand. I just simply let his leg go and attacked his face with my left kick before he could even hit me with his sword. He was sent back flying and he was hit by the tree on his back. Then taking the support of the tree he stood up. I kicked him thinking I could knock him out but he was still standing up.
"Heh, what is this.....blood? Interesting maybe I underestimated you after all."
Blood was coming from his mouth and and his forehead was also bleeding a little bit.
"What an attack Orion!" said Raido.
Masked man suddenly used his skill Mind's eyes where glowing balls appeared and tried to hit us all. I deflected all of them by my sword and others also managed to do that. While we did that, He concentrated his mind's eyes in one point and unleashed the laser beam towards Chloe, Chloe unable to set up the magic barrier perfectly and the laser beam broke the barrier and Chloe got hit by it and Chloe's abdomen was pierced by the beam and left the hole.
"Chloe!!" said Raido.
"....ugh....argh.....!!!" Chloe got the critical hit.
"Damn you bastard! Haaah!..."
Raido suddenly attacked masked man in anger but this time his fighting style was not in orthodox style rather it looked simply violent attacks. Culprit made sure to take this advantage and attacked Raido with sword and slashed him and Raido was sent back forcefully because of the attack. Raido also got injured, not too badly but not so good either.
"Chloe, can you heal yourself?....." I asked her.
"Y-yeah, it will take some time." she replied.
The attack was critical or rather that guy was strong enough to unleash powerful attacks and enhancing the attacks too. That's why it pierced through Chloe's abdomen even though her default magic defence was strong and she even enhanced her defence for temporary but the attack was just too great...
"Chloe....."
"? Don't worry I will be fine please defeat him....ugh....." she said while struggling with healing herself.
I sensed another enemy so I need her to deal with them as well, I can't just let her consume her most of the magic on healing. I don't want to show my real abilities right now, it is not necessary because there are many tools and pawns at my disposal.
"Chloe, I will heal you now..."
"...!?"
I made sure that both Raido and Mikazu were busy in fighting with the masked man, I made sure no one would notice me. I even made sure this time that spirit can't detect my presence or trace my magic. I consumed a little bit more magic so no one can notice my presence so easily and only Chloe was able to see me since I will be the one to heal.
"Void Regeneration."
"M-my belly...! All of my wounds are vanished! How did you do that!?"
"We can talk about it later and I found another enemy hiding so be careful."
"I-I see and...."
"?.."
"N-nothing!"
She was somehow blushing for some reason, I didn't know what was the reason. I noticed we were extremely close so I stepped back to make sure we are not too close, so that she can move freely.
"Tch.....how strong...." said Raido.
"Yeah he is tough one....huh? Chloe you are fully healed...!?"
"Huh? She is?....how come?"
"We both combined the healing ability to heal my wounds..."
"That's right." I agreed.
It was not possible though because she was struggling and was not able to endure the pain so it would have been hard to combine skills but still we made it look like we combined our magic together.
"I thought you may not have healing magic Orion but anyway thanks a lot now let's fight again and beat this guy!." said Raido.
"Wind cutter!"
Chloe used Wind cutter and sent towards Masked man.
"It's useless you know...wh-....!"
Raido rushed and tried to interrupt the enemy. He dodged Raido's halberd but was hit by wind cutters, he block most of them but Mikazu used Divine slash. This skill can be deadly depending on the user and is especially effective against the monsters but still it is deadly skill if you use it perfectly and enhance it. The masked man tried to use multiple slash but his skill got overwhelmed by divine slash, this one slash was enough to go through his skills and then slash the opponent... Masked Culprit got injured but was still in the position to fight. When he tried to attack Mikazu then suddenly Chloe sent wind cutter towards the direction of Mikazu and Culprit. The enemy tried to deflect them but realised that the wind cutter was sent to in Mikazu's direction and Mikazu understood that it was to combine the skill together and he made his katana able to use Wind cutter for a while. Enemy fought with Mikazu at close range by crossing their weapons with other one... Mikazu was attacking while also using wind cutter magic through his sword to make his enemy get confused whether Mikazu simply trying slash or attack with Wind cutter by slashing and finally Raido made his way through.
"Well, it's going out of hands!!" said culprit while amused by teamwork
"Hell yeah!" Raido with confidence attacked.
Both Mikazu and Raido were attacking. I must say that the culprits reflexes were good and reaction time too since he was handling the close fight with those two while he was in between them. Finally Raido saw opening and attacked the culprit and culprit got damages by his halberd. Both Mikazu and Raido attacked relentlessly on the unguarded enemy and through the last attack by halberd of Raido, the enemy was forced back in a distance and we saw him injured....
"Well you two are really something especially with the help of that girl...." said masked guy.
"He is still standing up, huh? said Raido.
"He is one of Anti-Libra so we can't underestimate him...."
"That's right....I forgot to tell you something...."
We saw a figure came into light.
"He is..." I muttered.
"No way! You are!....." Raido was the one who was surprised by this appearance the most.
"But we thought he is....." Mikazu who was confused because of this sudden appearance....
"How come!! He is alive!" said Chloe while shocked.
He was none other than Zack himself.
"Thi-this must be joke, no it is not ! Zack you are alive friend!" Raido rushed towards Zack.
"Raido no! There's something wrong with-" before Mikazu completed his sentence.
Raido was slashed by the Two-handed sword. Raido fall back.
"Raido!" Chloe rushed towards Raido, started healing his wounds...
"What's going on here!?" Mikazu asked who was confused.
"Don't you know? He is being controlled not killed...."
"What!?"
"Come on out introduce yourself Zander..."
"Man, these guys are tough but maybe not tough as Zack maybe?" said Zander.
"Who are you!?" asked Raido
Raido was healed and he stood up and asked that question.
Come to think of it....I saw this Zander guy somewhere.....Right he was entertaining some kids back then by controlling some monsters and his face matches the same. So he can also control humans. That ability to control has some limitations. You can control one or two times at maximum and second condition is that the target should be physically and magically be exhausted while also to make sure they are injured badly. This ability is one of the rare ability that few people can have. The masked man explained the same thing just as I said.
I already detected multiple enemies but this was quite the surprise.
"You must be wondering how his body was found? Well I have ability to fake death and of course experts could find it fake after researching for some time but that was enough to made them look in wrong direction." said Masked man
Another rare ability that fooled everyone and what's more Libra's expert didn't said anything about this. That means they are still struggling with research, basically he almost mastered this fake death ability...That strange and faint magic trace I felt was actually this magic ability to fake death. So I was right after all....
"So let's begin the next round!" said Masked man.
To be continued...