**A few hours later**
The W.M.A. and a few of the Crimson Dragon Knights, along with Ryo, occupied the courts of the Wolves Den. A crew of them was apprehending the Nightbanes, who had come here just a few hours ago. Drakthor, who was still unconscious, was so large that they had to apprehend him in a Nullifying magic beast cage.
The others were sent away in cuffs or stretchers, depending on their condition. Because of their offense, they would only be sent to the nearest prison for a certain length of time. However, due to the vast number of them, questions began to arise about their arrival.
As Ryo and I talked in our wide-open entrance hall, a cleanup crew was sweeping away the debris and getting the place, at least, presentably clean. He stood in the middle of it, looking up at our gothic chandelier—or rather, what was left of it… He clicked his tongue, "Tsk… It really is such a shame…"
"The mess? I know. Who can we get to rebuild everything here? Sirus doesn't have his magic anymore…" I asked as I sat at the bottom step of our sweeping staircase. My right elbow was sitting on my right leg, propping my head up lazily.
"No, not that…" Ryo said, trailing off. "The chandelier! It's completely destroyed! Do you know how rare this piece is? And now it's utterly obliterated!?" he sighed in so much disappointment. I even felt like he forgot I was there and was just talking to himself, "Who knows if a piece like this even exists anymore! It really is such a shame…"
"Ryo, are you for real? I could give two shits about interior design right now. I just need my wall fixed so that the outside and inside aren't indistinguishable."
"I know, I know… I heard you the first time," he responded, which I thought was doubtful… "Believe it or not, the Arcane King can fix this."
I raised an eyebrow at him. I had forgotten what kind of magic the Arcane King had—given the Arc Slayer and its capabilities, it was obviously Nullifying magic—however, I knew for a fact that Sirus was the top Restructuring type magic user in all the Kingdom. So, saying that the Arcane King could fix this sounded like an underhanded statement.
"So, when can I expect the Arcane King to help us out here?" I asked impatiently.
Ryo finally paid attention to me fully and said, "Well, to be frank, it might not be for a while. He has other matters he needs to address first, and then perhaps he could set some time aside to fix your wall."
"Perhaps?" I said, almost pissed off, "Are we not a ranked Guild in the Kingdom? You'd expect the Arcane King to cater to our requests, especially when one of his own was attacked by outsiders. This wasn't a normal attack, mind you… hundreds… and Ryo, I mean hundreds of intruders made it past the Kingdom's surveillance systems and attacked a Valley Guild. Shouldn't that shoot up to one of his top priorities here?"
"I understand, my friend. But I'm only relaying back to you what I know… Arcane King Daz is already coming back regarding the Blue Phoenix Knights incident and other matters…" he trailed off.
And that's when I added in something I'd soon regret, "What if these intruders were following that incident? Did the Black Wolves not save the Valley?"
Ryo raised a brow and turned his whole head to face me so that I saw his incredulous look before he countered oh so effortlessly, "Well, no one knows of such actions, now do they? I thought you didn't want to take the credit?"
I suppose it didn't take a genius to counter that careless comment… I still hated that Ryo had one-upped me like he always did. "Alright, alright… You got me there." I shrugged, rolling my eyes away in the process. "So how long's the wait? Should I just tell the crew we're gonna be camping for a while?"
He faced away from me and looked out into the distance of our wide-open entrance, past the clearing where the W.M.A. and his crew were cleaning, and toward the tall walls of the Valley Kingdom that could be faintly seen over the head of trees beyond. He said, "Destruction across the Kingdom is still being managed as we speak. There are others who are still recovering from the damage done by the Blue Phoenix Knights."
When he said this, I remembered. Remembered that that "damage" had not just been done by them, but mostly by Syemore and me during our fight. I remembered the flying corpses and the cleaved body parts, the blood that rained in the air as we mercilessly ravaged the place in our chaotic frenzy.
Things I would have never remembered had I not been slashed by that unknown blade Syemore had summoned—his awakening. And the one who saved me… well, let's just say a different turn of events would have occurred had he not come.
We had gotten lucky—I had gotten lucky.
I was humbled then, knowing others had already been waiting for their homes to be fixed since that day. Others who, unbeknownst to me, had lost someone they cared about during that fight; part of the bloodbath that Syemore and I had caused… I remained quiet and propped my elbows on the tread of stairs behind me, stretching out my legs and oriented my head upward as if deep in thought.
Ryo sighed and then said at last, "I'll see what I can do to expedite the process." A pleasant half-smile shot my way. A smile only he could get away with and make you not hate him anymore.
Right then, a third voice arrived. A voice like asmr in my ears, and one I wouldn't mind listening to on repeat every day. "Why don't you ask him as a request from me?" Belle's gentle voice announced from the landing of the sweeping staircase above where I sat.
"Hey there, princess," I said with a flirtatious look on my face as I tilted my head upside down to see her. It was a better view anyway…
"My Greed… are you staring at my feet again? Or perhaps staring up my cloths?"
"What cloths, princess, you're not wearing anything," I teased.
"Picturing me naked again, I see…"
"You're literally half naked all the t—"
Ryo cleared his throat in a loud and obvious way, indicating to us that he was still there.
"So, Ryo, will you tell Daz that it's a request from the Valley's 'savior', please?" Belle asked, bringing us back on topic.
"I might be able to work that out." He put a hand to his chin, thinking to himself. "But in the case where he asks why this should be a 'priority', what should I say?"
Belle walked down the stairs, meeting me at the bottom where I sat. Her perfect bare feet were now a mere reach to my face, and the scent of flower petals entered my nostrils upon her arrival.
"Tell him the Black Wolves Acting Captain and I are dating then."
I blinked. Tell him what exactly?
"Tell him what exactly?" Ryo said, echoing my thoughts.
"Tell him I want to fix my boyfriend's place? I don't know, Ryo. Come up with something. You're usually good at the 'on-the-fly' sort of stuff, right?" She had put him on the spot. And he snorted out a nervous laugh.
He then looked over to me with nudging eyes. Eyes that seemed to say, Fine catch. I couldn't have agreed more. She had a way about her that always got her what she wanted.
"Your wish is my command, Princess of the Valley." He said to her.
"Oh, spare me." She retorted, knowing Ryo's genuine politeness wasn't meant to imply or tease.
Changing the topic now, Ryo spoke to us both, "Is Code and Havoc still around?"
As he asked, Code appeared into the entrance hall from the open dining area holding a plate of well-prepared beef wellington that had potato puree, glazed baby root vegetables, red wine demi-glace, and was served medium rare, just for Ryo. His eyes sparkled, and he eagerly grabbed it, thanking him for the food and eating it heartily without a moment's notice.
"I know what you're gonna ask me. 'Why wasn't I able to sense them when they came?'" He popped out a cigarette and lit it. "Something along those lines, right?"
Ryo stopped eating and frantically gestured to him that he shouldn't be doing that inside, completely forgetting that we technically were as he choked on his food all the while. Code merely raised a brow to that as he let him realize on his own. "Oh, right…" Ryo said, catching Belle's sly smirk from his peripheral.
Code went on as Ryo unashamedly continued to scarf down his food, "I wondered that myself. Before we go on a jog every morning, I cast my pentagrams wide across and past our Den. We jog about sixteen kilometers around the perimeter—just a few yards outside of my magic's range. Because of this, I leave one long blade behind and take the other with me. The blade left behind holds and stores my own mana into it and leaves a mana field behind in my place. In the event that we do get a guest—or in this case, an intruder, my blade should have let me know… theoretically. I could have linked another pentagram adjacent to the one already in place around the Den and teleport back." He took a hit of smoke and blew it out so slowly before going on, "for some reason, there was no such alert and we didn't know any of that was going on until Greed entered the field and must have cancelled out whatever was blocking my mana field. That was the only reason we knew to go back."
"So, you're saying something, or someone was blocking your mana field sensors?" Ryo asked with food in his mouth and a food particle decorated on his cheek.
Code nodded, "Yes. Magic powerful enough to even block out Havoc's heightened senses, so even he was unaware." He remained silent after, and so did we, which caused a brainstorm among us, "Whoever hid the Nightbanes' presence either used a highly powerful magic item, or if they were able to hide that many of their presence with their own power, their Sensory magic would have reached a god state…"
At this time, a side door flung open, and the one who came through it was Havoc. Hands in his pants pockets and walking in a squatted position, he was in his usual Black Wolves gilet, a long, droopy white tank, black fitted baggyish pants, and black boots—having come fresh out of the lavatory.
When he met the four of us there, he leaned on the bottom newel post on Belle's left, took his hands out of his pockets, and began picking on his nails, "The only one I sensed was a guy on a hill about five kilometers away…" he looked at me for a second and went on picking his nails as he said, "I thought it was the Cap at first, but when Code and I warped back to the Den, Cap was already inside defending the little squirt."
"Why'd you think it was me?" I asked curiously.
Havoc paused a bit before answering. It was an awkward silence… and then he said, "'Cause he had no mana, Cap."
When he said this, my heart dropped to my stomach. I liked to think I had a great poker face, but Belle sensed the change in my attitude immediately and didn't say a word. She merely gave me a concerned look and let me bring it up myself. Thing was… I couldn't… and I had no idea why…
"Something up, Cap? You seem tense now…" Havoc said. I had forgotten for a second that aside from Belle, Havoc could effortlessly sense the change in my presence and what I was feeling even without mana. And he probably sensed it before even Belle.
"Did you see who it was?" I asked him, trying to hide the shaking feeling I had just developed.
"No. I just knew he was there. I knew instantly it wasn't you once I saw you in the Den 'cause his presence was still atop that hill."
I said nothing. My mind had concluded who it might have been, but there was something that was holding me back from bringing it up, even if I so desperately wanted to in this moment.
Havoc watched me from his peripheral and didn't pry any further. He could tell that the thought was eating at me. I knew who it was… or at least… I think I knew who it was, but why could I not talk about it?
"To any case," Code interjected. It was at this time that he had sensed something was off about me, too, "Because we deduced that it wasn't Greed, it had to be someone similar. Thing is, if it really was this person who used this godlike Sensory magic, then why didn't he have mana?"
"Not sure. But it seems we have our culprit. Not only that, but the wide range of Dragonscale magic cast on those Nightbanes was Drakthor's, but his ability doesn't allow him to share it with others. Was there another mage with wide range Copy magic? Or do we suspect that…" Ryo asked. Then trailed off, lowering his empty plate to his waist, to which Code snapped his fingers, and a small bowl of warm, sticky date pudding with mascarpone ice cream and toffee sauce was placed into his hands. Ryo's eyes sparkled, and he took one bite, forgetting to finish his sentence.
"That it was the same guy?" Havoc finished his sentence for him, "Yeah, that's highly likely."
"He wasn't among the apprehended?" I asked.
"No." Havoc answered quickly, "He wasn't even on the battlefield at all. After you smashed Drakthor's face in four times, he disappeared.
I kept to myself. And the topic ended abruptly.
"In any case, we're just going to have to note our findings and investigate that part of it later," Belle added. "In the meantime, we should heighten security; if someone like that is within the enemy's ranks, there's no telling when and where they will strike next… Also, they came here for Alice, so it would seem. This is the second time… no… technically the third time that some group has tried to abduct her for her magic ability. The first time she was with Drakthor's crew, she had escaped before they introduced her to their leader. At the time, I thought it was just their obsession with rare abilities, but when the fake Black Wolves—or rather, the Blue Phoenix Knights—abducted her. It seemed like it was just to lure my Greed in, but the fact that it had been Alice again… my suspicions grew. And now that Drakthor had come back for her, and to be bold enough to enter the Valley head on like this just to get to her…" she lowered her head to think as she put her index and thumb on her chin, "they must be desperate to do something… I just don't know what that something is, and why they need her ability to accomplish it."
When Belle had finished, I began thinking of what Drakthor had said briefly to me during our fight, Greed, huh? My leader also has a sin's name. Are you his brother? These thoughts flooded my mind. The one who helped Drakthor and the Nightbanes, and the one who led them… were they the same person? Or were they two separate entities? No mana. Same abilities. It had to be—
My thought couldn't complete. And the faces I thought of were blurred…
I had to figure out why I couldn't yet bring it up. Silent attention focused on me at this time from the three of them as I now sat with both my elbows propped on my knees, my hands and fingers crossed, hovering by my mouth, and with a solemn expression about me.
Ryo then broke the silence with a huge bite from what was left of his dessert. He gulped it down then said, "I hear JoAnne has come back from her prolonged mission, right?"
Code closed his eyes, snapping his fingers to free Ryo from his empty dessert bowl, replacing it with a glass of water and a napkin, to which Ryo continued his motions as if he knew that would happen. He took a sip from his glass and wiped his mouth. Code nodded to his question.
"Where is she now?"
Havoc gave him another silent reply as he pointed with his thumb backward toward the dining area, where there was also a loft with couches curved in, facing an unlit fireplace with a furry rug in front of it. There on the rug, Jo was curled with her thick green tail wrapped around her, sleeping peacefully. Alice was also there, sleeping on the couch near her.
"I see. Well, we won't disturb her after her long trip back. You probably already know, but she was investigating and following a group of bandits we believed to be the same group that attacked today. Riot Gang, was it? To any case, I'm sure Daz will call her into the office tomorrow. He comes back then." Ryo concluded. "By the way…" he added, "how did you two get here so fast? Last I heard, you were both at the Desert Kingdom?"
I looked at Belle, implying that she should explain that to him.
She cleared her throat and said, "Well, you can thank Alice for that."
Ryo and Code blinked in surprise. From what they knew, she couldn't use her ability to travel distances that exceeded twenty kilometers. And the Desert Kingdom was twice as far from here.
"We were definitely still in the Desert a few hours ago, but a door slammed open in my room, and on the other side was Alice's Pink Room. We waited for a bit, but no one walked through, so we let ourselves in. Once we did, we noticed a single door open that led directly back here at some random part of the Den." Belle went on, "Greed ran off to save Alice, and I stayed in his quarters, waiting at the balcony in case they needed my assistance. It was nothing he and the other Black Wolves couldn't handle, though."
"It was her awakening," I said finally, my face expressionless.
Ryo looked over to where Alice and Jo were sleeping in the other room, then he said, "If she had an awakening, all the more reason for bandits like the Nightbane to come back for her. That's the farthest distance I've ever heard for any Alternate Space Creation or Domain type magic to go. Don't let anyone else besides us know about this. For now, we're going to need to protect her until we know more about this Riot Gang."
We all nodded in agreement and adjourned our small meeting. Before Ryo left, Belle said to him, "Ryo, please remember to send in my request to Daz to fix the Black Wolves' home. Thank you in advance," she said cutely with a peace sign before he left.
He smiled with his eyes closed and said, "Of course, Captain Belle!"
And just like that, he, his crew, and the W.M.A. were off. They were outside waiting for him as he waved back to us through the open front entrance of our steampunk castle.
***
The members of the Black Wolves were as stands:
Captain: Asura – (not present)
Acting Captain: Greed – (present)
Vice Captain: Code – (present)
1st Executive: ??? – (not present)
2nd Executive: Raeyn – (present with Ophelia)
Member: Ophelia – (present with Raeyn)
Ace Member 1: JoAnne – (present)
Ace Member 2: Nash – (present)
Member: Havoc – (present)
Member: Brand – (present)
Member: Star – (present)
Newest Member: Alice – (present)
Wolfdog: Yuna – (present)
Living with us was Arabella Housekeeping:
Maid 1: Kiki – (present, out of commission)
Maid 2: Milo – (present, out of commission)
Butler 1: Ulrich – (present, out of commission)
The time now was almost 1200. For the rest of the day, those of us who could finished up the chores and cleaned up the Den. With the Arabella maids temporarily out of commission after their battle earlier, we picked up where they left off. All the Black Wolves who were present stayed home today.
With Alice's awakening, we now had a total of four awakened members. The others were Code, Star, and myself. Code, who had awakened during his fight with Syemore, and Star during her fight with Henza, but hadn't realized it until afterward, when she broke the lever of the Den and filled that room with bones, and mine during the fight with Syemore—if one would even consider it an 'awakening' due to its magicless properties…
On that note, Syemore also had an awakening of his own during that battle—summoning that mysterious blade. Not even Asura had awakened magic.
The only other one I knew who had an awakening outside of our Guild and Syemore was, ironically, Rex. That's how his pupils became star-shaped… I was surprised Ryo, Snow, or Zeno didn't have one.
In any case, I wasn't sure who else among the Valley Knights was also awakened. For all I knew, Tubolt was as well—considering how he was able to wield the Arc Slayer as long as he had… but I supposed I would just pocket these thoughts for the time being.
I was only worried about the attention that would come with it… so we kept it all a secret for now, lest we want more of where the Nightbanes came from to come knocking back on our door.
***
As the day drew to a close. A male in the distance was found as the sky turned orange and the clouds became a vibrant purple and pink. He was wearing a tattered black cloak and black stirrup tights, barefoot on the grass atop a hill overlooking the Valley Kingdom.
"Little brother has grown quite strong… Thanks to Sloth's intel and the sacrifice of the Nightbanes… I've been able to gather some useful combat data… And big brother's forces were quite useful… I know, I know… You said not to interfere until he is tested again, but I just had to see him for myself… Yes, I understand, I'll be back to—" Before he finished speaking, he sensed a man in a gray cloak standing a few feet behind him. When he turned to see him, he revealed his long gray hair and maroon eyes to the man who suddenly appeared.
The man had medium-length brunette hair, and his eyes glowed a hazy gray against the shadows of his hood and the evening light that cast them. He spoke to the male with long gray hair, "You won't be coming back here if you know what's good for you… Envy."
Envy closed his eyes and shrugged. "Apologies, my Lord… I'm afraid I have company…" he said to no one in particular; seeming as if he had been talking to himself all the while. He then replied to the brunette male, "Well, if it isn't the Arcane King of the Valley Kingdom—Daz… I see you had your hands full with Wrath?"
Daz simply closed his eyes and lowered his head. The shadows over them were haunting, and his body remained facing Envy; the breeze blew from the West, completely calm as he responded, "I have my hands full with all you Sins, so quite frankly, I'm not in the best of moods…" lifting his head for Envy to see, Daz held a serene smile on his face that struck fear in even his eyes for a mere moment, "So how about a trade? You leave the Valley peacefully, and I won't have to obliterate you to near death… Or would you rather I take you to see your sibling in Tartarus with only your head and nothing else?"
Envy laughed hysterically and just as quickly shut his mouth to glower at Daz, "You're a frightening man, even for a Sin like myself. Fine… I'll leave…" he began walking away, even daring to walk past Daz only a few feet away.
When he got far enough behind him, Daz said, "Before you go"—Envy stopped in place; their backs were facing each other now—"there's one last thing…"