Seven hours had passed, and Ember was the first to wake up. He checked the watch which was hanging on the door, it is almost time for the meeting. He got up and unpacked some clothes, grabbed his bathroom towel, and went in the direction of the bathroom.

Due to the sound of some running water, Val woke up next. He turned around with his back facing the wall and noticed that the bathroom light was on. He got up, yawned, and jumped down silently. He squinted his eyes, still adjusting to the surroundings, then slowly looked around for the light switch in the room. When he found it, he switched it on, with Bo and Riggs groaning as the light shone on their faces, with some words 'Ghh. My eyes' and 'So bright'.

Val snorted when he heard the complaints, just walked towards their bunk, and said, "Rise and shine sleepy heads.", then turned to Exeo's bed waking him up too. He was given a groan as well but just brushed it aside. These were their usual routine when they were at the cabin on the island.

Val pulled their blankets from all three of them, which forced them to get up, a mutter from Bo 'Ugh, my eyes' when the bathroom door opened.

Ember walked out with a towel on his head, wearing sweatpants, and said, "Better get up, it's almost time to meet that colonel.", he said to the three who were squinting their eyes off from the bright light.

"There are three cubicle showers inside, so better get there.", Ember added and got some clothes in the wardrobe. The wardrobe had already their military uniforms. However, it is slightly different from the standard military uniforms of Clareo.

Ember noticed it and grabbed it, checking on it, and said to them, "Seems like the General had prepared us a different uniform for our team.", and showed it to them.

The uniform was still black, but this time, with a gold color armband included, and with a ⍉ symbol on it. Also, there is also a gold pin shaped like the one on their armband included which has a thin chain connected to one side of the collar.

Lastly, Ember also noticed the cloak which he pulled out from the wardrobe. He looked down and picked it up, he said, "So, we are supposed to wear them on top of these uniforms.", the cloak has been modified instead of exposing the head, it became a full-bodied hooded black cloak, and a mask can just be pulled up, covering half of the face.

Val looked back shortly and replied, "Seems like it." then back in front pushing Bo and Riggs toward the bathroom. The three went inside and Ember started to wear the new uniform. As soon as he was done wearing it, he said to Exeo, "Want some coffee while waiting for those three to be done?", Exeo nodded while sitting on his bed.

When the three were done, Exeo was the last to shower. After a few minutes, everyone was done and was about to go out when the communicator in the room rang. Exeo looked at them and walked towards the communicator to answer.

On the screen, it shows Col. Pertul's name and his photo, he pressed the answer button, "Yes sir?", the voice from the communicator replied, "Can all of you go to the General's office? There seem to be more trainees right now, and I thought I'd be finished but I miscalculated. So, the General will meet you instead. I apologize.".

"There's nothing to apologize for, colonel, we understand. We'll meet with the General instead. Good luck."

"Appreciate it.", then the call ended. So, all five of them went into the General's office, wearing their new uniforms. When they got there, all were standing in attention in front of him.

The General's office is quite big, it had two big monitors, at least 50 inches each. When he heard the door open and them standing in front of him, he nodded in satisfaction, and asked them, "How were the uniforms?" All of them glanced sideways at each other then all eyes went to Exeo. He sighed and said, "We thank you for your consideration in making us our own uniforms, they are comfortable to wear."

The General nodded and said, "Good, good. Also, there are also other sets of uniforms I've also decided for you to wear when you are on missions. The ones you're all currently wearing, that is only when you are not on missions."

Then, he turned his chair, and grabbed a laser pointer on top of his table, showing them their first mission.

"This is your first mission, a rural area in Uryo country. We had some reports received that human trafficking is getting rampant here.", then a drone shot video of some trucks, with some men armed with weapons.

Two to three men were pointing their guns at the people inside the trucks, forcing them to get out of the truck. When these people got out of the truck, some of them were men, and women, of all ages, which means that includes children.

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All five of the team are focused on the monitor, revealing only cold expressions on their faces.

The shadow inside of him said, "Huh. Didn't know that they still existed until this day.", Val asked in disbelief, "What do you mean? Was there an organization that existed like this before?!"

"Yes, and this is definitely the same cult I knew before."

"You mean to say that they have since existed before?", Val said in disbelief.

"Yep, they would do this to immigrants, and they would do this publicly. What's worse is that they will sell them publicly as slaves."

"You mean to say, these people are being sold as slaves, but secretly?"

"Yep. You see that armband on one of the armed men, they seem to be a part of the cult that existed 100 years ago. It seems someone is trying to revive the cult."

As soon as the shadow mentioned it, Val squinted his eyes to see the armband on one of the armed men in the video the shadow mentioned. He was so focused that he didn't notice the General had already turned around and noticed his focus on the video.

Gen. Luis coughed and said, "Ahem. Valens, what is in the video that made you so focused?"

Val was interrupted and panicked a bit, and thought of an excuse fast how to explain what the shadow had just said to him. He said nervously, "I might or might not recognize the logo on the armband of one of those armed men."

Everyone beside him looked at Val's way of saying it, but they all were slightly shocked that Val knows something.

This time, Gen. Luis raised his brows, elbows resting on top of the table, clasping his hands saying, "Explain."

Val coughed and then said, "I might or might not have encountered them before during my childhood days. And, they may or may not be a part of the cult that offers people as slaves, or...sacrifices."

When Val said the last part, he lowered his gaze a bit and frowned, which made all of the people in the room also frown when they heard the last part of Val's statement. Everyone was silent, but, this time, a clicking sound came from the General's telephone, which interrupted everyone.

"Call Col. Hento immediately." is what Gen. Luis had said, and looked back at Val, "I hope this information is true."

After a few minutes, a knock on the door was heard, with Gen. Luis replied 'Come in'. The person walked in, Col. Hento said, "General, you've called?"

Gen. Luis just nodded and turned around, the video was paused and zoomed in on the part of the armband, which is still clear. He focused on the logo of a circle, inside of the circle was a star and snake coiling around it. He turned around facing the colonel and asked, "What information do you have about this?"

Col. Hento looked at the zoomed-in logo, and frowned, he said, "What I have gathered about this logo is that a so-called cult had existed hundred years ago. However, we can't find facts on this cult that it actually existed as there were no records found. Thus, I have not included it in the report."

When Val heard it, the shadow inside him said, "No surprise there. The way they operate is very secretive. Even if their actions were publicly done, you can't really find a connection to this group as they hide their traces very well. But, I think there was once a temple, which they used before they go into hiding. It started when the soldiers invaded this temple because of heresy. The empire had scattered the logo of this group as a warning that if they see this symbol and were members of this cult, they would report it to kill them and thus, it became known at that time."

"Empire? Do you know where that empire is?"

"I need a map, I don't know if that Empire's name has changed though. Hmm. As far as I can remember, the group was found out first at the Blovik Empire."

Val was in the middle of having a conversation with the shadow. He was surprised to hear that the Blovik Empire was an empire before.

When Val heard that, he was about to say something when the shadow inside him said, "Don't say anything. Just keep quiet. You don't want the others to know right? It's like you're having a mental conversation with yourself right now. You look weird when doing it, so just stop."

"Fine."

"When I say it's fine, it's fine, not your thing, not my thing, okay?"

"Okay."

The shadow sighed and said to Val, "Anyway, after that incident, there was an uproar over the existence of this cult. So, it's safe to assume that this group is from the Blovik Empire. If they had somehow started again, then it is obvious that they had been doing this since then."

Although the shadow inside Val told him not to say anything, he couldn't help but mutter the Blovik Empire. This time, it caught the attention of Gen. Luis.

"What did you just say?"

Val gulped and said, "Uhh...I didn't say anything."

"I thought I heard you say the Blovik Empire. Are you familiar with it?"

"Uh...uhh...ummm..."

The shadow inside Val was loudly yelling at him, "Idiot!! I just told you not to say anything!"

Val was thinking, 'What should I say? Should I lie?' but he couldn't think of anything fast so he asked the shadow inside of him. The shadow sighed and said, "The General asked you a question, you can't just stay silent."

"Yeah I know, but how will I explain this? What do you say?"

"You just answered him directly, but in a different way."

"What do you mean?"

"You can just answer him directly. If he asks if you have knowledge about this place, then say yes. It is better to be honest than to lie."

"I'm still afraid that he will get suspicious though. What do I say?"

"Just say that you heard it from somewhere in the past or something." This got Val's attention. 'Past?'

Val tried to remember and indeed there was one time he saw the cult's symbol before. He remembered when he was still a kid when he saw it for the first time. He was walking back to the orphanage after running an errand when a group of black men with armbands showing off the cult's symbol being shown were talking about something.

Val widened his eyes in surprise when he remembered that part of his memory.

"What are you remembering now?", Gen Luis asked.

Val was snapped out of his thoughts and said, "I-I am just remembering something."

"So you remember something?", Gen. Luis asked again.

"Yes."

"What is it?", Gen. Luis was waiting for Val to continue.

This time, everyone in the room was completely stunned at Val's recollection of his memories. Even Exeo and Ember didn't expect it, nor did the general. The target for their first assassination mission would be something that had existed long before.