When they were almost near the door, suddenly the door opened and Val furrowed his brows at the man who walked out of the room. It was the man with a black fedora.

The two guards turned toward the direction of the door and saw the man.

They bowed and said, "Sir!"

The man just waved them away, telling them to go back to their posts. The two guards nodded and went back to their post, leaving the man with a black fedora all alone.

The man walked towards the nearest building and took out a small box and inserted a key into it. After opening the box, a panel lighted up, showing a naked man who was inside a large human-size glass tank with water in it.

Bo and Val followed the man in a black fedora and were surprised when they saw the large glass tank.

The man inside was in a sleep state but his back is hooked up to several tubes, except for his mouth. It's as if he was in there to prolong or preserve his life. Whichever that is, Bo and Val didn't know. The man in the black fedora raised his arm and gently touched the glass tank.

"I'm glad you're still alive, father." He said in a low voice.

A few minutes later, the man in the glass tank opened his eyes. His eyes were cold and dark, yet full of life.

The man in the glass tank looked around and his gaze fell on the man who was wearing a black fedora.

The man in the glass tank smiled and said, "Hugo, I see you are doing well."

While the man in the glass tank was talking to the man called Hugo, the shadow inside Val said, "He's someone that should have been dead but is revived by that man Hugo."

Val furrowed his brows while peeking at the two. He was about to ask something else when Bo signalled for him to be ready. The man called 'Hugo' seems to be going back leaving the man in the glass tank.

Bo already prepared his icicle spears once the man called Hugo will go out.

Once he was out, both waited first for a few minutes before Bo motioned for his icicle spears to thrust and destroy the glass tank. The glass shattered and the icicle spears pierced at the man's body.

The man fell forward with the two icicle spears on his body. Blood splattered everywhere near the glass tank, and a pool of blood appeared when the man fell to the ground. He groaned and tried to look up. His vision started to go blurry but still saw Bo and Val from afar. They were the culprit.

He frowned but couldn't move nor speak, his mouth was full of blood from the deadly spears pierced into his naked body.

Before his eyes went lifeless, he saw Val with his left eye glowing bright red, who raised his arm, and a black sphere appeared to devour him.

The man thought, 'The Void still exists...'

That was the last thing he thought before his whole being was gone.

Silence fell inside the room.

Suddenly, Ember talked via their earpiece and said, "Where are you!?"

Bo replied looking away from the pool of blood and said, "Was there an intel about a name called Hugo?"

"What? What do you mean" Ember asked.

Bo replied, "There was a man called Hugo, he is wearing a black fedora and black suit."

There was silence for a few seconds before Ember replied, "We'll retreat for now. Let's meet up where we parked our car earlier."

Val looked back at Bo and said, "Well, before we do that, let's rummage something here. Maybe we can find some leads."

Bo nodded and both looked inside the room here and there for anything that might seem important.

After a few minutes, Bo noticed a folder that had been peeking in between the drawers. He pulled it out and opened it. He flipped through some pages and noticed some pages with photos of kids no younger than 8-10 years old. He frowned deeply and called out to Val.

"Hey Val! Look at this?" He shared it with Val and even Val frowned at this.

This time, the shadow spoke again inside Val, "That's the occult you chased from Uryo before."

"What?!"

Val unintentionally spoke it out loud which made Bo surprised and asked in worry, "What? What's wrong?"

"Idiot! I told you not to be obvious when speaking to me!"

Val realized his mistake and calmed his composure, he replied to Bo, "Oh, no nothing. I was just surprised by these documents, yeah."

Bo raised one of his brows, not buying what Val said. However, he let it go and observed Val's expression as he continued to flip the pages.

Val is still in a conversation with the shadow, not realizing Bo was observing him.

Val asked the shadow, "So, you mean to say, that Hugo guy might be the ringleader then."

"I'm not too sure but just the evidence here seems to say otherwise.", the shadow curtly said.

Val closed the folder and handed it to Bo.

"Let's go. We need to inform Ember of this. There's nothing about this in our intel."

Bo and Val blended again into the surroundings and went out of the room.

When they reached back to where they parked their car, Ember and Riggs were already waiting for them.

Ember saw Bo and Val walking towards them and walked towards the two, he said, "What took you both so long?"

Bo and Val glanced at each other when Val nodded at Bo which made Ember furrow his brows.

He impatiently asked the two, looking back and forth between them, "What? What? What's wrong?"

Bo pulled out a folder and gave it to Ember. He said, "We need to report this first to Exeo and Gen. Luis."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Ember eyed Bo and looked down opening the folder. He gasped and flipped the pages faster.

"What in the f*ck is this?" Ember still flipping the pages.

Val said, "After we gathered the intel, there was no trace of this mission being related to our previous mission."

Ember closed the folder and sighed. He turned around and walked towards the car.

"Get in. We will go back to the hotel and yes, this is definitely related to our previous mission. Although we have already killed the target, the group that's behind this is something unexpected."

Everyone got inside the car and they sped away.

The building that was filled with people earlier, was now dead. However, with the exception of the man they only know of, 'Hugo', who was nowhere to be seen.

When they got back to the hotel, Ember called for Gen. Luis immediately. After a few rings, the call got in.

"General Luis's office."

Ember simply said, "ID Badge YIN987. Connect me to Gen. Luis immediately."

"One moment, please. Connecting."

After two rings, the call got in with Gen. Luis who answered.

"Speaking."

"I only have one question, General. Is this mission related to our previous mission?"

"What do you mean?"

Ember ignored his question but said instead, "We will report that the mission is completed. However, there might be complications with our future missions on this. We will be back, hmmm after a month. We need to gather more intel."

After saying this, Ember just hung up on the call, leaving Gen. Luis speechless on the other end of the line.

On the other hand, the general is somewhat enraged by how Ember acted, but soon he furrowed his brows deep at what Ember said.

'But...what does he mean by related to their previous mission?'

He got himself thinking deeply and tapped his finger on his desk for a few seconds. His finger stopped in mid-air and decided to call Col. Hento to report to his office.

When Col. Hento arrived, Gen. Luis stared at him with a serious gaze, he asked, "The occult that the team dealt with, you mentioned before there were no records found that they existed right?"

"Yes sir."

"Look up for more intel about Blovik Empire instead."

Col. Hento was about to ask why but Gen. Luis said, "The team may have or may have not encountered them again."

He stared at the man in front of him looking for a reaction.

Col. Hento was speechless upon hearing this, he pushed his spectacles with his finger in the middle and said, "I'll gather intel on it, sir."

The general just nodded. Col. Hento saluted and turned around, walking towards the door but stopped again. He turned to look at the general and asked, "When will the team be back sir?"

Gen. Luis was silent for a few seconds and said, "It's indefinite. Just gather the intel about the Blovik Empire for me."

Col. Hento nodded and walked out of the room.

The general leaned back further, resting on his back, and sighed. His right hand rested on top of his desk, tapping his finger again. He clicked his tongue and decided to pull out his mobile phone and dialed a certain number.

***

On Ember's side, after the call ended, Bo, Riggs, and Val were looking at him.

Val said, "So? What did he say?"

Ember was quiet for a minute, thinking deeply while holding his phone.

Val frowned and asked his brother again.

"Big brother, what did the general say?"

"Huh? What?"

"What did the gene- are you okay?" Val didn't finish what he was saying when he saw his brother's expression. He walked towards him and touched his shoulder.

Ember was soon distracted and said, "We might have another company."

Everyone got confused and asked in unison, "Huh?"

After their reaction, Ember's phone rang. Ember looked at it, sighed, and answered it with a heavy tone.

"Yeah."

"General Luis told me. Is it true?"

It was Exeo.

They wanted to make it clear before they continue to follow the plan and leave the area. They needed more details to get a clearer understanding of what was going on.

Ember sighed heavily and said, "Maybe."

"And the target?" Exeo asked.

Ember thought about it and replied, "Dead."

"Did you get any information from him?"

"No."

Exeo paused briefly. Then he continued, "What do you want to do next?"

"We need to collect new info before heading back", Ember explained. "Also, you have received your orders, right?"

Exeo responded, "Yes. But, I think that if you were to head out to your last known location, you would most probably encounter the occult again sooner or later. It is best for you all to take a few days' breaks and wait until they come out again."

"You're telling us to rest?"

"What else? That's the same thing we did previously. Maybe if I had let you stay there more, we would be able to find other leads."

"Well, we didn't, and don't blame yourself, brother. Shit happens you know."

Exeo just snorted over the phone.

After some moments of silence, he said, "Fine. I'll be there in a few hours and help you to track down the trail. For now, you all need to rest."

"Thank you, brother," Ember said in a soft voice.

Exeo chuckled and said, "I'll see you soon. Be careful guys."

The call ended. Everyone just remained quiet and sat on their seats while looking down, trying to process everything that happened today.

Riggs broke the silence by sighing and said, "Looks like we're going to spend more time here huh?"

***

A few hours later, Exeo arrived and joined everyone at the hotel.

Exeo sat on one of the sofas and asked, "This Hugo you mentioned, you think this is their ringleader?", looking at Val and Bo who were the ones who saw the guy.

Val answered with his arms crossed, "We are not entirely sure but there is a possibility. We can't rule it out. One, the room he came in when we saw him, was guarded, and two, he went to that laboratory."

Bo chimed in and said, "Another is that the file we gave to Ember, we discovered it at that same laboratory."

Exeo nodded in understanding at their explanation. He read and flipped the pages, reading further on the details.

He looked up at Ember and asked, "Where did you last see this guy?"

"At the mountains called 'The Seven Towers' which is what they call it."

"Okay, go ahead and rest, but, Bo, as much as I'd like for you to rest, I need you to come with me.", Exeo stood up and looked in the direction of Bo who was sitting in one of the couches.

"It's fine sir. If I can be of help to track their trails, I'd be glad to."

Exeo nodded and said, "Alright, let's go. Ember, don't let your guard down here, same with you all."

The others nodded, while Exeo and Bo left the room.

Exeo and Bo drove together to the place where the team had last seen Hugo. The vehicle parked on the road outside the building and both of them went out.

As they approached, they could hear many footsteps coming from inside. There must be many guards and security members inside.

When they heard this, Exeo nodded at Bo and he activated his camouflage ability. Now both can't be seen.

Exeo and Bo started to walk inside and they slowly approached an open space inside the building. A lot of men were standing around in small groups talking among themselves, each wearing a mask to prevent others from recognizing them.

When Bo looked at the people in front of him, he was shocked.

"Seems like earlier there was chaos here but...right now..."

Bo looked around and continued, "Everyone's acting like nothing's happened. Are all of these guys part of the cult?"

"Let's find out", Exeo replied in a low voice while moving toward the center of the floor.

Just when he was near the center of the room, Exeo suddenly stopped and placed a finger on the palm of his left hand, signaling Bo to stop too. When Bo stopped, Exeo pointed to the ground, showing him an indentation. With his eyes still narrowed, he took a step forward.

Once he got close enough, he reached out and pressed two fingers on the indentation. After a few minutes, he pulled back his hand and nodded at Bo to follow.

They both headed towards the exit of the building in a different way than the entrance. While passing through, they saw four security personnel, one of whom was guarding outside the building. After pausing for a little bit, Bo and Exeo headed into another hallway and continued to advance forward.

As expected, after walking in for a while, they heard more voices nearby. These voices sounded like men. From behind the wall, they could feel the heat emitted from the source of the voices.

"So, do you think they found their mark yet?"

One voice replied, "If they did, then it wouldn't hurt to give them a chance to fight against each other. If they can survive, then maybe they'll eventually win."

"True. So, what do you think will happen to the man who was tied up?"

"Do you really think the leader won't notice something is wrong?"

"The leader already knew. Whoever those bastards foiling the leader's plans are, are never gonna find us. And even if they do, they'll only be looking for a bunch of mercenaries."

Exeo and Bo froze when they heard these words.

They knew that the bits of information they just heard is very important and might prove to be useful.

Suddenly, someone opened the door and both men instantly hid behind the corner, hoping to not be detected by anyone.

"Are you sure you want to go? You know the consequences, don't you?"

Someone said, "It doesn't matter if I do. We're doing it for the boss."

Exeo and Bo couldn't hear what they said next since it wasn't loud enough for them to hear anything. Exeo was curious about what was going on, so he followed their movement. After listening for a while, a man came out from a corner of the room.

The mission might be successful but the team felt that their future missions might be more and more dangerous as they came across again with the occult group.