Emil
Emil pushed Anna up against the nearest wall.
“Hey! What the fuck?!”
He pressed a finger close to her mouth, beckoning her to be silent. The footsteps outside the temple resounded loudly against the stone ruins. Shortly after, two men entered in the midst of conversation.
“Any luck with locating the specimen?” one of them asked.
“No, but apparently there was another victim found on the edge of the Third Sector tonight,” the other replied with clear resignation in his voice, “Not good. If these incidents continue, the Sentinels will start pushing back against our demands to keep this contained. I wouldn’t be surprised if they launched a formal complaint to the Council soon.”
Emil and Anna were glued to the wall, concealed behind one of the two pillars that flanked the entrance of the temple. Their positions were barely masked by the pillar’s shadows—just mere inches beyond the edge of the moonlight streaming in from the ceiling opening. Emil held his breath. His heart was pounding in his ears.
Please.
He prayed that they wouldn’t be spotted. The two men who just entered was almost certainly Exalted.
“I don’t see the problem. The Council turns a blind eye to these incidents all the time. I don’t see why we would be treated any differently.”
Their footsteps echoed across the stone floor. Emil froze. The two men came into view—just an arm’s length away from their hiding spots. He suddenly felt Anna squirm.
You idiot! He grabbed her hand as silently as possible and gave it a firm squeeze. She froze. Emil immediately traced a message on the back of her hand with his finger, begging her to stay put.
Luckily, the two men didn’t notice as they passed by.
“They’ll turn a blind eye only if we have results to show for it! And right now, we have nothing! The ‘result’ that we need to showcase is currently rampaging out of control somewhere in the Third Sector!” the downtrodden man suddenly yelled. His exasperated voice rang across the spacious chamber of the temple.
“Then we just have to repeat the results again. We succeeded once already,” his companion replied as he approached the workbench.
“That was the first success out of hundreds of trials!”
“It doesn’t matter. If our only success was just a stroke of luck, then we were doomed to fail from the beginning. The Council has no interest in projects with results that aren’t reproducible.”
“Tell that to the boss then. See how friendly he gets if the Council cuts his funding.”
Once they arrived at the workbench, the two researchers immediately began sifting through the various documents and notebooks sprawled on the table.
With their backs turned, Emil took the opportunity to move. He gave Anna’s arm a gentle tug. In silence, the two of them crept towards the entrance.
***
Once they left the immediate vicinity of the temple, they sprinted into the forest. After several minutes of continuous running, Emil finally stopped amidst a small grove. The canopy here was conveniently thin, allowing some semblance of moonlight to leak through.
Anna was already slumped on the ground, heaving in haggard breaths.
Emil sucked in the chilly air to soothe his burning lungs. His head spun as he tried to make sense of what he just overheard.
Those researchers are probably two of three people that found Ellen last night. Inside the temple, they were conducting experiments to create some sort of specimen. That specimen escaped and is now killing people near the Third Sector. Likely, this is the same being that murdered Ellen.
There was also the damning mention of the “Council”. The only notable entity that this could have been referring to was the Council of Mana—the ruling authority of Azure City. Emil clenched his teeth, recalling the grotesque sight of the survivor that the witch showed him prior to the start of this mission.
The implications were abhorrent.
Then, according to those researchers, the Council of Mana is likely responsible for the vile experiments using humans as test subjects.
Dread crawled up his spine. What Steiger initially thought was just the work of a few rogue researchers might end up being a bigger conspiracy led by the authorities of Azure City itself. Emil’s stomach twisted with unease. Suddenly, he regretted his decision to bring Mia and Raz into the city.
If I’m not misunderstanding anything, then the witch needs to be informed of this immediately.
As he contemplated what to do next, Anna suddenly rose to her feet.
“Why?” she blurted out. Her eyes narrowed into a vicious glare. “Why did you stop me?! We didn’t find Ellen yet! Those were her kidnappers, were they not?”
Emil sighed. I had a feeling she wanted to fight.
“I don’t understand!” Anna growled like a wounded animal, “That was our perfect chance to ambush those men and get information out of them!”
Emil closed his eyes, dreading the words that he was about to speak.
“Anna—” he began. The edge of his voice quivered with uncertainty.
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***
ANNA
“—Ellen is dead.”
Anna blinked. She closed her eyes and shook her head, thinking that her ears might have been playing a trick on her.
“E-Excuse me?”
“She’s dead. Ellen is dead, Anna,” Emil repeated, his solemn words resonating across the dark grove, “I saw it unfold in front of my eyes.” His eyes were somber and his tone genuine, lacking none of the usual frivolousness that she had grown to expect from him. But his seriousness only caused more confusion.
“I don’t understand, but you said—”
“I lied,” he declared. Anna flinched. She felt like she had just been slapped across the face. “Ellen is dead,” Emil said again as if to reinforce this irrefutable fact.
She didn’t miss the quiver of remorse dangling at the edge of his voice. Silently, she stared at him, observing his facial expressions, hoping that at any moment he would break into a despicable smile, goad at her despair, and then tell her that this was all part of a sick prank that he concocted to get a reaction out of her.
Her hands balled into fists. Her throat grew hot—ready to explode the moment Emil exposed his nasty ruse
What she wished for never came.
Oh, for fuck’s sake. He’s not joking.
The next thing she knew she was sprinting back towards the sacred temple.
“Stop!”
Emil’s arms suddenly coiled around her waist.
“Let go of me!” she screamed, flailing about in desperation. Her eyes were dense with tears.
“Calm down! Listen to me!” he yelled, trying to hold her down.
“No! How can I trust you?! You’ve been lying to me this entire time, you damn bastard!” Anna flung her head backwards. The back of her skull struck something soft. Emil let out a pained grunt, but his grip remained strong.
“I was trying to keep you alive, you idiot! Look at yourself! You’re out of control! This isn’t some issue you can resolve by just lashing out at the first thing you see! You’re going to get yourself killed!”
“Shut up! You have no right to tell me anything!” Anna yelled. Agony pulsated with every heartbeat. Bitterness coated the edge of her tongue and her chest was aching like it was about to explode. Ellen’s dead. She didn’t want to accept it. But the possibility always gnawed in her subconscious.
Her sudden disappearance. The Academy staff moving her stuff out without warning. The admins shutting down her efforts to understand why Ellen would suddenly withdraw her enrolment. The Sentinels being suppressed last night when they were trying to investigate an incident.
If she accepted the premise that Ellen was dead, then all the pieces of the puzzle suddenly fell into place.
In truth, she had a feeling that Emil hadn’t been entirely honest. His statements sounded too convenient, at times too vague, and sometimes suspiciously contradictory. Still, she suppressed the rational side of her mind that wanted to scrutinize everything. She wanted to believe in his lie. She wanted to believe in the hope that Ellen still lived.
She’s dead.
The irrefutable fact echoed in her head, reminding her of the cold, unflinching reality.
She’s really dead.
The desperation that drove her forward suddenly had no legs to run. Anna slumped against Emil’s chest—exhausted as her will to fight vanished.
The two of them remained still in silence. Eventually, she let out a weary sigh. The frosty night air clinging to her face was becoming unbearable.
Heat gathered at the tips of her ears as she realized Emil was still holding onto her. She could feel the warmth of his arms seeping into her body in a tight embrace. Suddenly feeling self-conscious, she squirmed, trying to pry herself free.
“Hey, let go already.”
“Are you going to run off again?” Emil asked immediately.
“No. Now let me—”
She froze. Her mouth agape, words refusing to escape her throat. The air suddenly felt dense, thick with the stench of the danger. In the corner of her eyes, Anna caught a glimpse of movement by the edge of the undergrowth.
Something soared through the dimly lit grove.
Anna felt her body being dragged back. Emil was suddenly in front of her—his left hand outstretched as a massive creature sunk its jaws into his forearm.
***
EMIL
“Emil?!” Anna’s voice boomed in his head.
“I’m okay!” Emil replied as he bashed his free hand into the throat of the creature. The creature growled, twisting its jaws, seemingly unfazed as it continued to chomp down.
He grimaced. He had channeled Bulwark at the last second to surround his left arm in a layer of stone. Still, the force of the creature’s bite was enormous. He could feel his arm slowly being crushed under the immense pressure. Even the stone armament was beginning to fracture.
Emil reached for the dagger hidden beneath his cloak. With his right hand strengthened by mana, he plunged the blade into the creature’s side. A short whimper escaped its mouth. Emil suddenly felt the ironclad grip on his arm slack. Seizing the chance, he immediately evicted his arm from the creature’s jaws.
A puddle of dark blood splattered on the ground. The creature backed up a few steps. Its bloodshot pupils glared under the faint moonlight. Despite its injuries, it hadn’t retreated. Drool dangled from the bridges of its jaws as if it were salivating at the sight of its next meal.
“Get ready to fight!” Emil called out. Immediately, he felt several pairs of eyes watching them from the veil of the undergrowth.
The creature that just attacked kept its distance. Its body was lowered, prancing sideways. Its hindlegs bent, ready to pounce. It resembled a wolf.
But the key difference was its size. This creature was much larger, standing over five feet tall while on all fours. Its goliath fangs were sharp and jagged, protruding menacingly out of its jaws and coated in spittle. Its face was locked in an aggressive snarl, while its eyes and snout seemed contorted out of place relative to its skull.
Its macabre appearance aside, what alarmed Emil the most, however, was the faint blue glow near the top of his head.
Is that a fragment of Azurite?
As he narrowed his eyes, he could see a thin layer of mana running along the creature’s body.
I knew it. A monster.
Monsters were non-sapient living beings that have been enhanced by mana. As far as Emil was aware, their existence was rare in nature. The most common way monsters emerged was from an Exalted’s Gift.
But I don’t sense any Exalted nearby. If there was, Emil should have been able to detect a faint vestige of mana tethered between the Exalted and the monster. Instead, it seemed this monster was purely supplied by the Azurite fragment embedded in its skull.
He thought back to the sacred temple, recalling the various animal carcasses, chopped-up body parts, and the mention of a man-killing creature roaming in the Third Sector. This must be the specimen that the researchers were looking for.
The monster suddenly shrieked.
The foliage around them shook in response. Several shadows spontaneously bolted out of the dark undergrowth.
Emil stomped the ground. An array of stone spikes erupted from the forest floor. Like spears, they thrusted towards new pack of monsters. With a shocking speed, the monsters jerked their bodies to the side. His spears stabbed the air as the monsters continued their assault.
Dammit! I’m still too slow with Bulwark!
The monsters at the vanguard lunged, claws bared, jaws open, eager to gouge upon its human prey. Emil stepped back and conjured a stone shield in his off-hand. The first monster slammed against his sloppy defense.
“Ngh!”
Emil winced as he was pushed back, his feet digging into the ground as he barely managed to contain the monster’s attack. His body rattled as if he had been hit by a horse. The rest of the monsters loomed close behind.
Do I have to use Blaze? The thought came to mind as Emil slashed with his dagger. His possession of two Gifts was supposed to be a closely guarded secret to allow him to function as a Steiger agent in Azure City. Exposing it to Anna could jeopardize his mission.
Am I seriously weighing someone’s life against the witch’s orders?! He clenched his teeth, admonishing himself for hesitating. One person had already died because he was too indecisive.
“Bolt!” Anna suddenly cried before he could manifest Blaze. Lightning in the color of azure flashed across the grove for a split second before the air thundered with a shrill shriek.
The monsters around them were immediately stunned—paralyzed from the wide area discharge. Emil wasted no time and rushed in, swinging his dagger to deliver the killing blows. Once he pierced the final monster’s throat, he grabbed Anna’s arm and dragged her into motion.
“We have to move! Now!”
They were only a few minutes away from the temple. Against the dead of night, he was certain their fight had been heard.