[Somewhere in the Opal Sun Kingdom]

‘The Empyreans are on the move.’

‘Commencing Phase One.’

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[Meanwhile...]

[The Disciples of Vidia’s Lair, Desert of Ashes]

Sam didn't know how long he was out cold, but by the time his senses returned, he heard familiar voices talking to each other. He slowly opened his heavy eyelids - the first thing he realized was that he was lying on his side in a room filled with benches and tables. He also noticed a green glowstick resting on the ground near him – the same one he used back at the entrance of the lair.

As his eyes darted upward, he saw Lucy pacing back and forth near the doorway while her brother sat at a table, peering into a small glass jar. As Sam tried to raise his fingers, he unintentionally let out a groan that instantly caught the siblings' attention.

"Oh, Thank God you’re awake," exclaimed Lucy before shuffling anxiously toward Sam. "Hey, are you alright?" whispered the young Nightingale as she aided the man to sit himself up. “Are you hurt somewhere?”

"N-No," a gruff voice came out of Sam's mouth. "H-How long have I been out?"

"I’m not sure. It’s been…about an hour since we found you in that corridor. What happened? You looked like you were in a scuffle or something.”

"About that…" Before Sam began his explanation, the duo heard brisk footsteps heading their way. The front door burst open with Rupert and Elisabeth marched in simultaneously. For a fleeting moment, Sam noticed a tiny smile on the amber-eyed woman's face though it was soon replaced by her usual scowl. "It seemed fortune still favors you, Edelweiss," Elisabeth simply remarked.

"Perhaps," Sam sighed, finally able to move his limbs. He reached for his katana but soon discovered his scabbard was empty. "Where's my Core Blade?"

No one dared to answer the question.

A sense of dread washed over the man after seeing the gloominess in his friends' eyes. Sam turned to Lucy and asked her again, "Luce, where is my Core Blade?"

"It's right there," said Rupert, pointing his finger at the table behind his sister.

Lucy swiftly grabbed Sam’s by the arm, and with a worried expression, muttered, “What you’re gonna see is…it’s not a pretty sight.”

Sam quickly got to his feet; his heart sank as soon as he saw his sword on the wooden table – its blade completely shattered. He limped forward and placed his right hand on the handle. Sam trembled as an icy cold sensation spread throughout his arm, followed by a sudden tightness in his chest.

"I’m sorry, Sam,” Lucy apologized. “We tried our best to salvage what we can, but…the damage was too much.”

"No, it's not your fault. If anything, I’m the one who should be blamed for this," Sam retorted as he picked up the katana and carefully slid it into the sheathe. Shortly after, his eyes lit up after remembering a certain someone. "Wait, there was a little girl with me! Have any of you seen her?" he blurted out.

"A little girl?" Elisabeth repeated, "What are you on about? You're the only one down here."

"No, there's…well, she's not actually a real girl. She's an Echo in the shape of a girl."

Lucy's brows drew together out of surprise. "An Echo? Here?" she uttered before nodding her head. "Well, that makes sense. Many terrible things had happened here, so there should be a lot of residual energies to bring forth an Echo."

"But we've checked the areas many times. There's nothing out there except empty rooms and…sands," Rupert grunted at the last word. “Oh, there’s also a statue of a cute lady holding a chalice. She’s…um…pretty weird.”

“That was the bust of Lady Vidia, the goddess worshipped by the Disciples,” Elisabeth corrected. “Anyway, what is more important is that there is Eidolon roaming about this place. Have you seen it?”

"I did, and I took care of it. It won’t be a nuisance to anyone ever again,” said Sam, causing his friends to stare at him in awe.

“You…took care of the Eidolon? That’s so sick, dude!” Rupert complimented.

“It’s not sick; it’s unheard of. In fact, I have never heard of anyone who single-handedly defeated an Eidolon before,” Elisabeth added. “Are you sure you’re not mistaking it for a weaker Distorted?”

“Maybe, if there’s another creature with a spiral-like face and chains around its body,” the vermillion-eyed retorted before removing the sling tied around his neck. He took a hurried look at his forearm; the wound he sustained earlier had finally closed up – leaving behind a long visible scar covered in stitching.

“Here,” said Lucy as she quickly cut the thread with her dagger and discarded it. “Now, even though it’s healed, you still need to be mindful about moving your arm around.”

“It’s not like I have any other choice,” Sam grunted as he stretched both of his arms. “With my sword beyond repair, the only alternative I could think of is using my fists.”

“Well, I’m not gonna stop you from doing that. As far as I know, I’ve already done my part in patching you up. Now, about this girl…”

“Oh, yeah. She, um…,” Sam began to recollect himself. “If I’m not mistaken, she said her name was Anemone, and she was one of the children who was taken to this place.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“Anemone?” Elisabeth spouted with a scowl across her face. “Are you sure that’s what she said?”

“Yeah. Do you know her?”

“Hm, that name does sound familiar,” the amber-eyed woman paused as she briefly pinched her forehead in silence. Various faces flashed before her eyes, but as soon as she tried to recall the girl named Anemone, all she could see was a thick fog. “That’s…strange. If she was one of the captives, then I should be able to remember her.”

“Anyways, the kid said there are others like her down here. However, I’m not sure whether her friends are real or an Echo like her,” Sam further remarked.

“There’s no use mulling over it,” Elisabeth returned. “We stick to our initial objective which is to capture the Disciples – anything else can wait.”

Sam exhaled loudly before he replied, “Fine. If we’re going to do that, then we need a way out here. You’ve been down here longer than us, Liz, do you know any routes we can take to move around – preferably one that could help us evade possible encounters with the Disciples.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“Some kind of a nerve center or a control room. I want to find out how big this place actually is, and also shut down the device that rendered our equipment useless.”

“Hm,” Elisabeth grumbled. “There is one, but I’m not sure whether the path still exists or not.”

“Um, what do you mean by ‘still exist or not’?” asked Lucy, grimacing at her friend’s comment.

“This place is more than a decade old - so, there have been some…cave-ins, especially in the Old Complex.”

“Let me get this straight,” said Lucy before she took a deep breath to calm herself down. “Are you saying that everything in here can come falling down on us at any time? Great, that is precisely what I want to hear right now.”

“Oh? You’re not afraid of getting buried alive, are you sis?” Rupert teased his younger sibling.

“Said by someone who has never been buried alive,” Lucy spouted before shifting her attention back to Elisabeth. “This path you mentioned, where is it anyway?”

“It’s in one of the rooms inside the Quarantine Facility. Come, I’ll show you,” replied Elisabeth as she picked up the glowstick from the ground.

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Five minutes later, the four Accursed reached a steel door with the name Rosa etched on the top rail. Elisabeth's eyes trembled at the sight of the corroding doorway; she could feel her lips drying up though she wasn't sure whether it was because of the arid surroundings or her nerves getting the best of her. Seconds later, she felt a hand clung to her shoulder, followed by Lucy's breathy voice, "Liz? Do you need a moment?"

"No, I'm fine," Elisabeth exhaled. She then pushed the door open, spewing out a cloud of dust into the dark corridor. Despite that, the amber-eyed woman continued shoving the door until it was wide enough for all of them to pass through.

"Huh, it's much smaller than I thought," the elder Nightingale commented.

"Well, you're not wrong," Sam acknowledged Rupert's blunt opinion. He noticed the room's interior was pretty much the same: the rusted single-sized bed in the middle of the confinement chamber and the decaying reading table. The only difference was the empty canvases scattered on the ground – covered in dust and black sand.

"I didn't know you paint," said Lucy.

"Used to. Not anymore," Elisabeth murmured as she pulled the bed aside, exposing the metal grating on the floor. She single-handedly lifted the structure and cast it aside, revealing the hidden shaft to her colleagues. "No cave-ins," said Elisabeth before she jumped into the hole. "Shit."

"Everything alright?" Sam asked.

"Y-Yeah. Just got some cobwebs on my face. Toss me one of those light thingies." Soon after, Elisabeth felt something brush against her feet, and the entire tunnel instantly lit up. "It's clear!" she shouted.

The remaining three Accursed dropped down - their landings echoed throughout the underpass. "Urgh," Rupert gagged as something thready slipped into his mouth, "That's frickin’ nasty."

"Nasty aside," Sam interjected after noticing the crude design of the entire passage. No metal plates. No electrical wirings. Just an ordinary, rocky tunnel. "This is not a part of the Quarantine Facility, is it?"

"No, it is not. I made this pathway myself. It does look a bit crude, but it'll hold. Hopefully," Elisabeth answered, shrugging her shoulders. "The control room should be straight ahead. Stay close – unless you want to get lost on purpose."

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||| THE PATH OF DECEIT: JAY |||

[Meanwhile…]

"Here," said Jay as he handed a black faceless mask to Cindar.

"You want me to wear this silly thing?"

"This 'silly thing' is the Disciples' bugbear – it allows us to be seen as something more than a simple and defenseless human being -- a fiend from an unknown part of the world, worse than the ones outside. In other words, using fear as a tool to keep them in line."

"I like the sound of that," Cindar grinned.

"If you do, then put it on."

Cindar cheerfully wore the mask -- just in time as the door in front of them parted ways.

A figure in a PPE suit walked out between the crevices and instantly bowed their head down, greeting the duo with a soft, feminine voice, "Welcome, gentlemen. We have been expecting you."

"Is that so? Where is he?" asked Jay sternly.

"He's on his way-," the figure was interrupted by Silva who suddenly appeared from behind her.

"Thank you, Lee. You can go back inside now," the man calmly ordered, sweat beads forming on his forehead.

After the person in the PPE suit left, Silva cleared his throat and spoke mildly to his guests, “Gentlemen, I was told you will be here tomorrow."

"Indeed," Jay returned, "Unfortunately, there has been a change of plan. My superior heard you've been working on something other than what we ordered you to do. Something that is related to your previous venture."

Silva fidgeted, but then a nervous smile appeared across his face. "I can assure you, sir, that is completely untrue. We are working hard to fulfill your demand and-," Silva paused abruptly after hearing Jay clicking his tongue in disappointment.

"I don’t think you understand the situation you are in, Silva. You see, I can tolerate incompetence. Lying, however, is a whole different story."

Jay swiftly grabbed Silva by the chin, and a loud crack soon followed. The man in the black tux let out a gurgling scream as he collapsed to his knees while holding his excruciating dislocated mandible.

"It hurts, does it?" Jay remarked as Silva incessantly whimpered on the ground. "Continue defying us again, and you'll experience pain that is beyond your comprehension. Got it?"

Shortly after Jay finished saying his piece, he easily popped Silva's jaw back into place. "Now, the thing you promised us. Where is it?"

||| THE END OF THE PATH OF DECEIT |||