Chapter 47

"Kukuku, I've found the perfect sacrifices." Zarxis laughed evilly while observing Chiyuki and the others through a projection.

"With their help, I can complete the magic!"

"Kuku, time to lure them to me," Zarxis said while giving order to his subordinates.

Unknowingly, Zarxis was taking the bait that someone else had laid for him.

...

It was early in the morning, when Seal opened his eyes, that Chiyuki and the others left the inn in sheer frustration.

Under the disguise of investigating for someone wanted, they searched the entirety of the inn but still found no traces of that person. Except for the SVIP room that they couldn't get in, the other rooms were perfectly normal.

It was understandable that they were frustrated.

'Maybe he somehow tricked us and wasted our time.' They all thought. They had a suspicion that the man they were looking for was in the SVIP room but immediately discarded that when they heard what the manager said.

"The SVIP room is only granted to people who are acquainted and are very close with the owner of this inn. And there is only 1 SVIP room in every inn own by the owner of the inns. Nevertheless, there were only 4 SVIP guests out there. Including the one currently inside the SVIP room upstairs. And if you are going to ask for their information, I'm afraid I have to decline as we care about our guests' privacy."

"I see... Thank you for your information." Chiyuki said after mulling over the manager's words.

Then she turned to the others, who looked like they had something to say.

"I don't believe the person we are looking for is here. If I remember correctly, the owner of those inns is Yukina. Forget getting close to her; I doubt that he could even get acquainted with someone who doesn't get close with men at all." Shirone said.

The others nodded to what she said. What she said made sense to them.

Except Kyouka had a different thought in this matter.

"Could it be that the mysterious masked man actually knew Yukina?" Kyouka couldn't help but say.

Certainly.

If the masked man knew Yukina, then it was reasonable for him to get the SVIP treatments.

"My lady is right. We should also consider that." Kaya added.

"Then that should be our first plan. We should go and ask her ourselves." Chiyuki said.

However, it never occurred to them that the masked person was actually the son of Yukina. At most, they thought he was a close friend of Yukina.

...

"Seems like they're gone." Seal said.

He got off the bed and left the inn in a happy mood.

But then he noticed something irregular.

"Oh? That person acted really fast." Seal muttered with a playful tone.

Then he disappeared from his current position while appearing in an empty building while fully concealed under his stealth. Anyone under Tier 6 will not be able to detect him no matter how hard they look.

Meanwhile...

"Milady!" Kaya yelled. She was knocked unconscious by the enemies when they were attacked by surprise. Normally that wouldn't be the case, but they had an artifact that suppressed their strength.

"You! Let Kyouka go!" Shirone yelled. One of her companions was being held hostage by another group of people. How could she not be worried?

"Hehehe, what are you going to do about? With the artifact that our master gave us, you can't possibly use magic." One of them sneered.

"..." Shirone and the others had frustrated looks on their faces.

"Well, if you want your companion back, come to this place." They said while throwing a piece of paper towards Chiyuki.

"What? Why should we come to you?! Give her back now!" Shirone yelled.

"Hehehe, it's your choice in the end. If you don't come, something worse than torture might happen to her." One of them said while leering at Kyouka's body.

"Y-You bastards! Let go of me!" Kyouka said in disgust while struggling in their grasps.

"Remember what we said, hehe." They said before leaving with transfer magic.

"..."

"What should we do...?" Rino said with a frustrated voice.

"What else? We have to save Kyouka." Shirone said.

"Shouldn't we tell Reiji first?"

"What are you saying?! We have to go save my lady first!" Kaya said angrily at Rino. In fact, she wanted to rush and attack the enemies right away, but if that would get her lady hurt, then she shouldn't do it at all.

"No, let him recover. We got this." Shirone said resolutely. She didn't want to bother Reiji.

"But..." Nao wanted to say something but decided against it.

"Chiyuki-san..." She looked toward Chiyuki for help.

Chiyuki kept silent. She was contemplating whether this was a good choice or not.

If they decide to go after Kyouka, then they were doing exactly what the enemies want. They could be heading into unknown danger.

But if they don't come soon, Kyouka might be suffering, or even worse, dead.

In the end, it was between saving one person but endangering the rest and letting one person die while the rest are safe.

Obviously, both options were horrible. But did they have a choice?

In the end, they decided to do what the enemies said. Kyouka was one of their best friends. Furthermore, she was Reiji's half-sister.

"Hmmm~, not bad..." Suddenly a quiet yet clear voice sounded in everyone's ears.

"Who?!" Kaya said with caution. The others carefully scanned the surroundings while keeping their alertness at the maximum.

But after waiting for minutes, they received no answers. They must've been hearing things, is what they all thought at that time.

Except there was one person that had doubts.

"Why does the voice sound so familiar." Kaya unconsciously muttered to herself.

...

"This seems to be the place." Seal said to himself as he observed the underground lair of Zarxis.

After Kyouka was taken away by Zarxis's minions, he followed them stealthily. Although they used transfer magic, he could still track them because he planted a trace of his divine energy onto Kyouka and the subordinates. So after he focused on the trace of divine energy he left on their bodies, he could immediately know where they were, which led him to find Zarxis's hideout.

However, he still needed to proceed with caution as Zarxis had probably already noticed the trace of divine energy that he left on Kyouka.

Meanwhile, inside the lair of Zarxis, Kyouka sat in a chair with both her legs and hands bound.

Her body was trembling because she was scared. She couldn't protect herself if she wanted to because her kidnappers had an artifact that took away her ability to use magic. But she deduced that it was only temporary because if the enemies had this artifact a long time ago, they would've used it. She couldn't remember how many times they were vulnerable to attacks, but it was a lot.

"Hehehe, I wonder if your friends will come and save you," Zarxis said.

"They will!" Kyouka yelled.

"We'll see. You, watch over her and report back to me anything suspicious." Zarxis said to his subordinates and motioned them to keep an eye for anything suspicious.

His subordinates nodded firmly, and Zarxis left the room.

But not long after, something happened outside of the confinement room.

"Who, Who are you?! Why are you here?!" A terrified voice sounded.

*Bang*

The door suddenly burst open, and something suddenly flew into a few of the subordinates, knocking them backward.

Kyouka's eyes widened in shock.

'What just happened? Did Kaya and the others come?' Kyouka said hopefully.

"Sigh... Is this all you can do, Zarxis?" A bored voice sounded from the dark doorway.

A masked man then appeared out of the darkness. In one of his hands, he was holding a severed arm of someone.

"It's you?!" Kyouka unconsciously yelled out.