Chapter 43: Mastermind.

"It has been 3 days, how long is it for him to clear the vortex?" Ackerly asked as he nervously looked at the date on his watch.

All the big guilds from both West Dasmein and East Dasmein had gathered in the Emissary headquarters. They were planning and preparing for the raid, and they pretty much had everything prepared, only waiting for Alseace.

"It's an A-Rank vortex, and it's normal if it would take 3 days or more, just be patient," Gratya answered as she looked at her phone, waiting for any information from the Agent that had been waiting in front of the vortex where Alseace and Renata went to. "Not to mention that it's just the 2 of them," Gratya pointed out.

Everyone looked at Gratya with confused or surprised looks on their faces. They were baffled when they heard 2 Candidates were trying to clear an A-Rank vortex, and not to mention none of them were an S-Rank.

"What?! Are they crazy?!" Hunter asked as he glared at Gratya in disbelief. "First of all, how could the Emissary let them enter the vortex in the first place?!" Hunter continued.

"I don't think there's a problem with that. They both are the extermination team, and they both had cleared an S-Rank vortex a few weeks ago and 2 A-Ranks vortexes. They have cleared a total of 8 vortexes ever since they joined hands," Gratya explained as she looked at everyone. "I don't want to brag, but Alseace LaRoze is the strongest Candidate after Miss Red," Gratya pointed out.

Mihangel looked at Armel while Lucretia looked at Sebastian and thought the same thing. They were curious about Alseace LaRoze and thought about scouting him and making him a member of their guilds.

"Is that the truth?" Violette asked Sierra who had been doing nothing but staring blankly at the glass wall.

"I can vouch for that, with the skill that I have," Estian answered as he put out his cigarette in the ashtray. "I was shocked by it as well, and the one who killed that Roc bird was him alone," Estian looked at Mihangel.

Every Guildmaster from East Dasmein was curious about Alseace and they wanted to meet him in person. They started to think about how to bring him to their guilds and make him change his mind.

"Now that you all know, why don't you stay quiet and patiently wait? He'll be here soon," Sierra asked as she looked at them.

They all nodded their heads with understanding and started to confirm how many Candidates they were going to bring.

(Inside the Vortex)

"You found anything?" Renata shouted as she looked at Alseace on top of the cathedral.

Alseace looked at every spot in the city, but he couldn't feel any living beings around him. He was a bit worried because they only had 20 hours left, and they hadn't found any information about the Mastermind. He then jumped down and landed right in front of Renata.

"I can't find anything, and I think we should go over now since it's the last place that we haven't checked yet," Alseace answered as he looked at the luxurious palace on the high ground in the far distance.

"Do you really think the Mastermind is here in this city? What if they're somewhere far away from here and we wasted all of our time here?" Renata asked as she looked around the dead city.

"We're only given 24 hours and that includes fighting them. But, even if I'm wrong, with the time we have left, I can still find them," Alseace answered as he fixed his gloves. "That's why, let's hurry up and don't waste a second doing nothing," Alseace said as he started walking.

Renata nodded in agreement and they went straight to the palace which was on the 1st layer of the wall. There were a total of 3 layers of walls, and it looked like the layers were used to separate nobles, commoners, and the royal family. It was a bit similar to Alseace's hometown where the nobles separated themselves from the commoners.

They looked at the palace and the area around it. They were surprised that everything was maintained as if someone had been taking care of the garden and the palace. They both looked at each other and thought there might be survivors, but looking at how the area wasn't affected by the curse, that alone was enough to tell something was fishy about it.

"I can feel a presence, a lot of them," Alseace said quietly.

"Do you think these people aren't affected by the curse because they're allies of the Mastermind? If so, we should be wary of them," Renata replied as she glanced at her surroundings.

"If the Mastermind has a Demon Fragment inside them, do you mind if I immediately kill them?" Alseace asked as he glanced at Renata.

"Do what's best for us. If you can feel it, then do it. I have no complaints if you decided to do it your way. I'm used to it already," Renata chuckled.

Alseace nodded his head in agreement as they approached the palace with beautiful gardens around it. As soon as they were standing in front of the giant gates, they saw knights on horses walking toward the gates from behind.

"What's your business here!" One of the knights asked.

"We want to see the one in charge here. Perhaps the king himself," Renata answered as she looked at the knights behind the gates.

The knights looked at each other, and then they pointed their spears at Alseace and Renata.

"You both came from the city, and the city has been stricken by the curse. You brought the curse here so leave or you will die on our hands!" The knight said loudly.

"The curse has been lifted. There's no more curse here and we are the ones who broke the curse," Renata answered. "You might not believe us, and you can go and check it yourself that the corpses are slowly being devoured and no longer rot forever," Renata explained as she pointed down at the city with her left hand.

The knights looked unconvinced, but at the same time, they wanted to believe. They then decided to convey the message to the people in charge inside the palace which was the prince.

"Tell the prince, I'll keep an eye on these two," The knight said to the other knight.

The knight nodded and went inside the palace hurriedly while Alseace and Renata stared at each other. They finally got information about the one in charge which was the prince, and they both started to suspect that the Mastermind was the prince.

They both waited outside the gates as the knight kept an eye on them without letting his eyes off of them. Suddenly a dozen people came out of the palace, and they were all wearing quite extravagant and fancy attire. One of them had bright yellow hair with a long red cap on his back and a few strong knights behind him.

"Open the gate," the man with bright yellow hair said calmly.

The knights opened the gate for Alseace and Renata, and then they let them in but were still cautious about them. Alseace and Renata were being escorted into the palace, but it looked like they were being held hostages.

Alseace looked around and didn't feel any ominous or evil presence anywhere. He didn't feel the presence of the Demon Fragment as well, and it made him wonder if they were really innocent or not.

The moment they entered the throne hall, they both looked at an old man wearing all-white that took their attention. Alseace immediately felt a presence that was similar to the Demon Fragment, and then he made eye contact with Renata.

"You said that you both broke the curse and lifted it from our world?" A bright yellow-haired man asked as he sat on the throne. "How did the two of you do it?" He asked.

Renata explained everything as Alseace paid attention to the old man's reaction. He didn't show any expression which was quite interesting to look at, but the moment Renata mentioned the Mastermind behind it, he flinched his eyebrows and eyes.

At first, they didn't believe Renata's explanation, but after she told them who she was and who Alseace was, they immediately believed them. They started to praise God for sending people to save their world, but in Alseace's eyes, it was just a game between Demon God and God.

"Someone put the curse into our world?! Who's heartless enough to do something like that?!" Jourdain Vaganay asked as he clenched his fists. Jourdain was the prince after he introduced himself to Renata and Alseace.

"Ask that old man over there," Alseace answered as he looked at the old man in all-white attire.

Jourdain and his people looked at the old man with surprised expressions. The prince then looked at Alseace and asked, "What do you mean by that? He's the royal family's most loyal advisor. Why do you want us to ask him? Are you trying to say that he's the mastermind behind the curse?"

"It's simple, because he smells like a demon, and I believe he's the one behind this," Alseace answered.

Jourdain looked at the old man and hesitated to order the knights to seize him. The knights were waiting for the order, but then the old man chuckled as he shook his head and said, "Your majesty, I think there's a bit of misunderstanding here. I believe I have nothing to do with this because I have been helping and trying to solve this problem with your late father and brother."

Jourdain was thinking about it and believed in his aide rather than someone who had just come into his world.

"It's better late than never and regrets it later," Alseace said and dashed toward the old man so quickly.

The knights couldn't react to his movement, and the moment they drew their weapons, it was already too late. Jourdain looked to his left and watched his most loyal aide's head fly off from his body. He was shocked and speechless at the same time because he never thought Alseace would act like that without even giving a warning.

"Seize him!" Jourdain shouted as he pointed his finger at Alseace.

The knights surrounded Alseace, but then they watched him slit open the old man's chest. He grabbed something from the old man's chest and showed it to Jourdain. A big Demon Fragment as big as a golf ball was in his hand.

"This is a Demon Fragment, your highness..." Alseace said as he stared Jourdain in the eye. "If we didn't kill him, he would create a more powerful curse. We have no idea how, but as long as he associated with demons, anything could happen," Alseace explained as he looked at the knights surrounding him.

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[You have achieved the objective of [The Mastermind], and prevented a new curse from stricken the world]

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[Choose your reward]

[1. Random Unique Weapon Box (1)]

[2. +15 Extra Status Point (Everyone)]

[3. Random Unique skill scroll (1)]

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"Impossible..." Jourdain said.