CHAPTER 798: DEATH FLAGS

"Come on, let’s go," Alex remarked as he got to his feet.

"No more reading?" Arwen inquired.

"Not for now, I’ve got a better idea."

"Yes!" Arwen fist pumped before hurriedly rising to her feet as well.

The two headed to the entrance of the mysticism section which also served as the exit, unsurprisingly finding Kaeria waiting to receive them... or rather, to receive Alex.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Kaeria asked.

"Unfortunately, no," Alex replied.

"Oh, that’s bad," Kaeria said, then almost like a bulb lit up in her head, she remarked. "Maybe if you tell me what you are after, I could help you look for it."

Alex and Arwen shared a look, an act that left Kaeria slightly peeved though she did well not to show it.

Seeing no reason to refuse her request, Alex shifted his attention back to her. "Since you so graciously offered, I’d be a fool not to accept."

"Exactly." Kaeria quickly said, only to follow up in slight embarrassment. "Not that you are a fool. If anything, you are nothing short of a genius."

"Thank you, Miss Kaeria," Alex remarked. "Anyways, if it’s possible, we would like a list of all mutants that utilize music to hunt."

"That’s fine. So does this mean I’m part of an investigation now?"

"Uhmm... I guess so."

"Great. I promise to do my job properly. You can come in tomorrow for results."

"No problem."

With that, Alex and Arwen took their leave, unwilling to engage in further discussion while Kaeria didn’t hesitate to begin her task, going as far as to close the mysticism section early just to not be disturbed.

This was an opportunity to impress John Smith and she would not fail.

***

They had a great view of Sklaviunt standing atop one of the four interconnected walls protecting the city from external attacks.

"So what’s the plan?" Arwen asked, having waited until they had arrived at the wall before asking.

Alex replied. "It’s simple actually. Because the kidnappings take place at night, all we have to do is mount a stakeout and catch them in the act."

"That sounds simple enough," Arwen admitted with Alex remarking.

"Indeed, the hard part comes after."

"We don’t know what we are up against."

"Exactly. Information helps us prepare properly but since we can’t get it in time, we have to go in blind and hope for the best."

"But why the rush though?... Couldn’t we take things easy until we have everything we need?"

"I thought so too but the fact that the kidnappings have come into the light, I’d reckon whomever is responsible would want to put a quick end to things and if Melita is correct and the abductions are being carried out by a cult, then wasting too much time leaves us vulnerable to whatever accursed ritual they plan on doing."

"So we have to risk it."

"We don’t have a choice," Alex remarked before adding. "However, we can plan for the worst case."

"What do you have in mind?" Arwen asked.

"If the situation turns out to be too much to handle, we leave."

"Abandon everything?"

"It’s better that we lose our lives."

"How about we call the others instead?... They could help out."

"That’s Plan B, what I just told you is Plan C."

"Oh alright."

"How’s your training coming along?"

"I’d say pretty good."

"Good, because I’ll be relying on you to watch my back."

"Understood." Arwen saluted, earning an amused smile from Alex.

It didn’t take long for night to arrive in Eventide as the Lightbringer closed its gates and the Nighteye revealed itself in the sky, illuminating the world in a bright lavender glow.

The plan went smoothly with Alex and Arwen taking down Azazel and his group and freeing the hostages.

Problems, however, came after.

***

Weak!

Alex awoke from his slumber with a gasp, blinking his eyes as he came face to face with a featureless face forged out of darkness.

"... Nyx." He breathed out before instinctively trying to back away.

One would think with the way you keep fighting my influence, you’d be strong enough by now, but no, you remain weak. Pathetic.

"What’s this about?... Why am I here?" Alex remarked, looking rather confused.

Nyx sneered, a mocking chuckle echoing within the domain of darkness before they remarked.

You are nothing without me, Alexander Regulus and if you continue to reject me, you will die soon.

"What’s this about?... What do you hope to accomplish?"

I may be inactive but that doesn’t mean I can’t see the death flags on your head.

"Death flags?... What are you talking about?"

You are going to die soon, Alexander.

"That’s impossible."

Is it though?

"Is that why you brought me here?... To scare me with lies?"

I desire to make one thing clear.

"And what is that?"

Should you fail to escape this little trap before it’s too late, then I shall do as I please.

"I have no idea what you are talking about. What trap?"

Figure it out yourself.

With that, Nyx disappeared and the darkness receded, allowing Alex to awaken, quickly finding himself lying on the floor in what appeared to be a basement which was lit up by a lantern.

Melita was seated beside him, currently asleep with a book placed on her lap.

Alex paid her little mind as he took the time to inspect himself only to find that Nyx’s Authority was gone.

Now, all that remained was his Authority which was currently limited to the 5th Lock.

He let out a sigh as he laid back down due to the pain wracking his body.

Apart from that, his inspection allowed him to discover with a grimace that his pneuma had received quite a bit of damage.

Only then did he recall the events of what happened before he passed out.

Thera had unleashed an explosion of gunpowder and Quillion, causing his clone to die in a most gruesome manner.

Even those the pneuma of the dead clone managed to return to him, it received severe damage due to the Quillion, ensuring that it would take a bit of time before Alex would be able to bath in the aether.

Just then, the door to the basement he was in slid open and a tense Theoren slipped in while carrying some supplies.

"Grandpa." Melita remarked as she was awoken from her slumber by Theoren’s entry.

Nodding in her direction, Theoren then turned to regard Alex. "You are awake."

"What’s going on?... Where is this place?"

"It’s the basement of my house." Theoren simply replied as he dropped the supplies he’d brought on a table at the side.

"Why are we here?"

"The outside is chaotic right now, Alex." Theoren reported with a worried look on his visage. "The council claimed that terrorists attacked upper districts last night and are arresting people in the lower districts to be brought in for questioning."

"What?" Alex frowned.

"Apparently, Councilwoman Thera got attacked by a terrorist and her entire villa along with other houses in the vicinity were destroyed in a horrific explosion."

Alex could hardly believe his ears.

There was no terrorist at all, the crazy bitch had blown everything up herself!

But it didn’t matter, what mattered was that the council believed that there had been a terrorist attack and as most cases, they blamed the lower districts for the attack, arresting people without proper investigation.

Under normal circumstances, Alex wouldn’t think much of things like this, but his guts let him know that something was fishy.

Why would Councilwoman Thera go as far as killing herself just for the council to push a terrorism narrative?

Alex paused as a certain thought came to mind.

What if... just like him, she wasn’t dead?

He wasn’t the only Mystic that had ways to evade death should it come quicker than it was supposed to.

If that were the case, that meant the ritual Azazel had spoken about would still take place, but then, the sacrifices that are needed have already been taken away.

That was when it hit him.

This was what the council was after.

To replace the sacrifices that were taken away, they resorted to arresting people from the lower districts under the guise of investigation while already making plans to use them as replacements for the sacrifices they’d lost the day before.

If that were truly the case, Alex had to applaud their brilliance.