In a wooden cabin, at a long-forgotten village, three people sat around each other with their killing intent sensible from miles away.
For three days straight, Ray had slept, yet his mind still felt dazy from time to time.
All three of them had worn cloaks, with different colors.
"So, explain." Jade raised her eyebrows at her; in the room, she was by far the strongest one among the three.
"I made contact with a noble devil; just like us, she had her memories of the future or past. Anyhow, she told me that our fight with Scarlet was planned by others to go back in time." Ray explained with a low voice.
"In the end, something was very wrong. I didn't know what it was, but it was."
All of them had a hunch that sometimes they were too lucky for problems to be solved easily.
Katarina asked, "Can you give us names?"
"General Hawk, General Menendez, and King of Silence."
Jade's eyes went wide. "Hawk had bonded with a pure Angel, and the king of Silence is bonded with a noble Devil; that's not possible."
A silence followed her words; in history there was no record of Heaven and Hell working together. If that was the case, their situation had become much worse.
Katarian made a hologram of their faces. "It might actually be true; in the moonlight war, Hawk didn't go after the king of silence at all. Even then, many eyebrows were raised.
"Any idea what their plan is?" Ray had asked the same question of himself many times over and over.
"I might have an idea." Jade giggled. "But talking about that will expose us."
"My Devil said the same. Just tell me how much deep shit are we in?"
Her hands moved to her cup of tea, and she answered, "For now, not much. They barely show themselves in the public anymore, but if they succeed, all of us will die."
Katarina narrowed her eyes on Jade. "What is your suggestion?"
Before Jade could talk, Ray jumped between them. "Simple. We kill them."
"As a level 3, you talk big."
"Hey, you should be level 3 too."
She shrugged. "No, I'm level 4."
"How?" Ray had tried his best, and he was still halfway through level 3; she had to be the same age as him.
"I hypnotized myself into believing that I have sex with you; with our memories, it didn't take much time." Her holograms changed into memories they shared.
"Ok, I don't like seeing you two memories." Jade swung her finger, and the table returned to its original state. "If you made contact with a devil, that means you have Orcus. How about you, Katarina?"
"To craft Stardust, I need the brains of 5 Cardinals."
Ray moved on his chair to sit more comfortably; he had missed such a meeting between the three of them. "Actually, I might be able to help you. Join me in the duo dungeons."
"I thought you were being watched all the time." Katarina still remembered Marian's attacks on her mind; without her magic, she would have easily died.
"I have a perfect reason to stay at home for a whole month, and with a clone from Jade, no one will notice." Ray had already planned to go on dungeons solo, but with a hand, his gains could grow even more.
Jade nodded. "One heaven crystal with the money of those five blood crystals."
Ray looked at her with a calm expression. "I will craft it after we return."
"But what will you two do if words get out? Hiding your magic in a dungeon will not be easy."
Katarina, with a smile on her lips, said, "You talk like someone is going to return."
He had expected Katarina's answer; with her around, nothing ever ended without a slaughter, not like he opposed the idea.
"We should start our own cults once more again." Ray remembered the days that they had their own groups fighting against each other, while they shared profits behind the scenes.
"I agree." Jade giggled once more. "Nothing is better than free crystals."
Meanwhile, Katarina closed her mind to the outside world, processing different routes they could take to resurrect their own groups.
After two minutes of waiting, she said, "Ray can make his own after the dungeons; mine will be after the impact. Jade, you must wait a long time for now."
"One last thing, Jade. I want you to attack Alexandria's base personally; just destroy anything that exists in there, but don't kill humans." Ray wanted to sleep with Alexandria for some time, but for that he needed a big push.
"Why?"
"It's good to have a general at the department." Ray put his hands behind his head. "Also, good to see you two."
"I would say the same; spending most of my days in my cave alone can be rather boring."
Katarina didn't change her tone and just said, "Me too. Now, aircraft satellites are after Jade; I can't keep this much longer."
"For now." White clouds came to life out of nowhere and teleported her back.
"See you in three weeks." Ray still didn't have a good teleportation method; he just used his device. It could take him hours to return to his tower.
She sat on her chair alone; the attention of satellites lifted from her defenses as soon as Jade left the cabin.
Her eyes shone with a red glow. Just like Ray, she had returned to her 14-year-old version. "In those last seven years, all I ever did was to cultivate and control my temper. Finally, the opportunity is at hand."
Every cell in her body wanted to make a river of blood beneath her feet and a mountain of corpses to her side.
"I can craft Stardust too..." Unlike everybody else, her system was different. Only one person in the history of mankind existed with mind magic, and that was her.
In the meantime, Jade examined the map of Alexanderia's base. She knew that Ray wanted to get her in bed, but still she could have her fun causing some destruction.
"Let's see how you will react, my little General."