A few minutes ago, when Heimfher had just entered the house—
The three men from the division 0 had found the suspicious house after using the power of the God of Detection, one of them decided to kick the door into multiple pieces and broke in forcefully.
At first, nothing was strange from the interior of the house, no one seems to be living inside, and no one was present except the three.
However, what they failed to realize is the fact that there was indeed someone else beside them.
They wasn't clear, they camouflaged, and they moved silently.
As the three men entered the bedroom and began their investigation there, two humanoid figures emerged from nothingness, an ethereal lines was visible, yet no one was able to notice the two figures.
Their footsteps was completely silent, as if they were walking on air, the two ethereal figures looked to be a stern-looking middle aged man wearing a robe, their outfit was similar, most likely because they were in the same group or organization.
When the two robed men arrived at the bedroom, they cautiously stared at Duskiell, Heimfher, and Bentley, they glared at their actions, to see if they would find their secret hideout.
Then, Duskiell noticed something.
A secret tunnel behind the wardrobe, if there was a place that could be used as a hideout, that tunnel would be the perfect one to use.
But to the robed men, they weren't afraid, they didn't panic, instead they smiled maliciously.
When Heimfher and the others entered the tunnel, the two robed men secretly followed, and right as they were about to go down the staircase, one of the robed men started to chant while his friend beside him watched.
"Doubt thy eyes and fall, Mirabelis." He whispered, his voice was too quiet to be heard by Duskiell or Heimfher.
As the black thick fog comes out of the robed man's fingertip, it lunged towards Bentlet who was behind the other two.
Then, the black fog engulfed the three of them, as if consuming their conciousness and replaced them with a fake one.
THUD!
THUD!
THUD!
Soon after, Heimfher, Duskiell, and Bentley lost control of their body, they fell down the stair in a chaotic way as they tumbled on the sharp stair edges, walls, and even the floor, all while their conciousness were deceived.
In the end, the three of them were in a pitiful state, their body piled up as the narrow space around them couldn't spread their body around, and when the two robed men came down to check on their body, they stepped on them like trash before they opened the wooden door at the front.
That was the moment where the two robed men deactivated their strange magic, their ethereal figures slowly becoming more and more apparent.
Their dark robe, and their wrinkly skins, all were now clearly visible, beyond the wooden door that they just opened, a basement room was present, littered with the groan and plea of countless human voices as they were all chained and blinded.
"Heh.. Can't believe they fell for it that easily." One of the robed men said, he mocked Heimfher and his colleagues.
Then, his other friend responded.
"I heard some of the Awakened authority in the bureau was almost an advanced rank, that made me slightly worried, but who cares about their strength if they can get deceived like this, kekek.."
"What do we do with them now.. Should we give them as a sacrifice to father?"
"That would be great, but don't forget that we have to move all of the hostages to our palace in a few days— If we can sacrifice these awakened in the full moon ritual, im sure father would be grateful.. Our deity will be stronger than what he would've ever imagined!"
The two robed men suddenly chuckled to each other.
"He.. Hehe.. For the descend of our deity, ahh how i envy father, to be chosen by our god.."
"We're incredibly lucky to witness the descend of a god's deity.. Im sure heaven is waiting for us!"
They smirked, their eyes filled with nothing but madness and ecstasy, they laughed for a moment before they calmed themselves and decided to drag the three unconcious body to the basement room, where they were then chained and blinded with a loin cloth.
.
.
Meanwhile, back in the Protection Bureau building—
The grandfather clock inside the building started to ring, a low-pitched bell rang across the room as the shorter clock hand lined up with the number 12, signaling the arrival of the new day, and the start of the middle of the night.
While everyone in the city was sleeping, the Protection Bureau kept busy even at this hour, officers worked in shifts and some still haven't rest even after they worked all day, one of those people were the division 0.
Carlessa, Lena, and Harith sat at a nearby bench, waiting for Murph to come back while he went inside of the bureau leader's room, talking to Lock and discussing about their plan for the Dead Deity Order.
"Have you contacted the capital?" Murph asked, he sat on a wooden chair while facing Lock who was also on a chair, they were separated by the desk and the countless pile of papers.
"Yeah, they said they will send their group as soon as possible, though considering the distance between Monetre and the Capital, it would take one or two hours by the steam train.." Lock replied with a pessimist face.
Murph noticed Lock's anxious face and decided to ask.
"What's wrong?" He said.
"Ahh, nothing– It's just that, maybe im afraid of what's to come, i hoped that there's only a few of those Dead Deity Order, if we had to deal more than 10 of them, i don't know if our forces will be able to deal with it."
"Hmm.. I understand your worry, to be honest.. Im also not sure if what we're about to do is just futile sacrifice or not, Dead Deity Order huh.. Among the other secret organizations, they sure do have the strength to back it up as one of the more powerful organizations—
"The God of Death, Morswalth.. Just what caused those people to see that god as something to be worshipped.." Murph replied, he also admitted his nervousness.
"You can't exactly know what goes on in a human's mind." Lock said, he pulled out a cigarette and began to smoke it.
Murph fell into silent, the room was quiet with the smell of tobacco in the air, then, he spoke.
"You're right, even i can't understand my own.. And also a lot of things in this world—
"This world sometimes doesn't make any sense– Speaking of not making any sense, you said earlier on our way back that you wanted to join along with the awakener from the capital.. Are you out of your mind?"
"Hm? That?" Lock replied, he looked amused at Murph's words.
"Why? A leader can't do their duty as an officer now?"
"Haaahh.." Murph sighed at Lock's face.
"You're not even an awakened.. You know that sword aura alone can't defeat an experienced awakened right? Let alone a fucking Dead Deity Order member."
Despite his warning, Lock didn't paid Murph any of his attention, and he instead fought back by declaring his plan.
"Then i'll become one." Lock said.
"What?" Murph was baffled at Lock's words.
"It's about time too, an ingredient for a ritual might be expensive, but if it were only for one person, then it wouldn't hurt to use the bureau funds." Lock replied with a smug.
"—Why don't you use your own money you bastard.." Murph was somehow visibly confused by Lock's decision.
"Haha, i like when your face become like that." Lock jokingly replied with a laugh.
"Stop with the jokes for now.. Why don't you tell me who will come from the capital? That old geezer Carmen again?" Murph asked, he urged Lock to get serious as he knew that they can't waste a single second.
"Ah..." Lock complied with Murph's request and he stopped laughing.
"Yes, the capital bureau told me that Carmen will go, he seems to be still energetic despite his age, and also.. A detector called Weiss, an advanced Fire Mage named Umbra, and a few more that.. Probably never mentioned."
The discussion lasted for a few more minutes, when they have reached a clear view of what they would do in the future, Murph then promptly left the room, he met with Carlessa and the rest who was waiting.
"Murph!, finally.." Carlessa said, she was a little frustrated from waiting far too long.
"So? Any information that you want to tell us?" Harith asked, he titled his head and waited for Murph's answer.
Lena kept her mouth shut and didn't say anything, so no one paid any attention.
"We'll work with Carmen again, you have an hour of rest time, go get some sleep.." Murph answered.
"Really?! That old geezer again!? Urgh.. Is there really no one else?!" Carlessa complained.
"Well, the capital had decided to send him.. We can't really tell them that we would decline their help right?" Murph replied, he sighed at Carlessa, knowing that he can't do anything either.
"Whatever.. I'll go sleep."
"Me too.."
"Ah, me too."
Carlessa, Harith, and Lena simultaneously walked away, leaving Murph alone as they disappeared from his vision.
As the night was growing colder, Murph also walked, but not to a bedroom, but he stayed outside of the bureau and watched the night sky.
"Will the three of them be fine?.." He pondered, thinking about Heimfher, Duskiell, and Bentley.
"—Duskiell is there, so they should be fine."