"Then, what are we going to do next?"
Heimfher went back to his firm pose and asked Murph who soon squinted his eyes and said.
"Hmm, Dan and the other officers will handle with the interrogation of that Dead Deity Order member—
"As for us.. We're going back to the kidnapping case, this time.. We'll be more thorough with the investigation."
Heimfher gulped down his own saliva after hearing his next task, he and the others in his division nodded at Murph and expressed their agreement.
"Understood." Harith said, he had a second if silence before he continued.
"But it's quite clever on their part if i must say, they used half of the hostages as a distraction so that their real hideout can't be detected by using detection magic—
"I guess it's not that much of a loss for us since we're able to rescue 33 civilians.. But for the remainings that were still kidnapped, im not sure if we'll be able to find them in time or not."
Harith's analyzing was then interrupted by Carlessa who seems to be interested but also angered at the fact that they've been fooled.
"We can just ask more of the hostages family or close friends for an object that had strong connection to them right?—
"Those cult bastards.. They never ran out of tricks to use, they and their disgusting gods. I never understand anyone that thinks destroying the world or 'purifying' it as they say could ever be a plausible goal or solution for their problems—
"If what Duskiell said is true, we still have a few days left until those cultists started their ritual, it's just like he said, a god descend ritual wouldn't be enough with just a dozen sacrifices, and if it were a ritual to make a contract with a god, then they won't need that many sacrifices.. A descending ritual, whether it be a god or a deity.. Can only happen in a full moon, that's just what we learned from experience and also books of the past."
Heimfher bit his lips in discomfort, he thought about the scene of all the remainings hostages being dead all over the ground, he was afraid, afraid that he would arrive too late, and when he was going to say a word, Murph abruptly stopped him from doing so.
"A deity ritual also mean that they're not just one or two individuals, but a group.. So our assumption that it might be a cult was more or less true—
"Heimfher, do you know how strong a deity is?"
Murph asked, his attention shifted to Heimfher once again and he waited for his answer.
"Uhh.. Are they capable of destroying a city?" He replied.
As if satisfied with Heimfher's answer, Murph gave him a a faint smile and acknowledged him.
"That's right, a deity usually have the power similar to an elite awakened.. That's an awakened who had mastered 2 Godly magic and had acquired 3 God's magic—
"As you may know, none of us are even an advanced awakened yet, so fighting the deity when it had descended will be a disadvantage. That's why we have to find their hideout before that happened."
As soon as Murph ended his explanation, Heimfher suddenly heard a few footsteps coming closer from behind him, he turned around to see who it was and that's when he saw 4 refined officers walking towards him.
Despite their familir attire, Heimfher couldn't remember ever seeing them before, he didn't recognize any of their faces, but what he knew though is that the group of people that was walking to him, weren't just an ordinary officers.
'They're an awakened too?...' He thought.
'But i thought the bureau only have one awakened division?..'
While he was confused, the burly-looking man that was smoking a cigarrete in his mouth then raised his hand and called for Murph.
"Murph." He said nonchalantly.
Murph immediately saw the man and the people beside him, he raised his hand back to the man and also greeted him.
"Ah, Cell.. What is it?"
Turns out, the burly man was Mr. Cell, that means the people beside him was Umbra, Elyth, and Weiss.
"I talked to your leader earlier, and it seems like you still have one more case that involved with cultists huh." Cell said, he lightly chuckled at Murph's busy schedule and joked about it.
"Don't you think this city might be a breeding ground for them—"
Cell abruptly stopped in the middle of his sentence, his eyes drifted towards Heimfher with a face that screams curiosity.
"Is this the newly recruited boy you talked about last night?" He said.
Cell's sudden curiosity with Heimfher prompted Murph to introduce him to Heimfher.
"...Heimfher, this is Mr. Cell, he and the other people beside him are from the capital branch of the Protection Bureau." Murph said as he pointed his hand to Cell.
Seeing as how the man that was called Cell recognized him, Heimfher instantly assumed his identity had been revealed by Murph or the others, so he decided to talk.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Cell." Heimfher said confidently while giving his hand to him as an invitation to a handshake.
Cell saw Heimfher's confidence and smiled, he didn't expect a 17 years old boy to be joining the bureau, let alone being an awakened.
So to test Heimfher's tenacity, he accepted the handshake and squeezed Heimfher within his grip.
Grip!
"Nice to meet you boy." Mr. Cell said.
At first, he didn't use much of his strength, however when he saw Heimfher showing no reaction to his grip, he began to gradually adding more power to it.
"...Heehh– What is the meaning of this, Mr. Cell.." Heimfher responded to the tightening grip on his hand before he doubled down on his claim and said.
"If you wanted to test me, then i can show it to you right now.."
A rush of adrenaline came into Cell's body as his lips smirked at the sight of Heimfher, he used more strength, this time he was sure that Heimfher would show a reaction, however different from what he expected, Heimfher instead remained calm and he even smiled back.
'This much pain is no where near when i carried Duskiell last night..' Heimfher thought.
Although he said that, his hand was already starting to feel the burden of Cell's strength, his forehead began to sweat and when he thought that he would have to forfeit, Duskiell suddenly interrupted their competition by forcefully detaching Cell's grip from Heimfher.
"Alright alright, that's enough." Duskiell said, he calmly separated the two of them and continued.
"If you injured our new recruit, it would be me that had to bear Murph's rambling."
"What did you say?.." Murph somehow felt like he was being mocked by Duskiell and asked.
"Nothing." Duskiell replied, he shrugged off the question and moved on.
Shortly after Heimfher escaped from Cell's grip, he looked at his right hand that was being crushed by Mr. Cell's strength and he noticed that his index finger had somehow been slightly deformed.
'Holy shit.. Just how strong is he..' He said to himself as he raised his eyes to see Mr. Cell again.
"Okay, i acknowledge you, you're quite resilient. Welcome to the bureau boy, and let's work together from now on." Mr. Cell said, his stern attitude and also his cheeky face from before was gone, and he somehow looked like a gentle man now.
"Okay.." Heimfher briefly replied.
Then, after he and Mr. Cell had introduced each other, the other people beside Mr. Cell also began to talk to Heimfher one by one.
"My name is Umbra, im the same as you, a fire mage. Nice too meet you." Umbra said with a cheerful tone, he smiled and closed his eyes as he lightly tap Heimfher's chest, rattling the golden chains that was wrapped on his hands.
"Im Weiss, a detector, nice to meet you." Weiss calmly said, followed by Elyth at last.
"You're the youngest awakened i've met.. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, nonetheless, nice to meet you, im Elyth, an ice mage."
Heimfher waved at every one of them, he shook hands with Umbra and Elyth while Weiss and Mr. Cell Murph and Duskiell.
"Where's Carmen?" Murph asked, then Duskiell also added his own words.
"Yeah, that geezer usually love to meet with new people."
"He already left the city and went back to the capital.." Mr. Cell replied, he sighed with slight frown on his face.
"That Carmen– He said he wanted to enjoy his days off and just sprinted to the train station unnoticed.. Good grief."
"I- i see.." Murph couldn't form any good reply to Mr. Cell situation, so he just awkwardly smiled and went on to the next topic.
.
.
Meanwhile, In a corner of the city—
Inside of an old wooden house within a narrow dark alleyway, an old man with gray hair and a grotesque wrinkly face was seen sitting on a desk.
His eyes oscillating between words on the book that he was reading infront of him, beside him, a candle with a flickering flame burns brightly, yet its light only reached the desk and his body, the rest of the house interior was engulfed with darkness.
The old man whispered, as if he was saying each words in the book, he gritted his teeths, he gnawed on his own nails, and his fingertips was covered with red blood.
"Im so close.. Im so close... The rotting knight.. What else do i need.." He mumbled to himself.
From his face and his action, it seems like the old man was somewhat had lost his mind, the more he read the dark book, the more corrupted he become.
"When night rises.. the iron blade shall be stabbed and the rotting knight will awake to pay his debt– Huh?.. This is- Huhwehehhkeekke.. So it's been hiding on a sentence huh.. With this– I've done everything."
Creaakk!
The old man raised his head to see the ceiling, when a wooden door was opened, revealing a staircase that leads downstair into an underground basement.
From the staircase, two human figures dressed with tunic appeared, their face looks to be a young men with robust physique.
"Huh?.." The old man averted his gaze to the two men that had just arrived.
"What is it."
Then, one of the men on the left took a step forward and said.
"Father, we've received a confirmation that our friends at the Northwest decoy hideout had been killed, and that the bureau have also found out about the place."
Upon hearing the report, the old man then clicked his tongue and replied.
"Tck, it's not a big problem.. We still have time, the bureau won't find this place.. They won't.. My plan is foolproof.. My plan is guaranteed to succeed, you believe me don't you!? MY CHILDREN!?"
The old man's voice grew louder all of a sudden, as the candle fire shone to his face, the two men could see the foamy mouth that the old man has, along with his rage.