WHOOSH!
Theo moved swiftly, his body perfectly blending with the darkness as he maintained high ground by jumping off rooftops or staying very close to the dark alleys as he advanced into the night. He had a sneaking suspicion that he was being followed, but after exercising due diligence and detecting no one around him, he chalked it up to his ever-increasing paranoia.
The moon was full, and it stared down on him with the company of the shimmering stars of the heavens.
Divine Ancestor Grand Moon and the 12 Heavenly Kings of the Divine Court were certainly active that night, and while it made Theo uneasy to think he was being watched, he took comfort in their presence and prayed for protection under his breath.
After all, after secretly investigating these past couple of days, Theo had finally reached a breakthrough.
He had found a base of the Mercenary Crew!
'Tonight is when I thoroughly investigate it.' He told himself, finally stopping at the top of a building, looking down to see a crooked alleyway that led to a condemned structure which had been abandoned for a couple years. 'At least a hundred people are inside, and I've overheard some of the conversations they make as they enter and leave the building.'
This place was most definitely affiliated with the Mercenary Crew.
'But how do I get in? There only seems to be one entrance, and it's definitely fortified by hidden guards. The doors are also tightly locked from within, so I'm not confident I can break through it myself.' Theo sighed.
Even if he could, what exactly would come after that?
He would have to fight all the hundred people in the building, and even though he currently had the Armaments Kaycee made for him, he wasn't confident in taking down a hundred enemies—especially if they had Arcane Instruments of their own at their disposal.
'I might have to find another entrance… or maybe I should just stop here and hand this information to the authorities. Maybe Fae will take things more seriously if… no, no, what am I thinking?' Theo shook his head. 'I still don't have enough evidence and information to be taken seriously, so unless I get something concrete… it's useless running back to anyone.'
The image of his friends appeared in his mind once again, and he quickly shut his eyes and banished the thought. Guilt clawed at his heart, but he tightly held to his justifications. If he was the only one doing this, no one else would have to get involved… and no one would get hurt.
Theo knew how it felt for his friends to suffer for his actions.
'Never again!'
With darkened eyes prepared for action, he clenched his fists, ready to leap from the top of the building. However, right as he was about to, he detected a sudden sound some meters behind him.
'What?!' His eyes widened as he swiftly turned, a hand hurriedly grabbing one of the daggers as he dashed in the direction of the sound.
WHOOM!
He moved like the wind, thrust forward by the propulsion from his Arcane Instrument.
In a flash, he was right in front of his targeted area, thrusting his blade forward to strike whatever he felt was in that position. It could have been nothing, but his acute senses told him that the sounds he heard belonged to someone.
Someone was spying on him… and he had to quickly eliminate them!
"Theo, wait!"
Right as he was about to slice through the target, he heard those words, forcing him to quickly freeze. His muscles ached, feeling the backlash of defying inertia and suddenly halting his rapid movements.
"No… no way…" He should have been paralyzed, but he instead took a few steps back as his bulging eyes stared in the direction of the people who slowly materialized in front of him.
They were none other than Kaycee and Liyah.
"How did you know?"
"We didn't…" Liyah was the first to speak, her white hair covered in all-black clothing, as were the other parts of her body. Kaycee was dressed similarly, wearing an all-black bodysuit that seemed to perfectly blend with the darkness of night even more than Theo's outfit.
If not for his incredible night vision, he would have had trouble detecting them—especially in this part of the Guild where street lights were predominantly absent.
"You… didn't?"
"We were going to sneak out on our own since you clearly wanted to stop investigating the Mercenary Crew and we didn't want to wrap you into things… but when I was heading back to rendezvous with Kaycee, I noticed you coming out of your apartment."
"So… you followed me?" Theo muttered. "How?"
"Kaycee did most of the work. He has an observation-type Armament that allows him to watch someone from a distance, with the condition that the target has to know the observer and vice versa." Liyah went on to explain. "I told Kaycee about what I saw, and he whipped out the item, which he already had on him just in case one of us got captured. We used that to track you down."
"I-I see…"
Theo didn't know what to say at this point.
He felt foolish as he stared at Kaycee and Liyah, fighting the urge to look at the ground and avoid their scrutinizing gazes. A part of him felt happy to see them, but he also couldn't help the fear that lurked in his racing heart.
"Guys—" Before he could complete his words, he felt Kaycee's touch on his shoulder.
"We understand you, Theo. I understand that you don't want us involved because of the dangers that this might bring, but you also have to understand that we don't want to sit idly by, doing nothing while this dangerous organization runs amok." He smiled at Theo. "Just like you helped me back then, Theo, let us help you."
A warm sensation coursed through him at that moment and he nodded.
Since they were all equally guilty of keeping secrets from the other party, there was very little need to apologize to one another. Instead, they decided to save the emotional details for later and focus on the pertinent task at hand.
"What exactly are you doing in this place, though? You've been crouching over there for a while." Liyah asked with a raised brow.
"Yeah. The whole time we followed you, your movements seemed strangely quick—like you had a destination from the start." Kaycee added. "Did you already find clues?"
Theo absorbed their inquiries and sighed, explaining himself.
"I've actually been doing my private investigation these past couple of days, and I was able to track down this base of the Mercenary Crew." He slowly walked to the edge of the building and pointed at an obscure entrance to a building at the end of the crooked path of the alley they stood above.
Both Kaycee and Liyah were stunned by this revelation, but decided not to dwell on anything but the important aspects of his response.
"The problem right now is infiltrating it." Theo continued with narrowed eyes. "There's only one entrance, and it's heavily fortified. It's also too dangerous to try to forcefully enter, since that could completely ruin the investigation in the best case scenario."
"What's the worst case?"
His face grew sterner as he gave a grim response. "We are overpowered and ultimately killed."
Shivers instantly ran through Liyah and Kaycee's spines. They were courageous and resolute, but unlike Theo, they hadn't been exposed to enough life threatening situations to properly understand what their actions entailed.
This was why he wanted to keep them out of the mission, no matter what.
However, even after understanding the risks, the two parties smiled and nodded at each other in agreement. "We're still in!"
A wry smile formed on Theo's face as he silently told himself that they simply had to be more careful somehow. Plus, he had to make sure that—no matter what—their lives were preserved.
'I also wouldn't want to die here… if I can help it.'
"The problem remains how to get in, though. Unless you have a solution that—"
"Actually, I do!" Kaycee grinned, whipping out what resembled a spray bottle dyed completely in black. Unlike Theo and Liyah, who had nothing but their Armaments on, Kaycee carried a bag with him, and the bottle was brought out of it.
"What's this? What does it do?" Theo curiously stared at the sleek black cylinder.
"It's how the both of us were able to stay invisible while approaching you—at least, until you caught us. Its cloaking ability isn't perfect, but it can camouflage us well enough to infiltrate the building. As long as we don't speak or directly touch anything that we weren't in contact with before the cloaking, it should remain intact for about an hour."
"That's… very convenient."
"Right?" Kaycee beamed. "Unfortunately, it's a consumable Armament, and once I use it this last time, its durability will be depleted."
"You can't fix it?"
"I can't fix an Armament that has reached expiration, but I did my best to delay it. But, once we use it this last time… that's it." He added, raising the spray above his head.
Theo and Liyah nodded, agreeing to take the chance.
"Let's do it!"
*************
A loud knock on the metallic door of the building echoed out, to the point where it startled the few men stationed close to the door. One jumped in fright, while the others were only mildly stunned.
"W-who's that?!"
"Don't yell like that! What if it's an Intermediary?"
"Oh yes! But… why would an Intermediary come here when we already have one with us?" The one closest to the door checked through the peephole but found no one.
He turned to his comrades and signaled his discovery, or lack thereof, to them.
All of them readied themselves, brandishing their weapons—both blunt and sharp—as they glared at the door. Swiftly moving, he opened the door and cautiously darted back in case there would be a surprise attack.
However, nothing came.
"H-huh?!"
"No one is there?"
"What the hell?"
Unbeknownst to them, Theo and his comrades had already entered the building, their swift movements mistaken for the gust of wind.
They could all see one another, per the effects of the Armament, but no one else was aware of their presence. Thanks to this, they easily infiltrated the base and feasted their eyes on its vast interior. There were several men—more than fifty—who walked around the base, all of them armed with melee weapons and a few ranged ones, all of which seemed fairly ordinary. The massive room resembled a warehouse, with bright lights everywhere, and several boxes neatly positioned close to the cemented walls.
More than half of the men in the room were busy with the boxes, either carrying them towards the walls, or stacking them atop each other. The boxes all emerged from another door in the room, which likely led to the production facility.
Theo observed all of this and could only assume the boxes contained weapons or dangerous contraband.
Why else would they need a secret base for them?
"Man… when will this shift be over? I wanna get some rest already." One of the men working close to where the trio hid began to mumble to his coworker.
"Quit whining. It'll all be over very soon…"
"Hehe! Exactly! I never thought I'd see the day we were finally avenged for the trouble this piece-of-shit Guild caused us, but that moment is drawing near." Another said with a broad smile. "We can rest and enjoy life as much as we like once the Mercenary King is done with that bastard!"
"Shh… you know you're not supposed to talk about him so loosely."
"Ah… my bad. I got too excited."
"It's understandable. Everyone here has been wronged by the Ak'ashi Guild and that slimy Guildmaster. Supreme Lord Of Tyranny my ass! By the time our King is done with him, he'll have nothing and be begging for his life."
"Hehe! Can't wait… I can't wait…"
'What is that all about?' Theo wondered, listening in to the conversation with a perplexed expression on his face.
He glanced at Kaycee and Liyah and they also seemed confused.
Shrugging aside the conversation, he returned the focus to the boxes and the arms that each of the mercenaries in the room wielded. It was obvious that these were unlicensed weapons, and so every single person in this place—other than he and his friends, of course—were criminals by the laws of the Ak'ashi Guild.
'With this alone, we can prove the existence and danger of the Mercenary Crew.' Theo thought with a large smile. 'All we have to do is take something from one of those boxes as proof. Even if we can't directly touch anything, Kaycee can use his glove to hold an item and it doesn't count as him directly coming into contact with it.'
The same logic applied to Theo using his dagger to violently knock on the door while his camouflage remained intact.
'Once we present the evidence to Fae and an investigation is done, we'll be able to put a hole in their plans and maybe the Guild will start taking these guys seriously!' A big smile formed on his face as he had this thought.
Then—
"U-um… guys…?" Someone suddenly spoke amidst them, and upon sharply staring in the direction, he found out it was Liyah.
An insect was perched on her exposed face, and it undid her camouflage.
Beads of sweat formed instantly appeared all over her pale facade as the attention of the several dozen men in the large building looked in her direction, their wide-open eyes displaying a spectrum of emotions—from shock, to savagery.
In only a few seconds, every single dangerous person would gather around Liyah, fulfilling Theo's prophecy of the worst case scenario.
Death was imminent.