Back on a certain in the outskirts of Seirende Capital. Arabella and Nikolai were focused on maintaining an array in front of them.
After a few minutes of struggling the frown in their heads deepened as the light in their array slowly weakened. They tried everything but to no avail. In the end, the array starred and they could only open their eyes in anger.
"D*amn! They saw us!" Arabella cursed the moment the connection from the curse magic implanted to Leon, Kazimir, and Antoine was cut off!
"How vigilant they really were! Even when they were in the office, everything is concealed! Our efforts are wasted! F*ck!" Nikolai was so irritated that he no longer minded to utter profanities.
Then she looked at his sister and asked, "What shall we do next?"
Arabella paused and thought for a moment, in the end, she could only shake her head and say,
"Let's report it to the Crown Prince. It seems like we have to infiltrate directly into the palace instead of doing it the roundabout way. We cannot guard against that cursed bear with a sharp nose!"
--
At the same time, in a remote area on the Holy Island.
The sound of unhurried footsteps echoed in a dim stone staircase. From the looks of the structure, it seems like the stairs lead to a place deep underground.
The footsteps continued to move deeper into the seemingly unending path which subtly moved deeper and deeper down, however, the speed of the steps was rhythmic and continuous, not showing any amount of hesitation or weariness.
Clip… Clop… Clip… Clop…
Finally, the footsteps slowed down as what lay at the end of the deep stairs was a plain stone wall that could have been a useless dead-end.
But the owner of the footsteps raised his aged hand. Wherever his hand touched, the stone bricks in the wall would turn as if they were in his command.
He turned several stone bricks in a particular manner, after that, a loud clicking sound was heard coupled with the buzzing of the stone wall.
The next second, the bricks of the stone wall seemed to have come to life as it folded itself inwards and revealed the other side which was brightly lit and seemingly a busy place.
There was also a person standing on the other side, with his hands placed on his chest as he bowed respectfully at the owner of the footsteps, "Greetings Pope, we have been waiting."
"En…" The owner of the footsteps was none other than the Pope, who waved his hands to dismiss the other party's salute.
"Where is the paladin?" The Pope asked.
The person welcoming the Pope answered, "His Eminence, her grace, the paladin is in the special laboratory. She seemed to be wanting to extract information from the captives that were kept there.
The Pope's eyes flickered but his expression did not change. He only gave the butler a nod and commanded, "Alright, lead the way."
As they walked toward the special laboratory, the Pope was greeted by several men and slaves who were busy working on their respective work tables.
It turns out, the entire vicinity is like a large laboratory. Some were busy dissecting wolves and other creatures, the others were busy mixing some potions that were colored dark purple.
All around there were also various specimens of unidentifiable creatures, but the most eye-catching of them all was the large beasts that were completely identical to the ones which recently attacked the Seirende Empire during the hunting event!
They were placed inside large glass aquariums soaked with pale purple liquid. Their eyes were closed as if they were in an unconscious state.
What's more, their numbers not only totaled five or ten… the entire underground laboratory which was quite spacious and seemingly unending, actually housed hundreds of them inside!
"Is this the last batch of our curse puppets?" The Pope glanced at the enormous collection of unidentifiable beasts as he asked the butler.
"Your Eminence, this is supposedly the last. But can still create another batch and distribute it to our warriors before the designated time arrives." The butler patiently informed the Pope.
"En… That would be great. There's nothing wrong with having more puppets." The Pope seemed to have been satisfied with the butler's answer.
"As you wish, dear Pope. I will instruct our people right after this." The butler replied.
They continued their way to the special laboratory and went down another staircase. The special laboratory is right below the first laboratory but it was significantly smaller and more secretive than the ones above.
The entrance also needed to be activated by the Main Temple's crest pendant, which only the Pope, the Paladin, and whoever it was granted for carrying.
When the butler and the Pope entered the special laboratory, the first thing they saw was Rachana who looked quite frustrated as she stared at the other end of the laboratory.
Rachana seemed to have awoken from her angry thoughts and finally turned in the direction of the entrance. When she saw the Pope and the butler she still followed the proper decorum and greeted the two.
The Pope signaled for the butler to leave them be and so only Rachana and he were left in the special laboratory.
"I told you to already not bother extracting information from them." The Pope reprimanded Rachana, who was no longer pale and looking injured. It was as if she never suffered any attacks from the real Paladin.
"I can't help it! Whenever I think that there is a possibility that the Paladin is actually an asani I feel so bothered! But you were already sure that the asanis were already wiped out!
That means that whoever the b*tch paladin is must be someone also created like me!" Rachana angrily shouted.
When she clashed with the real paladin she could never be mistaken for the aura that she carried. While there was no trace of the asani in her appearance and magic, the receptors inside her body immediately reacted as soon as she saw her.
It was as if her receptors became excited and uncontrollable! An excitement one could only feel from seeing their kin!
It turns out, asanis also have a resonance like that of those of Seirende's blood! But somehow it is not as strong as the Seirendes who could sense their kin even a hundred miles away!
"That b*tch is surely an asani. Pope, is there really no other asani left wandering in the other territories?" Rachana's 'black eyes' trembled as she subconsciously bit one of her nails.
The Pope was feeling helpless towards the anxiousness that Rachana felt. In fact, the matter of the real paladin being an asani was totally out of their expectations.
They also did not know that the presence of an Asani will have an influence on Rachana during that time.
Luckily, the paladin appeared to have been gravely injured and could also only escape. With that, the Pope and Rachana were given a chance to know the flaws in her body and managed to address them right away.
However, the fact that the paladin was an asani made Rachana behave oddly. Now she was obsessed with finding her identity and any clues of her existence.
"I have already received a reply from the Vanderford division of the Spectre, it turns out that there was a sighting of an Asani more than a year ago in the Silverdew forest.
They sent some men there, but none of them came back. After that, the signs of the asani also disappeared. What our comrades suspected was that the asani was captive by that madman who gave us periodic reports of his experimentation.
Only then were they sure that the asani in his possession at the time really survived. However, up until now, there were no signs of her in Seirende, nor in other parts of the world.
Besides, some months after the sighting, some merchants started the black hair fashion which made it hard for our comrades to detect who among the women were real asanis and not because of their dyed hair.
It is not like they could perform high-level optic spells on millions of women around Prasinos just to find one who intentionally uses magic to change their eye color!" The Pope retaliated.
Rachana being slapped with the truth remained silent, her eyes were extremely unwilling.
"As for those captives, they are useless because their brains were damaged by a memory-destroying potion the moment they were captured.
It was only after exerting the limits to my gift that I was able to still extract some memories from his mind. But after that, I could no longer read anything after that, no matter how many times I tried." The Pope looked in the direction of the cells on the other side of the laboratory.
"Why keep them alive then?" Rachana asked.
"After we took down the Seirende which is the strongest protector of that person… we can use these people as bait for that… Doctor Kayden!
As soon as he knew that his parents were still alive, he would come out of his hiding and reveal himself!"
