The Other Side

A while earlier:

Kasai was still standing with his arms crossed in front of the watch and counting the seconds, until finally, two hours passed.

He knocked on The Keep's gate, didn't even wait for an answer, and he entered.

The keep was big, as big as a huge hall.

As soon as Kasai opened the door he felt searing hot air sting his face, the heat surprised him for a second but he ignored it and walked forward.

The keep was mostly empty, a big empty hall with a Magic Circle in the middle of it, a desk that had piles and piles of papers on it, and a couple of chairs around the desk.

On the eastern wall, there were many weapons hung, mostly swords and scythes.

On the western wall, there were many Crimson Armors hung.

Phoenix, The Leader of the Crimson Guards, was standing in the middle of the Keep swinging his burning sword that was red with the heat, and smoke was coming out of it.

When he saw Kasai, he sighed and spoke in a bored tone

"What brings you here?"

Kasai was his least favorite subordinate

'Stubborn and troublesome'

Kasai replied in a very respectful tone

"Captain, it's an emergency"

Phoenix stopped swinging his sword

"What kind of an emergency are we talking about here, Kasai?"

"Captain, an Elite Knight didn't return from his mission, we believe that he has been abducted"

Phoenix laughed

"Pffff, an ELITE got abducted? By who? Did he meet Ignatius on the way?"

Kasai felt embarrassed, nevertheless, he continued

"He got abducted while he was on a mission in the Slums"

That caught Phoenix's interest, so he spoke in a serious tone this time

"And how exactly did that happen?"

"While undertaking the mission to uncover the suspicious individual we discussed about, The Purple Saint, one Elite successfully returned, while the whereabouts of the other are unknown.

His partner suggests a significant possibility of his capture or ... even worse."

Phoenix scratched his chin and murmured to himself

"The Purple Saint huh..."

Kasai interrupted his train of thought and said

"Captain, what should we do about it?"

Phoenix sheathed his sword

"I'll take care of it. Kidnapping a Crimson Guard is too much."

"You'll go by yourself? Captain?"

Phoenix nodded

"It's about time I find out who that Purple Saint is, I'll deal with him personally."

"But ... Captain, they're in the Slums!"

"I didn't ask for your opinion, Kasai. Take me to that partner you spoke about."

"Then allow me to come with you! Captain"

"No, I don't want you to come."

" ... Captain, it's an Elite from my department, I can't just leave him."

Phoenix sighed

He knew that arguing with Kasai was futile at this point, so he decided not to waste any time and quickly gave up.

"You can do whatever you want, just DON'T interfere"

"Understood, Captain, please follow me"

Phoenix followed Kasai to his office where Otto and Elio were still waiting in front of the desk.

As soon as the office door opened, both Otto and Elio froze, they sensed Phoenix's intense Aura and immediately recognized it.

Otto stood up and saluted him

"Commander!"

Elio was still frozen in his place

'Ph- Phoenix himself?'

Elio had seen Phoenix in person before, but of course, he never interacted with him

' ... Why is he here?!'

At this moment, Elio genuinely feared for his life.

Otto glared at him to get up, but he remained frozen in place.

Phoenix made his way to him and asked Kasai

"Is this the other Elite?"

Kasai nodded

"Yes Captain"

"Identify yourself, Elite"

Hearing that, Elio exited his trance, stood up, and saluted.

"Commander! Elite Knight Elio at your service"

"Elio, explain what happened."

Elio was nervous, but he was too afraid to defy Phoenix's orders, so he quickly said everything.

After hearing his story, Phoenix asked

"Was he wearing any Emblem?"

"Emblem?"

"An Emblem, a badge, whatever you call it"

He pointed at the red Emblem on his chest

"Like this one"

Elio tried to remember, but most of the time he was following his target from behind, all that he saw was his back, except while he was running, and that time he didn't notice any Emblem.

"I don't think I saw any Emblem"

Phoenix scratched his chin in thought

"What you described sounds exactly like The Darkness Abstract Fiadh uses."

Elio didn't understand what Phoenix was talking about, so he didn't say anything.

Phoenix kept thinking for a while, and he came to a conclusion

'The Purple Saint is much stronger than we anticipated'

He spoke to Elio

"Alright, lead the way"

"The way?"

"Yeah, take me where you think your partner is"

Otto asked

"Commander! What do you need me to do?"

Phoenix waved his hand

"Nothing at all, go back to your office or go back home, whatever suits you."

Phoenix then looked at the still-standing Elio and said

"What are you waiting for, hurry up, lead the way"

"Ah, yes, Commander! follow me please"

Elio led the way and Phoenix walked right behind him, Kasai was walking beside Phoenix.

When they went downstairs, many Elite Knights looked at them with interest, but Elio was just too tense to notice any of the attention he was getting.

Elio led both Phoenix and Kasai to the Base where he and Kye were detected, but the place was desolate.

"We were first detected here"

Phoenix nodded

"Alright, let's just walk around for a bit, they're probably somewhere nearby"

Phnenix's Domain was huge, it covered an area of 300 meters, all he had to do was walk around for a bit and he'd sense them sooner or later.

'If we just find anyone, we can ask them where that so-called Saint is'

Just as Phoenix expected, it didn't take long.

In a couple of minutes, he sensed multiple Soldiers and Mortals, around 30

'Damn, that's an army.'

Phoenix wasn't worried, rather, he was amused.

The small fries weren't what interested him

'This is about to get troublesome'