Douglas saw several wizards giving him funny looks and cleared his throat. “Name. Tell me his name.”
“It’s Mister ‘Fiery Bone’, sir.”
“Fiery Bone” Felder, a new wizard who attained his level not long ago.
Douglas swallowed his curses back as he couldn’t possibly condemn a wizard of his own organization out in the public. He knew that Felder was always a passionate researcher who would go after any interesting knowledge he could find. It was completely reasonable for Felder to make such mistakes.
“... Keep things under control. I’ll go check him out.”
Several wizards grew visibly stressed when they learned that a wizard had fallen. Silently, they put more effort into their protections.
“Listen, everyone, do not approach him no matter what kind of research you want to do,” Douglas spoke to the others. “Our first priority is to keep the situation—”
The guard from earlier returned again and interrupted Douglas. He was almost crying for some reason. “Sir-sir! Mister Felder is unleashing his attacks everywhere! And he’s too strong! There are wizards who got their protection breached and the spots had taken them!”
Douglas lost his balance and stumbled backward several steps.
As someone experienced in battles and wars, he knew that their defensive line would break apart faster and faster at this rate until all wizards were overwhelmed.
He looked at Payne, who showed a similarly grim look.
Payne considered and said in a cold tone, “Gather everyone who is not affected and send them to Monsoon Sector.”
“Monsoon Sector?” Qetesh frowned. “But all critical infrastructures of Sleepless City are located there. Are we going to allow outsiders to see them?”
The “Monsoon Sector” was the core of the inner city where important facilities such as intelligence repositories, spell research halls, and resource storages were built. This forbidden zone was constantly protected by a large-scale magic array called the Curtain of Night.
“Sleepless City is not lost yet, but letting all wizards die will enrage the other organizations and bring doom to us. If someone attempts to get their hands on our resources, I’ll personally kill them!”
Payne originally planned to enter the darkness so that he could compare his strength against Sunders’ strength. But now, he could no longer do so since there were more pressing matters at hand.
There was another reason for his decision. As the very core of Sleepless City, Monsoon Sector had a secret passage that led toward the underground. In the worst-case scenario, he could take the wizards to safety so that Sleepless City wouldn’t become the enemy of all organizations.
He would ask Qetesh to take all the wizards away while Douglas should collect all the resources stored in Sleepless City. In the meantime, Payne would remain at the front line since he was the strongest wizard on the scene. He had to make sure that the affected wizards did not drag any more members into their ranks.
He stood at the entrance of the Monsoon Sector and gazed at the six “clownish wizards” who commanded an army of clownish apprentices.
When he entered his seclusion session one week ago, the Sleepless City was still prosperous and bright.
And it became a complete nightmare so fast...
“Mister Payne, Doctor Anglo is here.” A wizard from the Tower of Hurricane approached him.
Payne looked around and saw two figures showing up from a dark street. The only street lamp and the dark ambiance in the area extended their shadows eerily long.
Anglo was still wearing that black uniform and gold-rimmed glasses while Douglas, in his city uniform, accompanied him.
“Payne, I’ve carried all books, scrolls, and important files into the Sorcerer’s Garden,” Douglas spoke through their Spirit Bond.
Payne nodded and looked at Anglo. Since time was of great essence, Payne would get straight to the point. “Is there a way to deal with the light spots?”
Anglo did not give him a straight answer. “Mister Payne, according to the strings of the world, something similar happened not long ago.”
“Really?” A wizard nearby looked his way. “I never heard of it!”
Anglo adjusted his glasses and continued, “It took place at Midnight Sovereign. I don’t know the details, but speaking of Midnight Sovereign... people from Brute Cavern might be able to tell us something—”
He suddenly stopped talking as he looked around in confusion. “Huh... did Mister Phantom leave?”
Several more wizards began to wonder where Sunders went.
“Mister Phantom has gone into the darkness, together with his student,” said Payne.
Everyone remained silent. They believed Sunders had a good reason to do such a thing; it was probably related to the Mystery item that everybody was thinking about.
Still, no one had the courage to follow Sunders’ steps.
“Yeah, perhaps we should ask Brute Cavern.”
The speaker was “Whipping Witch” Rak’sel, who had sent many of her students into the outer city so that she could seize the Mystery item before everyone.
“If I remember correctly, we have more than one wizard from Brute Cavern here.”
Following her words, the other wizards glanced at a chapel-like structure not far from them. On the balcony on the top floor, a wizard in red wizard robe was spacing out while gazing at the “Curtain of Night” barrier, which had kept them safe.
“Hey Filo, do you know what Mister Phantom is doing?” Rak’sel leaped into the air and reached Filo’s side. She then gave Filo an alluring wink.
Filo did not fall for the witch’s attractive aura and backed away slowly. “How should I know anything about Mister Sunders’ plan? And why should he tell you about it?”
“You’re quite right, Mister Filo,” said Payne. “However, you should at least tell us what happened to Midnight Sovereign. This will likely determine the future of Sleepless City. Many organizations have their people as victims here, and we need to give them a reasonable answer.”
Filo saw everyone staring at him and decided to comply. There were also apprentices from Brute Cavern wandering around. Helping them meant helping his organization.
“Yes, Midnight Sovereign was once invaded by something alike. But the incident was perfectly solved later. Mister Payne, you should know that the affected will not necessarily die. While the light spots controlled their bodies, when we remove them, the victims will in fact receive physical enhancements.”
We can remove the spots from their bodies? The listening wizards wondered.
Filo’s words were like casting sunlight to a clouded sky. Payne also felt greatly relieved. As long as people could be saved, they still had hope.
However, what Filo said next snuffed out their hope.
“I don’t know how to remove them though.”
“Then what’s the point of telling us? Who knows how to remove the light spot?”
Filo sighed helplessly. “As far as I know, there are only two people who can do it. Mister Phantom and his student, Angor. But as Mister Payne said, both of them have gone into the darkness, so...”
People all shook their heads in distress. They couldn’t possibly go look for Sunders at this moment.
But this was still better than nothing. Since an apprentice could deal with the situation, many wizards believed that they could as well.
Apart from these, Payne was wondering about another matter.
“Mister Filo, can you give us more details regarding what happened in Midnight Sovereign?”
...
Angor had been waiting in Sunders’ gravity garden for a while. He was anxious to learn the situation outside, but he couldn’t.
Thankfully, Sunders placed him at the “outdoor library” so that he could kill time by reading books or educational magazines. And if he didn’t feel like reading, he had Toby with him.
About an hour later, he suddenly felt someone’s spirit power wrapping him up.
His vision went blurry for a while. When he could see again, he found himself standing in a narrow and dark stone house. A single lit candle was placed nearby, while Sunders was leaning against a wall.
Angor smelled blood coming from the body of his teacher.
“Are you hurt, sir?”
Sunders waved Angor off when the boy wanted to check him. “Nothing serious. It’s almost healed. I called you out because I have an important question to ask.”
Angor saw the gentleman’s stern look and also put up his serious attitude.
“Have you ever heard the name ‘Yorkshire’?”