"Don't panic... The people up there were powerful magicians. Our tools may just be having difficulty detecting its presence."

A woman in black robes said calmly to everyone. She confidently showed up at the command center giving off a majestic presence...

Not anyone could just enter here so they immediately glanced at the person who just arrived and was surprised after recognizing her.

She has long white hair and her face was hidden by a white mask. One can see her feline-like eyes that made everyone quickly recognize her identity.

"Grand Sage Maze!"

The director assigned to monitor the status of the space shuttle was stunned seeing this lady. They were aware about her involvement in this project and as a matter of fact, she was the one who trained the three sages in preparation for this big event.

However, this lady wouldn't easily leave her fortress...

"Do we have any vision?" The lady hiding behind her mask ask the director.

"We're working on it now..."

All the staff working at the command center did their best to find or communicate with the shuttle but they failed even after a couple of minutes. This is not a good sign so they immediately looked at the Grand Sage to get more instructions.

They were all worried about the possible outcome.

"There were no signs of debris falling after the explosion... We also couldn't locate them... They must have activated one of the Arcanas that must only be used once they're having trouble on the orbit. Tsk!"

The Arcana she was referring to has the ability to move the entire space shuttle for a few kilometers in just a couple of seconds.

That Arcana was one of a kind and was only made through the help a Mage Tower supplying it with unimaginable amount of high quality mana.

However, it has a side effect of slightly damaging the external armor of the shuttle and few minutes of disorientation of the unfortunate people inside the shuttle...

"Do you think that they've already broken through?"

"Perhaps... I just can't believe that we lost all types of communications with them. The shuttle has many back ups. There's also Mana Spell..."

"Maybe there's a problem using Mana Spell up there... After all, no one had ever cast a spell in outer space..."

"Veda wouldn't lie..."

"But there must be more to it that we weren't aware of.. Haa~ I don't know anymore..."

The director muttered softly as he continued monitoring the command center as they look for any signs of the shuttle's whereabouts.

"Grand Sage, I know that this is hard for you since your three pupils were out there. But I think that you needed rest..."

"I'm fine... I will try to find something on my own so you continue what you were doing here..."

The Grand Sage left as she went to her fortress to find a method on her own. She avoided overexerting it before, but it seems that she had to use everything right now to find the space shuttle...

It was her Mage Tower... The very first and currently the only one here in Zairus.

***

"It was missing? What happened? Avalon, Did you find anything?"

[ I'm connected to the two clan's internal network and they were also finding it difficult to locate the spacecraft. ]

"This... I thought that they made a lot more preparation?"

[ They did. There were two Arcanas boarded together with the five people. The last record they have with them was the sudden explosion and the disappearance of the spacecraft from any device and mana artifact they were using to trace it. They also took notice of missing debris after the exlosion so they were thinking that one of the two life-saving Arcana was activated. ]

Avalon then explained to Ace how the Arcana works and made him convinced that there might really be something more in this incident...

"Have you detected any disturbance to disrupt the communications?"

[ No signs of something similar to electromagnetic pulse that could stop the two clans from detecting the space shuttle. ]

"I guess that's it. They must have a bad luck..."

Ace said as he left the investigation to the two clans and have Avalon keep him updated.

[ Veda is requesting to be connected... ]

The A.I. suddenly announced which startled Ace.

[ Asking permission to complete the link... ]

"Veda? Alright, permission granted... It must have something for us."

[ Hi Ace! I'm worried... ]

"Whoa? You are worried? That's alarming... What happened? Anything that makes you worry was definitely something terrible... Tell me..."

Ace answered curiously as he ignored the fact that an artificial intelligence can actually worry... What a thing to say...

[ Before the disappearance of the space shuttle. I detected some other being who interfered. I'm not fully aware whether it was to save them or it may actually be the reason why this has all happened. ]

"I'm confused... What did you sense?"

[ A Celestial Being... ]

Ace squinted his eyes after hearing this. The Celestial Beings were powerful creatures that doesn't have any affiliations. There was no way of controlling them as per the prince's logbook.

"Wait... Celestials couldn't just leave the northern continent, right? What happened?"

[ Correct. They must have found another way... ]

"That's not fair... Sigh~ What should we do about this? Did you only detected one of them?"

Based on Veda's record, a Celestial will do anything to find a purpose of their existence. They have tendencies to cause trouble and hurt those around them. So he had to find a way to put the creature back to where it belongs.

[ I don't know either... ]

"Sigh~ How did you sense its presence? Where did it come from?"

[ I'm monitoring the shuttle using my own method but a familiar energy that should only be existing in the northern continent blocked my detection magic. ]

"Now, that' promising... In the meantime, I believe that we should inform the authorities."

[ They wouldn't buy it. I'm planning to put the information at my Level 1 Access. ]

"Alright... That seems to be the best."

Ace asked for more details about this and confirmed what kind of trouble they could possibly run into if the Celestial finally acted against human.

[ You'll probably needing some help from 5 or more Grand Sages to survive... ]

"We don't have that many here... Sigh~ Anyway, do you think that there's more of them?"

[ ... ]

[ I just got a hit. ]

"You mean you found something?"

[ Yes. I just found an important clue. There should only be one Celestial and it came from an airship created by Veritas Group. It seems that during Yumi's trip back to the continent one of the Celestials secretly boarded the airship without the crew's knowledge. How careless... ] **