"... is a friend, isn't that right, G?"

His low voice was muffled by the mysterious yellowish mist hovering over his mouth, preventing it from going out.

"What are we going to do about that bitch Eveline? She's very dangerous," asked the other woman in the room.

The group had been talking for a while. It was mostly their plan to overthrow the mayor, which didn't sound quite solid yet. They were stuck in a dead-end because the mayor's faction was more powerful than their group and even with their strength combined, they wouldn't be able to do much. Not to mention the Police that would definitely back up the mayor since he was still legally in position.

"Eve is indeed another problem we have to face. But we really can't do anything for now unless she's out of the picture. But at least the mayor has lost his most trusted driver, hasn't he, Danny?"

The man nodded firmly.

"Let's see if we can sway whoever is his next driver to come to our side. Sara and Felix, you're on it," ordered the tour guide, looking at the other woman and the man standing next to her.

Sara and Felix looked at each other then back at the tour guide. They nodded simultaneously.

"Then that concludes our today's meeting," she then added, "You'll know when we'll meet again,"

Most of the participants nodded, but Danny seemed to be wanting to say something. The tour guide noticed his restlessness and approached him.

"Danny, what is it?" she asked kindly.

Without hesitation, the bodyguard replied with impatience in his voice, "So are we not going to take action?!"

"No. As much as I want to, we really cannot, for now, unless a miracle happened. Please don't do anything reckless, we need you in this," she spoke as she tapped his left shoulder. Her voice was gentle and it had a somewhat soothing effect.

Danny's clenched fist loosened up as he relaxed. The woman's words managed to convince him.

In the corner of the room, concealed behind the yellowish mist, Valentine was leaning against the wall, observing everything that had transpired there. His arms were crossed in front of his chest while his expression was calm.

"Maybe we can help these people out by dealing with Eveline, whom I guess is the Shroud secretary," he muttered, "But we don't know what these people's motives are, so we shouldn't get involved more than that,"

His goal happened to be in line with the group's, so Valentine didn't mind lending a little hand from the dark.

Once the tour guide had ended the meeting, everyone left the small house one by one, with around a minute gap in between. When it was Danny's turn to leave, Valentine quickly followed the man out into the woods enveloped in fog.

The way Danny walked was calmer than before, but the pace was still the same. His broad back quickly traversed through the dark wood without much difficulty despite him not having any night vision, based on the Deities he was in a contract with. The man must have gone that way many times so he knew the path well.

Once they were back in the street, about fifteen minutes later, Valentine got ready to take action. He quickly and sneakily dashed ahead of Danny using a different path. Using the Transformation stored in Purloin, he turned himself into the mayor and undid all the concealments shrouding himself. After that, he put concealment to cover his body, effectively hiding the different clothes that he was wearing. The mayor's secretary was a Shroud, so the mayor showing up with Concealment could be believable.

Walking slowly towards the bodyguard, Valentine let out a sinister smile that belonged to the mayor of Hoorn.

Danny was shocked to see the mayor, smiling, come from behind the fog. He wanted to look around to make sure the other members of the gathering weren't there but he held back. Doing so would make him look even more suspicious.

"Mr. Krammer? Why are you here alone?" asked Danny, trying to hide the mixture of anger and fear in his heart.

"Danny, oh Danny..."

Valentine's voice was full of pity-- it was like he was talking to a beggar or an orphan.

"You think you can betray me without consequences? Tsk... Tsk... Tsk..." Valentine clicked his tongue.

"I-I don't know what you mean, Mr. Krammer?" he tried to sound innocent, but his voice wavered.

Valentine mumbled something and suddenly, Danny's consciousness faded. He stood there with a blank expression; his eyes were staring at the great nothing before him. He had fallen under Valentine's interrogation!

"There really is nothing I want to ask you,"

Approaching the unconscious man, Valentine reached into his pocket and grabbed the man's wallet. According to Graham's divination, his most precious belonging was the photograph of his family, which was also the last remaining photograph he had of his father.

Danny treasured the photo so much that he carried it everywhere. It was also the photograph that would brighten up his mood whenever he felt down since his father was a model figure for him. The photo reminded him of the happy times they had spent together when they were still very young.

Valentine put the wallet back but kept the photograph in his hand. After that, he broke the Interrogation affecting Danny and the poor man snapped back into reality.

Drops of red blood fell onto the paved ground and an illusory orange curtain descended slowly as if it was marking the stage of a grand show. In the silent world of fog, suddenly a sound of eerie footsteps could be heard, and the mayor became blurry.

"Hold him down!" ordered the fake mayor.

Danny quickly looked around and noticed that Lucas and another man had appeared from behind the fog. They did as the mayor ordered and pinned the man's body down on the ground. Lucas then pulled Danny's hair and forced him to look at the mayor, who was crouching in front of him now.

"Danny, look what I've got here," said Valentine innocently, like a child wanting to show his new toy to his friend.

Danny's eyes were looking with hatred at the mayor whose body was covered in a strange mist. He was struggling to break free from the restrain, but he couldn't. After all, he was a rank lower than Valentine.

On the spot where Lucas was holding him, Danny could feel something wet dropping onto him, but it quickly evaporated into nothing.

The mist covering the mayor slowly disappeared, revealing the suit that he had always worn and the cane that was laid on the ground. In his left hand, instead of the book, there was a photograph that Danny was very familiar with. It was a photograph of his family!

"You bastard!! When did you steal it?! Give it back!!"

Danny's struggle became fiercer, but 'Lucas' was pinning him down as strongly as he could. The liquid dropped even faster onto Danny and evaporated in an instant.

There was only a depraved smile on the mayor's face.

"Danny, what punishment do you think fits a traitor like you? Death? Too easy. Torture? Too kind..." the fake mayor was pondering, all the while holding the photograph against the struggling bodyguard.

"What if I just take everything precious to you and leave you in this world all alone. And whenever you find someone else, I'll destroy them as well!" the mayor's voice was full of confidence like he was just stating facts.

"Fuck you, Krammer! You'll burn in hell!" Danny spat on the mayor's face.

"That's the spirit!" he smiled creepily, "Let's start with this,"

The 'mayor' took out a lighter from his pocket and held the photograph above it. With a flick, a flame came out of the lighter and latched itself onto the photograph, burning it slowly.

The fire was reflected in Danny's eyes, as well as deep hatred towards the man in front of him. He violently shook about, trying to break free, but 'Lucas' wasn't giving in. Danny was still pinned down helplessly on the ground, watching the only photograph of his father being consumed by the flame.

"KRAMMER!! STOP!! STOP IT!!"

He screamed and shouted from the top of his lungs, but nothing happened. The flame kept on burning the photograph until it turned into nothing but ashes.

"Let that be a lesson to you. And I still expect you to come to work tomorrow,"

The 'mayor' then picked up his cane and stood up before walking away from Danny. He disappeared into the fog before Lucas did the same. He and the other guy walked into the fog and disappeared, leaving Danny, who was heartbroken and enraged, alone in the street.

The bodyguard frantically gathered the ashes of the photograph and sat there motionlessly, shrouded by the night fog.

Meanwhile, in the distance, Valentine was massaging his wrist.

"That man is really strong. I hope when I get stronger my Illusion can physically hold people down..."

...

In an abandoned factory far from the city center, two people, a man and a woman, were walking down the stairs towards the dark basement. The man was tall and big with a domineering aura while the woman had a mysterious atmosphere around her. They were walking in the dark as if it was nothing.

"Eve, have you seen Wiebe all day?" asked the man curiously.

"No, He must just be busy taking care of his mother. The sooner we kill that useless mother of his, the easier it will be for him to do whatever we say,"

The woman's voice resounded in the dark. It was a beautiful, mature voice, but the tone was that of a seductress.

"We can't do that now. We still need the mother to some extent to control him. Be a little patient, Eve. Everything will go according to our plan," replied the man assuringly.

"If you say so, Hank," she said, looking passionately at the man with her pair of bright yellow eyes that glowed in the dark.

"Do something about your night vision. They're too eyecatching," said the man coldly.

The yellow glow in her eyes then disappeared, replaced by a pair of beautiful light green eyes that looked like corals in the ocean.

"I'm sorry. I lost control if I get excited,"

They arrived at thick metal doors that seemed to be locked, although there were no visible locks nor latches on the doors. The sturdy doors stood tall in the dark, preventing entry to anyone who didn't have the right ability to open them.

The man stood in front of the doors with both hands resting on the cane that he was carrying. He opened his mouth and began chanting.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Domination and Order, declare that every locked heavy metal door must be open!"

The heavy metal doors began moving apart from each other in a dragging manner. The loud sound pierced the ears and resounded in the dark and quiet night. Once the door was open, the room beyond it was revealed.

The room behind the metal doors was more like a dungeon instead of a room. There were bars and cages where people were locked behind. On the right, there were a total of eight jail rooms, with five people inside while on the left there were a total of then jail rooms, and all of them were filled up with a person each.

"Eve, which one is ready?"

In the dungeon, nobody dared to make a sound. The moment they heard the door being opened, all of them stayed away from the bars, curled up in the corner for safety. The people looked dirty and unkempt, but for some reason, they didn't look sick. In fact, all of them seemed healthy and properly fed.

"This one right here should be ready. He was a thief and I heard the hands of thieves are in high demand right now,"

The man and the woman were standing in front of the second jail on the left, and the male teenager inside was cowering in fear. The man called Hank fished out keys from his pocket and unlocked the jail. After that, the woman entered it.

"Stay away from me! Stay away!" the teenager shouted frantically as if the woman was a monster.

"Shh... don't make a noise," she put her index finger in front of the lips, shushing the teenager.

She walked closer and closer while displaying her long, sharp nails as a threat. If the teenager were to do anything reckless, those nails would be the last thing he felt inside his throat.

The moment she was close enough, she used her both hands to force the teenager to look at her straight in the eyes. After that, she muttered.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Lies and Attraction, declare that you are in love with me!"

The teenager's tense expression loosened up. After that, the big man entered the jail room and held a book in front of him. After giving the teenager a pen, he told him to write something.

"Write right here that you will genuinely feel thankful to me or, as a consequence for failing to do so, you will do as I, Hank Krammer, say for the rest of your life.

The teenager was reluctant to write anything in the book, but the woman whispered something in his ears, and he began writing it out of his own volition. Once the teenager finished writing what the man asked, a sinister smile surfaced on the man's face.

"You failed to do your end of the contract, so from now on, you will do as I say!"

There was fear on the teenager's face as his eyes reflected inexplicable horror. He lost control over his own body and couldn't do anything besides the bare necessities to keep himself alive. He wanted to scream and run but his body wasn't listening to him.

"Now follow me," said the man to the teenager, who then turned his attention to the woman, "Discipline the others here. They need to learn some manner,"

The woman smiled meaningfully.

"With pleasure, Hank,"

The man called Hank then left the jail room, followed by the teenager in a robotic manner. He tried very hard to regain control over his body but he couldn't. For the rest of his life, which he didn't know how long, he would have to do as the big man in front of him said, and it filled his heart with terror.

As the man and the teenager left, the woman stood in the aisle between the jail rooms and began laughing maniacally.

"Teeheehee! Did you hear the mayor? He wants me to discipline you dogs. Get ready! Teeheehee!!"

She took out a whip from under her tight dress and began walking very, very slowly towards one of the jail room where a young man was locked in.

From outside, the sounds of screaming, begging, and crying were heard. There were also the sounds of creepy laughter and whipping mixed in the midst. The night was young, and the torture continued on until what felt like forever for the prisoners.