Upon receiving word from Ram that the investigation group had discovered something, he and the Raven’s Guild leader hurried to his house. There, Aimi gave them both cloaks to cover and blend into the surroundings and two masks, one for each of them to hide their faces.

After wearing the cloaks and putting on the masks, Lakshman activated the teleportation magic connecting them and the first place he marked, allowing himself and Ram to get teleported to it. There were already two people waiting for them, similarly dressed and wearing similar looking masks.

“This way, sir,” one of the masked men said and led the way.

Nodding wordlessly, both Lakshman and Ram followed the two men out of the alleyway and into the streets. The people were so busy and caught up in their own work that they did not notice the four people wearing masks and dark cloaks walking amongst them. Those that did get scared, diverted their attention away as they did not want to get in trouble for spotting troublemakers.

“How are they able to ignore you?” Lakshman asked curiously, glancing around at his surroundings.

“There is a sense of fear in people that, if they were to notice us and report us, then they will be targeted and attacked for seeing us,” explained Ram in a sad voice from behind his mask. “The sad reality was that the government were trying their hardest to hush people about our existence even though a lot of people know.”

“Such cruelty!” The king from another world exclaimed in a low voice.

“I know. It’s sad, but it’s happening, and people are too scared to do anything about it. That’s why the Raven’s Guild was born, not just to help the poor, but to help the innocent fight this oppression.”

Lakshman nodded wordlessly in understanding as they walked through the street and entered another alleyway. They continued walking for a few seconds and turned a corner before arriving at an alleyway with four people there; two being the masked men while the other two looked like civilians.

“Who’re they?” Lakshman asked the moment he reached them.

“One’s a receptionist and the other one’s a doctor,” replied the masked men promptly. “They showed strange behaviour and after we captured them, we managed to get the information you were looking for.”

“I see.”

He turned to look at the doctor first and asked, “Tell me. Do you know about the alien known as Mike?”

The doctor looked at him with glazed eyes like he was not seeing him and replied, “I… I don’t know anyone by that name.”

“Okay. Then, do you know of someone that was admitted to the hospital and was discharged in a matter of days?”

This time, the doctor’s eyes flickered a little before he replied dully, “No. I don’t know of anyone.”

In an instant, Lakshman’s Elemental Sense triggered and alerted him that the person was lying. This made him smile and aim his hand at the man before activating his magic. In an instant, the man was surrounded by a dim golden light that made his eyes droop even lower than before. He was using a magic spell called Speak Truth that made the other person speak only the truth.

With the magic active, he asked the same question again, but this time in an authoritative voice. The man hesitated as the binding magic in his mind keeping him from speaking, but with Lakshman’s magic in place, the alien’s magic failed to stop him.

“Yes. There was a guy who was injured greatly and needed treatment. He showed remarkable recovery within a few days and so we discharged him a few days after being admitted.”

“Yes. That makes sense,” muttered Lakshman, looking thoughtful. “He must’ve used his magic after placing mind control on the hospital staff and healed himself quickly to get out so soon.” Then he looked at the doctor and asked, “Then do you know where he was headed to?”

The man shook his head and replied, “No. He didn’t share us with that detail, but he did make us swear that we must never speak to another soul about this.”

This surprised Lakshman and asked, “What? He didn’t order you to forget?”

“No,” the man simply replied.

“The guy didn’t make them forget? Isn’t that like the easiest thing to do when compared to making them not tell anyone?” Asura asked inside his mind.

“It could be that he lacked the spell to make people forget,” suggested the fairy hopefully.

“That can’t be it!” Asura denied firmly. “It could possibly be that he lacks the power to do it.”

“It doesn’t matter, does it?” The God of Energy, Engraut, asked in a curious voice. “Lakshman, move onto the next person.”

Heeding his words, Lakshman turned to the next person and immediately put her into his magic spell to speak only the truth. When he questioned her, she revealed that a complete stranger had come into the office of the League of Heroes with a hero working for the league.

“I witnessed him placing everyone with authority under his control,” she said dully, and he nodded in understanding. Then he became surprised when she added, “I tried to escape, but he captured me and forced mt to not reveal any of this to anyone.”

“Huh?” Ram asked from beside him, sounding surprised. “D-Did she just say… she tried to escape, or did I just imagine it?”

As they shook their heads, Lakshman replied, “No. She certainly said it, meaning that the alien’s magic over her is weak. Maybe… I can free her.”

He aimed his hand at her head and focused his eyes through the mask that he wore over his face. In an instant, the girl was surrounded by a dim light for a moment before a sound like shattering glass had occurred. She was freed from the mind control and instantly lost all strength in her legs, making her fall forward before one of the men caught her.

With his hand still aimed at her, Lakshman activated Restoration without saying it out loud, causing her body to get surrounded by green light. While she was being healed, she regained some of her vitality and looked surprised before looking at them in confusion.

“Where am I? Who are you people?” She asked nervously, seemingly ignoring the fact that her body was glowing, although, she could feel her strength returning and understood that she was being healed.

“Do you remember anything that has happened before or after being put under mind control?” Ram asked curiously.

“Mind control?” She asked and looked confused. It took her a moment to realise what they meant and said, “Yes…! Yes! I do remember all the events that had occurred. Thank you for freeing me,” she finished by smiling weakly at Lakshman.

“It’s alright, but can you help my friends locate whoever else that were put under that person’s mind control?” Lakshman asked in a serious voice.

She put on a serious expression and replied, “Yes! I’m not sure about everyone, but I certainly know a few. I’ll take you to them.”

“Good,” he said and nodded in agreement.

Just as they turned and were about to let her lead when she suddenly remembered something and said, “Wait! We need to inform the Nine Heroes of Legends! It’s urgent!”

“The nine heroes?” Ram asked, turning and tilting his masked head in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“You see,” she began with her explanation while looking urgent, “a few days ago, we received a mental message from him regarding a search that we were supposed to do to find something that was of strange occurrence in this world. We weren’t sure what he meant, but he said that it held the power to make his master an ultimate existence or something.”

She looked at them imploringly, to which Lakshman chuckled and removed his mask to reveal his face to her. In an instant, she was shocked as she instantly recognised him as the Solaris Hero.

“It’s you! The… The Solaris Hero!” The reactionist said, looking at him in awe. Then she seemed to remember something negative that they must have done to him because she looked sad and said, “I’m sorry.”

“Why?” He asked, looking puzzled.

“You see, a few days back we improved our surveillance system to be able to see through disguises and even through magic that hides one from view. During that time, one of our colleagues under his mind control found a footage of you doing something in the night and took it to the alien’s attention. That’s why, the authorities found you guilty and—!”

“It’s fine,” said Lakshman, cutting her off in mid-sentence. “I know what happened was due to my carelessness, but it’s okay. I’ve learnt an important lesson that even my magic can’t hide me from modern technology. Anyway, lead the way to the remaining people under his control.”

“Yes,” she nodded and moved to the front of to lead the way.

“What about him?” Asked one of the masked men, indicating towards the doctor.

Before Lakshman could say anything, there was a violent explosion occurred from somewhere that caused the ground beneath them to shake violently while people in the vicinity let out screams from fright. The receptionist was shocked and jumped, causing her to stumble back and almost fall before being caught by one of the masked men while the others braced themselves against the unexpecting shaking.

“What happened?!” Ram exclaimed, sounding worried.

Lakshman looked worried too when a thought struck him, and made him widen his eyes in shock. In an instant, he kicked off the ground and soared high into the air to get a better view from there. Once he came to hover, he saw smoke rising from the castle.

“What’s going on?” He wondered aloud.

He focused magic into his eyes and activated Zooming Force, causing his vision to shoot towards the castle at high speed. Once he got a good picture of the castle, he was alarmed when he saw smoke rising from the courtyard, above which was the room that Raze resided in.

“Looks like he beat you to the punch,” said Engraut, who suddenly materialised in his physical form right next to the hero.

“Wait! You don’t mean—?!” Lakshman exclaimed, turning to look worriedly at the God of Energy.

“It’s what you’re thinking,” replied Engruat with a small smile.

However, the look on Lakshman changed to that of horror as he realised the worst-case scenario had happened. He immediately wanted to go there, but then that left the problem of what the group would do down below. So, he quickly came down and informed them of what was happening that shocked them all.

“Alien?! There’s an alien here?!” The receptionist exclaimed, suddenly looking very frightened.

Ram ignored her and said, “Go! We’ll head over to the people being controlled and do something about them.”

But Lakshman shook his head in denial and said, “No! When you go to each of them, make sure to not break their mind control and just knock them out if possible.” When Ram appeared to say something, he forestalled the man and said, “No, Ram. It’s too dangerous to try and break someone’s mind control without either defeating the caster or making the person break it on their own. I’ll explain the reason later, but please don’t forcefully release them form their mind control because the consequences are irreversible!”

The Raven’s guild leader could not understand any of it, but he understood that it would be risky for him to set them free. So, he nodded at him and spoke confidently to him.

“Alright. We won’t free them, and we will knock them out. Is that okay?” When the Solaris Hero nodded, he nodded back in return and said, “Alright! Go now! No time to waste!”

“On it!” Lakshman said firmly.

He surged with power and kicked off into the ground to rocket into the air, flying towards the castle with the cloak billowing behind him. As he flew towards the castle, he could sense energies surging from the castle and understood a battle was occurring there, possibly between the alien and the Royal Guards.

“Let me make it in time…!” He thought and hurried as fast as he could to get there.