San Francisco, California, United States

Veritas, Tetrax, Aria and Hiatus stepped out of the Gate and arrived in the Transitional Dome of San Francisco. Welcoming them were dozens of hunters in military outfits and summoners clad in their armors.

" Captain Veritas, we have prepared everything." a hunter approached the team." The car is ready. It'll be less than 6 minutes to your jet."

Veritas nodded at the hunter before leading the group towards the automobile. His phone rang as soon as they got into the car. Cautiously staring at Tetrax, he picked up the call.

During the call, the other three grew more restless as they witness his complexion turn paler and paler, his hand and face sweat profusely and his grip on the phone tighten. When the call was over, he sat in shock, and did not bother putting the phone away.

" What happened?" asked Tetrax.

" Hamilton," Veritas frowned."He's dead."

The news put all of his companions in a trance. Words got stuck in their throats.

" Not a natural dead," Veritas went on." He was...assassinated. A killing spell was implanted in his heart. The summoners, they only focused on his brain. They neglected other body parts."

" Jake, he must be devastated." Aria said, shaking her head." This is too much."

" All the summoners there are devastated." said Veritas." Dessina wasted no time spreading the news. The whole Summoner Community must have known."

" This has gone beyond what I expected." said Tetrax." It was supposed to be just a chase after a turn. Well, a special turn. But still...."

Hiatus' phone rang, and everyone turned their attention to the device. These days, it was only sensible of them to associate phone call with omens. And they were not wrong.

Hiatus answered the call with hesitance.

" Hello?" said he.

" Hiatus, where are you?" asked Jake with a grave voice.

" San Francisco. With Aria, Veritas and another hunter," Hiatus glanced at Tetrax." We have located Wander, and are going to where he is."

A brief silence occurred.

" Turn on the speaker," said Jake."I want others to know what they're dealing with."

The four gave one another nervous looks. They knew what they were about to hear would not be uplifting.

" Hiatus, Aria, this is going to be hard on you two, but, Wander, he is not who you think he is."

With a broken voice, Jake informed the hunters of everything he had discovered. Veritas listened with his face slowly twisting into a grimace of disturb. Tetra's body got all tense. Hiatus and Aria just stared at the phone like it was the most abominable existence ever existed and found themselves unable to react to the news. Invisible hands grabbed their hearts and squished them as hard as possible.

As if realizing that he was overwhelming the hunters, Jake stopped. A long moment of silence elapsed for the news to sink in.

" I hate to be the one to reveal all this," Jake went on." But I know you deserve to know the truth. It is very likely that your childhood friend is the demon lord himself."

Another brief silence surfaced. They all swallowed hard.

" It's a mess back at the institution," said Jake." Chaos. The conflict between hunters and summoners have worsened. I..I'm really worried. The contest, I'm afraid it's only the beginning. You two, wherever you are heading, please be careful. Things are goings to be quite nasty over there."

The sound of Jake hanging up was amplified by the silence engulfing the four. They lost their awareness of the outside world.

When the driver opened the car door to announce they had reach the jet, he only saw four motionless figures staring at Hiatus' phone in complete bewilderment.

______________________________________________________________________________

Aria let the driver guide her all the way to the jet. She lost all the will to move her body. She did not bother observing the jet. She wanted to go home and bury herself in a long sleep. She wanted to close her eyes then open them, to find Wander standing in front of her telling her " it was all a dream".

As Aria stepped on the steel ladder leading into the jet, a series of cold "thud" sound harmonized with her heartbeat and her footsteps. Her body dropped on the armchair closet to the passenger door like a soulles doll, her mouth half open. She forgot to blink.

Just one month ago, she could see the future beckoning sweerly. Now, she dared not to think about it, let alone see it. She had thought her world was finished when she discovered Wander's demonization. Now, she truly felt the end. This moment, all she could see was an ivory armchair and the window shut tight behind it. She could only bring herself back to reality when Hiatus sat down in the armchair, his hands on its armrests. He stared at her, and she stared back.

"What do you think? Maybe we should have turned him in?"

Aria's lips trembled. It took her all of her strength to reply. " He could have been killed."

Hiatus's gaze became so sharp she felt it cut her skin. She had never seen him use that gaze ever since that day, the day when Wander framed Jonathan. Even when learned of Wander's turn, his gaze was nowhere near as sharp. The gaze of rage and disgust. His eyebrows did not help.

" I'm sorry, okay? But how am I supposed to know that he's the freaking demon lord? How am I supposed to know Samundo could return that soon?"

Hiatus said nothing. His gaze persisted.

Aria shook her head, her hands covering her face." This is not how it's supposed to be. We were supposed to graduate together, get a job, live our life in peace before Samundo even gets a chance to return. We were supposed to, we were supposed to... "

Before she knew it, her sobbing had replaced her voice.

" We can still fix this." said Aria as she wiped her tears.

Hiatus tilted his head and narrowed his eye.

" Our goals will not be any different. We find him and ask for the truth. I need to hear it directly from him. I want to hear him say it."

Aria clenched her fist. If her world would truly break, then she would want to see the end with her own eyes.

____________________________________________________________________

Tetrax stared at the two young Hunters, and felt sorry for them when she noticed the lifeless expression on their faces. She to some extent could sympathize with them.

Aware that any word of comfort would just prove to be counterproductive, she left them alone and went searching for Veritas. The councilman was two cabins away. Other hunters were with him. They all sat in front of computers with their headphones on and paid no attention to her presence. Veritas was talking on the phone. She knew on the other end was Alados. It just could not be any more obvious.

" Yes, that is the coordinate, sir. And this Wander may be more than we bargained for. Please deploy as many troops as possible to Fulish's domain." said Veritas with his back leaning against a door.

Tetrax waited for him to finish the call before approaching him. He was so lost in thought he failed to realize her coming.

" Bah!" she shouted, starling him.

" Tetrax? What the..."

" You were too serious. I was trying to liven you up." said she after letting out an innocent laughter." And was that Alados?"

He stared at her with cautiousness.

"It's irrelevant to you."

" I guess you're right. Say hi to him for me."

" I suggest that you refrain from your carefree attitude. We are in a serious situation here."

She gave no reply and just shrugged at Veritas' remark. When she turned her back to him and was about to leave, he called out.

" You called my name, back then at Swordgrave." said he without looking at her.

" Yes, I did. What's wrong?"

" You know me?"

" Captain, you're on TV like five times a week. Of course I know you."

" No, do you know me personally?"

Tetrax shook her head.

" I see. Sorry for wasting your time."

For a moment, there was something in Veritas' voice that made it tempting for Tetrax to tell him the truth, but her rationality, or perhaps a more ardent feeling overwhelmed her desire to go back to the past. To her, Veritas was living in a different world, and what once had been, no matter how heartening, seemed meaningless.

" Hey." She broke the awkwardness." Was it wise to send hunters to the domain of a level 7? This can be treated as a declaration of war."

" With Samundo there, I don't think neither Fulish or the summoners will bother with us. They have a bigger enemy to worry about."

" That is if Samundo is really there" said Tetrax.

" What do you mean?" Veritas said, turning to her.

" I mean we can be wrong and Samundo may not be there. That's a possibility. We still don't have any concrete proof that Wander is the demon lord. Who knows, it may as well be a coincidence that he was left in the forest right after Samundo was defeated."

" What kind of cheap coincidence is that? Need I remind you every single hunter was evacuated from the city back then? And I'm more than sure none of the soldiers brought a baby with them. Besides, even if it's coincidental, we can still use the his demonization as an excuse to get access to the domain. We also have Maria: she's with Samundo, and she's associated with Wander. There is a link."

" Whatever you say." Tetrax shrugged, then left the cabin.

She intended to walke back to the first cabin, but the desire to be alone kicked in.

" Weird. Wander tried to escape before. Without Maria. And the beasts tried to capture him. If he is Samundo...Is there a third force here?" She thought.

Her phone rang. She opened the new message." No matter what you have to do, bring the turn to us. He is too dangerous to be on his own. Just keep him barely alive, if he shows resistance."

" He can be Samundo. I can't take the lord." She texted back.

" You can. Just be quick, before his power returns."

" If I fail?"

There was no reply, no matter how long Tetrax waited.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Xixin's Institution had never experienced such turmoil. Outside the campus, hunter protestors threw rocks, cans, tools and even their own clothes at the school buildings, demanding to confront summoners. Even though many had left due to Hamilton's death, still a great number remained. Within the buildings, summoners were also protesting, urging hunters to let them leave the institution and accusing them of letting this crisis happen with their negligence. The authorities of both species tried their best to keep both sides from getting into contact for fear of an outburst of violence, thus the whole campus was locked down, preventing both exit and entry.

Dessina stood in front of Scientia, frowning in disgust as she contemplated the situation. She shook her head at the crowds of hunters shouting outside the school campus. What surprised her was that none of them had jumped over the fence and charged at her. Still. they did manage to throw the most hateful words they could think of. She wished people could, at times like this, exert better control of their emotions.

Hamilton's death was a great loss to both hunters and summoners, but instead of crying or mourning, Dessina turned his death into a media stunt, trying to win some favor and sympathy for her species, and she succeeded. At least for now summoners would not be looked upon with total hatred. Soon, Hamilton's wife and children would arrive, and their tears, their mourning and their pain-stricken expressions would have an even greater impact, and Dessina was certain summoners would gain the support of various sensitive and empathetic hunters.

The approaching footsteps of a summoner interrupted her thoughts.

" Miss Dessina, Sir Hamilton's body has been preserved." said her subordinate." And we have successfully made contact with High Grandmaster Vivien. The orb is ready."

Dessina nodded as she took the orb in her subordinate's hand. She hold it close to her mouth.

" Can you hear me, old lady?"

" Hear you, hear you, Dessina. You don't sound as tired as I expected."

" I'm used to this kind of situation. Any news?"

" Some. Our investigation into Maria Gwendolyn paid off. The name is quite rare, so lucky us. There are several people in history who had that name, but most were common folks. One was a famous baker. They had nothing in common, except one: death."

" Doesn't sound like a pay-off." Dessina said.

" True. What's that noise? You're still at Xixin's? That Veritas kid hasn't let the summoners go?"

" No. The council maniac threatened me. Can you tell Alados to do something?"

" I'll take care of it later. Alados and I are not very friendly recently. Well, it's not like we have ever been friendly. That aside. another thing you should know: Fulish made contact with us hours ago."

" Fulish? That Fulish?" Dessina raised her voice.

" Is there any other Fulish with such a foolish name? Yes, King of the West, the Lightning Brat. First times in centuries he contacted us, and he brought us bad news: his island is under attack. From demons."

" The demons could enter that place? This is getting dangerous. He's asking for help?"

" Of course. He revealed to us the coordinate. Can you believe it? I already sent heaps of summoners there. Hah, it will be much fun."

" Heaps? Specifically?"

" One hundred. They will rock his island."

" I just hope that when they arrive, the island is still there to be rocked."