The Seeker | Volume 2

I looked back at everyone in the apartment silently, before opening my mouth.

"Franklyn is a member of the Ebon Veil Syndicate, and from the amplified miracle divination, I'd surmise they operate in the sewer system."

Aizawa suddenly turned to Olive, raising an eyebrow.

"That's why they probably "gave" you the charm, to erase your memory and curse you. You never stated if the charm had memory erasing properties because it already messed up your mind."

Olive nodded hesitantly, running a hand through her blonde-brown hair. 

"I'd say that's a good guess."

Cosette and Arden's eyes stopped glowing and they stumbled back, sweat running down their faces.

"That was a little more effort than I wanted to exert." Arden said as he wiped his forehead. Cosette let out a faint chuckle before looking back at me. "Do you have the Blood Sphere?" she suddenly asked.

I nodded as I waved my hand, conjuring the Golden Blood Sphere from Aaron's lab via extending my spirituality there. The Blood Sphere turned illusory as its surface cracked like glass, and De-Taylel's seal over it disappeared. 

Illusory crimson scorpions crawled off the surface of the Blood Sphere before disappearing into the air. I handed the Blood Sphere to Cosette and the ends of her lips curled up. 

"Arden, we have it now!" She said, her voice filled with evident happiness. 

"We both thank you modestly, we'll keep looking for information regarding the potion formulas and information regarding the Cards of Replication until Monday, then we'll give you an ample update." she telepathically communicated to me. 

The two siblings then left the apartment and headed back to the historical society. I watched them leave before returning my gaze towards the others.

"Before we make any moves, we should recruit some help. Something tells me this organization is a lot more formidable and dangerous then The Nightshades, in size and in sheer strength." I said as I turned back around

"Olive, didn't you say the organization was named The Uzriel Gang? Then why are they named the Ebon Veil Syndicate?"

"That's probably no accident. A secret organization could call themselves whatever they want." Shinso spoke up.

"The Uzriel Gang and the Ebon Veil Syndicate are most likely factions of the same group, each possessing their own unique ideals and ambitions, but they collude for the same overall goal."

Aizawa suddenly realized something and raised an eyebrow, he turned to Olive with some lingering suspicion in his eyes. "How did you know that they were called the Uzriel Gang previously? If the charm erased your memories and you don't recall anything, how were you able to recall such information?"

Just then, Olive took a few steps back away from the rest of us. Her blueish-green eyes softened as they welled up with tears.

"Franklyn and them orchestrated it! I was a member of the Uzriel Gang and was dispatched to learn more about you guys! They noticed you during your fight against Maxwell, the amount of power you showcased astounded them..."

Aizawa's eyes widened. He felt an unprecedented anger, but he also felt a pang of guilt. He couldn't bring himself to blatantly hurt Olive for her "betrayal," she sounded like she was extremely guilty; and this was something that made Aizawa sigh internally. 

The rest of us fell silent as Aizawa took a few careful steps towards the trembling woman. 

"I promise not to hurt you. Sure, everything you've been saying has been a fabrication, but what exactly do they want? What's their goal?"

Olive sealed her mouth shut. "I was told not to tell, they'd kill me..."

Aizawa looked at Olive for a few more moments before sighing.

"Will you at least lead us to them?" he asked softly.

Olive nodded her head, wiping the incoming tears from her eyes. "Y-yeah."

...

I pushed open the sewer drain to where I had previously found Mr. Debois and Ian Vinigrad's deformed bodies, the rest of them followed me down. Olive eyed around with caution, standing by Aizawa's side.

"They usually operate in the shadows, so anywhere where light leaks in is a place where they wouldn't go."

Ling and Palsy also climbed down into the sewer, both holding lanterns. Palsy suddenly turned to Ling and asked in curiosity. "At Order 7 aren't you able to read into people's conversations?" 

Palsy sighed as he lifted his lanturn and turned it on. "Isaac told me needed to initiate a "miracle" in order to do so. But those kids are currently on their shift, so we'd have to locate them the harder way, without the usage of Astral abilities."

"So what are they, vampires?" Shinso said snarkily as he took a step forward into the sewer water, not bothering with the fact that he was soaking his pants and shoes. 

"In a way. At Order 3 and 4; which is what most of the members are at, Stalkers aren't allowed to enter the light or they'll instantly crumble."

"So Franklyn is most likely an Order 5 or 6 if he can project himself up without being burnt to a crisp, that's why he said he needed the Order 4 potion ingredients to advance. Or was that also part of the fabricated conversation?" I asked as I started to walk forward.

"Yes, it was," Olive answered.

As we all continued to walk through the sewers, we noticed an increase in overall width in the area around us, and majestic looking stone columns began to appear frequently, a blatant contrast to the dirty environment of the sewers.

We eventually came across a large portion of the sewer that had completely changed. The stone had changed from rough and dirty to smooth and polished, the sewer water had cut off around this point, and the ambience of running water was nowhere to be heard.

Within the confines of the darkness we saw a blurry figure move around, and a strange symbol etched in a fiery purple began to manifest on the ground in the center of this space.

"I was never told about this space..." Olive muttered as she took a careful step forward.

"You weren't? So, I guess we're in unprecedented territory." Aizawa remarked.

Ling suddenly threw his lantern into the darkness, and the sound of the glass shattering was heard as it echoed through the large chamber. The flames of the lantern escaped its confines, allowing it to spread around the space and give us a better way to clearly see the environment. 

Cattleya, who had remained silent the entire time, finally spoke up. "A ritual site..."

The hooded figure who had created the symbol suddenly fled, running down the hallways of the chamber. Demetruis took out his knife and threw it, allowing the essence of the cosmos to wrap around the person, making them collapse while restrained in cosmic bands. 

Cattleya and Demetruis approached the figure.

"Who are you?" Cattleya asked in a stern voice, pushing up her glasses. The figure remained silent, not budging a single move.

Demetruis suddenly picked up the figure with surprising strength and pulled down their hood, revealing a face with neatly combed back brown-blonde hair, blue eyes and freckles; his eyes seemed to be some small, irregular, and almost dangerous charm...Franklyn.

He suddenly turned his head and caught sight of Olive, and his eyes suddenly filled with malice. He squirmed in the latters grip for a few moments before breaking free and running right for her, his palm erupted with indigo flames.

He swung his hand, turning the flames into a whip entirely composed of the same flames, causing Olive to leap back and remove her shawl, running back at Franklyn and landing a kick to his jaw.

Aizawa watched as the two demon's fought, his eyes locked on Franklyn's patterns of fighting and movement. Even when he was still a pro hero back in his home reality, he always made it titanic to observe his opponents movements, tactics and logic to get a grip on how to feasibly counter them. 

But due to Franklyn being at the level of a demi-god, he moved too quickly for Aizawa to see, landing too many blows on Olive for him to catch a glimpse of his tactics and patterns. Aizawa's anger finally erupted, it coursed through his veins upon seeing Olive get knocked out by Franklyn with a powerful punch to the chest. 

Aizawa leapt at Franklyn with surprising speed, attempting to land a kick on the latter. Franklyn, who had used precognition to catch sight of thus, leapt back to avoid the blow from his side. He spinned around counterclockwise and punched Aizawa in the back with surprising strength, sending him tumbling forward into the stone. 

Franklyn suddenly opened his mouth and let out an animalistic roar that echoed through the chamber. His eyes turned crimson as his arms and legs grew larger, his veins turned iron black and two large horns formed on his head. At the same time, 2 pitch black wings sprouted from his back, each about 3 meters in length. 

Franklyn had now taken the Order 4 Stalker form! Cattleya and Demetrius exchanged glances of fear and trepidation, but they quickly regained themselves and ran towards Franklyn. Carter channeled his knife into a miniature black hole, and Cattleya formed a spear composed of energy in her hand. When the spear and black hole collided, a massive explosion engulfed the area, sending Franklyn back into a wall, a massive crater formed where he had landed. Franklyn roared loudly again, this time it echoed louder, and seemed to have a signal embedded within it. 

Numerous illusory figures formed before Cattleya, a weakened Aizawa and Demetrius. They all wore the same hoods and cloaks, and their eyes glowed with a fiery passion of combat. 

"That roar was most definitely a signal!" Cattleya said as she took out her handgun and began to shoot at the other Ebon Veil members. They leaped out of the way of the bullets, and moved like phantoms across the site. 

In the center of the room where the purple sigil had been conjured, its quickly glowed a fiery crimson red, and tendrils emerged from the sigil, flailing around madly as they entered the Ebon Veil's throats, pumping some sort of viscous liquid into their bodies. 

Numerous black tendrils emerged from their bodies as they suddenly grew taller, their hair turned iron black and grew in length. Their flesh boiled and contracted at the same time, morphing and mutating their bodies.

Aizawa's teeth gritted, and he felt a pang of worry for Olive. He slowly stood up, his eyes locked on the illusory shadow figure that had just manifested from Franklyn's roar.

He grabbed the young woman before running back to the rest of us and laying her down behind us, sealing her off from the danger.

Franklyn, who had now become half crazy, turned towards us and growled with malice. He suddenly let out another roar and flew towards us, his talon like fingernails ready to slash and cause bloodshed.

A bullet was fired, then another, and another! They all worked in unison to distract Franklyn. The bullets had barely penetrated his skin, falling to the stone floor with tiny clanks.

Franklyn's lips curled up as he soured towards Cattleya. I suddenly looked towards the sigil and saw that it began to grow in size, and that the symbol had completely vanished!

A wormhole suddenly emerged from the ritual spot, a vortex composed of flesh and blood. I suddenly remembered what The Umbridge had told me about The Mother of Envy.

She had partial control over her Sefirot, and the people on earth could channel and conduct rituals to enact contact with them! This meant that Franklyn and the other Ebon Biel members were actively drawing over from the Nest of Vulgarity!

I gripped the sun-charm in my hand tightly as I watched the madness ensue. Ling and Palsy leaped forward and drawed their handguns, firing numerous bullets at the illusory figures that had constantly warping flesh and skeleton.

If I could use the sun-charm to potently nullify the nest's effect!