"I am so so happy we can finally talk this time! It felt like an eternity waiting to see you again…", Amelia said, smiling strangely at Lucen.
"Who the hell are you…?" Lucen, on guard, took a few steps back.
"Lady Amelia, what are we going to do? All of the Azaroth's are here.", the man behind Amelia whispered.
"Don't worry about that. I have something more important right in front of me…"
Amelia stepped forward, getting closer to Lucen. "Don't you remember? It's only been four nights since we last saw each other…"
"I'd think I would remember a face like yours…"
Amelia stood in front of Lucen and reached out her hand towards his face. "Ah… you're so—"
Before Amelia's hand could touch Lucen, a purple energy beam blasted right past her face causing her to back up.
"You will not lay one finger on him." Vonica walked up, pointing her gun at Amelia with Sana behind her.
"Tch– How annoying." Amelia clicked her teeth, angrily.
~Meanwhile in the Distance~
"ARGGHH!"
Lia moved the tip of Aegis' blade slowly across the shadow of the stray devil, using her demonic energy as a light to see the shadow.
"I will ask you again. How did you make it to the surface?"
The stray devil panted heavily as blood spilled from his chest. "It was… urgh… a woman… She helped me…"
Lia thought to herself. This woman… The last one mentioned her as well. What is her goal working with all of these stray devils?
"Next question. What did you do with the missing people?"
"They're… dead. The woman… She asked me to… collect bodies and give them to her… in exchange for… ughh… helping me escape."
"I see." So this woman is using stray devils to kill humans… For what though?
"Last question. Who is the woman you're working with?"
"I… can't tell you– GRGHH!!"
Lia pressed the tip of Aegis against the shadow of the stray devil, piercing his body slowly but making sure not to kill him.
"I will not ask you again, who is the woman you are working with?"
Meanwhile in the distance, Lucen stood behind Vonica, who held her pistol pointed at Amelia while Sana and the man with Amelia stood on guard.
"You have quite the nerve showing your face after what you pulled last time, Amelia.", Vonica said sternly.
Amelia…?
"Aww that's not fair! You know it's nothing personal… Your sister has something Oran wants and as long as she has it… Well…."
"Yet your boss refuses to take it upon himself to show up and take it on his own."
"He's quite the busy man, you see."
"Hey Vonica, who is she?", Lucen whispered.
"Amelia Kumore, right-hand of Oran Kumore, Patriarch of the Kumore Family. A Family who has been giving us trouble for quite some time."
"She was saying some strange things earlier, like she knows me…" And why is she looking at me like a dog staring at a piece of steak.
"Anything she tells you, please take it with a grain of salt."
"We only wanted to negotiate but you do make it pretty difficult when you're so hostile…", Amelia said. The entire time, she hadn't looked at Vonica once, but kept her eyes locked on Lucen.
"We have all the reason to be. Now I would kindly advise you to leave this park. Surely you do not expect to take on all of us with just the two of you?"
"Lady Amelia, I believe we are in a disadvantageous situation here. It wouldn't be wise to push them any further. Besides, we already got the information we needed and that boy's abilities still remain a mystery.", the man next to Amelia whispered to her.
Amelia continued looking at Lucen for a bit longer before sighing. "Fine… Let's go. I promise we will meet again soon, my savior... Bye!"
Amelia and the man turned back and vanished into the dark.
Savior? What the hell…
"Grrr, I hate her face!"
"You can relax now, Sana. She is gone. We should return to Lia.", Vonica said as she released her pistols. In an instant, they vanished into small purple particles.
"No need. The strays' dead." A voice came from behind them and out came Lia, walking out from the inside of the park, scythe gone and no sign of the stray devil.
"What was Amelia here for?"
"Strangely, not for the same thing. She left surprisingly compliantly. Did you learn anything from the stray devil?", Vonica asked.
"We'll discuss it back home. Let's head back."
~A While Later~
The group gathered around Lia's desk as she sat down.
"There's someone helping these stray devils get into Velstrea. A woman. The stray at the park didn't give me much but he mentioned that she called herself En. I don't know if that's her real name or an alias. The stray also had no clue what she looked like so we don't have much to go off of besides that name."
"Did you find out what happened to the missing people?", Lucen asked.
"The stray killed them. He handed their corpses over to En or more so, left them in a certain place at the park and the bodies shortly vanished afterwards."
"I reckon if we follow each pop-up of a stray devil in Velstrea, we'll get closer to her but it does seem like she hides her identity very well.", Vonica said.
"Then any request we receive, we'll have to jump on it!", Sana added.
"That's all we can do for now. Alright everyone. Good work tonight. Get some rest and we'll discuss this more tomorrow."
Sana and Vonica exited the lounge but Lucen stayed behind.
"Lia, can we talk?", Lucen asked as Lia cleaned up her desk of papers and notebooks.
"Did you need something?"
"I was just wondering about that woman, Amelia. She called me her savior."
"Amelia can be… unpredictable. We'll most likely run into her again sometime soon but don't let her and her tricks get to you."
"I see… I'll be careful then."
"Anything else?"
"Nope, that was all. Good night, Lia."
"Good night."
Lucen walked out of the lounge room and Lia finished cleaning her desk. She sighed heavily and slumped into her chair. She then opened a compartment under the desk and took out a small black box with a strange lock on it. She pressed her finger against the lock and it opened. She reached into the box and pulled out an intricate, circular pendant and a key. The pendant was black and red with ancient-looking sigils surrounding it. On the middle of the pendant was a mold, the same shape as the key that was pulled out with it.
Lia traced her fingers around the pendant. I won't let anyone take you… I promise. No matter what anyone tries.