Chapter 3855: Breach of Trust (Part 2)

"She’s missed her aunties a lot. Isn’t that right, sweetie?" Lith asked.

"Yah!" Elysia nodded while looking around. "Auie So?"

"Auntie Zor couldn’t make it, pumpkin, but she’ll be here soon. I promise." Bytra focused on Elysia’s warmth and held Lith’s hand. "Be quick. Elysia needs her godmother."

The mind link didn’t show much more than what the Fourth Ruler of the Flames had already told them. The unknown assailant moved fast even by the Raiju’s standards, and changed shape and size too quickly to make out any of its features.

"Could it be a Horde?" Solus had witnessed Bytra’s memories via her bond with Lith, while Menadion through the black chains. "It would explain this kind of strength and tactics.

"Hordes are the closest thing to a white core, and if they want, they can multiply the number of their spores at will and with it their power and mass."

"That would also explain why the Skull had such a hard time following its movements." The Raiju’s eyes flared up with black mana in fury, but her voice remained warm and soothing.

"A Horde’s Blink is almost impossible to follow because each spore opens its minuscule dimensional opening. That many signals would easily overload the Skull since there was no mana geyser to fuel its keener enchantments."

"It doesn’t explain why you are so worked up and why you came here instead of asking for the help of the other members of the Organization, though." Menadion pointed out.

"I’m worked up because the attack was two days ago." Bytra replied while rocking the baby in the crook of her arm. "When I regained my senses, I didn’t move from the spot and called for everyone, and I mean everyone.

"I hoped that with the Master’s arrays and Tezka’s dimensional magic, we would find a clue. When that failed, we used the resonance effect between us hybrids to pinpoint Zor’s position, but that failed as well.

"Whoever took her, they didn’t leave a single trace, and wherever she is now, it’s shielded against any tracking method we know. That’s the reason I came here. Solus, Lith, I need your help.

"Zoreth is the best tracker in the Organization and with her gone, the others don’t stand a chance to find her. You, instead, have the Eyes and the tower of Menadion. You are my only hope. Please, if there’s someone who can find Zor, that’s you."

Bytra started to cry again, and Elysia giggled and babbled in an attempt to console her aunt.

"I don’t mean to be rude, but there’s something I don’t understand." Solus took the baby back, allowing the Raiju to blow her nose. "If the attack happened two days ago, why did you come here running like that instead of just giving us a call?"

"Why am I still acting crazy after so long, you mean?" Bytra sniffled, her words making Solus blush from embarrassment. "Don’t worry, Solus. That’s a reasonable question and I’m happy to answer it.

"You see, Zor carried a precious cargo in her omni pocket, and she is among the strongest of us. Only Tezka and Orulm can beat her. That and the fact that our enemy let me live brought the Master to believe that Zor is just the first target.

"He thinks that the unknown assailant was just probing the means of the Organization’s elites and that once they’re done with Zor, I might be the next. After all, I’m the Fourth Ruler of the Flames.

"If the enemy manages to extract information about the Master’s plans from Zoreth, they’ll learn that I’m the key to delaying the Organization’s progress indefinitely. To make matters worse, I Forgemastered the Maw and the Skull.

"If the bastard kills Zor and imprints her artifacts, they’ll find out that both pieces are in their sealed state and will need my help to unlock their full power. The Master couldn’t risk losing another hybrid, especially me, so he suspended all operations and put the Organization on lockdown."

"It’s a wise move." Lith nodded.

"No, it’s a heartless move!" Bytra snarled and stood up abruptly, scaring Elysia. "I’m sorry, baby girl. I didn’t mean to alarm you. Everything is fine."

After a few seconds to regain her composure, Bytra resumed speaking.

"Put yourself in my shoes, Lith. I needed to contact you, but I couldn’t tell anyone why. Zor and I are the only ones who know about the tower, and you have every reason to doubt the motives of the Organization and its members.

"Yet keeping your secrets puts me between a rock and a hard place. Without your help, I have no hope to save Zor, but the Master would have never let me out of our hidden fortress unless I told him the truth.

"As far as he knows, you can’t do anything more than the Organization has already tried. If I told the Master that I wanted to visit you or Elysia, he would have sent someone with me, and we would have never had this conversation.

"Even if we did and you agreed to help me, using the tower would have been nigh impossible in the presence of a witness. There is no way that someone as brilliant and ancient as one of my teammates wouldn’t suspect something after noticing that your ’powers’ need a mana geyser to work.

"Not to mention all the lies you would have to come up with to explain your findings." Bytra sighed. "I raked my brain to find a solution, but I only found one."

"Are you telling me that you broke out of the lockdown?" Lith’s eyes widened in surprise.

"Exactly." The Fourth Ruler of the Flames nodded. "One of the advantages of being the resident Forgemaster is that I know all defensive measures like the back of my hand since I’m the one who put them into place.

"I silently deactivated everything on my way out, but either the Master has modified a few arrays without telling me or someone noticed my absence because once I reached the exit, something or someone triggered the alarm and everyone chased after me.

"At that point, I started to run and never slowed down until I got here."

’By my Mom, poor Bytra!’ Solus thought. ’I know how desperate she is because I felt the same way when those Awakened kidnapped Lith and Valeron the Second. Unlike me, however, she couldn’t ask for help.

’She waited two whole days that she could have spent looking after Zoreth before escaping, not to expose our secrets.Bytra put my safety above the love of her life and the guilt at the idea that Zoreth might already be dead must be eating her up inside.’

"Will you help me?" Bytra asked.

"Of course, we will." Solus nodded, coming close to the Raiju for the first time since her arrival. "But there is no guarantee we’ll find the Horde, assuming that’s what we are dealing with, over a mana geyser.

"If they took you and Zor down that easily, I doubt Lith and I will be much of a challenge without the tower."

"Don’t worry, I have that covered." Bytra nodded. "I just need your help to locate Zor, the bastard, or both."

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