A river of vivid, vibrant colors condensed into a single point, reds, yellows, and blues combining into a brilliant white quickly filling his entire field of vision.
In that moment, the light dimmed, and numerous trees began to form. A beautiful, lush forest welcomed him, and a figure moved quickly among the green leaves and moldy wood.
Like a reflection in turbulent waters, this was a blurry humanoid figure with features difficult to distinguish. Indistinguishable whispers filled his ears, but he ignored them, all his attention focused on his goal.
The blurry figure stopped moving and turned around. But before he could see its face, everything turned white, and the sound of running water hit his ears as the river of colors reappeared, the whispers grew louder.
It only took five seconds before the dream was broken and teary eyes opened, a little dazed.
He had a thick black mustache. His hair was somewhat disheveled, and his clothes were uneven.
A groan escaped his lips at the slight headache he now felt pounding in his brain.
Raising one hand, he rubbed his face hard while grabbing a pair of silver glasses with the other and putting them on.
"Something new, David?" A voice asked beside him. The voice was calm but carried a weight that he doubted he could resist the request even if he wanted to.
David looked up and glanced to his side.
Despite being seated, it was clear that the man was taller than him. He sat up straight, and although his eyes were gentle, he had a deep gaze. He was someone he was very familiar with.
Mentor of Disorder David Tamara let out a small sigh and nodded.
"The images shown are becoming clearer. One more mistake and I'll know where he's going, Mr Cristhian."
What he had seen was a revelation through dreams brought on by the colorful necklace around his neck. A feathered Dream Catcher that was a sealed artifact belonging to the Seer Pathway.
The only ability of this artifact is that the dream divination it provides is much more powerful than one normally performed, much more. It easily surpasses even divinations performed by Marionettist.
Through this artifact, they managed to fulfill the assignment so well until now. However, the negative effect of this artifact was what made it a grade 2.
Not only did it cause a severe headache after each use, making it very risky to use continuously without hours of rest, but it also brought extreme bad luck to whoever wore it, causing them to encounter problems ranging from losing a sock to choking on their own saliva at the worst possible moments.
Fortunately, this effect was limited to the wearer, but even so, several family members underestimated it and paid the price with their lives in their dreams.
Due to the Artifact's nature and considerable negative effects, instead of forcing an order to survive, it was better to move between the gaps in it. Something that came naturally to him as Mentor of Disorder.
It was his area of expertise, after all. If the misfortune brought on by the artifact caused a disaster, he was the one who would come out best among the three, not counting the demigod at his side, of course.
But that was when he was awake. Once asleep to use Dream Divination, someone had to be with him to prevent him from drowning in his own saliva or swallowing his tongue.
A Disciplinary Paladin was a good prospect to look after him. But the one he knew was out investigating. Therefore, the responsibility for that fell to the man beside him.
The man did not comment on his progress or praise him; he just nodded.
"Don't let your guard down. We can't underestimate Dabrio. He hasn't been avoiding us all this time just to be caught so easily," Cristhian said calmly, his eyes narrowed slightly.
Dabrio Tamara was by far the most challenging target they had to face. He was the eldest of the three demigods of the Tamara family and the one with the most domain.
Fighting him on his home turf, where he controlled and protected the order, was suicide.
Under those conditions, Dabrio Tamara would have no problem holding off and even repelling at least three demigods!
To finish him off, they first had to deal with that.
The destruction of the second branch had achieved that. Without the hidden support of the two branches, Dabrio quickly lost his influence and, therefore, a considerable part of his strength.
Now Cristhian and Dabrio were on equal footing. The only difference was that Cristhian had a team and several powerful sealed artifacts.
Killing him had finally become possible, but they cannot be too confident.
He is still a demigod, after all...
Patting the dream catcher around his neck, David sighed, "I hope this ends soon. I still have some business to attend to in Feysac."
Maintaining the companies and lands they controlled had become complicated without external support. But they were willing to tolerate this sacrifice.
David could already imagine the paperwork that awaited him once he returned.
"Just a few more days." Cristhian responded with a simple nod, "With the location of the target and his hideout, the rest will be easy."
His gloved hands lightly brushed the metal briefcase on his lap, a soft golden glow emanating from his fingers...
At that moment, there was a soft knock on the door. After a few moments, two men entered, their heavy footsteps accompanied by drops falling from their wet coats.
One of these men had soft but acid honey-colored eyes, a small scar on his lip, and was neatly dressed.
The other had short black hair and a sharp chin, clean-shaven with piercing eyes.
These were Laufu Tamara and Loft Tamara, respectively.
"The information revealed by the Dream Catcher is accurate. Dabrio has also passed through this town in recent days.
"He has never been seen entering by train or leaving the station. All the witnesses we questioned say that he enters and exits through the Lumea Forest," Disciplinary Paladin Laufu said calmly.
Having both passed through Interrogator, asking people for the information they needed was their daily bread.
With just a few words, slight intimidation, and precise questions, the several people they consulted remembered various details they might have forgotten.
They could have obtained much more information if they had used extraordinary abilities, but doing so would have been a big mistake.
They had to avoid attracting the attention of the forces of the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom at all costs. They had no support or backup in case something went wrong. Therefore, caution and secrecy were a priority until their attack began.
Cristhian Tamara listened to the report without saying a word, his hand moving slowly over the black briefcase, as if caressing it.
After a few moments, the demigod spoke, "It seems that while Dabrio knows we are close, he does not know how close. A surprise attack in the forest could be considered.
"The recent rains will make it very difficult to track him, but they will also better conceal our movements. The Church's forces are not very focused here, just a police officer who reports on events here or, at most, a small team.
"This must be a deliberate decision on Dabrio's part. Not only will the forest give him opportunities to escape if he is caught, but it also gives him the opportunity to defend himself.
"The latter is most likely." Cristhian finished with a slight sigh.
The others in the room nodded at his words.
Although none of them had ever seen Dabrio Tamara face to face, he was well known in all three branches.
He would do anything for his family and never backed down from a challenge. That was Dabrio. It was very likely that he had stopped running and was finally ready to face them.
With all this information in mind, Cristhian Tamara began to speak calmly:
"The possibility that he has received help is not low, but it is not high either. We would have noticed if he had sought outside help or if he had contacted what remains of his branch. Also, getting external help in the current state would be incredibly risky.
"Not only could the Churches catch him. The other hidden organizations would not hesitate to take advantage of finishing off the Tamara Family if they discovered their current state. Something he would avoid at all costs..." He paused momentarily before nodding slightly.
"We'll keep it as a possibility. Keep an eye out for anything he might throw at us."
Judge Loft straightened up a little more at that. Cautiously, he asked, "Are we going to track him down today?"
The Imperative Mage nodded, "The longer we stay here, the greater the chance we'll lose our advantage. Dabrio doesn't know how close we are, and once he finds out, he can prepare better. Attacking now is the safest option."
Turning his attention to David, he continued, "Once the effects of the Dream Catcher wear off, we'll go to the forest to set up an ambush.
"From the dream you had, you got a general area. We'll work with that."
Mentor of Disorder David nodded thoughtfully. Calmly, he removed the necklace from his neck and handed it to the leader, who took it and put it away.
"Rest for now. We'll leave in a few hours, when the moon rises." Cristhian finished as he got up from his seat to go seal the artifact.
Taking that moment of pause, David turned his attention to his two companions and asked casually, "How's the rain outside?"
Cristhian had sealed the room with his abilities, so he didn't know if it was still raining or if the sky had cleared.
"Heavy, with lots of lightning." Loft nodded with a slight smile on his face.
Hearing this, David stroked his mustache and laughed softly. "Magnificent."
The second strongest artifact they had glowed even brighter when the rain was heavy. The conditions were perfect for using it...
...
A few hours later, with night already fallen, Crithian stood before the three of them.
They were all dressed in thick black robes to better hide themselves in the darkness. Their hoods were up, obscuring their faces, which were covered by featureless masks with only two dark holes for seeing.
With familiarity, Cristhian raised his right hand in the air, palm open, and closed his fingers slightly.
With authority, he exclaimed in Hermes, "Jailed."
The air surrounding the men vibrated for a moment and tensed. An almost completely invisible wall surrounded each of them, leaving no escape. After a moment, the air calmed, and the almost invisible wall disappeared.
This was the qualitative change brought about by divinity as an Imperative Mage.
The previous sealing capability of their imprisonment has been enhanced. In addition, targets who are jailed will be shrouded by a veil of Anti-Divination.
This would be very helpful in what they had to do to avoid being discovered during and after future investigations.
In turn, this prevented the Exile of another Imperative Mage from sending them to a void that only he knew and from which it was very difficult to escape. Jailed bound those trapped in the physical world, rendering one of the most valuable abilities for dealing with large groups ineffective.
With heavy rain bathing Auchiieb and being their silent companion, the members of the Tamara family set out.
With David Tamara leading the way, they entered the Lumea forest to finally complete their mission.
Laufu wore a hat with wide brims bent upward, forming three peaks. A large feather, one of a soft aquamarine color, adorned the top of the hat.
For his part, Cristhian held the black briefcase in his right hand, its seals broken. It was ready to be opened at any moment.
Loft also carried a briefcase, but unlike Cristhian's, it only contained equipment to survive in the forest while they waited for the day of the attack. They no longer planned to return to the village.
The moonlight barely penetrated the black clouds. Its brightness was easily suppressed by the numerous lightning bolts that flashed occasionally, illuminating the path through the dense forest.
The darkness was no problem for them. They could move through it relatively easily, but the wet ground made movement a little tricky, but also helped conceal them. It was a complicated balance.
Auchiieb slowly moved away, the light it produced fading into the rain and dense forest surrounding them.
No one said anything on the way. Everyone was trying to make as little noise as possible. Although Cristhian's Jailed helped hide the noise they made, it never hurt to be careful.
The demigod watched the trees pass by with a keen and serious eye. Every small or medium-sized animal he saw and confirmed was a simple animal, which brought him a slight sense of calm.
Although this was not an area he controlled, that did not mean he could not see the order established there. Using the natural order, he could track his target.
This way, he did not have to rely solely on David and the artifact to find Dabrio.
Of course, since Dabrio was also an Imperative Mage, he could see the same order and move through it in ways that did not affect it. However, while that meant there would most likely be no traces of him, Cristhian was more focused on looking for any traces left behind by the possible helpers of the leader of the largest branch...
With the rain pouring down on them, the journey continued. There was no noise other than the wind hitting their robes and getting them wetter, but they kept moving forward.
David led the way in silence. Although a little nervousness scratched the back of his neck, it was overcome by his confidence. The artifacts they carried, as well as Cristhian's presence in what they were doing, ensured their success.
This had been proven with the annihilation of the previous branch, one that, although it had stronger artifacts, still fell before them.
That was without considering the dream divination he had received, in which Dabrio Tamara turned around, which had been during the day, and with a clear sky. With the heavy and frequent rain, a clear sky was still far away. So their attack would be an ambush that would catch him off guard.
Plap Plap Plap...
His footsteps felt wet and heavy, but thanks to the Jailed, no sound came out.
After a long time of crossing the lush forest, the group entered a clearing. The several thunderclaps in the sky and the few crimson rays of the moon shining through created a somewhat eerie atmosphere.
David looked at the rest and nodded slightly. This was the end of the road he had seen in the divination.
Cristhian Tamara looked around calmly, carefully reading the area's layout. His group said nothing and did not move, waiting patiently for him to finish.
It would take a moment to see if there had been any recent changes to the place, but he was in no hurry. He would take his time to check carefully so that no detail escaped him. Something that would be deadly if he wasn't careful.
At that moment, his gaze was drawn to the end of the clearing, his spirituality jumping. A figure had suddenly appeared where no one had been before.
It was a man with his hand outstretched toward them.
An older man with short, dark blond hair. His appearance was elegant and well-groomed.
Dabrio Tamara!
He was wearing a dark robe that made him almost impossible to distinguish from the forest's darkness, but in that darkness, his eyes shone with flashes of amber lightning.
Psychic Piercing!
Veins popped out on Cristhian's forehead, and he froze momentarily. Meanwhile, Laufu and Loft began to bleed from their eyes, and huge veins appeared on their necks.
Before they could retaliate or defend themselves, the Hermes language resonated with power and authority in the clearing, causing the mid-sequence beings present to tremble.
"Exile!" Dabrio shouted, thrusting his outstretched hand forward.
Thud!
A powerful invisible force sent the trio of Mid-Sequences flying. Having been jailed, they were not thrown into a void but sent flying, disappearing into the forest's depths.
Coming out of his momentary stupor, Cristhian opened the briefcase before the attack could continue.
The metal compartment was discarded, and the clearing was suddenly flooded with sunlight. The hilt of a sword was revealed, and the sword itself was unsheathed.
In the next second, every shadow in the place died before the golden glow emanating from the blade, the morning itself seeming to make its presence felt. Everything hidden in the shadows was forced to reveal itself, its hiding place destroyed.
This was the Unshadowed Domain of the Sword of Dawn!
At the same time, Cristhian roared at Hermes. Quickly forcing a law.
"The use of artifacts is allowed here!"
Holding the sword's hilt tightly, Cristhian frowned and looked around Dabrio's body. It was enveloped in a dense shadow, hiding him and making him difficult to see.
Why hadn't the Sword of Dawn's unshadowed domain destroyed that?
The golden glow of the Unshadowed Domain was bathed in a faint orange glow. Cristhian's intuition kicked in at that moment, and he looked over his shoulder.
Behind him, a massive fireball was falling. Its size and speed made it look like someone had thrown a meteor at him!
Faced with this attack, he did not panic. His resolve hardened as his figure disappeared from his spot, performing a short teleportation.
BOOM!