That was it! Kyra thought. "You know what to do," She then said.
"Aye!" All her teammates replied at once.
"A white-skinned, blue-eyed, average-built male appeared. He is clad in the same colored, same-style of clothes as Unshorn. He has four horns sticking out of his brown hair," CodeForger continued. "I have visual confirmation of the second mark; the one who calls himself Ordo in this Plane. CallSign: OneEye. It's a ShadowWeaver! But not the RiteMaster."
"Who else came from the Way-Shear? "Kyra wondered.
"No one," CodeForger said. "The Way-Shear vanished when he exited it. Which means he came alone."
"What about CallSign, Grim!" Kyra calmly asked.
"Not there. Not yet," CodeForger said.
Where was he hiding? Kyra wondered. Still, it was within the expected plan's perimeters.
"Captain!" Selhob then said. "The RiteMaster could be using his Kin Rune. We should use Aura-Sight now to identify his location."
"No, not yet," Kyra said. Naturally, she thought of that, with Aura-Sight, they certainly could instantly locate him.
Aura-Sight would allow them to detect, identify, and then uncover what form he was taking at that moment, because no matter what form he took, even if he was taking the form of a stone, they would know it. In addition to where he was hiding.
Nevertheless, if they triggered their Runes without confirming the location of the third target, they could alarm him of their presence, after which he could escape in case he was hiding too far away from there, far from the optimal range of operations.
Aura-Sight worked both ways after all.
"We wait until we find out where he could be," Kyra added.
"Captain!" CodeForger said. "OneEye is speaking with Unshorn. Kira is looking at them, but she cannot hear them. They are speaking in Aetran, and I can read their lips. He is saying that he got a message from Grim instructing Unshorn to prepare to leave at once. The Dragon is walking away from the ShadowWeaver. Damn!"
"CodeForger!" Kyra wondered.
"The ShadowWeaver summoned his Nexus-Key. Whilst the Dragon summoned a Shatter-Core. Captain, if it blows up, it will erase this city from the face of this Plane."
"Their contingency!" Kyra sighed. Time pressed, they were preparing to leave, to go where we wanted them to be while erasing every trace that could lead back to them. Should we go with the contingency plan instead? "No, not yet. It doesn't change anything, Selhob!" She called.
"Captain!"
"Slight change, you go in with us. You have one job: liquefy it."
He understood her perfectly. "Aye!" Selhob replied.
Kyra then thought back on something, a possibility she had in mind when she devised the plan, a possibility CodeForger was not aware of.
Since they could not use Aura-Sight to track down the ShadowWeaver if he had changed shape, she ordered CodeForger to observe the people inside the Palace, for one of the two ShadowWeavers could have taken the shape of a servant to observe the Obtains. However, CodeForger did not report anything conspicuous since he did not detect anything. Or perhaps he did not recognize it!
"CodeForger!" She asked
"Yes!"
"When Kira was changing her clothes, did the servants observe her?!"
"Yes! But I did not notice anything suspicious."
"What about the other girls?"
"I don't believe they looked at her change."
"I knew it. You looked away, didn't you!" Kyra said.
He did not reply.
"Idiot!" Gaia screamed.
Kyra heard Selhob loudly laughing over the communication link.
Kyra deduced that Grim could have taken the shape of one of the girls to observe them. Then, after he was done with the girls, he must have gone to the group of boys to do the same, since they arrived a half-hour after the girls, even though they should not have taken longer than the girls did. However, it was still a theory, a deduction based on assumptions.
He still could be far away, in a secure location, waiting for his accomplices to call for him. Though Kyra felt that someone as paranoid as Grim was more likely to choose the first option, since she carefully studied the intelligence at her disposal. He was too cautious, and that would beget his undoing.
"Captain, we should go in; he must be there," CodeForger then pleaded.
Kyra paused. Still, she thought that she would be compromising the success of the plan if she were to give the order to raid then. She first took a deep breath. Taking her sword out from its sheath, "We go in! Now!" She then ordered.
She decided to risk it. She triggered her Primal Rune and twelve Runes at once. Her team did the same. That risk bore fruit, since relying on Aura-Sight; she could sense three StreamBreath Pulsations coming from that chamber.
She held her long sword with her right hand and directed her left hand forward. She then vanished out of sight, leaving a blur where she once stood. When she touched the transparent shield, a hole big enough for her to pass through appeared. She used Revert to liquefy the Aegis-Veil to pass through. Though her left arm's bones were shattered since she also liquefied part of her own Aegis-Veil around that arm to do it.
Nevertheless, her bones began regenerating, and her wound was in the process of being completely healed since she was triggering Mend-Flesh; the symbol, which appeared on the lower side of her left forearm. She then broke through the Keep's walls with a force rivaling that of a blast and made a big hole in those walls.
She arrived at the chamber where her targets were.
Using Aura-Sight, Acuity, and Accelerate-Mind, she was able to perceive her surroundings with absolute clarity despite the rubble and dust filling that chamber, which was produced by her and her teammates' explosive entrance.
In the middle of that room, there were two big spheres, one pitch black, and the other white, which had a black orb at their center. The black sphere was the Shatter-Core, and the white sphere was the Way-Shear.
Kyra and Daed were fast; they both arrived at the same time, but they were not as fast as Igniss and Selhob, who arrived there before them. As for Gaia, CodeForger, and Sena, they did not go with them, since their task was to secure the perimeter in case their marks decided to fly away from that Keep. The three were hovering in the skies above the palace, relying on Aura-Sight and Acuity; they waited for anyone who would choose to escape by flight.
Inside the chamber, Kyra perceived the silhouette of a small boy along with a large man going through the white sphere, while the second ShadowWeaver, OneEye, was standing beside it. Since he was the one who made that Way-Shear, he needed to wait for his two mates to go through first.
Everything was going according to plan.
After triggering the Way-Shear and Kin Runes, right before the entry, Daed had already summoned his Nexus-Key, which appeared as a floating orb that resembled a black snow globe, which was filled with small white dots.
Daed, who held his right hand forward after black veins like thick lines that glowed in a dark light sprang from the center of his palm, spreading from it to his fingers, up to his arm, going all the way up to his shoulder, waited.
Whilst Igniss instantly went for the ShadowWeaver, the ShadowWeaver was closer to the Way-Shear, so he leapt inside the white sphere before the Dragon could reach him. It did not matter. It was Daed's cue. Daed then shot that orb at the white sphere to instantly penetrate it. That orb went near the black orb that was at the center of that sphere. Daed made it. If he had not done that, the Way-Shear would have closed; hence, disappearing the moment the ShadowWeaver went through. He succeeded in merging his Nexus-Key with the Way-Shear to keep it open, which was a feat only a Masson or a Forgemaster could do.
Daed then triggered the Akashic-Key Rune, which appeared at the center of his forehead.
Whilst Selhob went for the black sphere. The boy planted his left arm inside it and began liquefying its form, whilst a black-colored haze went towards his chest until that bomb vanished.
"CodeForger, Gaia, Sena," Kyra then called via the telepathic link that was established through the Mind-Lace Rune. "Regroup, we are going in."
"Aye," The three replied. Then came down through the ceiling of that chamber.
At that moment, the Akashic-Key Rune dissipated from Daed's front. He then used the telepathic link to say, "Captain, I just got confirmation. The intel is sound, they are heading for that VoidBubble."
"Good," Kyra replied via Mind-Lace. "And, did you lock it?!"
"Of course," Daed tilted his head.
His captain smiled.
"Kyra!" A shout came from the rubble and dust. A girl's voice.
Kyra then walked towards the source of that shout; it was Kira who was critically wounded by their crude entrance. The blasts they made hurt her, along with many more of the children. Kyra kneeled beside her, looking at the blood gushing from her belly and back.
I did not wish for this to happen. I chose this course of action to minimize the loss of life. Even the contingency plan was established based on that factor. We could have hunted them down another way and succeeded, but we could only achieve it by paying a price, a price that was not ours to pay. And I hated doing it that way. HE would not have done it that way, Kyra thought.
The LastBorn then triggered the Restore Rune. The mark appeared on the lower part of her right forearm.
"Captain, we need to go. Now!" Gaia pressed via Mind-Lace.
"No. Not before we heal the wounded," Kyra replied.
Her squadmates nodded and triggered the Restore Rune. They dispersed to heal the wounded children. The other children who were not wounded ran out of that chamber in a frenzy.
During the couple of minutes that followed, Kyra healed Kira's shattered bones whilst reconstructing the damaged tissue until the little girl fully recovered as if she had never been wounded in the first place. Kira slowly stood up, then jumped with a bright smile on her face.
The other Riders also healed the rest of the children. However, the children seemed confused and scared. Not a shred of relief sprang to their faces since they did not fathom the events that transpired. And upon recovering, they began running away from the strange-looking people who just helped them.
Kyra was smiling.
Kira stopped hopping and looked at Kyra's face while that bright smile was still drawn on it. "Thank you," She said. "You kept your word. You saved me."
"And you kept yours," Kyra replied. "Now we need to go," The marshal added as she stood up and walked towards the Way-Shear while Kira, who looked at her back then eagerly said, "Wait!"
Kyra turned to her.
"I want to go with you!" Kira said as her smile vanished. Her stern expression and her astute gaze conveyed her resolve. Kyra was certain that Kira meant it with all her being. The rest of the team watched them talk in silence.
"We are heading to battle," Kyra said
"I don't care," Kira instantly replied.
"You could die,"
"I don't care,"
Kyra smiled again, turned her back from Kira, and began walking, "Selhob!" She verbally said.
"Yes, Captain!"
"You take care of her," Kyra said to him as she continued walking.
The look of surprise was written all over her teammates' faces. Their worry was warranted since their Captain just agreed to take an Unawakened to a battle amid Riders.
"Are you serious, Captain?" Gaia said via Mind-Lace. "We are still on mission."
"I know," Kyra replied via Mind-Lace. "I gave her my word to take care of her wherever she wanted to go."
"But!" Gaia added.
"Gaia, there are only three of them; we can handle that and still protect her," Kyra added. "Besides, this matter is not for debate; it's my choice, not yours."
Gaia went silent. The rest did not seem to want to engage in further discussion.
Kyra knew them well, and she knew that they had realized her intentions upon hearing the word; choice.
"I see," Gaia said verbally.
"Daed, unlock it." She ordered the Masson.
Daed nodded once.
Selhob then walked towards Kira, took her from her right hand, and dragged her towards the Way-Shear.
Kyra casually walked towards the white sphere. She casually walked inside it. Then the white of the sphere swallowed her body. Kyra seemed to enter a white-lit spherical doorway. She soon vanished, as if she had never been there, headed for the continuation of their hunt.
The rest followed.