Days passed. The Alliance was still in a mess as men were disappearing by the day. In less than a week, over thirty sentries had been ‘spirited away’ with many leaving no trace of where they went or who took them. The number of deserters were likewise increasing. As the report concluded, none of them wanted to be the next number in the statistic. They had friends and family to return to and had no plans of losing their lives in this god-forsaken land.

Raphael’s incentives to keep the men around didn’t work miracles either. A bonus worth half a year’s pay? What good would that be if they weren’t able to spend it? Bit by bit, the Alliance’s frontlines was falling, and the upper brass were more than panicking. The Black Masks, on the other hand…

“Cheers!” Kin raised her glass up in the air, meeting the ceramic cup that was in her brother’s hands. “We’ve really outdone ourselves here!”

“Haha, you’re right!” Gin replied while flashing his full set of teeth. “Instead of taking out an entire outpost which takes at least an hour. We’ve just targetted a handful of them, taking any soldier at random! They now truly believe that ghosts were haunting them! You should have seen the look on the soldiers faces when you’ve sent them to me! Pale-white and completely aghast! They were so afraid that most of them peed their pants!”

“Is that so? You should have recorded it down for me!” Kin continued to laugh as she gulped down her wine. “And the results are far better than we’d thought! Without expending too much effort, we’ve made the majority of them abandon their posts! If they continue at this rate, won’t all the outposts be deserted by the end of the month?”

“Haha, if that really happens, the Allfather would be sure to bestow upon us with more rewards! I wonder if he’ll give us anymore Immortal-Grade Spirit Armaments? That way, we would have a much better chance of fighting Momo should the time arise!” Gin was already drooling at the endless rewards that may come their way. The Spirit Beasts were ignorant, so they weren’t all that informed about the rarity of Immortal-Grade Spirit Armaments. Nonetheless, even if they didn’t get the things that they desired, the Allfather was a leader to give credit when credit was due. They could expect some generous gifts from their almighty leader.

“Haha, you’ll have to thank my intellectual brain for that!” Kin puffed her chest out, as proud as can be. “Now that we’ve struck fear in their hearts, the morale of the troops would be at an all-time low. Fortunately, I’ve planted many of my idols around the outposts beforehand! Otherwise, we’d be in for hell.”

Gin gently stroked his elder sister’s hair with the signature warm smile that a father would use to commend his daughter. “Yes, yes… It’s all thanks to you!”

“Hehe, that’s nice! Do it more!” Like the loving sister that she was, Kin pushed her head closer into Gin’s chest. When in public, Kin was always the ice princess that seemed above and beyond the reach of mere mortals. One deafening gaze from her symmetrical pupils would send shivers down any being’s spine. However, in private, the Golden Fox was just a juvenile that loved to be cradled like the child she was.

The cuddling continued on for a while. Kin was in no hurry to leave her younger brother’s arms, and Gin wasn’t all that displeased with their situation. Ever since they left Moon Valley, the two had been forced to rely on one another. Their youngest sister, Momo, had fully defected to the Allfather’s side and was obsessed with gaining immortality alongside that bastard human.

And since Momo was the Moon Rabbit, she alone held the key to the Moon Valley, the place where their eldest brother was sealed. If Kin and Gin wanted to return to the home that they loved, they would need to either force Momo to open the gates or… To remove her from the face of the planet.

“We’re one step closer… One step closer to finding Brother Haiiro...” Kin continued her embrace of her brother, not willing to separate for even the slightest second. Even though they were Tier 9 Spirit Beasts, Kin and Gin hadn’t lived a long time in Spirit Beast years. Their cultivations had been artificially raised through their association with the legendary Moon Rabbit for hundreds of years and the Allfather’s boost in mana had provided them with another significant boost. In other words, the pair were a bunch of teenagers living in an aged master’s body. They weren’t as emotionally mature as their other Noble Beast counterparts.

“Yes, we’re at the final stretch… Everything will fall into place in the next decade. Everything...” Gin whispered softly in his sister’s ears, putting her in a fragile state.

“Alright, we’ve rested enough! Let’s do some work today, shall we?” Gin lightly teased as he slapped his sister’s butt.

“Hah… Fine...” Kin rolled her eyes in dissatisfaction but still acquiesced.

She raised her hands up in the air and leaned her back closer down on Gin’s chest. A projection of a dense forest appeared right in front of the laidback duo, one that made them feel like they were physically present. “Ah, this idol is undiscovered. Let’s switch to another one.”

Once again, a projection was shown. This time, a man lying comfortably down in a warm bathtub could be seen. His face was free of anxiety, and his muscles were as relaxed as a sloth’s. Though heavy mist from the warm water blocked a clear path of his privates, Kin still scowled in disgust: “Urgh… Stinking human. Dare to bring my idol into the shower with him? Let’s kill him next!”

“Haha, lets.”

Snorting, Kin continued to change the image played on the screen. There were scenes in the kitchen. Most of them were in bedrooms. A select few were shrouded in complete darkness, meaning that they were well-secured and hard for Kin to teleport to. And the list continues.

It was routine for Kin and Gin to continue watching the Alliance through the eyes of the idols, just to gain as much intel as they possibly could. Yes, Shin could reverse-search the pair through his odd powers, but the mission had to be completed by any means. If Kin were to find something amiss, she would instantly teleport to a safe location, where Gin or any other Black Masks might be at.

“Hmmm, looks like there’s nothing new today… I guess we can go back to the bathing dude and-...” Kin was mouthing out her master plan before coming to an abrupt halt. Her eyes were bulging, and her face turned as pale as a ghost.

“What’s the matter?” Curious, Gin looked to the screen, and then…

“N-No way!” Gin turned limp on the legs as well. He could hardly believe what he was witnessing at that very moment. The idol was located in a secure cell, one that was at least thirty-metres wide and fifty-metres tall. Quite expansive for a prison cell, but the moment the twins saw its captive, they couldn’t bring the words out to describe their feelings.

A Grey Otter, possibly ten metres in length, laid suspended in the air with seven deadly chains stuck to its body. All four of its limbs, its abdomen, it back and its neck… They were all pierced by the soulbound chains. At the side, two men were busy sending flying whips down the Grey Otter’s body, causing laceration after laceration. Blood flowed down like an endless, gushing river while bits of flesh flew like comets. It was a scene of torture, no doubt.

However, the thing that got the Golden Fox and the Silver Monkey wasn’t the scene of torture. But the subject of said torment.

“B-Brother… Haiiro?”