Adeline was overcome by anguish and sorrow, to the extent that she could not keep her tears at bay. She didn't know why she felt such strong emotions, was it because of the plight and suffering her people had went through during the 2nd Holy War? Or was it because she finally knew her true target for vengeance?

Miran, she thought as she seethed in anger in a silent corner of the school. She would never forgive those who permitted and condoned the atrocities against her people. At least she now knew that Nirvania was a good kingdom who had actually helped her people unknowingly.

The internal revolution fanned by King Stormfury was what stopped [Catastrophe] from killing the rest of her people, as they had successfully evacuated to their traditional stronghold in the heart of the Forest of Pangaea.

Adeline believed that Mdm Aisha was telling the truth, as she was a genuine historian who objectively recorded and analysed facts from the past. She was now thankful that her father had sent her on this reconnaissance mission before impulsively waging war with Nirvania.

When the time comes for her people to reclaim their rightful place in this world, Nirvania would be spared from their wrath. Adeline had fallen in love with this country after all, the kindness of her people and the strength and determination of her soldiers to maintain the peace of their home.

"Hey, you alright?" a warm voice disrupted her chain of thoughts. It was Kai, who looked concerned. Adeline thought, "I guess my sudden outburst of emotions shocked him."

Adeline wiped away her tears and calmed herself down, whimpering, "I'm sorry for my sudden outburst…I'm okay now…" Kai replied, "You know, if you ever need a listening ear, I'm always here for you. You can even entrust me with any secret if there's something you want to get out of your chest."

Tears glistened in her eyes as Adeline smiled. After spending weeks with Kai and his sister, she knew he was such a kind and gentle soul. She quickly embraced him in a hug and said while choking on her tears, "Thank you…for being such a good friend…"

Kai closed his eyes and reciprocated the gesture. He figured that Adeline was hiding something, but now was not the time to probe and as a friend, he should offer his silence to comfort her. The pair were locked in embrace for several minutes as Kai allowed Adeline's emotions to settle down.

After months of infiltration within Nirvania, it was finally time for Huth to return home to the Sylph Capital, Eren. After all, he had collected sufficient information detailing the combat readiness of the Nirvanian troops. He must admit that they were well-trained, and it was a pity that he could not meet one of the 10 Saints to evaluate their strength.

However, that was of little concern as Princess Adeline was still operating in Nirvania, and it would be her investigation report that decides whether war would be waged on Nirvania to reclaim their lost territory. After all, the Princess' job was to investigate the intentions of Nirvania with respect to the Sylphs. Huth smiled as he relished the thought of returning home to his wife and children. His dangerous mission into enemy territory had after all been concluded.

Or that was what he thought until he heard a voice behind him. "Look what we have here, on our routine patrol, we actually found a Sylph! What luck!" Huth quickly turned around and saw 2 cloaked individuals. Fastening their black cloaks to their hoods were emblems which had a raven carved onto it. The raven was eerily frightening with its bloodshot eyes.

Huth recognised the emblem instantly. Months of intelligence work had allowed him to deduce the identity of the organisation the 2 men belonged to. These guys were dangerous for they belonged to the dark guild Night Wing. Dark guilds consist of adventurers who are willing to perform illegal acts such as murder, smuggling etc, albeit at a high price. What was even more scary about dark guilds was their lack of loyalty to any country whatsoever, only to their highest paying customer.

The man who spoke earlier continued, "And here I thought it'll be yet another uneventful day. Now, we get to have some fun eh?" His companion spoke in a deeper and more serious tone, "Never underestimate the enemy, Gale. However, we could use this situation to our favour indeed, considering who our clients are."

Huth took a step back and began to analyse his situation. Normally, he'd be able to size up his enemies quickly with his Luminos. However, something was clouding his ability to read mana signatures so he couldn't accurately grasp their mana levels. This was probably also the reason why the 2 could sneak up on him undetected, as normally he had the ability to read mana signatures hundreds of metres away.

The man named Gale chuckled, "Hahaha, you must be wondering how we successfully sneaked up on you. These babies are more than just for show, they conceal our mana signatures as well, allowing us to avoid those pesky mana detection alarms." pointing to the emblem near his collar bone.

Huth felt a bead of sweat trickling down his face. Even if he couldn't read their mana signatures, he could tell that these guys were dangerous, especially Gale's unnamed companion. Retreat would be the most appropriate course of action, as he could not afford to let himself fall into enemy hands.

Huth quickly muttered [Light Mirage] silently as his body slowly melded into his surroundings. [Light Mirage] was a Light element optical illusion spell used to camouflage one's presence from his enemies. However, in the blink of an eye, he felt a rock hard fist dig deep into his gut, causing him to fly back and cough out blood. His [Light Mirage] was also undone by the attack.

Gale said, "Hey, that's no fair man, Moon! Let me have a go next time! I can take him on without your help!" Seizing his opponent's momentary distraction, Huth quickly pounced forward and slashed at Moon's neck with his short sword. TWANG! It felt as though his sword had clashed with steel as Huth failed to hurt Moon.

To Huth's horror, he realised that Moon's neck was covered by a shade of earth that served to protect him. Moon quickly retaliated with a punch aimed at Huth's face, but Huth was able to duck under his punch. Huth was taken aback by Moon's punch, as his punch resulted in an air blast that blew a hole in the nearby tree. Huth noticed that his fist was covered in the same shade of colour as his neck previously.

Huth trembled in fear as he thought, "An immediate voiceless incantation, not to mention such sturdiness…this guy is at least a Grandmaster tier Earth magician!"

However, Huth had no time to think further as he performed a back flip, narrowly avoiding a blade of wind directed at him which sliced off a couple of nearby trees. Gale cried, "Don't forget there's the 2 of us!" as he performed a slicing motion with his left leg that generated an air blade like the previous one. Huth was subjected to several of these air blades as he narrowly avoided all of them while running.

Moon shook his head and said calmly, "Gale, you're gonna tear down the whole forest at this rate. Let me demonstrate how Night Wing operates." Gale stopped his attacks and Huth stopped to catch his breath. However, all of a sudden, Huth was met with a punch to the face as he flew several metres, crashing through numerous trees.

Huth spit out more blood as he felt that his skull was fractured with a few missing teeth. The punch was eerily in the same fashion as the earlier punch that had injured him pretty badly. Huth was horrified. How did Moon move so fast to strike him? With that speed coupled with the power gained from his [Earth Armament], Moon could easily kill him anytime.

Gale shrugged and said, "Look at what you've done man, you injured him pretty badly. Now, let me take over, a weak target like him should be dealt with by juniors like me." Upon finishing his sentence, Gale disappeared in a blur. By instinct, Huth quickly countered Gale's kick with his sword. Huth heaved a sigh of relief. At least he could deal with fast opponents. This meant that whatever Moon did probably had nothing to do with speed.

"Most likely an Enigma Ability." Huth thought as he continued trading blows with Gale, who was laughing hysterically throughout. Despite being able to match Gale's speed, being kept on the defence was slowly taking its toll on Huth. After all, he was not built for drawn-out battles as a spy, instead he focused on taking his opponent out in the fewest possible moves. Sadly, that was near impossible when it came to fighting Gale as his speed applied constant pressure on him, preventing him from going on the offense.

Huth thought, "I've to find a way to break his rhythm. His style seems to focus a lot on speedy attacks to wear down the opponent before going for the kill." Huth quickly gathered mana on his free left hand and directed it to the ground. He cried, "[Blowback]!" as a shockwave spread out in an omnidirectional fashion with him in the centre. Though not strong enough to injure, the shockwave served its purpose of pushing Gale back, who expressed surprise at the sudden attack which caught him off balance.

Seizing the opportunity, Huth quickly raised his sword and cast [Light Flash], which worked like a flash bang to blind all nearby opponents. Before the spell activated, the last thing he saw was a bird perching on the branch of a nearby tree.

The next moment, Huth felt a sharp pain as he felt something pierce through his chest. It was Gale's finger, and his lips curled into a sadistic smile. He smirked, "You thought that with all of our earlier exchanges, that I would only be good with my feet? Wrong! I'm an all-round martial artist, though kicks are my preferred style of combat. This technique, [Finger Pierce] is my second favourite technique after [Wind Leg] which you've seen earlier. Very useful for dispatching unwanted people."

Huth coughed out blood. Gale's finger had after all, pierced reasonably deep within him, despite missing his vitals. Huth felt that his eyes were getting heavy, but he also realised that the effect of his spell had worn off a little too quickly…and the bird was no longer on the branch.

Moon said calmly, "Gale, stop playing with him and talking so much. Sylph, seeing that you're on your way already, let me at least give you a target of vengeance if you were to turn into a vengeful spirit. Blame Nirvania, for they are our clients who requested some extermination of pests…like you."

Those were the last words Huth had heard as he slumped to the ground unconscious. Gale licked the blood off his finger and asked, "You sure he heard your last lines? I didn't know you were so despicable, turning the Sylphs against Nirvania who are the pro-Sylph people hahaha."

Moon replied stoically, "You missed his vitals right? I told you earlier that it would favour our cause by injuring him heavily yet keeping him alive. After all, he would be our seed of discord between Nirvania and the Sylphs, while Miran, our clients, would reap the spoils of war. Now, onwards to our next task, we don't have much time." Gale laughed uncontrollably as Moon and he left the unconscious Huth bleeding on the ground as they headed south.