Adeline was rudely awakened by a familiar hooting sound. As she rubbed her eyes and sat up, she turned her head and saw a beautiful grey owl perched on her window ledge, basked in the light of the full moon.

It wasn't an ordinary owl, but one which lived solely in her home territory, the Forest of Pangaea. The owl may look like any ordinary barn owl, but Adeline knew better from its bloodshot eyes. This was a Pangaean Grey Owl, famous for its ferocity and stamina to fly long distances over the night. Only her people. the Sylphs, have been able to tame this otherwise wild bird to serve as messengers.

Adeline recognised this particular owl. After all, the feathers on its head were groomed in a unique way, not to mention the tiny red ribbon tied on its left talon. This bird was definitely her beloved family pet, Prika. Adeline rubbed Prika's head gently, as the owl nuzzled closer to her as a display of its adoration.

Adeline then noticed that there was a tiny scroll tied to Prika's right talon. She gently removed the scroll and started perusing its contents. Her eyes widened with each sentence. Her father, King Azir, and several others had been badly poisoned by Nirvanian agents!

Adeline shook her head. "Impossible…Nirvanians are the people who couldn't stand the atrocities of [Catastrophe] the most, they wouldn't use it on the Sylphs, whom they wanted to reconcile with all these years…" Adeline thought as she continued reading Huth's message.

Upon completion, Adeline sunk to her knees. The Sylph Army was marching off for war, as they inched closer to the Nirvanian border. Huth had advised her to retreat as soon as possible, as he warned that the Sylph Army would fight Nirvania to the bone to seek revenge for their assassination attempt.

Adeline wiped off the tears in her eyes as she resolved to stay focused to find a solution. She wanted to rush back home to see her father, but she knew that there was more she could do for her father, such as a cure for the poison which was similar to that emitted by [Catastrophe]. However, she was lost. Where should she start in her search for a cure for her father's ailment?

Adeline suddenly recalled that her master's girlfriend was the very princess of this kingdom, Princess Nicolette. As a member of royalty, she's most likely the greatest source of information. Moreover, with Ray's help as a Saint, they could make it work. Adeline had complete faith in Ray at least, trusting that he would do everything in his ability to help her even if it turned out that Nirvania was truly guilty, which she heavily doubted with her personal interaction with the Princess and other Nirvanians.

Adeline understood that the path before her was long and arduous, but it was essential too, for her father's sake. She patted Prika again before bringing it into her room, as she began writing a reply to Huth.

The next morning, Kai was surprised to find Adeline at his doorstep so early in the morning. Kai could tell that Adeline was troubled by something serious as he asked, "What's wrong, dear? You know you can tell me everything."

As they walked together towards Zion Academy, Adeline poured out all her grievances towards Kai, who listened on quietly. After hearing the entire story, Kai advised, "We really ought to see Ray and Princess Nikki about this. Perhaps they know a little more and could help us find help for your father."

School was relatively uneventful for both Kai and Adeline, who were more troubled with the matter at hand. After school, Kai and Adeline immediately rushed out of the school gates, searching for Ray. True enough, they found him together with the princess in casual clothing at their usual jaunt.

Kai and Adeline tried to explain the situation to Ray as calmly and quietly as possible, with Ray's eyes widening upon hearing the news. Ray stroked his chin and muttered, "I get it now…the Sylph Army had been mobilising because of a so-called terrorist attack on their King by Nirvanians. This really isn't good. Nikki, could you help me convene an audience with your father? I'll try to keep the number of people involved in this informal meeting to a minimal."

Ray resumed after turning to face his students, "However, my dear students, I must warn you that neither I nor any member of Saint Cross can render you any aid during this quest of yours. You're on your own as we have been mobilised to join the Army to defend largely against Miran.

However, I'll do my best to put together a team to accompany you to achieve mission success. Remember your training and stay safe, my dear pupils. I'll let you know where and when we'll meet again for a final meeting before you guys depart." Kai and Adeline nodded as someone was peering from the corner of a nearby alley…

The very next morning, Kai had heard from Ray to be at the Royal Palace entrance at 1300 hours, where they would be granted an audience by King Stormfury! Kai was nervous as he'd never thought he'd be granted an audience with the King at his tender age. His father had met the King personally a couple of times, which was already considered a great honour.

When H-Hour arrived, Kai was already there 15 minutes before the scheduled time. He wasn't surprised to see Adeline there, but he was shocked to see his teammates, Julian and the rest of the clique. Julian waved at Kai, who reciprocated the gesture.

As they made their way in together, Kai noticed that Zion Academy Head Teacher Cassandra was present as well, together with 3 others. They comprised of a man around his 30s dressed in rather unkempt clothing with a battered scarf, a female teen with her long yellow hair tied into a ponytail and…Jonathan.

Jonathan winked at Kai as they entered the conference room together. Punctually at 1300 hours, the King arrived together with Princess Nikki and all the members of Saint Cross.

The King went up to Adeline first and held her hands warmly, "You must be Princess Adeline. I'm so happy to be able to greet a member of Sylph royalty personally. However, sadly, things are not going our way when it comes to the establishment of good diplomatic relations between our 2 races. I'm thankful that you chose to place your faith in my daughter and me by being open about the knowledge you hold. Rest assured that I would invest whatever remaining resources I have to aid your father. Let's begin the brief."

King Stormfury cleared his throat before continuing, "Once again, I would like to thank Princess Adeline for being so forthcoming about her identity towards us. Without her input, we wouldn't have possibly found a way to resolve our issue with the Sylph Kingdom as peacefully as possible.

Basically, the overall plan would be for an assembled team to head to Northern Nirvania, closer to Miran territory rather than the Sylph Kingdom. There, you must find the abode of the Green King, Warren Gaia. Only he can help you devise a cure for the poison that ails your father and the rest of the Sylphs."

Jonathan interjected, "Sorry to interrupt, your Majesty. When you say the Green King, you are referring to one of the 4 Coloured Kings? The top 4 Saints said to be virtually unreachable?"

The King sighed, "Yes, I'm referring to the same exact person you're talking about. Let's simply say that all 4 of them have their own agenda and are hence unavailable to assist me with my preparations for war against Miran. Nonetheless, they have sworn fealty to me and regardless of what they're doing, they are contributing to Nirvania in one way or another. Especially Warren, he has been a close friend to the royal family since my father's time. Back to the topic at hand, you guys must seek out Warren because he is after all, the one who sealed [Catastrophe]."

The audience gasped before the King continued, "Yes, a few decades ago, when my father first established Nirvania, you guys should be aware that we had seized [Catastrophe] from the hands of those loyal to the King of the Ancient Human Kingdom. We attempted to destroy that vile weapon, but a World Class weapon was simply indestructible even to a magician of Warren's calibre. In the end, we could only regrettably seal it to prevent others from utilising it."

King Stormfury paused momentarily before resuming, "Despite failing to destroy the weapon, Warren had devoted his entire life to researching the weapon, in hopes of developing a cure against its poison and getting a better understanding to its origins. In fact, the only reason why he left a map detailing the location of [Catastrophe] in the Headmaster's Office back in his heyday as the 1st Headmaster of Zion Academy was to offer an opportunity for Headmasters down the line to join his academic research should they choose to retire from Zion Academy."

The King sighed, "Sadly, that map has been lost to Night Wing in their attack then. Not to worry though, Warren had also issued an extra copy of that map to the royal family for our safekeeping in the event that the map at Zion Academy was to go missing."

Jonathan interrupted, "Sorry once again, your Majesty. If all we got to do is follow the directions of a map and link up with the Green King, why do we need such a large group of 9 people? To add on, why him?" Jonathan was pointing towards the man dressed in rags.

The King replied stoically, "Seems like you recognise him despite him being locked up in our cells for the past 7 years. Yes, he may be dangerous, but his Enigma Ability may be essential for this mission. If you would please, Cassandra."

Mdm Cassandra nodded and opened up a small box in front of the man dressed in rags. The man appeared to struggle to find the contents within the box, as though he was blind. When he finally did grasp the item within the box, he caressed it before extracting it out of the box, revealing a long dagger slightly shorter than a short sword.

The man whispered, "Ah…it's been such a long time, [Twilight]. It's an irony that I'm currently experiencing the state you are supposed to plunge my enemies into, though I would recover my sight gradually. Thank you once again, my liege, for presenting this opportunity to me to redeem myself for the sin that I've committed 7 years ago."

Kai asked, "Who is this man exactly? Why is everyone looking so afraid of him?" King Stormfury replied, "My dear boy, have you heard of the Crestville Massacre that occurred 7 years ago? The greatest series of murders within Nirvana throughout its history?

Yes, the person responsible for all this is right in front of you. His name is Keane, also known as "Killer". His act has caused a huge state of panic within the capital, especially when the massacre had erased an entire noble family with close ties to the royal family. After all, the ancestors of the Crestville Family had been one of my father's most ardent supporters, though their descendants are…not as remarkable."

Jonathan added, "There's more to this. "Killer" had been an assassin all his life, but he disappeared for a brief period of 3 years. You know where he was during those 3 years? He was a bodyguard! What an irony! No wonder my mom lost her trace on him during that period of time. The next moment he surfaced, he got caught by the City Guard!"

Keane turned to Jonathan and asked, "You seem to be pretty knowledgeable about my origins. What feud do I have with you, kid?" Jonathan forced a smile and exclaimed, "I don't think you would remember my father whom you murdered in cold blood, but I hope you remember this!"

Jonathan disappeared in a blur and just before he could strike Keane with his [Scalpel Palm] technique, his body froze in mid-air. Keane was staring right at him with his pale eyes.

Keane whispered calmly, "Inner mana manipulation, a palm technique that seeks to break down an opponent's defence…ah, I know who's your father, kid. Your father was one of the toughest opponents I've faced in a true battle to the death, Jerome of the Crippling Palm. I must say that it was an honourable duel between us, and I didn't kill him in cold blood like I did with the rest of my victims."

Jonathan struggled and shouted, "Did you ever consider the consequences of your actions! He had a family and a wife to look after, you bastard!" Keane closed his eyes and Jonathan fell to the ground awkwardly. Keane then whispered calmly, "I was still impetuous then. When I duelled against others, I always held the belief that death is the most honourable way out for the loser. I didn't think so far ahead as to the consequences of my actions then. For that, I hope you would forgive me."

This time round, the yellow-haired girl spoke instead, "Glad that you're still the same Keane my family knew. My sister would be glad to know that you've not been consumed by rage and insanity as most people perceived you to be." Keane opened his eyes in wide shock as he frantically looked around for the source of the voice. He said, "Is that you, Rachel? How have you been? Is the Old Master doing fine?"

Rachel replied, "Yes, I'm Rachel. It's really been a long time, Keane. My father's not too good these few days, after all, the death of Rebecca had taken a huge emotional toll on both Mother and him. However, your release should make him feel a little better. After all, he sees you as family and you ought to visit him."

Shen interrupted, "Sorry for being insensitive in such heart-warming reunions, but your Majesty, could you tell us who are included within the assembled team and why if possible?" King Stormfury replied, "To be honest, I would've preferred not to involve you kids in such a delicate mission. However, my entire Army is mobilised for the war effort against Miran and my Black Ops are currently engaged in another mission of equal importance.

After much discussion with Saint Cross and Mdm Cassandra of Zion Academy, I've come to the final decision of the composition of this team. There would be 9 members in total. The team leader would be Keane, deputy leader Shen and the other members are Adeline, Kai, Julian, Julia, Jean, Rachel and Jonathan."

The King continued, "I picked Keane as team leader because not only is he the most experienced combatant in the team, his specialties in covert operations are what we need for this mission, where a low profile has to be kept as much as possible. I'll leave the rest of the explanations to Frost from Saint Cross and Cassandra."

Frost announced, "Adeline, as Sylph Princess, has personal stake in this mission, so her inclusion was a no-brainer. However, we needed people who are not only capable individually, but also able to work as a team with her. Hence, we picked Kai and the rest of his gang, who definitely possessed the required aptitude having been trained by us members of Saint Cross. Out of the 6, Shen was selected as Deputy Leader because of his sound knowledge in tactics and his maturity to lead a small section in operations."

Mdm Cassandra followed, "Now, the optimal team size is 9, so 2 more members would be required. Rachel was selected not only because of her relationship with Keane, which should facilitate synergy in the team, but also because of her talent with psionic magic, making her a capable fighter. We did not know of Jonathan's past history with Keane, but it remains unchanged that Jonathan is the top-ranked close combat martial artist of Zion Academy, so we believe him suitable to provide another dimension to the team."

King Stormfury concluded, "I would be handing the official documents to Shen for his perusal. Your mission would officially begin 2 days from now at 0700 hours. You are to find your way to the Green King's residence and seek his help with the Royal Seal I entrust with you guys.

After obtaining the cure if there is, you are to escort Princess Adeline back into Sylph territory to deliver the cure to the Sylph King and all the other infected Sylphs to prove our goodwill. Hopefully, this would break down the tensions between the Sylph Kingdom and us. Time is of the essence. I wish you guys all the best. If there're no further questions, I declare this meeting as over. Thank you for your attendance."

The King scanned the audience in front of him if they had any queries or objections and seeing that there were none, he stood up and began heading towards the exit, accompanied by Princess Nicolette. Keane was the next one to take his leave, accompanied by Rachel. Mdm Cassandra was the third to leave, helping Jonathan who appeared to still be suffering from the side effects of Keane's Enigma Ability.

Kai and his friends were left behind with the members of Saint Cross, where they talked to their respective mentors before departing for the most important mission of their lives. Ray patted Kai and Adeline's shoulders, "It's only been a short time since we've been together but you guys have come a very long way. Believe in yourself, but do not underestimate any enemy that you meet. I really wanted to accompany you guys, but my current commitments as a Saint prevents me from doing so. I pray for your success and safe return, my dear pupils."

Kai replied, "Don't worry, Master. You have taught us well. We'll definitely succeed and come back home with good news." Adeline nodded as the 3 walked out of the conference room together, looking at the vast expanse of Nirvanian territory towards the North, where a journey beckons…