At someplace inside the waters of Vladivostok. In Evil Society’s hideout.

“Locket of Hope...” Kim Hakpyo muttered as he rubbed his chin. “Are you certain of that information?”

“Yes, sir.” Alork answered. “We tracked him through multiple vigilance cameras until we finally reached that orphanage through one of the stores across the street. There’s no footage of him before his appearance there.”

“Why would he suddenly appear in an orphanage?” Kim Hakpyo frowned.

“We’re not sure, sir.” Ryan Smith another Djinn. “But it seems he defended the place from a pack of demonic wolves.”

“Mm...” Kim Hakpyo nodded. “Is it possible for him to be someone from the orphanage?”

“I doubt it, sir.” Alork quickly answered. “We didn’t come close to the place as per your orders to be careful and not approach hastily. But we never sensed someone as strong as him in that place.”

“Yes.” Ryan nodded. “And while we weren’t there all the time, we should have sensed him if he were to be a worker or an orphan.”

“Right.” Hakpyo nodded. “For the moment… Just mark that place. Keep it in the records.”

“Don’t you want us to keep investigating?” Alork asked.

“No. There’re more pressing circumstances for now.” Kim Hakpyo said with a wave of his hand. “Good job. You guys can leave.”

“Yes, sir.” Both Alork and Ryan said before leaving the conference room.

“Team leader.” Silasen, who was beside him, asked. “Why don’t you want them to keep watching? We might get a clue of who took Homer's Ring.”

“No.” Kim Hakpyo shook his head. “You heard Marbas-nim. We need to be careful around that demon-masked guy. Besides, Evil Society will take part in that attack.”

“Really!?” Silasen’s eyes opened wide for a moment before he frowned. “But… There’s still a lot of time left until then? Why can’t we focus on looking for that man first?”

“Ha… Look.” Kim Hakpyo said as he pinched his nose’s bridge. “That won’t be a simple attack at the park. We have a lot to prepare before then, we can’t waste our limited resources on a task, just for a ring. Yes. Homer’s Ring is a really great artifact for us Djinns, but it’s not that important that we should deny our superiors’ orders.”

“R-Right.” Silasen nodded as he scratched the back of his head.

“Also… It’s not like it’s impossible for us to keep looking for that guy’s movements after we are done with the main preparations.” Kim Hakpyo said. “So, for the moment, just keep that place… Locket of Hope was it? Keep it in our records, we’ll look for that guy later.”

“Yes, sir.” Silasen nodded.

***

At the same time, in an underground cave somewhere in Australia, in a vast wilderness consisting mostly of plains, a room was dimly lit.

It looked like any other room found inside a hospital, making it nothing special. At least if you didn’t consider the fact that it was a room inside an underground cave that was part of an intricate underground cavern system.

Inside of it, medical machines were currently working constantly to keep one person alive. He wasn’t awake, he was in a seemingly comatose state.

“How’s the vessel?” Asked a woman who looked to be in her thirties.

She stood beside the bed occupied by the man who was in a coma.

“In perfect conditions.” Answered a man in a lab coat. “Apart from his weakening muscles, he has a perfectly normal health.”

“That was expected.” The woman nodded before she turned to leave the room. “Keep up with good work. Nothing can go wrong.”

“Yes, madam.” The doctor said as he bowed.

After walking for a while through a complicated system of tunnels that were perfectly re-decorated to look like a normal building, the woman made her way to a conference room.

Inside, three men and another woman waited for her.

“So? How’s everything going, Lana?” One of the men, a caucasian looking guy, asked once she entered.

“The plan’s going on smoothly.” The woman, Lana, said with a smirk. “If things keep going like this, in a couple of years, three at most, Lord Seere will finally come to Earth.”

“Finally!” The other woman in the room, a blond-looking one that could easily pass as a teenager with her small frame, shouted. “To think that it would take this long...”

“We knew that it would be like that, Amely.” Another one of the men inside the cave, a tan-skinned man that had a calm demeanor, said. “The process to bring an esteemed Devil into our world isn’t easy. We were lucky that we could do it in the first place.”

“Rhodan is right, Amely.” Lana quickly supported Rhodan. “The Devil’s Seed we got from our esteemed lords are indeed able to bring them to this world, but it takes time and a lot of effort.”

“Ha… Sadly, we can’t bring anyone stronger than the 65th lord yet… And even then, we could only get the seed for Lord Seere...” The last man, an Asian-looking guy muttered.

“Quiet Yoshimitsu!” Quickly shouted Lana.

“What?” Yoshimitsu frowned at her. “I don’t remember saying anything wrong.”

“You were belittling Lord Seere with your comment!” Lana said with fury in her eyes.

“Oh come on! It was just a comment!” Yoshimitsu said as he rolled his eyes.

“You should shut your filthy-”

“Stop, you two.” Rhodan said. “We have other issues to address. We are not here to fight.”

“Right!” Amely said as she shook her head. “Better finish this meeting fast, I have things to do.”

“Ha… Fine. I’ll feign ignorance just this time.” Lana said as she sat down, turning to look at the caucasian-looking man. “So, James, what did you call us here for?”

“We’re going to participate in that attack.” James shortly said. “We better get things ready.”

“What!? Really!?” Yoshimitsu shot up in surprise.

“I can’t believe it...” Even Rhodan looked surprised.

“Why all of the sudden?” Amely asked with a frown.

“It seems like our success in planting a Devil’s seed was deemed to be worthy.” James said.

The five people here were, in fact, leaders of a small to medium Djinn organization.

Despite having successfully planted a Devil’s Seed in a suitable host, they weren’t precisely powerful, and their success was the result of them trying their best to break their powerlessness.

After all, what Djin organization could compete against a group led by a Devil himself? At least in their minds, no organization could.

And lo and behold, after struggling for almost two years, they finally succeeded in acquiring a Devil’s Seed and found a suitable host to plant said seed. And this was something they finally made a couple of years ago.

“Ha! Now they’re finally understanding our potential!” Lana shouted as she huffed and crossed her arms.

“Calm down, Lana.” Rhodan quickly intervened.

“She’s right!” Yoshimitsu, who would normally be against her, couldn’t help but agree with her this time. “We were belittled for so long!”

In truth, apart from money, which all five of them had in plenty even before turning into Djinns, they didn’t have many redeeming qualities as Djinns.

“Calm down.” James intervened this time. “We’re not here to discuss why they’re including us now. What’s important is that we finally have a chance to prove ourselves before Lord Seere arrives.”

Everyone present turned serious at his words.

“We will go with three other organizations and attack the main academy in Mexico.” James continued with his explanation.

For all five of them, this was the perfect opportunity they were waiting to grow as an organization inside the Djinn society.

The perfect chance for them to prove that it wasn’t a fluke that they were able to plant a Devil’s Seed, the first one that was ever planted, as far as they know.

Even if there were other Djinns that were able to plant a Devil’s Seed from higher-ranked Devils, they were the firsts to ever do it.

This, at least, if only Djinns were taken into account. No one could have known that someone else, a human, had successfully planted the first Devil’s Seed. And no less than the Devil’s Seed of the 59th ranked Devil, Orias.

***

Back at Locket of Hope.

While Evandel played with the rest of the kids of the orphanage, Cristopher just looked at them from afar as he talked with Fran and ate cookies. A smile always present on his face.

From time to time he turned to look at Antonio, who despite being told that it was fine to rest for today, decided to keep training after he played with Evandel for a while.

“Is something wrong with him?” Fran asked.

“Mm? With who?”

“Antonio~!” Fran said. “You’ve been looking at him from the start.”

“It’s not like there’s something wrong.” Cristopher said before he stood up. “Wait here for a moment.”

“Okay!” Fran smiled as she turned to look at the kids playing.

“167… 168… 169...”

Cristopher walked closer to Antonio who was currently doing push-ups.

“Why aren’t you playing like the rest of the kids?” Cristopher asked.

Antonio stopped as he heard Cristopher, sitting down while trying to catch his breath.

“You… told me… ha… ha… that being a Hero… ha… ha… wasn’t going to be easy...”

“Yes, I did tell you that.” Cristopher nodded as he sat down behind the little kid. “But playing once in a while isn’t going to break your progress. It’s not like you didn’t train at all today.”

“I know… Ha...” Antonio said as he let out a deep sigh. “I still want to do my best, hyung.”

“Is that so?” Christopher said as he put both his hands on Antonio’s small back.

“Mm? What are you doing hyung?” Antonio asked as he tried to turn to look at Cristopher.

“Stay there.” He said, stopping Antonio from turning around. “I want to try something.”

“...Um… Okay?” Antonio said, not knowing what to do.

“When I say one, you breathe in, and when I say two, you breathe out. Okay?”

“Um, yes?”

“Also, you’ve been training your mana, right?”

“Yes, hyung.” Antonio nodded.

“Perfect, I need you to let it flow. Don’t try to control it, if you feel something different, just let it flow through you. You just focus on breathing as I told you. This is really important, got it?”

“Yes.” Antonio nodded with a serious face.

“Great, now sit comfortably in your usual meditation position.”

Antonio did as he said, and soon enough, they started.

“One.” Cristopher said, and just as Antonio breathed in, Natural Energy went inside him, following the usual path of his mana, guiding the latter.

“W-Wha-”

“Focus.” Cristopher interrupted the surprised Antonio. “Two.”

With a nod. Antonio closed his eyes and focused on his breathing.

For a little while, both of them kept doing the same. Breathe in, breathe out. One, two. As time passed, Cristopher’s smirk deepened.

After a while, they both stopped, and as Antonio tried to stand up, a sudden feeling of vertigo came over him. His feelings slightly altered.

“!” He almost fell forwards but was stopped by Cristopher, who helped him steady himself.

“Calm down. You’ll have to slowly adapt to that new feeling.” Cristopher said, before patting Antonio’s head. “Congratulations, kid.”

“Huh? Why?” Antonio turned to look at him.

“Well, it seems that you are compatible with elementals.” Cristopher smirked.

“Elementals…?” Antonio tilted his head. “I can’t be a Hero then?”

“If someone I know heard you say that, she would surely get a nice surprise.” Cristopher chuckled. “No, you would actually become a somewhat special Hero.”

“Oh...” Antonio nodded, before opening his eyes. “How so!?”

“That’s for another time, for now, just know that your training will be different-” Cristopher said before he stopped and crossed his arms as he rubbed his chin. “You know? I think I have an interesting idea.”

“Mm?”

“Next weekend you’ll come with me. We’ll go somewhere else and you’ll meet your senior.”

“What senior, hyung?”

“Someone that’s similar to you.” Cristopher said as he shrugged. “Now stop training for today and go play with the rest of the kids.”

“But I haven’t finished my train-”

“Nope. Today you’ll rest. Go and play as kids should.” Cristopher said as he gave him a push towards the rest of the kids.

After that, he went back to where Fran was.

“What was that about?” She asked as he sat down beside her.

“He’s talented with elementals.”

“Mm?” Fran tilted her head. “Elementals? Like an elementalist?”

“Yeah, like an elementalist.”

“Wow~!” Fran smiled. “Can you help him with that?”

“Pfft… Of course, I can. I’ll actually take him with me next weekend.”

“Mm? Okay!” She nodded. “But Anne’s going to be pissed.”

“I’ll just have to buy her something haha...”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that!” Fran smirked. “But you can leave Evandel here to play with her, they seem like they’re getting along really well!”

Cristopher chuckled as he looked at Anne and Evandel play, chasing Shina around while the rest of the kids laughed and joked around them.

“It seems so.” He nodded. “That would be a good idea.”

The rest of the day went without problems, and soon it was time to finally go back. Evandel said her goodbyes to all the kids, who asked her to come back to play before she gave them the gifts that they bought on their travels to Spain and the United States.

As they made their way back to Cube, Cristopher looked at Evandel, who didn’t stop smiling.

“Did you have fun?” He asked.

“Nn.” She nodded. “I had a lot of fun. I like to play with them.”

“Is that so?” Cristopher smiled. “That’s great. Do you want to come again next weekend?”

“!” Evandel turned to look at him with eyes full of excitement. “Can I!?”

“Sure.” Cristopher smiled as he patted her head. “We’ll bring more food and toys for you all to play with.”

“Yay!” Evandel shouted as she jumped in excitement. “Did you hear that Shina!? We’re going to play again next weekend!”

“Prr...” Shina purred as she nodded. Though Cristopher could see a little bit of tiredness in her eyes.

He just chuckled as he rubbed her fur soothingly.

Just as he was walking back to Cube, he remembered something.

{Oh right. I almost forgot. I should text Yi Yeonghan.}