The Guild Of Shadows

Saving Grover

In a dark alleyway on the streets of Harijoh, a man was standing amidst a stack of dead bodies.

His eyes were blinded with rage as he saw the sword that was strapped to his waist.

He then throws away the newspaper that he was holding, which depicts the image of Yusaku Ona and a crossed picture of Krystal.

As the paper swayed gently in the sky, the man vanished into thin air with a single thing raging in his mind...

'Stupid brother, I will avenge you'

"Achoo!"

Krystal and Vladmir were currently on Dragonheart and on their way to find a healer that could heal Grover. 

"Achoo!" 

Krystal was rubbing his hands together when he ended up folding his arms.

He was now wearing a white scarf on his neck with his usual attire. 

"Captain, are you sure you're alright?" 

Vladmir addressed his new captain as he continued sweeping off the snow that had gathered on the Ark. 

"Yeah, I am f-f-f-fffine, Achoo!" 

Krystal was not fine; he had caught a cold the other day, and it seemed to be getting worse. 

They had been traveling for days now; luckily, the Dragonheart's autopilot functions were still working, so there was no need for anyone to pilot the Ark. 

""It seems to me like your cold's only getting worse. Haha, don't worry, we're only a few miles away from our destination."" 

The large man picked him up.

He could feel the body temperature of his captain rising by the second as he made his way to a room and put him off to bed. 

"Now you stay inside where it's warm, and I'll get you when we get there.". 

"T-t-thanks V..." 

"... Achoo!" 

Rinnnngggg! Rinnnnnggggg! 

"Hello".

Vladmir, who made his way to the deck after tucking in the sick Krystal, received a call on his phone from an unknown number. 

"It's time for you to pay up." 

After a series of dialogs with this unknown person. 

"Fine... But I'll have to talk to the cap-" 

Poof! 

"Ouch!". A man winced in pain as he grabbed his behind. 

Vladmir, having witnessed this incident, was clenching his fist and cursing at a woman for teleporting the man in front of him to their Ark right now. 

'.' That witch. I told her to wait first''. 

"Sir Vladmir, thank you for having me." 

The man bowing in front of Vladmir was none other than Justin. 

A while back, Vladmir sought the aid of Irene in locating Krystal. 

She used the power of her artifact, the Eye of Isis. 

Isis was the Egyptian goddess of the moon who had strong magical powers. 

One of these abilities that the artifact possessed was the power of teleportation. 

Among the 7 district commanders, Irene was the most averse to using seismic sensors.

She was able to sense everyone and everything within the range of Regrah entirely. 

With her skills and artifact ability, Vladmir was easily able to locate Krystal. 

But she didn't do it for free. 

Vladmir made a deal with Irene, saying that if she helped him, he would do whatever she asked of him. 

And this led to the conversation he had with her on the phone. 

"What! You want us to let Justin join our guild?" 

He could picture Irene with a devious smile on her face as she finished. 

In his perception, there was nothing "serene" about this "witch". 

Of all the district commanders, he knew Irene the longest, and thus he couldn't shake off the feeling that she was planning something. 

However, Irene just wanted to get rid of Justin, whom she finds a nuisance now, especially after he cowardly retreated from a fight against Krystal. 

'Who knows, that coward might just get straightened up if he's in their company'. 

Was her take on this? 

Vladmir doesn't mind if Justin tags along, as long as he won't be a menace. 

But this was a unanimous decision, and he wasn't the type of person who would go against his words. 

"A deal's a deal's.". 

He says this to himself. 

". Alright, Justin, you can tag along for now, but whether you get to join the guild or not depends on the captain and Grover's thoughts. I can't decide on their behalf.". 

He had to keep his side of the bargain. 

But he also couldn't make a decision that involved the guild by himself. Especially now that Krystal had caught the flu and Grover was out of action. 

He figured he would ask them to consider when they're all up and about. 

But in the meantime... 

"Say, what artifact do you use again?" 

"Ah, it's the Bow of Apollo Artifact, a weapon-type artifact just like yours." 

There were three main types of artifacts. 

Implant-type artifacts such as Krystal's Heart of Malacoda and Irene's Eye of Isis. 

Accessory-type, which, by the name, are wearable artifacts such as Grover's Hat of Lupin. 

Weapon-type Artifacts. These artifacts hold the most destructive power among the three. 

"I see" 

Vladmir said as he got up and gestured for Justin to follow him, so he could show him to his new room. 

As this went on, unbeknownst to Vladmir and his company, who couldn't use seismic sense, an invisible mini-ark was following them. 

"It seems Seth has gotten sick, brother.".

A masked figure dressed in a ninja's attire retracted the telescope that he was holding as he looked up at the other masked ninja. 

"This is the best time to strike; they won't know what to hit." 

He gleefully added as he tried as much as possible to suppress his killer aura. 

"We stick to the plan; Father does not want any hindrance to his capture; they have an ally who can teleport." 

The larger ninja spoke, arms folded, as he was trying to get through to his ally. 

"Taking the big guy and Seth is one thing, but what if they escape using the other one's ability?" 

Not knowing that Justin was not the one with the teleporting powers, they sort of stay hidden and keep tailing them in the meantime. 

"Argh! You're no fun!"

He sighed. 

""Alright, brother, we'll wait till they reach their destination. Then we struck.""

He finished as his murderous aura manifested into a vague image of an eight-headed serpent. 

"Just a little longer, and then we can play like in old times, Seth.".