Alicia and Norvin were on their way to Itholan, atleast where Itholan was before Michael obliterated the entire island. The Guardian Guild had sealed everything around in a five-mile radius with an array to prevent people from traveling to the radioactive area. Before the Guardians sealed the area under Noah's order, rogue cultivators and people dived into the ocean, hoping to find some treasures underneath. Some of them did find some valuables that fell into the water before Michael blasted the island.

In the daytime, the area looked no different than the rest, but at night, one could see the glistening array around the area. The sea was calm, pulsing rhythmically and breathing with cadence. By the time Alicia and Norvin reached their destination, they were welcomed by a couple of guardians who were tasked with patrolling the area. These guardians' main task was to prevent people from treasure hunting in the water. Ever since they were assigned, nothing ever interesting happened. Some days, these guardians hoped for something to happen. Unfortunately for them, their prayers were answered by the Dark Lord himself.

"Guardian Captain Alicia," a blonde-haired youngster bowed toward Alicia and nodded at Norvin, who sat atop Alicia's shoulders in his true form.

"Where is it?" Alicia asked the guardian.

Fear and relief emerged on the guardian's face at the same time. He motioned them to follow him as he ascended higher into the air. Then, the guardian slowly flew forward until Alicia noticed something hanging from a couple of black balloons. The midnight black immediately reminded Alicia of the Dark Lord. Everyone in the world knew the Dark Lord was obsessed with the color black, which symbolized darkness.

More guardians were hovering around the balloons while keeping a safe distance from them in case they exploded. They all turned around and heaved a sigh of relief when they saw Alicia and Norvin. From this moment onward, it was Alicia's problem. To be honest, they didn't want to deal with the balloons. Alicia noticed the intense fear in their eyes.

"Damn," Norvin's brows arched up as he saw the headless bodies hanging from the balloons. Their severed heads were placed in their hands. It was a message. The question was, who were these people?

"Guardian Captain,' another red-haired girl slowly hovered toward Gaya with a black skull in her hand.

"We found this in one of the bodies," the girl said, handing the black skull to Alicia.

"Black skull. The symbol of the Dark Lord," Norvin muttered as he confirmed that this was done by the Dark Lord and not by someone else. After what he did to Itholan and Thusians, Norvin knew there was no one stupid enough to mimic the Dark Lord's actions. Trying to copy him was equal to signing their death warrants. The guardians had records of copycats for every mass murderer ever walked the world. However, the only one with no copycats was the Dark Lord. Besides, the cruelty and the fear in the severed heads' eyes were a clear indication of who killed them.

lghtnvlubm fr th bt nvl rdng rn

"When did you find them?" Alicia asked in a tone colder than her usual self.

The guardians shuddered.

"This morning," answered the blonde-haired youngster.

"What were you doing until someone entered this area and placed them right under your noses?" asked Alicia. Norvin had the same question running in his mind; the only explanation he could come up with was incompetence. As Alicia said, someone from the Dark Lord's army entered one of the most protected areas, placed balloons with bodies, and escaped the area without anyone noticing. Just imagining the sequence of events frustrated Norvin. Ever since the Dark Lord destroyed Itholan and settled down in the dark ocean, the Guardian Guild was desperately looking for a win against him. His power and influence grew with each passing day as the people's trust in the guild lowered. Now if the newspapers got a whiff of this, Norvin knew the people would be more afraid of the Dark Lord than they would trust the Guardian Guild.

The guardians gawked at each other and lowered their heads. They had no explanation. Initially, one of them thought the Dark Lord teleported the balloons with the bodies here, but later they realized the array formed an anti-teleportation area around. In other words, no one would be able to teleport in or out of the area. As Norving turned his gaze to the black skull in Alicia's hands, he noticed something in the skull's mouth. He dropped down to Alicia's hand and pulled out a piece of paper from the skull's mouth.

Everyone turned their gaze toward Norvin and waited for him to read what was written on the piece of paper.

"Better luck next time, clowns. P.S nice array," Norvin crushed the paper, gritting his teeth. While reading the words, Norving couldn't help imagining the Dark Lord laughing at them.

When Alicia heard the Dark Lord calling them clowns, she almost crushed the skull in her hand to pieces. On the other hand, the guardians hoped she wouldn't vent her anger on them. Suddenly, the black skull in Alicia's hands trembled, letting out a strange whistling noise. The guardians almost leaped back, expecting the skull to explode.

"If you found out who they were and their buddies, they'd be alive," The guardians felt a chill hearing the Dark Queen's voice coming from the skull. After hearing the Dark Queen's voice, the guardians looked more terrified. Alicia had a feeling that the Dark Queen herself came here to put these balloons and the bodies. One thing was certain for Alicia, the Dark Lord didn't know who these people were, and he tortured them to no avail. This made Alicia more curious about their identities.

"We'll take this from here," Alicia turned her gaze back to the guardians.

h ltt nd mt ulr nvl t lghtnvlubm

"Be more competent next time," Alicia snickered before taking the bodies and leaving the area. For some reason, Novin had a feeling that if they could unveil the mystery behind the bodies' identities, they might be able to gain an advantage over the Dark Lord.

****************************************************

The following day started with nothing too dramatic like the previous day for Michael. Since the empress wanted to meet him again at the exact location they had met before, Michael woke up early and headed to the lone mountain. As he was flying in the sky, the orange and yellow bright ball began to appear like the colors oranges, lemons, and grapefruit. The sun slowly rose higher and higher as the colors became more vibrant. The sky and water connected with each other, and the light struck across the water. With each passing second, the sun began to glow brighter and brighter, eliminating the darkness of the night. The sunrise made the water glisten while the birds began to fly out of their nests peacefully. Michael had a sense of gentleness and calm as the birds chirped and the wind breezed over him.

By the time Michael reached the mountain, he had noticed the empress was waiting for him with Baladur. Michael didn't expect the empress to arrive at the location earlier than they had agreed.

"You are early as well," Empress Nithroel greeted Michael with the most beautiful smile that shined just as bright as the morning sun.

"Good morning, empress," Michael Michael greeted back the empress and landed beside her. Then, the two of them stared at the rising sun in silence for a few moments. Michael eventually broke the silence.

"I assume you heard what happened at the Han Torum shipyard,"

"And I assume you know the ones who destroyed the place were not elves but the guardians,"

As Michael expected, the empress knew what really went down, unlike the dwarves. The moment Michael read the news stating that the shipyard in Embercrest had a mysterious explosion and the dwarves were suspecting the elves for the explosion. Many believed the news because everyone in the world knew the hatred between the dwarves and the elves. However, Michael knew it was all bullshit. Even if Michael didn't know it was Noah who destroyed the prototype, he wouldn't have suspected the elves because it was too obvious.

"Who would have thought Noah Winston, the Supreme Guardian, was capable of such trickery?" Michael said with a tinge of sarcasm in his voice.

lghtnvlubm fr bttr ur rn

"You were supposed to deal with the prototype and the weapons," Baladur interjected as the empress raised her hand, stopping Baladur from speaking further. Michael slightly turned his head to see Baladur standing behind Nithroel.

"In case you haven't noticed, I am not working for you. I am working with you. Huge difference,"

"Ignore my unruly subordinate," Nothroel's eyes glistened with authority and fury. With a single glance, she made Baladur take a step back. Even Michael felt the overwhelming aura of a ruler around her.

"It's okay," Michael defused the situation.

"One or another, the weapon and the blueprints were dealt with. The one who built the weapon is with the guardian now. So everything with the dwarves will go back to what it used to be," said Michael.

"The real brains behind the weapon and the prototype was a human. An orphan named Hammond," Nithroel, gave Michael something important in his hunt for the inventor. As soon as Michael heard the name, the image of Nightmare's drawing flashed across his eyes.

"H for Hammond," Michael said to himself.

"Here's everything we know about Hammond. I hope you will find it useful," with a flick of her wrist, Nithroel took out an elegantly rolled parchment from her space ring.

"Take this if you think he is a threat to both of us. As you said, you are working with me, not for me," Nithroel extended the scroll toward Michael as he took it from her without wasting a second. As far as he was concerned, Hammond was more of a threat to him and his army than he was to Nithroel.

"Deal with him however you see fit. I just do not want to see his toys threatening my empire in any way," although Nothroel seemed calm and collected, Michael could see the hidden killing intent in her eyes. If this Hammond guy was within her reach, Michael doubted he would still be alive.

lghtnvlubm fr bttr ur rn

"Don't worry about him anymore. I will deal with him personally," Michael said with a murderous grin.