Chapter 805: Stage two: Abduction
[OP: ]
The knight captain realised that he had made a grave mistake and also that something bad was going to happen soon…
He was furious after finding out about the truth behind the people that he was considering 'Elders', truth behind things that were merely an illusion created to solely target him, and the worst thing was that he fell for it.
Even as a Knight king, this memory manipulation was so powerful that it even managed to affect him… and then he showed the perpetrators around the place as if he was guiding some important figures on his own.
{ "All knight units! Attention!" }
He was ashamed of himself for not noticing the obvious clues until now.
He was dumb, he was cursing himself, and he knew was worthy of divine punishment… however, he also had a duty to fulfil right now, so he had pushed aside all the unnecessary thoughts to a corner.
{ "Four unknown individuals have infiltrated the facility, individuals that you might have seen accompanied by me until a few minutes ago." }
They were no elders, hell they weren't even connected to Temple for all he knew.
'Those people…'
They were wearing multiple layers of disguises, were aware of many things happening in the facility already, were deeply knowledgeable about the internal structure of the institution, and they even had deep knowledge.
{ "They are tricky ones. Have strong magical and physical abilities, one of them could even use complex magic resembling that of the headmaster's magic.
They are strong so knight units under [Rank-5] and mage units under (tier-4) should stick with the operational duties!
Everyone else, server for the infiltrators!" }
He knew just what those bastards were capable of now and that fact worried him even more.
That's why he knew he had no choice but to first go and report this matter to the highest authority of Kaksha. The individual responsible for everything in the current situation.
However, keeping an eye for those individuals was also necessary.
{ "Keep an eye on them and inform the Observers to check for any unusual activities." }
They were on a high alert right now.
The knights and security units knew how the Knight captain himself was escorting those people so they had complete confidence in them.
However, after receiving the news that the people that the knight captain was escorting were in fact not someone secretly important, but someone that were hiding their true identities, they all knew the gravity of the matter.
"Why are you doing this…"
He wanted to know who exactly those people were, if not the elders as he had thought.
He wanted to know just what kind of people had such detailed information about this institution, were so good at acting that he never felt even a hint of untruth in tham, and in addition to all those things, they were also so good at what they did that even someone like him was fooled.
[{ "Approaching the target." }]
[{ "Destination area unlocked." }]
[{ "Starting communication interference." }]
They were now onto their second phase of the operation, and the one leading them liked the results that they had achieved until now.
However, this was only the start.
The real game had just begun…
-Weeeee! Hooooooooo!
-Weeeee! Hooooooooo!
{ "Attention all individuals present on faculty grounds! This is Code: Blue! I repeat! Code: Blue! Please evacuate to designated locations! The security units will execute an emergency quarantine!" }
Sirens started ringing all across Kaksha, and even the areas around this institution were covered in a particular holy shield.
The knights who received the commands were now running out of their barracks and to the various parts of the facility while the children and the teachers who had no idea what was happening all of a sudden were doing what they were supposed to in an emergency like this one.
It was peaceful until just a moment ago the children were playing around with more excitement than usual today, so the faculty members and the priests and those in charge of them had never thought there would be something like this happening.
In the first place, calling various Codes was a rare thing and the last time a code Blue was called, as the older ones here remembered, it was two whole decades ago.
-Knock. Knock.
They did not know what was happening but they knew if a code Blue was called out, then it meant some dangerous, unidentified individuals had managed to infiltrate their institution.
And these individuals most probably had a bad intention, so the one who had called this code, one of the only six who had the authority to do so in this institution, was now standing before the office of the person with the highest authority.
"Come in."
The holder of a stigma and a being that had lived for four times his current age.
-Krrrrrr…
"Eternal glory to the infinite divinities." He greeted the one sitting on the desk present on the other side of the modest room.
"Infinite glory to the infinite divinities." And in a voice that resembled the one wearing the Golden hood, a reply arrived instantly from the person— the elf.
"Lord Cardinal…"
The knight captain was wearing his full body armour from the start so his physical appearance was hidden behind the white-gold armour of the holy knights of the Temple.
While on the other hand, the elf sitting in this modest room wearing normal looking clothing possessed long, earthly green hair that seemed as silky as the finest silk of this world, and glowing golden eyes that, much like a Rakshasa, did not have any white area.
They were golden eyes, glowing with the light of the divinity that this individual was blessed with by the Goddess of Light: Boök.
He was a stigma holder, one of a kind chosen by the great goddess to show the path of light to the mortals in this era.
And, one of the reasons he was the Grand order of Kaksha was also because of his special dispositions.
"Knight of Vay, sir Kartz. I expect an apology."
"And I will apologise formally to everyone that had to suffer because of my mistake today, Lord Cardinal. However, if you would please hear me out-."
"I know how those individuals tricked you into thinking that they were someone of significance.
It is the first time someone used a trick like this, but at the same time, it is not the first time someone has ever had intentions of harming this institution."
The voice he had was reverberating all across the room before reaching the ears of the knight, and as the knight captain knew already, the person sitting before him, however unorthodox his views may be, was someone chosen by a goddess to be her representative.
He was no normal individual, so it was not surprising he already knew about what had happened in the institution he ran.
"Now, the question to ask oneself would be 'why' those individuals did it and what their objective was."
The elf looked out of the window behind him and saw how the teachers and students were being evacuated to various places.
"Do you think they wanted this to happen? That… they wanted you to find out that they were not what you were believing they were?"
It had not even been a few minutes since he entered this room and the words coming from this person that he personally did not like much were suddenly making so much sense that it made him question if there was still something wrong with him.
"You were the one that called the code, Kartz."
The elf looked back at the knight captain with an upset expression.
"You let them in, accompanied them, and there was a reason they chose you and not anyone else in this place.
There was a reason.
And that reason must not just be limited to your authority to grant anyone entrance into the institution."
They stayed with him for hours, went around with him, made him trust them, and they even led him to believe they were someone so important that he had no choice but to consider them to be great beings.
{ "Captain! The communication line is being disintegrated!" }
{ "There are also reports! Captain! Some students have not reached the evacuation zones!" }
{ "It is most likely that they were abducted! Captain!" }
There was a communication device attached to his armour that was connected to the personal communication network of Kaksha that only the knights and a few other individuals could access.
"They wanted this."
The cardinal was angry. However the knight captain knew best how he was controlling that anger and limiting his power only to this room.
"It wasn't your fault, Knight captain.
This… is not your fault."
He was looking out of the window still, and now, there was no one down there anymore.
"But…"
If it were up to him, he would have resolved this matter the moment the code was announced.
However, his activities were limited since not just any person could be in his presence.
It was a difficult task to be present anywhere near someone possessing divine power. Especially someone that yet could not control it.
"You will have to take responsibility for all this."
He was upset, but since he did not have any bad feelings about this whole thing, he knew nothing bad was going to happen to the children that were vanishing from the school grounds.
They weren't going to leave this place since they couldn't do it even if they wanted to, so he wasn't worried about this too much.
"I will. I will take responsibility and bring all of them back."
If anything, the knight captain was the one that was truly furious right now.
And, he wanted nothing more than to find and imprison, interrogate, and punish the individuals that he had looked up to until just a few minutes ago.
"I'll take my leave."
"May the divinities pardon your mistakes."
The cardinal said his last prayer and watched the knight captain leave the office after his sincere bow.
And then… he continued looking out of the window, up at the sky with a concerned, as well as hopeful gaze.