"Kuzon!" Ana covered herself with her hands while gaping in shock.
"Don't worry, I didn't go beyond that. I promise. Besides, you know hiding your body with another part of your body is pointless, right? I can just choose to see through everything." The boy's eyes glowed golden as he grinned widely.
"You pervert!" Ana once again hit him desperately with her hands.
'Nailed it!' The boy thought to himself.
"But, on a serious note... I've observed your outfit, and J know you designed them yourself. They're brimming with technology and pin-point accuracy."
Ana stopped her pointless hitting and sighed while nodding.
It seemed Kuzon was right.
"I don't know about other things, but I don't think anyone is more fit for handling such delicate technology. Besides, I trust you, Ana." Kuzon drew closer to the girl's face.
A bead of sweat formed on her face, but Ana could feel her heart beat in exhilaration.
She was currently breaking into new grounds in her secret research, but this was the kind of opportunity she was waiting for.
The kind of recognition she desired.
Ana didn't know how to feel about Kuzon, but he was certainly sincere about needing her help.
It made her happy for some reason.
"Let's work together to defeat this guy." He gave a thumbs up with determination swirling in his eyes.
Ana could not help but feel the same.
"Y-yeah! Let's do it!"
********************
"Looks like they've gotten one of the Arcanas already." A female voice sounded in the dark room.
Within it, there were only two people.
One was the supreme leader of the Nether Cult, and his right hand woman.
Though they were the only ones physically present, the other members were connected through Magic Communication.
In essence, it was virtual.
"I'm sorry about that. I guess they got it right under my nose." The person who spoke was none other than the current 7th Seat, Reed Sterling.
Jared and his team caught him unawares and retrieved an Arcana before he could. This could be considered an epic failure in the eyes of the Cult.
"Rectify your errors." The Cult Leader spoke, causing his influence to resonate deep into Sterling's heart.
"G-got it!"
"So? Has anyone had any luck on their ends?" The Cult Leader spoke to everybody else.
"No."
"Nope."
"Not here too."
"Not at all."
"I'm afraid not."
"No, sorry."
"Negative."
Their unsatisfactory responses.csused the usually calm Cult Leader to give into impatience.
His fingers clacked in the table in front of him, and he didn't seem all too pleased.
"It's not our fault, though. Wouldn't you use your Clairvoyance to help make the search easier? It's not exactly a piece of cake to find Dungeons." Kido's voice rang out.
It sounded rude, but no doubt it was what everyone was also thinking.
"Yeah. Kido has a point. We usually operate with your Clairvoyance guiding us."
"Ohh? Karlia, you finally agree with something I say? I'm flattered. Does that mean you've changed your mind about... that?"
"Shut up." Karlia's voice snapped.
"That's enough." The Cult Leader sighed.
As he commanded, there was decorum in the meeting.
For a few moments, nothing but silence echoed throughout. One would think their host had gone off to sleep.
However, as suddenly as he fell silent, he finally spoke.
"We can't rely Clairvoyance currently. There are several distortions in the world currently. It makes it hard for Clairvoyance to work in certain places..."
"Distortions? But your Clairvoyance is absolute. What distortion could—"
"It's most likely the work of Jared Leonard, the Singularity. We should have killed him when we had the chance..." The tone of the Cult Leader was directed toward one person—at least, that was implied.
"Yeah, it's my bad. Once again, I apologize. Haha." Legris Damien's voice rang out.
"In any case, he's most likely using technology to distort the environment, making it difficult to use Clairvoyance. Usually, even Magic wouldn't be enough to stop me, but it seems he's using something else..."
That was indeed a very worrisome predicament.
"Couldn't we consider that the places that have been distorted are where the Arcanas are located?" A voice rang out.
It belonged to Stefan Netherlore, the youngest in the group.
"No. That can't be. It's most likely a trap... a misdirection." The Cult Leader's voice echoed.
"Besides, there are over a hundred distorted locations. I'm sure he'd rather we waste our time thoroughly searching them than looking for the actual places."
"No, wait a minute. I agree with Stefan's logic." Legris Damien spoke up.
A wave of silence greeted his interruption.
Everyone knew the Cult Leader was always right.
He had never been wrong about anything, and that was what made the organization function so seamlessly.
For the 6th Seat to challenge that, then...
"What do you mean, Legris?" The Nether Cult Leader asked calmly.
"Well, Jared has been known to evade us multiple times because he usually does the unexpected. From misdirection to surprising innovations, he manages to surprise us because he doesn't operate in the way you'd expect." Legris began.
As someone who had the most experience dealing with Jared, Legris' words carried weight.
After all, even he had lost to the kid.
"So, you're implying that since it's illogical that the Arcanas would actually be in those distorted places, then we should check them to be sure?"
"Exactly. I believe Stefan brought that up because he knows Jared well too."
"I see... you make good points. Apologies for shooting down your suggestion, Stefan."
"A-ah, it's nothing." Stefan's voice sounded slightly flustered, but the boy did not break his composure.
"Alright. I'll share the locations of the distorted areas with some of our members. Vaizer. Legris. Stefan. Reed. The four of you will be in charge of investigating those areas."
The members who were called out all responded affirmatively.
"The rest of you, keep looking. Kido. Karlia. Beruel. I'm counting on you. Also be available at any given time. You could be assigned to the distorted zones if they turn out to be genuine."
Once again, affirmative responses rang out.
"Very well, then. This concludes the meeting."
**********
[A/N]
Apologies for the many errors recently.
I haven't had much time to edit them since I'm busy with a lot of things at the moment.
Thanks for understanding.
