The next day, Vicente and his companions were already on their way as the sun set at the end of the day.
Casey had already taken care of the investigators who had done the compromising work of gathering information regarding Dax for them, having erased their memories of the past few weeks.
Killing someone on sites like Oldbarrow had the potential to cause a lot of headaches. Erasing memories was always preferable.
With that done, the group prepared to move on to Vicente's evil plans.
Vicente was not a soft-hearted man or incapable of making difficult decisions. He may have seemed like a good man to those less observant and aware of his actions, but he was a typical mafioso.
If he had to kill an entire family for the good of his group, he would do what was necessary without blinking an eye!
When Layla and Casey heard that he planned to deal with Dax's family and friends first, they were both a little taken aback, especially this woman who saw the world a little more "pink" than her two traveling companions.
Casey understood the pain Vicente had felt at losing his mother and seeing his family devastated by someone else's struggle. So his surprise was less than Layla's, and he fully understood his ally. Not only did he understand Vice, but he agreed with the plans!
Casey's surprise was related to the fact that he hadn't foreseen that Vicente would go down this bloody path!
Anyway, now the three of them had their plans for the night in mind and were ready to act as soon as the opportunity arose!
...
In a remote part of Oldbarrow, there was a large piece of land the size of a neighborhood, with about 15% of the city's total area.
This place had wooded areas inside, but even from the outside, you could see buildings of all kinds, where there were residences, places for teaching and research, and areas for training and recreation.
That is what a sect or the headquarters of large organizations with thousands of members looked like!
The headquarters of such organizations sometimes resembled towns and even had their trade and laws.
The place in question was the headquarters of the Bone Mountains sect, a medium-sized sect considering the power level of the continent.
More prominent sects, such as the organization that kidnapped Lauren, might have headquarters five to ten times larger than this place, sometimes owning entire cities where only their members and allies could come and go.
But for people who had never seen the headquarters of an organization as large as this one in Oldbarrow, the Bone Mountain headquarters was enough to make the three stare at it open-mouthed for a few moments.
As they stood in front of this place, Vicente and his two companions observed this large estate, looking not only for the signs they had to expect but also for how large and magnificent this area was.
"They say the headquarters of my religion is like this, but on a much larger scale," Layla commented to her two companions, a twinkle in her eye.
Since joining the Congregation of Revelations, her greatest dream was to one day serve in the organization's headquarters, where the Temple Master, an Archmage, commanded the most influential religion in the Polaris Realm!
The City of Angels was home to the most powerful of the Congregation of Revelations, a place only members of the temples of that religion could enter or live.
Casey looked at Layla and then at Vicente. "Getting into this place without being noticed won't be easy. The area is huge, so there are many places where we could be seen."
"That is a possibility. But because the area is so large, it will be easier for us to get in." Vicente said as he looked toward the observers near where they were.
They were hiding in one of the trees on the road in front of the sect's entrance, all dressed in special clothes with cloth masks on their faces.
Vicente saw the sign of the changing shifts of observers in this area, something they had studied in their observations of this place over the last few days.
"Time to act." He said quietly before addressing the two. "Don't worry so much about being noticed. With Layla's speed and your mental abilities, your chances are very good."
With that, Vicente moved off, quickly disappearing as he controlled the light in his surroundings and flew towards the inside of the area at the moment of the shift change when there was an opening in the area's magical defenses.
Layla quickly carried Casey on her back as soon as she saw the moment to act, quickly passing the entrance to the headquarters where a shift was in progress.
The sect members in the area only felt a relatively strong gust of wind when she passed by them.
However, no one was too surprised by the situation, and soon, the exchange was over, and the defenses of that area returned to their impenetrable state for those with cultivation up to the 4th stage.
The Bone Mountains were a force with many enemies in the 4th stage. As such, their headquarters was protected by several 4th-grade formations!
Unfortunately, the formations only worked as long as they were activated, and it was impossible to keep them activated 100% of the time. People had to come and go from such posts, which naturally weakened their defenses at certain times of the day.
Vicente's group managed to get into this sect, with Vice soon following his plans there, while Layla and Casey made their way to Sovereign Dax's residence together!
...
After separating from his two companions, Vicente went to the residences of Dax's two great friends in the sect.
Chase and Caleb, an Earth Sovereign and a Sky Sovereign, respectively, were two of Dax's friends he would undoubtedly miss, both because of their history together and because they were the kind of friends willing to do anything to help their companions.
As such, Vicente wanted to act against both of them to cause Dax pain and weaken his enemy when he returned to Oldbarrow in a few days.
Chase and Caleb lived in the same area of the sect, in one of the noblest and richest parts of this headquarters, where the Sovereigns and their families of this organization lived.
In a way, Layla and Casey were also moving into this area since Dax's residence was there as well. However, the area of the Sovereigns was quite large, and the residences of Dax's family and those two men were separated from each other.
Chase and Caleb lived closer together, so Vicente would soon be close to both of his targets.
With Torne's help in locating these men, and the portrait of them he had also received from the investigator who had given him Dax's information, he soon decided whom to target first.
'I will deal with Caleb first. He's the strongest and the hardest to eliminate, so I must deal with him before Chase.' Vicente thought to himself as he moved in the direction of the man's residence, using Torne's help to hide his aura even more than he could on his own.
