“She left the mountain?” Helo pulls out his tablet and looks for any messages. “She would have said something if she was leaving. Better yet, she would have asked someone to go with her.”
Rocco stands up and starts to pace in the middle of the room. Then he starts to mumble to herself. “She left. She’s gone. She isn’t here. She met someone. She was kidnapped.” Looking up with frantic eyes he shouts. “She was kidnapped!” Pulling out his own tablet Rocco starts sending messages to Hinata’s parents.
“Woah!” Helo stumbles forward and almost trips. But he gets to Rocco in time to stop him. Rocco looks like he wants to punch Helo, but he places a hand on his shoulder. “I agree with you. I’m starting to get worried as well. But we need to ask a few more questions before we put the entire mountain on lock down.”
Looking at everyone in the eyes he asks. “Who was she going to meet?”
Arisah raises her hand. “Um, she mentioned that someone needed help in an alchemical garden.” Nodding Helo waves at her to continue. “From what she said to me, she was leaving for a little bit. I didn’t realize how long it had been.” Arisah starts to have tears pool in her eyes, and she feels like she should have noticed sooner.
Rocco wants to yell at her, but Helo gets to her first. Rubbing her back he says, “It’s okay. Everyone was distracted by the rift breaks being over.”
Pulling out his tablet Helo starts going through a map of the area. “There are five gardens that she could have been asked to go to.”
Alli steps up to take charge. Pointing at different gardens she calls out names. “We split up. Rocco and Cody. Rurgrim and Aiko. Gabi, Luna and Bibbin. Carl and Arisah. Helo, Lelai and I will go here. Send a message to the group chat if you find anything.” Everyone is looking at her and she just claps her hands. “Get to it!”
At that everyone rushes to their room to grab their spatial bags. Then they all book it out the door. Alli leads Helo toward the golf cart. She chooses the garden that was closest to the exit for them. Alli assumes that Hinata is somewhere outside the mountain and if she really was kidnapped the best place to do so would be in the location near the exit.
Driving through the mountain city the amazing views flash by. Mount Fuji is a beautiful location, and the inside isn’t any less. Looking up you can see a clear view of the sky through the mouth of the volcano. All around there are lava flows that have been controlled by Yoeko and her family’s array. The array that her family created is so controlled that she is able to make the different lava flows, that are there to help control the mountains pressure, into works of art.
The walls and the floors are filled with glowing orange lines. They line the roads and, in some cases, they are even used to give directions. The entire undercity is an example of master class array work.
It doesn’t take them long to find the location that they are looking for. The garden is massive and houses a greenhouse set up in the back. All around it there are different crafting locations. Blacksmith, Leather worker, Lumber yard, etc.
“It seems we are in the crafting district.” Alli says. “If she was kidnapped it is a great way to get to her. She loves alchemy. Plus, this district is well protected, why would she need to request backup.”
Humming in agreement, Helo follows behind Alli. Walking up to the garden they can see rows upon rows of different plants. All of them are meticulously cared for and organized. There are a series of steps leading up into the building entrance. It is a double door and framed by massive wooden slabs. The entire building is crafted using wood. With three stories and multiple sections.
Opening the door Alli is surprised by how the door just swings inward with nothing stopping it. This causes her to look back at Helo with a raised eyebrow. Her look says ‘This isn’t good’.
Stepping into the doorway behind her Helo’s tablet lets out a “Ding”. Infront of him Alli jumps a few inches off the ground and turns back to him with a glare. “Don’t scare me like that!” She whispers furiously.
Raising his hands in submission, “It wasn’t me. I got a message from Rurgrim. It says ‘There ain’t been no sign of the lass here.’”
“This really isn’t looking good.” Alli says while pointing out a broken door. It leads into a room with multiple cauldrons and crafting materials.
Hearing a yip coming from outside the door Helo finds Lelai using her nose to point out a slight stain of blood at the bottom of the door frame. “Good girl.” Helo pets Lelai behind the ears for a second.
As he does, more messages come in from the rest of the team. Nobody found any clue about where she is. Relaying the news to Alli she wipes an eye before a tear can form.
As Alli is thinking Helo focuses on his senses. He has smelt and tasted Hinata’s blood enough to know that it isn’t hers. But he can smell a large amount further in the room. Following his nose Helo opens up the closet in the back of the crafting room and finds the body of a pretty woman.
She was tossed inside the closet with zero respect. Her body is fanned out on the floor. Covering her are multiple bite marks and a random assortment of different crafting plants. Looking into the room Helo really doesn’t understand what he is looking at.
Alli steps up behind him and lets out a gasp. “That is one of the Alchemy Assistants. It is an intermediary class. Ment for someone who doesn’t have the money or skill to take an initial Alchemist class. Hinata always talked about how she was so sweet.” Stepping back up and looking at her body, she says. “I am not surprised that Lelai couldn’t smell her. The different plants that she is covered in are all easy to get and are known for masking scent. Actually, I’m surprised you did find her.”
Helo just shrugs. “Well, that is something else I will need to figure out. I kind of just fixated on the scent of her blood.”
“She doesn’t even have any left.” Alli says while looking at the girl with sadness. Taking another look, she is correct. All the bite marks are vampire bites and were used to drain her of her blood.
Closing the door and pulling Helo back, Alli pulls out her tablet. “It is time to let everyone know what we found. We need to contact Akira.”
Nodding Helo volunteers to get in touch with Akira. The tablet rings for a while and Helo doesn’t think he is going to pick up. But when the call is about to go to voicemail Akira’s face appears on his screen. “Helo-San. It is great to hear from you. How is your recovery.” Akira can see Helo’s face as well. Seeing the serious look he asks. “What happened?”
“Hinata is missing.” Helo bows his head. “I have failed as her guard. She got a call for help from what we assume was one of her alchemy assistants. We investigated and found the assistant dead.”
Akira’s eyes go wide with shock, it is quickly replaced by anger, then realization. “Ohhhh. Everything makes so much more sense now.” He doesn’t hang up but he turns away and talks with someone off screen. “I know why their actions were so confusing the last day. They haven’t been trying to escape from us. They were buying time. They got Hinata.”
Turning back to the screen he says. “I’m on my way.”
Instead of waiting for him in the garden Helo and Alli continue their search. It takes a few minutes for them to find clues but Helo remembers something important. If his head wasn’t constantly hurting from his injuries he probably would have remembered sooner.
Looking down, Helo finds his necklace. Dangling behind it is a large medallion that frames the fang. He isn’t looking for the mythic tier necklace. No, he wants the uncommon tier medallion.
Grabbing it in his fist Helo activates it. The medallion has two states; Passive and Active. In its passive state it only activates when it detects the energy spike from one of the paired items, an item that both Alli and Hinata hold.
But, in the active state Helo can supercharge the items search feature. With this it can essentially follow the energy signature of one of the paired items. Activating the medallion a beam of light materializes in front of Helo’s hand. It spins around and Helo starts to walk through the room. The spinning slows and the medallion points out of the crafting room. Following the beam of light Helo doesn’t go to the entrance of the building. He goes toward the back exit.
“Hey Alli. Follow me. I got a trail.” Alli comes over and looks at Helo’s chest.
“What is that?” She looks at the light beam shooting from his necklace.
“It is the paired enchantment to the anklet I gave you both.” Helo shows off the medallion while walking. “If I pour in extra energy, it can track the left-over energy from the anklets.” He says with a smile.
Following the light the three of them head out a back entrance of the alchemical garden and into an alley way between buildings. Unexpectedly the alley way doesn’t lead to the exit tunnel to the mountain city. Instead, it twists and turns through the city. A few times the medallion lost the trail. Helo, Lelai and Alli were forced to search for alternate clues on where to go. As they look, Helo continues to keep his medallion out and ready.
Following through the alleys they eventually end up leaving the crafting area all together. Pulling out a map and looking over the general direction, the only area Helo can see of importance is the mountain wall. The city around them is filled with people cheering and celebrating. The mountain city was made to be a fallback point. But it doesn’t mean it isn’t a close fit.
Deciding to skip over all the people Helo turns to Alli. “There is nothing here. Just houses and people who are celebrating. If someone was here with Hinata then they would have been spotted.”
“Well, we can’t not look. Your tracking enchantment is leading you here.” Alli replies she doesn’t understand what he is getting at.
“I know. But all these people are messing with the energy signatures. The medallion keeps cutting in and out. I want to bypass them all and check the wall.” Helo points ahead. Alli looks and she can see the residential area they are moving through runs against the mountain wall. Nodding her head she turns back.
“Yeah. Let’s see. We would save a lot of time if we could skip all these people.
Getting back in the cart the two of them, with Lelai, head past the stone houses that are filled with cheering and partying people. Instead of taking an hour to search though, they reach the other side in only a few minutes. Getting to the wall it is filled with magma flow and uncut rock.
The wall itself is quite intimidating. It radiates a powerful heat and rises up to the volcano mouth. Starting on one side the two of them get out of the cart and start to walk along the wall. Helo is holding out his medallion and is hoping that he catches another trail. On the first pass they don’t get anything. Alli turns to him worried. “What if we just passed her?”
“No… They would want to leave. They could have left. You heard what Akira said. They led him and his people on a chase. They wanted to get her for something, to do that they need to get away.” The buildings are built about one hundred feet from the wall. It creates a safe section between the two. It also allows for the enchantments to start working on cooling the intense heat.
Wiping the sweat from his brow Helo looks back. “The medallion is only picking up feint signatures. I have to be right over the energy for it to get a reading. Let’s walk again, but ten feet inward.”
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Alli, Lelai and Helo walk back and forth over and over. Each time they have to deal with the extreme heat and the rocky terrain. It is filled with magma rivers and random boulders that there was no reason to clear away.
It is near one of those boulders that Helo gets another reading. He turns to Alli with a massive smile. Sighing in relief, he can see as Alli does the same. Both of them were getting worried that they made a massive mistake. If Helo’s plan failed, they would have lost precious minutes, where they could have been searching for her.
Walking around the boulder he doesn’t see anything. “Alli. Am I missing something?”
Alli walks around the other way and shakes her head. “I have no idea. Follow the trail back. Let’s see where it goes.”
“Good idea.” Walking around the boulder, Helo finds only one path leading away from the area. It goes straight toward the residential area that they just left. Getting to the building line Helo looks back over the open field before the mountain wall.
“So? Did they back track?” Alli asks as she looks around.
“I don’t know.” Helo says with some irritation in his voice. This was their only lead, but it disappeared. “Ahhhh what do we do!”
Feeling a mental nudge Helo pulls out his tablet. Alli does the same and requests for the party to meet them at their location.
Akira Kashiwagi: I am back in the mountain. Where are you? Any news?
Helo Vital: (Location Ping)
As soon as the message is shown as read, Helo feels a massive flutter of wind. Turning around Akira is suddenly standing behind him. Stumbling forward Helo can feel the pressure of his aura as it billows out. Looking up into Akira’s eyes Helo can see steel there, cold hard resolve.
With an even and hard tone he says, “What news?”
Helo stutters for a second. He debates on telling Akira the full story. But in the end, he just hands him the medallion. Helo can see mana flash through his eyes then he looks at Helo with a nod. “Good work.”
“This way.” Helo says. Then he moves as fast as his injured body can go. He shows Akira the location where the trail ends. Akira takes one look at the boulder and punches forward. The force from the blow sends Helo back and he falls on his butt.
Forward from the punch the boulder is blasted into pieces. It turns into rocks and shrapnel and litters against the wall of the mountain. As the dust clears a tunnel is revealed. With a sigh Akira looks into the open sky from the volcano mouth. “Haaaaa. I am so glad that worked Helo-San. I didn’t know if there was a tunnel, but as soon as I saw the obvious boulder Helo, I knew it had to be so.”
“They tunneled into the city.” Helo says with surprise. He has seen the central enchantments. He helped fix all the relays that were messed with. He knows just how difficult it is to do this. Well, at the same time he had to help fix the relays. “It must have been one of the relays. We didn’t check them all, but we did fix them all. One of the people helping fix the relays must have let them do this.” Helo says to Alli and Akira.
“I will go ahead.” He looks at the medallion that was on Helo’s neck. “I’ll leave a trail.” Like that the man disappears faster than Helo could even react.
Looking at Alli, Helo just nods toward the hole. “After you.” With a mock bow Alli starts to climb down. The tunnel is only six-feet tall and only two men could walk down it at a time. When he gets in the tunnel Helo doesn’t have to crouch, but it feels like he should, just a little bit. He hasn’t grown much, but he is tall for his age.
Walking down the tunnel they see no signs of Akira’s trail. But at the same time, it is only a single tunnel, with no turns, and in a straight line. It takes them about ten minutes of moving as fast as Helo can before they reach the exit. Getting a text, Alli checks her phone. “The party reached the tunnel. They are starting down. With your injuries they should be here soon.”
Helo just rolls his eyes. He wants to argue, but he knows that she is right. “You didn’t have to say it like that.” Helo climbs free from the tunnel. Looking back, they actually made decent time, there were no trees, bushes, ravines or creatures in their way. They are on the side of Mount Fuji and by Helo’s guess they are closer to being out of the Kashiwagi area than inside it.
“So, a trail…?” Alli mutters as she looks around.
Helo just rolls his eyes and looks toward the direction that has a massive brightly shining arrow pointing toward the south, which is away from the Kashiwagi area. It is also toward the ocean.
“Ahem.” He points the same way and Alli finally notices the obvious sign. She was looking at the ground like there would be a slight marking. Instead, there was some kind of massive illusionary arrow.
“Yeah… I saw that. Come on!” With that Alli and Helo start following Akira.
Akira is moving as fast as he can. Even with his tier 3 body, he is starting to feel his muscles ache from how hard he is pushing himself. Some evil bastards kidnapped his daughter. He is going to go scorched earth on them. He might not be the strongest fighter in the world. But he definitely is the most annoying one.
His specialty is illusional evasion and misdirection. Where Hinata likes to create physical illusions that can attack, he blankets an entire area in his power. Then the only stimuli this opponent can take in, is the one he gives them.
Looking down at the medallion in his hand he truly is impressed by the craftsmanship. Well, it is obviously crude. It is a little inelegant, but it has a job and it gets it done. His ‘inspection’ skill is one of the things he is proud of. It isn’t just powerful, it give even the slightest details. One of the caveats to the skill is that he needs to know about what he is looking at.
He doesn’t need to have watched them make it. He just needs a basic understanding of the crafts that went into the item. Then he can get a detailed description of the process.
Predator’s Receiver (Uncommon)
A looped disk made from Dark Steel. Enchanted to find its connected beacons.
Created by the (Redacted) Helo Vital. It is an item made to find those he cares about most. The item materials are carrying a lot of the weight in the item quality. The rune work is unimpressive and straightforward. But at the same time the singular nature of the item gives it a boost in power.
Connected to a beacon that has a single use defensive rune and a powerful disruption effect.
- Light to guide the way.
- Powerful receiver.
- Resonance Link.
- Depending on the surroundings can detect up to 100 miles.
Using his own illusion creating skills he makes another semi-permanent illusion. This is an offshoot of his daughter’s semi-physical illusions. Akira can obviously make them, but with his skill set he prefers illusions that he can stop fueling with mana.
He has had to back track a few times. He is moving faster than the tier 1 runes the item is made from can handle. But he is still making good time. In only a handful of seconds Akira travels the few miles to the coast.
On the ground he can see the signs of a beached vessel. But from the looks of it, it is some kind of airplane. That is what he was worried about. If someone flew overhead, their defenses would have warned them. But landing a floating vessal on the water means they can get in and out without being noticed.
Pulling out his tablet he calls his wife. “No love, I haven’t found her. But I did find where she was taken. At least initially. They must have used a small floatable plane and came in on the water. If they flew in and landed close to us, we would have been warned. But there are so many boats on the water around Japan.”
“So, what now?” Yuki says with a shaking voice. She is still working on finding the last of the tier 3 fighters that were trying to escape.
“Now, now we…” His voice trails off as the medallion shines a bright white. Then it starts to burn its mana reserves at a prodigious rate.
“Honey are you there?” Yuki asks her husband.
“Yeah love. But I think Helo might have just saved out daughter.” Just as he says that he can feel a pulse of aura up in the sky. His own aura is massive and well controlled. At least most of the time it is. But he can feel as a familiar aura leaks out of a point in the sky. This point appears to be just a cloud. But it quickly turns into a plane that is flying away. Then suddenly Helo’s aura burst free, a second later Hinata’s aura follows.
Up in the plane Hinata slowly blinks her eyes open. She quickly closes them again due to the headache and blinding light from the open window. All she can hear around her is the roaring of the wind and what sounds like metal rattling. Shaking her head she looks around. “Where am I?”
Thinking to herself she finally starts to remember what happened in the garden. With this her heartbeat starts to rise and tears start to form on her cheeks. Her friend. She was the same age as Hinata. She wasn’t from a wealthy family, but she was great at what she did. She started working as an Alchemist Assistant. Hinata was even thinking about bringing her to work with her party. She was tortured into calling Hinata for help. Then she was murdered in front of her. After that, Hinata was knocked out. Then she was here.
As her headache starts to recede, she takes a look around. Out the nearby window all she can see is a bright light and clouds. “The sun… I’m in a plane.”
“That you are sweetheart.” She hears a man’s voice. Turing her head abruptly she can see a man in red with fangs sticking down over his lower lip. He gives her a creepy smile and Hinata can see the row of vicious fangs. “I was thinking about getting a peek.” He nods toward Hinata’s body.
Her clothes are in a disarray. Quickly pulling her clothes back around her, she is surprised that she isn’t restrained. “No need for that sweetheart. You’re not strong enough to get away.” He smiles at her. “I did take your pack and your rings. But now that your awake.” He stands up.
“Sit back down Horace!” A man up front says. He steps out from the cockpit, “Sorry, my brother isn’t the… civilized type.” The man says with his own fang filled smile.
“But there isn’t any escape for you. The Undeserving should be able to do a lot with your bloodline. It is an honor for you. To be sacrificed to empower others.” The man goes into the cockpit and presses a button. The clouds outside disappear.
Horace steps up and smiles with unhidden glee. “Say goodbye to Japan it is the last time you will ever see it. They won’t be able to find us. This plane is hidden.”
Hinata is trying to hide her fear. So, she gets angry. Glaring at the two men she snarls. The man who never introduced himself doesn’t say anything. But Horace does. “I love it when they fight back.”
Looking down at her disarrayed form she feels naked without her bag and rings. But then her gaze lands on her anklet. She starts to calm down, just a little. Horace isn’t empathetic enough to notice but the brother does. He squints at her and studies her, like he is trying to solve a puzzle.
“About how far off the coast are we?” She asks.
The still unnamed man doesn’t say anything, but the brother does. “Ha, it doesn’t matter. Five or a hundred miles, it’s all the same for you. You’re never going to see it again.” He laughs some more but he does answer. “About fifty miles.”
This causes Hinata to smile. The brother is now truly concerned. Checking over her body he spots the anklet. “You were supposed to take all her jewelry!”
As he took the time to yell at his brother, Hinata activates the anklet. It isn’t powerful compared to the two tier 3 men. But it is filled with a massive amount of Helo’s dark bloodline energy, and all that energy is focused on breaking down defenses.
The blast does very little, it only pushes the men away a few inches. But the contents of the plane get sent about. The dark cloud pushes out and into the walls of the plane. At first Hinata is terrified that it won’t work. But then she can feel the sizzling of the enchantments that are trying to hold the energy starting to fail.
Then with a breath of freedom the dark energy pushes out of the plane and into the air.
The vampire is about to strike her, but the cockpit starts blaring. Turning around he starts to read over everything. “The concealment enchantment is down. The engines are also failing.”
As the plane starts to fall Hinata can hear a sound that she has been listening to since she was a child. It is the whirling of her dad’s flying device. Then the world goes black.
The first thing Akira did when he spotted the plane was to take out his personal flight tool. He has no skills that can achieve flight. But he does have a board that can, it is a flat board, kind of like a snowboard. It has a device underneath it that acts like a jet engine.
Jumping on the board he starts to push his mana into it like a river. As the engine starts to whirl, he starts to pick up speed. It doesn’t take him long to catch up to the plane. Something in Helo’s device seems to have messed with the plane’s engines and they are losing speed.
As soon as he gets within the range of the plane, he activates his favorite opener. It is a spell that casts a wide scale illusion. The spell covers the area in magical darkness. Using his own mana sight he can see into his own illusion. He also has a high level of resistance against illusions. This helps his mana sight peer through his own spell that is flooding the area.
Flying up to the side of the plane Akira jumps from his board. As he does, it immediately slows down. As it does, he catches it from the air. Storing it away Akira using his aura to feel inside the plane. He can’t feel much, there are two other auras blocking his own. Neither are as strong as his, but both are tier 3. He knows that Hinata is in the plane though due to the anklet. His own Medallion give out one final flare before it runs out of mana.
Standing on the wing of the plane, Akira is about to break his way in but suddenly the side of the plane erupts outward in a spray of metal. Out of the plane Horace jumps free. Roaring into the wind he yells, “Hahaha! I might not be able to see, but I can smell your blood!”
Jumping right at Akira he attempts to snatch him. But around the kitsune the illusion is much more powerful. It can affect not only all the sense, but even the opponent’s own mind. Diving past the Akira, Horace steps onto a puddle of blood and redirects himself backward. Horace might be a certain type of idiot, but he is a great fighter. He realizes that he can’t trust his senses when he is directly around Akira. So, lashing out with a blood whip he tries to strike him with a wide sweeping attack.
Akira ducks under the blood whip, but the plane isn’t as lucky. The entire top gets cut off in the follow through. As the plane falls apart everything within gets sent into the open sky, Hinata included.
Akira dives for his daughter and catches her in his arms. Letting them continue to fall he conjures a semi-physical illusion of a large cone facing down. It blocks them from the airflow, but lets them still break through the wind resistance. Falling down he looks her in the eyes. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” Grabbing her cheeks he kisses her on the forehead. “You’re not allowed to get kidnapped again.”
“I am so glad you’re here! Thank you.” She finally lets her tears start to fall. Crying in her father’s arms, “I was so scared.” Above them the sky gets coated red and both vampires start to give chase. Hinata can see them coming and she knows she would only get in the way. “I can make it back on my own. I’ll only get in your way.” She looks back up at the vampires that are rapidly gaining on them.
Akira holds her close then he nods. “Yeah, go. I’ll hold them off.” He allows the cone to dissipate, and he steps on his platform. Leaping in the air Akira sends out his aura in a massive wave of power. The two vampires do the same and in between the two groups space visibly ripples.
Then with an eruption of energy the two forces start to clash.