"Are you sure he's going to show up?" asked the bearded man.

  "I'm certain he'll appear soon enough," replied Kazuha.

  "How much longer are we going to wait? We've been waiting from hours, and Azura still hasn't come," the bearded man continued.

  "Hmm, give him one more hour. If he still hasn't arrived, I'll go to his house," Kazuha answered again.

  After a few moments of waiting in the quiet atmosphere, the bearded man suddenly noticed something slightly off in his mind.

  "Hey, Kyoryu, do you realize it too? Azura's behavior is very different from when he first met us compared to after he lost his weapon."

  "I've felt the same thing, Master Guround. But in my opinion, that's normal. He'd be upset if someone stole his weapon, so I think it's only natural."

  "But I'm convinced that Azura's anger is different—like there's something terrifying within it."

  "Ah, forget it, Master Guround. Azura is just a typical teenager; the darkness inside him is only temporary."

  "I'm not so sure. Azura must be hidi—"

  Before the bearded man could finish his sentence, Azura suddenly appeared beside the table, standing with a blank expression as he looked at all the members of The Last Hope party.

  "I'm here," Azura said casually after abruptly appearing near them.

  Kazuha shifted his gaze forward, toward the bearded man. "Leave this to me."

  Kazuha stood up from his seat and walked over to Azura. "Do you have your answer already?"

  "Yes," Azura replied.

  Glancing toward the bearded man, Kazuha nodded his head, and the bearded man nodded back in response, as if giving permission.

  "I know the whereabouts of one of the members from Blaze's party, but we can't discuss it here. We'll do this just the two of us, because if we're in a large group, we might get spotted."

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Kyoryu grabbed Azura's arm, and suddenly darkness covered Azura's eyes. In less than a minute, Azura regained his vision—and found himself in front of his own house.

  "My house? Why?" asked Azura.

  "We're going on a disguise mission. Open the door, Azura," Kazuha replied.

  Kazuha opened the entrance door, sat on the bed again, and of course, he pulled a chair from the kitchen to sit on.

  Kazuha pulled out one of the daggers that was stuck in one of the photos he had pinned to the wall the day before.

  Kazuha showed the photo of a beautiful woman with hair that was half black and half white, though it leaned more toward white, nearly covering almost her entire head.

  Bright white eyes with pupils that almost resembled colorful gradient stars, yet without any sharp edges. A bright white outfit like a jacket but open, shining like diamonds.

  After Azura looked at it, Kazuha slammed the photo onto the wooden table near Azura's bed and then stabbed his dagger right into the woman's face in the photo.

  "Miracle—real name unknown. She is the entertainer for the Flaming Fairy party, a singer with quite a large following."

  "I've received information that Miracle will be holding a concert in the advanced city, Stellhaven. One crucial thing is that Miracle can control her fans with her songs, drawing out their consciousness and replacing it with something new—so they see, hear, and move their bodies according to her will."

  "I'm sure they've already made plans to keep their distance from us. If we're spotted even once, they could flee and eliminate our chance to find Blaze's location."

  "That's why this mission will be just the two of us—to minimize the risk of being spotted by them. Besides, the other members are also helping us behind the scenes to track down Blaze's other companions."

  Azura listened carefully before looking at the photo of Miracle, whose face was now pierced by Kazuha's dagger. Then Kazuha pulled it out and threw it toward someone running toward him.

  Inside the futuristic train, Azura and Kazuha had to fight off Miracle's fans, who had lost their consciousness due to Miracle's song altering their minds.

  "I thought it would be that easy! Turns out we're ambushed even before entering the city!" shouted Kazuha as he hurled his daggers at the endless stream of approaching followers.

  "I just hope Miracle doesn't escape from us!" Azura shouted back, running forward through the train while stabbing the fans with his sword.

  On the other side, a beautiful woman was sitting and watching a large holographic screen that displayed Azura and Kazuha struggling against the fans.

  "Are you sure you don't want to run from those two? They're hunting you, you know!" said a man standing behind the woman.

  "You're worrying too much about them, babe. If they listen to my music, they'll definitely fall under my control too..." the woman replied with a small smile.

  The screen showed the train coming to a stop. As soon as the doors opened, Azura and Kazuha rushed out and ran up the stairs leading downward.

  Still pursued by the frenzied fans, Azura and Kazuha pushed themselves to keep running downward—the priority was to get out of this narrow train station first.

  Once they were close enough to the ground level, Azura and Kazuha jumped from the top of the stairs to save energy and time.

  Fortunately, Azura and Kazuha landed safely. Even so, the fans continued chasing them—some jumping from the upper stairs like the two of them but failing, others still running down the stair path.

  Their bodies burning hot, sweat pouring down, hearts pounding rapidly, Azura and Kazuha kept running into the crowded streets, trying to escape the fans.

  In a dark alley, having outpaced the still-rampaging fans, a trash bin lid opened after they passed through.

  "It seems they've gone past us," Azura said as he pushed the trash bin lid open wider.

  "Luckily they didn't look up," replied Kazuha, who was holding onto a clothesline.

  Azura climbed out of the trash bin while Kazuha dropped from the clothesline. They regrouped.

  "Where are the police around here? No one is handling those crazy fans," Azura asked while brushing trash off his clothes.

  "I don't know either—either their minds have been taken over too, or they're just late. Whatever, we need to buy some supplies for our mission first," Kazuha replied as he walked out of the alley.

  The city was incredibly bright and vibrant, white colors everywhere, holographic billboards projecting in every direction—a new experience for Azura and Kazuha as they walked through the heart of Stellhaven.

  Although vehicles were rare on the roads, the sidewalks were packed with pedestrians, making Azura and Kazuha feel a bit awkward since they were used to living in quiet villages with few people.