The room fell into silence. Through the tall windows, it was clear that night had completely taken over outside.

  Zod blinked, and in that moment, a sharp memory hit him — the unbearable pain that throbbed at the back of his head when Legion slammed him into the ground. It had felt like his skull was being grated alive. He winced at the recollection.

  “Mutated into a monster?” he asked quietly.

  “Saeda mutated into a Xenosapian,” Kie replied.

  Zod shook his head in disbelief. “No. That can’t be right. You must’ve been seeing things.”

  Kie said nothing, though deep down, he wished Zod was right.

  “I saw it too,” Tee said. “Darkness took control of Saeda’s body — just like a Xenosapian mutation.”

  Tee remembered the moment clearly — how dark, twisting tentacles had erupted from Saeda’s back and how that darkness crawled across her skin. She had screamed her friend’s name, knowing that such a mutation meant certain death. For a terrifying moment, she believed she had watched Saeda die, until her senses returned and she realized the truth wasn’t so simple.

  Saeda’s hair wasn’t white like Tee’s, nor did she have pale eyes — the marks the elders said symbolized the warring forces within her. Ultramana and dark mana. Still, Tee decided to stay silent. The last thing she wanted was to draw questions about herself. She wasn’t ready to reveal what she really was.

  “They took her,” Miko said lifelessly, her eyes fixed on the white sheets covering her legs.

  “Well,” Zod said bluntly, “if what you’re saying is true — if Saeda was really a covert Xeno-victim — then I say let them have her.”

  Tee twitched, her head snapping toward him. She wanted to lash out, but somehow her body restrained her tongue.

  Miko heard him and wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing at her skin before biting her lower lip. “She lied to us this whole time…” she said softly. She blinked slowly, exhaled, and let her arms fall. “She kept that secret, not caring how it would affect us. Maybe you’re right, Zod. They should have her.”

  Tee couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It was painfully clear that both Zod and Miko despised Xeno-victims — hidden or not. They’d turned on Saeda without a moment’s hesitation.

  “You guys are right,” Tee said flatly. “Let them have her. Saeda’s nothing but a liar.”

  Kie frowned. “So is that what I’m supposed to tell the Commander? That one of our teammates was secretly a Xeno-victim, she mutated, and the Harbingers took her?”

  The silence that followed was all the confirmation he needed.

  Soon after, Kie found himself standing before the Commander, reporting everything that had happened during their last mission.

  “That’s not possible,” the Commander said firmly from behind his glass desk. “I’ll call on the elders to investigate this… enigma.”

  Not long after, the five teenagers were gathered in Elder Caledor’s office, waiting for an explanation about what had really happened to Saeda.

  Tee leaned against the wall beside a window, pretending to be mesmerized by the bright moon outside. In truth, she was listening carefully to Kie and Zod’s conversation.

  “What’s even the point of this meeting?” Zod asked, staring at the empty chair across the table where an elder should have been seated. “Didn’t we already say Saeda mutated into a Xenosapian? If that’s the case, let the Harbingers keep her. They’re doing us a favor.”

  Kie, seated beside him, sighed. “For the tenth time, Zod — no. Saeda wasn’t a Xeno-victim. She couldn’t have been. I’ve never seen her wear a crest since the day I met her.”

  “Just because she didn’t wear one doesn’t mean she wasn’t hiding it,” Zod countered, rubbing his forehead. “It all makes sense now why she was suicidal. Xenoids who know what they are and can’t handle it.”

  Kie knew Zod didn’t truly mean the cruel things he said. He was only trying to mask his confusion and hurt. After all, how could anyone easily accept that a teammate they’d lived and trained with for three months was secretly a Xeno-victim without proof? Zod was acting harsh to hide how broken he really felt.

  Kie leaned back, shoulders dropping. “We should focus on revising our strategy now that we know the Harbingers have new abilities — especially that bird that can go intangible. Not only did we fail our mission, but we’re also down one member.”

  Miko sat silently beside him, her gaze fixed on her lap. She hadn’t said a single word since they’d entered.

  Tee, listening, thought to herself: Xenoids that know what they are and can’t handle it? She was sure of one thing. There were more than one Xenogenist in the room. Zod was an obvious one. Miko’s quiet nature hid it well, but she suspected her too. And Kie… She knew he was one. He just hid it better than anyone, likely because he wanted to become a Mid-Guard official. Those were the worst types. The pretenders.

  She folded her arms and rested her head against the window. The moment she sensed movement outside the hall, she straightened up. Elder Caledor was approaching, followed by another elder in a dark blue robe — Elder Seriphal. Both men lowered their hoods as they entered, bowing politely.

  Tee hurried to take a seat. The elders stood at one side of the table while the four teens sat opposite them.

  “It is with great honor that I stand before you once more,” said Elder Seriphal solemnly.

  Elder Caledor’s wrinkled face carried a troubled expression. “We understand that one of your members did not make it back.”

  “Yeah, she mutated into a monster,” Zod said casually, his arm hanging over the back of his chair.

  Kie’s tone stayed measured. “We don’t know exactly what happened.”

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  Their words prompted Elder Seriphal to shift his speech to a more modern dialect like Caledor’s, though he still struggled with it.

  Tee tried not to meet his gaze. His small black eyes on a yellowed face reminded her too much of Saeda. He knew her secret, and with both elders present, she felt dangerously exposed.

  Once the room fell quiet, Elder Caledor continued. “As you know, we were monitoring the mission, but interference from the Sealed Bond made our sight unclear. Still, we’ll uncover what truly happened.”

  Elder Seriphal stepped forward. “Before her dark transformation, did you notice any unusual changes in her behavior?”

  The four teens exchanged looks, eyebrows raised, before turning back with blank expressions.

  Zod scratched his head. “Were we supposed to be paying attention to that?”

  Elder Caledor sighed, stroking the long ends of his white beard. “Unfortunate. Still, your teammate was not a host of the Xenogene. Therefore, what you witnessed was not a mutation.”

  Zod slumped back into his chair with a loud sigh of relief.

  Kie frowned and folded his arms. “How can you be so sure? I’ve seen enough mutations to know what I saw.”

  “If she carried the Xenogene,” Elder Seriphal said calmly, “we elders would have known.”

  Tee knew he was right. Saeda wasn’t a Xeno-victim — not like her. The nurses who examined them after cleansing would have noticed a curse mark, like the one on her own neck. Those marks only appeared on areas touched by sunlight, making them impossible to miss, especially with Primus’s scanning tech.

  “To make an accurate judgment,” Elder Caledor said, “we’ll need to access the memories of those who witnessed the event. Be aware that this requires immense Ether energy. Only masters such as ourselves can safely enter the verge of the living.”

  Elder Seriphal blinked, and glowing blue symbols appeared on the table. From thin air, a glass orb materialized above them. “This orb will project what we see so the rest of you may witness it as well.”

  “Only Tee and I really saw what happened,” Kie said. “But… ladies first.”

  Elder Seriphal turned to Tee to confirm. “Miss Tee Edna Char is not a suitable subject for this procedure,” he said firmly. “We cannot risk awakening her demon.”

  Tee froze in place. Did he just say that out loud? Her body stiffened, her face carefully blank so no suspicion would rise.

  Zod, Miko, and Kie stared in stunned silence.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Kie asked.

  The elders exchanged uneasy looks, clearly realizing that Tee hadn’t told her teammates about her… condition.

  Tee forced her expression to stay clueless even as her mind raced. She needed to divert the conversation fast. If she stayed quiet too long, they’d start asking questions she couldn’t answer. Panic surged through her. Her hands trembled. She almost considered running from the room.

  Then, she moaned suddenly and clutched her stomach. “Sorry… my stomach,” she muttered as if she were in pain. Surely, she thought, they’ll think she was experiencing cramps.

  Elder Caledor approached Kie, whose chair suddenly rotated on its own. Startled, he grabbed the armrests.

  “The lad’s telepathic ability will aid the exercise, making him the most suitable subject.”

  Kie’s brows knitted at those words. So, the Commander had gone ahead and told the elders about his mind-linking ability. He had a history with that power—one he’d rather not revisit, filled with memories he’d prefer no one else to uncover.

  “Without my permission?” Kie asked, his voice edged with quiet disbelief.

  “Forgive me,” said Elder Caledor, inclining his head slightly. “I assumed your presence here implied consent.”

  Kie didn’t bother arguing. He just wanted that over with. Focusing intently, he met the elder’s gaze and projected the vision, careful to show only what he intended—nothing more. The elder raised his hand above the glowing orb, his expression solemn as he began to relay the received images.

  Miko and Zod turned their attention to the orb, where faint images began to move. They were watching Kie’s memories — rewinding from the moment his eyes closed back to the mission hours earlier, during their fourth Elite encounter.

  When Miko and Zod gasped, Tee didn’t need to look up. She already knew what they were seeing. It was Saeda’s transformation. She bowed her head, unwilling to relive that nightmare. The image was burned into her mind. It was the last thing she saw before she lost consciousness.

  “That’s too blurry,” Zod said, squinting. “Kie could’ve been looking at one of Lilith’s beasts during some power-up or something.” His voice cracked as he realized how absurd he sounded.

  “I believe I can fix that,” Elder Seriphal said, waving his hand.

  The vision inside the orb sharpened. Saeda appeared, screaming as the dark energy tore through her back, black appendages coiling around her body, drowning her in darkness until no trace of her remained.

  Zod, leaning forward in shock, slowly sat back. His mouth opened but no words came. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the horror playing out before him.

  The elders couldn’t see what Legion and Sade were doing beforehand, since the vision was limited to Kie’s perspective. Still, they examined what they could.

  Elder Seriphal waved a hand again, freezing the image, then zooming in near Legion’s feet. The scene stopped on a small crystal with a silver chain attached.

  “Wait— that chain looks familiar!” Miko cried.

  She was already tense from confusion, and the sight of something she recognized made her heart skip. She reached beneath her collar and pulled out a necklace — a similar chain with a black diamond pendant.

  The elders's eyes widened. The orb brightened again.

  “Huggermugger—!”

  “Holy mother of Geovalon—!” they exclaimed simultaneously.

  Kie opened his eyes, confused but amused by their strange outburst.

  “Lady Miko,” Elder Caledor said, slipping into his native Vergant dialect in his shock, “from whence did you obtain that?”

  Miko blinked. “You mean this? The diamond? There were piles of them at the Vergant village we visited.” She smiled faintly. “It’s my new good luck charm until I find out how much it’s worth on—”

  “That is not a diamond,” Elder Caledor cut her off, his voice low and grave.

  Tee sensed the tension rise and leaned forward to see better. Zod sat stiffly, still too stunned to speak.

  Elder Seriphal clasped his sleeves together. “Vultures,” he said. “The term may differ now, but in our world, it refers to predators that feed on Ether energy from our kind. Once they’ve tasted that essence, they never return to feeding on mortals.”

  Elder Caledor continued, “Even worse are the ones tainted by dark mana. Sometimes, Vergants who stray beyond their village barriers resort to forbidden sorcery for survival. Vultures that consume dark energy grow more corrupt with every moment.”

  Elder Seriphal raised his hand, and the black crystal lifted from Miko’s grip, floating toward him. “We trap such creatures in these small prisons called jinxes. What you and your teammate mistook for a diamond is, in fact, one of those prisons.”

  The necklace drifted over the orb and dropped inside as though sinking into water, where it remained suspended. Miko’s face went pale. She didn’t want it back.

  “So you’re saying one of those things escaped into Saeda?” Zod asked.

  “That is not what I said,” Elder Caledor replied sternly. “Once sealed inside a jinx, they cannot escape alone. One was not just released — it was bound inside Saeda, trapping her in an endless struggle for control.”

  “What do you mean, sealed inside her?” Kie asked quietly.

  “Neither the creature nor Saeda can break free, no matter their strength,” Elder Caledor said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. “I suspect a dark sorcerer is responsible.”

  Tee clenched her teeth at the mention of Sade.

  Zod slammed his fist on the table, the orb trembling. “Sade!” he roared.

  Kie leaned forward. “Can we free her?”

  Elder Caledor gave a faint, knowing smile. “That depends… on whether you young ones are ready to experience a taste of what you moderners call magic.”