Emery, King Alduin, Magus Shena, as well as four magus-level guards, left the Zodiac City Palace and headed to the place where the devastating incident had taken place – Golden City.
Just like how Emery arrived in Zodiac City, the group set out using a spaceship instead of the teleportation gate.
Something about preventing their movements from potentially being tracked by anyone trying to harm them.
Along the way, King Alduin mentioned a name, one who was suspected to be behind it all.
The head of the Darkness Institute, Grand Magus Zenonia.
The suspicion was not only because Annara was her disciple. It was said the victims of the massacre in Golden City possessed teeth marks on their dead bodies. Combining that information with the fact the female grand magus' whereabouts was unaccounted for the past few days, she quickly became the prime suspect.
"As I said before, Zenonia and I, we go way back..." said King Alduin to Emery with a complicated tone. "Whether she is indeed behind this or not, the entire Zodiac City will have to pay the price for this incident."
That said, King Alduin reminded Emery to try his best not to do anything that could put the half-blood in a negative image, especially now that they were embroiled in a situation like this.
It turned out that with the incident that happened earlier in the year, the relationship between the twelve bloodlines was at its worst point.
Hence, by having Emery or Zach win the tournament, the king hoped it could breathe confidence in the Bloodline Alliance and mend the precarious situation.
With hyperdrive speed, it only took the group an hour to arrive at the proximity space of the planet where Golden City was.
Emery could see an army of drones and ships through the window, even a space station orbiting the planet.
As the spaceship entered the planet's atmosphere, being his first time he had come to the city through the sky, Emery clearly saw how big the city really was.
Golden City was bustling with people possessing a population of three billion, 100 times that of the Zodiac City. It was a central hub of trade for a dozen other cities within the galaxy.
In fact, the city was the biggest city in the galaxy they were currently in. It was the one city the Magus Academy acolytes depended on the most. Even all the Paths of the Crafting Institution were integrated within it.
The city also had the biggest Magus Alliance headquarters of the galaxy – the exact place the group was heading now.
A few minutes later, the ship finally landed right outside the magnificent complex.
Stepping out of the spaceship, Emery found himself back in the same place where he had come to exchange the spirit souls of the elves for Alliance merit points.
It was nighttime when they arrived, but with King Alduin's prestigious status of Zodiac City's ruler and Supreme Magus, a group of magus and a grand magus figure came out to welcome their arrival.
"Thank you for coming in such short notice," said the grand magus leading the group, a minister of the Magus Alliance named Barty Grouch.
Under the man's lead, King Alduin and the others were brought into the meeting room where two dozen figures were already waiting. It was spacious with simple yet exquisite decoration and a long conference table in the center of the room.
Among the people present, Emery saw several familiar faces: Headmaster Delbrand, Shatter Cross with his grand magus uncle and, unexpectedly, also the female manager of the auction house he had met.
When King Alduiin entered the room, being a Supreme Magus, everyone stood up from their seats and paid their respects to the former.
Looking at the lineup of people, it wasn't long before Emery realized they were all gathered here to investigate today's incidents.
When the meeting finally started, the Magus Alliance minister – a middle-aged man with a neat mustache – briefed the crowd on the current state of the situation by showing multiple images on the holographic screen.
Images of bodies that died in a horrifying manner appeared for all to see.
A total of 252 victims from five venues had died in the massacre, two apparently belonging to the Cross faction. Hence the reason why Shatter and his uncle were here.
"Here are some of the markings and causes of death seen in some of the victims."
Everyone could clearly see the glaring bite marks on the bodies of the dead, which were typically done by beast-transformed half-bloods.
Coupled with the lack of color on the corpses, a sign these people died from blood loss, it would not be indiscrimination to say these cruel acts were carried out by those of the Bat bloodline.
The Cross Prince, who was clearly emotional, gazed at King Alduin and pointed his finger, seemingly unconcerned about the latter's exalted status.
"The half-bloods! All of this must be their doing!" Keeping his eyes on the Supreme Magus, Shatter added, "How are you going to explain this?!"
Seeing this, Shatter's uncle quickly grabbed his arm and told him to calm down.
On the other hand, King Alduin was still calm, as if he had heard nothing.
"I haven't seen anything that supports the suspicion that Zodiac City was the perpetrator of the accident. What's more, even if the culprit is indeed that of half-blood, they are definitely not one of us."
It was clear Shatter was becoming more and more irritated by his words, but before he could do or say anything, his uncle quickly stopped him.
Next, the minister revealed how the team of enforcers dispatched to investigate had found some clues on the killers. He was confident more information would be revealed in a few hours.
After that, there were inquiries about Annara and her missing master Grand Magus Zenonia, which Headmaster Delbrand could not explain. Once again, the Cross Prince was furious at the response he received.
"Huh!!" He sneered with obvious scorn. "The Academy is working together with the half-bloods to harbor fugitives! I want justice for my people!"
Hearing such words, the Magus Alliance minister stepped in. "Headmaster Delbrand has handed over custody of the related suspect Annara to us. She is currently being held here in this building and has been interrogated. Unfortunately, she was not willing to say a word so far."
The next words that the man spoke took everyone by surprise.
"She said that she would only talk to someone named Emery."
Being a quarterfinalist in the tournament, everyone in the room knew who Emery was. All of a sudden, all eyes turned toward him.
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