The Bookkeeper

Behind Raiden and Noelle was a dead end—they would have no other option but to fight this man off.

"You can kill your shadow again if it shows up, right?" Noelle asked as she prepared for the inevitable.

"Only if it's as weak as before…" Raiden muttered, bracing himself as he held his stance.

However, the man paused and began taking quick steps backward. Raiden and Noelle let their guard down for a moment as they watched him reach the street before the gothic building and gesture for someone.

They exchanged confused glances. His movements were childish for someone who was supposed to be killing them. But Noelle's expression turned annoyed in an instant while an uneasy sensation surged through Raiden.

The person he was calling for was Klein el Seer. He walked in with the same huge smile from Raiden's previous encounter, eyes still blindfolded. Like his comrade beside him, he radiated no aura whatsoever.

"I told you he's with the Nightmares," Noelle said, resuming her stance. Raiden remained motionless, his mind turning over the questions he should have asked when they first met.

However, Klein fell to his knees and bowed his head to the ground. "Please forgive my friend for the trouble he's caused you."

Both Raiden and Noelle grew more confused, standing there as Klein's friend tried to pull him back to his feet.

The moment he got to his feet, he closed in on Raiden. "You will forgive me, right?" Raiden just stared at him, confused by everything that was transpiring.

Klein hesitated. "Okay, okay… you have to go to Noor, right?"

Raiden tilted his head at him, even more bewildered.

"I can help you get there as my way of apologizing…" He smiled and leaned closer, waiting for a response.

Raiden wasn't only confused; he was coming to a realization. It was clear Klein could see everything—or if not everything, he'd said enough to show he knew more than the rest of them.

So if Klein stood before him now, trying to help with something that had troubled Raiden since discovering they had to go to Noor, then accepting that help was obvious. He needed Klein's assistance.

Raiden smiled. "So if I understand correctly, your friend attacked us to give you an opportunity to apologize and offer help?"

Klein sighed and patted Raiden on the shoulder. "I was hoping this would be more fun, but no, that wasn't it…"

He wore a big grin once more and gestured toward his friend behind him. "This is King, my best friend." He turned toward him with a warm smile.

His behavior seemed to annoy Noelle to no end. "You sent your friend to kill us, and now you're laughing in our faces?!"

Klein immediately hurried to Noelle and became even more apologetic, though his sarcasm was obvious. "Oh, my rulekeeper." King appeared embarrassed behind him.

"Can't you see I'm trying to apologize, princess?" Klein said, but Noelle pushed him away.

He feigned being hurt by her actions, but his expression changed instantly. "What Raiden fought was his double walker." He gestured for them to follow him.

Raiden and Noelle exchanged glances before following him.

"King's double walker ability lets him create a double of someone based on how others see them, using the person's shadow."

Raiden looked down at himself, finally realizing he was right. The shadow double had been based on how everyone present saw him. Things would have been very different if they knew his actual limits, or if they viewed him as stronger than he really was.

"In Raiden's case, I guess his friends didn't know him all that well."

"So why Raiden? Couldn't it have been anyone else?" Noelle asked, confusion evident in her voice.

Klein turned slightly toward her with a soft smile. "He was the strongest among you… that's what you all thought."

Noelle shot Raiden a disgusted look. The moment he caught her glance, he began moving away from her. He wasn't going to wait around until she killed him.

But Raiden knew he wasn't the strongest. His comrades didn't really know how strong he was. They knew nothing about him, actually, so they filled in the gaps with their imagination based on what they'd seen him do. He only won that battle because his shadow's strikes didn't affect the soul the way his attacks did.

As he was lost in thought, they arrived at their inn to find everyone else waiting outside. The group stared at Klein and King in confusion as they approached. Though Klein el Seer was blindfolded but could still see clearly, they focused mainly on King, the one who could have killed them on their way to the city.

As soon as they approached, MK closed in on Noelle and started checking her over, particularly the blood stains on her from killing Steve.

Freya walked directly to King and stood in front of him, tilting her head back to glare directly into his eyes. But Klein leaned closer with his hands touching his chin, pretending to be thinking.

"You are the Arch Hell Phoenix, right?"

Freya's expression instantly shifted to confusion as she wondered how Klein could know that. But she knew if someone had told him, it had to be Raiden. She turned, walked toward Raiden, and locked her hand around his neck.

Raiden raised his hands in submission. "I wasn't the one—he can see everything."

"And you think I'll believe that?"

"It's true, he kind of knows everything," Noelle said politely.

Freya turned to her with a disinterested look. "Bitch, who asked you?"

Noelle forced a smile as she clenched her fist, stung by Freya's words.

"Come on, guys… as much as I'd love to see you recreate your tournament fight, we've got serious matters to attend to."

Freya was still irritated but let go of him anyway, knowing she had to.

"You guardians should follow me," Klein said and started walking toward the gothic building near their inn.

Raiden remained where he was, watching them leave, while Aeris and Levi stayed behind and came over to him.

"We went to a club called the Cultivation Club, but they didn't have anything to offer," Aeris said politely.

"Freya and I found a newly formed society too—Barton," Levi said with a shrug. "They had nothing to offer as well."

Raiden sighed. "Well, we found something, and we have to go to Noor."

Levi's expression darkened. "Noor?!"

Raiden nodded gently. "We got it from the leader of the Transmitters Cohort, Steve. Before Noelle killed him for being greedy, he said, 'we should go to Dark City.'"

Levi let out a sigh and smiled. "Dark City?… if I remember correctly, it was the most notorious city in Noor."

Raiden's expression was unreadable. "Well, that's where we must go," he said, and started walking toward the gothic building with his hands in his pockets. The others followed.

They opened the door to the gothic building and entered a massive hall. A small girl, around thirteen, with white hair and blue eyes, stood in a white dress, petting her three familiars—seven-foot white serpents. Her expression was cold and distant.

In the corner sat another woman about Raiden's age with short black hair, cross-legged on the floor in a red bra and black trousers, with an eight-foot red dragon lying dormant behind her.

Raiden paused at the entrance, staring at them. Like Klein and King, neither woman had any aura.

"Welcome to the Nightmare Cohort," Klein said enthusiastically.

He gestured toward the young girl, but she barely acknowledged their presence. "This is Tesoro, and that one in the corner is Charis." Charis turned to them and gave them a big grin and a wave.

Suddenly, a blue spherical portal appeared on the wall, and a boy emerged from it. He was a year or two younger than Raiden, dressed in a black shirt with snowy white hair like Tesoro's. His expression was just as cold as hers.

Klein gestured toward him. "And finally, this is Matoe."

Two blue crest bearers and a yellow crest bearer, all without auras. What exactly was the Nightmare Cohort? he wondered.

With Levi and Aeris flanking him, Raiden entered the room while Klein approached.

"This is Raiden," he said with a smirk. "We're going to help him on his journey."

The moment Raiden came within reach, he paused. Noelle approached Klein. "What exactly are you gaining from this, Klein el Seer?"

Klein said nothing—he simply turned to Noelle and smiled.

Raiden let out a sigh. "If you can see everything, then our future holds something that intrigues you, and you want to make sure that happens…"

"Oh, is that so?…" Klein grinned.

Without a word, Matoe opened another portal on the wall.

Klein gestured toward the portal. "Let's take you home."

Raiden wanted complete clarity on what future Klein was seeing. All he wanted was to return to his original world, so what was intriguing about that? After thinking for a moment, he took a deep breath. Whatever Klein was seeing, it didn't matter—he would get the twenty-eight pages, go back to his world, and seek his vengeance.