Arcane Era-Chapter 81: True Colors (Part 1)

Late at night, the chilly breeze of the ocean came at full swing.

Waves crashed upon waves, making pleasant sounds of sloshing waters and thunderous echoes which pervaded the vast ocean. The large ship stood at the center of this gentle chaos, a lone vessel adrift in the black world around.

It was cold, dark, and most importantly... quiet.

A group of three used this as a perfect blanket for their conversation.

They occupied an inconspicuous corner on the docks, becoming shadows that blended perfectly in the star-filled night. However, even with the lights of the Divine Ones atop them, the dark-robed men remained shrouded in darkness.

They had utmost confidence that no one could spot them.

After all, they had used an Arcane Instrument to protect themselves from observation. It was a Defense-type Standard Grade Armament, but it remained an Armament nonetheless. Normal people would not be able to unravel its effects, and even those with higher-tier Armaments—like members of the Ak’ashi Guild—would have to know their meeting place before they could spot them anyway.

Hence, they possessed full confidence and freely conversed in their veil of shadows.

"That brat admitted it, didn’t he? We’ve gotten confirmation that the Ak’ashi Guild was the one responsible..." One of the men smirked.

"Hehe..." Another chuckled. "The little twerp had no idea we were listening in to his conversation."

"How could he have known, though? Nobody would have been able to hear him with the way he was speaking. If it wasn’t for my Armament, then how would we have gotten that information?" The last person sighed before shaking his head.

He seemed like the most composed one among the three, though there didn’t seem to be an established hierarchy in the group. These three were the Dark Shadow Brothers—Mercenaries who encountered a Site of Fortune and became Armament Wielders.

They were pretty acclaimed for their covert operations and information-gathering skills.

Due to the Arcane Abilities that their Armaments provided them, the Brothers had very effective ways of obtaining information. This made them very sought after in the market, especially when it came to more illegal operations that couldn’t be taken to a legitimate body like the Ak’ashi Guild.

"Looks like the hunch of our client was right. We came all the way to the Ak’ashi Guild and tailed those people for a great deal of time before finally obtaining this information." The lanky one in the group chuckled.

He was the one who possessed the [Dark Mist] Armament, which allowed him and his brothers to be shrouded in darkness and converse freely without the fear of being spotted. It was a very effective means of camouflage.

"Yeah. Now that we’ve fulfilled our mission, all we have to do is report back." The calm, collected one said. His [Monkey Ears] Arcane Instrument was the observation-type one which allowed him to not only eavesdrop on specific groups or individuals, but also let him record the recording in a limited space, for a limited period.

It was, of course, Standard Grade as well.

If it had been of the Regal Grade or higher, perhaps the recording would include video footage, and the space—as well as period—of storage would not be so limited.

In any case, it was still useful for gathering evidence, and the Brothers had built their credibility over the years, so they were trusted experts in their profession. With such damning proof in their hands, there was no way that the Ak’ashi Guild could deny the words Theo uttered.

"We’ll be meeting our client in Sarvos, right? I can’t wait to get the reward money."

"Right? We’re gonna earn so much for such little work! We’ve earned peanuts for even more stressful jobs."

"Now aren’t you glad we didn’t take the Mercenary Crew’s offer? We would have been rotting in jail, or even killed, if we had gone down that route..."

The men were rejoicing, drowned in their glee, that they didn’t notice a figure standing atop the superstructure of the ship, right next to the funnel. She was right above them, staring at them with pitch-black eyes as her beautiful face displayed zero emotions.

It felt like a mask... expressionless and hollow.

"As expected, they were listening in." Kamara sighed. "I didn’t expect to start killing so early in this mission, but..."

Without wasting any further time, her hand went for the water pouch strapped to her waist.

She uncapped the flask slowly, causing a soft sound to escape into the air, followed by a strange fragrance of fresh, sweet water. It was even more compelling than the breezy ocean smell, and before long it had pervaded everything around her.

"Hmm... what’s that sweet smell?" One of the men asked.

"I don’t know. Think there’s a—" frёewebnoѵēl.com

WHOOOSH!

Before any of them could even react, large hands made entirely out of water rose from the ocean’s depths and grabbed all three of them. The giant water hands yanked them from the ship and brought them to the pitch-black domain of the turbulent ocean.

"Gahhh!"

"W-what’s happening?!"

"S-save meee!"

Their voices were completely muffled by the water and its immense currents as they were pulled down at a massive pace. Within seconds, they had sunk over a hundred feet into the ocean—no traces of them surfacing.

Of course, the Dark Shadow Brothers tried to struggle. Unfortunately, the Site of Fortune they stumbled upon had a limited set of Armaments, and only one of the three of them had an attack-type Armament.

Unfortunately, its Arcane Ability created slashing attacks, and in a place surrounded entirely by water... his power was at a sheer disadvantage. The remaining brothers were helpless, as they could only drown with pain and sheer confusion in their hearts.

Till they let out their last breaths, none of them could tell who or what had attacked them.

"They’re dead..." Kamara mumbled, expertly controlling the water surrounding the men to plunder their Arcane Instruments.

She first retrieved the [Monkey Ears] Armament, which was essentially a pair of large ears attached to one of the brothers. Some Armaments were like this. For example, Barak from the Sarvos Delta Squad had his [Future Eyes], which replaced his original eyes.

Arcane Instruments came in all sorts of sizes and forms.

The most common kind were weapons or strange items, but they could also have the appearance of body parts or organs which had to be transplanted and replace an existing one, or even markings that had to be branded on the wielder’s body.

"With this, there’s no worry of it getting out." After, Kamara took the [Dark Mist] and [Slash Wave] Armaments.

Once she had all of them in her grasp, she sighed, placing all of them in a a bag that sat on the ground next to her. Within a minute, she had killed all the obstacles in her path and also protected the secret of the Ak’ashi Guild.

Not even a whole second after doing all of this, she shifted her gaze and looked towards the ship’s funnel.

"Why are you hiding there, Theo?"

As soon as she said those words, a soft laugh echoed from behind the funnel, and a figure materialized as it stepped out to face Kamara. It was a boy wearing a dark mask, having a cloak dancing behind him like a cape.

"Hello, Miss Kamara."