Morro lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling after a long day with Velaris and Rigel. His mind replayed everything that had happened — events had moved so quickly. The royal guard he had killed. The mysterious stranger who helped him hide the body. Then Velaris and Rigel showing up. And Rigel… something about the way he acted after Morro mentioned the darkness in the forest felt strange. Even later, when they reached the plateau to celebrate, Rigel seemed normal again. Still, something was off. Morro couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

  Sleep refused to come. His thoughts drifted back to when Eryon first appeared and told him Raikou was alive. But… if Raikou was truly alive, then where was he? How could he even be alive? Morro had been absolutely certain Raikou was dead.

  He knew Rigel and Velaris were leaving on a mission tomorrow. He had already told them he couldn’t go — there were things he needed to find. Even though part of him wanted to join them, he knew he had to search for Raikou and get answers to everything. At the end of the day, Raikou was his Master long before he ever met Velaris or Rigel. Morro was also certain that one day he would face the other element masters — and when that day came, he needed Raikou by his side.

  Another troubling thought struck him. When he fought Rayka, Rayka had nearly killed a woman. After the fight, during the king’s speech, the king claimed he had saved her and pointed her out. But when she publicly said no, the king hadn’t saved her — she was immediately shot and killed. So… who was the old man’s daughter? The old man had only helped Morro because Morro supposedly saved his daughter. Yet the only woman Morro had actually saved was now dead.

  Was the old man so broken by grief that he refused to accept his daughter was gone? But if that was the case, how did he know Morro was the one who tried to save her? The old man hadn’t even been there.

  Drowning in questions with no answers, exhaustion finally pulled Morro under and he fell asleep.

  The next morning he woke with a plan. Without hesitation, he left his house and headed straight to the place where they had hidden the royal guard’s body.

  When he arrived, police were already on the scene. The area was cordoned off with tape. He moved closer to get a better look. The body was still there. Several people who appeared to be detectives were examining the scene.

  Morro approached one of the officers.

  “What happened here?”

  The officer answered casually, “Haven’t you heard the news? One of the royal guards was found dead — murdered by the so-called Blood Stealer killer. Some people call him the Butterfly Killer.”

  “Ohhh… wasn’t that the same killer who murdered the king’s son?” Morro asked.

  “Yeah, but I can’t talk to you any longer—”

  “What did I tell you about talking to random people while on duty, huh?!” A second officer stormed over, face flushed with anger.

  While the two officers began arguing, Morro cut in.

  “Where can I find the Kingdom Archives? That’s all I wanted to ask, but for some reason—”

  “Do we look like a map? Go find it yourself!” the angry officer snapped.

  “Alright, alright, I’m sorry,” Morro said, turning to leave.

  But then the calmer officer called after him. “Hey, dude — come here.”

  Morro glanced back. The angry officer had already walked off. He approached the calm one.

  “I know where you want to go,” the officer said quietly. “It’s right next to the village bank. You can head there and find whatever you need.”

  “Wait — why are you telling me? I thought you’d get in trouble,” Morro said.

  “You seem like a decent guy. Just go already.”

  “You kinda remind me of someone… but okay, I’m leaving,” Morro replied. He hurried away from the area as fast as he could.

  Now all he had to do was reach the Kingdom Archives — which were apparently next to the bank. Step one: figure out where the damn bank actually was. Great. That really didn't helped.

  His plan was simple. He would check the records to see if Raikou was listed among the dead from Rayka’s attack. If he was, then Eryon had lied — but why? If Raikou wasn’t listed… then Eryon was telling the truth and Raikou really was alive. But if that was the case… why would Eryon even tell him?

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  Morro asked around the village until someone finally pointed him toward the bank. Sure enough, right beside it stood the Kingdom Archives. When he stepped inside, he was surprised to see many richly dressed people — nobles, merchants, clearly wealthy. He had assumed only poorer folk lived in this area.

  He approached someone who looked like an employee.

  “Hi. May I ask why there are so many rich people and nobles here? And… where can I find the list of people who died in the attack that happened maybe four days ago in the kingdom?”

  The worker smiled politely. “Hello, sir. Please try not to act like you’re in such a hurry, sir.”

  “To answer your questions: this is the only Kingdom Archives in the entire realm, so everyone comes here. And you mean the attack in Emberhold City — the one where the king personally killed that yellow-haired man?”

  Morro blinked. The king had never even entered the fight. Only he and Raikou had battled Rayka. Still, he nodded.

  “Yes, yes — that’s the one. But… why is there only one archive in the whole kingdom, and it’s in a village?”

  “Because this village was the hometown of the previous Grand Knight. He possessed immense knowledge. The previous king built this archive just for him.”

  “Wait — what? The king built an entire archive just for one knight?”

  “Sir, that knight was the strongest person in the entire kingdom. Some say he was even more important than the king himself.”

  “Where is he now?” Morro asked.

  “Even I don’t know. There are many stories. Some claim the current king killed him. Others insist the current king is strong but could never have defeated that knight. People still make theories to this day. But I have work to do, sir. The records of that battle are on the second floor. Goodbye.”

  “Wait — one last thing. Who writes all those books?”

  “They come from the king himself. He orders us to write exactly what he wants written, sir.”

  “Oh… okay. Thanks.”

  Morro hurried up to the second floor. He ignored the shelves of Emberhold history and searched specifically for anything about that night.

  When he finally found the relevant book, he opened it and read:

  “An attack occurred at night while everyone slept peacefully. Out of nowhere, a man in gold armor with yellow hair assaulted the city of Emberhold, believing he could escape justice — until the handsome king arrived and swiftly ended—”

  Morro slammed the book shut.

  “Damn. That’s straight-up Israeli propaganda. If it starts like this, I bet there aren’t even any deaths listed. Did the king just save everyone?”

  He opened it again and skimmed for casualty lists. There were names — but far fewer than the actual number of people killed that night. Still, he searched desperately for Raikou’s name.

  Nothing. No mention of Raikou at all. There were many unnamed victims, but Morro had no way of knowing if Raikou was among them.

  Defeated, he closed the book and sank into a chair, mind spinning.

  Suddenly a book fell from the shelf behind him. He reacted quickly and looked — nothing unusual. A few minutes later, another book fell. Then another.

  Soon books were tumbling off shelves all over the floor. Even the other people on the level looked confused.

  Then the ground shook violently.

  Everyone lost their balance. Books flew everywhere. Screams erupted — inside and outside the building.

  Morro was thrown around like everyone else

  After a few terrifying seconds, the shaking stopped. Silence fell, broken only by scattered books and stunned people.

  Then the screaming resumed. People bolted for the exits. Morro ran too — silently. Screaming felt cringe.

  As he reached the first floor, he saw the same worker from earlier.

  “DUDE, WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?!” Morro gasped, out of breath.

  “SIR, I DON’T KNOW, SIR! BUT I THINK THE KING IS ATTACKING THE CITY!!!”

  “WHAT?! WHY WOULD HE DO THAT?!”

  Suddenly Morro’s phone started ringing. He could barely hear it over the chaos. He scrambled, found it thrown all the way from the second floor to the first, screen cracked but still working. He answered.

  Rigel’s voice exploded through the speaker.

  “OUR HOUSES — EVERYTHING IS BURNT AND DESTROYED!”

  “WHAT?! RIGEL, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!”

  Rigel kept yelling, but Morro could hardly hear over the noise. He pushed outside the archives. When he looked toward the city, his breath caught.

  The city was burning. Thick black smoke choked the sky.

  Hands shaking, he lifted the phone again.

  “Ri-Rigel… what the hell… happened?” His voice trembled.

  “Remember we said we were going on a mission today? Well… we went to fight the king and—”

  “SECOND MISSION OF YOUR LIFE AND YOU ALREADY WENT AFTER THE KING?! ARE YOU AN IDIOT, RIGEL?!”

  “OKAY, DON’T YELL AT ME — IT WAS VELARIS’S IDEA!”

  “…Ooooh. That’s kinda attractive,” Morro said, suddenly calm.

  “Oh my. I can’t handle both of you. Just come to my house. NOW.” Rigel hung up.

  Morro tried calling back, but Rigel declined.

  the attack had been strong enough to shake the archives this far out, he doubted much of the city had survived.

  He sprinted toward the city. Five minutes later he arrived — and saw total devastation. Smoke. Ruins. No landmarks.

  He shouted Rigel’s name again and again. No answer.

  Then he remembered the plateau. It was massive. Hard to destroy. Rigel must be there.

  He ran as fast as he could, heart pounding with worry for both of them.

  Finally he reached the plateau. In the distance he saw a figure with Rigel’s build. He sprinted over.

  It was Rigel — and Velaris was with him.

  “Man… what the actual hell happened?” Morro said, voice still shaky. “I know you wanted to fight the king, but… come on, what did you two possibly do to cause this?”

  “We didn’t even fight anyone,” Rigel said, eyes downcast. “We got to the king’s mansion, fought some guards… then one of them must’ve alerted the king. Suddenly we felt that same shake. Turns out the king just… bombed parts of the city. It’s normal here sometimes. He attacks randomly to see who might be thinking of rebelling. But this time… it was a lot worse.”

  “He usually only hits maybe one percent of the city,” Velaris added quietly. “This time he focused on our exact area.”

  “Damn… I thought you two were smarter than that,” Morro muttered. “What happened after? You just ran?”

  “Yeah. Guards outnumbered us,” Rigel said.

  “We had a perfect one,” Velaris said, eyes full of regret. “Things went wrong. I’m sorry… it was my idea.”

  “Your sorry isn’t gonna rebuild anything,” Rigel said. “Now we need a new home. But… how?”

  “Why not just build your own?” Morro asked. “You’re both fast and strong enough, right?”

  “I mean, yeah, but neither of us knows the first thing about building—”

  “YES — ON THE PLATEAU!” Rigel interrupted, pointing dramatically.

  Velaris frowned. “But Rigel, we don’t know how to—”

  “The plateau is huge. There are trees we can use. We don’t just build a house — we build a whole place. For all three of us. A training ground too. It’ll take time, but we’re fast. And I’m sure Morro can help with the design, right Morro?” Rigel looked at him expectantly.

  What Rigel didn’t know was that Morro had come here intending to leave. To search for Raikou alone. To uncover the truth about his blood control. To hunt the remaining royal guards as the Butterfly Killer — solo. No team. He had come to say goodbye.

  “Yeah. I can help with that.”

  Yo what? Morro this isn't in the script we didn't agree on this—

  “And I think it’s a good idea,” Morro continued. “Give me one day and I’ll sketch the whole

  layout. I’m staying with you both… until we kill the king and Emberhold finally gets its freedom.”

  And just like that, Morro chose Rigel and Velaris — leaving Raikou behind.

  …Or had he?