"I don't think you being there would have changed anything, though. I think we are being unfair to Xander here," Ayn chimed in.
Her silverish hair mixed with her hazel eyes were giving her a warm look that contradicted her abilities which were as cold as they could get. She looked no less than an ice princess in her dark shoulder-less dress, supported with a silver robe.
"How is that so?" Varant asked, shifting his focus to the Beta Squad Leader.
"Prior to their encounter with Zale's son, Xander was there with his team. But because of the Dungeon Dweller attack on Ikrego, I forced him to go there to protect humans. That is why he wasn't there with his team when they fought Zale's son. If he had been there, we both know that not a single of his men would have been killed," Ayn said, defending Xander.
"He is the Warlock who knows what to do. If required, I don't think he would have stepped back even if there was a need to kill the kid. The only reason his team lost is because of me and for saving humans. If I were there, I would have gone to save humans too. You would have done the same, most probably. So blaming him is wrong. I interfered in his mission, so it was partly my fault."
Ayn really started supporting Xander since she actually believed that it was her fault. If she hadn't forced him to leave, he wouldn't have lost half his team.
Throughout this conversation, Xander didn't speak.
"Sigh, you people really… fine. I'll overlook what happened once."
Hearing Ayn support Xander, Varant didn't blame him too much since it was true that his plan was affected because of the Dungeon dwellers.
"Alright. Tell me about this Lucifer. What do you know?" Varant asked Xander with intrigue.
Xander brought out his phone. Unlocking it, he started playing a video before he placed the phone before Varant.
Curious, Varant gazed at the video.
It was a video that depicted a young boy being tortured until he was dealt with.
"The boy in the video is the son of Zale Azarel-the hero of humanity as most know him. I'm sure, seeing that video, it is not tough to guess why that boy hates humans and why he is so twisted."
"They did some painful experiment on him which killed him. For some unknown reason, the boy came back to life, and I believe he is after those scientists who tortured him. I placed a trap to catch him without hurting him, which, as you know, failed."
" After that, the kid disappeared along with one of our helicopters. So either he forced the pilot to take him somewhere and then disabled the tracking, or the Variant Uprising is bringing their twisted hand out of the shadows to swallow the kid," Xander said.
"Variant uprising, huh. The matter has become really complicated. But still, what these people did is also twisted. No matter how much I disliked Zale, treating his son like that when he was innocent, this is annoying," Varant lamented as he gazed at the video.
"Alright, I'll handle this matter. Send the video to the government authorities and tell them I want action on everyone involved," he further said.
"But this video… isn't from righteous sources," Ayn chimed in as she smiled wryly.
"What do you mean? Where did you get it from? Varant asked them curiously, darting his gaze back and forth between Xander and Ayn.
"We hacked their database. We'll be implicated and might face a consequence once the source of this clip is further investigated since they'll know we hacked a government database," Xander said, expressing what little bit of concern he had since the truth was already out.
"That's fine. What can they even do if we hacked them? Let them come talk to me if they have any problems. I will handle everything. Get that doctor on trial for doing such things in the name of science," Varant nonchalantly said.
"Also, we are going to that facility tomorrow. Since the kid is trying to target it, it doesn't matter who is helping him. Once he gets there, we will be there, waiting for him," he further added, giving a short plan.
"Alright."
…
The night came, peaceful for most people, but the news channels were busy throughout the day and night, covering the news.
The news about the failure of the Hunter Union, the attack of the Dungeon Dwellers on the innocent was more significant than any news. The news of an Unknown Variant wiping half the Red Eagles Guild was drowning in the big news about the Hunter Guild, only getting a few mentions here and there.
Throughout the night, Lucifer didn't sleep. He couldn't sleep. His troubling thoughts were keeping him awake since he was in a new place. He only got some rest after closing his eyes for a short nap. His mind was constantly lost in thoughts.
He didn't even realize when the night had already passed by with the arrival of a new day.
The silence of the cold yet chilling surroundings was disturbed with a knocking sound on the door.
Lucifer slowly opened his eyes as he lazily dragged himself up. Sliding to the side of the bed, he wore his shoes before tracing his steps towards the door.
He didn't need to worry about anything being destroyed or controlling the duration of his touch with his gloves. Holding the doorknob, he twisted it to open.
"Good morning. Sorry for disturbing you so early, but the higher-ups had called for you upstairs. I think something big has happened."
Draco stood outside the door, informing Lucifer about the purpose of him coming here.
Nodding his head, Lucifer calmly stepped out of the door and walked behind Draco, who was escorting him upstairs.
Draco pressed his finger on the fingerprint sensor, after which the door of the lift opened. This made Lucifer realize why he wasn't able to open the lift.
He couldn't help but glance at his hand, which was covered by the black gloves. A slight shake of the head was enough to express his realization that he would never ever be able to do that even if he asked them.
"Come in," Draco told Lucifer, who was still standing outside the lift gazing at his hand.
The young Warlock stepped inside the lift as well, letting the doors close. The lift started going up, stopping on an unknown floor.