The atmosphere was grim as so many bodies of their men were lying before them, and all they knew was that this was done by Variant Uprising.
Varant took a deep breath before he spoke, "Take all the bodies in the helicopter. Make sure the news of this doesn't get out. No one should know that so many of our men had died here. As for Ayn's whereabouts, I'll try to-"
He stopped mid sentence as he looked up in the sky where another helicopter could be seen advancing here.
The second helicopter soon reached there as another group of people jumped out. This time, it was Raia, Kellian, Yaliza, and the crazy swordsman Tristan.
Unlike others, Tristan was staring at the bodies.
"Amazing! Such a clean cut of a sword! Just a little more experience, and that person could become a master. I really would love to face his sword in a battle," Tristan said, grinning.
Even from such a distance, he still understood that all of the APF members died because of the attack from the sword.
"Raia, I didn't know you were such an idiot. After killing our people, you dared to come here? Don't tell me this entire trap was so you could bring me out?" Varant asked firmly. He still believed it was Raia's work.
"What trap?" Raia asked, confused. "If I wanted you out, do you really think I need to set traps? I can just destroy a few cities, and you'll stand before me."
But he also understood a few things. It seems like Lucifer had clashed with APF members here. He killed them, and they had no idea that it was him.
'He's getting pretty sneaky,' Raia thought, smirking.
"Even though I haven't killed your men, I'm pretty pleased at their death. That's what they deserved. Anyway, do you know who did it?" he asked Varant.
"Enough playing around! Tell me what you did to Ayn?!" Varant asked, frowning. "I really don't want to fight here as many people would die. So tell me right away!"
Raia instead ignored Varant as he glanced at Tristan.
"Are you sure this is because of a sword attack?" he asked Tristan.
"I'm two hundred percent sure. I can still feel the sword aura in the air," Tristan replied, smirking.
' I doubt Lucifer could use a sword like that. He shouldn't have that ability. So someone is helping him— a swordsman. Interesting.' he thought.
"How strong will that swordsman be compared to you?" Raia further asked.
"I'd say slightly weaker than me," Tristan casually replied. "So, can we stop with the boring talk? They're already in front of us. Let me cut some of them up, please."
"We can't. We still need to find the person who did this. That person is more important than anything at this point," Raia said as he turned around and started leaving.
"This sucks!" Tristan let out, rolling his eyes. He also turned back.
"Are we really going to let them go like this?" Gensi asked Varant, who didn't seem to be stopping them.
"Let them go for now. It wasn't them," Varant replied, frowning. "They were telling the truth."
"How can you say that?" Riali inquired.
"Think yourself. Why would they come here personally if it was them in the first place? That too, after killing everyone cleanly," Varant answered.
" At first, I thought they came back because their main goal was killing me, but if that were the case, they wouldn't leave like that. They wouldn't have wasted their time like that. The killer is different. I think I'm understanding a few things now," he further said.
"What are you understanding?" Gensi asked.
"The reason they had their men here in the first place. It was because they were waiting for someone to come here," Varant said.
"They wanted that person to join their team. You found blood on the top of the roof but no body. I don't think that blood belongs to Ayn. It must belong to their men who were keeping an eye here. Just to be sure, send the blood samples to the lab," he further explained his theory.
"Wherever this person was, they not only killed our men but theirs too. And I also managed to get a clue just now. As he said, it was a Swordsman who did that. An S-Rank Swordsman," he continued.
"Then there's no benefit fighting here. They don't know about Ayn either. We'll only cause more destruction in the city for no reason," Gensi said, nodding.
"Raia! Tell me one thing before you go! Who was the person your men were waiting for? Who was it that made the two of us come here personally?" Varant yelled at Raia, who was just about to enter the helicopter.
"That person? Well, that person is going to be a literal nightmare for you. I can't wait to get to that person first!" Raia replied as he burst into laughter. He entered the helicopter, which started flying away.
"I don't understand one thing. How did they know that person was going to come here?" Arne asked as he raised a doubt.
"I don't think they knew that the person was coming here. They probably assumed that one day he would come here. If they knew the exact time, they wouldn't be waiting here for four years," Varant replied.
"I guess someone related to that person lives here. And that's why they were keeping an eye here, hoping that person would come to meet his relative one day."
"The entire Veracity angle was wrong. We thought they were here for Veracity, but they were here for someone else," he further said.
"This is a real mess. Deal with Lucifer, and another mass killer appears. Can this country never be at peace?" Varant said, clenching his fist.
"Gensi, start getting the bodies back. As I said, no one should know what happened here,"
"I don't want panic to spread in public. Also, get me all the CCTV footage of this city. And get a sketch artist to make a sketch of that bearded man," he commanded his men as he started walking away.
Arne and the others started shifting the bodies back to the helicopter. It took them only ten minutes to finish.
In the meantime, they had also arranged for a sketch artist to come here from the base. They had also sent the command to the city to send all the CCTV footage to their base as soon as possible.
"We're ready to leave. The other team will soon be here to take over," Gensi told Varant, who was standing in the distance, looking at the dark sky.
"Alright. Let's go then. It looks like it's time to start another chase. But then again, no matter how bad this killer is, at least he's not Lucifer. This problem couldn't be as bad as the problem he and his eyes were."