**Random section of the Valley Kingdom**
A group of fake Black Wolves were running amok and causing mayhem in different parts across the Kingdom; the situation only getting worse for the real Black Wolf Knights.
"Stop right there, heathen!" an officer from the W.M.A. yelled. There was a group of them chasing down this group of fakes in this section of the large city.
As they gave chase, they ran through crowds of pedestrians and even climbed on top of buildings, jumping from one to the other. One of them gave a hideous laugh and shouted, "Catch us if you can, you stupid W.M.A. rats!"
Turn after turn, they outmaneuvered the soldiers that were in pursuit of them. Causing wreckage and damaging public property in their wake. They used some of their magic to get away as well.
Right at the moment of their next turn, a figure stood a distance away from where they were coming. His black boots entered the scene one step after the other, and then…
Snap…
One of the fakes was replaced with a black long sword that stuck into the ground in the middle of the group. In slow motion, they all turned in the direction of the sword, barely realizing it or knowing how it got there. Then from the center of the blade, they all began to get pulled into it as if it had its own gravitational pull. One by one they flew in the direction of the blade, stacking on top of each other and becoming stuck.
"W—What the hell!?" One of them shouted as he was forced into the pile.
The other fake that was switched with the long sword was now apprehended by the same figure that stood just ahead of where their group was going. He was awake at first, but the figure that held him by the collar jabbed him quickly on the neck, and he passed out immediately.
The figure's eyes were hidden behind the reflection of his rounded glasses and white billed cap he wore, casting a shadow onto most of his face. The black fur on his dark gray hood fluttered gently as it rested over his cap.
At this time, the W.M.A. officers chasing the group of fakes had finally caught up. When they saw the figure who apprehended the group, they nodded at him and began cuffing the pile of fugitives accordingly.
"Nicely done once again, Code," a burly-looking figure said from behind him on his right. He had appeared so silently and instantaneously despite his large size, and his voice was just as large; the deepness of it bellowed. He wore a hood over his head as well and a large cloak that somehow covered his enormous body. He was probably the height of seven-foot-five.
Next to him, behind Code on his left, was a younger girl. She was slender and shorter than he, about five-foot-seven, had obvious blonde hair that peeked out and draped from the hood she wore down to her waist. Both of their cloaks were the colors white and silver, and there was an embroidered logo of a silver lily on both their backs that matched the glittering white gloves they wore. The Snow Lilies Vice Captain Goro and 1st Executive Rin.
Code didn't say anything; instead, he simply glared at Goro as he handed him the apprehended fake he held by the collar, taking out a coin from the fake's pocket as he did so.
"Nothing to it," he said with such disinterest as he turned his back toward him and the blonde girl, Rin, snapping his fingers and replacing the coin he took with the black long sword that was underneath the pile of fakes.
Goro clicked his tongue as he received the fake that Code handed to him, while Rin simply giggled. "Well… he's definitely a character, huh, Goro?"
She stared at him as he walked away, sheathing his long sword behind him all the while.
"Hmm… He's kinda—"
"Don't even think about it, Rin… I swear, you and the bad guys, Keeper…" Goro snapped to her before she could get in another word.
"Just saying… I mean, since that dreamy captain of theirs went M.I.A., that one is a close second for me. Aside from these losers"—she gestured to the pile of fakes that were now being cuffed—"the ones on the top are… how should I put this…"
"Rin…"
"Okay, okay! I'm just saying… What was his name again? Greed?" She began to picture the first time she had laid eyes on him at the Kingdom's Guild meeting—more specifically, when he bolted at Tubolt and had an intimidating look on his face. "Mmm… I would let him—"
"Okay, enough of that, I don't wanna hear any more of this. Damn floozy… Let's just finish up here in this section, alright? Alright," Goro said, interrupting Rin's swooning, "Curious though…" He focused on the task at hand, continuing a thought from what she had said just a moment ago, forming a separate topic, "Speaking of 'these losers,' how many Black Wolves do you think we've taken since we started this sweep?"
Still daydreaming, Rin flipped her brain back to reality like Goro had metaphorically popped her thought bubble and began assessing what he said.
"Well… there's been reported Black Wolf activity all around the Kingdom. These are all the convicts from last night's ordeal. Plus, Code is an ex-Black Wolf himself, so he must know all their planned routes of attack."
Goro heard her point but quickly added, "That's what it looks like from all angles… from the outside of things that is… Something's just not adding up, though. I mean, look at them, Rin…" He pointed to the group of hooligan Black Wolves the W.M.A. were proceeding to cuff and apprehend. The one Goro held had also been passed off to another officer.
"Something's off, and I'm not just talking appearances either… These quote-unquote Black Wolves are nothing like the Black Wolves we know. You might be too young to remember, but back in Asura's time, I met most of their members and Asura himself on multiple occasions. I've never seen any of these has-beens before… and Asura is not the type to let just anyone join his Guild… well, without good reason, at least. Plus, they're all too reckless to follow a coordinated strike. It's as if they were just set loose randomly in the Kingdom and told to just cause a wreckage any and everywhere. This is too random to be planned attacks."
Raising an eyebrow, Rin looked at Goro curiously, then added in, "Geez, way to date yourself there, buddy, 'back in Asura's time…'" She sighed and went on, "But you do have a point… Why now are all these Black Wolves showing up out of nowhere? Did they really have this many members? From what I know of them, there's only a total of ten Black Wolves in record in the Kingdom."
"W.M.A. records state they had hundreds more undocumented members in order to conduct their illegal activity outside the Kingdom. They say the ones in the Kingdom are the bigwigs orchestrating everything from the comfort of a Kingdom… But no one had proof until today." Goro replied.
"Yeah, I know that big guy—I wasn't finished speaking," she said frankly to her senior even though he was older and twice her size. He snickered as she went on, "Where I was going with that was—even if that were the case, for this many of them to get through the barrier without it reacting in one night is a long shot even for them." She paused with an arm under her breasts and elbow resting on top of that arm. Her index and thumb were on her chin, pondering. "If they're all undocumented, we would have gotten a red alert Kingdom-wide invasion last night, but no such thing happened…"
"That's a good point. Syemore did mention that the Kingdom was in need of a new Zion Orb. Maybe the barrier weakened enough for these hooligans to come through? But even if that was the case, how did THEY know when to pass the barrier to strike? Again, look at the quality of these fugitives… You really think THESE losers could have pulled that off?" Goro thought aloud, brainstorming now with Rin.
"Not without help…" Rin paused once more, still pondering. What she had just said linked to another thought that she hesitated on sharing at this moment. Goro, however, pressed her to come out with it.
The dynamic of the two was that of an older brother and younger sister type relationship. However, it was Rin's intellect that got her to where she is now as a 1st Executive of the Snow Lily Knights, despite her floozy attitude and obsession with bad guys. Because of this, Goro often picked her brain to deduce certain situations or puzzles that he struggled to piece together, even though he himself was pretty acute—Rin was twice as sharp.
"Who was on guard duty last night at the walls?" Rin asked, her expression changing as if she already knew the answer but wanted confirmation.
"The Blue Phoenix Knights," Goro answered, then squinted his eyes, turning his head slowly back to her. "What are you trying to say, Rin?"
As Rin and Goro both caught each other's eyes, they both wore the same horrified look on their face. When they caught sight of each other's expressions, they tried to hide it from the W.M.A. officers that hovered around them now after cuffing all the Black Wolf fugitives in this area…
"Don't look at me like that, you walking vehicle, it's just a theory."
"What— You had the same look! Don't pin this on me! Besides… It's a theory that makes the most sense." Goro reacted but calmed down toward the end. Both had come to the same conclusion at the same time.
"Anyway, we'll save that for later… Too many eyes and ears here. But on another topic…" Rin looked back to where Code was a distance away and stared at his back from where she and Goro were.
"We've gone in a complete circle within the inner walls regardless of Black Wolf activity. We were stationed to watch Code, so honestly, I've just been following and monitoring him and just so happened to drag you along with me… But it's as if he's just doing a lap around the Kingdom… What's his angle?" She paused again, and Goro now stared at Code too, who was walking away. "Also, what's his type? You think the boys in the Black Wolves like a gaudy blondie like me??"
"Rin… This is not the time or place. We need to focus on gathering solid proof of our speculations."
"I know, I know… Just curious…" she pouted as her words trailed off, becoming more coquettish as she swooned.
At this time, the three Arcane Knights: Goro, Rin, and Code, had made it a full circle in and around the inner Kingdom walls. As Code walked a distance away from them, he adjusted his round glasses with his middle finger. The light reflected off them, not revealing his gray-blue eyes in the slightest.
In the same moment, an invisible pentagram pulsed at the spot where his black blade had struck, switched with one of the fakes from earlier. Then, from different spots around the whole Kingdom, more of those same pentagrams began to pulse as well. Almost simultaneously.