Hugo, Vincent, and the Seredums walked out to the lounge where the squad was waiting impatiently. Their gaze jumped from their captain to the Seredums in anticipation.
"Alright, Vincent," Hugo said, with an arm extended into the room. "Let's see what you can do."
"What's going on?" Neil quickly asked.
"Vincent says he has a way of tracking the Keeper," Erina explained.
The squad looked around at each other and then at Hugo.
"I'm gonna need a little help here," Vincent said as he walked to the centre of the room. Looking at the Seredums he added, "I cannot use too much Ki charge right now, so we have to make this go as fast as possible."
"Agreed," Erina responded. "Tell us what you need."
"I need a personal effect of your Lord nameless, like a piece of clothing he frequented or something of the kind."
Eira stepped ahead saying, "Watch your mouth, bounty hunter!"
With a hand on her shoulder, Erina said, "Please show some respect. Her name is Suraiya Badawi."
"Ah… right." Vincent nodded. "My apologies… Lady Badawi..."
"Would someone please explain what the heck is going on?!" Marcus exclaimed.
"Vincent has a way of tracking the missing Keeper," Hugo said.
"But what were you guys doing inside?"
With one eyebrow raised, the captain looked at the Sokidu. "The Seredums had some reservations they wished to talk about privately." He looked away saying, "We talked, cleared the air, and here we are."
Neil shook his head. "So, the bounty hunter has a way of tracking the Keeper now…" He crossed his arms. "You never mentioned that before… he didn't either."
"Oh…?" Hugo's eyebrows lifted suddenly as he stared at his brother. "Must everything be mentioned to you beforehand?"
"A little explanation isn't poisonous."
Shaking his head, Hugo turned away. He nodded at Vincent who took that as his cue to proceed.
He looked at Erina and asked again, "Do you have anything useful?"
"Yes, of course," she replied. "Give us a moment. We'll find something."
The trio went upstairs to look for the item required.
Marcus sat down again. Vincent came and sat beside him. Hugo joined Camille on the sofa, while Gina, Ella and Neil stood beside them. Marcus took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.
Surprised, Vincent commented, "I thought you people were a bit more… how should I say… spiritual than that…"
Marcus giggled and offered him one as well saying, "I thought so too, man. But turns out Master Baylis is alright with it, so who cares, right?"
Vincent took it and put it between his lips. Marcus lit the index finger on his right hand on fire and with it lit up the two cigarettes.
"Dibs on the cute one," the red-haired Sokidu said as he exhaled smoke.
"Which one?" Vincent reciprocated with a chuckle. "They're all cute, mate."
Marcus looked at him and smiled. "You're cool, bounty hunter," he said and the two exchanged a fist pump. "Brown hair, tanned skin, white skin-tight onesie, and with the boots… I mean, bruh…"
"Tell me about it." After a pause, he looked at Marcus and asked, "But seriously? Do you think you have a chance here?"
Leaning back, he replied, "We must never say never…"
The two laughed and smoked as the Seredums searched upstairs. Gina and Ella chatted in whispers while Camille and Hugo talked quietly as well.
"So, what's the deal with Neil?" Vincent asked, grinding the ash beneath his foot.
Marcus chuckled. "Guy's a toothpick," he said under his breath, but then added, "Passionate… aggressively passionate… but toothpick. The guy's the best fighter of the team, after Master Baylis, of course."
"Hmm… he doesn't have a brain worth a dime, does he?"
The Sokidu gave him a sly look. "So, what's the deal with you?" he asked. "Been a bounty hunter all your life?"
"All my professional life… yes."
"How long has that been, man?"
"Suffice to say, it's been longer than the Eye thinks."
Marcus looked up at the gallery. 'Still no sign of the sisters,' he thought.
"So…" he looked back at Vincent. "What kind of job do you usually look for?"
He shrugged. "Something challenging. Look at our situation right now. This is the kind of job I'd take any day. I mean, tracking an ambiguous Ki signature is impossible right?"
"Obviously."
"So, I will have to chase Ki disturbances. Now, the signs here are clearly telling us that there was a struggle here, which means it will be terribly difficult to identify which disturbance was from the Keeper."
"And the personal effect will help with that?"
"Yup. Regularly worn clothes usually have a residual Ki signature on them that lasts for days. Matching that with the disturbances will probably give me the trace we are looking for."
"Probably?"
The bounty hunter smirked. "To tell you the truth, I've never tried something like this before. I think it should work but, can't say anything for sure."
Marcus leaned closer. "Didn't you track Keepers before?"
Vincent showed him the rope on his wrists. "Remember this?" he asked. "With this limited amount of Ki charge, I'll die before getting far."
"Why not use someone else's Ki."
The Seredums came out at the gallery whispering amongst themselves. Everyone looked up.
"If the need arises," Vincent said, quietly, "I'll let you know."
Speaking much louder, he asked, "Did you find anything useful?"
The sisters looked at each other for a moment before Erina said, "Yes. We'll be right down."
Vincent looked at Hugo who was also looking confused.
Marcus glanced between them and said, without the slightest attempt at subtlety, "So… what is it – bra or panties?"
Neil scoffed while Camille buried her face in her hands as the room fell into half-choked laughter. Even Hugo looked away to hide a reluctant smirk.
Eira's eyes narrowed instantly.
Eila looked away, clearly flustered, her grip tightening slightly around the cloth in her hands.
Erina did not react at first. She simply held Marcus' gaze – calm, unamused – before saying, "It is what he needs."
The trio jumped down and handed the bra to Vincent. He looked at it, then at Marcus. "Perfect…"
"Lucky bastard," the Sokidu muttered, smirking, and moved away.
Hugo and Vincent shared a look. The Zaatsu gave a nod and the White Bolt moved to the centre of the room.
"Everyone," he said. "Move to that corner of the room… behind me."
Everyone obeyed. The bounty hunter turned away and began charging his Ki.
Erina's eyes narrowed slightly. "That kind of Ki flow should be leaking everywhere…"
Eila stepped closer, almost instinctively. "But it isn't," she said softly.
Eira let out a quiet breath, shaking her head. "It's laminar…" she paused. "No resistance. No loss."
"That level of control…" Erina murmured as she exhaled slowly. "That's not normal."
This was no ordinary skill. Even Zaatsus and senior Mystics had a hard time achieving perfect laminar flow. No one within the ranks of the Eye or the Order had such mastery over Ki Manipulation. It was intimidating but enviable at the same time.
"How do you think he is doing that?" Eila asked, smiling at the stunned Zeta Squad.
When no one responded, Vincent looked at her and said, "Ki cluster training… or drilling, I should say. And the fact that I started training at the age of 9."
Silence.
Camille blinked. "Nine…?"
She glanced at Hugo. "That would mean manipulating Ki inside developing clusters…"
Gina frowned. "That's not training," she said. "That's risking permanent physical damage."
Hugo shook his head. "No one can manage that at such a young age," he said firmly. "Even the greatest teachers of Ki manipulation agree with that."
Looking back ahead, the White Bolt smiled faintly. "Just because it is difficult for the tutor…" he said calmly, "does not mean it is not useful for those being taught."
"It's flowing quite rapidly now," Erina said. "And there's still zero losses. Beautiful…"
Eila and Eira nodded in agreement. "I would love to see him do a one hundred percent charge," the former added.
Hugo looked at the Seredums and smiled. "Isn't he the bad-guy you were worried about just then?"
"Bad-guy or not, Master Zaatsu," Erina said. "You have to admit he is a very talented manipulator of Ki."
Suddenly, Vincent began to fade. Gina said, "Master Baylis? Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
"Relax," Hugo quickly replied.
A dark silhouette of his figure began to take the bounty hunter's place as he remained completely motionless.
Zeta Squad's captain looked at his team and said, "That's the Dark Ki trying to latch itself onto the Ki within his body. If it were to succeed, he would die very quickly and very painfully, but he is keeping it at bay at a very nominal distance away from his skin."
"That's why he can't move," Marcus said.
"Yes."
Standing in the middle of the room, Vincent appeared like a silhouette, pitch black. Everyone was having a hard time focusing on anything close to him or behind him. The visuals were being distorted and bent.
Through the mesmerizing sight, Vincent's voice boomed.
"GRIERNUM-HOSTIFANA-XALUM-OCANA-RASALHOGUE…"
A tracking spell forged by Rasalhague himself.
Very soon, a complex web of both moving and stagnant Ki started to reveal itself, eventually becoming bright like traces of current. One by one, then, many of them began to disappear.
"What's happening?" Marcus asked, looking around. Everyone in the room was well versed in the art of Ki manipulation and was observing Vincent's magic as well.
Hugo explained, "He's trying to match the residual Ki signature from the cloth with these Ki trails."
For the next minute and a half, tracks of Ki kept disappearing one after the other until only half a dozen remained. Each became bright for a few seconds before three of them vanished. A few moments later, another one vanished and Vincent began charging his Ki down.
"Two traces?" Erina asked.
The bounty hunter was finally visible again. He fell on one knee, panting and sweating profusely.
His focus sharpened – not on the squad, but on the trail. A whisper escaped his lips – "Interesting."
He brought his wrist upon his knee and rested his forehead on it.
Finally, the last two Ki traces disappeared as well.
Eila rushed to Vincent's aid. She put a hand on his shoulder and asked, "Are you alright? You're burning up!"
"Water," he replied, still whispering.
Gina brought him a bottle. He gulped it down and proceeded to lie on the ground.
"Remind me never to do that again," he said with a chuckle. He was still breathing heavily. "Forty percent charge only lets you do so much."
"Where did they go?" Hugo asked, standing at his shoulder.
Vincent extended an arm. Grabbing it, Hugo pulled him up and smiled. "Nice," he said.
"It's faint," the bounty hunter said nodding. "But it will last for quite a few hours."
"So, what now?" Camille asked. "The tracks have disappeared."
Vincent extended a handshake saying, "Shake on it."
"Excuse me?"
"Would you rather I said 'touch me'?"
"Yup!" Marcus nodded. "He's cool!"
With a grin on his face, the Sokidu moved ahead and gave Vincent a strong clap. Upon contact, a link between him and the trail was forged making it easily visible to him, just as it was done with Hugo earlier. Everyone else quickly followed.
"Alright, Vincent," said Hugo. "What's with the two trails?"
Vincent glanced at the Seredums, then at Hugo, and then exhaled slowly.
"I have been hunting for a while now," he eventually said, wiping sweat off his forehead. "I know a freaky Ki residue when I see one."
"What freaky Ki?"
"Several remnants of the Xoitique Diamond were here."
"Are you sure?" Hugo's hands rested on his hips as he stared wide-eyed.
"Positive. Those things leave a peculiar trail and track. I have handled many of them and the biggest problem in taking them from one place to another is the covering of the tracks. Dark Ki or not, they can be picked up and tracked."
"Like the other one visible here?"
"Hmm, that faint spiral trail is the Keeper's. But look at the other one… floating like a liquid in mid-air. That's the remnant's."
"I can sense a mix within that," Erina said. "What does that mean?"
"More than one remnant was here… more than one."
Hugo exhaled slowly. "This complicates things," he said. "We will have to split up."
"We must go after our Lord," Erina quickly said.
"Of course. And my team will accompany you while I will follow the remnants' track with Vincent."
Neil's jaw tightened.
Camille glanced at him, then back at Hugo.
Vincent watched the exchange quietly.
But no one said a thing.
Orders were orders. So, accompanied by the Seredums, the Zeta Squad quickly set off to find the missing Keeper.