**Random section of the Valley Kingdom**
A group of fake Black Wolves were running amok and causing mayhem in different parts of the Kingdom; the situation not looking good for the Black Wolves in terms of reputation.
"Stop right there, heathen!" a W.M.A officer yelled. There was a patrol of them chasing down a group of fakes in this random section of the city.
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.
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 noticing it. Then from the center of the blade, they all began to get pulled into its center as if it had its own gravitational pull. One after the other, they flew in the direction of the blade, stacking on top of each other.
"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 that casted a shadow onto most of his face. The black fur on his dark gray hood fluttered gently from the breeze as it nestled 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-five, 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 him, while Rin simply giggled. "Well… he's definitely a character, huh, Goro?"
She admired him as he walked past and sheathed 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 at 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… He can look at me like that while he—"
"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 Code handed him 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 wreckage wherever they please. 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 these many members? From what I know of them, there's only a total of ten Black Wolves in Kingdom record."
"Well as the W.M.A. are scanning them, they all seem to have documentation here in the Valley. It's like the Black Wolves had a mass recruitment that no one knew about. Up until last night, there were only the ones we knew, which were those ten."
"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—all these 'documented' Black Wolves all have the same join date. Did you notice?" She paused with an arm under her breasts and elbow resting on top of her hand. Her index and thumb were on her chin, pondering. "My question is how did they get so many of these Black Wolves approved within a short amount of time? And why were they approved? All their backgrounds are horrible. They might as well be criminals."—facing Goro now with a side eye—"They are criminals."
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 edgy 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 sharp—Rin was twice that.
"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 do they have to do with—"
"You already know, you big lug." She scrolled on her comm and pulled up a documentation of a random Black Wolf from the pile with the date which he started. Then another, and then another as she continued to scroll. "You get it yet?"
"You're losing me." The big man admitted.
"Ugh. All muscle, no brain." She jabbed as she pulled up the Blue Phoenixes start date as an official Guild in the Valley...
When Goro read the date, his eyes widened, and he held a horrified look on his face. He had finally understood.
"Don't look at me like that, you walking vehicle, it's just a theory."
He frowned at her and then said, "Well it's a theory that makes the most sense. These 'Black Wolves' start date and the Blue Phoenix Guild's start date match to the T. And with the Blue Phoenix Knights on outer wall duty last night, how else did all these Black Wolves get inside?"
"Precisely," Rin replied. "Acting Captain Sylva is confirming this speculation with another Captain but I'm gonna message her this theory too. Maybe it will help her come to the conclusion she's been so desperately looking for."
As Rin said this, she noticed the W.M.A. officers finishing up and Blue Phoenix Knights arriving to "patrol" the area.
"Anyway, let's end that talk here. Too many eyes and ears now. On another topic…" Rin looked back to where Code was and continued staring intently at his back as he proceeded to walk further away.
"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 along with her. "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. That being said, I do believe we still need to keep an eye on him for now."
"Alright, I guess you can tag along. I was gonna do that with or without you."
"You're keeping an eye on him for another reason, you thirsty—"
"Blah blah blah. More moving, less talking, Goro."
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 and they followed behind, he adjusted his round glasses with his middle finger. The light reflected off them, not revealing his gray-blue eyes in the slightest.
In that same moment, an invisible pentagram pulsed at the spot where his black blade had struck earlier after switching with a fake. Then, from different spots around the whole Kingdom, more of those same pentagrams began to pulse as well. Almost simultaneously.
Your move, Captain.