"Gotta say, you sure set this up fast," I remarked, as I stared up at the ceiling.

"Well, time was of the essence. Of course, there's no telling how long you'll have to be in here, so best make yourself comfortable," Charlotte's voice echoed out in my right ear.

"He needs to rest too, though. I mean, he can't just stay up the whole time," Came Aria's voice.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, I'm not particularly sleepy yet," I replied, as I rolled across the bed with a bored sigh.

It was a few hours later, a couple minutes past 11 PM. And I was currently in the basement of a facility owned by the Union.

It was a large, wide space, and it had been converted to look like the inside of a residence, with fake walls set up to separate the rooms, carpets placed on the floors and plenty of furniture.

If and when the Archdemon shows up, we don't him to immediately realize that he's walking into a trap, after all.

I've been here for three hours now, and the others are keeping an eye on me through a surveillance camera.

They'll be ready to spring into action at a moment's notice, and Charlotte has been in contact with the HUC, to try and get more backup here.

There's a fair bit of red tape to get over when requesting backup from Hunters in other Sanctuaries, but you'd think they'd ignore some protocols in urgent situations like this one.

The longer the Archdemon takes to show up, the more time Charlotte will have to work it all out and give us the best possible chance of success.

Of course, it's entirely possible that we're wrong, and the Archdemon has no intention of targeting me.

It's even possible that he hasn't seen the footage...though, given how viral it went, that's unlikely.

I seriously doubt he wouldn't have wanted to get a look at how one of his pawns performed, there's no way he would've been able to resist.

And if I piqued his interest even in the slightest, all he'd have to do is look me up and he'd probably find out pretty quickly that I have the ability to grow more powerful.

There's no way any enemy with half a brain wouldn't regard that as a threat, so the chances of him ignoring me are pretty slim.

But as for when he'll make his move, it could be any second now, or even hours from now. That said, it is more likely to happen at night.

All the Hunters who disappeared were assumed to have gone missing late at night or super early morning, before the sun rose in each of their respective timezones.

I had to wait a couple of hours while they set up this space for me to wait in, I used that time to introduce Luxuria and Invidia to each other.

And, well, they didn't exactly get along. Somehow, that didn't surprise me.

Luxuria kept rubbing it in Invidia's face that she's my first Apostle of Sin, and he didn't back down, so I had no choice but to withdraw both of them.

Aria stayed with me, and the others were nearby, in case the Archdemon showed up before this space was ready.

I'm glad that didn't happen, who knows how badly my place would've gotten wrecked?

Man, this is boring.

I don't feel like watching anything or gaming, given the situation, and like I said before, I'm not sleepy either. I can probably stay up for at least another three or four hours without a problem.

Also, I feel kinda self-conscious knowing that the others are watching me. I mean, what am I supposed to do if my balls get itchy?

Huh, now that I say that, my thigh's kinda itchy. Maybe I could-...

"Uh, Kai, we've got a bit of a situation here," Suddenly came Charlotte's voice, startling me a bit.

"Huh? A situation? What's going on?" I frowned, sitting up and springing out of bed.

"It's bad...all the Aces who went missing, they just showed up. Here. They're all scattered across Sanctuary Theta, running amok.

The Guilds are rushing to put a step to them, but they're far too low on manpower. I have no choice but to send Ariella, Ciel and Rex out to help fight off the corrupted Aces."

Damn it...this timing, it can't be a coincidence.

This attack, it has to be a diversion...and a damn good one at that. There's no way it'll be ignored, the other Hunters have no choice but to go deal with it.

Charlotte said all the missing Aces have shown up, which means that there's a grand total of thirteen Aces out on a rampage, all of them with their powers boosted by the Archdemon.

If we don't count the Support Mages among the Aces in Sanctuary Theta, well...to be blunt, we don't even have enough Aces to take on the attacking Aces one on one, we're just short of that.

If I'm not mistaken, Sanctuary Theta has thirteen Combatant and Attack Mage Aces...but that includes me, so it's only twelve that are available to fight these Aces right now.

Actually, maybe just eleven, considering that Keira is-...

Suddenly, I instinctively froze, my gaze slowly shifting to the right as a bead of sweat ran down the corner of my face, my eyes widening as a figure came into sight.

It appeared to be a teenage boy, maybe a couple of years younger than me. He had thick, curly black hair, dark blue eyes, a dark complexion, and was about average in height and build. He was wearing baggy jeans and a loose-fitting white shirt.

His Aura was impressive, but nothing too remarkable...at least, not at first glance. At first glance, he just seemed like an ordinary guy. But my instincts were telling me otherwise.

"Greetings, human. The Sinner, I believe you call yourself...it's a pleasure to meet you," He greeted me with an ominous smile.

"And you must be the Archdemon Zeifas Rivenvros, the Seventh Seat of the Demon Lord's Generals. Likewise, a pleasure to meet ya," I replied as I did my best to stay calm, his eyes widening in surprise...

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