"Master there is trouble back in the settlent, just now they have found a dead body!" Nemo reported solemnly.
Neil suddenly paused, a frown appearing over his face.
Did a monster manage to enter the settlent or was it a murder by soone else in the settlent.
"What’s wrong?" Cinthia paused too, she couldn’t see his expression but could sense his mood.
"There is so problem back at the settlent, a dead body was discovered." He replied, she already knew a little about the condition there.
"Alright, then let’s end the training session here, go ahead and check it, be careful." She spoke, despite his unbelievable strength, one still can’t be careful enough.
Neil nodded, then he directly disappeared.
Cinthia stared into the empty space for a while, then sighing she too decided to leave.
Since everything had been so peaceful all this ti, she had almost forgotten where her student currently is.
"I hope he can get out of that place safely." For so reason, she was feeling nervous.
***
Neil opened his eyes in the core room, quickly stabilizing his body, then he headed out.
"Lord, you are back." Leon was waiting for him right outside the door, he bowed upon seeing him walk out.
"Hmm have you found anything?" Neil asked, as the two started walking out of the domain and towards the settlent.
"No lord, it is difficult to determine what actually happened there. And there are also no signs of resistance, either it was done too suddenly or the other party was just too strong." Leon replied.
Neil nodded towards all the subjects that greeted him, as he quickly made his way towards the settlent.
He saw Ileana on the way, after exchanging a few words with her, he entered the settlent.
Everyone knew him very well, the guards upon seeing him greeted him hurriedly.
Even the warden was very respectful towards him, and his strength was already so high.
"Lucas, please follow us." One of the guards spoke, leading them inside.
Neil nodded, he hadn’t told them his real na yet, and didn’t feel the need to.
The domains inside the settlent were arranged properly, after crossing a few thin streets, they moved towards the centre area.
On the wall of one of the domains there, a human body was embedded, head smashed into the wooden wall.
Intestines were hanging freely with the lower half of the body lying down, the man was cut in half.
"Looks like he was killed during the night." Neil checked the surroundings, and could tell it had already been a few hours since his death.
He didn’t rember this guy, so he questioned: "Did he have a conflict with soone?"
"No sir, he was rather ek and minded his own business." The guard replied.
"Lukas, you are here!" Hiroshima, Zeke, Joe and Henry all four hurriedly walked over.
"Hmm is this the first ti sothing like this has happened?" Neil asked in a serious tone.
"Yeah, there have been fights before too but no murder in such a manner." Hiroshima replied.
Henry seed quite shaken, he had never seen anything like that.
"No one saw anything, we don’t have anything about this?" Neil asked, with so many people around, soone had to notice sothing.
"Sigh no one knows anything, do you think a creature of the phantom planet has sneaked in?" Zeke asked.
Neil remained silent as he observed the torn body of the man, he seed to be ripped apart by bare hands.
There were even claw marks.
"It is indeed possible, you will all have to be careful. But first, conduct a thorough search of the entire settlent, if possible check even the domains." Neil ordered.
"Alright, I will do that right away." Hiroshima nodded, and passed the orders to others.
’I can’t tell much from the corpse, there is nothing around either.’ Neil wondered if his 3rd phase of phantom form would be able to sense anything.
After all, his senses in that phase beco the best.
"Can you leave here alone for a bit?" Neil asked.
"...." Slightly surprised, Hiroshima nodded and led the others away.
After a few seconds when Neil couldn’t sense any presence around, his body started to transform.
[3rd Phase!]
His body grew as an armor made of fog appeared around him, Neil sat down so others wouldn’t see him.
Then he focused on his senses, trying to find anything, be it scent or footsteps.
’Hmm... why is there nothing at all?’ he frowned and reverted back to his original form.
"Leon, tell others to bury him here and clean the place, then return to the domain and increase the security." Neil ordered as he massaged his temples.
He walked out and upon seeing Hiroshima and the others, just shook his head.
"Sigh just search the domain for now, increase the security as well. Don’t let anyone wander around alone." He added.
Then he left the settlent.
Although there was a barrier around his own domain but he still decided to go and check the whole place, just to be sure.
Neil conducted a thorough search inside the graveyard, and didn’t find anything.
"Maybe it was really just so internal feud, but it would create chaos if there are more casualties." Neil mumbled to himself.
There aren’t even caras here to check things.
"Right, I can get caras, let’s find a link first though." He thought, as caras can work without constant electricity supply.
They have already discovered batteries that can continue to supply power for years.
"Nemo, search for so nice caras that could even record clearly during the night, could record sound too and follow motion." He spoke.
"Alright master, that’s easy and they are pretty cheap." Nemo replied but before purchasing they would have to get close to a link.
Neil could faintly sense the presence of a link ahead, they should arrive near it in a day or so.
For now, they could just increase security and continue forward, he looked at the citadel, feeling his heart tremble.
That building was so much clearer now, it was big and eerie, as if covered by a thick layer of dark fog.
Previously it appeared to be in the cold region, and when Neil entered the hot region, it appeared in the hot region.
And now it looked to be at the centre line.
He sat on his bed, and sighed loudly, just when everything had gotten normal and all beasts were gone, another problem rose.
Neil could only hope it doesn’t evolve into sothing big.
"Hubby, are you ok?" Ileana entered the room, a worried look on her face.
She sat beside him, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into her warm embrace.
"Hmm..." he nodded, then asked: "How about you? Did you see another of those dreams?"
"Yeah, I did see soone earlier today." She nodded then added: "I was... screaming, calling out to my brother when that man or whatever it was in red attacked our ho."
Ileana felt a headache just thinking of that, she clearly rembered the feeling of betrayal.
It had completely broken her, she couldn’t rember what exactly it was she had seen but that one face had hurt her more than anything.
"But it’s fine that was my previous life, I have you now, that no longer holds any importance. I just need to learn all my skills." She smiled, closing her eyes and inhaling his scent, the sa scent she was obsessed with.
"We can always try finding more information, I know you don’t want to bother with that, but just like my troubles are yours, your troubles are also mine." Neil spoke, as he pulled back and held her face gently.
"Once we are out of here, we can focus on other matters hopefully, like our wedding, of course if you don’t mind." He added, waiting to see her reaction.
"Wedding? Hubby, I love you, of course I have no problem. I want to marry you, and have a big family." She spoke joyfully, hugging him tightly.
The two chatted for a while longer, then walked out.
Neil was pretty much free for the day, he just practiced with Ileana and watched over his domain.
With Magnar there, he wouldn’t have to worry about any beast or phantom planet creature attacking.
They continued to move, and the rest of the day passed without any trouble.
Neil and Ileana returned to their bedroom, the incident earlier had ruined the mood completely.
So after so chat, they slept while cuddling, this was certainly the ti of the day they both looked most forward to.
Just cuddling was so relaxing.
...
Neil woke up early, he and Ileana took a bath together.
Before eating breakfast or going to the clash realm, he decided to go and check the settlent to make sure there were no further incidents.
Thankfully, the domain was as peaceful as ever.
Bringing Leon along, the two walked towards the settlent, of course they had stopped everything already.
"Good morning Lukas, you are up early." Joe called, he was stationed at the door.
"Yeah, did you notice anything strange?" Neil asked as the door of the settlent opened.
"Not really, there were several patrols last night, there wasn’t anything unusual." Joe said before adding:
"Hiroshima is himself now checking the entire settlent."
Neil nodded, feeling a bit relaxed. Maybe it really was just murder, finding the murderer among them would be very difficult.
But at least it wouldn’t endanger others’ lives.
After exchanging a few more words, Neil walked into the settlent.
He saw several teams walking around.
Hiroshima was taking it seriously thankfully, after walking towards his house, Neil paused upon seeing a group gathered outside.
"Hiroshima, is everything alright?" Neil asked, pulling their attention.
"...No, this morning we found two more corpses."
❖❖❖
Thanks for reading...
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