Chapter 2

True to her word, Setsuna had set off that night with a small bag of essentials and a goodbye from Rose and Abyss.

There was an envelope clenched tightly in Setsuna's right hand. Rose had given it to her before she set off, shoving it into her hands before running inside. When Setsuna tried to give it to Abyss, the mage shook his head.

"For you...When you're in trouble."

He was never that big on talking. Still, the instructions were 'Do Not Open Unless in Danger'. Setsuna was curious, but not enough to open it at a moment where she'd be in a crowded area. Rose's 'Just In Case' items always had a habit of being a bit on the dangerous side.

Setsuna walked past the train station on the outskirts of Nisenoi. It used to be a small little insignificant thing. Nobody had a use for it, the train only came by once a week and nobody ever got off. But it was just too nice and everyone had gotten attached to it. Nobody had the heart to take it down.

As much as she would have liked to have a relaxing train ride, it wasn't running today. In any case, Setsuna would have had to have ridden five trains to get to her location. It was much easier to teleport there. Once she was far enough that nobody would have been able to see her, Setsuna closed her eyes and imagined her destination.

The opposite of the lovely Nisenoi field she was standing in now. A dark forest with dead grass and no wildlife in sight. Instead of a nice calming breeze, the air would feel suffocating and you felt like you were always being watched. To the north of this field was a large rock that had the numerals for four carved into it-something Setsuna had thought of to mark her teleportation locations. The wind picked up and when the silver haired mage opened her eyes she found herself standing in the location he had imagined.

Ah, the dead forest of Kuroamashi. Still as dreadful as ever. Setsuna looked around. If she was right, she was just south of where the killings had taken place. Aechen was always sentimental. It would make sense to kill people in an area that was precious to her. Setsuna turned to walk east. She'd be en route to another sentimental location.

"Halt!" Setsuna turned to face the person calling out to her. A man in Magic Council Armor ran up. "This place is under surveillance. Civilians aren't allowed here."

"I'm aware." Setsuna tried to reign in her annoyance. "I'm simply conducting my own investigation."

"The Magic council has authorized only one investigation."

A rather terrible investigation. Setsuna thought. You won't find anything out other than it was the work of a dark guild. Setsuna snapped her fingers and created an illusion. It would last a few minutes, just enough for her to get away from this guy and find out everything she needed to. She began to walk away from the man who was still focusing on the illusion in front of him.

"Doranbolt!" Setsuna started to speed up. Her illusion was a mediocre one. If she hurried she could escape before it fell apart. She had just enough time to duck behind a tree before the illusion broke apart. The person she had tricked-Duranbolt was it? He had a funny reaction. The silver haired mage had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing and giving away her position.

"Where did she go?" Doranbolt asked. Setsuna imagined he was looking around wildly.

"The girl you were talking to was an illusion." Doranbolt's companion said. "A trick, most likely set by the person behind those murders to keep us from investigating further."

So he didn't see me...Then what are his abilities as a mage? Setsuna snuck a peek around the tree trunk to see the two men talking. The new man looked like he had the same clothes as the Doranbolt, but his hair was black and pulled back into a ponytail.

Setsuna's patience was quickly reaching its limit. As much as those two wanted to help, they would most likely end up a part of the Aechen's body count and only help in holding Setsuna back. If those two had a death wish that was fine, but she didn't want to go down with them. Seeing as they weren't leaving though...Setsuna looked at her hand. It was time to test out her takeover skills.

It wasn't a perfect transformation. She needed something that would fit into this environment. Nothing lived in this forest. Setsuna knew that. She just hoped that the two rune knights didn't. She took the form of a duck. There was a stream nearby that could help with her disguise and get her away from here.

She stood up and started to walk, silently cursing her current form's legs. The grass crunched beneath her feet, but the rune knights said nothing. Either they assumed she was a duck, or it was the wind. Or maybe they were just stupid.

In any case, Setsuna made it to the stream and quickly swam away as fast as she could. Nobody came after her and there were no sounds that sounded human. Setsuna let out a breath that she didn't know she'd been holding in.

Something grabbed her neck and forced her underwater.

"How nice to see you again, Setsuna."

A/N: I'm going to try and keep this spinoff short. This story is happening at the same time as Crimson Empire, so I'd rather not cause continuity problems. Sorry for the late update, I've been preparing my present for you all. I've been writing new stories that I will be posting both here and on my AO3 Account.