"Wah?!" Squealed Valerie as the distant sound of a distant explosion jolted her awake from her sleep. She sat upright and rubbed her head as she still felt a little drowsy from the sudden awakening. Beams of light pierced the tree line and onto the clearing below as it was already morning. The fire has long since died out, all that was left were ashes within a ring of stones. Her clothes still felt a little damp from the rain yesterday, but at this point, she went in deep in this rabbit hole that she had to bear with it. She may as well settle with handling her clothes later. "How long was I out for?" She asked herself as she turned on her phone. She noticed half of its battery was already used up. "I should've turned it off last night…" She sighed as she searched for the clock application and looked at the stopwatch. Her eyes widened in her surprise. On the screen, it displayed that a little over eighteen hours had already passed. "I didn't think I was out for this long." She had not kept track of the time that went by, luckily, she still had some time before the deadline. As long as she does not get sidetracked, James would be found before the forty-eight hour period was up. A notification appeared, stating that the tracking device was active. She quickly checked the map, but the topography of the region wasn't available as all she could see was a black grid over a gray screen. It did, however, show a red dot pointing northwest from her present location, the same direction where she heard the explosion.

"What were you doing?" Valerie wondered as she began walking. She found herself standing before the remains of a building of some sort. Judging by its appearance, it could have been a religious institute of some sort. The doors that led into the building were already open. Someone must have gone in, but who? She thought. Valerie then proceeded to enter the building and was taken in by the interior. It was nothing like she had ever seen before, the markings that decorated the columns, the floor, and the ceiling were unfamiliar to her, and the corridor was illuminated by a pale green light. She began to walk around the ruined interior, looking at her surroundings. When she decided to look back, however, the atmosphere became quite unsettling. Two craters, each on opposite sides of the wall behind, were seen. She walked close to one of them and felt a faint trace of light energy emanating from it. Something tells me I might not be the only one here…

She continued walking throughout the corridor, the strange energy readings became more evident as she delved deeper into the ruins. Certainly, there had been some sort of struggle around here, and this suspicion was confirmed as she began to spot numerous craters similar to before on the ground and on the walls, as well as some burnt rings. She began to feel faint traces of other elemental energy in the area, namely that of fire, earth, and dark. "Something must have happened here." As she found herself near an exit, her eyes widened. Resting on the ground ahead was a discarded spear. What shocked her was that there were bloodstains on the floor around it as well as the spear itself. It was hard to tell how long it was there for as it was dried up, but the remnants of magical traces within the building led her to believe that they were related somehow. If that was the case, then certainly whatever battle had taken place here could have happened recently, maybe just before she had arrived here. She exited the building and found herself within yet another forest. She continued running through the path in hopes of catching up to him before something else happened.

In a few seconds, she barged through an old gate that led towards another old building. The dark atmosphere around her greatly contrasted with the ruins bright one. It did hold the same unsettling feeling, however, as she felt the same energy around her too. "It looks like I'm on the right track," Valerie said as she looked at the map on her phone again. Once again, there was still no visual, just the same red dot. She looked up to see that it was pointing to a large tower in the distance, and what appeared to be smoke pouring through an opening on the upper floors. "What's going on?" She wondered as she ran towards the other side of the yard, ignoring the building that stood in front of her.

As she was about to make her way to the gate, something tripped her over. She turned around to see a bony hand had taken hold of her leg as a skeleton used her as leverage to pull itself out of the ground. "Get off me!" Valerie cried as she performs a hard kick at the skeletons skull, knocking it off its shoulders with a noticeable pop. The hand loses its grip as the rest of the body slowly fades away along with its detached head. She quickly gets up, only to find out that more skeletons had converged on to her location, surrounding her and blocking the exit. She quickly unsheathed her longsword a she looks straight ahead. I don't have time to fight them all. I just need to get to that exit. She quickly charges straight to the gate, weaving her way around the skeletons while parrying oncoming swings. She makes it to the gate in little time at all, sprinting towards a trail to distance herself from the skeleton horde as much as possible.

The rattling of bones slowly died out as she finds herself a stone throw away from her destination. With no signs of monsters in sight, she took this moment to catch her breath. "I should… really… get more exercise…" she complained between breaths. She looked up at the tower, smoke was still rising from the upper floors , but she was now close enough to hear the faint sound of explosions and something crashing from the upper floors. The energy readings were much stronger now, and she could easily sense someone familiar within the tower. "I found you!" She began to run towards the tower, but the sound of rustling leaves prevent her from doing so. Valerie turned towards the source of the racket to be met with the sound of thundering footsteps coming towards her. "Give me a break!" she groaned as she gripped her longsword tightly. In the distance, she could see what appeared to be some sort of beast charging at her. As it got closer, she was able to get a better look at the attacker. It appeared to have suffered numerous wounds before hand, numerous cuts were seen all over its body, and its horns were cracked. She quickly rolled to the side to avoid the attack, letting the creature crash into a tree behind her. Due to its injuries, it had a hard time trying to get its horns out of the tree; it let out a pained growl as it broke free, but it had lost the strength to stand, and its legs gave out from exhaustion.

Valerie looked at the monster with a saddened look. It tried to attack her, but looking at its state made her wonder if it was right to put it out of its misery. If she healed it, who knows what it would do? Against her better judgment, she reluctantly walked up to the monster and extended her arms out, her whole body began to shine as a warm light enveloped the creature, slowly healing its wounds after a while, the cuts slowly began to vanish, but the cracked horn remained the same. As she finished healing it, she began to stand back, in the likelihood that it might attack again. The monster slowly turned to Valerie, its eyes fixated on her as it glared at her. "Why?" It growled. "Why would you, a human, heal me?"

It spoke?! Valerie was taken aback by the monsters capability to speak. "I… I…"

"Speak up!" It growled again, this time in an angrier tone.

Valerie took a moment to regain her composure before responding. "Because it.. wouldn't feel right if I just killed you in that state."

The behemoth continued to glare at Valerie for a few moments before uttering what sounded like a chuckle. "Foolish girl…"

Valerie looked up longsword in hand.

"If you think that kindness will get you anywhere, then you are more naïve than I thought."

Valerie slowly stepped back, hand firmly gripped on the hilt of her sword.

"However… I will let you go this time. But know this, not everyone in this world is as merciful as I am." And with that, it slowly turned around and began to walk away, leaving her with that ominous warning in mind.

Valerie looked down as she thought over what it had said, but the sound of another explosion broke her concentration. She looked up as she spots numerous lights flickering from the upper floors. That noise… I better hurry!" She quickly ran inside and traversed through the corridors. The fact that the area seemed devoid of any potential monsters made ascending the tower significantly easier, especially with the vast size of each floor. She was already out of breath as she made her way to the next flight of stairs, her pace faltered as she became exhausted from all the running she had to do today. She looked up as she began to hear voices coming from above her. It was clear someone was there, but it was hard to make out what they were saying. She slowly continued to make her way up the steps keeping her breathing to a minimum in hopes not to get caught.

Upon reaching the last step, a bright light shined brightly in the hallway ahead of her. Valerie quickly shielded her eyes in hopes not to get blinded. The flash lasted for only a moment, and the light disappears. She slowly began to walk towards an opening, only to be met with yet another peculiar sight. Up ahead was what appeared to be a pile of scrapped metal and flesh. The sight nearly made her gag, but the sight of the destruction around her helped her keep her mind elsewhere. Clearly, there was another struggle and a more recent one at that. That mess must have something to do with it. Valerie thought as she began to explore the floor. She looked up to see a gaping hole in the ceiling. The traces of magical energy were much stronger compared to the previous areas. Her phone began to vibrate and she picked it up. She looked at the map again to find out that the dot had disappeared, this, accompanied with the scenery in front of her, confirmed her previous suspicion. "Damn it!" she bit her lower lip in frustration. "I was so close!" She exited the corridor and laid down against a wall to rest. "I guess it's back to square one…" She muttered.

…

Kagan Desert, Morgan

"So far, there's nothing." The blue haired summoner observed his surroundings. Nothing but cacti, dried up bones, and sand as far as the eyes can see. He and Seria had been separated by a sudden sandstorm. It is clear now, but the uncertainty of another one occurring was still present. His squadron had scattered to cover more ground, and none of them had reported back yet. Despite not knowing where she may be at the moment, she must have already caught up with the other members of her squadron by now. The monsters in the area were plentiful, making their search efforts a little problematic, but they were low ranked monsters, so there was little to worry about. Though the threat that Graham posed, that was a different story.

Karl placed his hand to his side, where he had sustained an injury before that inflicted him with heavy poison. Had that stranger not been there, he would have succumbed to the poison a long time ago. Still, the stranger's motives, how he suddenly appeared out of nowhere and the faint traces of unfamiliar energy that emanated from him made him all the more suspicious. He brushed this thought aside, right now he had a mission, he would have to notify the Summoners Hall about it later. "Have you found anything, Sergio?" He asked to his unit, who appeared by his side.

"Nothing yet. the target has not been found yet."

"I see, well let's continue to keep an eye out for-" Just as he was about to finish, the buzzing of the communicator signaled that one of the troops had something to report. "Have you found anything?" he asked the recipient on the other line. He was met with frantic, short breaths as if the recipient was running from something.

"Commander!" a male voice cried from the other end. "I found the target! I'm currently engaging the enemy!"

Karls' eyes widened at the soldier's reckless move. His group was specifically ordered not to combat Graham unless the whole group was present. Karl instinctively grabbed his communicator and contacted with the rest of the squadron. "This is Karl to all members of the 24th division! Graham has been spotted! Everyone meet up at the designated rendezvous point so we can plan our course of attack!" There was no response on the other end, just static. "24th division, respond!" he yelled again. A few voices begin to respond through the static.

"Graham's found me! He-AUGH!"

"Sir! We have a man down! we need a healer no-"

"We need reinforcements! We're not going to ma-"

They were suddenly cut off by something. Gripping the communicator tightly, Karl quickly began to run towards the source of the signal with Sergio following suit. A few Orthos tried to pounce on the summoner, but they were quickly cut down as they continued to run. as he arrived at the location that the group was supposed to meet up, he was met with a horrible sight. His fellow squad members lay on the floor, all suffering large gashes. It was obvious as to who did this, and luckily for him, the culprit stood just a few hundred meters ahead.

Graham held his scythe and slung it over his shoulder as he faced Karl, grinning a sadistic grin as he did so. "Ah, so the 'Brave Knight' has come back for another round?" he sneered. "How many times have we done this? I know I haven't kept track."

Karl held his halberd tightly as he goes into a fighting stance. "I'm not going to let you get away this time!"

Graham began to chuckle, which slowly progressed to laughter. "Always the fun one! As much as I would love to play again, I'm afraid that my energy was spent playing with your friends. And it appears I am needed elsewhere." Just as the demon finished talking, the wind slowly began to howl and pick up in speed. Another sandstorm was brewing. "Just in time to say farewell. As for your comrades, they are fine, for now." He cackled once again as the sandstorm begins to pick up, the grains of sand were picked up by the wind and begin to obscure Karls view.

"Wait!" Karl cried, but it was useless, and Graham disappeared within the sandstorm. Karl bit his lip in frustration as he looked down on his allies. A few were coughing, no doubt affected by poison, others were twitching from paralysis and others glowed a faint red aura from being cursed. "Come to me, Exvehl!" He called forth one of his other units, and it appeared with a bright flash.

"What do you need from me, my summoner?" the beast asked in a form of telepathy.

"I need you to cure the others of their ailments. Can you do that?"

"By your command." The Beast God trotted forward. Standing on its hind legs, it began to call out its brave burst. "Cure Levin Field!" It then stomped with its front legs, and a pulse of electricity made a shockwave from the impact. The electricity surged through the fellow demons slayers, but it did not hurt them. The sparks began to glow brighter as their ailments began to disappear, they were cured in a matter of seconds. Still, there was the issue of their injuries, and unfortunately for Karl, they were in no shape to call out their own units, and he himself does not own a healing unit. He picked up his communicator, hopefully, he could get into contact with someone before the sandstorm blocks communication.

...

Somewhere in Elgaia...

A young man yawned as the sun's rays pierced through the curtains and shined in his eyes. "Bah... let me sleep..." He groaned as turned to face away from the window and threw a pillow over his head in hopes to try to get to sleep again. This, unfortunately, would not be possible as the loud buzz from a distant room made any attempts to sleep impossible. "Oh great. What now?" He sighed as he tried to get out of bed. The daily challenge of trying to get out of bed was always tedious, and the fact his legs were rendered useless certainly did not help. He struggled to get out of bed and onto a wheelchair, nearly knocking over his old spear in the process. he looked to it with a nostalgic expression, how he wished to get back to the field and assist the Summoners hall with their surveys again, but acting as a navigator will have to do for now. He wheeled over to the room next to his bedroom. The room itself was a mess, papers scattered everywhere on the floor and on the table from the haphazard attempts to document them all. He certainly was not the best at organizing, and it showed.

He wheeled over to the desk at the end of the room where a computer sat, still active all this time. A notification stated that someone was trying to call. Putting on a headset, the young man then accepted to the call, the monitor immediately switched to displaying a map, showing a top-down view of a desert. "How can I help you?" He greeted the person at the other end.

"Huh?" a male voice responded on the other end. "I thought Lin would be the one to pick up."

"Oh, I think she is busy trying to help out Seria at the moment. So what do you need, Karl?" He asked, still tired from the rude awakening.

"We have casualties. My group was attacked by Graham and they need medical assistance. Can you notify the Logistics Division and see if we can't get some reinforcements?"

His eyes widened. "Casualties? How many are we talking here?"

"Five are wounded and need medical assistance." Karl responded.

"I'll get right on that, in the meantime, you better be careful. I'm getting readings of a powerful enemy in the area."

"Do you know what it is?"

"Let me see..." He squinted his eyes and zoomed in on the map, tapping on the keyboard vigorously as he tried to get any sort of visual of the area. With the sandstorm, it was hard to make out anything, but he could faintly spot the silhouette of a male walking among the dunes. "A swordsman. I suggest you and your units stay close with your division until reinforcements arrive.

"Thanks a lot." Karl said in the usual calm tone he recognized. "I'll be sure to... *bzzzt* an eye- *bzzt*" The transmission quickly degraded into static as Karl's voice dimmed to nothing more but indecipherable gibberish.

"Hey, Karl?"

The communications were unfortunately cut due to the ever growing sandstorm.

"Drat. I guess I better see what i can't do."

He began to go through the process of contacting the Administration and connecting with the Logistics Support Department to fulfill Karl's request. There were many missions conducted by the hall, and with the number of groups out on the field, the Logistics Division would certainly be working on overtime. Some calls would be sent to him in the likelihood if all the lines were full back at the Summoners hall, which makes his job all the more vexing. Still, this was what he did best, providing assistance and monitoring missions at a distance, and helped document any reports based on their findings, or at least he tried to.

Just as he finished his task, a sudden beep from a computer caught his attention. He looked at the map once more, it detected some new activity going on in the Kagan Desert. "The readings are off the charts... what's going on?" He wondered as he began to examine his computer. Visuals were no longer possible, but a red dot indicated the location of the activity. The readings were very similar to the gates the summoners used from the Summoners Hall in Elgaia to Grand Gaia, although the sudden appearance made this all the more suspicious. Certainly, this wasn't one of ours. He thought. For sure he can't contact Karl as of now due to the sandstorm, all he could do at the present moment was to observe what he could and see what happens next.

And I am back! Sorry for the late update. University is pretty taxing at the moment, and assignments continue to take up my time. That, and accompanied with the fact that I didn't know how I was going to go with the situation I would make for the NPCs, so that also contributed to the problem. And yes, I just made Valerie speed run through the entire continent, you can thank the group for that. What do you guys think of the chapter? I honestly think I could do a little better with this, but with my brain's not in the best state, this was what I could do. Starting the next chapter I begin Morgan, after I introduce the next summoned unit that is.

Also, I'm thinking of changing the title before writing the next chapter, I think the one I'm using now is a bit generic and similar with other fanfic titles in this community with similar premises. For any inquiry on that, let me know by PM.

As for the unidentified character on the last bit, I plan for him to get more involved with the story later on. As to what kind of role he will play, well, I'll see how it goes.

(Update - October 26 - I'm going to polish up on the earlier chapters before beginning the next one. This is to see if there are any errors or inconsistencies with the story. If it looks like some of the chapters are subtly different, then you'll know why.)

(Update - November 4 - Chapters have been polished. Some details on previous chapters have been changed slightly, but not in a way that it's completely different but subtle enough that it still stays true to the plot.

(Update - November 9 - Title of story and Summary changed.