Loki Familia, or their executives at least along with the goddess herself and Raul, were quick to arrive to the scene. The first thing they noticed was that Ganesha Familia had the entire perimeter secured and locked while Dian Cecht's best medics were tending to the very recently liberated captives, giving treatment to the wounded and providing proper nourishment to the worst cases of starvation amongst them.

Finn was approached by Shakti Varma, alias Ankusha, the level 5 captain of Ganesha Familia, and her expression despite the mask showed that she was very serious. Braver took the initiative to speak up. "How is the situation, Ankusha?"

Shakti crossed her arms and turned around. "It is bad. Barely 20% of the captives escaped. I haven't seen this many dead bodies in one place since the early stages of the Dark Age."

Finn visibly winced at the description. "That bad?"

The blue-haired woman only nodded. "Early questioning reveals that many of the captives were caught very young, some were even toddlers and only knew life under Evilus imprisonment. Word amongst the now freed people is that many of the supposed captives were sadly successfully broken and brainwashed."

The Braver placed his right hand on his chin. "Is that why so many of the captives are dead? Were they killed during the breakout by the now freed ones?"

To his surprise, however, Shakti shook her head. "All captives that hadn't escaped are dead, taken by the testimonies we have an account of how many were there, and the number adds up perfectly. Any captive that isn't out here now is dead within the row of abandoned buildings we enclosed. What makes no sense is that all dead captives died within their cells..."

Finn's eyes widened and he turned all attention to Ankusha, who had a very sour look on her face. "They didn't die in the breakout, they were executed either right before or during. But not one of them shows any indication of struggle. At first, Dian Cecht's medics thought it was mass suicide, but the first autopsies show that there is a very weird type of injury on their bodies. It's like their hearts were completely ripped apart, yet there are no physical wounds like cuts. Whatever killed them was not conventional, which leads me to believe it was likely magic or some new skill we are unaware of. Since it is impossible for that many to have the same abilities, the conclusion is that the killer was not amongst the deceased..."

Finn immediately caught up on her meaning. "You think one of the escapees killed them all?"

Ankusha merely nodded. "Further questioning revealed that one of the escapees started the entire breakout and was seen fighting the remnants of Evilus while the others escaped. But that is another anomaly I can't make sense out of..."

"Explain" Riveria stepped in, fixing her gaze as her interest was piqued at the notion of a spearhead for the breakout.

"Medical examination showed that he sustained not a single injury of any type. Physically, he is the epitome of health."

Loki now also had her curiosity spiked. "Ya mean ta tell us he beat 'em all up without a scratch?"

"Exactly. But it gets weirder..." Shakti continued and waved at the executives to follow her as she lead the way past some of the escapees that were being either tended to medically or questioned by other Ganesha familia. "Dea Saint personally performed a medical check up on him and the results are... well, she will tell you herself. I must return to overseeing my men."

"Understood, Ankusha" Finn answered and watched the blue-haired woman leave while they were now being approached by Airmid Taesanare, the Dea Saint and widely known as the best healer in all of Orario. "Dea Saint."

"Braver" Airmid answered with a respectful bow. "I overheard that Ankusha introduced you to the profile of the one who staged the breakout."

"Indeed" Riveria spoke and took a step forward. "She told us that there are multiple things that don't make sense in his case and we were also told you will enlighten us."

Airmir nodded and flipped over a page on the folder in her hands that contained the full written report on Hunter. "To start with, it is clear he has been a captive for at least a decade, likely more. Over 60% of his body is covered in scar tissue and some are old enough that they have naturally faded from visibility."

Hearing this causes a collective reaction of shock. Loki even slightly opened one of her eyes and revealed her sharp, analytic orbs. "Ya tellin us over half of his skin is just scars?"

"Additionally, despite reports of the lackluster nourishment for the captives, he is not suffering from starvation. Matter of fact, he is impossibly healthy for the supposed conditions that Evilus subjected them to. He was fed properly, and that makes me very suspicious, but the sheer range and variety of the scars proves he was tortured perhabs the worst out of all the living escapees. One state of his health proves he was very much a prisoner, but the other gives reason to believe he might be a sleeper agent for Evilus, and the contrast of the two worries me. I haven't questioned him on either yet, as I intend to have a deity present to ensure no deception. Thus, if you would, Goddess Loki"

The redheaded deity simply nodded her head. "Lead ta way, Airmid"

The Dea Saint nodded in approval and walked the executives further ahead into the mass of escapees until they came at a section that was isolated from the others, where Hunter was currently sitting on a wooden chair, his hands clapped together before his chest. He was topless, so his severely scarred upper body, arms and neck were all visibly to the others. His closed eyes snapped open and he sighed out. "Finally, can I go now?"

"Not yet, sir" Airmid spoke, her tone fully professional and void of emotion. "This is the Loki Familia, and they will be questioning you on the details of the breakout."

Hunter's eye sharply focused as he examined the Loki Familia members one by one. His eyes landed on Finn and he stopped, his expression souring considerably. "You, blonde midget. Are you Finn Deimne, The Braver?"

Hearing the way he called Finn a midget immediately blew Tiona's fuse and she grit her teeth. "Finn is not a midget!" She howled as she glared him down.

Braver however waved his hand to calm the busty one of the Amazon twins down. "I am. And who wants to know?"

The scarred man scoffed. "Hunter Thraune. Gotta say, you owe me one."

This surprised the captain of the Loki Familia and he stepped forth a step. "How come?"

Hunter leaned forward slightly and scoffed again. "Ever since that incident on Floor 27, Valletta has been way worse with her torture. She wouldn't shut up about you while whipping the flesh off of my bones for the last couple years. Whatever you did pissed her off and she took it out on us."

Being reminded of that Nightmare and further being told that it bore consequences to non-adventurers made Finn's expression turn more serious on its end. "All I can do is apologize, then. I had no idea."

Hunter on his end leaned back again and exhaled for an extended moment, tilting his head back and placing his hands on the back of his head. "Sure sure, nothing you can do about it anymore. Anyway, I know that you want answers, and I am willing to give them to you."

"Then let us get straight to the point" Riveria commented and stepped forward. "Our Goddess is with us so we will know if you lie. First question, are you with Evilus?"

The question offended Hunter, given his distain for the organization and his head snapped forward. "Fuck no. They killed everything I held dear when I was three and kept me in this shithole ever since. I am 18 now, so do the math."

"You've been a prisoner for 15 years?" Finn questioned further, disbelief hinting in his eyes.

"Well, depends on what you define as a Prisoner. I could have broken out years ago, but I wasn't really ready yet so I bid my time and endured their torture wllingly."

"HUH!?" A collective reaction of pure shock echoed across the Loki Familia plus Airmid.

Finn turned his head to Loki, but since she showed no reaction of negativity, it meant that Hunter had been telling the truth. Braver then turned his attention back towards the scarred speedster. "Since when did you have the means to break out?"

"Somewhere after I turned 5, I'd say. I've been holed up for so long I don't really know the date anymore so I can't be more precise than this."

Airmid was the one who decided to fire the next question. "But then if you really were a genuine prisoner, how come you are not suffering from malnourishment like the other captives?"

"Easy" Hunter answered. "Every now and then I'd sneak out of my cell and steal some of their provisions."

"And you didn't give anything to the others?" Lefiya asked next, the implication of his selfishness visibly enraging the young elven prodigy.

"If I had, then the others would have been whipped to shit as well. Valletta found out fairly quickly that I was the one stealing food due to my improving physique so she more than doubled the intensity of all the torture. On the worst days, I was barely a poke away from dying. I wasn't about to subject someone else to that brutality, so I kept the food to myself whenever I stole it."

Finn's rationale could see the logic, so he had to humm audibly. "So you were keeping yourself strong while making sure you took all the blame yourself. But Valletta is exceedingly sadistic, she must have tried to torture others and try to blame it on you, no?"

Hunter was mildly impressed, but then he remembers that Finn and Valletta were enemies on a more personal scale and his positive thoughts about Braver flipped, since he reminded himself it was not logical deduction but first hand experience. "She sure did. So I kept a strong face and made her think I didn't give one lick of care about anyone else. Eventually, she saw she got nowhere and stopped, but the other prisoners didn't forget my actions until I helped them escape. Now suddenly they are thankful and call me a hero, when barely a few hours ago they were more ready to slit my throat in my sleep than Evilus was."

"I understand that much" Finn reassured with a tone that showed he was agreeing purely on logic. "Do you know how most of the captives died?"

Hunter suddenly shot up his hand to stop his opposite to talk. "Any further questions from here on out I won't answer here."

This ticked off some of the members, and Tiona, who was already angry with the scarred man, voiced it. "Didn't you say you would cooperate with us!?"

Hunter just silently glared at her for a second, then moved his eyes across the group again. "I said I was willing to give you some answers, I never said I'd give all of them right here right now, and I never said I can't put a condition on them."

Finn once more took initiative and waved his left hand up as he spoke up. "Then what is it you want in return?"

Hunter's right hand stuck out its index and middle finger to sign the number two. "Two things. One, access to information about Evilus. I have every intention on hunting them down and ending the entire group, but I am not an idiot. I know that I have no leads, am in unfamiliar territory, and given I've quite literally grown up inside a damn prison cell, I have to admit, frustrating as it is, that I didn't develop any skills for espionage for myself."

Loki's curiosity skyrocketed and she stepped forward past Finn, her arms crossed and a foxy smirk on her face. "Ya want in on the action?"

"Bluntly put, yes."

"Tch" Bete suddenly clicked his tongue, his expression showing how he was looking down on the scarred man. "So you got a breakout done and now you think you're hot shit who can take on an entire organization of terrorists?"

Hunter only turned his head to Airmid slowly. "You didn't tell them?"

Heads turned to the healer and Loki voiced the unified thought. "Tell us what?"

Airmid gulped slightly. "I didn't believe him at first, but he claims that he was the one who defeated Valletta"

"HE WHAT!?" Bete audibly voiced and his face turned to Hunter, who had his arms out and his expression telling a very easily readable 'I know' look.

"Then ya must be real strong. How'd cha do it?" Loki questioned and leaned closer to the speedster.

"Sorry, that one stays a secret. All I can tell you is that I never wore any Falnas."

Dead silence. Everyone just stared at Hunter.

"Y... you..." Lefiya began, but didn't find the words.

"You beat Valletta as an unblessed scrub?" Bete then asked, and despite his rude choice of words, nobody wanted to interrupt for they wanted the answer.

Hunter just gave a smirk and nodded. "Hell yeah I did. You should have seen the look she had when I told her after I dragged her sorry ass out here. I don't think she's ever felt so humiliated before, and I enjoyed every second of it."

More dead silence. Then, Loki opened her eyes and placed her hands on Hunter's shoulders. "Join my Familia"

"No"

"I insist"

"Nope"

"I REALLY insist"

"Ask me one more time and I will insult your flat chest"

Loki took critical damage and backed off, making a very exaggerated fake-hurt expression at that.

"And can I inquire you as to why you wouldn't want to?" Riveria asked, as she now stepped forward, a neutral look on her face.

"You can inquire, but I have no obligation to answer right away. After all, you didn't tell me if you are in agreement with my first condition, and I haven't even told you my second one yet."

The elven princess could only recede lightly. "You have a point. The decision for your first condition are up to our Captain and our Goddess."

Finn was running his brain in overdrive weighting out every potential pro and con of this decision as well as contemplating through all potential motives Hunter may have. He was silent for a moment before he looked the scarred man in the eyes. "Very well. We may strike a mutual cooperation" He spoke, all while voicing his thoughts to himself. "He is likely out for revenge, which means he will go after Evilus with or without our help. With no intel, he might only alert the Evilus remnants and cause them to be more cautious, which will make it harder for all of us. Furthermore, with his strength given he defeated Valletta, an uncontrolled rampage from him could be catastrophic. Antagonizing him puts Orario into a slew of risks. Despite the heavy downsides of having someone not within the Familia heavily associate with our frontline against Evilus, it is the safer decision in the grand scheme of things to agree to his demand."

"And the second condition?" Riveria added.

Hunter began with another loud, long sigh. "I've been holed up for over 15 years. I haven't seen anything about the world and I don't know the first thing about where I am. I also have been kept at distance from the other captives since, as I told you earlier, they REALLY did not like me, so overall I've been very lonely in there. I want to socialize, get out there, make my place in this world. So..." he then trailed off and his cheeks grew a light tinge of red as his lips were squeezed shut, clearly trying to restrain himself from saying anything more, but ultimately he had to elaborate. "I want a date." He then pointed at Riveria without looking, the embarrassment on his face growing. "With you."

Once more, dead silence. Then, the mother of all vocal chaos erupted.

"YOU WHAT!?" Tiona screamed.

"HOW DARE YOU!?" Lefiya yelled at the top of his lungs.

"ARE YOU CRAZY!?" Bete chimed in, which got him a bonk on his head from Riveria's staff.

Save for Finn, Ais and Riveria herself, everyone was voicing their own bits and thoughts which caused an incoherent mess of words to erupt and this continued for an extended period until Riveria shut everyone up by bonking all their heads, an annoyed expression on her face. She then turned to Hunter with a rather stern look, clearly wanting to scold him. "And why would you want that, of all things, and with me, of all people?"

"A date covers everything. Socializing, sightseeing, making a casual life for myself, establishing connections, all of it. Besides, I am a hormonal late teenager who's been shut off from the world for almost his entire life. The opposite sex interests me, so I want to get out there. As for why you specifically..." Hunter trailed off for a moment and started to grin lightly, though the way his cheeks twitched showed that he was fighting to hide said grin. "Because I like women who can be mature, and you're the only one in this bunch that fits the criteria."

Loki grinned slyly and gave a thumbs up. "My man, I like yer taste!"

Lefiya's furious gaze turned to her goddess. "You mean to tell me this human isn't lying!?"

"Nope, not a bit" Loki confirmed, which didn't help at all.

Lefiya shot past everyone to Hunter and very forcefully tapped his chest with her index finger. "Do you not have the slightest idea who you are asking out!? A human like you could never-!"

"Lefiya, stop!" Riveria chastized the young elf, causing her to look at the Royal High Elf with shock, trying to conceal her fury bit by bit.

"No no, let her continue" Hunter spoke, clearly amused by it, his eyes fixiated on Lefiyas own. "Go on, I want to hear it all. I AM ignorant to much of this world, so educate me. I do mean it"

Lefiya felt taunted and so she visibly grit her teeth. "Lady Riveria is a High Elf from the Alf family! Her full name is Riveria Ljos Alf, and she is the heir to the throne amongst all the Elves! She is our sacred princess! A mere human like you insults our people by having the notion of wanting any romantic affiliations with her! You could never be worthy of her!"

"LEFIYA!" Riveria chastized again, this time in a much stronger tone, but a wave from Hunter showed he wants her to stop.

"How every interesting..." Hunter spoke as he turned his expression away from the young Thousand Elf for just a second. "Is what she said true?"

"Indeed, all of it" Riveria stated, a frustrated sigh escaping her lips.

"So..." Hunter started and moved his hands behind his head. "Let me ask you a simple question... uh..."

"Lefiya Viridis!"

"Right, Lefiya" Hunter fixed himself. "Let me ask you a question. You obviously respect Riveria greatly and all, but with all due respect." Hunter's amusement was gone and he suddenly donned a deadly serious look in his eyes. "Who the fuck do you think you are?"

This out of nowhere confrontational question shocked the mass once more, and Lefiya herself was ready to just blow up and assault the human before her.

"Alright, let me rephrase the question" Hunter quickly stated, which stopped Lefiya from doing anything drastic. "By what authority are you to decide who Riveria can and cannot associate with?"

All rage the young Thousand Elf felt was just poof, gone, replaced with utter confusion. "W... what?"

"You heard me. You just gave me half a sermon about how 'hurr durr Riveria is beyond your league', but who made you the person who gets to decide that? Isn't it incredibly rude to Riveria to control her personal life like that?"

Lefiya was caught completely off guard by this and was trying to answer, stammering over her words. "I.. no, I uh... I mean..."

"You mean NOTHING" Hunter suddenly said, not shouting, but the strength in his tone was very much at the border of it. "I can understand, to a degree, the type of reverence and respect elves give her, and despite my full freedom to judge you all for it, I will not. HOWEVER, what I will not tolerate from anyone is a proverbial birdcage like you're putting Riveria in one! I JUST got out of one myself, damnit, no chance in hell do I just let this slide!"

Lefiya was now feeling guilty and somewhat intimidated, but no one was going to rescue her from this scolding.

"I don't give a damn. No wait, I don't give a FUCK about this whole Royalty schtick" Hunter spoke, waving his hands in circles in a mock gesture as he said 'Royalty Schtick'. "And neither should you! YOU do not get to decide who she speaks to, befriends, likes or even fucks. No one and nothing does except Riveria herself. What you are doing is not respecting her, it is controlling her! And I don't abide by that! Am I clear!?"

Despite the vulgar choice of words, Lefiya had no room for any embarrassment about it, all she felt was the oppressive feeling of being thoroughly scolded. It did not help that she never meant ill will towards Riveria, so being told that her actions resulted in ill result was a real gutpunch to her. The young Thousand Elf turned to Riveria with a defeated expression full of guilt. "L-lady Riveria... have I truly... oppressed you in such ways?"

"Not you specifically, Lefiya. But..."

Just hearing that one word, those 3 letters, was enough and Lefiya teared up, giving a deep and repenting bow to the green haired Alf Heiress. "Please forgive me! I never meant any harm! I am sure none of us ever did!"

Hunter stepped forward and placed his hands on his hips, standing only a few feet away from Riveria. "Didn't think she'd be this sincere about it. Sorry for making one of yours cry like that. But there are certain things I just cannot ignore, something I am sure everyone here understands in their own right." As he said that, Hunter recalled how Evilus' goons were mindlessly zealous about their beliefs and the extremely violent reactions they'd display whenever someone opposed them. Some of that zeal he saw in Lefiya's reverence for the Alfs, and he ruled her as one of the more reasonable ones, which made him quite angry over how volatile other elves might be. Hunter HATES zealotry regardless of what type it is.

The Nine Hells magician, which is Riveria's alias, nodded slowly. "Certainly, you could have expressed yourself softer, and maybe a less crude choice of words. But, ultimately, I have to admit you are right. How did you conclude such, though?"

Immediately, Hunter had flashbacks to his previous life, specifically during high school, where the culture of populars, bullies and losers was insanely dominant and ever-present. His memory further specified itself to the only person he befriended during high school, someone who was as clichee as it can be. Buff, popular, good looking guy, quarterback for the football team, good scores, all that. "I've seen it before, the way the expectations of others completely box someone in and convince them to voluntarily forfeit their freedoms in exchange for satisfying the demands of the outside masses. It's like an invisible chokehold and you can't even struggle against it for fear of being labeled a weirdo and being outcast as someone who doesn't abide by the rules of the many. I had a good friend who suffered from something like it. I forfeit the notion of status defining relationships because of him."

Hearing this gave Riveria a feeling she hadn't felt in a very long time. She often couldn't have normal interactions with people due to how much everyone reveres her status as the High Elf Princess, and she very frequently and almost habitually has to ask people to drop formalities, even with close friends like Eina Tulle, a half elf working for the Guild, and a family friend of Riveria. Having to almost order by royal decree to be treated more normally EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. was a frustrating experience Riveria felt like she could never escape from. Finn, Gareth and Loki were pretty much the only people who were more casual with her, and that was due to a combination of being long term friends, familia members who fought side by side many times, and the fact that early on Riveria was actually their underling and in a Familia, its own hierarchy comes before any social norms. That someone, anyone, outside of her small circle of Familia Executives was willing to treat her normally and not like a princess was a relief to her, and something that caused her to elevate her opinion on Hunter due to a mixture of gratitude and sub-conscious bias.

And Loki was subtly signing that not once has Hunter lied so far, so she could also trust him to not aim to exploit her royal status. All of this culminated into one ultimate outcome: Riveria wanted to establish a connection with Hunter. Regardless of what type of relationship it was, she would want for it. The semi-desperate need for simplicity, the curiosity, and what she would never admit out loud, her own romantic loneliness all swayed her decisionmaking towards one inevitable outcome.

With a small sigh, Riveria nodded. "Very well then. A date it is."

Finn and Gareth were fighting for dear life to not immediately rip jokes at her expense and tease her while everyone else was just flabbergasted. Never has anything like this occured before and minds were breaking left and right trying to understand it all. Well except Ais, she just tilted her head to the side in innocent confusion.

Riveria knew her familia members well, so she immediately fixed a glare that was downright demonic towards Finn, Gareth and Loki, a look that promised untold amounts of pain if they so much as made a single peep about it.

Hunter made a soft smile and gave a small nod. "Tomorrow at 18:00? I need a new fit and a residency so I'd like to take today and get my life situated."

The Alf Heiress nodded in approval and took a step back. "Tomorrow for dinner it is, then. I assume you are also aiming to answer further questions then, from me alone?"

The speedster showed a small but toothy grin. "That was part of my intention, yes. I would like not to stay here and be questioned the entire time. Again, I just got out of being holed in for 15 years, I'd like to have my newly found freedom and get to enjoy it some, so if possible, I will avoid spending too much time sitting here being outnumbered."

"That is perfectly understandable" Riveria agreed and turned towards her fellow Familia. "You heard him, I will bring more answers after tomorrow. Until then, patience." She commanded with a tone that left no room for negociating any part of this.

"in that case..." Hunter spoke and stretched his arms out a bit. "Airmid, I'd like to have my shirt back."

"But it's just a cheap rag!"

"Don't care, it's better than walking around topless and being fined for indecent exposure-" Hunter stopped abruptly and turned to Finn. "Indecent exposure is against the law here, right?"

Finn only silently nodded with a slightly confused look on his face.

Hunter returned his attention to Airmid and repeated himself. "It's better than walking around topless and being fined for indecent exposure. Now gimme."

Airmid complied and disappeared for a few seconds, before returning with a badly torn up white string of cloth that served as a shirt, barely. It was severely damaged, the sleeves were ripped open which revealed parts of his shoulders and torso and the hemm at the bottom was all but gone, leaving parts of Hunter's abs exposed.

"You JUST got out of imprisonment, how do you intend on affording new clothes and a residency?" Finn suddenly asked as he just recalled the speedsters' words.

"After I beat Valletta, I randsacked the hideout's reserves. Shakti did confiscate it temporarily, but she said I could keep the spoils as a reward for Valletta's capture. Apparently she's bad enough to have a bounty on her head. No complaints here"

A wordless, unsounded 'ah' came from Finn and he dropped the case after that as it made perfect sense. He would have done the exact same thing as Shakti.

"Well, thas it fer today, folks!" Loki spoke and walked over towards Finn. "We got what we wanted, so lets go back to Mia's, I ain't had enough booze yet!"

"Until Tomorrow, Hunter" Riveria commented before she, along with the rest of Loki Familia, turned around and departed.

And if anyone thinks that that was it for reactions, oh no. The moment they are at the Hostess and back at the Twilight Manor, all hell is going to break loose for the poor High Elf Princess.

As for Hunter... he had to remain until Shakti gave him his money, so he sat back down on the wooden chair Airmid provided him and waited with arms crossed.

SCENE CUT

Deep beneath the Pantheon, the building within which the Guild resides within and works from, was a secret room. A room occupied by a deity unlike others. Ouranos, or Uranus for those who prefer the original greek name, was the secret real boss of the Guild, but he couldn't affort to be involved with leadership beyond a very restricted minimum since he was busy keeping the Dungeon restricted with his divine prayers.

His eyes slowly opened as he felt a familiar presence with him. "Fels, my old friend, what have you brought me?"

The completely clad in black figure which's bodily features were completely hidden by a cloak, spoke in a tone that was too androgynous for anyone to determine his gender or identity. "A hideout from the Evilus remnant has been unveiled. It was an encampment center deep within Daedalus Street where Evilus was holding prisoners for torture and to brainwash them into membership. It was a breakout staged by some of the escapees, spearheaded by a young man named Hunter Thraune."

Ouranos remained unphased and stoic, thinking about the information for a moment before he was ready to answer, but Fels then added one more piece of information.

"He also defeated Valletta Grede."

Ouranos' eyes widen slightly. Valletta had been one of the oldest senior members of Evilus and someone who was at the very top of the ladder in criminal ranking. It is not exaggerated to say Valletta is amongst the top 5 worst criminals in Gekai's entire history. For her to be captured was nothing but a blessing for everyone in Orario. "Has he been compensated for her bounty?"

"In a fraction, yes. Ankusha is giving this man the Valis discovered in the hideout's treasury, but it is less than 1/30th of the total bounty by my estimate. Furthermore, I was able to successfully overhear parts of their conversation without being discovered. Hunter has no intentions of joining any Familia, but intents to continue his pursuit of Evilus in an autonomous cooperation with Loki Familia."

"Good, that means we have reason for getting in touch with him" Ouranos first noted, stroking his beard for a moment. "Fels, establish contact with Hunter, offer him the rest of the bounty with an enticement to be employed by us. If he can defeat Valletta, then he is a powerful asset, and his conviction for fighting Evilus is most likely personal, as such we must be able to steer his path lest we risk collateral damage and loss of innocent lives."

"As you will it, Lord Ouranos" Fels responded simply before he began to fade out of visibility, and just like that, he was gone from the room.

"Hunter Thraune..." Ouranos thought with an internal grunt. "I have a bad feeling about this entire thing..."