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  Chapter 222 Part B6

  In a certain room for 'fae intelligence mage division' at the Fae citadel.

  In a surveilnce room for mages, a fae mage was currently in a circle with other mages casting their spells into a rge pool of still ice. The ice was so perfectly shaped that it was like a perfect mirror.

  And then one of the mages looking into the windows of time had a strange expression on his face. He read...

  [!#*#(*#*( ERROR CODE 23484398! iMPoSSIB@*- mOV--28339] detected.

  And the error code kept showing up and spreading. Then the other circle of mages members were seeing it also.

  [!#*#(*#*( ERROR CODE 23484398! iMPoSSIB@*- mOV--28339]

  "What...? What is this?! I've never seen a code like this. And I've literally seen every skill and magic spell in this world. What is this?" one of the oldest fae mages asked.

  "I don't know. It looks like its sayimg impossible move detected?" one of them guessed.

  "But only very powerful entities like dragons can do such a thing," someone said.

  "Dragons aren't the only ones that have done that. But its a short list," another mage spoke up.

  "Send word to 1 of the archmages. And to the 3rd prince. Ask them what to do," one of them said.

  The messenger began running as fast as he could. After he left the room one of the younger mages looked up.

  "Um, why is this a big deal? Do we have to do something about this? This should happen. New spells and skills happen all the time don't they?" he asked.

  "I'm terribly worried. I detected a very powerful entity near where that skill went off. Something very terrible has awoken. If we don't act soon... we could lose everything," the first counselor of the circle said.

  ...

  At another part of the citadel other intellgence operatives were working out something else. They were working on the recent sabotage of the fae leadership meeting with 'The General'.

  Agent A; "So... what do we know so far about the bombing? Don't say its sabotage. I know that. I need more than that. And we need to smash whoever did this!"

  Around him were a room full of operatives in bck suits. Though they looked like elves they weren't. They were fae, who had disctintive features very simir to them. And everyone had a half dozen magic screens open hanging in the air with their case notes. All of them around a rge huge table. Everyone was trying to analyze a ton of data at the same time.

  "We've confirmed that all 3 princes are alive. Although 1 of them has a burn on his hand and arm, from trying to protect his face when the bst went off. It was at that instant where the emergency teleportation procedure had gone off," Agent B told him.

  Sighs of relief went off around the room.

  "OK. And how many casualties are we up to from the bombing?" Agent A asked.

  "Remarkably its way less than it should be. We should have... well, uh... its so stressful to even work a case like this. So you'll have to forgive me if I seem rattled. Jeez, even my hands are still shaking from that," Agent F said.

  "You're OK Argentus. We know its hard. I understand. We've been there. This is hard to look at the pictures of such violence and death," Agent X tried to be comforting.

  "Well, what we know is that we think the explosive device was rushed. Normally they put more thought into it. In this case it was rushed when they usually pn it better. This means it could have been a LOT worse," Agent G said.

  "And? Tell me more."

  "The casualties are probably about 13 fae staffers. Even 1 death is horrible, but it could have been way worse. It the emergency transport spell triggers hadn't activated that the princes carry it would have probably have been 67 deaths including many high level members of our government," Agent G said.

  Lots of swearing and shock went off by the agents in the room. It took them a bit to settle them down. Many were very angry.

  "At least its good we have spell trigger people who know their stuff. Everyone sent the protection mage department a thank you today for being on top of things. That would have been bad if they hadn't been ready. We would have lost 3 princes too. It was only a few years ago that someone there reccomended that we need instant spell trigger casts on several defensive spells for high level government agents," Agent B said.

  Several nodded.

  "OK but back to the type of explosive devices. What makes you think that?" Agent A asked.

  This time Agent D spoke. "Well, in the past cases the demons used the purple ultra grade crystals when they'd make explosive devises. Kind of a shame really because the rest of the popution needs those for upgrading their magic. Anyway, that type have the most magic power in them. So if you uh... weaponize them," he dry heaved from stress, but caught himself. He hurriedly drank a gss of water. "Ah, sorry. Its just the pics from this bombing made me so sick..."

  "Go on. But please try to finish. Please. We need this information processed quickly," the head agent in the room, Agent A said.

  "Well... in prior crystal bombings where they weaponized mana crystals to overload if they had time to do it right they'd use the highest grade avaible. Always the purple css mana crystals," Agent D said.

  "They aren't purple css! That's the wrong name for them! I keep telling you..." One of the others got feisty and was anal about names but a nearby agent forced him to sit down and shut him up. That guy was kicked out of the meeting by 2 security guards.

  "We don't care about the name. Don't interrupt. This is important," he told the spoiled guy.

  "Like I was saying. This didn't have the puple crystals. It was... anything they had avaible. We found fragments for all grades of mana crystals. they'd hidden them in a compartment that had been modified after hours under the floor of the stage ptform, which is, err was hollow before it blew up. The whole damn stage was full of boxes and boxes of these weaponized mana crystals. I'm surprised we even have half the castle left with how many they had put in there. Just that they weren't the highest grade and that's what saved us from the worst possible scenario," Agent D said.

  "So it was rushed? What changed?" Agent A asked.

  "That part we're still figuring out. But we did discover a site where the demon cell sleeper team was lying low for several weeks looking for an opening. We think... no I mean we're sure that's where they were sheltered while they pnned out and prepared the attack," Agent K said.

  "Amazing. Seriously? How the hell did you even find it? We rarely find those because they hide so well," Agent A asked.

  "Well in this case they messed up. 2 children went missing in the same building. So people were pretty suspicious. And a tip was called in. It seems one of them was what we call an Gluttony Eater type. That means,... they have trouble restraining their apettites. It put them on the radar. Then when the city guards came they identified something unusual about the site and called us. We got lucky basically. If the wrong guard staff had gone to the site or if the tipster hadn't called in we'd have missed it entirely," someone said.

  "Unfortunately we're still combing the site. We'll know more in a few hours. It was only discovered this morning. Crime scene still has several teams collecting data."

  "This is amazing. We don't usually get finds like this," Someone said.

  Several nods.

  "In the past some of their sleeper cell hideouts they destroyed in case they were found. Looks like they got zy or sloppy this time," one said.

  "Or maybe something distracted them?" one agent thought aloud.

  "That seems more likely. They are usually careful. So maybe there's something in the recent news that caught their attention that caused them to rush this?"

  "That seems very likely."

  "I think this makes sense. This is coming together," one agent said.

  "I just hope it comes together fast enough that we can catch them and stop the next attack."

  Several angry comments there...

  Agent B, who was the assistant to the head leader Agent A, spoke up. "OK. Let's get back to that. Do we know how they got in? This city is supposed to be secure. Our gate detection enchants are very, very good. They shouldn't be able to just walk in here. But yet it looks like they did. Our allies are counting on us to protect them. And that's why they work for us. They want this pce to be safe. Really freaking safe," he beat the table hard by accident with a fist.

  "Uh sir, your going to mess up your suit," an aide quickly wiped up a wine caraffe that had been spilled by the table thumping. They ignored the aide.

  "Has anyone uh, tried to track where they bought the mana crystals from?" an agent asked.

  "We're trying to get an enchant tracker for that right now. But we already know these sleeper cells wear disguise magic all the time. A shopkeeper isn't going to be able to see through that. They aren't going to give us a positive ID because these guys are known to wear human illusion skins often," Agent F said.

  Several people swore in frustration.

  "We have to get these guys for this! We have to!" Agent A was angry and said. "You guys, better work around the clock. Pull an all nighter if you have to."

  The room felt cloudy now that they knew they couldn't go home. But some of them had expected this.

  "Sir..."

  "What?!" Agent A snapped.

  "Sorry to say this sir, but is it going to do any good to do an all nighter? When people are tired they can't think straight and don't give good data. When all you can do is pray you don't colpse on the job from exhaustion, you won't notice clues. Keeping everyone up all night will just make them slow," someone said.

  Several nodded in concern.

  Agent B, as the assistant to A hurriedly spoke up. "I believe what we're actually trying to say is that we know that the window between 24 hours to 48 hours after the incident is the most crucial for catching them before the demon cell team withdraws from our ability to grab them. When that window is over they'll already be in a demon city trying to get another job. That's why we're trying to push people to not go home yet. I'm sorry but we're working against the clock here. If we don't grab them soon they'll get away."

  Several people stiffened a bit. They were angry over people getting away.

  A hand raised in the back. "So do we know for sure about the status of 'The General'? Everyone is breathing down my neck asking about this. And he's ... he's our biggest defense and chance to fight off the demon siege."

  "I hate to tell you this. We've been trying to keep this from getting out. Keep this hushed up. If the demons can confirm this they'll be emboldened. This guy's name alone, just him being here was keeping people safe. Well... for the General's status..he's dead. And unfortunately he was probably the only one who had the Master Strategy pn that we'd kept secret all this time that is supposed to save us," Agent B said. Because he knew A would be too angry.

  Lots of swearing... and depression setting in.

  "If they know he's gone. The minute word gets out they'll empty their castles of troops to go against us," someone said.

  "So we lie. We say he's alive but just maybe injured?" someone suggested after a stifling silence.

  "We... I hate lying. But I don't see any other choice. We have to act like he's alive. Maybe, send a public statement through his staff to the public. Work up a deception campaign," one agent said.

  Agent A snapped his fingers. "Yes! Do that. But be careful. Make sure its doable. You might have to consult his wife. Bring in a very carefully selected team to manage that."

  "On it sir."

  "OK, now to switch modes a bit. How many people had access to the Master pn?" Agent A asked.

  "3 people. One was the King's chief advisor. The other the General, and the other was the Scarred Fae. But nobody even knows if she's alive anymore. She hasn't talked to any living fae in over 100 years. At least that we know of anyway. But nobody knows why. The advisor was poisoned 5 years ago and is in a medical mana coma sleep to just keep him alive. So... we're in serious trouble. Without that Master Pn we're in serious trouble," Agent B said.

  ...

  The room was really quiet.

  "So was the target of the bombing actually to get rid of the Master Pn then? We'd been operating under the assumption that the target was the 3 princes. But this could change the direction of the case entirely!" Agent D said.

  "SHit. He's right. The Master Pn... wow. I hadn't expected this. This is really dangerous. It puts us on really fragile ground. Plus The General was the only one who still knew how to call dragons. Him and the king anyway. It diminishes our combat power extensively," Agent B said aloud.

  "What did you say?!"

  "Oh my ____!"

  Lots of swearing.

  Just then another messenger came in the room. And then he whispered in Agent A's ears. Agent A stiffened a bit and then looked around. "OK. There's been a new development. A couple of new agents are coming in the room to brief us. We want to let them say what they need to. But nothing else that we've discussed already can be mentioned to them. NOTHING!" he said thickly to emphasize it.

  About a minute ter after everyone had put everything away, 2 more agents came in the room. These 2 fae looked a bit more stiff and inexperienced than the others. And very nervous.

  "OK. Agents please tell us what you've discovered," Agent B said.

  The new agent trembled a bit. Then fumbled his gsses. Then began speaking... "uh I work over in the uh... crime scene processing department. N-n-Nice to m-meet you all." He seemed pretty ft footed and... like he had zero social skills. The type that couldn't even talk to his own mom.

  His partner spoke up. He seems more confident. "What my friend is trying to get to is that when we found the house with the sleeper cell in it, one of them found some papers stashed in the toilet tank of the room."

  "The toilet tank? Why there?" someone asked.

  He shrugged. "Nobody looks in magic toilet tanks anymore I guess. Nobody would want to."

  "OK. Go on."

  "There was the name of a particur inn there. The name written on the paper was, [The Gss Rose Inn]. We believe it was a message to target someone at that inn. OR, that somehow someone staying there, has something to do with this case," the new agent said.

  "Could they have had another sleeper cell there?" someone asked.

  "No. Based on how it was drawn, it looked like a target to hit," someone said. "Along with the initials, N. But the N was drawn funny somehow with weird markings around it. But still clearly a modified N letter."

  "OK. Do you have the guest list for that INN?"

  "We're working on it. Someone is getting it now. This is so fresh we barely found this an hour ago. Its got so many moving parts that we just got what we could now," the reply came.

  "Well, you need to go back maybe 2 weeks or more for the guest lists at that inn," Agent B said.

  Several nods.

  "So they target someone at this inn, at the same time as the general and the Master pn were targeted? What's the connection? Was anyone at the inn a fae person? Or someone important?" Agent D asked.

  A finger snapped. "You are onto something. Yes. That makes sense. A fae person... or someone important."

  "We don't have the guest list. So how are we supposed to answer that?" someone asked.

  "True we don't have the guest list. But we'd know right away if there was a fae person staying there. That part at least we can figure out quickly," someone said.

  "OK. I see where you are going with this... anyone unusual at the inn?" someone asked.

  "Wait... wait... hold on. OH... I almost missed this," the young new nerdy fae is thinking aloud and his mouth fell open. "Wait. There wasn't any fae working at the inn or staying there."

  Several relieved sighs in the room.

  "But there IS, err I mean, was a new fae military secretary that was assigned to one of the people staying at that inn," he said.

  "A military secretary? That's an odd coincidence," someone said.

  "Uh... that's not a coincidence. There's no way it could be."

  "I agree."

  "So we need to identify this fae military secretary IMMEDIATELY. And I want to know every F---ING thing about them by this time yesterday!" Agent A said. "I also want to know who they work for. And what they are assigned to them for. Who is this secretary's new boss. And why are they connected to this case!"

  The meeting was adjourned. The agents are running like crazy in several directions with renewed energy now that they believe they have an understanding what had just happened with the fae bombing and some secret enemy that wasn't supposed to be in the citadel.