“This really is her’s,” Kilik remarked as he looked at the handwriting of the notebook Yuki handed him. 

They were inside Sophie’s office in the Dragons of Gaea’s base. Yuki brought Kilik in and asked the others to wait outside. The contents of the notebook weren’t something she could share with anyone that wasn’t a dragon.

“Do you want me to read it all or is there a particular section that you need me to look at?” Kilik asked.

“Let me show you,” Yuki said. She took the notebook back and flipped the pages until it was on the section where Sophie began talking about the attacks. “Here. Read this and the next few pages.”

“Is that all or is there more you need to show me after this?”

“There’s more, but this is the most important, I think. It’ll give you an idea as to my motivations and why I’m asking for your help.”

“I see. Give me a moment.”

“Of course.”

Yuki waited quietly as Kilik began reading the pages that Sophie had written on, making small noises as he went over certain parts that interested him. She found out quite quickly that Kilik was a slow reader. He went at a pace of about five minutes per page. Sophie’s handwriting was very neat and Yuki knew that she didn’t crunch words together. 

‘I might be here for a while,’ she thought.

Halfway through, though, Kilik shut the notebook and placed it back on the table with a troubled expression. He stroked his chin and stared at the notebook for a moment.

“Done already?” Yuki asked.

“No. I don’t need to read further. You said you have other things to show me?” Kilik said.

“I do.”

“Then show me.”

---

 

“Before I let you in, can you take an oath?” Yuki asked Kilik. 

They were standing in a field outside the city of Fenrir. Akira and the others were with them.

“For secrecy?” Kilik said.

“Yes. I do not want the location of this place being revealed.”

“I understand,” he nodded. “I will never reveal the location of this place and whatever you are about to show me in any way. Is that satisfactory?”

“It should work,” Yuki said. She turned toward the field and clapped her hands together. “Open.”

The ground rumbled and a section lifted up to reveal a staircase that led straight down. The staircase was illuminated by lanterns that casted a dim glow and threw shadows everywhere. Yuki gestured toward Kilik to enter.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“Our base of operations,” Yuki replied. “At least, one of them. It was put out of commission for a bit after a little incident with the LIA, but with some persuasion and messing around, we cleared them out and reclaimed it.”

“I see. Is there anyone in there right now?” Kilik asked.

“I’m not certain. I was away for quite a while. Akira?” Yuki said.

“There will be a few,” she said. “They handle everyday operations. They won’t bother us.”

“Are any of them demons?” 

“There will likely be at least one that is.”

“Alright. Make sure that any demons don’t see me,” Kilik said. “I don’t want them spreading any rumors or making a fuss if they recognize me.”

“I understand,” Yuki nodded. “I’ll go down first then. Follow me.”

She began to descend, stepping down as quickly as she could. At the bottom, she saw Gatekeeper in his office, but no one else was around. Gatekeeper looked up at her and gave her a small nod and a smile before going back to work reading documents.

“There’s only one person here,” she said to Kilik who was following behind her. “He won’t recognize you.”

“Good. Are we going to your office?” he asked.

“No. The war room.”

She led him and the other down the hall to the room where members received briefings and mission details. When she stepped in, she clapped her hands and the lights turned on.

“Uriel,” Yuki said. “You there?”

A ball of holographic particles appeared in front of her and pulsed. 

“Welcome back, Boss,” Uriel replied. “You were gone for a while.”

“Got caught up in some things I didn’t mean to,”she said. “I brought a guest. You have a case file open on the Shikaku, right?”

“I do. You were the one that opened it,” Uriel said. “It’s been updated with some new info during the time you were away, so do you want me to start from there or summarize everything for the guest?”

“Summarize everything then the new parts.”

“You got it. Well, new person, what do you know about the Shikaku?” Uriel asked.

“The basics,” Kilik replied with an amused smile. “A dark guild with aims of gaining power. Tell me. What else should I know?”

“Boss,” Uriel said, “Is there a particular part of the case file you want me to talk about or all of it? Because if I have to do all of it, that’s going to take a long time.”

“Good point,” Yuki nodded. “Talk about their goals and actions in relation to demons. That’s the main reason I brought him here.”

“Alrighty. So the Shikaku and the Demons. It’s not a very good relationship,” Uriel said. “To put it short, the Shikaku despise demons and wish for them to be eradicated from the world for a few reasons.”

“That’s quite extreme,” Kilik frowned.

“Well that’s how they work. The main reason is because demons pose a risk to their plans of gathering power. If they can remove demons from the equation, then it makes their job a hundred times easier. This goes hand in hand with the embedded hatred they have for demons that began at their inception.”

“How so?” Kilik said.

“The founders of the Shikaku, we have found, are people who have fought in the Trinity War. They witnessed the trickery that demons can do. A look into their family trees suggests that their relatives fought in the Kienva War which, as you know, was against a demon. So that started the dislike for demons. 

“Now. What have they done because of this?” Uriel said. “I do not have records of anything up until a couple decades ago, so that is all I can give you at this time.”

“I have some more information that I’ll need to give you later,” Yuki interrupted. “Go on with the recent incidents though.”

“Got it. Well, recently Shikaku have been accelerating their movements and trying to expand their influence. Some of these movements involve eliminating threats to them and their power as well as recruiting people into their cause. This just so happens to be a great excuse to do what they really want with demons.”

Kilik stared at Uriel with a look of deep thought as she continued. 

“Though demons are banned from entering and living in Libra, many do still live here in secret. The Shikaku have been going around cities and towns gathering them up as they find them, arresting them and throwing them into private prisons with the approval of the local law enforcement.”

“Do you have proof of this?” Kilik asked, his voice low.

“Yes I do,” Uriel said cheerfully. She began projecting holographic screens with images of the prisons made of glass cubes that demons were being kept in, some of the cubes with demons still in them. “Here are some images of these prisons.”

More screens appeared that displayed documents that Uriel had obtained from hacking into communications between these prisons and Libra law enforcement. 

“Here is proof of the connections between these prisons and the Shikaku. The senders and recipients of these emails and the creators of these documents are all verified members. I can show that too if you want.”

“Later. What have some of the effects of these prisons been?” Kilik said. “Casualties?”

“Fatalities,” Uriel replied. “Many are kept there with minimum food and care if any at all. Demons don’t starve easily, so it takes a while for them to feel the full effects of starvation and thirst.”

“So they die of hunger and thirst later.”

“Some are outright killed from various accounts of those we’ve rescued,” Uriel added.

“I see.” He pressed his lips together and frowned. “Yuki. Can you give me some time alone? I want to read some of these documents if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t. We’ll be waiting outside,” Yuki said as she gestured at the others to go out. “Take as much time as you need.”

“Thank you.”

---

 

An hour later, the doors of the war room reopened and Kilik stepped out, the expression on his face grim as he looked at the ground. Yuki was sitting outside on a chair she had summoned from the earth. Akira, Erica, and Yuna were sitting on other seats she had made. They were chatting with each other until becoming silent as they waited for Kilik to speak.

“Have you decided, Kilik?” Yuki asked gently.

He looked up and locked eyes with Yuki, an anger in his eyes that Yuki hadn’t seen before. It felt palpable like cold steel.

“I need to talk to the council,” he said.