The Messenger of Death

Watching from the side and seeing all of this happen quickly, Lex didn't know what to think of the end of the projection.

Everyone had died, the professor destroyed his brain so even if he survives, he will be useless to whoever is in need of his knowledge.

Elena's existence became something else and the recording crystal broke into pieces as soon the formation Ashamm's subordinates made, was complete.

The space around them squeezed, the same way a frustrated person would squeeze a paper – the space squeezed and by the time it returned to its normal state, there was no one left at the scene.

['Well, that was… bathetic if I have to be honest.'] Al scoffed at the way everything ended. He was somewhat hoping to see a chance for him to get a bit of the information that the Professor had on the fusion pill.

But from what he had seen and deduced about the Professor, he could tell that he was a very smart man. The fact that he left his granddaughter sane and alive while giving himself a great disability meant that they wouldn't be able to get what they want from Elena.

In other words, the complete knowledge on how to successfully create a fused pill of alchemy and runes, without inviting a disastrous tribulation upon themselves, is lost. This was what made Al upset.

A small light lit the room that Lex was standing in. He looked up and saw that it was a faint light coming from a rune that was still active. This rune wasn't stable and its light started to flicker.

"That should be a reversed engineered rune that they used in the making of the recording crystal. It was intact after all these years but on the verge of destruction. No wonder the recordings were random. I think I activated the crystal somehow when I stepped into this part of the bunker." Lex muttered.

['It looks like it's about to meet its final end.'] Alex stated.

"Yeah," Lex agreed.

['Isn't there a way that we could get a bit of information on their research? I mean I know that they destroyed every information relating to the fusion of pills, there should still be other data about other researches that they made. Like the reverse-engineered rune alphabets that they made. If we can get that then at least it would be a place to start.'] Al said, not wanting to give up.

['Forget about it Al'] Alex felt like they had wasted too much time here. Their attention was drawn away by the fact that Shellie Sheldon was here before, and then the existence of the pill.

"I'll look around for a bit. If I do find anything like that, then good. If I don't, then we might have gained nothing by coming here." Lex interjected.

Knowing why Alex told Al to forget about it, Lex glanced at the time interface on the screen of the skin crawler. "I've been here for a little over 2 hours. Not much time was lost. Besides, the system still isn't able to locate the petal. Even if we rush everything, it would be pointless if the system can't locate the petal." Lex said to Alex.

['Do as you want.'] Alex replied.

['I have a feeling that the system not being able to locate the petal is due to external influence, and the only person that can do that should be Mr. Guardian. He might be affecting the energy, disrupting the flow of the QI coming from the petal, making it harder for the system to pinpoint the location.

He did say that it wasn't going to be easy, and besides, with the help of the skin crawler we are kind of cheating – not that I'm complaining, we should have it at the back of our mind that this petal might be very hard for us obtain.'] Xander said after lampooning for a while.

Xander out of all of them, even while watching the projection had been thinking of how the skin crawler could notice the Midas petal QI but unable to locate it. Even when it happened the first time in the Agelong forest, the system had an estimated time that it would take to locate the petal, however, at moment, it didn't.

['That is quite plausible.'] Understanding Xander's train of thought, Al concurred with his reasoning. ['So Lex, take your time in ransacking the lab for any information left.'] Al stated.

"Aye Aye Captain," Lex answered and started searching the labs for any useful information…

Meanwhile, on the other side of the bunker, the rest of the Seraphim team members, excluding Camron had just crossed the giant double doors that opened when they arrived in front of it.

"Gus, I thought you said that these doors don't open?" Drake looked at Gustavo as he questioned.

"Normally it wouldn't. I guess Alex really did find a way to get in." Gustavo frowned at the doors. They looked perfectly okay with no scratch on them.

'Alex said that he was going to burn it down right? But they don't look anything like a burnt door.' Gustavo reasoned.

"Let's go in" Katherine urged and went in. The whole place was dark, however, it wasn't an issue for Katherine. As a fire elemental user, she can always create her own source of light and she did just that. She made a fire as big as her palm and made levitate over her head ash went deeper into the darker side of the bunker.

"The air is so stuffy over." Drake covered his nose with the sleeve of his shirt.

"What do expect. Gus did say that this part of the bunker has been inaccessible for as long as he's been here. There hasn't been any type of ventilation here for years." Adrian said as he brought out a glowing crystal to further increase his range of sight in the dark walkway.

After walking for few minutes, they finally arrived at the first place the Lex encountered a projection. Unlike what Lex experienced and saw, they were opportune to see a projection there.

It was silent and devoid of any warmth.

"This side of the bunker looks as if it was used more than the other side," Emma commented on what she evaluated.

The chairs in the room were scattered, the tables had a few calculations and scribbles on them. These were the few things that Emma noticed and used to evaluate.

"Yeah, I wonder what they were doing here," Drake uttered as he went closer to the chair and picked one of them up.

"Hmm, it's still sturdy. This bunker might have been created 10-7 years ago. The furniture is still firm and usable. If it has been here any longer than that then it would mean that there are other people that know of the existence of this place and they come to change the furniture when they have time." Drake started his own evaluation of the place.

"This place looks like a lab, a research lab," Adrian said.

"Yeah, it does. One that both alchemists and runemasters could use." Gustavo recognized some of the runes that had been inscribed on some parts of the wall in the room.

After looking, they proceeded deeper into the bunker…

Lex had been going around the bunker, only utilizing the night vision feature of the skin crawler, he didn't want to ask it to scan for useful information. If he didn't that, he might have to cancel the search for the Midas petal temporarily. And doing that can make the system lose whatever progress it has made in the search, so Lex decided to walk around his spatial territory enveloping his surroundings.

This way it would be easier to locate things, even if they are hidden under debris or in-between cracks.

After searching for a while, he didn't come across anything useful and he was nearing the limit of his patience. Suddenly, he sensed a few people coming into his territory.

"The rest of the team are almost here, how did they get past the door?"

['More importantly, did they also see the projections?'] Alex wondered.

['Even if they did see it, it wouldn't matter. This place is in no way related to us, and also, they have no way of finding anything out that we don't already know.'] Al pointed out.

['Are you going to meet them or… do you want to switch?'] Alex asked.

Lex took in a deep breath, he was about to say that he going to confront the team. Although he was now able to be around Nana without feeling shy, Lex wasn't sure he could do the same with his teammates.

"I will meet with-"

"Hey guys, do you hear that?" Adrian's voice echoed and reached ears, making him jolt.

-Switch!

Out of nervousness Lex immediately switched with Al, instead of Alex.

As soon as Al realized that he was the one in control, a wicked smile appeared on his face.

He stood straight, bending his neck to the sides, releasing the tension there.

"Ah, Ladies and Fuckmen, I'm back. Hahaha!!"