Hikari: Rise Of The Weapons Master

"Who are you?" After waiting for five minutes, someone came at the door and looked at Zack and Emma.

The person was wearing a similar coat as the young master in the illusion loop. The drop of water gleamed at the chest as the person looked from Zack and Emma.

"We are here to investigate the kidnapping of Pearl Henson." The man's pupils shrank when he heard Zack's words.

"The capital knows about that?!" He blurted out in a shocked voice as Zack and Emma exchanged a look.

The man looked as though he didn't care about the kidnapping as much as the fact that the capital was aware of it.

"Can you step aside and let us enter? We have a lot of stuff to check so we should start early."

"No, you are not stepping inside until I get permission from-

Zack put his index finger on the man's forehead and used lightning sparks. He had been tired of all the things he had to do to become count and he was not going to wait for the Henson family's permission.

"You did well there. If they are involved in the kidnapping in any way, they would have gotten enough time to remove all the evidence."

"We are completing this sht tonight. I am getting tired of waiting for this." Zack muttered as he and Emma stepped inside the gates.

He tossed the man's body outside before locking the gates.

The inside of the castle was too dark for them to see so Zack summoned a small number of his blue flames to light up the place. After doing that, the duo was met with some sort of path that had stone walls on both the dies.

They slowly started moving inside while being cautious since they had no idea when a trap might spring up.

It took them a total of ten minutes to reach the end of the place as it opened up into a hall.

The hall had five different ways to go into and the duo were confused by that.

"We do rock paper scissors or what?" Emma asked while staring at the five ways. Since they had no idea of knowing which path was the correct one, they just had to choose one using their gut instinct.

"Let's play it for the middle path. If you win, we chose another path but if I win, we go down towards the middle path." Zack suggested as he and Emma played one round of the game.

Two minutes later, they were walking down the middle path which seemed to stretch on like the first one.

The stone walls on either side combined with the stone ceiling looked very weird. Instead of giving the impression of a house of the noble family, it looked like a very old-fashioned prison.

[ If someone told me that Pearl was being held here, I would easily believe them. ] Emma commented as they finally saw the end of the pathway a few meters away.

This time, they ended up in another hall-like room which had a huge table in the center of the place while having an intertwined staircase.

The room also had a rug on the floor yet it looked dirty. It was as though the place was either abandoned or not frequently used.

[ What did I say about horror movies? ]

[ Well, then we have the power of the plot here. After all, we are the ones experiencing it.] Zack then suddenly got a stupid yet brilliant idea inside his mind.

He raised his right hand towards the ceiling and used the blue flames.

The flames immediately caught the entire place on fire as the hall started burning. Despite that, no person appeared forward.

"Let's go ahead and check the bottom of this place."

Emma was about to ask what Zack meant by the bottom before she realized the meaning behind his words.

[ So if this is indeed a reference from some movie, then the real stuff should be hiding in the basement. And since I don't see any entrances… ]

"We make our own entrance." Zack then bent down and cut a huge portion of the rug using Eirias. He then placed his hands on the wooden floor below the rug before activating his blue flames.

"Let's go now." Five minutes later, there was a huge hole in the floor as zack and Emma went down the hole.

They appeared at what looked like a dungeon used to hold prisoners. However, all of the cells except one was empty.

And the person sitting in the remaining cell was a woman with light blue hair and eyes of the same color. The woman was Pearl Henson.

Zack and Emma exchanged a glance before going near the girl's cell.

"Who are you guys?" Pearl looked up at the two people who she had never seen before then.

"We are just here to take you to King Jonathan," Zack replied with a smile before his expression turned serious. "Please stand behind for now."

Pearl had no idea whether she was being played with or whether it was the truth. But if it was the truth, then she didn't want to risk being stuck.

'Uncle Jonathan, I hope these two are really people you sent. And if they are, I will never forget this.' Pearl thought before she moved to the other end of her cell.

Zack then melted the bars of the cells using his flames and gestured for Pearl to move forward.

[ And now, the big bad and the most stupid villain strikes. ] Emma and Zack waited for a few minutes for someone to come.

However, no one showed up for the next ten minutes.

Pearl was already beginning to doubt the duo as she expected them to be under a transformation and soon go "we were trolling you".

"Let's get out of here." Emma then grabbed Pearl's right hand before lifting the girl up.

"Eek!" Pearl was wearing a dirty knee-length dress but a dress nonetheless. However, Zack had already created another hole and had already climbed up.

He pulled Pearl up on the floor before extending a hand to Emma.

After the two women were safely standing beside him, the three of them dashed towards the way they had come from.

And ten minutes later, they exited the mansion along with Pearl Henson.