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    <03/26/1965 - 08:02 | Section 8, Eldora City, Junon, Sprawn Valley>


    Despite the beautiful sunrise weather of the sacred capital of Sprawn Valley, the gentle breezes dancing under the pretty sky wept with the collective sadness. Trapped inside the massive perimeter used by crime-scene investigators, Danton and many other associates held their breath with heavy grief.


    "Hm, no sign of laceration either. If there are any injuries on this one, they would have to be internal." Agent Milo of the sixth Pathology division finished up his examinations. The poor woman lying lifeless on the ground has been in this state for nearly twelve hours, with nobody noticing her death for so long.


    Tightening the grip on his mega-staff, Danton swallowed the grim news while hoping to figure more out. "How long has she been dead?"


    Milo replied, "Between eight to twelve hours. Hard to say for certain. Seems like the cause of death is some sort of internal failure, but until we perform an autopsy, we won''t know for certain."


    "So obscene!" Brock held his fingers to his forehead, drained by the same grim atmosphere dragging everyone else down. "How in the world does someone suddenly drop dead without a sound?"


    "I''m not so sure myself." Danton was only being real with his answer. It was only now as he and many others realized, that critical organ failure caused by complex poor health is never something the Leray veil is capable of assisting with. Be it a stroke, heart attack, or cancer, the veil is powerless to protect people from these natural causes of death... But she looks so young. The randomness of this moment is just too surreal.


    "I''ve located some of her belongings, including the supply sphere, and have already requested a decryption for the tool. Yuel Biion didn''t hide her license card inside the sphere, so we already have an idea on who she was."


    It doesn''t make this any easier, Danton thought. "Run a general search of her last name and see if any family members exist inside our boarders. We should also secure any other belongings from her residence, wherever it be registered."


    "I still can''t believe this could happen." Brock seemed hypnotized by the prospect before him, and Danton couldn''t feel too different.


    In Sprawn Valley, the young never have to carry the idea of death in their mind. Countless forms of damage from injuries and attack spells are deflected and mitigated by the veil, but even the healthiest and strongest of all could be slain by a blood clot. Milo already explained that the primary cause of death was non-traumatic asphyxiation; basically, her lungs stopped processing oxygen, likely due to a pulmonary embolism. The autopsy would need to be conducted to be fully certain, but the fact that this is possible even here, it''s as Brock said; obscene.


    Naturally, a few more people began showing up outside the outer edges of the police perimeter, curious about what could be the story here. The press would be most pestering once they realize what has happened, since deaths here are so rare and all. It doesn''t help that Yuel was a bit more popular with the masses than any average wielder.


    Zack, a wielder who was already tracked down and questioned about their previous combat had nothing incriminating to add, but it was an eye-opener of Yuel''s true capabilities as a magic wielder, and capabilities of becoming well-liked by the people here. This tragedy is not going to be forgotten anytime soon.


    "Just make sure to assist the transports once their people arrive. I''ve already requested for all normal operations to be suspended for the day." Danton was certain he would need to. Dealing with these situations is never easy, not that they are common in the first place. After preparing to leave the area, Danton, Brock, and another senior member of the tower almost made it towards the exit section of the perimeter, but they didn''t get the chance to leave yet.


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    Chapter Theme Shift: Ashsmoke ~ Nikke OST</a>


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    "Let us through!" Pushing past some of the curious folk and two of the agent guards, three unknown men entered, cornering Danton and his personal company.


    "Hold on now!" Danton blocked with his hand out to halt the intruders. "This is a restricted forensic zone. You can''t just—"


    Before Danton could finish his warning, the man walking up to him held up a large and impressive identification badge, with crimson metal letters emboldened at the center. He clearly recognized the acronym, silencing himself immediately while this agent took the floor. "I''m special agent Fraiser, and my partner behind me is special agent Tyrone. We''re with the Unit of Forensic Magic and Criminal Investigations, and have reason to visit your victim."


    Murmurs and whispered echoed out, proof of their stature. Even Danton was shocked stone still. "The FMCI." Everyone knows the phrase and the acronym, but the secret service themselves are one of the most mysterious in the entire nation. Unlike the standard Leray Agency and the council, almost all details and operation regarding the FMCI are highly classified, even from the rank of the champion. All Danton knew for certain, was that the FMCI operates in the restricted town of Cheyenne just south of Eldora, and that they only involve themselves in matters of national security risks, often involving foreign entities to the country. It certainly begs the question for what they are doing here!


    Agent Tyrone followed the procedure, explaining their situation here, confident in using a normal volume, as all FMCI agents use official aliases on all badges, through registered with the Cheyenne database for proper authorization. "When we caught wind of the situation here in Eldora, Fraiser and I considered this reason enough to get involved. The reason should be obvious, Sir Danton. That girl lying over there is too close to the perimeter of Eldora Tower. Even if most believe this death is not suspicious of any malicious foul play, we are required to follow up a proper investigation into the matter."


    "I understand." Danton kept his mind as calm as he could. FMCI agents are scary for a number of reasons. One interesting enigma is that the FMCI head office actually knows about the crystal core, enough to realize how dangerous any related information leak could be on its subject matter. Mage Sirus didn''t seem to understand how they knew, however. "The local team and I have already conducted an analysis. After checking your authorization status, we would be happy to hand those details over to you."


    "How disappointing," Fraiser spat, his mood foul. "You already touched the body? You have any idea how much evidence might be contaminated?"


    "Excuse me? The agents we put on the case are perfectly capable—"


    "Don''t make me laugh! You and the Leray Agency are too green to understand the weight of your unintentional tampering. I expected better of you, Brash Danton." Still, there should be more than enough to work with. "Champions playing detective. Give me a break. Larrs!" The third agent accompanying the two in silence approached, standing beside his superior.


    Larrs was an agent in training, so he was made to do most of the tedious work and tasks. "Give Agent Milo and Brash Danton our FRID chips. They have every right to scan them and confirm their validity with our agency. I want no further resistance."


    "Yes sir." Larrs did as he was told, though without much enthusiasm. It was a mystery as to why Fraiser was in such a mood today, though Tyrone''s indifference made it all seem the normal. After giving Danton the FRID chips for scanning, he returned to the area behind Tyrone, waiting for further instruction.


    In the meantime, Fraiser decided to get started with the body examination, while instructing Larrs to clear out the general vicinity of the populous surrounding the barrier. He waited to get inches close to Yuel before beginning his examination, as trained by proper FMCI agents.


    Agent Milo chimed in, trying to cut down the time and pettiness of this intrusion. "As far as what I''ve examined for myself here, the main cause of death was non-traumatic asphyxiation. Somehow, her oxygen supply was cut off for far too long." Tiny hints of detail supported his theory, such as the blue coloration of skin near the finger tips and small patches of her face. The lack of any physical damage to the external body means this is very unlikely to be a homicidal or accidental self-inflicted death.


    "I''m assuming you''ve already figured out her identity and located her external belongings?"


    "Yes sir."


    "Hm..." Fraiser couldn''t lash out at Milo; given the circumstances, all of this was being treated with perfect procedure and by the book, minus one little annoyance.


    "Everything checks out," he spoke while standing close to Fraiser, handing him back the FRID chips, though Fraiser didn''t take them back, pointing to Larrs for retrieval. Instead, Fraiser put on his gloves, poking and prodding at the corpse. "I know what you were thinking earlier, that being this close to the tower raises some concern, but we have no reason to believe that this death was inflicted with any intentional will."


    "Danton, was it? If you make the same suggestion to me one more time, I will ask you to leave the area. You''re bothering the investigation."


    "What? I''m only trying to help—"


    "You are a Leray wielder; champion or not, your pathology skill is laughably weak. I''ve already identified two specific variable details that you and your team failed to take into any consideration."


    "Oh, this outta be good. Enlighten me then." What a brat! How can a hotshot like Fraiser think he knows everything so soon?


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    "... Very well, I shall indulge. After all, a champion who doesn''t understand the stakes is useless as a tower guardian." Fraiser went out of order for a moment, collecting the small and dull crystal lying near the body, while exerting his own magical energy to bring up Yuel''s energy Scope. It was quite impressive, since revealing Yuel''s energy scope was supposed to be physically impossible given her deceased status. "Energy Scan Alpha-C engaged. Authorization code: PMX1C8-549. Commence full logging playback. Time-frame, twenty four hours."


    Though Danton meant to talk down to the arrogant agent, he was soon silenced by the amazing sight before him. Seeing a process he had never witnessed before, Danton watched as the energy scan of Yuel Biion came back to life, expanding in size to display additional lines and codes, codes which only Fraiser seemed to understand as he read it intensely.


    "How did you do that? What is all this?" Danton was dumbfounded, simply by the sheer fact that this unknown Energy Scope logging was a possibility to begin with.


    He must realize by now how useless he is to the rest of the investigation. Poor Danton, so far out of his league. "It''s called an Energy Scan Logging System. One of the few things Lawrence Citrin did right in his life was giving us a means to investigate and analyze the last few moments of anyone''s particular death, using the very same magic which failed to prevent that death."


    After having long enough of a silence to read the messages, Fraiser came to a swift conclusion about the massages. "This doesn''t seem to paint the full picture, but it shows us quite a lot."


    "What do the messages say?" Danton requested, having no choice but to suck up to the superior agent before him.


    "The logging stamps indicate that whatever happened to Yuel Biion, occurred between the time of 00:02 hundred hours and 00:13 hundred hours. Within only 11 minutes of some sort of conflict, she was killed."


    "K—killed? You''re scan can determine all of that?"


    "You fool, of course it can. Each log segment activates from the very moment MP energy is discharged, or HP energy is deducted without prior expectation. The log continues the same segment, separating and closing the segment upon full energy stat recycling by the veil. Only, the final logs indicate her energy did not cycle upwards, but downwards. Yuel Biion was exerting quite a bit of magic at random intervals right in this spot last night."


    "I don''t see how that proves she was murdered though. What if she was merely conducting standard training?"


    "With most of this data, training solo would be a realistic possibility, but there are numerous discrepancies which say otherwise. After unleashing a low-powered unknown spell, the logs indicate that Yuel activated her supply sphere link and brought out some kind of weapon. I''ll bet the unknown weapon is currently locked in the supply sphere. Not long after this, a code Green status of the energy scan was tripped."


    "Code Green?"


    "Yes. Code Orange 1 indicates all stats and health are normal. Code Red 1 indicates that Vital Drain or real time damage is inflicted. However, there is an area in between these values, referred to as Code Green, where the veil of protection suddenly suffers a partial connection error between the person of interest and their energy circuits. It''s usually indicative of a serious health issue which classifies as anything not related to real time damage. I surmise that, this is the moment where Yuel suddenly struggled to breathe, though it isn''t nearly enough to be fatal at the current state. Based on the wait timers between here and the moment of death, asphyxiation was certainly the cause, but it was slower than a standard death caused by a lack of oxygen, almost as if something trapped her inside a boxed room with no air."


    That''s incredible! FMCI agents can determine far more than Danton ever realized. Fraiser isn''t arrogant; he''s decades out of the league of other agents; that''s why he can have such an attitude. "I will apologize now for my previous insolence. I am most curious about what happened though, whatever indicating this wasn''t really a natural death."


    Finally, he realizes his place. "Between the Code Green and Code Black, Yuel was trying to use more and more magic at random, indicating one of two possibilities. She was either exerting light magic to get the attention of anyone nearby, which, arguably should have worked. The other possibility was that she could have been unleashing magic to break free from an unknown attacker. It is possible that someone exerted a kind of magic barrier around Yuel to deprive her of oxygen."


    "Is that even possible? That''s one hell of a jump to make." Even Brock was interested in this now, though it didn''t stop Fraiser from explaining it all.


    "Normally, the Leray veil ensures that every single form of magical barrier and shield allows most molecules vital to the human body in and out, so people can breathe and be affected by thermal sources too. However, we have concluded since a few years ago, that the porous properties of any shield can be altered to shut out all external sources of air and water, particularly by rejecting the rule of the veil mid-invocation. This process would of course be indicative of dark magic." It''s actually the perfect crime. The logging would have detected sustained injuries from dark magic, but not from suffocation by such indirect methods. It nearly had Danton fooled.


    "I get what you''re saying." It''s actually quite harrowing in itself; dark magic? Right outside of the tower? Why would Yuel have been targeted by such a spell? "But, I don''t see how this proves she was murdered. Where is that missing link?"


    "Right here." Fraiser held up his prize, the second and most important clue everyone here has overlooked.


    "An Escape Crystal?"


    "A most insignificant item on its own. Not just any person has such crystals, but I can easily confirm that it is genuine. Yuel must have been in a position granting her the right to carry one for emergency use. However, what do you see when you look at this glass?"


    Fraiser didn''t have to wait for Danton''s answer. It was already looking grim. "The crystal seems to have been discharged."


    "Precisely. All Teleportation Crystals and Escape Crystals are charged with Leray magic in its quartz-like storage before they are ever handed out to people. It would make no sense for people to walk around with a crystal that never underwent a charging cycle. However, when they are charged, they emit a very faint yet distinguishable amount of light. The fact that this crystal lacks its luster means, it was previously charged, but is now discharged."


    "I thought these crystals decay and crumble to dust when they get fully used like that."


    So Brock does have some sense. "Precisely. The fact of the matter is, this crystal is still in its perfect shape and form. Warping crystals disappear and fade away after they are used just once. However, this only happens as an unknown process during full teleportation, creating an expansion warp that essentially breaks the crystal apart by means of coordinate stretching. The only manner in which a crystal of this nature can be discharged and remain perfectly intact, is if magic entered the circuits of the crystal, yet failed to undergo proper teleportation. Since this is an Escape Crystal, the warp coordinates would not need to be imagined for it to properly work, and therefore, there should be no reason for why Yuel was unable to teleport with it, even if her mind was stressed."


    Danton and Brock were dead silent, while Tryone walked up to finish the explanation he already understood was unfolding. "Since it is clear that Yuel Biion activated her only Escape Crystal, yet failed to undergo teleportation by any standard, it means that her ability to make use of long-range teleportation was totally blocked and canceled."


    "You''re saying someone was out here last night, and they blocked Yuel''s only means of escape?"


    "There are very few methods which can be used to prevent a nearby person from teleporting away. Danton should already know of one; a Nullification Field, similar to the teleportation blocking field which coats the entire inside of Eldora Tower."


    No way! Danton couldn''t believe what he was hearing. There''s just no way Yuel was murdered by some dark-magic scum right outside the safest place here.


    "Indeed," Fraiser concluded. "A short-range nullification field blocked the use of Yuel''s one and only Escape Crystal. She didn''t realize this, since nullification fields are nearly impossible to detect in the first place. By trying to warp away, she discharged the crystal, and failed to leave, preventing the crystal from breaking or disappearing, since it had not undergone any stress from warping. Based on the timing of the logs, this was likely the very first thing she attempted to do."


    "Yuel realized that she was in danger, and likely tried to escape someone who wanted to see her dead. Whoever she ran into was powerful enough with dark magic, and intelligent enough to remove her life all in manners that would fool most agents into thinking she died of natural causes. The only reasons anyone would want to cover up a death like this, is so prevent information from leaking in the first place. I''m convinced that Yuel must have stumbled onto something dangerous, and before she could do anything with that information, someone trying to keep it a secret removed her life, hiding what evidence they could to forestall an illusion of data leak."


    Danton''s head was spinning with questions. The implications of Fraiser''s words were far more disturbing than anything he has had to deal with for more than three quiet years. "This is the first time I''ve ever heard or seen this person, so I''m not sure what information she could have come across."


    "Can you really be that stupid?" Now annoyed with Sir Danton, Fraiser glared at him with disdain, until Danton was forced to reconsider what he should have had on mind the moment this body was found. "You act as though this nation is fully free from all crime and peril, yet it was you who failed to capture the two rouge mages who caused such indecent three years ago."


    Holding his stomach, Danton denied it so. "Are they really involved in this though?" Kite. Gleeon. Was three years enough for you two to plan some kind of desperate espionage against us? Are they really responsible for this one death?


    "It isn''t possible to know that. Nevertheless, you should be wary. It may, for example, have something to do with the tower break-in two months prior."


    Danton didn''t ignore such a detail either, but the circumstances were different. Two months ago, two private mages infiltrated the 700^th floor of Eldora Tower undetected. To achieve this, they made use of rare symbological markings, imbuing these magic tattoos on their skin. The markings in question gave the mages the ability to render each other fully invisible for a higher length of time than any standard MoonShadow spell. With their random activation of the lift system however, it soon got them caught, and the tower was put on lockdown, forcing them to give up. They were later sent to prison and held there.


    There was also another similar incident about a year ago, where a lone mage infiltrated the tower without symbological markings, making full use of the Zero Zone spell. He managed to get all the way to the exterior vault room, the zone sealed with a metal door and an impressive credential checkpoint. How was he foiled? Simple. Sirus installed a very powerful device in the same vault room, one which renders the Zero Zone spell fully inert, preventing its invocation, which also saps all MP energy from the attempted user in an instant. A routine security check found the wielder, and the rest was history.


    For some time now, Kite and Gleeon have been recruiting some daring people to stress-test the security of Eldora Tower. They want to get inside of that core room, and they want to understand exactly how the conversion process works between Lunar magic and Leray magic. If they learn of this truth, then the only way to stop them would be to shut down the Leray veil forever, before those two can act on it. However, they''ve yet to achieve their infiltration into the tower... Was Yuel a victim of something related to this? Did she learn something about her killer''s plans to make another infiltration? It''s too risky to ignore, so extra security will have to monitor the area of the tower and the core room itself. Additionally, based on Fraiser''s own words, the man is totally convinced this was in fact a homicide. If the general public found out it was possible to kill inside Sprawn Valley without even leaving a trace of evidence, it would lead to mass mayhem!


    Damn it all! Fraiser is right. All this time, Danton has never located Kite or Gleeon, and from an invisible distance, they have proven to be so dangerous!


    "Sir Danton, you look pale. Are you alright?" Brock wasn''t sure what gave him such a grim expression, but he knew he would be here to support Danton in any time of need.


    It seems Danton does understand the weight of many possibilities. Maybe he isn''t such a fool after all. "Now that you seemed to have snapped out of your slumber, champion, I will finish up the rest here, and ensure forwarding of all relevant details back to Cheyenne."


    "Hold on just a sec. If you are taking over the whole investigation, wouldn''t that mean that we won''t learn of any new details?"


    "That''s kind of the point," he so sternly told him. "It''s not you I''m trying to protect the information from. Nevertheless, this has about a 40% chance of domestic terrorism written all over it. As I said before, it is likely an attempt to learn some secret regarding the tower or magic, an attempt gone a bit wrong, but an attempt made nevertheless. Do you realize what will happen if the public suddenly begins to suspect that Yuel was murdered?"


    "I do."


    "Then, you have a few more important tasks to handle. First, you''re going to have to carefully filter information which is released and to whom it is released to. I would suggest sticking with Agent Milo''s initial conclusion, that Yuel Biion suffered a very rare yet very possible stroke of the lungs, and perished before she could call for medical assistance under the cover of nightfall. As for what really went down, you must keep this a secret from any outsider, and allow the FMCI to conduct further investigation."


    So we get to lie to the people even more. "This job just gets better and better." Danton sighed in defeat, knowing he had no choice.


    "All must appear to be normal in only a few days, but you must come up with a better plan to locate any target of interest instigating this kind of violence. The people already know that dark magic can be used by criminals to kill. The fact that you openly admitted as much during part of your inauguration was a brilliant display, because people accepted this risk and are now wary of what kind of activity to report."


    Danton wasn''t sure whether to be flattered or offended. It wasn''t exactly something he was proud to share. "I feel like I''m trapped here. All I can do is beef up our defenses and conduct wild random searches for our most wanted."


    "Well, you did make a decision to keep this job when you became champion three years ago. To be honest, I thought you were going to resign your position the very day after Vanoss Highdrow was killed. And yet, here you are. It''s too late to complain about shouldering the responsibilities now. Even if you did step down and let someone replace you, we both know they would be grossly underqualified for the situation."


    "As if I don''t already know that." Even the loss of Vanoss was too much, but now we have another life lost, and this time with insufficient details to locate the killer. There is no way Gleeon or Kite did this directly; they would first get someone else''s hands dirty to hide their intentions. No matter how much time may pass however, Kite, Gleeon, all of you dark magic scum! You believe you''re going to turn Leray magic into your own play thing. I won''t let you.