Chapter 140

Chapter 140

Victor put his phone away and looked at the still-unconscious Rowan, letting out a quiet sigh.

He took a pill from his pocket and carefully placed it in Rowan's mouth to counteract the sedative. Then he scooped her up in his arms and walked quickly out of the warehouse.

The scene inside was too bloody. He didn't want Rowan to see it.

After he got Rowan settled in the car, April called right on time.

"Lord Shura, got it. Black Sun Cult's headquarters is on an island in the Pacific called Black Sun Island. They've built a palace there called Five Star Palace. The waters around the island have abnormal magnetic fields — ships and planes go missing there all the time, and almost no one dares to go near it. Bottom line, Lord Shura, we should think this through carefully before we act."

Victor stared out the car window at the night, his eyes cold as a blade.

"Got it." He hung up.

He drove Rowan back to her apartment. Then he called in two King-level fighters from Shura Sanctum on an emergency basis to protect her in secret.

Once everything was in place, Victor was about to head for Black Sun Island to wipe out that so-called cult from the roots — when his phone rang unexpectedly. He glanced at the screen. It was someone he never would have expected.

Victor looked at the name and answered.

"Mr. Ashford? Is this Kaname?"

"Yeah, Kaname. What are you calling me for?"

He couldn't figure out what Kaname could possibly want.

"Lord Shura, I'm sorry to bother you, but I've got something urgent on my end. Please bear with me. Has Black Sun Cult been operating in Atlanta?"

Victor's eyes shifted slightly. The Japanese Knights Bureau had sharp intelligence — he'd barely finished killing those four envoys and they already had word of it.

"That's right." Victor didn't hide it. "They grabbed a friend of mine to try to force me to give up my power."

"And what happened to them?" Kaname asked urgently.

"I killed them." Victor said it like it was nothing.

There was a brief silence on the other end, then Kaname burst out laughing.

"Good riddance! Lord Shura, you've done our Bureau an enormous favor!"

Victor was puzzled. "What do you mean?"

Kaname stopped laughing and turned serious.

"Lord Shura, you may not know this. Those Black Sun Cult animals committed a horrific crime in Japan just a few days ago. They tortured and killed a member of a European royal family who was visiting our country. The methods were absolutely brutal, and it caused a massive international incident. Europe has been putting enormous pressure on us — our superiors gave us seven days to crack the case and bring the killers to justice. We've been struggling to track these people down, and then your news came through. It's like a gift from heaven!"

Then Kaname asked, "Mr. Ashford, I'm guessing you've already tracked down where Black Sun Cult is based, right? After they came after you like that, I can't believe you didn't look into it."

Now it made sense. Victor understood. Black Sun Cult had brought this on themselves by picking the wrong fight.

"I did. I know where their headquarters is. Shura Sanctum can't mobilize a large force for this — it would raise too many flags with other factions. I could take them out alone, but moving a large group across borders would draw attention. I need your Bureau's official cover. So how about we work together?"

Kaname paused, then lit up. "Absolutely, we'd love nothing more! We need to take down Black Sun Cult anyway. Just tell us — where's their headquarters?"

"Come to Atlanta tomorrow. Once you're here, I'll fill you in."

The next day at noon, Kaname called right on time.

"Mr. Ashford, we've arrived. If you're free, come to the Hilton. We can talk there."

"Sure." Victor hung up and headed straight to the hotel.

When Victor walked in, Kaname immediately gave a respectful knight's salute. Victor gave a slight nod, then his eyes moved to the middle-aged man standing behind Kaname.

He sized the man up quietly. The Knights Bureau didn't use formal martial rankings, but Kaname was strong enough to match him — at least on par with an upper-level Golden Immortal. This middle-aged man had a restrained, controlled presence. He wasn't quite at Kaname's level, but he was no less than a half-step Golden Immortal.

Noticing Victor's gaze, Kaname made the introduction. "Lord Shura, this is my colleague, Heiji Matsushita. He's one of the Eight-Merit Knights of the Japanese Knights Bureau, roughly equal to me in strength."

Heiji gave Victor a bow as well, his eyes scanning him up and down with obvious curiosity about the legendary "Shura."

"Good to meet you, Mr. Matsushita."

"Good to meet you, Lord Shura. I've heard a great deal about you. We have a lot of respect for people like you — at least you're willing to stand up for justice and what's right."

Victor smiled faintly. "Aren't you the same? Alright, let's skip the pleasantries and get to the point — Black Sun Cult's headquarters is on Black Sun Island."

Kaname went quiet.

"Lord Shura, are you sure their base is on Black Sun Island?"

Victor looked at him. "What's wrong?"

Kaname shook his head with a bitter smile. "Mr. Ashford, if that's the case, then our problem isn't how to destroy Black Sun Cult — it's how to get there in the first place."

"What?"

Kaname sighed and explained. "That place is surrounded by islands with complicated terrain. And stranger still, the magnetic fields in those waters are completely chaotic — like the Bermuda Triangle. Any modern ship or aircraft that gets close will lose navigation and communications, then disappear without explanation. Our Bureau's files are full of unsolved cases connected to that area."

Come to think of it, when April had found the location yesterday, she'd specifically said they needed to think it through and not rush in.

"Give me some examples. What kind of cases?"

Kaname sighed. "Take last year — a fishing vessel went out there and was never heard from again. The ship was called the M/V Eiryo Maru."

"That so-called ghost ship?" Victor frowned slightly. He'd heard about that incident. All twelve crew members died under horrific circumstances, and their bodies were never found.

Kaname nodded gravely. "That's the one. According to the ship's log, after they entered the waters near Black Sun Island, the crew kept responding to calls from their company. But no one could reach them. Eventually the ship ran out of fuel and just drifted. The log says they spotted seven or eight other vessels and desperately tried to signal for help — but those ships acted like they couldn't see them at all."

"What made it even more terrifying was this: during the investigation afterward, the ships mentioned in the log all confirmed they had encountered the M/V Eiryo Maru. But every single one of those crews swore that when they saw it, the ship was completely empty."