The Hunt Begins (Arc 3 Start!)

"From this day onward, a bounty shall be beset upon the two fugitives known as Lera Huten, and the Fourth Summoned one." The King announced as massive light projections of Lera's and Wu's faces are being drawn and copied onto countless posters. For their captures alive, the bounty hunters will be rewarded with fifty thousand Units for each. If they are captured dead, then the bounty will be halved.

Then, as the King waved his hand and his crowds of advisors and military personnel exited from the main hall of the palace, three sets of shadows emerged from the darkness behind.

The one standing on the leftmost end was a man filled with black piercings over his body and short red hair. His eyes are surrounded by dark lines, and his facial features twisted. He carried with him a crimson Book of Casts, and he snapped a finger, creating a small explosion that popped and lets off a cloud of smoke from his fingers, drawing the immediate attention of the King, "Very well done, my King!"
"You......when my generals return, you will all be executed on the spot!" The King said through gritted teeth when the massive muscular man towering over the middle shadow reached his long arms sideways and held onto the arm of the red-haired man.

"Tom Bom, the boss said not to tease the King too much......" Darl said with a slight smile before turning to face the King as his facial features wrapped into a fanatic laugh, "OR HE WILL LOSE HIS SHIT IN THE NEXT ASSEMBLY! HAHAHAHA!"
"Shut up Darl." Tom Bom knocked his hand aside, "If a King can reach his breaking point this early, then that King will have been a total failure from the beginning."
"That's maybe true, but it is not what we need right now." Jiyu, the man standing on the rightmost side. The bold man completely disfigured with scars said with his hands still in his pockets, "We will save it for later. Well done, my King. Your daughters are in good hands, and you won't have to worry......."

"Why......are you doing this to my kingdom......of what importance are those two......?!" The King asked.
"Of what importance?" Jiyu's eyebrows were raised, and he dashed across the room before slamming his right knee right into the chest of the King, crashing him into the back of his throne as his Serpent had already been manifested, "Did you read your history books, my King? Did you not see how with each arrival of the Saviors, the world enters into turmoil? If we let the piece of cursed Structure Cast do whatever it wanted, then are we not just repeating history?!"
"Liars!" The King shot back and spit into the face of Jiyu, "The portals only summons the saviors should the world be on the bounds of calamity, and it was YOUR actions that directly lead to the summoning.

Jiyu's facial expressions twitched, and lines of cold sweat drooled down the side of his face. He stilled his mind, trying not to relive the overwhelming fear and dread, and slammed his fist into the throne, missing the King by a hair.

"You are desperate, aren't you?" The King smiled, pushing Jiyu away, "You pissed off those from a higher place, and you are running out of options! Worse yet, you will all be dead when my Generals return!"
"I wouldn't worry about others if I were you." Jiyu said, his face enveloped by a shadow of anger, "I very much enjoyed the company of your elder daughter."
"The younger sister was great too," Darl said, as the King shook in place, his fist filled with rage yet body unwilling to make a move. He's all but a powerless king without those closest to him, and compared to the professional criminals, his basic levels of training amount to next to nothing.

Then, the trio walked past the throne before heading out.

However, Darl noticed Jiyu was uncharacteristically quiet as they walked out, and Tom Bom's muttering something to himself, utterly uninterested in Jiyu's problems.

Finally, Darl's curiosity overcame him, "Boss, what happened yesterday......"
Turning to face Darl, Jiyu revealed the depths of fear within his own eyes as well as the ultimatum they have received from the Regional Leader of PORA.

When the Inverted Questions was formed as the antithesis of the Pinnacle Research Institute, their goals were to reach the truth and secret behind the Portals of Through Space and Time by whatever means possible. Jiyu had come to quickly realize that despite the fact that each activation of the Portal and brought forth a Savior to save the world from an incoming disaster, one can say with near equal validity that the Portal itself may be the source of the disasters, and it's simply maintaining its relevance by cherry-picking those that may be able to wipe away the wrongs committed by the Portals doing.

He was the first one to suggest sentience of sort behind the portal's actions. Then, Jiyu ran through his set of experiments before things went south, and he was unable to fully test his theory of operation with regards to the Portals.

If this world is our world, why are we relying on outsiders to save it? Why are we letting the Portal select our future for us? Why can't we be the ones to take control?!

Darl and Tom Bom were from a family of demon hunters, and they are direct results of the aftermaths of the War of the Third Millennium. However, Darl instead blamed his family years of obsession with hunting demons on the existence of the Portals in the first place, and Tom Bom simply wanted a change of pace than to hunting historical relics in the Voidlands (See the World Anvil Map for more information).

Years after they have met and began to garner their influence within the undergrounds of the Kingdom of Varous, a mysterious organization referring to themselves as PORA reached out. Coming as a ghostly figure wearing a dark robe with a symbol of a bleeding flower over his chest, the contact simply left behind a single communication Cast and vanished into the air.

They offered to support the activities of the Inverted Questions, giving them not only financial support but also access to vast networks of mercenaries and combat forces. In exchange, they have given a mission to Jiyu.

One that he didn't complete by choice.

"Lunacy!" Jiyu slammed the clay pot that the Communication Cast was built onto into the ground, smashing it into countless pieces, "Destroy the Portal?! When we are this close to unlocking its secrets?!"

Then, Jiyu went ahead and tested his theories in practice. With his Serpent, he connected himself to the Tablet, all for Lera, the insolent little smug little girl to ruin everything. Before he can fully impose his will on the Portal and bring over someone that will align directly with his cause, she was able to activate the portal before he did, bringing over a normal-looking fella.

Worse yet, those useless Sonne Security forces couldn't even capture those two. And now, with every passing second, Jiyu feared retribution from PORA. Yesterday, retribution knocked on his door. Rising from the piles of smashed pottery, a shattered image of the Regional Leader, and the one he's supposed to report to.

"How poetic." He said with a deep and dark tone, "A shattered image, suitable for a shattered relationship."
"Please!" Jiyu dropped onto his knees, though to the Regional Leader, his image looked like a butcher had separated his body into various edible parts already, "Let me atone for my betrayal! I will still be of use to you! I have full control of the King, and can wield a kingdom's army for you!"

"That was your insurance policy." The Regional leader said, reaching a finger forward, "Yet, you only succeeded because we preoccupied those troublesome Generals. How are we to expect you from being able to do anything?!"

"Please!" Jiyu said, "I will hold the entire city hostage! I will do anything! Just tell me what I can do......!"

The Regional Leader let out an amused chuckle, and each of the laughs shook the ground underneath Jiyu's forehead.

"Kill them, and bring me proof. of their death and your usefulness." The Regional Leader said, reaching his hands forward, "Given your rather capable track record, you will not be the only group of being on the hunt. A TOKEN had also been offered for the killing of the Savior. Do with that information what you will."

When the image of the Regional Leader disappeared, the clay pot officially turned to dust, and that became the last communication that Jiyu will ever receive from PORA.

"A fucking what?!" Tom Bom spun and grabbed onto the collars of Jiyu as a pending explosion crackled with his hands. Darl moved immediately and pinched around the arms of Tom Bom like a vice grip, forcing him to let go of Jiyu, "A fucking Token?! We are as good as dead then!"

"No....." Jiyu shook his head, "I have thought this through. By putting out a set of bounties of our very own, we will have cluttered the field with noise. All we have to do is to watch closely over the most capable of hunters, and use their abilities to our advantage. Then, when they have found the whereabouts of those two......we will strike from the shadows again."

Tom Bom cracked a laugh, and his eyes looked as if they were no fire.
"Hah! So after betraying that group, you have decided that betraying all of the bounty hunters at their level is a good idea too?!"
"Not everyone that sought the Token are as capable as you think." Darl said calmly, "Plus, we were on the lists together. So....."
"Yeah.....fuck.....I get it." Tom Bom sighed, "My fucking luck man......"

The TOKEN, a specialized currency representing power, prestige, access, achievement, and far more for the society of High Humans, and yet to those outside of the High Human society, it is but an urban legend. It is said that the Holder of the Token will have their wish granted, no matter what wish it is, and they will join the list of other previous Token holder histories as legends.

Perhaps when I got the Token......they will think of me as a true daughter of the Vaughan family.....Then.....

Ver Fulgen awoke from her sleep as the Chariot carriage came to a halt just to the transportation hub in the outskirts of Sonne. Breathing in the fresh smells of flowers and plants, Ver stretched her arms before a pulsing pain from her right eye caused her to twitch. However, thanks to the eyepatch with still some herbal remnants infused, the pain quickly dies down.

She's a mature-looking girl with dark blonde hair, green eyes, and snow-white skin. Her beauty is apparent, and it immediately captured the glances from the farmers and workers nearby. She's rather tall for a girl, standing at around 5'9, or 175 cm with an hourglass figure filling up the simple outdoor clothing she's wearing. The only thing that's rather noticeable is a dark-brown leather eye patch covering her right eye, though most would be focusing on the curves of her body and the angelic features on her face.

A woman of her appearance, grace, and aura do not come over through to this part of town often. They usually have access to far more elegant and elaborate means of transport, and they wouldn't be carrying their own bag of personal items.....

"Just you wait......father....." Ver gritted her teeth and held onto a piece of Identity Cast, "I WILL make you look at me in the eye again....."