“But…” Camille stopped. Vincent was smiling. “What?” she asked.

“Judging by your thin long fingers, you should either be doing medicinal work... Ki enhanced surgery would suit you, or maybe you should be a leader. Just because you are quite and have more of an introspective personality doesn’t mean you should sit alone in a corner. Either follow your talent or follow your heart.”

Saying that, the bounty hunter got up. Camille did as well. He gently placed a hand on her right shoulder and removed the spell she was under. Immediately she regained control over her Ki. Without saying another word, he turned around and began walking away.

A moment where the young Sokidu could have attempted to strike came and went as quickly as a passing wind. By the time she came to terms with the bizarre fact that her captive had released her unharmed, he was already many paces away.

“Wait,” Camille said. “Hold on!”

The bounty hunter kept increasing his speed and was now running quite fast. She tried to follow him through the trees, but he was just too fast for her, getting farther and farther away. He lunged on to a large branch of a tree and looked back at her, then took a big leap forward to move out of the tree cover. The young spotter then saw a huge flash of lightning…

A thunder bolt smashed down upon the White Bolt!

It was Hugo…

He had evaded the spells and sharp senses of the bounty hunter and was able to surprise him.

Camille soon got to the 6 foot wide crater the blast had created. Vincent lay at the centre of it, Hugo standing at the edge.

“Let’s tie him up good,” the team leader said. Zaatsu Master Neil Baylis, his deputy in the squad, moved ahead and put the unconscious bounty hunter’s hands and legs in cuffs. He then tied a peculiar looking rope around both of his wrists.

Camille leaned closer to Hugo and asked, “What is that?”

“Enchanted ropes for limiting Ki charge and flow,” Hugo said then looked at her. “By the way, your job is to observe and analyse, spot, not to ask questions.” He then leaned in closer and, in a whisper, asked, “What happened in there?”

Camille shrugged and, in kind, replied, “Nothing much. Ella, Marcus, and me, we split up and I went in, and those guys were supposed to circle around and meet me or actually grab Vincent on the other end. But when I found him, he ran in the opposite direction. So, I chased him. Then he jumped out and you shot him.”

“You chased him?”

“Yeah,” she said with a nod, folded her arms, and looked away.

Hugo smiled. “Cami,” he said. “I know my little sister well enough to tell you that she cannot chase Vincent and live to tell that tale.”

Camille quickly looked over and asked, “Are you calling your little sister a weakling?”

“Oh, I know she’s not a weakling.”

“So? Are you calling her a liar?”

“Nope. I’m calling her a wonderful storyteller.”

“Go to hell!” Camille looked away once more.

Hugo grabbed her by the arm and took her to one side. “You need to start growing up!” he said. His expression had changed drastically. With a few lines on his forehead, he was grinding his teeth. “Everyone thinks that you get the recognition only because you are my little sister,” he added.

“So, don’t listen to them,” she replied, wide eyed.

“The problem, Cami, is that I think they might be right…”

“What?!”

“At this rate I’m going to have to drop you from the Zeta Squad.” And before Camille could respond, he said, “Get your act straight!” and walked away.

All the squad members soon gathered around the crater. “Can’t believe we actually caught him!” Marcus said with a grin, stroking his hair.

“How’d you get him this time, master?” asked Gina Hart, another Sokidu.

“He was drained,” Hugo slowly said, then moved closer and leaned down to look at Vincent. Grabbing his wrist, he checked his pulse. “His confidence let him down. He had fought squads from the Eye before and thought he could take us down as well. He was drained…”

“Is he alive?”

“Of course, he’s alive!” Neil exclaimed. “Why else would we put the Ki limiting ropes on him?”

“Relax, hot head,” Hugo said, addressing his aggressive, competitive younger stepbrother. “I had to check his vitals. A lightning blast is great for immobilizing opponents but, if it isn’t done right, it can disrupt the flow of Ki and seriously damage Ki networks within the body. And you can imagine how nice that would be, right? The electric charge can also dry blood creating clots all over. But…” he stood up. “This one’s doing just fine.”

“But he looks really pale,” Camille said. “I thought you killed him.”

“That’s the burnt outer layer of his skin.” The Zaatsu took a deep breath and then addressing everyone, said, “Alright guys! It’s been a long week. Let’s just call it a day. Gather around, form the circle, and let’s just get this guy back to the Palace.”

Thereafter, with Hugo in the middle, everyone stood inside a circle made of dust. With the rope tying the unconscious bounty hunter in his hand, the Zaatsu charged his Ki and smashed his fist on the ground, reciting the enchantment, “TILEMETAFORA-PORFARA-PETRICHOR!” teleporting them back to the Eye’s base of operations – The Regal Palace.

The Baikal-Lena Nature Reserve, located on the coast of Lake Baikal, was home to the Eye. The Regal Palace stood at the lake’s edge, with the City of Ayn extending behind it. A powerful enchantment around the premise had pushed it all to the far edges of the physical realm making it invisible and translucent. Anyone who would walk up would simply phase through it as if it was never there. There was only one way to enter: teleportation to the designated landing platform between the city and the palace. The spell would, however, only work for those who had already seen the place.

The Regal Palace served as the Eye’s strategic hub. It housed the leader of Eye, Seear’s office, hall of the Parliament, the Visionaries’ Court of Justice, and many other offices for high ranked officials, dignitaries, and decision makers. To its southeast stood the Nobles’ Academy of Martial Prowess, the chief academy of Martial Arts training where top masters trained and tested students. Next to it, the Mastooda al-Hikmah stood as the largest arcane library, and the fabled Atramentum, the world's most unbreakable prison.

Meanwhile, the City of Ayn, home to nearly 500,000 people, operated like any other city, except that 40,000 of its residents were Martial Artists training in the arts of Ki Manipulation, Magicism, and armed and unarmed Combat. The city also had its own police force, and its borders were guarded by the City Guard, or as they were once called – the ‘Hudhudan’.

Half past six in the morning the successful Zeta squad presented the criminal, the infamous bounty hunter known as the White Bolt, to the Seear, Renekom Mujin. He admired the group’s efforts and rewarded them with much praise.

The White Bolt was then taken and locked up in a holding cell inside the Atramentum. He was going to be tried at the court of justice in the presence of the council the next day.