"Mind if you gives us more detail?" Almerich ask to the long haired man who lead the eight into a forest, which just calling them right after they had some fun in the beach.

"As I said, we're going to visit a temple." He repeat the same info that he already said before. Miguel, which was ahead of the nine (including Fahmir himself), shook his head again. "Let me explain to them in your place. Next time, do it by your own." His tone is gentle, yet contain discipline.

"As you can see, Balearic used to be part of Spain. While still does, this island is a sacred place thousand years ago. Old tradition still passed down secretly, and without much known, this island had a temple, which protect the whole archipelago. Keep it in balance."

He inhale as he keep advancing through the thick bushes. "However, power of the seal that protect the temple seems became weakened since this few years. If didn't solved quickly, the whole islands will collapsed." His speech leave the other eight, minus Fahmir, to be speechless. They thought that sometimes their boss is way too stiff, that he leave the details for later or didn't explain it unless it's very important. This one is however is unusually worse and it gain him the judgmental glare of his allies.

"And why you didn't explain that, Fahmir?" Melisa twist her tongue, get little sarcastic. "Sorry. I just got the whole detail now. At the moment I invited everyone, I just had a message related to the guardians of the temple and nothing much about the details of the mission." He tried to get an excuse, rolling his eyes somewhere else, avoiding eight great stare to his back. "You should at least explain us about the temple and all, you know that all along." Even Reynold complained. Fahmir couldn't come back with any reply anymore.

After few more minutes arguing, they finally come to a road. Well, still in a forest, but they was in the right road all the time. However this time, stone decorations seen along the roads. In the end of the road, two humanoid statue rest in the left and right side of the way, leading into an open area, finally.

The place was full of grasses, but some was trimmed and many trace of bonfire was there. In the middle lies an entrance to an underground cave, with pillars, tiled floors and walls. "So this is the temple?" Tybard ask as they observe around. Fahmir nod, and Ferdise lead them into the caverns.

Inside the temple, most wall was tiled and all floor was. The part that still natural cavern walls was engraved with paintings in prehistoric art style. After a long roads, they finally reach a large room with small lake and waterfall in the end. All the furniture crafted by stones, including the place where they would sit down. After all, temple is not a place for resting.

"This is it. Temple of Baal." Miguel look at the massive statue on the other side of the lake. "Baal? You mean a demon!?" Reynold asked Fahmir with worried tone, and Fahmir nod. "Well, that's where the name Balearic come from. But it might be different than the popular Baal in demonology. Baal also literally means "lord" in Semitic language, so Baal doesn't always a name for a the demon, but also worked as a honorific title. This one seems just a title. The demon itself is nameless, but usually just called Baal or El Diablo." Fahmir start explaining, and Miguel nod, approving his piece of information as accurate. He clear his throat before start his full explanation.

"Thousand years ago, this deity reign this island, and the local worshiped it. Well, until the Genseric of Vandals invaded the island." The group, including even Almerich and Reynold look at Miguel with confused face since they didn't recognized the name. Fahmir just shoo his hand, with face that told them that it's just a trivial detail. "It's just some history thing about Roman Empire and Eastern Germanic tribe. Don't mind it."

Miguel cough, alerting them that he would continue. "After that, the island fall to Belisarius of Byzantine Empire. The tribal tradition of the island slowly forgotten by the war and invasion. The island fall to different hands, such as the Umayyad Caliphate to the Swedish Viking. After Islamization by the Emirate of Córdoba, the tradition to worshiped Baal soon abandoned, and ultimately ended after the Muslim state shifted to Christian state. The crusade against Balearic, especially with strong Christian figure such as Pope Paschal II, fully erased the old tradition of the island, and left it only as legends. This where the trouble start..."

He's carried away by his uninterrupted, seemingly-endless history elaboration, and as he turn to the group, nearly everyone, unless Reynold, Fahmir, Almerich and Johan, had blank face as they unable to catch up with the intense historic lesson. Heck, Melisa can't even comprehend it from the start of the conversation, while Noir and Laya at least manage to catch the important points of the explanation. "Alright, please continue." Fahmir tried to resume the talk. Miguel nod.

"A deity called Baal, which probably different deity than the Baal that known worldwide, start to curse the island. We never know what the true name of this deity, but it's demonized by the crusaders as a demon. It continue until King James I of Aragon conquered Balearic. He known on the history book as King of Majorca. His son, James II, then somehow joined force with Pope Martin IV. Unknown to history, the pope send saints of to clean off the island from the influence of Baal, and soon, they manage to defeat the demon." Miguel finally end his rather-complex history flashback. The fact that it's not a well-known history only made it harder for the group to understand, and only Fahmir and Almerich manage to catch up with the whole thing.

Fahmir know his group is confused, so he tried to sums it on the easier way. "Let me resume it on the easy way... Balearic islands once owned by many hands, including the Byzantine empire to vikings. After the pope start coming, Baal then challenged and start to curse the land. Finally, under Pope Martin IV, the deity wiped. Got it?" He sums it shortly, and the group nod. "So, our problem is?" Noir put his hands up as if it's an actual class.

"Well, you see... The descendant of the saints continue to protect this temple in case Baal over returned again. The problem is that, it seems that the seal got weakened since the last century, and if anyone tried to resurrect Baal now, they probably could." Miguel explained their current problem, then it's Tybard's turn to ask. "Wait... Baal already defeated but still can be resurrected? Does that mean the deity still living?"

Fahmir shrug. "I'm not sure, but the deity still probably exist." Miguel then shook his head. "No, it's vanquished for sure, but the evil curse still remain. By using that remain, it's possible to resurrect Baal completely, though I'm not sure how."

Melisa tried to understand the situation, and by excluding the history facts, she at least catch the info about the deity. "So, we need to defeat this Baal demon?" She asked a simple, crucial question. "If possible, we should prevent it, but if it's too late, then we need to face it." Miguel answered.

Noir smirk. "Don't worry! We already defeated a powerful deity once!" The group nod, including Reynold, that seems to be quite proud by the fact that he's the one who finished off Bokrug few weeks ago. "This one is more like a pagan deity, or demon, rather than those eldritch deity that we faced before. We had enough data against the being, so surely this won't go wrong even if it did get resurrected."

The Mirages agree, and as the main problem already been discussed, everyone then took a break and rest on their own spot. "You said we need to prevent the resurrection, but do we know who we're against? Surely you didn't called us without any information, right?" Reynold go ahead questioning Miguel, and he nod. "It's still vague, but we had few candidate on who we would be against. Seems a certain group or family had goal to resurrect Baal for a yet unknown reason. There also few sect that still worshiped the deity, though they're inactive nowadays. Our biggest suspect is this mysterious family... And this man."

He take out something from his pocket and show it to the group. It's a photograph of blurry peoples passing down the street, and they all wore black hoods. One of them instead wore red hood, and what seems to be their leaders had a veil covering his lower face. Even though it's blurred, Noir and Almerich could recognize the two. "This can't be... Varain and Deva!?" Noir speak aloud, and everyone on the Mirage team know the name.

Miguel look at them, isn't expecting them to personally know the man. "You know the guy?" He asked, and Fahmir nod. "Not really, but they gave us trouble few times. Do you had any information about them?" Fahmir explained and ask back to his friend. Miguel shook his head, unfortunately.

"We just heard rumor about a shadowy organization that we never heard before. Seems they move on international scale, probably a big syndicate, but they're just so organized, so we had no clue about who they are and what their goal is. We're still not sure if they're involved in this, but we all know that they up to no good." Miguel sighed and take back the photograph.

"We already discuss the main issues, so we could discuss the rest later. The Baal's statue, where we are right now, is not the best place to talk. There is some room up there with better air where we could discuss our movement further as we rest." He lead the team back into the previous corridor, leading into another chamber. From there, they use the staircase to the second floor, and there many smaller rooms there to keep various items. Some seems to be just an unused furniture, book shelves, tables for discussion, and assorted weapons. Seems this where they keep the items that used against Baal long ago.

Miguel open the door in the end of the corridor, and inside presented larger room with large long table, few shelves and cabinet with various tools, two windows in left and right side of the room, few weapon stash, and dusty chairs. "For generations, the descendant of the saints discuss anything related to Baal in here. Sadly, after centuries, this place been abandoned and only occasionally visited every few years by the remaining of us."

"By "us", it means you're not the only descendant of the saints?" Johan curiously asked. "No, there are many, but we lost our track of lineage since many of the descendant either move away, or forgotten because they're not even aware by their own bloodline. There's only two descendant of the saints, other than me, that still active, and they should arrive here tonight." He exhale and take a period before he speak again. "So yes, there is only three guardians of Baal's temple for this generation. Surely it start to get forgotten." He then took some napkins from the cabinet and put a spell on them. They then levitate and move by their own, cleaning the tables and chairs effectively.

The group just look at his work in amazement. "Please take a seat." He smiled as he pull a chair for himself. "Do all descendant of saints can do that?" Noir still amazed and had the urge to ask, and it made Miguel chuckle. "No, of course. The saints is just like a crusader of the pope, and we didn't had any special power other than exorcism and holy blessing from the god, like a priest. I learn magic by my own will since it's useful and I'm interested on it." He sway his fingers and put the napkin back to the place before he dispell them.

Touched the table and sees that it's already clean enough, Miguel go to another room. "The other guardians of the temple will soon come. So, while we wait..." Rumbling sounds of kitchen utensil heard as he search for something, then pop back to the room with a teapot.

"Anyone want a tea?" He smiled.

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Catalonia, Barcelona, 17:34 PM

Dawn quickly creep away, and a man in black hood entered the forest. Up the hill, a large house is present. The place closed with huge gate, and inside, few sentries of guard is placed. The hooded man press the intercom and speak. "I'm here to speak with Mr. Ricardo Velazquez"

The gate soon opened by itself and the veiled one proceed walking. There are many sculptures on the road, and from the distance, a monument-like sculpture separate the road into four way; The road ahead go to a mansion-like building. The road to the left go to what seems to be a storage house, and the right one go to a smaller house-like building. The man go to the right.

On the front door, he doesn't even knock and go inside as if it's his own house. Many sculpture and antique can be seen, mostly an iron knight armor and numerous portrait of weapons filled the room's wall. He walk up the stair, goes into the right path, and keep going until he find the last door on the corridor. He knock shortly as he state his name before he opened the not-even-locked door. "Ricardo, It's Deva."

The room inside almost had no vacant space. There was two bookshelf, sculpture on each side of the room, portrait of either weapons, people, or scenery, then a very long, sturdy desk with numerous of papers, either books or document, and few actual weapons. There is a young man, around the late 20's, with thick, long brown leather coat, an unkempt brunette hair, and he was holding an old pistol to whoever just entered his room. As soon he recognize the guest, he put back his weapon. "Oh it's just you. What do you had for me this time?" He casually ask, not even bothered to apologize on pointing a gun to his guest, and the other man didn't care either.

"Still as busy as always, Ricardo. Found new weapon for your hobby?" Deva sweep around the messy room. His usually-empty eyes found nuisance seeing such deranged workplace. "Yes! This very old flintlock gun seems to be made around in 17th to 18th century, still fully functional, and I found it on Caribbean! Seems belong to a pirate on the era." He chuckle as he enthusiastically explained the history of his new toy. Deva show no interest on the gun, that he see as outdated and useless compared to modern firearm. Even if he did fired it on him when he entered the door, it won't be able to even scratch his Phantasm.... Though it's a different story if the man use his own Phantasm too. 

"Well I know it didn't interest you, so, go straight to the business, please." He put the gun aside and look at the veiled one. "The business is different than usual. It's not about assassination or other illegal performance you're usually in. It's about a weapon that you've been searching for long, but with a catch...." He pause and stare back at Ricardo. The younger one gave him a curious smirk. "Tell me both the weapon and the catch."

Deva exhale as he take out a pendant from his robe. "I assume you know well about Baal's temple in Balearic island? According to my calculation, it reach it's lowest peak soon. If we act quick, we could seize it before they able to renew the seal." Ricardo observe the slowly-glowing pendant. It seems to somewhat react to Baal's status.

"I guess that's the catch, since it's not related to the interest, and I could help you or not, depend on my reward. The weapon please?" He lightheartedly reply with no care regarding the information about the temple.

Deva extend his right hand to unleash his shadow tendril and take out few books from the bookshelf. "It's still relate to Baal. If you know about the ritual, about who had the deal and who sealed the deity, then you know about the weapons used on the ritual too, right?" His word pique Ricardo as he sharply dilate his eyes in both disbelief and hint of excitement.

"W...Wait wait.... Do.... Do you mean...." He stuttered, clearly show that he does care or greatly interest on the subject. Deva smirked, he know he would be interested. He grab the books and flip all the pages until he found what he searched for. "Decades ago, Balearic welcomed many historical figure... From the Byzantine invasion to the reign of King of Majorca... However once the pope come, Baal then soon get defeated. It's not a written in historical textbook, but you know that the sword that been used to vanquished Baal come from James II of Majorca, right?"

The veiled one approached the other man and put the book on the desk. Ricardo were still staring hopefully at Deva with a wide, excited smile.

"If you help me, then the Sword of Aragon will be yours."

That one sentence blow off the younger man as he grin wide ecstatically, then throw his head back to his seat and brush his face. "Yes... I want it... I'll do anything for that! I'll do any of your command!" He lean back to the black-veiled one.

"Does that means you'll lend me a hand on capturing Baal's temple?" Deva smirked back behind his veil. If he want, he could manipulate the man to do it... But they both a partner in crime, and both are from a dangerous fraction. They don't want to mess with each other.

"Yes, yes..." Ricardo stand up as the sunset light illuminate his figure from behind. "I, Ricardo Velazquez, will give you the full support from Velazquez family."

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Author's Note

Been few weeks since the last chapter, and I'm sorry for that. Lately I had so many new ideas coming and I'm not inspired enough to work on my older story. Well, being moody is fine by me since for me, inspiration is not something you can force by using schedule and all the jazz.

Anyway, yes, you can see how complicated this arc is. No wonder I need so many months of research just to cover the information, names, plot, and everything about it. Not only many characters involved, the backstory also really important on this one, so I need to dig deep to Balearic and Spain's history, which is pretty hard and confusing since it's not a well-known history section.

I don't know when the next chapter will be ready, but hopefully soon. Thanks for all the patience. :3