Finally, Face-to-Face with Great-Grandmother (Please Vote!)

While Evan and the others went their separate ways, two men examined a scene of devastation in the woods outside the city.

A middle-aged man and a younger man surveyed the wreckage on the ground with an air of ease.

The mist had yet to clear from the spring afternoon woods. Dappled sunlight fell across the earth trampled by a terrifying force, making the sight all the more shocking.

The younger man wore canvas clothes suited to exploring the forest. Black rubber boots covered his feet, with his trouser legs tied and tucked into them.

A deerstalker sat on his head, making him look like a seasoned adventurer.

The middle-aged man beside him wore a crisp three-piece suit beneath a cashmere overcoat.

With a fedora on his head and a pipe between his teeth, bluish-gray smoke curling from his lips, he looked more like a detective.

The younger man spoke first. "Team leader, Arkham really is a madman."

"Over something this minor, he attacked our people and announced it to the world."

"Isn't he afraid we'll retaliate!?"

The middle-aged man glanced around. "How much sense can you expect from someone who shows his hand in public?"

The younger man recalled the bizarre sight of Evan wiggling his backside back and forth during the Ritual in Sapp.

"But a fool like that has overcome so many powerful enemies. There must be something special backing him."

The middle-aged man puffed on his pipe twice, then bent over a deep footprint. He gently rubbed the edge of the hardened crust of mud with his fingertips.

"If I had to guess, the Ancestor behind him has given him some special protection."

The younger man's eyes lit up. "Have you received new information?"

The middle-aged man nodded and instinctively lowered his voice. "We've finished deciphering