After cleaning up the battlefield as best they could, Cate led her team back to the Immortal Realm. They had sealed the eye, and their mission was complete after gathering as much information about the pyramid as they could. Before they left, they set up a more powerful barrier around the ruins of the pyramid, making this place a restricted area under the control of the Avalon Society. Overall, this mission was a huge success. The eye they had sealed would be of great interest to the higher-ups of the society, and the team was sure to gain a lot of recognition and credit for this mission.
Back in the Immortal Realm, everything remained the same, but when the five people laid eyes on Avalon, they finally understood what this huge organization was all about. Hundreds of teams did the same things their team did. This meant that the Avalon Society had countless sources of information, and their knowledge about the world had to be truly immense. With all this information, one had to wonder what it was used for.
Back at headquarters, the team reported back to the director. Thabo had been waiting for the team to return for some time now, and he was pleased when he saw that all of them had survived. "I am glad that you made it back without suffering a single loss. You five must truly be a phenomenal team," Thabo quipped as Cate took her seat. After this mission, the team had grown closer, but they were still divided. Jordan and Albrecht still sat as far away from Cate as they could, while Mary and the Mage Born were very close to Cate. Still, the hostility between the members had decreased a little.
The briefing was very simple. Cate took charge and narrated everything that had happened with the pyramid. When she handed over the eye they had sealed and brought back for the society, Thabo almost jumped out of his seat. From the description of the power this eye possessed, Thabo understood that even the High King would be interested. Thabo said a few words before he left with the eye.
As Cate was about to leave as well, Jordan blocked her path and looked her in the eyes. "What happened to the second eye? I clearly remember there being two eyes inside the pyramid, but by the end, there was only one. Are we going to ignore this fact?" Jordan spoke with accusation in her voice. Cate looked at this young woman and smiled lovingly, as though the two were the closest of sisters. "I see that you still have not learned your place before me." Jordan subconsciously took a step back as her pupils dilated a little. Albrecht moved to back her up. Cate was now faced with two people instead of one.
"It seems that you two have allied losers," Mary said. Hahahahaa! Cate laughed at this. Even the Mage Born smiled a bit. "Each of you has lost to me in direct battle, and now you have decided that two losers can create something special. Something that can face me." Cate did not show any mercy with her wording. "Are you sure there were two eyes?" she asked. Jordan did not answer. "Have you forgotten that I was the only one who managed to fight off the illusion created by the eye?" Cate allowed Jordan to process this before she delivered her final blow. "Most of what you saw was an illusion until I risked my life to allow you to escape from the pyramid. After all this, you now have the guts to accuse me of something as petty as theft."
Cate took a step closer to Jordan, staring her down in a manner reminiscent of a human looking down at an ant. Her eyes were filled with swirling magical power that made her appear to be so insulted by the accusation that she would be willing to break the laws of society and cut Jordan down where she stood. The hall was filled with tension that could be cut with a knife. Jordan froze, but Albrecht was older and so more experienced about the ways of the world. "There is no way she can attack in this place. Even if she does, we are not so weak that she can kill us in an instant. There will be more than enough time for the Onyx Guards to intervene." With this thought in his mind, Albrecht was not at all intimidated by Cate's show. Still, he was convinced that there was no way Cate could have stolen one of the eyes right before their eyes. To seal the eye they had brought back for the society, the entire group had to cooperate since the eye was so powerful. There was no way for Cate to have sealed one of the eyes on her own and taken it away without any of them noticing anything. It was simply impossible.
Albrecht pulled Jordan back and bowed slightly towards Cate before he walked out of the hall with Jordan in tow. Cate laughed all this away as though it were a sick little joke thrown at her by a jealous half-sister. Cate first went to her assigned bungalow in the lower city, where she stayed for a few hours before silently moving to her mansion in the Higher City. The steward, Miss Rona, was already waiting at the front gate with the other servants. They bowed and greeted Cate most humbly. Cate nodded to acknowledge their greeting before she entered her home.
The first thing she did was to enter the secret vault that she had requested be built in the mansion by the Lost Hyde Bank. It was a state-of-the-art vault that was constructed using powerful space magic and protected by countless spells. This vault could only be entered by Cate and no one else. The moment she entered the vault, she locked the thick metal door behind her. Her left hand immediately exploded at this moment. It was as though she had been holding onto something truly impossible for a human to restrain. Her blood splattered all over the marble floor, and the second eye that had gone missing appeared in the giant space. She had stolen the second eye right before everyone's nose, and she did not have any regrets about it.