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[b]Midtown Manhattan[/b]

"Fufu...an incubus Mixed Blood? That boy has gotten himself wrapped up in an interesting case, it seems."

Having just received an interesting phone call, more than a thousand miles away from Millhaven, a woman in a black dress let out an amused smile.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/H18gnDw.png[/img]

Her age was in the fifties; however, one would not think so upon looking at the face concealed below a transparent veil that fell down from her hat. 

Of course, a youthful appearance was a rather simple matter for a magus. Especially one as skilled as this woman.

The woman's name was Kate Caroline Cascade, the head of one of the United States so-called 'New Mafia Family', the powerful factions of North America's criminal underworld that had risen to power due to embracing Mystery.

For the particular case of the Cascade Family, however, it was less of criminals embracing Mystery and more that a denizen of the world of Magecraft forcing itself into the criminal underworld of America.

Like many magi who found themselves in North America, the 'boonies' of the Western Magecraft World, Kate Caroline Cascade was a Clock Tower magus—reaching the high rank of 'Pride'—who had lost in the political battlefield that was the Clock Tower and was chased off to the United States. However, rather than merely content to try to continue her research in isolation or giving up altogether and becoming a spellcaster that make money off magecraft, Kate refused to 'back down' from the pursuit of the Root.

Instead, she used her magecraft to gain a foothold in the criminal underworld and formed the Cascade Family, and then, using the resources afforded by being the head of a large criminal family, furthered the thesis chosen by the Cascade Family to reach the Root.

"Is something the matter...?" A black-haired middle-aged man who was seated in front of Kate asked.

The man was called Tyler Grant, a rather well-known name in the financial sector for being the founder of Grant Capital, an investment company with a proven track record and hitherto unseen level of consistency in Wall Street.

An achievement that the company owed to the magus Kate Caroline Cascade. Through her magecraft, Kate had designed a ritual using blood to link Tyler with the members of the group, allowing him to create an investor group with full unity and no strife to exert great influence on the stock market

"Oh, no. Nothing at all. Just an acquaintance asking for a favour. Excuse me for a moment," Kate replied, before sending out a message to the head honcho of the Cascade Family operating in Millhaven.

Not long after, Lucas Anderson, a marine biologist who had just finished teaching a class at Pacific Crest College, found his mind going blank after receiving a weird message on his phone, as his body went on autopilot, driving his car not to his home, but to a location that Derald had requested him to go."

[b]New Covenant Christian Academy[/b]

About five minutes after Derald made the call, just as he finished telling the rest of his team regarding the 'hit', he had asked from Kate,  Derald received a message on Cipher.

It was not from his former boss, but an 'officer' in the Cascade Family, a man named Chris Campbell. In this case, unlike the typical officers of a crime family, the 'officers' of the Cascade Family meant magi deemed to be valuable enough by Kate to be elevated into the position of being her student.

'Target is on the way to the designated location under a compulsion from my internet magecraft. Should answer any question you ask truthfully. Show him the image I attached here to break the mesmerism-induced trance if needed.'

Along with the message was an image of what appeared to be some sort of Nordic runes.