Chapter 399: Something Is Very Wrong With The Duskreavers

"Hmmm... I’m last, eh?" A brilliant smile gleamed in the dark, a row of golden teeth shining, a pair of pupils the brilliant shade of emerald piercing through the poorly lit hall.

Ministers draped in thick, luxurious Sultana garbs bowed before the Emperor of Heavenly Wealth.

His silhouette, barely visible in the dark, exuding a vague mystical feel, moved leaning forward.

"Tell me, have we gathered enough?" His voice rang light but landed heavy in the hearts of his subordinates.

"Not enough, my lord, we need two more days at the very least," the minister at the forefront of the bunch replied, his eyes glued to the marbled floors.

"I see... then I have no choice, I might be last but it will be grand," he declared, which was more of a promise than not.

His frame resting backwards, his gold teeth shimmering in the dark.

"Soon..."

...

Meanwhile, over in the west...

Cain had just dismissed Lara, after getting a firsthand, detailed report on what happened, or at least what she knew.

So far the cause behind Seth’s state and the other three remained elusive.

But they were recovering fine, especially Seth, whose vitality went into immediate eruption the moment he exited the range of the abyssal zone.

The physicians had already declared there was no need to put focus on his body, as it was recovering faster than even they could conceive.

Focusing back on the issue at hand, President Cain smirked, glancing at the series of glowing text before him.

’Another one so fast? These guys really are effective, eh?’ he thought with a squint.

Closing his eyes to embrace the new tether stringing into his soul, strengthening his connection to essence.

Boosting the effectiveness of the essence unit stat by several degrees.

Allowing even a progenitor to feel the essence manipulation boost.

He noted this benefit, they had to take as much advantage as possible.

He walked to his desk, on it a pile of folders, a detailed report on each survivor of the seven attack divisions.

While others might see survivors, Cain saw a tested and ready army.

These guys had faced the worst and come out alive, the weak had been filtered out and the survivors were extreme geniuses.

Each soldier boasting a might of at least the Noble grade, each equipped with high-end loot dropped from their kills, the defiled.

Their experience had honed their combat effectiveness to a scarily high level.

And though doing so made his chest ache, these were just children in his eyes.

As a leader, he had to mobilize these high-end assets once more.

He still planned on exterminating as many races as possible, by now the ancient races might already be catching up on what was happening.

Before things got harder and the enemy became more vigilant, it would be best to act now and fast.

He sighed, a weight settling on his chest, and rested his hands on the folders, head bowed slightly.

Guilt that these children had to shoulder so many burdens while their ancestors had their hands tied.

Sadly, while most races hardly had beings above the awakened rank, the humans had a lot of these.

And acting in a realm too fragile to bear their might was a bad idea, one that might result in the earth being deformed.

Aside from that they were also hiding from them...

The more those guys believed they were gone the better their chance when the time came.

He sighed, shaking his head to discard that train of thought, "Well, it wouldn’t hurt to give them a break for a week or two." He patted the folders.

He collapsed into his chair, his shoulders finally easing, assured that at the very least the war was going in the favour of the human race.

As long as they could get the ancient races to accept this outcome and allow this senseless conflict to come to an end.

But alas, he knew very well that it was easier said than done.

He couldn’t imagine those ancient idiots accepting their fates so easily. ℯℯ𝑙.

To achieve this, they would have to crush the ancient races’ egos, allow them to come to realize that this was a futile endeavor.

Once that happened they could take their next steps towards unification...

Just as he was thinking along this line, the landline by his desk rang.

His brows rose, he couldn’t even remember ever having to use this thing...

Who could be calling, he wondered as he picked up the phone and placed it to his ear.

"Who is this?" he asked curtly the moment the connection was established.

"Mr. President, pardon my means but this was the best I could do." A voice crackled over from the other end, a thick static hum disrupting the frequency of the voice.

The president’s brows furrowed and he understood instantly that this was a one-way communication.

This ability...

He pinned the feat to a memory of a special reconnaissance agent whose genetic skill granted him the ability to interact with radio waves and frequencies.

While the ability really was weak, it was said that the soldier’s deployment range was unreal.

If he remembered correctly, this soldier had been one of the group of agents deployed into the safe zones of the big three families.

To be their eyes and ears... the president’s train of thought had to come to a sudden halt as the voice called through once more.

"Mr President, I’m relaying this directly to you, because I believe this is serious! I don’t have much time, and all I can say is that there is something very wrong with the Duskreavers!"

"I repeat! Something is very wrong with the Dusk-" the voice cut off suddenly as other voices broke through the transmission.

"Hey you there! What are you doing?!" distant voices barked in the background while the speaker cursed.

"Shit!" With that the connection was abruptly cut, leaving President Cain staring at the receiver, the dead line humming in his ear.

Of all the things he could have thought would be on his table next, he never imagined the Duskreavers’ name reaching him...

"Strange..."

...

Meanwhile, in the lands once known as California...

In the safe zone headed by the Duskreavers, specifically in the patriarch’s mansion located in the Duskreaver estate.

Standing before the massive glass windows on the highest floor was none other than Liora Duskreaver.

The current matriarch of the family and Seth’s stepmother.

Ever since her husband had gone out of town, she had been the one filling the role of regent.

The doors behind her swung open, as two burly guards marched in hauling a bloodied captive...

"Let me go! Do you know who I am?!" the man screamed desperately, his voice cracking, his legs buckling in the guards’ grip.

If the president were here, he would have recognized the voice as the one that had just given him information over the phone a few moments ago.

Suddenly Liora turned around wearing a smile, one too strange, almost too wide even.

Her eyes clouded murky black, as her lips moved, "Now, I might not know who you are, but I do want to know what you do know..."

Her voice grew eerie as she walked closer to him, the darkness behind her eyes growing denser at each step.

The agent shivered, feeling a foreign force wash down on him, a force so repulsive and vile, his hairs stood on end, and sweat pooled.

’What the fuck have I gotten myself into!’