"He can't make a move personally without the risk of breaking the unofficial treaty between them and the Saviors... but he will definitely send his dogs to get rid of our region like he did to Seraphis' region," the High Chancellor said solemnly. "Because his dogs aren't part of the Duskbound Order, he will deny it, and the Saviors will bow their heads and accept it to maintain world balance as long as possible."

"How bothersome..." Madam Ysara massaged her eyelids. "If only getting rid of his dogs outside the region's borders was an option... we could have hunted them down one by one."

"It is what it is... the Bishop is seeking just an excuse to break the treaty while having the upper hand. We can't hand it to him on a silver plate and damn our region," Hicham sighed.

Heliodor's Upper Echelon weren't idiots... they understood that the best opportunity to eliminate the Hound was by ambushing him while he was still trapped in Seraphis' dominion.

However, it wasn't as simple as it seemed.

Since the Blood Hunters Agency was the one invading Grave'Maw's territory, what the Hound did in the expedition would be spun as self-defense for the Bishop's assets... after all, Grave'Maw was one of his many pawns across the continent.

This meant, unless the Hound invaded their region and fought him inside the borders, they would never have the Saviors' or SAS Headquarters' support when dealing with the Bishop's wrath.

The High Chancellor and the rest of the Councilmen would never give the Bishop a proper excuse to invade their region with the strength of his Eternal Empire.

Seraphis had done so and paid the price dearly, finding no one on his side but the Morningstar family during the invasion... as for his region's guardians? They gave up on them without putting up a fight, using the excuse that he was the one aggravating the Bishop and his empire.

In simpler terms... it was all politics.

A game of sheep and coyotes, with everyone having to show that they were the sheep to avoid being dealt with as a coyote.

What happened to coyotes daring to invade farms to hunt the sheep? Shot on the spot.

"Sigh... this is the life of all the weak and decent regions... their citizens are considered nothing more than a breeding zone for livestock." Hicham smiled bitterly. "No one truly on our side... it's all about making a profit from us... the Saviors farm crystallized seeds with our efforts, with a false promise of protection, while the Eternal Empires allow us to exist to keep on reproducing and feed them our light. Once we try to step out of our 'roles', we get erased."

The High Chancellor and Madam Ysara went silent... they had already accepted their truth as much as they hated it.

They knew that they were living to survive as long as it took or until the day their planet was fully consumed by the Shadow Dimension... nothing more, nothing else.

The moment they tried to change their fate, both the Saviors and the Conquerors would make an example of them, just like the many other fallen regions across the world.

Just as the High Chancellor was about to comment, Madam Ysara received a dimensional message from one of the many scouts she had on her payroll across the world.

-The Hound has been spotted heading to the far east... he is nearing the borders of Peria's region.-

Madam Ysara frowned for a moment in confusion, and then it hit her... the only major thing happening to the far east of their region was the exploration of the Ancient Distorted Site!

"The Hound is heading to Sphinx's region," she reported swiftly to her peers.

Hearing this, both the High Chancellor and Hicham raised an eyebrow in surprise. They expected the Hound to return to his master's side, waiting for his next order. They didn't expect that the order was already given, and it was related to the Ancient Site.

"He doesn't know... the Bishop doesn't know that Dominic is supervising the exploration personally."

Hicham's eyes gleamed for a split second, realizing that the Bishop's source of vital classified information was killed cold after they got rid of Darius.

He was certain that he lacked the details because if he knew that Dominic was there, he wouldn't have dared to send the Hound... even when he had broken through the Blazewarden rank.

After all, Dominic was an Ecliptic Daywalker... the Hound had no chance against him.

"If you're thinking about having Dominic kill the Hound, don't get your hopes up," Madam Ysara uttered indifferently. "Dominic cares about nothing more than the world's stability and keeping this frail balance alive between the three factions... even if it means allowing the Hound to walk free."

"I know... but we are allowed to dream, right?" Hicham showed a weak smile.

None of them were worried about Levi and the rest, understanding that while Dominic wouldn't actively kill the Hound, he would most definitely end him if he dared to get close to the Ancient Site.

Sure, he cared about the world's stability, but within reason.

"I will update Feng Ling... meanwhile, call back your troops from overseas... we need all the manpower in our hands once the Bishop channels his anger on our region," the High Chancellor ordered calmly while stepping out of the medical chamber.

"What about Seraphis?" Hicham asked.

"Leave him to rest in peace... we will hold a funeral once the children return."

He said, shaking his head in helplessness, feeling like he was getting older by the second in this cruel world of theirs...

***

Meanwhile, inside the Ancient Distorted Site...

Levi was seen finishing up harvesting the most important organs of the Leviathan Phoenix in his dimensional wallets, having no clue about the turmoil happening on Earth.

"I have filled up four dimensional wallets already and this thing still keeps on giving..."

Levi wiped his sweaty forehead with his sleeve; a faint pleased smile was planted on his face.

"It was really a good decision to rent a few more dimensional wallets from Nocturn's Heart Market."

Although the High Council had given them a temporary three extra dimensional wallets for the sake of not running out of space when gathering treasures, Levi decided to add personal ones from the Boundless Expanse.

Since he wasn't sure if he would need them when he already had four dimensional wallets on hand, he decided to just rent them for a month... in this manner, he would have additional free space at a cheaper price than buying them.

He rented them for two thousand credits each... as for their purchase price? It ranged from twenty thousand credits to hundreds of thousands depending on the size of the pocket dimension within them.

Levi didn't think it was worth it to have so much free space at the moment when he was saving up money for his business and evolutions... especially when renting was an option.

After he filled them up to the brim with the Leviathan's materials, leaving it as a mangled corpse, sparing not even its unburnt feathers, he decided to stop and head back to the capital.

He summoned Vyra and swiftly took off in the direction of the capital... although he had added Arthur's name in the dimensional contract that served as the gate out of the site before separating from them, he still wasn't at ease leaving them on their own.

Ever since he read the letter, he had been trying his best to find answers to his questions but to no avail... this left a bad taste in his mouth, like something didn't add up about the whole situation.

Ashfall Plague, the Dawn Phoenix seeking the Glorious Evolution despite the risk involved for its people, the contamination lasting 'eons', and more... he felt like he was staring at a completed jigsaw puzzle, and yet the image didn't make much sense.

However, he believed that he was being a bit paranoid since no other evidence was presented to confirm his doubts... his rationality told him that the written history on paper was the closest to the truth when considering it aligned perfectly with the version they were told on Earth.

And yet... that uneasy feeling in his gut had never really gone away. He'd just pushed it aside to focus on the Leviathan Phoenix, but now that the fight was over and the work done... it came crawling back, stronger than before...

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