Lux and the others retreated out of Roy's territory as fast as their means could take them…

He had to order for his cavalry stationed at the borders to follow suit.

And instead of going straight back to their homes, they all gathered at a meeting point — a place where others from their alliance lay in wait.

At the peak of a mountain, at the outskirts of one of Lux's territories, a shabby-looking castle lay. Within one of its wide halls, six figures, allies, sat.

Noticing the presence of his incoming allies, one of the Lords spoke.

"Tsk! What took you guys so long?" A lazy, lanky, bald male scolded nonchalantly while picking his ears. He carried an unrestrained air and careless feel. He was known as Carion. One might almost doubt he was a Lord.

Bang!

The creaky doors were kicked open as bloodied and haggard figures stepped in, their expressions grim.

The six sat up in alarm, their eyes mostly glued to Lux at the front, dragging in Haron by the heels, the rest of the Lord's body scraping on the cold bare floors of the building.

"W-what happened to you all? Were you ambushed? Where's Alstera?" A lady clothed in flowing purple robes, her brows scrunched up in panicked worry. She was named Hera.

Lux's face was dark with shame and rage as he spat out a resentful reply.

"That bitch Alstera probably has history with the enemy. After engaging him for a bit, she left us for dead."

As he finished speaking, his teeth gnashed together in rage, veins bulging, eyes red with rancor.

The Lords seated frowned, but Hera still pressed.

"You still didn't reply how you guys ended up like this."

From behind, Larry was the one to speak up, seeing Lux too full of rage and shame to reply.

"Well… the Lord was way more dangerous than we assumed…"

Eyes widened.

"You… you're saying one man sent you guys scrambling? Did I hear right?" A child figure, a Lord looking probably around the age of 10–12, known as Gary, pointed his wide eyes filled with disbelief.

"Cough… cough. You don't get it. That guy… h-he was able to take down Haron in a blink, Lux too…" Larry further added, his tone hesitant as though he still refused the reality of what just happened.

Stunned gasps rang out, silence settling in the room for a few seconds as the injured figures of the Lords dragged themselves to their seats.

After pondering briefly, a man in glasses and long orange hair called Kaldion spoke, his hands clasped together before the bridge of his nose.

"Such a frightening figure cannot be left alone. Since we've antagonized him, I assume an alliance isn't in the picture."

Wincing, Merkan added:

"Actually, it's not only the guy that is a problem. His subordinates too are monstrous. Not only that, his territory seems to have access to modern ether-tech variations — guns, lasers, and most likely more."

The more Merkan spoke, the more the others realized how much of a threat this guy was.

"And also his land seems to have direct access to portal dungeons… I still can't fathom how that works. Oh, and he seems to have relations to those nine insufferable pricks." Lana completed.

Everyone went silent, lost in thought or worry, as the grim reality settled.

Their goal of amassing control over this continent — and maybe even overpowering one of the nine Supremes while at it — turned out to be getting more and more difficult.

Recently, unknown powerful Lords had been popping out of nowhere all over the continent, some so fearsome and mysterious they avoided crossing paths with them.

On Roy's matter, they'd had their eyes on him — more accurately his territory and Order — since his calamity two months ago.

They had assumed he locked himself in because he suffered a gruesome injury, one that wasn't easily healed.

And now, two months later, he opened his borders. They assumed he had just recovered, and then Lux requested their aid in attacking him.

They actually thought this would go easy. After all, their foe was locked out of progress for two months, meaning they were two months ahead of him when it came to progress.

Because of this, not all responded to the summon, thinking that such an easy prey wasn't worth their while… but it turned out otherwise.

This guy wasn't prey… instead they became prey the moment they trespassed.

A figure doused in darkness, his form indistinct, was known as Seth. He sighed heavily, his voice creepy like that of numerous people of various ages and genders speaking at once.

"This… this won't do. We can't keep getting setbacks like this. We have to do something. These guys… these Lords… we aren't any bit inferior to them. They are First-Class Order Bearers like us, yet…"

Finally, a man whose presence remained obscure — as though he didn't exist, yet he did. His presence was always forgotten unless he spoke, and even after that his existence still wandered out of the mind. He spoke, startling everyone to the realization that Gundalf was here and part of them.

"That can be handled… but what I'm worried about is Alstera. We all know that woman cares about nothing and would go to any length to get what she wants. Yet from what you said, Lux, it seemed for the first time since we knew her she backed out of something…"

Hera rolled her eyes.

"Okay Gundalf, we all know you have something for Alstera. Hearing about a possible rival got you worried, we know. But right now we should be more bothered about keeping our seats as the strongest."

Everyone nodded in agreement. What they needed most right now was stability.

Lux, who remained silent after his first spiteful blame, finally spoke, his eyes betraying his hunger — hunger for power, hunger for Domination.

"I say we move up our plan to explore mysterious spaces… It is said death and fortune come hand in hand. We have been complacent. We refused to take risks because we were drunk on power we didn't want to lose.

We wanted others to scout out paths for us to take. That is wrong.

I say we forge our own paths, devour all fortunes as ours. Death? Loss? That's fast on our heels either way, so what's there to lose."

They were all clear on the fact that their Orders and businesses were of the darkest of trades. They had too many enemies, and for a while those enemies were too weak to make them worried. But now…

Carion chuckled, his eyes brimming with interest.

"Finally someone that's speaking my language. I say we move quick!"

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