"What… What did you say?"
"We just received word from the Shaolin Temple… Saint Suhavis has… perished to the Black Masks..."
"Saint Suhavis… was killed?!" Raphael couldn't believe his ears. His eyes looked like they were about to pop out from their sockets and stain the ebony desk that he so favoured. It was one of those moments that one could read something, but couldn't believe its contents.
The Alliance Head dropped down on his chair and scratched his chin nervously. A Spirit Saint had died to the Black Masks… In a war, it was natural that some top executives would perish to the enemy. After all, it was best to target the strongest assets before they could ever pose a threat. However, attacking a Spirit Saint was completely unfathomable, let alone killing one,
A Spirit Saint was a Spirit User that had climbed their way to the apex of the cultivation world. They had years of experience, fought through thousands of battles, seen the change of eras… Everything. They were the undisputed kings of the earth, and everyone had to bow in reverence to their aura. Emperors? Prime Ministers? Chancellors? They were nothing compared to the Spirit Saints that stood high above on their lofty thrones.
The vast majority of Spirit Saints usually try to recluse themselves from the affairs of the mortal world, as they had the highest chance out of any other cultivator to gain immortality. It would take a miracle to bring them out from their seclusion and force them to interfere with the woes of mere mortals. Therefore, ever since the end of the warring age, Spirit Saints would never fall in battle.
Until now, that is…
"When did this happen?! Since when did the Nine Noble Beasts of the Black Masks emerge?!" Raphael blurted out questions that his informant could never answer.
"S-sorry… I don't know..."
"N-no… I shouldn't be raising my voice at you..." The Alliance Head held his fist up to his forehead, trying his best to hold back his rage. A Spirit Saint had died! And it wasn't just any Spirit Saint, it was Saint Suhavis of the Shaolin Sect! They were the most respected organisation in the world with millions of the population relying on their temples for prayers.
'As the Alliance Head, I was supposed to take care of the Black Masks before anything could happen to the mainland… Yet, we've lost one of our fourteen Spirit Saints...' Raphael continued to hold his head, frustrated that he'd failed in his most crucial task.
'No, to kill a Spirit Saint… This goes beyond the war… We can't just let the Black Masks assassinate all of our most valuable assets.'
The Alliance Head quickly moved to his corner desk and took some papers out. Dabbing his fountain pen in some ink, the red-haired man quietly breathed: "Call Maroc and Joanne over! Tell them to bring in as many Cikai Mirrors as they can hold! Also, don't tell anyone else!"
"W-why?"
Raphael bit his lower lip, his eyes trembling with every passing second. Was it with anger? Or was it with anticipation? Raphael didn't know. However, what he did know, was that his next words would soon be etched into the history books for all to read about...
"We… will have to gather all of the Spirit Saints."
❖❖❖
The Neutral Lands. The New Land Of Dreams. High Chambers. Five Days Later.
A bright sunny day… That was what graced the New Land of Dreams, a place where despair had spread many moons ago. The reason why the Alliance had placed their headquarters in an area that was utterly decimated by the Black Masks, was to bring a new breath to the godforsaken place. To watch the sunrise and see… That humanity won't be beaten down by the Allfather's evil. Raphael, Shin, and many of the Alliance members loved to see the sunrise in the New Land of Dreams. It was a beacon of hope that illuminated the entire planet…
Yet, no one was smiling on this radiant day.
The Alliance Halls were emptied out. The bustling sounds of footsteps and the sonorous shouts were nowhere to be found. If not for the lights being on, the uninitiated would have thought that the Alliance Headquarters had been completely abandoned.
Naturally, that was far from the case…
"Are they all here?" Raphael asked a bespectacled lanky man.
"Yes, they're all in the chambers waiting for your arrival." Maroc quickly gave his superior a quick bow. However, if one sifted through his eyes, they would see a tinge of excitement and pure jubilation within. History was being made right behind that door, and the man was about to witness it unravel right before his very eyes.
"Good…" Truthfully, Raphael felt the same way. As the Alliance Head, he'd witnessed many things throughout the years. Even during his days leading the Healer's Association, Raphael wasn't one to just slouch behind the desk. The experiences that he had were vast and incomparable, but even he couldn't help but feel amazed at the situation.
Raphael's heart was beating at a thousand beats per minute, and his face was completely flushed. He was about to be the moderator for one of history's most exciting events, so how could he not be thrilled. Though, he would prefer if the circumstances were a little less tragic.
"Let's enter..." Taking a deep breath, Raphael left his trusted subordinate behind and pushed open the familiar doors.
Even though the Raphael had been in the High Chambers many times before, the doors felt exponentially heavier. Nothing had really changed. The material was the same, the chairs were all in the same place, and even the oval table remained with the same exact sheen as it did a day ago.
Yet, at that moment, Raphael felt like he had just entered into another dimension. Why?
Because of the thirteen individuals seated there.
"About time you entered," one voice scoffed the Alliance Head's late arrival. Raphael turned to the source, only to see an emerald-haired, sharp-nosed woman. She was donned in bright green attire, with gorgeous pearls hanging from her ear-piercings.
"Saint Shenshe, I'm sorry to keep you waiting. Please forgive me..." Raphael didn't even think twice before bowing. If the woman wanted to, she could easily kill the man within seconds, and there was nothing that Raphael's healing arts could do to save him.
"Zemin, behave. The Alliance Head should be the last one to arrive. After all, he's the moderator." A muscular man stopped the green-robed woman from venomously targetting Raphael. He was extremely casual with the Spirit Saint that was widely feared around the world, and could even touch her skin as he pleased. Evidently, that man wasn't just a heap of muscles.
"Hmph! Whatever..." Shenshe Zemin snorted before dropping her elbows down on the table. To be honest, it wasn't just Jingyu Han's intervention that helped her pull her punches, but it was also the stares that the other individuals were shooting at her.
Normally, she would snipe down any mortal that dared to look at her the wrong way. However, the men and women in the room weren't just mere mortals.
"Thank you," Raphael raised his head up and quickly shifted his feet towards the moderator's chair. "Now, I shan't waste any of your precious time. Let's just get into today's agenda immediately. The Shaolin Sect's Spirit Saint, Saint Suhavis…"
"WE KNOW THAT!!!" All of a sudden, a mighty voice boomed across the room, silencing Raphael.
A brawny man, one with a face full of beard and battle scars that told a million stories, slammed his massive fist on the table. His brown hair was tied up into a bun, and the strands on his arms stood erect in pure anger. Facing the man's wrath, Raphael couldn't help but swallow a big mouthful.
"Tell me… Who are the fuckers who killed Suhavis! I'll go deal with them myself!!!"
"Saint Temujin Khan… We didn't call you here today to send you to battle, but..."
"NO BATTLE?!" The burly man instantly got to his feet and glared right at the Alliance head. "So are you going to tell us to sit here and accept a defeat?! You called us here to be pussies?! I'm here to avenge my fellow Saint from the Kori Federation, so who are you to stop me, brat?!"
"Saint Temujin, I..."
"YOU WHAT?!"
Almost instantly, the conversation got to a heated start. Due to the circumstances, Raphael hadn't had the opportunity to relay all of the information he had to the Spirit Saints gathered, leading Saint Temujin Khan to misunderstand his intentions. Against the wrath of a Spirit Saint, there was little that Raphael could do. Fortunately, he had a trusted ally on his side.
"Sit, Temujin. We didn't come all this way to have you throw away the Kori Federation's pride." Saint Geom, who was seated by Temujin's side, calmed the man down.
"Geom, are you going to let this brat tell us what to do?! Suhavis, that old geezer, had been killed! Don't you want to enact justice?!"
"I do! But this is neither the time nor the place!" Saint Geom shouted back. "Stay your hand, Temujin. Let's hear what Raphael has to say first..."
"Tsk..." Clicking his tongue, the Khan Tribe's Spirit Saint fell to his chair and folded his arms. He was silenced, but his demeanour looked like an active volcano that was about to erupt at any moment now. And to make matters worse...
"It's nice to see the Kori Federation's Spirit Saints live so harmoniously… I'm almost touched." A new voice entered the ring, this time from the Himmel Empire's side.
"Saint Viacan Justine… You have something to say to me?" Saint Temujin Khan glared right at the violet-haired woman who dared to cut in his speech. The woman looked just as youthful as a thirty-year-old. Her purple robes made her look like a true empress, one that was powerful enough to move an entire nation with just her gestures alone.
"No, nothing… I'm just happy to see the three of you get along..."
"You..." Saint Temujin was never one to shy away from a battle. If the woman wanted to fight him, he was more than happy to comply. Not to mention, it was against a Spirit Saint from the Himmel Empire. It was no secret that the Kori Federation and the Himmel Empire shared some bad blood. There were many a time where Saint Temujin had rode in battle, fighting against some of the scum of the dastardly southern empire. The same went for Saint Viacan. In her youth, she had crossed swords with the Kori Federation multiple times, and it wouldn't be strange if Temujin and herself were on opposite ends of a battle during their past.
The two Spirit Saints stared down one another with sparks shooting out from their eyes. However, before the sparks could ignite into flames, an imposing voice echoed out: "Viacan, we didn't come here to make enemies… Shut up."
"... Sorry, ancestor..."
As much as the Spirit Saint would have loved to continue on into battle, there was nothing that she could do against the most powerful being in the room. In fact, once the silver-haired man spoke out, the entire chambers turned silent as they gazed in his direction. Who didn't fear the Himmel Ancestor, the man widely considered to be the strongest Spirit Saint before the Allfather came along? Whenever he spoke, people listened, no matter how high their cultivation was.
That was the power of the Himmel Ancestor… That was the power of… Saint Idun Himmel.
"Alliance Head… Speak."