"Increase the voltage!" Red Crane was barking out orders as she was overseeing the work of a large group of black robed men and women. They could be considered to be cultists akin to acolytes. Some of them were neophytes to Black Deer's organization.
Black Deer's organization was the result of the remnants of the Abyssal Temple which King Duke of the North Blossom Kingdom failed to kill. Actually, names such as "Black Deer," "Red Crane" and "Green Bear" were simply just unique titles which were passed down to a group of leaders who stood out from the rest.
This organization which was basically a cult was simply called the Council. Nothing about it seemed particularly threatening or interesting, but as it was an organization that was not known to the surface, such a name was just for administrative reasons. The cult believed in carrying on the work of the Abyssal Temple, and this included bringing back the Dark God Absalom.
Naturally, this included looking for a vessel. At this point in time, the fact that Hokuto had a Nature physique was not known to anybody in the Council. Therefore, they still believed that there was room in their plans to capture her and use her body to store the Seal of Absalom, which was a blood seal that kept the natal essence of the Dark God himself.
However, to even call upon this seal, they needed to harness enough dark matter energy from the World Cores in Heralldia to cause a special statue to react. This special statue was supposed to be an idol created in the form of Absalom himself based on stories and myths about him. It was kept in a specially constructed shrine which several tubes connected to, continuously pumping dark matter into it.
Nobody knew when the time would be, but the Black Deer of the current Council was confident that the time was getting close - generations and generations had watched over this shrine but to no avail. However, his confidence was evident. HIS generation would be the one to awaken the essence of Absalom. By then, they would have hopefully captured Hokuto...
Black Deer definitely didn't forget about Blood Lotus, who was originally an outsider, but was invited into the Council by the Red Crane of the current generation. Blood Lotus was an eccentric woman who fell in love with Black Deer for some unknown reason. However, she was highly skilled in the art of implanting magic seals and circles onto human beings.
On top of the Seal of Absalom they planned to put onto Hokuto, Black Deer had Blood Lotus develop a special type of magic seal which would turn the victim into Blood Lotus' puppet. She called it the "Bloodia Seal," and required the dark matter from the World Cores to increase the chance of it successfully grafting itself into the host.
Supposedly, it was extra effective against anyone with magic circuits, but Blood Lotus had not run any formal testing with it yet. Furthermore, they didn't have any guinea pigs yet. Black Deer factored this into his plans and eventually resolved himself to start capturing innocent civilians to serve as test subjects for his various experiments.
Though the Council was, by definition, a cult of worship towards the Dark God Absalom, their practices were actually highly scientific. The leaders rarely, if ever, did anything based on hearsay and rumor. Black Deer knew his team well and delegated the work appropriately. He was essentially a strategist and tactician. His subordinates actually respected him. Despite his brains, however, in terms of combat, he was not the strongest.
He was simply elected as the leader of the entire group because of his leadership qualities. Black Deer also possessed the ambition to steel his resolve. He was determined to bring back the Dark God Absalom at any cost. At the moment, he was inside a secret chamber of his base, looking through a file. The file contained a lot of papers that had recently been written in ink.
They came from reports from the Council operatives working on the surface to survey the current situation of Heralldia. Blue Frog's men focused on the general situation regarding the various nations - whether they were in a panic, what they were doing about the Leyline Geysers, and such. Green Lion was in charge of gathering intelligence on military movements or expeditions to try and dig into the Leyline Geysers. White Tiger had the biggest job - he was in charge of infiltrating the North Blossom Kingdom.
The file that Black Deer was currently reading through was submitted by White Tiger himself. Inside the file contained information regarding Hokuto's current status. Apparently, White Tiger was able to get some news about Hokuto's physique - the Dust of Gaea.
Black Deer's face turned from that of excitement to one of stress.
"This... this changes things. Damnit! I need to adjust our plans accordingly. Blood Lotus' Bloodia Seal won't work on someone with a heaven defying physique like the Dust of Gaea," he cursed to himself. "How is it possible for someone with the natural physique of a primordial being to awaken?"
Indeed, this Black Deer was actually originally a historian for the Council before he was put into power. He pored over the myths and legends that were told over time, since Heralldia was supposedly created as a planet. He studied the many creation myths and primordial stories in order to gain a better understanding of the mighty entity that was the Dark God Absalom.
In the entire world, there might not be a single person more knowledgeable about these things than Black Deer. Therefore, he knew just how absurd and ridiculous the Dust of Gaea was. The name [Gaea] was actually just a title for the Goddess Mother Earth herself. The 'Dust' represented her blessing in the form of the primordial fiber of existence. To be granted this was one of the ultimate protections. The Bloodia Seal would just be a joke to it - the Dust of Gaea would allow Hokuto to convert it into bloody plants!
He did not call Blood Lotus into his chambers just yet.
Now, he was in deep thought.
"What could nullify the Dust of Gaea...?"
He resolved to intensify his research efforts then and there. He could not slack off if he wished to fulfill his ambition.