SCREECH!!!
A sharp scream resounded throughout the city as the King let out an inhumane scream, deafening all in the city. The assassin was quickly surrounded by multiple entanglement constructs and snares as blazing arrows encircled him.
The assassin was punctured in multiple parts of his body as he looked like a hedgehog but none of these hits was fatal and he knew he would not be dying from that. Biting down on the pill in his mouth, he tried to at least, but he bit on a metal.
King Hanix Thanen was already before him, hands in the assassin's mouth, and pulled out the pill in it almost pulling out his jaw with it as he came out with almost the entire row of teeth on the bottom.
AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!
AAARRRGGGHHH!!!
Two different screams resounded throughout the capital, one of anger and pain, the other of despair and pain. The assassin was slapped towards the groundbreaking different structures and bones. Osian could be seen in the distance running towards the scene very fast with anger clouding his looks, behind him were some notable guests including the Ula'rees.
BANG!!
Osian was sent flying backwards faster than he was rushing, causing most of the guests to stop, the Ula'rees continued though. Hanix paid them no mind as he kept beating up the assassin with a fist not intending to kill him though.
"It's enough! that outrage is unbecoming of you." Naj'aree frowned as she looks at the king, taking his anger out on a pawn is an embarrassing action from royalty. She already had a negative impression of this royalty and that seem to nosedive again. Anybody that loses their ambition because of the death of a loved one is trash as far as she is concerned.
The king seems to take her admonishment as he halts his actions and lifts the assassin by the head and starts performing a soul scour on the spot. Naj'aree saw this and even felt a greater disdain for Hanix and as she expects, a smog erupts from the body of the assassin as he became emaciated in seconds.
*What a waste of position! He couldn't even figure out that the mastermind would have put in place a restriction.* Naj'aree thought dumbfounded at his actions.
"Mrs Ula'ree I assume you have an idea who is behind this?" He said after a deep breath to calm himself.
"Yes, your majesty!" Naj'aree took a small bow as she affirmed his suspicions,
*Might as well get the meeting over with, stupid people make it easy sometimes.*
Taking to the skies, "Please follow me!", Hanix said as he takes the lead to the meeting location.
"Inform, those in charge of the other powers to join us," Naj'aree told Danari who had been silent by her side before taking to the skies in pursuit of Hanix.
...
...
Deep in The Thanen Palace.
In a room deep underground and sparse light source, seven seats surround one in the middle. The seat in the middle is occupied by Naj'aree Ula'ree, while not liking it, she decided to put up with their act of 'interrogating' her.
The lead seat was occupied by Thanen as his host.
Fidele was also seated with a card in front of her.
The rest were the envoys of the various powers in the system that reside in Thanen. These envoys also have a card in front of them as they are not sufficient to make decisions for their power.
"Let's begin. Please connect to your leaders." Naj'aree opted to direct the conversation, *No way am I going to let these mongrels take me as soft.* she thought furiously.
The envoys accepted the proposition, if possible, they would like to excuse themselves from this conversation. These are levels where a mistake might cost them their lives and family. The brightness in the room rose by several levels as the projections of the leaders appeared in the room.
Haleth, the dark one, from Panles' Dark hands.
Garrion, the nefarious, from Panles' Playful Crown gang.
Azusa, the kingslayer, from Panles' Touching Dragon Clan. These three are the rulers of Panles' three regions and were said to be able to withstand a saint in battle.
Elatan, the ruler of the White Tiger Divine Kingdom.
Araloth, the Sea king.
Umbron, Thanen, Araloth and Elatan are quasi saints or have a combat prowess of that level, with Umbron being the strongest amongst all.
"My condolences, King Thanen." They all said at the same time with only Umbron remaining silent. It is obvious, that the message of the princess's death has been sent along with the call notification.
"Who is it?" King Thanen, not replying to their sentiments asked.
"Let me tell a story," Naj'aree said.
"I SAID WHO THE HELL IS HE?" Thanen barked as he seem livid.
"It starts in a faraway place, one of the Titan Generals married a princess from the immortal Roc clan. For thousands of years, due to the strength of their bloodline, they were unable to sire a child." Naj'aree continued to protest her situation, to show them their differing outlook and the background of her backer. No mortal would reject the gossip of gods.
"Over a million years after their marriage, the Roc clan princess laid two eggs. One of which was sent to the hatchery of the immortal Roc clan, that is the Roc here."
HISS!!!
Perhaps fascinated by the use of time in the lore as their lifespan is capped at ten thousand if they don't overcome sainthood, everyone gasped at the incredible lore, even grieving Hanix.
"His twin at the Titan clan and his brood-mates in the Roc clan are all top-notch immortals. There is a supreme talent amongst his brood-mates."
"Therefore, he is a failure amongst them. His appearance in a desolate place like this is proof of him being banished and most of your ancestors were his death slaves to accompany him in his banishment." She concluded her story here.
"The prophet's line of inheritors is also from that batch of pioneers in your system." Noticing the lack of movement from the leaders, she also dropped one of the 'information' she had been holding.
"There is evidence of the prophet being present at the Azure Mountain City."
By this point, Thanen was already losing his calm, the rest just maintained their unmoved expressions.
There is no way they would kill a celestial child, even if he was trash.
To have reached their level, One must understand how the world works to some extent.
"I presume that assassin must be from the prophet too."
BANG!!!
The handle of his chair exploded.
"Do not goad me into doing your dirty work, speak your terms before I burn a bridge I might regret." Hanix's eyes shone brutally, barely recovering his calm. If he were willing to harm her, no one would save her from him.
"My backer is willing to offer everyone an entrance into the Outer ring of the Immortal Phoenix clan!!" As soon as she said that every one of them was enthused as they know what opportunity that was, and even Umbron was visibly moved by the offer.
"He would protect you from the Rocs for a Hundred Thousand years." Everyone was moved now, seemingly ready to agree at once.
"How do we trust that." Thanen raised the point.
"Indeed, those were just your words." The rest seconded.
"Have you ever thought about how we might be facing three saints at once without one in our midst?" Umbron, who had been calm since the beginning brought them back to reality with his question.
*He really is the most impressive of them all.* Even Naj'aree had to praise him, but she had to reply to the questions posed.
"This contains the contract and the plan." She said as she distributed cards that looks similar to computational cards to those present.
Thanen, read the content of the card as soon as he got it in his hands, "I agree."
"We would not discuss the plan in front of others, we would wait for everyone to get their cards." She replied referring to the casuals in the room, who were all pale and quiet, they would probably dread this day for years to come.
"If you are not interested, please just destroy the card."
"But know, you will be in the system when retribution comes."
With that, she stood up from her seat and left the room leaving the rest to themselves as she is sure they would have some things to say to themselves in her absence.
...
...
"Let's go!" Naj'aree said to Danari who was waiting outside before flying towards their facility.
Danari could not hold himself again, once they got into the private room in their facility, "How did it go?"
"It was a success!" Naj'aree proclaimed despite the others had not confirmed their participation.
"Bravo! Now that bastard would get it."
"Don't delude yourself! These guys are the pawn, the fall guys." Naj'aree continued, not paying attention to her cousin's hope-filled jealousy, "They have to die, that part is certain."
"What?" Danari was shocked, *Weren't they needed to kill the Roc and join the... Oh!* and it dawned on him, that this system would endure the wrath of the Roc clan, it might even be destroyed.
"What a pity!" He muttered as he'd been enjoying his time as the 'ruler' of the planet, *To think I wanted to build another tower on Umbron.*
"We just need to wait for the signal now, should be coming in a week." Naj'aree looked down at the city, everything and everyone were indoors, no one dared to come out as the princess they never knew or saw was dead.
The common people could feel the shift in the atmosphere of the capital, they knew a storm was coming.
"The assassination, what do you think of it?" Danari asked as he gazed at the empty streets.
"What else? except that person's blood being wasted here. All such disappointments."
"The little girl was supposed to be a vessel but her bloodline was not up to par. Disappointing. She was as good as dead the minute she did not awaken a saint bloodline."
"What? Don't tell me-" Danari, shocked and alarmed by Naj'aree's scornful reply seem to have realized something.
"It can't be traced no matter how much Thanen suspects. Don't underestimate our resources." Naj'aree seemed proud of her manoeuvres, "Of course, if he decides to investigate, he would only find his son as the perpetrator."
"Then? The prophet?"
"Of course, his resources are ours now."
HISS!!!
Danari was dumbfounded by the facts he just heard now, thinking of it, he found that it made sense. The prophet made all those predictions before his disappearance because he sensed his end approaching but his end took a different turn from what he saw. He was killed by the VHT instead of the Roc, the Roc probably never cared about their inheritance line. His resources were used to incite Umbron and Thanen into war against the Roc, which would cause the other leaders to join because they saw an opportunity for victory. The Void Heaven Tower would then incentivize the wavering Umbron-Thanen duo and the stationary five leaders into attacking the Roc.
They would die but not without injuring the Roc, what their mission needed was the Roc's blood, the essence blood is the best but anyone would do. If the system alliance weren't able to injure the Roc, assassins hired by phoenix would make sure that happens but the phoenix clan would prefer not to have their footprints in the attack.
The Phoenix clan would be suspected by the Roc but there would be no evidence of that and would not be able to do anything to a family equally matched as them.
*But Why this specific Roc, I don't believe they can't purchase Roc blood somewhere in this big Universe.* Naj'aree thought as she was also looking at the empty streets, *Is this even the will of the whole phoenix clan? or just that person?*
knock knock
Soft knocking on the door snapped both of them out of their musings.
"Miss!! Someone named Ardian Rave claims he has a request for you." A voice came from beyond the door informing them of the reason for the interruptions.
"Send him in." Naj'aree thought for a while before asking to send him in.
"Why would he come here? Did the crown prince send him?" Filled with doubt, Danari asked.
"We would know when he enters." Naj'aree snaps at him.
A few minutes later, Ardian walks in with wings filled with death energy and an aura not inferior to Danari as flaunts his Nascent Soul Cultivation.
"So what has the prince's follower come here for." Danari, feeling the heat of competition couldn't help but make a snide remark to put his competition down.
Not looking at Danari, Ardian made a slight courtesy bow to Naj'aree.
"My **MASTER** asked me to bring you gifts."