Chapter 27: A Trip to Disaster EX
Southern Hemisphere. Centre Helia.
Magic Affiliate Central Tower.
The administrative hub of the world, home to several ruling-class beings who dictated the course of global affairs.
Among the most powerful clans, families, and organizations that formed the foundation of the Affiliates were five primary entities:
World Entropy, the Sanctuary, the Dominion, the Awakened Association, and two others like the rest whose names also carried weight.
And among them, one force stood above all.
World Entropy.
There was no disputing it—they were the supreme authority, the ones who truly ruled the Affiliates.
In terms of raw force, manpower, military strength, finance, and influence, they were unmatched.
Everything lay at their fingertips, controlled with ruthless efficiency.
Even attempting to work under them required meeting near-impossible standards.
And when it came to monopolizing manpower, they were at the peak.
The strongest force. The absolute elite, or so they were called.
Even a mere lackey in their ranks was, at minimum, an Enlightened Human—a stage of awakening that only a fraction of humanity had reached.
The strongest, just below their revered Goddess in the organization called World Entropy, are the four said to be close to obtaining transcendence, and are no doubt ascendants, even, at the highest of this stage.
"Oh? It's Knight. And here I thought the Venerable Goddess herself would be coming."
"Hahaha… It seems like you no longer need that tongue of yours, Sa. Shall I cut it down for you?"
The location was a dimly lit room with only a blue holographic screen In the midst of the room.
Surrounding the holographic screen is a long round table.
From the features of the first person that spoke, they had jagged light-red hair with spiked teeth with an arrogant looking expression.
The second on the other hand, who had been called Knight, had the air of a gentleman.
And though in the 25th century, he was wearing a silver armour that could only be seen in the olden times.
However, with his platinum blonde hair, green eyes, and a gentlemanly expression, you won't believe this man is one of the strongest beings alive.
Having accomplished great achievements, he had been titled [Knight], under Entropy's venerable goddess.
And for someone like him—who worshipped her as a divine being—hearing such a casual remark about her was nothing short of blasphemy.
"Knight, stand down. He's taunting you anyway."
The voice belonged to a man noticeably older than the others—whereas the two who had spoken before seemed to be in their early twenties, he was clearly in his middle years.
Dressed sharply in a suit, his face was more or less obscured by the shadows, but the sheer weight of his words alone was enough to bring a momentary hush to the room.
"Tsk, what a boring old man."
The red-haired man, Sa, scoffed, leaning back in his chair with an exaggerated sigh.
"By the way, where's that busty woman? She didn't make it, huh? Tough luck."
Hearing this, Knight's hand twitched, his expression darkening at the blatant disrespect.
Though he worshiped the Venerable Ever-present, the only few that could refer to each of them without formalities were those at their very top themselves.
Yet, to call the equal of the Venerable Ever-present, the Illuminator like that—
"To refer to our Goddess the Illuminator like that… I see you must really want to die so badly!"
This time, such words didn't come from Knight, rather, it was another.
It was a man clad in flowing white robes, a red holy cross embroidered on both shoulders.
No doubt, there was a scowl on his face due to the blatant disrespect, his hand lifted ever so slightly—
"Enough."
In the end, the suited man had finally cut back into their conversation before any further escalation could take place.
His gaze swept across the room before landing on Sa once more.
"And you—do you want this to be reported to your Monarch?"
At that, Sa immediately held up his hands in mock surrender.
"Please, spare me the horrors of doing that."
Another moment of silence fell over the room.
Currently, of all the Awakened alive, if they were to be put into ranks, each and every one of them present in this room would easily qualify in the top thirty spots.
They were people who could easily bring down countries, and they, above all, faced greater threats than most, responsible for clearing dungeons so powerful they were deemed catastrophic to humanity itself.
That aside, the suited middle-aged man, after silencing the room, finally turned back to the person called Knight.
"What is the Venerable Goddess of Entropy doing, by the way?"
"She's on a mission."
"Haah. That excuse again. But fine, I understand—she can't be bothered by a meeting like this."
"Hahaha… that's kinda harsh, don't you think?"
"But then," the suited man leaned forward slightly, his gaze sharpening, "if you are here, Knight, that means you've been given authority to make decisions on Entropy's behalf."
The attention in the room subtly shifted.
Most of the time, before a meeting of this level even began, their Venerable Goddess would have already sent down her instructions, guiding Entropy's stance before discussions even started.
But on occasions like this, when she was out on a "mission," it became significantly harder to predict Entropy's next move.
Even so, the suited man simply shook his head.
It wasn't worth pressing further—this was an impromptu meeting, after all.
Complaining would do no good.
Knight, however, simply let out a low, amused chuckle.
"I heard about the terror attack… and I must say, it's unfortunate—"
"Bah! Come on! As huge as World Entropy is, they can't even handle a few terrorists?"
The red-haired Sa scoffed loudly, his voice laced with open ridicule.
At that moment, Knight's fingers rested over the hilt of his sword. Then, in a single fluid motion, a blinding silver arc slashed through the air.
And in an instant. Sa's chest was split in half—Impossible. The two had clearly been seated apart, separated by a clear distance.
Yet now, Knight was suddenly standing in front of Sa, his platinum-like blade stained with fresh blood.
"Knight!"
"Sa!?"
The room tensed.
Some of the panel members barely reacted, while others subtly raised their brows.
But Knight, unfazed, merely sheathed his sword and strode back to his seat, his expression cold.
"If you keep running your mouth, your head is next."
For a brief moment, there was silence, until…
"My, my—how scary."
Even more bizarre than Knight striking him down, were his wounds which were already healing. At an unnatural speed.
Within seconds, the gaping wound across his chest had closed entirely, as if it had never been there to begin with.
"Tsk."
On the other side of the room, the man dressed like a high priest clicked his tongue in visible annoyance.
If anything, seeing Sa still breathing irritated him more than the actual situation.
Meanwhile, the crimson-haired man himself merely swept his gaze across the room, smirking.
"Ha, let's be honest here—I ain't questioning Entropy or their methods. That ain't my job. Our Venerable Monarch should be the one doing that. But tell me I'm wrong—precisely because Entropy didn't make a move, this happened. Right?"
Despite his usual flippant attitude, there was weight behind his words.
And like it or not, there was some credibility in what he was saying.
At the end of the day, regardless of what Entropy does or does not do, it will always shape the perception of the Awakened in society.
After all, humans who hadn't awakened—despite being at the bottom of the social hierarchy—were still the ones with the most rights.
Laws had been put in place to prevent their oppression.
And those very same laws are what kept Entropy from simply storming into Anti-Order strongholds and wiping them off the map.
A frustrating restriction, but one that had been necessary to maintain balance.
"Our Venerable Goddess has her own thoughts."
Knight replied almost monotonously, and predictably, this only widened Sa's smirk.
Ah, the usual 'Everything is our Goddess's will' speech. Bullshit.
At this point, it was expected.
"I believe it's time we actually got down to business instead of fooling around."
It was his job, amongst all of the faction which made up the Magic Affiliate, it was his job to maintain absolute neutrality and make sure a war between two Transcendants don't break out.
Heck, even a fight between two Ascendants can plunge the world into more chaos that anyone would want.
Then, pitting two above that would even be way worse for humanity.
And with a knowing gaze, he turned his toward Sa.
"And you—be quiet for the remainder of the meeting."
"Ugh. Fine, fine."
And with that, the true meeting finally began.
A secretary stepped forward, activating a holographic map that displayed a detailed outline of the attack's aftermath.
For the first time, the room fell into a grim silence as they processed the casualty report.
More than five thousand dead. Over three thousand injured.
And among the survivors, only a handful had managed to escape completely unscathed.
BANG!
It was the knight who had done that, tightening his lips; however, he held himself back.
It was true that Entropy's leader was currently on a mission, she always went like this and wouldn't return until much later.
However, they're used to it.
But then, no matter what would be agreed upon today, he can't make rash actions.
"Yes. Yosen, however, had helped quell the situation, not only to rescue but also to successfully quell a possible dungeon break."
There was a brief silence for a moment after that.
And then a loud, resounding laugh echoed through the room.
The man who had just laughed was the suited middle-aged man.
President of the Awakened Association. Ill Guné.
"My word."
"Seriously…"
"So, that Blackwood girl had that much in her after all. If not for her condition, she might've made it to this very table…"
There was a brief pause before he added, almost to himself— "…A blessing in disguise."
The man had thought it was only natural.
She was an Enlightened-Above human, closer to those who had pushed past their limits, becoming something closer to being "gods" in human form.
Those who have prolonged interacted with mana, be it either with superpower or without it, it has been known to fundamentally affect humans as they are.
For example—
The Beastfallen.
Their transformations weren't simply a skill or a trait—they were a genetic shift, bringing them closer to beasts while retaining human form.
But for humans—those who had reached Enlightenment, and who had further grasped the essence of their own being and gained a near-spiritual understanding of the world—they became something beyond mortal limits.
They became Ascendants.
And for Celeste Blackwood, someone standing close to such a state if not for her condition.
It made perfect sense why the worst-case scenario never came to pass.
"And here is the report from her."
With those words, a holographic screen flickered to life in front of the board members.
Lines of data scrolled across the display, containing everything from the casualty report to the estimated value of damages—and even a brief overview of how the on-field training had progressed before the incident disrupted it.
Naturally, some details had been left out.
And really, there was no need for them to know everything—or so was what a particular black-haired, golden-eyed male thought.
"However, the 'other side," huh? Those people are involved. Well, it's not a direct involvement; however, it's still affected us. Because of that, an important technology has been stolen from under our nose."
"Ha! Wasn't it you all that wanted to prove magic isn't dangerous, now wouldn't people think it really is?"
The crimson-haired jagged tooth male, Sa, had said with a scoff, and, almost nobody could retort at the words he spoke.
Knight after thinking about it finally spoke up.
"Haah. Association leader, I'll speak with my lord regarding this matter. My authority as a representative only goes so far—I have no power to make such decisions on my own.
"That's very much fair."
The middle-aged man mused before falling silent again. Then after a few seconds, he spoke again.
"Perhaps, it's time to finally make a move on those on the Western and Eastern Hemisphere, afterall, it is because humanity feared their power they had let them do as they like."
"Let's see, since Yosen's already involved, might as well do it like this…"