The Author's POV

"What the fuck are you guys even thinking!?"

An enraged shout echoed inside of simple office space. Following this, pounding violently on a wooden desk, Monica glared towards the person sitting behind the desk.

"Daphne, just what went through your heads when you decided to sacrifice the person thas singlehandedly saved me, Amon, and the others!"

Monica once again shouted. She was beyond incensed.

Upon being notified by Donna about the bounty on Ren's head, Monica flew into a fit of rage and immediately went towards Daphne's office to get an explanation from her.

"Tell me so that I can understand!"

"Calm down Monica."

Daphne helplessly raised her hand to calm Monica down.

"Calm down my ass. How can I be calm in this situation?"

"Just listen to what I have to say."

Daphne pleaded.

"..."

Without saying anything, Monica stared at Daphne's eyes for a couple of seconds.

"Fine." Crossing her arms, Monica sat down on the seat opposite Daphne and gestured for her to explain. "I really want to know what crossed your minds when you made that decision."

Finally managing to calm Monica down, Daphne breathed a sigh of relief, before leaning back on her chair.

"Where should I begin."

Pondering for a moment, Daphne decided to relay to Monica about everything that went through that meeting. From how they decided to sign a truce, to how they decided to sacrifice 876 for the truce in order to give her and Amon enough time to recuperate.

The more Monica listened to Daphne, the tighter her brows knit.

"This is bullshit!" Eventually, after a while, she stood up and once again smacked the table. "Do you guys not realize that you've wasted a golden opportunity?"

"A golden opportunity?"

"Yes!" Monica cried out."Since they are the ones that proposed the truce, it obviously means that whatever the explosion did, they suffered major losses. If there is a perfect chance to fight back, it is now! Deal a devastating blow to both those demon bastards and the Monolith."

Though Monica wasn't able to fully witness the core explode as she had already left by the time it exploded, what she did witness was the pure destructive power that emanated from the core itself.

It was frightening.

There was no way that they came unscathed from that attack.

Listening to Monica's words, Daphne shook her head.

"If only it was that easy Monica."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think we don't know about what you've said? We've also thought about attacking them, but there are a couple of problems."

"What problems?"

Monica's face showed obvious signs of distrust.

Not minding this, Daphne explained.

"For one, we don't actually know the extent of the injuries from the Monolith's side. For all we know, the truce could be a trap proposed by them to make us think that they are severely weakened. If it truly was that way and we attack, we'd suffer massive losses."

For the Monolith to be the first one to step back, the Union heads were not naive enough to believe that the Monolith was just openly displaying their weakness.

There was a high chance that they were trying to instigate the Union into attacking them.

"If that is also not enough of a reason, Malik Alshayatin alone is enough..."

Deep apprehension flashed across Daphne's eyes.

Recalling him back at the meeting, although she knew that it was just his clone there, his presence was no joke. He was in his own league.

"Malik Alshayatin? The head of the Monolith."

Listening to Daphne's words, Monica's brows knit.

"Mhm, him."

"What about him?"

Shaking her head, Daphne sighed.

"Haa, you weren't there Monica, but the moment he stepped into the room, all of us could tell one thing." Lifting her head and looking at Monica straight in the eyes, Daphne took a deep breath before continuing. "It was that he was on another level."

"Hm? Another level?"

With deep apprehension in her eyes, Daphne explained.

"Yes. After the meeting ended, Octavious himself confirmed it. He was weaker than him."

"Tsss..."

a breath

such a thing, it meant

"Are you serious?"

That is why we were hesitant on attacking them. Furthermore, with the demons behind them, the war would only end up being

"But—"

Daphne cut Monica off.

the decision, the other heads all unanimously voted for 876 to be eliminated. In

not show them enough promise to make them go to war with the Monolith

talent or a high ranker, they may have done something, but in the end,

by the likes of them.

no, it's because I know who

to Daphne, Monica cried out inside

he really held a grudge against them, things wouldn't really

to, then the Monolith would be the

I hope things don't escalate to

Monica inwardly

that way, Monica wasn't

***

of a dark room, an old man with a long bray beard and turbid grey eyes sat crossed legs. The air around him distorted

—Shua!

and appearing from out of thin air, was an elegant young man with

the old man

"Leader, you have returned."

"Mhm."

entered, Malik AlShayatin casually swept

Then, after a couple of seconds, a cold and indifferent voice that seemed to

Have they fallen for

not." Curtly replied Malik AlShayatin. "The Union accepted our

[A pity.]

of disappointment could be felt from the voice behind the

body slightly, Malik

you

it for now. Make sure you don't get into any conflicts for at least a couple of years. Your recent failure has caused quite a few problems

could be felt from the words of the individual whom Malik AlShayatin referred to

same room could feel this, as the

his head slightly,

apologize for

that you understand. For now,

"Understood."

hope you don't

in

the voice completely disappeared and the void before them shrank, after a brief moment

do we

gazed at the place where the

as the demons have ordered, and lay low

with the three races. The incident where multiple ranks and below died, resulted in a lot of the demons

take their truce as a sign of weakness and have them attack the Monolith. This would've been the perfect chance to ambush them and get rid

not

"A pity."

AlShayatin shook his head in disappointment. Glancing towards Mo Jinhao next to

Jinhao, how

"My injuries?"

"Mhm."

a bit,

taken a couple of high-leveled potions, they are not that severe right now. If the Union had gone and attacked us, we could've done a

the truce. Had they not

being that serious anymore, they could've easily have been able to

was truly

"I see.."

he turned around and left. Staring at his expressionless face

***

2 P.M.

Caissa headquarters.

large desk, I flipped through some files. After a while, I

much money do we have

of the papers in front of him,

"Around 10 million, why?"

million? Since when did we have so much

amount honestly surprised

had originally thought that

you were gone?" Smallsnake rolled his eyes. "Let's exclude Angelica who did pretty much all of the major tasks, but I've been using the information that you had given to me before to

"Information?"

my head in

me regarding where

"Ah, that."

it finally dawned on

had in fact given Smallsnake a list of companies that would rise in stock

was mainly due to the fact

were changing, I

arms, I tapped on my bracelet and threw something in Smallsnake's

at him with both hands,

sell it and give me the money. The

eyes widened

hold on. Did you

want you to