The Author's POV

[Day 3]

Monolith headquarters.

In a grand hall dimly lit by a large chandelier, twenty people sat on ten golden thrones set along the sides of the hall, with a large empty throne at the end of the corridor.

The throne was jet black in colour and was significantly larger than the golden thrones that were present in the room. It was clear to whom the throne belonged to.

There were approximately twenty people in the room, and they all looked at each other with expressions that conveyed cold calculation and hostility.

"Is everyone here?"

Mo Jinhao, who was seated on the throne that was adjacent to the one that was situated in the centre of the room, was the first person to speak as his grey eyes swept over the entirety of the room.

He crossed his legs and rested his arms over his legs.

"Everyone should already know why we have gathered today, no?"

"…when is the leader coming?"

Nobody in the room seemed interested in what Mo Jinhao had to say as they all went about their business. It was clear from the get go that Mo Jinhao's authority wasn't high enough to influence the people that were present in the hall.

Each person who was there in the hall had the same level of power as one of the seven heads of the Union, and yet they were all distinctly different from one another in terms of their power and what they specialized in.

The only person who responded was a man positioned on the golden throne opposite him. He had a warm smile spread across his face as he spoke.

Objectively speaking, he was handsome. He had sharp, nicely structured facial features that made him look like a celebrity. That was until one paused toward his eyes, which seemed to be devoid of any emotion, and weren't smiling, unlike his face.

Clementine Manual, an ranker of the Monolith, and one of the elders part of the Monolith council.

His empty gaze gave him a heavy atmosphere.

"We are aware of why we are present. Just that we have many tasks to complete in preparation for what is to come. Not all of us have the time to waste here discussing irrelevant details that we already know."

"It is not useless."

Mo Jinhao answered, his voice devoid of any emotion, and the room became even tenser.

"Please, stop it you two."

It was at this moment that another voice spoke up.

The voice belonged to a woman with long, glossy brown hair, and strong brows who sat on the opposite end of the Clementine. The thinness of her dress revealed her cleavage, and the fact that she was leaning against the armrest of the throne exposed her legs, which were crossed together.

"The leader is on his way, and we don't want the place to turn nasty before he arrives, do we?"

result, both Clementine and Mo Jinhao were compelled to

an abundance of caution. Miranda Black, another one of the elders in the Monolith Council, and

powers didn't lay in her appearance, but rather, her formidable power which granted her the ability to control the mind of

of the elders of the council would find themselves brainwashed

'The puppet master'

given to her, and she

what we should care about

the throne's armrest. She looked around the room at the other twenty or

all the spies I had painstakingly raised. Do you realize how difficult it is to raise puppets

air around her started to become denser, and her hair slowly raised

The door unexpectedly opened just

came into view, there was a sudden and total hush that spread throughout

to raise it, apart from Mo

the large throne with his hand propped up on the arm chair of the throne, which caused

all of you have already

***

unrealistic

for the sake of maintaining perfection, and what

was unwilling to do whatever it took to save

why the Monolith existed. If the Union was unwilling to take the steps necessary

as Hemlock's eyes icily swept across the group of

remained silent until Hemlock took his gaze away and closed

by now what happened

soon as those words left Hemlock's mouth, the atmosphere

dared to utter a single word, allowing for Hemlock

that bad. In fact, I had anticipated that something similar would transpire. The forces we lost are not insignificant, but with

was by no

Hemlock was only downplaying the damage

aside, has everyone one of you had the surgery

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Yes."

Everyone answered, almost unanimously.

look of obvious contentment on his face. Hemlock made the decision to increase their investment in the chips after the chips were shown to be successful with test subject 876,

the old prototype, which was currently implanted in the heads of almost all of the

alone gave Hemlock the confidence to win the war, and it was also what made Everblood's stunt so painful because

that I have it, is it really necessary for all of us to have it implanted into

scratched the back of his bald head while sitting with his arms crossed and his legs spread apart. His expression conveyed a hint

him was extremely

at him

that is available to us? If

"..I guess."