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?"

peculiar allure to them, and as a result, both Clementine and Mo Jinhao were

of fear, but rather out of an abundance of caution. Miranda Black, another one of the elders in the Monolith Council, and ranker. She was also arguably the second most powerful person in the

power which granted her the ability

of the elders of the council would find themselves brainwashed and taken

'The puppet master'

and she without a doubt deserved

we

colder as her hand drummed against the throne's armrest. She looked around the

how to deal with the little rat that slaughtered all the spies I had

air around her started to become denser,

began to twist, it began to fall in random directions across her face. The door unexpectedly opened just as she was about to say something else, and Hemlock walked straight

soon as he came into view, there was a sudden and total hush that spread

to raise it, apart from Mo

was already sitting on the large throne with his hand propped up on the arm chair of the throne, which caused the bottom

of you have already

***

the unrealistic

of maintaining perfection, and

organization that was unwilling to do

the steps

in the room felt a chill run down their spine as Hemlock's eyes icily

silent until Hemlock took his gaze

by now what happened

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

one dared to utter a single word, allowing

it wasn't all that bad. In fact, I had anticipated that something similar would transpire. The forces we lost are not insignificant, but with this small purge, we have managed to increase our forces'

was by no means

the damage that the Monolith sustained was quite heavy. Hemlock was only downplaying the damage over here, and it was a very

everyone one of you had

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Yes."

Everyone answered, almost unanimously.

there was a 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

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

the confidence to win the war, and it was also what made Everblood's stunt so painful because many of the soldiers who died had the

find the chip quite useful now that I have it, is it really

bald head while sitting with his arms crossed and his legs spread apart.

around him was extremely

gazed at him and

advantage of every little advantage that is available to us?

"..I guess."