With the creation of Human Alliance, all countries ceased to exist. There was only Earth.
But for practical purposes, lands had to be named. Of course, the naming post-blink was unique.
As the technology kicked off, distance of travels increased, but the time decreased. A normal person would travel a thousand miles daily.
The world truly became a smaller place.
Thus, each city was massive, easily rivalling the size of a country.
Even the 10th largest country before blink was composed of at most 50 cities.
As a whole, Earth had 10,000 cities, big and small.
The group of cities were called Clusters. There were around 100 clusters on Earth.
Xanders were the undisputed leaders of Earth. Their influence was etched in every cluster.
However, there were other powers as well. They wanted to be the local hegemon of their clusters.
These powers clashed, allied, and fought for the influence.
Martin Clan, Ganbold Clan and Astor Clan exerted their influence over 25 such clusters each.
Their alliance was strong, and intermarriages strengthened their bonds. The scariest thing was that they were still not at their peak.
Each of these Clans had a Level 9 that cemented their position as a first class power.
Their field of expertise was different. Officialdom, Medicine and Minerals. Everyone needed the other at some point.
Thus, they not only didn't clash, but instead developed a deep cooperation across their fields to form a robust ecosystem entrenching their dominance.
With each generation gain more prominence than the previous, there were hopes that a Sovereign would be born from these powers.
Particularly, the heirs and heiresses of the three clans were the hope.
They were in their late 20s and reached Level 7.
Even across the solar system, it was a terrific record.
The Sovereign of Earth and head of Xander Family—Julius Xander and the Sovereign of Venus and Chief of Trade Union—Vianne Avarice, on different occasions, predicted that unless anything catastrophic occurred, one of these five teenagers was destined to be a Sovereign.
Every earthling was proud of those words.
Two Sovereigns from a single planet? That never happened in the 120 years of Sovereigns' existence.
Of course, everyone struck off the 'catastrophic' event from possibility.
These geniuses were guarded by their clans and were themselves high awakeners.
They weren't battle fanatics who ventured into Abyss for the thrill of a fight, nor were they stupid enough to provoke the overlord of Earth, the Xanders.
Thus, no catastrophe would strike, and their ascension to a Sovereign was but a matter of time.
Then, the catastrophe struck.
Not one, but on all of them.
It came in the form of a woman who covered herself in black. There was something catching about her hair and iris. They were a blend of three colors—Red, Yellow and Blue.
Her eyes alone were stunningly beautiful, but they held a bone chilling indifference.
The young adults, the would-be Sovereigns were having fun and fooling around.
They weren't alert. Why would they be? They were in their most secured home. No one could cross the mountains of security without alarming everyone.
But catastrophe leapt past the mountains without a hitch and raised the butcher knife.
When they finally sensed something was wrong and tried to flee, it was already too late.
Their bodies were crushed to the ground, their minds went stagnant for a moment and a bright light flashed before their consciousness descended into eternal darkness.
Enigma's Tri-color iris was emotionless as she stared down at them or what remained of them.
"Xanders broke the agreement. You pay the price. How fair." She looked down at the mangled corpses with a cold smile. But she didn't seem happy at all.
She flashed to the camera at the front door and gazed at it with contempt. "I, Enigma, the monster you created, did it. Try if you can catch me, wimps."
As the security rushed in with heavy footsteps, a light flashed on her body and Enigma was gone.
The impact of her actions, however, was there to stay.
The three clans were devastated.
Putting aside their focus from Purge mission, they quickly blocked the news and ensured no other power caught a wind of the deaths.
Then they sent their forces after Enigma and her Shadow Guardians. They thought she'd escape like always.
But they were wrong. Utterly so.
She returned. This time to the laboratory of the Martin Clan.
Every single researcher was kidnapped in an insanely short amount of time.
The research findings, important discoveries and the secret formulas were all stolen.
Business secrets were divulged in the black market.
The raw materials, the processing and even the intricate details of their medicine making were revealed in full.
The Government intervened at their request and the information was blocked even from the black market in a few hours.
But that few hours spelled the doom as every major rival of Martin Clan laughed with the secret in their hands.
Normal people didn't worry too much. There were Intellectual Property Laws… right?
Of course, the laws were in place.
But like pre-blink earth, every law had its loophole and imposing such laws on gigantic organizations would take years, if not decades.
These slick organizations would rather pay for damaging the rights than give up exploiting the property.
What's more, even the most cutting edge research of Martin Clan was stolen. It was not legally protected yet.
The stocks of Martin Clan's industries plummeted.
But of course, not everyone was pessimistic.
Martins' could continue their stronghold on the market even with their current products.
But—
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The bombings of the Martin Medical Gardens, accounting for almost 60% of total raw materials and nearly 80% of precious raw materials, were the last straw that broke the camel's back.
Now, even the most optimistic of investors were staring dead into the proverbial abyss.
Martins were pushed to the brink of financial ruin.
But in the world where strength was the greatest determiner of one's standing, Martin Clan themselves were confident to recover.
Despite the monetary losses, they were still a first class force to boot.
Just….not for long.
As they were returning from the front lines of Demon Abyss, the most promising and youngest Level 8 Awakeners of Martin Clan were assassinated.
Their Level 9 Clan Head was still alive and kicking.
But he was old and with the potential Sovereigns dead and now, even the potential Level 9s killed, Martin Clan's future was over.
