The four of them had pale faces and held a few aura crystals in their hands as they recuperated.
Except two old men weren't just recuperating, they were also bickering.
"I did more damage."
"No. I did."
"Fuck off!"
"No. You fuck off."
Richard and Eve went into a staring contest causing Anna to snap.
"Shut up! You old fogeys! Your young masters died and yet you…" Anna shut her mouth midway.
Eve Xander's old face was pale but he just shook his head. "I always told Narcis to treat people fairly, if not equally.
But ai…he looked down on everyone. Julius pampered him to no end and he somehow ended up provoking Shadow Guardians."
Anna didn't feel any sympathy towards Narcis. In her eyes, he was a trash.
But Eve…Eve dedicated his life to safeguarding Earth. His brother was Julius' father and a Sovereign.
During his reign, Xanders were more trusted on Earth than the Federation itself. But after Julius, things changed.
Xanders went from guardians of earth to one of the three families.
Eve…he tried his best. Yet, he couldn't oppose Juilus' orders. There were many people like him in the Xanders, but alas…
"Maybe we are stronger than the last generation…but morally, we have fallen so low." The third old man in the room sighed in melancholy. He was Liam Xander, obviously from the Xander family.
He used to train the Xander kids, but after seeing how they were turning out, he applied for the reinforcements department and now travelled from planetoid to planetoid, proving emergency assistance.
"I won't talk about you Xanders, it's just tragic. But my Young Master didn't die." Richard said as a matter of fact.
"And how do you know that?" Anna raised her brow. If there was really some clue, then she'd immediately inform Sarah.
"I don't. I just believe him." Richard stated causing Anna, Eve and Liam to shake their heads.
They didn't bother arguing with him, however.
After the long fight, all of them were exhausted and preferred peace.
"How is the Ruins exploration this time?" Anna asked out of boredom. This was first of the eight months, so the first planet's ruins would be open.
"The same crap. The Shadow Order stole some stuff. There were reports claiming to have seen Enigma." Liam said lazily.
"Boring. Anything interesting going on?" Anna changed to a new set of aura crystals and asked.
"The kidnapping cases have increased." Liam reported.
"The Uranus Cluster?"
"Yeah. I don't know precisely, but it must be because of some crazy treasures in the black market. These gangs always want those treasures." Liam said with a disgusted expression.
Black Market sold a lot of treasures…on behalf of Abyssals. These treasures had miraculous effects, though they came with costs.
Perhaps this time, it was a treasure that could loosen the bottleneck or something. These gangs will compete for the treasure and in the process, kidnappings increase.
Once they get the treasure, the crimes would increase.
"Why don't you just go and kill them off?" Anna's face turned rosy and her recovery was evident.
"Do you think I don't want to?" Liam muttered in annoyance. "These gangs have hideouts. They are backed the Shadow Order and the chaos families."
"Then it's truly problematic." Anna sighed.
Shadow Order and Chaos Families lived in Secret Realms. Unlike on Earth, their secret realms in the Uranus Cluster Cities were present in space.
Space…was just too wide for them to search the secret realms. And just like on Earth, they might've hid their secret realms.
Basically, even if the gangs were eliminated, the Order and Chaos Families could nurture them in no time.
"It's not like I can kill the gangs. My hands are tied. I'm bu.." Liam's comm buzzed and he stood up.
"See, I'm busy. Something came up on X-32 planetoid." Waving his hand, Liam transformed into a griffin and reached his space shuttle.
Richard and Eve departed shortly after him. They were assigned different planetoids.
"Sigh…" Before Anna could sigh properly, the assistant barged in.
"Commander, a large scale battle in the S-H-193 area. The level 8s are on th—"
Before he could finish, Anna teleported to the area and her eyes narrowed.
"Trash."
Another battle ensued.
*** *** *** ***
Far away, Emperor Abyss:
Haedon was seated on the throne. In front of him were old men and women of Abyssal race were seated across a semi-circular table.
"With all due respect your majesty, I think we're running out of time." An old Abyssal said with an anxious expression.
"Yes. Let's just go all out and get the civilization core. If we didn't get Devas' legacy, we have no chance of winning the Providence Trial."
"Yes, it's already been so long. Who would've thought that Humans were this resilient. I suggest we go ahead and exterminate them regardless of the cost."
"I concur."
"Me too."
"Me three."
One by one, eight of the twenty elders raised their hands.
Haedon looked at them with indifferent eyes and said. "Are you senile?"
"Y-Your majesty?" The elders who raised their hands trembled.
Even though Haedon advocated to save as many lives as possible, he didn't hesitate to punish.
And legends say, his punishments made one wish for death.
Haedon took a breath to control his anger and said. "If we were to go all out against humans, we'll sacrifice almost 90% of the eight Abysses."
"B-But we'll get the legacy. With it, we can strengthen ourselves for the trial against Zions…" The male elder was stubborn despite his fear.
"Yes, we can do it. But we have only a few decades before the trial. Even if we get the legacy, we'll have only so much time to use it to our advantage. It's not like we can instantly grow stronger with legacy.
If we had a few centuries, I'd agree with your proposal.
But we have only a few decades, if we sacrifice the eight abysses in the solar system, even if we increase our strengths, we'll definitely lose in the providence trial."
Haedon explained with a contorted expression.
The elders fell silent as they digested his painful words.
"Then, how long…?" A female elder muttered.
'How long would your method take, your majesty?' Was what she wanted to, but didn't dare to ask.
"There is one plan that is about to hatch." Haedon's eyes shone with wisdom. "Once it starts, we can save a lot of our manpower."
He looked into the distance and said in a light voice.. "I-If it really works well, then humans will kill themselves in a civil war."