While Humans were happy with what transpired, Abyssals weren't. Their plan was thwarted and it all amounted to nothing.
The eight abysses were in a state of gloom. Their rulers weren't in a mood to lift the morale when they themselves were crestfallen.
Their rage was bottled up and they were ready to start a war in the blink of an eye. But the Emperor's orders were inviolable and they had to suppress their urges.
Of course, the most disappointed and the most enraged of all was the Abyss Emperor himself.
But unlike the Abyss Rulers who turned to train madly or indulging in one thing or another to pick themselves up, he did something entirely different.
He ordered the think tanks to study all the reports and give him the crucial information.
The reports were comprehensive and included all recent developments in the cluster cities and all recent major events in the federation.
It was no wonder that the hard copies of these reports filled a room.
But the think tanks didn't back down and worked even more enthusiastically.
After two days, the meeting finally began in the throne hall.
The Throne Hall was in the Administration Palace, only a few miles away from Emperor's Residential Palace.
It was a vast hall, almost equalling a football field. But considering that this was the heart of all Abyssals, its size looked natural.
The hall was supported by the sixteen pillars, as a testament to the fourteen great generals of the abyss race.
As one walked further inside, they couldn't help but marvel at the bright lights coming from both sides.
And finally, a huge rug made from a special skin ran from the throne high above all the way down to the center of the hall.
Raised from the ground by a platform, the empty throne waited. Not a single word was spoken despite hundreds of abyssals in the hall.
Tak! Tak!
Light footsteps sounded from the distance. The audience turned their head towards the source but found nothing.
Disappointed, they reverted their gazes. But their peripheral vision felt like something was wrong.
So, when they casually glanced at the throne, they nearly jumped on the spot as they saw a male sitting on the throne.
"Y-Your Majesty!" an abyssal with a quivering voice stood up and saluted. The rest followed.
Haedon nodded lightly and gestured for them to relax.
No Sovereign powerhouse attended today's meeting. Not even level 9s. As he ordered.
This meeting was mainly for intelligence purposes. The powerhouses weren't needed.
"Your Majesty, me and my team have found a few clues." A hunched abyssals stood up and stated.
Upon a nod, he stated. "Han Nial was kidnapped by a hand that appeared out of nowhere.
This is ghost ship. But according to our intel, the hand was injured by taking level 8 attacks.
It is likely that Dreamer is neither a Sovereign nor even a level 9. Whatever he or she has done so far is completely dependent on ghost ship.
Finding secret realm, hacking information, stealth…"
Haedon's eyes narrowed as he tapped his armrest lightly. 'Interesting…'
Then he turned to the next team leader. The plump woman started.
"We searched up the abilities of ghost ship. Sneaking into secret realms is certainly one of its abilities.
The biggest flaw should be letting Dreamer know we were manufacturing Ragnaroks.
I suggest we start retaliating against the ghost ship…"
"The incompetence of our intel…"
"There are definitely spies within Shadow Order…"
"The presence of Durasium must've given it away…"
One by one, the think tank teams presented their argument. Haedon nodded from time to time, but his enthusiasm was waning. The quality was lost somewhere.
Until finally—
"Shadow Guardians' help was crucial. Without that, many of our forces wouldn't be wiped out.
They should be taken seriously. Particularly, Enigma. And from the samples gathered, my suspicions on her origin are proven.
She doesn't belong to the solar system…"
Haedon's eyes brightened and he nodded.
In the end, he invited four teams to his residential palace for further discussions.
As the plan was finalized, the fire in Haedon's heart calmed.
"You asked for this." He muttered and was about to go through reports when a sweet voice entered his ears.
"Daddy~"
The coldness on his face melted instantly and Haedon picked up the girl that ran into the room.
"What's up, Eva?"
"Mom is forcing me to practice…I don't want to, waaa~" Eva hugged his neck and started throwing a tantrum.
Haedon didn't know what to do. Who should he support?
Emperor Haedon would certainly ask her to practice, but not father Haedon. Argh, dammit!
Right when he was in a dilemma, Beatrice grabbed Eva out of his hands and took her away. "No escaping today."
Eva looked back at him with puffed red eyes with a gaze that said. 'You traitor.'
Haedon wanted to say something, no words came out.
…She wouldn't hate him for it, right?
Shaking his head, he went back to work. Using the deep network abyssals have developed over the years, and the one under the control of Shadow Order, the order was smoothly executed.
As Haedon calmly went back to practice, the solar system was in turmoil.
The dark web was flooded, the media was covering the same piece of news again and again.
Famous people from the federation all over were throwing interviews like there's no tomorrow.
The general public knew of the first news and panicked.
The strong awakeners knew of the second one as well and were on the verge of freaking out.
Varian had no idea about these things. After a few teleportations, he reached Earth.
From there, he went straight to his home and crashed his bed.
After what felt like decades, he woke up to a screaming Boo.
"What happened?"
"They all know!"
"Hm?"
"Master, all the capabilities of ghost ship are leaked."
"What?!"
"Not only that but there is also a paper proving that Enigma is not a human."
"Fuck!"