Matriarch Valeria stared out into space, her eyes vacant. Her expression hadn’t changed since she noticed that Sylas’ name was still very much on the Titans Leaderboard. Even while watching her daughter lose her life, there wasn’t an ounce of change in her.
It was like she had already given up the moment Sylas’ name reappeared.
How it was even possible to trick the Titans Leaderboard was beyond her. She thought of all sorts of convoluted methods, but any one of them was a shocking feat that a Human F-Grade from a mere Summoned World shouldn’t have been able to accomplish.
But now it was over. All of it was over.
Her strongest daughter was dead. Her own potential and talent had practically been drained out of her body for the sake of giving Soryntha this small chance—and there would simply be no recovering for several decades, if she recovered at all.
Her promise for a chance at a full recovery had all been contingent on Soryntha becoming the woman she was meant to be. But now she was useless, and had a Sanction on her head at the same time. This time, there was no Soryntha to save her at all.
The moment the Petals of the Seeing Thorn overseers learned of what happened here, it would all be over. Her life, everything she had built, everything she had once stood for and fought for.
There was nothing left of it.
“I need to… send them away…”
The Florineth would be finished. She was the only D-Grade amongst the Valeria. Though there were others in her faction, they weren’t family… they weren’t blood… they were only loyal to her power. And now, she didn’t even have that.
She could stall, hide away for a time, but for how long would she be able to manage that?
Even if she managed to hide it from them, she would still need to consider the reactions of the Thryskai and the Trakar. They wouldn’t target the Petals of the Seeing Thorn, but targeting her Florineth Race? It would be all too easy.
And just to get rid of the trouble, the other D-Grade would happily offer their heads.
Matriarch Valeria closed her eyes. With a breath, she turned the ship around and left.
There were some thoughts of sticking around in an attempt to catch whoever it was that came out on top, but… at that point, whoever it was would have so much of the Galaxy’s Luck accumulated onto them that the odds of success were minimal.
It was better she take advantage of the situation now to get a leg up. If she missed this chance, there wouldn’t be another.
Suddenly, her thoughts flickered to something else.
With a thought, Runes flashed and a list appeared before her face. This was the list of the new recruits from this year’s trials.
The Petals of the Seeing Thorn had their own methods of sending out invitations. They had a deal with the System, so factionless women of a certain talent level were all sent an invitation when the time was right. So this wasn’t an active process on their end.
But the Matriarch remembered seeing something that had triggered alarm bells before, but because she had thought Sylas was dead, she didn’t think twice about it…
Until now.
—
[Inductee #002 of the 8921st Seeing Thorn – Cassarae Grimblade]
—
Matriarch Valeria’s eyes narrowed. Was this the method Sylas had used to infiltrate her organization? Wouldn’t that mean that the odds this woman was important to him were minimal?
“Pull up her status.”
—
[Name: Cassarae Hale]
[Species: Human (F)]
[Affiliation: ???]
[Class: ???]
[Level: 0]
[Titles: ???]
[Physical: ???]
[Strength: ???]
[Constitution: ???]
[Dexterity: ???]
[Speed: ???]
[Mental: ???]
[Intelligence: ???]
[Wisdom: ???]
[Charisma: ???]
[Will: ???]
[Luck: ???]
???
—
Flashing lights of question marks raced across Matriarch Valeria’s screen. The first reason was because she was Sanctioned, but there was definitely a reason she could see so little…
‘Summoned World.’
Cassarae would definitely be protected for longer. That confirmed that they were at least from the same world.
‘Wait…’
Another pulse of inspiration came to Matriarch Valeria.
‘I should still be able to…’
—
[Error. Inductee #002 of the 8921st Seeing Thorn is Promised]
—
A sharp glint lit in Matriarch Valeria’s eyes.
The Petals of the Seeing Thorn were an organization of women that gathered information. Many of their members relied on seduction, and their marriage alliances were the most elaborate in the entire Sector.
Of course they had a system of marrying off their members. A unique system that involved their contract with the so-called impotent System as well.
Through their Marriage Network, they were able to gain extra benefits from marriage alliances that normal System engagements wouldn’t give.
But these could only be used one at a time, and only by people who weren’t already married off.
This Cassarae Grimblade… was married.
“To who?”
—
[Promised: ???]
—
“This son of a bitch!”
Matriarch Valeria shrieked, losing her composure for maybe the first time in countless decades.
The only way question marks would appear was if the Promised man was from a Summoned World. But that begged the question—why was she so sure that it was Sylas?
That was because the Petals of the Seeing Thorn wouldn’t recognize a normal Promised from a Summoned World.
The only way an odd occurrence like Cassarae being recognized as married would happen, and yet the System wouldn’t tell her who, would be in a situation like Sylas’, where his name had already appeared on so many lists, and yet he still benefited from the protection of a Summoned World at the same time.
Sylas was the only person it could possibly be.
The speed of the vessel suddenly accelerated. Matriarch Valeria had added one more thing to her list of to-do’s.
**
Sylas looked down through his bubble, but couldn’t seem to spot anything particularly interesting. He could feel a heated gaze on him—that coming from Jala—and another confused gaze, that coming from Israel, but he didn’t mind.
All of a sudden, Sylas’ bubble, and his alone, popped. He found himself plummeting down below at a speed that would have surely led to death. And yet, he couldn’t see the bottom anywhere.
He pulled on his telekinesis to slow himself down, only to find that his Will was being sapped away at a speed much faster than he could manage.
It was almost like it had randomly decided that he must die.