At the moment somewhere else in the Southern continent, a man robbed a pearl white toga with a golden laurel on his head sitting on a throne. The man seemed to be tall but not too tall to stand out in a crowd. This fair-skinned man has a suspicious feel about him.
His greasy, light blonde hair was very short and currently dyed completely butterscotch. His forehead got bigger as his hair seemed to be falling out.
He had a square face with a cleft chin, a long neck, broad shoulders, toned arms and large hands, a heavy torso with no muscle tone, round hips, weak legs, and average-sized feet. He was sitting on the throne as though he was a king who rules the entire kingdom rather than a head senator.
His thirst for being a single ruler made him decorate the hall in his manor like a throne hall of a king.
In the hall, bulky braziers encompassed each of the twelve marmoreal columns that light up every part of the throne hall, covering the hall in dancing shadows and a warm radiance. The intricate golden patterns on the layered ceiling danced in the flickering light while memorials and statues looked down upon the oaken floor of this sublime hall.
A jade rug was running down from the throne for a few meters before coming to an end while forked banners with burnished tufts dangle gently from the walls. Between each banner sat a small altar full of candles, all but a few have been lit and in turn illuminated the paintings of men wearing a toga and golden laurel on their head of the world below them.
Slim windows were edged by veils colored the same jade as the banners. The curtains had been adorned with gold leaves and decorating tips.
A magnificent throne of oak sits atop a tall elevated platform and was adjoined by three plain, but comfortable seats for those closest to the man.
Those who wanted to be heard by the man could do so on the several long and rather bulky stone benches, all of which were facing the throne. Those of higher standing such as other senators and nobles could instead take seats in the renovated balustrades overlooking the throne.
"Your majesty" from the left side of the throne, a spartan soldier walked towards the man. The spartan soldier's boots kept making thud sounds as he came before the man. Immediately the spartan soldier knelt on his one knee.
The man liked to be addressed as 'Your Majesty' as though he was a king rather than 'Senator' when they were in his manor. Those who disagreed with his request would disappear overnight. Although Maven was a senate-ruled kingdom, it was ruled by this man, this man alone. The other senators were just puppets of him. He was corrupt to the core with an insatiable thirst for power and money.
The soldier placed the spear on the ground before sliding his hand into the red cape he was wearing. In a moment, the soldier retrieved a luminous bluish crystal from his pouch. The crystal was covered in gray dust which dimmed out the crystal.
"Is that…?" the man's eyes glistened in excitement,
"Bring it to me" the man ordered the spartan. No one was in the throne hall except the man and the spartan soldier. The man couldn't hold his excitement as before the spartan could reach him, he stood up, walked straight to the spartan, and grabbed the crystal from the spartan's hand.
"Arch energy…pure Arch energy…I can feel it" the man grinned, feeling the pulses coming from the crystal. He clenched the crystal so tight. The longer he held the crystal in his hand, the louder his laughter became.
"It's true, Stormveil mountain really has Arch energy crystals within. Hahahahah" his mad laughter echoed through the empty throne hall.
Several minutes later, the man finally stopped his mad laughter.
"Spartan Hostus, how many crystals those slaves mined?"
"The last time I counted, they had mined a hundred stones, your majesty. If you give me the word, I can hire the scholars and engineers to build a pulley system which would speed up the mining process your majesty"
The man rubbed his chin for a few moments after hearing the spartan,
"You can do that. But after they build everything, kill them and bury them in the mine" the man said without any remorse and hesitation.
"What about the slaves, your majesty? Should I recycle them or make sure they never leave the mine until they die?" The spartan soldier was not much different than the man.
Spartan Hostus had been serving Senator Vibius Caelius Sarrius for more than a decade. In this decade of time, he had killed more than a hundred people including slaves, nobles, and senators for Senator Vibius. Senator Vibius had been spending millions of gold to increase the military power of Maven in secret. No one had a clue that kingdom Maven had two or three times the size of other senate-ruled kingdoms such as Gisel.
He was amassing the military power to conquer the Stormveil mountain. Even if all the senate-ruled kingdoms formed an alliance to take the Stormveil mountain from him after they conquered it, Senator Vibius had enough military power to defend the mountain for years.
"Those idiots have no idea what they have in their hands" Senator Vibius mumbled under his breath with an evil grin on his face.
"How many slaves working in the mine?" Senator asked,
"Hundred and twenty slaves, your majesty"
"Killing all of them and buying a new batch of slaves might raise a few eyebrows. Still, mining is a dangerous task, ten or so slaves could die every month and new slaves could replace them" As he said, the senator made his way back the throne,
"Make sure none of the slaves currently mining leave the mine alive. The existence of these crystals must be kept secret at all costs. Also, make those scholars prepare a document saying the Stormveil mountain originally belonged to Maven, make sure the document looks ancient. Kill them after they finish the job"
The Spartan soldier wasn't surprised at all. He expected the order before the senator actually said it. Senator Vibius was waiting for this moment for more than a decade. As far as the people of Maven knew, Senator Vibius came from a long family line of Sarrius. However, the Sarrius family was not always called Sarrius. The first ancestor who found the family came from a secret order. Only the main bloodline knew the existence of the order and the first ancestor's involvement in the secret order.
"Spartan Hostus, to the outside world, we are just mining iron and minerals"
"Yes, your majesty" Spartan Hostus bowed before leaving the throne hall. At the moment, the Senator was sitting on the throne alone. He looked at the crystal in his hand. Then, with the other hand, he clenched the medallion on his chest.
He pulled the medallion with force. The medallion remained in his hand, radiating a dim glow. The coin-sized black medallion had nothing but a letter etched onto its surface; L. This medallion looked exactly the same as the medallion on Maxine's neck.
"Order of Death" Vibius snickered. The founding ancestor of the Sarrius family was a member of the Order of Death. He was one of the few who survived the Guardians. But unlike others, Vibius's ancestor did not escape the Guardians. Rather, he was escorted to the Southern continent safely by the Guardians because his ancestor was the man who betrayed the Order to the Guardians for wealth, power, and kingdom.
Vibiuis's ancestor did not believe in the Dark Lord Lucifer and neither did Vibius.
As Vibius was looking at the medallion in his hand, another soldier entered the throne hall. He was not a Spartan but a normal soldier who wore full plate armor and chainmail.
"Your majesty, his lord Canus is here to see you"
Vibius quickly put the medallion into his pocket before nodding at the soldier. Several minutes later, Vibius saw a man wearing black robes with a hood covering his head walking towards him.
"Lord Canus" Vibius chuckled, standing up from his throne.
"I'm sick of that name" the figure growled before slowly taking off the hood to reveal his golden shoulder-length hair, perfectly sculpted handsome face, and bluish eyes.
"I'm sorry the name your superiors picked is not as good as your real name, Guardian Connors"
Guardian Connors was none other than the man who was part of the operation new dawn organized by Peyton and Xanali. He was responsible for gathering information about Ghost and the man who killed Jack. Peyton had no idea that Connors killed Jack during his surveillance. Connors was able to blame the bandits in the forest. Since Operation New Dawn was an off-the-books operation, there was no investigation on Connors. After Peyton dismantled the team, each of the team members was welcomed into the Guild as fully-fledged Guardians.
Afraid of Ghost finding of his involvement in Jack's death, Connors used his connections inside the guild to get himself assigned to a top-secret mission in the Southern Continent.
"Tell me that's THE crystal," Connors emphasized the word 'The', raising his brows. He walked closer to Vibius to take a closer look at the crystal.
"Should this be enough to convince the Guardians?" with a snicker, Vibius tossed the crystal towards Connors.
The moment Connors caught the crystal in his hand, he felt a pulse of energy. He was completely stunned. He could yet again feel the Arch energy running through his energy veins.
"Arch energy" Connors snapped his fingers as a spark of flame appeared above his fingers,
Connors's mind went blank.
"Impossible" He mumbled. Though the energy inside the crystal was not enough to cast powerful spells, he could absorb the arch energy from the crystal to perform simple spells which should be impossible considering the Southern continent was void of any energies.
"Not anymore guardian Connors. Now let's talk about how bigger the army the guardians will send here for me to command"