Inside a meeting room at Retribution''s headquarters, a group of six yers in the early stages of the Nascent Soul Realm were discussing their next moves with the ck-cloaked Tenebris. Despite their Cultivation, theirbat power was more equivalent to someone near the peak of the Soul Formation Realm, having upgraded many Talents using Potential Points.


    Tenebris was incredibly impressed with this specific group of yers, who each had talents close to William''s when he was discovered early on. With talented members like this, he had no need to actively seek out a flight-risk youth like William, he could use these people right here!


    Just like the old higher-ups that William captured, these yers wore differently-colors cloaks that matched the Regions they were in control of, though there were still two slots remaining to be filled.


    Tenebris had held off on naming the next white and brown-cloaked members until some suitable members reached the Soul Formation Realm at least, wanting at least a few members that would better represent the organization without being underestimated.


    "Master ck, the Superior Darkness World Core has been discovered in the Velos Continent by one of my sources. I wonder if you might be interested?" the new red-cloaked Region Leader asked.


    Instead of mentioning the System, many yers would mention a sourcework instead, to avoid attracting unwanted attention from the NPCs. In reality, this person merely found a thread on the Community Forums and wanted to im the credit as his own for reputation with Tenebris.


    Tenebris nodded in satisfaction. "That''s good, but the difficulty will be quite high if it''s outside the Azures Continent. What have your sources said about the condition of the Superior Core?"


    "Not much. There are rumors of a peak Tribtion Transcendence Beast guarding the area. A mutated snake with red scales that seems to possess both the Darkness and Illusion Elements." the red-cloaked yer shook his head.


    "If it''s a Superior Core, there will probably be more than one Beast at the Peak. From what I''ve gathered on the Superior Death Core, each Superior Core should have five Peak Magical Beasts nearby, and that is the least of our worries.


    In addition to the Magical Beasts, the Superior Core cannot be absorbed until all of the same-Element Greater World Cores have been, which will spawn Beast Tides the moment three are absorbed."


    The blue-cloaked yer jumped into the conversation, "If there are so many Peak Beasts and the protections are so great, do we even have the ability to absorb the Superior World Core right now? Maybe we should focus on absorbing only Greater World Cores for the time being."


    Tenebris nodded, "That is exactly what we will do, but first we must finish the project that Region Leader Orange has started. That William has been getting in our way and we need to dispose of him before he absorbs any more World Cores that should be ours."


    "Get rid of NP- William? Isn''t he invincible in the World? Who could possibly kill him now?" the yellow-cloaked yer asked.


    "You weren''t herest week when we talked about this, Yellow." the blue-cloaked replied. "He may be strongpared to us, but he''s nothingpared to the Ascended Cultivators.


    We''ve contacted one that has agreed to kill William for us, but he''s requested the heart of a Mythical Beast with the Illusion Element. He said he sensed one here, but the price to descend is too steep and he doesn''t want to do it for free."


    "A Mythical Beast? We aren''t strong enough to take on a Mythical Beast! Especially not one with the ultra-rare Illusion Element. This is suicide!" the yellow-cloaked yer stood up as he shouted.


    Tenebris signaled for Yellow to return to his seat. "The Beast in question just happens to be at the peak of the Soul Formation Realm right now. It may not be as difficult as you think."


    He called for a holographic map to appear on the table and pointed to a spot roughly a thousand kilometers southwest of the Providence Zone. "I''ll need two of you to pick your most capable subordinates and go to Blue Moon City.


    There, you''ll ambush this Mythical Beast while it defends the City from a Beast Tide. I''ll also grant you one legion [1] of the summons I have stored up over the past hundred years. Lead them well."


    The eyes of the yers glimmered upon hearing Tenebris'' offer. His infamous Beast Legions are the main reason why they wanted to join Retribution in the first ce, and now some of them had a chance to lead one of their own for this mission.


    All six of the yers volunteered for the mission, but only Blue and Green were chosen to lead the group, after they won a tournament-style game of rock-paper-scissors in an online chat room that Tenebris couldn''t see.


    They made the necessary preparations and went on their way immediately, leaving Tenebris and the other four Region Leaders to discuss other matters.


    "I''ve received a set of disturbing news that will be a mission for the four of you toplete together." Tenebris began as he performed a few finger movements, changing the style of the holographic map to one that depicted the World as a whole and separated it into distinct colors.


    He pointed to a few tiny red dots that were scattered across the globe with no clear pattern, "These are the recorded Minor, Lesser, and standard Demon sightings in thest one hundred years."


    He waved his hand in a circr clockwise motion to change the map again. This time, the number of red dots had be small masses that were centrally located in the Southern ins and Far East Misnds Regions of the Azures Continent.


    Conversely, the other portions of the World had much fewer dots than before, somepletely devoid of Demon sightings.


    "This is the number of recorded Minor, Lesser, and standard Demon sightings in thest month. As you can see, it''s at least triple what we would see in a typical Century. Odder, most of them are on the Azures Continent, and they are less violent than before."


    "What does this mean to us? We don''t care about a few Demons, do we?" the red-cloaked Region Leader asked.


    "Of course we care!" Tenebris mmed the table and shouted, but he didn''t borate. He took a deep breath to calm down, then returned to his previous tone.


    "Capturing even one of these things alive can greatly advance the strength of my Legions. With the power of my Heavenly Mark, I can even contract the Minor and Lesser Demons." he exined.


    Demons were known for having infinite stamina and unbelievable natural regeneration. If he could acquire one or two more, or better yet, a hundred of these as his own...


    The old Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right wouldn''t have a chance, and even William shouldn''t be able to stand against him! He could use the Demons to guard him while absorbing the Superior Darkness Core, speeding up his future ns by decades, or even centuries!


    [1] A typical Roman Legion isprised of between four to six thousand infantry and three to nine hundred cavalry. In this sense, consider the legion to be roughly five thousand Magical Beasts strong.