?


    [Moments Earlier…]


    Within an extremely spacious meeting room, adorned with simple designs such as proper tiled floors and murals decorating the walls, there was a long, rectangr table—remiscent to a council meeting where all the stakeholders of a certain enterprise would gather.


    The table was made seemingly of transparent ss, and it reflected the milky white cieling of the room. The squeaky clean tiles were a fine mix of white and ck, but thankfully the murals on the walls possessed a tapestry of colors that made the room feel alive.


    Within this vast room, as one would expect, a lot of people were seated on their respective chairs, and some were also standing behind the respective seats—almost like guards to those seated.


    There was only one seemed to be standing—or rather, floating—at the forefront of the bunch, and she was the moderator of this meeting.


    She had pink wings, peach pink hair, and her eyes were emerald green. As a fairy, she had a naturally smaller staturepared to most of the people present in the meeting room, but themanding presence that oozed from her made that impossible to notice.


    As for her audience, they were listening to her attentively, almost religiously as she broke down the information she dispensed with pinpoint uracy.


    Everybody seated behind the very long table, and even the ones who stood behind them, were all invested in the topic at hand—some more than most.


    It was a pertinent matter that they had spent ten years trying to uncover.


    "That concludes the summarized version of the cumtive expedition data I have gathered." Jane Urs spoke as she turned her gaze to everyone seated in the room.


    Elf Queen Aurora Vindiel was seated and standing behind her were Lemi and Freya.


    Beast King Gerard was seated and behind him were Asa and one his many wives, apparently.


    Dragon King, and Leader of the United Magic Beast Council, Z''ark was seated in his miniature dragon form, and behind him were two of his loyal aids.


    One was a Griffon, and the other was a Titan, though both had been considerably shrunk in size so they were incredibly smaller than their natural appearances.


    Dwarf Chief Dulum, with two of his council members standing rigidly behind him with thier chubby bodies.


    Albion Lestrome Indiavel, King of the Eastern Kingdom, had only his Court Mage standing behind him. As one would expect from Elrich Lendertwale, he was adorned in his usual jewels, and had a calm smile on his face.


    Then, there was the seated Maro, who had Jerry and Ivan standing behind him. He felt ufortable seated among so many distinguished individuals, but his role as a mechanic was a very pertinent one, so he had his own chair.


    The strongest Grand Mage, Serah Crimson was also seated, her arms crossed. Behind her were Maria and Ana, and together they were recognized as the strongest offensive force among the expedition team.


    Finally, Beruel was also seated, and he was the only one who didn''t have a single entourage behind him. He didn''t seem to mind, though.


    No, perhaps this was the oue he had desired from the start.


    A few Fairies stood in key positions, mostly serving as guards and assistants in case their President wanted something.


    In such a ce filled with nearly all the most important figures the world had to offer, a certain air of tension filled the air.


    The entire room was chock-full of energy that it nearly felt suffocating. However, everyone present in the room were at least powerful enough to withstand such pressure.


    As a result, they allfortably sat and listened to their moderator further break down the results of their recen expedition and painstaking research.


    "After extrapting the information you have all gathered, and corrting all of them with one another, I''ve finally had a breakthrough." Jane Urs''s grin widened as she stared at the anticipating crowd.


    Beams of hope could be seen spreading on everyone''s faces as they all held their breaths and waited for Jane''s follow-up words.


    "I have been led to the Hive, the source of the Nether Beasts and all the corruption we have been battling with all this time."


    So far, they had been treating the symptoms, but the Hive seemed to be the root cause of so much Nether Corruption that seemed to be spreading at an rming rate.


    Fortunately, thanks to the constant expedition the teams had been venturing on, they had managed to thin out the influence of the Nether Beasts and whittle out the corruption guing their world.


    "Once we take care of the Hive, we''ll be able to get rid of the Nether Source in the world. Once that happens… we won''t need to worry about the corruptions any longer."


    Jane Urs''s words was met with the silence of everyone seated in the room.


    All she had said was indeed good news. Getting rid of an encroaching darkness was a step towards progress. However, there was something that couldn''t be overlooked.


    After getting rid of the Hive… what next?


    The Corruptions, or Nether Beasts, despite being the threats that they were, served as means for these people to dish out their frustrations and also hold onto the hope that they might find the missing ones in one of their expeditions.


    If the Expeditions were to end after the Hive destruction, wouldn''t they devolve back to a reality where they had no purpose?


    A point where they were empty.


    "With my predictive data, and from the research I''ve been doing on the Hive, especially the concentration of Nether that I''m sensing, it might take all of our strenghtsbined topletely get rid of it." Even though Jane understood what the silent she was recieving meant, she continued anyway.


    "If we are able to conclude this mission and finally rid our world of the final vestiges of Corruption, we can proceed beyond our immediate zones to explore more of the universe and search for clues about our target and the source of all this tragedy…"


    At this point, nearly everyone flinched. That was because there was no one who didn''t know how dangerous and despicable said man was.


    "... Legris Damien."


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    [A/N]


    While Jared and his allies n on reuniting with their friends and families, they also seem to be up to something big.


    What''ll happen next?


    Also, remember to check out the character illustrations.


    Cheers!


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    [A/N]