Death... and me

Meanwhile, somewhere far away from the purging organization's tower, there was a small organization with one of the smallest territories in the Upside Down World. The people and demon beasts of that organization called themselves the Light Seekers. One might think it looked like some strange cult, but it was far from that. The members of that organization were all people that sought to find a way out of Upside Down World, never to give up.

Surprisingly, this small organization had already existed for thousands of years. Its leaders have changed quite a few times, usually due to the previous leader's old age. In any case, no one paid much attention to them. Also, because their territory wasn't anything that impressive, rarely did anyone ever challenge them for their terrain.

Of course, almost everyone knew what this organization was looking for. It's just that after so many years, they didn't achieve any results, so the majority stopped paying attention to them a long time ago.

Today, their organization members were doing their own things when suddenly, someone rushed into the main building in a storm. "Where is Giam? Call Giam, quickly!"

The members in the building were surprised to see that person. "Elder Rusfato, weren't you busy in the Fetis Territory? You said you owed them some favor, so you had to help them."

Rusfato didn't want to talk about it now, saying, "Stop wasting time and call Giam. Also, assemble the other elders."

Without any other choice, the guys could only assemble everyone Rusfato asked for. He was one of the elders, so he had this power at the very least.

In the meeting hall, everyone gathered, with the person called Giam in the very middle. It turned out that Giam was the actual leader of the organization. It's just that the Light Seekers didn't care about things like honorifics, so everyone just called the others by their names, even the new members. There were also a few old men and women who had been leaders or elders before who didn't expect to be called.

"Rusfato, what's the matter for you to call all of us on such short notice? You should know that we're quite busy with 'that' at the moment." Giam didn't seem very pleased, nor did the others.

However, Rusfato ignored their complaints before explaining, "It's bad. There are rumors that some power is about to try to escape Upside Down World."

"What?!"

Immediately, everyone's expressions changed.

"How did they find out?"

"Who opened their mouth?!"

"This was supposed to be a secret!"

Rusfato shook his head, saying, "I don't know. All I found out is that it has something to do with the purging organization. Maybe they were watching us all this time? In any case, this rumor is spreading like wildfire, and a lot of people and demon beasts are gathering at their tower."

No one could guess whether that was the truth or not.

"Wait! You said they're gathering at the purging organization's tower, not here?" Sure enough, one of them immediately noticed that point. Soon after, everyone looked at Rusfato.

"That's correct. However, I still felt it was the right thing to do to come back here and tell you the news," said Rusfato in response.

Giam obviously nodded. "You did well." Right after, he looked at all the elders and said, "We will need to advance our plans."

"Wait! What if it has nothing to do with us?" asked an elder called Husraba.

"Husraba's right. It's not a good idea to accelerate our plans if no one knows about it."

Giam then asked his elders, "What if this was a rumor spread by the purging organization, and they're actually gathering forces to come to our territory? Even though the Upside-Down World has rules, it won't matter if most of the powers join their strength for the same objective. Are you willing to risk seeing all those disbelievers take the fruit of our work?"

Giam continued, "I know it's possible that it has nothing to do with us, but I truly can't take the chances. Besides, we're just hastening the start of our escape in three months. Most of the arrangements were made anyway. Of course, if you all still wish to bet on the possibility that it has nothing to do with us, I won't say anything else, and we can continue with our preparations. It's just that I think it's too much of a coincidence that such a thing happened just when we were so close to finishing."

Everyone had to admit Giam was right. Just how many years have passed already? No such thing about escaping the Upside Down World had ever happened. Now that they were close to trying that out in secret, this rumor that was catching the attention of every power appeared.

Of course, little did they know that such a coincidence was truly taking place. Not only once, but twice. After all, Havek was also in the middle of creating a way out of the Upside Down World.

"I agree with Giam."

"I agree with Giam."

"I agree with Giam."

"I agree with..."

Sure enough, all of them didn't want to have their work wasted, so they decided to advance things forward.

Seeing that, Giam nodded, satisfied. "Good! There's no need to keep a facade anymore. We are all entering the secret chamber underground to work on it together. Forget about any energy hiding techniques or other bullshit like that. We'll finish it as fast as possible and immediately activate it!"

Following that, the members who were oblivious to the task were told to stand their ground outside while all the ones involved in that project disappeared into the so-called secret chamber. All those members who remained outside were simply told that their organization had just reached a critical point, and they would know more very, very soon.

Back at the purging organization, a few hours had passed since Clinbay appeared underground. Outside, Levid and the elders were forced to come out to talk with some leaders of other powers. For now, everything was being dealt with through conversation since not many people and demon beasts had gathered yet. It was just hard to say how long that would stay like that.