Speed Is King

"If not, then I would like to respectfully inform you that your services and contributions to the Gaming Commission are at an end effective immediately.

A generous compensation will be sent to you as a token of my appreciation for your involvement thus far."

At his words, a chilling silence fell upon the already quiet room.

El'Taras was effectively asking each and every one of them to commit high treason!

"Those who are unwilling to join us, please leave the room now." Chairman El'Taras said softly.

He pointed at the main meeting room door which began to swing outwards noiselessly.

There were no guards of course.

There were absolutely no need for them.

"Of course, I trust that I do not need to tell you to keep all of your knowledge about the inner workings of the Gaming Commission and our future plans a secret." Chairman El'Taras smiled gently.

However, his eyes glowed a gentle golden in colour.

Without exception, every single Director in the room gulped and swallowed their saliva.

Golden Eyes.

Utter, and complete mind control.

There was no defending against it, not when El'Taras knew them so well already.

It was the ultimate punishment reserved for those who betrayed El'Taras and his beloved Gaming Commission.

They had seen it once when an assistant director was caught divulging a minor piece of information back to the power that sent him to be a part of the Gaming Commission.

Chairman El'Taras had smiled very gently at her, and then his eyes glowed golden like it did at that moment.

The assistant director, a Princess of an exalted Star System of the Eastern Reaches, had stripped completely naked while smiling shyly at all of the Directors present, did a little curtsy to all of them, and then dressed up once more.

She then returned to the Star System as Chairman El'Taras' very personal spy.

She was an Ancient level powerhouse.

They had no idea what the skill's limitations were, its range, it's cost and how many times he could do it. All they knew that the Ancient level powerhouse was completely enslaved.

It was singularly the most horrifying thing the Directors had ever seen in their whole lives.

Safe to say, the Gaming Commission's secrets were safe.

But as it turned out, there was actually no need for Chairman El'Taras to threaten them so.

None moved a muscle.

All of them were staring intently at him, and eagerly waiting for him to reveal his plan.

Chairman El'Taras let the silence stand for a whole five minutes before he finally broke into a wide smile.

He gestured carelessly at the meeting room door and they slammed shut.

BAM!

"One at a time, ladies and gentlemen." He nodded at the first in line, Director Goldwing who immediately stood up and walked to Chairman El'Taras' side.

With a wave of her hand, a barrier isolated the both of them completely from the rest of the Directors in the room.

She took out a little device and passed it to him.

Chairman El'Taras touched it, closed his eyes for a moment, and then nodded at her in approval.

"An accelerated path to Primal Level? Impressive. The Golden Dragons truly are worthy of their top status. I never expected this at all. Thank you, Director Goldwing. As precious as this is though, you are still ultimately the winner of this transaction." He said to her gently.

"I look forward to your generosity, Chairman." Director Goldwing's smile was radiant despite having just committed high treason.

She went back to her seat, and immediately, Director Darkwing stood up, and repeated the same process.

"Hmmmm. Demonic Transformation. A dangerous path. But very well." Chairman El'Taras frowned lightly at Director Darkwing, but he nodded in acceptance.

"The greatest rewards entail the greatest risks, Sire." Director Darkwing bowed low in relief that his secret was accepted.

"I understand. If all goes well, a better way to power awaits you." Chairman El'Taras said.

"I am completely at your service, Chairman." Director Darkwing saluted smartly, and went back to his seat.

Director Sightless Xar, the Apparation was next.

"Well, well, well. Director Sightless Xar. I never thought of you Xars as the ambitious sort. To think you all have developed your Ancient Puppet Army to such an extent. Looking to create some ripples, are we?" Chairman El'Taras chuckled.

"Dangerous times call for extreme measures, Chairman." Director Sightless Xar whispered with a deathly smile.

"Very critical information indeed, especially with regard to all the specific details. Thank you for this. You definitely will not regret your decision." Chairman El'Taras nodded.

One after the other, the twelve Directors approached Chairman El'Taras and laid bare the deepest, darkest and most precious secrets of each of their respective powers.

It was high treason at a scale that was hitherto completely unseen in the entire history of the known universe!

It may be the Gaming Commission's most critically dangerous moment with the entire known universe destabilizing around them as the focal point, but it was also its most glorious.

Given enough resources and time, with so much critical information in his hands, Chairman El'Taras could certainly single handedly blackmail or even destroy the various powers of the known universe!

However, time was something that Chairman El'Taras didn't have.

The waves that Elliot was making were too big and things were escalating too fast.

In a universe that was already unstable to begin with, Elliot was the final straw that broke the (very large) camel's back.

In a sense, it was gross miscalculation on Chairman El'Taras' part.

He never expected that Elliot would show such strange abilities that would be so attractive to the rest of the universe!

He had thought that by clamping down on the information on Jessica Sands and her ascendant runes, he had done well in maintaining the stability of the universe and keeping her as his solid secret weapon.

But never could he have guessed that he had not one, but two time bombs in his hands!

If he had known, he would have definitely moved to remove him from the game entirely, even at the cost of massive losses.

But now it was completely too late. Elliot was a hot potato, and whoever had him would instantly be the target of the rest of the universe.

His Ring of Absolute Stealth may be able to allow him to hide from Ancients, but he would not be able to escape the detection of Primals.

With the various powers getting serious in their attempt to unravel Elliot's secrets, there was no way that the Primals would stay out of the war. At the very least, a few would leave their seclusion to try and capture Elliot for themselves.

And when the Primals finally make their move, locating Elliot would be extremely simple.

Primals were, after all, beings in touch with the strings of fate.

No, it was definitely too late for him to extract Elliot.

He had to continue on his course of action, and maneuver from behind the scenes to make sure the war doesn't reach Planet Earth for as long as possible.

And to do that, he had to strike the first blows, and strike hard.