Supreme Magus

Even without the mystical wood helping Vastor to keep his focus, the light pink of his skin remained the same.

The only visible sign that there was something wrong with him were his veins which slowly turned black and bulged a little more with each beat of his heart.

"We are just one step away from our goal. The only thing that keeps our different natures from merging into one perfect being is the fact that our cores are still apart. After countless hours and experiments, we are now certain that to reach its full potential, one body can only be fully attuned to one core.

"In my case, the duality is constantly trying to turn my human half into pure energy, inflicting me great pain and reducing the prolonged lifespan that Awakening was supposed to grant me.

"In your case, instead, the monster cores balance the black core, but it also prevents you from Awakening. Once we solve this final conundrum, we'll be able to share our gift with the rest of Mogar.

"It will be the dawn of a new world where talented people won't be forced to bend the knee anymore just to survive. A world where those we deem worthy will enjoy infinite strength and eternal life.

"With their help and our knowledge, it will be only a matter of time before a golden age for all races begins. We'll help the humans to reach the next evolutionary step. The Emperor Beasts to become Divine Beasts.

"The Fae to reach whatever state that their failure at Guardianhood had prevented them from achieving so that they can communicate with Mogar and tell us what it wants from us.

"We will stumble no more in the darkness like blind children, but we will march united under the guiding hand of the best of us." Vastor's eyes veiled with tears as he could almost picture his dream coming true.

He was aware that eliminating conflicts would be impossible, but in the world that he envisioned, it would be up to the leaders of the various factions to solve disputes without involving armies or harming innocents.

Those the Master would bestow power upon would take that burden onto themselves. Unlike the current rulers of all countries in Mogar, they would fight their own battles in person instead of delegating the sacrifices to others.

It would greatly limit the number of conflicts since the leaders of the new world would put their lives on the line only for what they truly believed in instead of for petty or economic reasons.

Also, no matter who would be the victor, regular people wouldn't live in fear of losing everything for a cause that had nothing to do with them.

"Yet the dawn will quickly turn into twilight if the Guardians don't agree with us. All our efforts, all our sacrifices will be for naught if the strength of our bodies doesn't match that of our beliefs." Vastor covered himself, his eyes steeling with determination.

"Hence Bytra stays here and so will Theseus and Nandi. They aren't the strongest among us but without them, our plan has no chance of success. As for Tezka, I need him to protect my family.

"I've never thought the day would come when I'd regret reaching the first place, yet here we are. I'm the biggest thorn in Thrud's side since I've kept stealing her territories even while Lith was away.

"He and I have recently conquered two of her strongholds and recovered lots of cultivated fields just in time for the harvest. The Mad Queen knows that even if she takes them back, she can hold onto them only until our return.

"In her shoes, I'll get rid of myself first because I'm the only realistic target. Lith's parents are in the Desert. To reach them Thrud would need to gather all of her forces and abandon the Kingdom.

"As for Kamila…" Vastor shuddered at the thought as he found himself covered in a cold sweat at the memory of the day of the Black Sun.

"No one in their sane mind would want to see that again." Xenagrosh completed the phrase for him. "Even if the Mad Queen was that mad, she would never succeed. She would just do us a favor."

"Exactly." Vastor nodded. "Unless someone has objections about Tezka's assignment, I'm adjourning this meeting."

No one said anything so Vastor stood up first.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you have your orders. Time to get to work."

The Abominations and Eldritchs used Chaos Warps to cross hundreds of kilometers at a time, reaching their respective destinations with just a few steps. As for the Hybrids, once they would have reached the borders with the Empire and then crossed them thanks to their bloodline abilities.

Now that they had become part of the Council, however, all they needed was a single Chaos Warp to leave Vastor's secret lab and then a few more to reach a distant Regional Lord to enjoy a safe passage straight to the location of their mission.

They didn't like using the Warping Arrays of the Essagor Duchy since it was where their main hideout was located, but never contacting the local members of the Council of a specific region would have been as suspicious as always departing from the same place.

"Why are you going to the Empire? Business or pleasure?" Orosir the Pixie asked while darting around Xenagrosh and Kigan like a fly on steroids. "If you're going sightseeing, I'll gladly join you."

The Fae Lord of the Essagor region might have been easily mistaken for an Emperor Beast.

She had huge chitinous layered wings covered by thousands upon thousands of colorful leaves and vines coming out of her back that looked exactly like those of an overgrown butterfly and what looked like antennae protruding from her forehead.

Yet she had only two arms and legs, a lithe human figure covered in green skin, and only two violet eyes that matched her short hair.

"Strictly business." Xenagrosh threw a mean look at Kigan who returned it in kind.

"It's a pity." She fluttered around them, patting their heads like children. "There's already so few of you. The least you can do is to be nice to each other."

"I would like that." The Phoenix-Balor shrugged. "But that would require miss perfect here to take the judgemental stick out of her ass and I'm afraid that it has long since replaced her spine."

"I'm not judgemental. I simply can't stand-" Xenagrosh bit her own tongue in the nick of time.

There was no Eldritch with a body count inferior to six figures and it was an unwritten rule of the Organization that their respective past was their own. No one was allowed to talk about another member's crimes without their consent.

"Nice save." Kigan clicked his tongue, his spite for the Shadow Dragon reaching new heights.

"Just because you're an asshole, there's no need to act like one." Orosir flicked her finger at his forehead and it hurt. "If you ever want to talk about your differences and you need a mediator, you can count on me."

She then offered to exchange their Kingdom coins with the Empire's and gave them an introduction letter for the local Fae Lord along with one of her leaves so that he would treat them as friends.