Supreme Monarch

Winged City, Royal Borough.

Luxurious carriages pulled by all sorts of exotic tamed beasts could be regularly seen on the main streets of the borough. This situation was a lot different than it had been only a few weeks ago. 

Back then, even the fanciest of carriages were pulled by horses and only the highest-ranking nobles in the city possess Tier 2 demonic horses. 

However, everything changed the moment a certain merchant arrived in this city. He was a hooded commoner, yet he was strong enough to own an exotic beast and a magic carriage that could put the nobles to shame even with the simplistic design of the magic carriage. 

Noble pride could not allow this insult to stand and even the lowest ranking nobles had spent an exuberant amount of money to purchase exotic mounts that now parade the city non-stop. They were most common in the Royal Borough but some could be seen in the other boroughs.

The rich merchants and Hunters also seem to be doing the same. It seems that VIP merchants had started a very expensive trend that no longer solely relied on the design of the carriages. 

Casually staring at this scene from behind his office window, Aur took a sip of red wine from his glass and chuckled. 

'Such simpletons.'

Aur mused silently as he played with the wine in the glass. He had his usual stoic expression on his face but seemed to be in a rather good mood. He was about to take another sip from his glass when he felt a faint presence suddenly appear behind him.

However, he didn't seem concerned by the sudden presence and resumed the motion of taking a sip of wine before speaking curtly to nothing in particular. As though he was talking to a ghost. 

"Report."

"Yes, sir. The investigation on the mysterious merchant known only by the name Lix which we believe is an alias has met a dead end. According to the guard, not many merchants and hunters has heard of him before his arrival, and afterward, he had only worked with a single Hunter group. Aside from the Merchant, guild, he has also made contact with the Magic Institute."

The figure had appeared behind him and genuflected respectfully. She was slim and slender with black watery hair that reached the lower parts of her back. She wore a tightly fitted black outfit.

Spotting a similar black mask that covered the lower parts of her face and dark purple metal greaves that matched the same colored gloves with metal knuckles.

"I see... so nothing new then. How disappointing."

"My apologies."

"That's fine Aika. Have you tracked down the missing Hunter party yet?"

"I'm afraid not my lord. Our intel points to them wandering into a Numbers base located in the south borough but our intel has not gotten any confirmation of their death or capture. This does not fit their mode of operation."

"And our inside source?"

"Nothing."

"Such nuisance." 

Aur furrowed his brows as he thought of the elusive VIP merchant that he knew next to nothing about. It was a new feeling for him to be so ignorant of anything. 

The main reason why he had established the Ghost Legion was for situations like this. In order for him to move up in the family as he was unable to increase his strength. So naturally, information was vital for him. He wanted and needed to stay three steps ahead of everyone.

However, things had begun to go wrong since that merchant stepped foot into his city. 'Or was it before that?' There was also that annoying scout but he was dead now.

"Any word from the Guilds on the current expenditure?"

"No sire. It seems the Hunters are yet to make contact with either guild. They may still be in the midst of clearing out the mine."

"And what of Sypilia?"

"The lady Syphilia has denied our request to investigate the event with Lix companion and her Vice."

"Why must that woman choose to be such a pain at every turn. She's even more infuriating than that bastard Zomatsu. Speaking of which. How are things with the Undead army going?"

"As we expected. The family had sent a few representatives to infiltrate the undead army. We're not exactly sure of their main objective."

"So we're going to participate in such a meager war after all. If Mammon was truly killed by the behemoth who had unknowingly succeeded in seizing the castle from underneath the great five, there's no telling what such as deviant is capable of. Such an elaborate play of war just to show his cards for us to devour."

"I see... forgive my ignorance master. But if our only objective in this war is to show the behemoth's hand. Isn't an army of only 20,000 plus undead too small."

"Indeed it is. It's safe to say this behemoth is stronger than Mammon who was strong enough to take down a primordial. He was at a level I can only dream of. Still, if he is truly stronger than him and hadn't used an item to claim victory, an army of just 20,000 plus undead is far too small to shake him."

"So—"

"So that's what we want him to think."

"..."

"Who do you think the family has sent to represent us?"

"From our intel, they are a trio of behemoths that came under us centuries ago. Their exact strength is still unknown even to the elders."

"Indeed."

"But, we're also aware this unknown behemoth also had followers as strong or even stronger than Mammon's generals of greed. Isn't that a bit too much for only three behemoths to handle?"

"Such reasoning is exactly why this plan will be a success."

"..."

"Even I didn't know the true strength of the trio the family had sent but I was privileged to watch one of them spar with an elder a while back. While they may not be as powerful as Mammon, all three of them are true demigods."

"That's impossible!"

"Believe it. There is only a fraction of the family's might. As true demigods, their presence alone would turn the tides of any battle. However, that is not all. If I'm not mistaken, the family will be sending them along with the assistance of a God Tier artifact. Even I think this may be overkill."

"Wouldn't doing this expose us to the other family?"

"There's no need to worry about that. After all, our family is not the only ones infiltrating the undead army."

"So it's true."

"Indeed, this behemoth had garnered the wrath of all Five Great Families. He would soon learn what it means to step off the dragon's tail. I pity the fool. The undead army will be the least of his worries."

A rare smile appeared on Aur's face as he continued to stare out his window while taking in the evening air. Both this mysterious behemoth and the mysterious Lix were truly a thorn in his sight and he couldn't wait for at least one of them to kick the bucket. 

"By the way, did yo—"

Aur was still in the middle of his sentence when he suddenly froze as an unbelievable sight gasped outside before his eyes. If he wasn't seeing this with his own eyes and someone had told him about this scene, he would have that person locked up or frankly killed.

Yet, here he was just staring at the vast sky dumbfounded. After all, the sky had just disappeared in a sudden wave of energy that spanned more than his senses could comprehend.

"Wha-What is this?"

••••••••••

••••••••••

Taine Ze Region, Sun City. 

The massive Metropolitan city in the middle of the desert was as busy and bustling as usual. There weren't many things different about the city aside from the increasing number of guards that patrolled the city. 

The city has also seen a sudden increase in its population recently. The activity of the Hunter HQ had also multiplied in recent times due to the fact that the Monster activities in the Taine Ze Region had also increased in the past week or so. 

The reason for these increases was unknown to most but the demon nobles seems to be getting restless. Although it was the middle of winter and most of them would've retired back to their lands, they seemed to have returned in a haste.

Standing tall in the center of the City, was a massive stone castle that intimidated every building in the city. This was the capital city in the Taine Ze Region so naturally, this was the Brimstone's family's main castle where an urgent briefing among a selected few had been called.

At the end of one of the largest halls in this castle stood a massive stone throne where a dominating figure sat. His presence overwhelmed the entire hall in an oppressive force that would make even demigods quiver before him.

He had short white hair with slight streaks of red and had a stoic expression on his face. An eye patch ran across his left eye. He had a neatly trimmed beard of white and wore an extremely luxurious red and white robe.

His fingers were adorned with several rings that gave off various glowing effects that matched the glint in his scarlet-colored pupils that gaze coldly at his subjects, exuding the aura of a king. 

Multiple figures dressed in luxuriously inexpensive outfits stood before the throne as they listened to a detailed report from a young lady with brown hair styled in a twin tail. An intricate necklace adorned her neck. 

After concluding her report, murmurs arose between the group of elders and demon nobles standing before the throne. 

"Is this a sick joke? How does a fort completely disappears without us gaining any intel about this so-called behemoth?"

Their murmurs and discussions seemed to be about the disappearance of a certain research Fort that had suddenly disappeared a couple of days ago. 

"I'm told the fort was located in Marquis Aamon's land, how does something like this happen without the lord of the land's knowledge. If anything, shouldn't you have better surveillance in your across your own land. You suppose to be the leader of the information division."

One of the elders suddenly spoke up loudly as he addressed the elephant in the room while smiling smugly to Aamon who stood quietly to the side.

"I believe most of the blame for this blunder should go to Aamon. I need a head for the intelligent division should be chosen. Don't you think so, Marquis Aamon?"

With a wide smile on his face, he moved forward as he made a sudden suggestion that seems to come out of nowhere but contained a certain weight. 

"Ridiculous."