n

n

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nTwo weeks had passed in the blink of an eye. Souta stayed inside Saya's inner consciousness. All he did was trained the manual he received from Athena.

nIt was called Hidden Concealing Method.

nIt was a high-level skill and its only purpose was to hide the unique presence of Cosmic Body. It took him a total of forty days inside Saya's inner consciousness before he managed to learn it.

nNow that he learned this skill, it was safe to say that he could escape the perception of Zodiacs to some extent. Of course, the perception of Zodiacs was unimaginable so he better not get close to them as there's a chance that they would discover him.

nJust like what Athena said this skill was not perfect. After all, Zodiacs were all high level gods and who knows what sort of trick they were hiding.

n

"As long as I don't encounter Zodiacs...

"

nHe used forty days to learn this skill. The remaining time was for him to familiarize himself with his new skill set. The combination of his Blood Reign and Element Drive gave him a new height in his combat prowess.

nUsing blood as a medium to create a combo skill was indeed terrifying.

nSouta glanced at Yenxa.

n

"Can you do it?

"

nYenxa shook her head with a disappointed look.

n

"I'm sorry, My Lord. I think that it would still take a lot of time.

"

nSouta smiled and he ruffled her hair.

n

"Don't worry. Just move at your own pace.

"

nHe thought that he could promote Yenxa to third stage but it seems that seventy days of intense training weren't enough. At the very least, Souta felt that she reached the limit. She would hit her third evolution soon.

nYenxa should be able to reach third stage. She just needed some stimulation just like what happened to Yuko back then. Yuko unexpectedly evolve when they were battling in the Blue Lawless City.

nLife and death battle was really effective.

n

"Seventy days had passed inside Saya's inner consciousness but only two weeks here. I wonder what they are doing.

"

nSouta stretched his hand as he left his room with Yenxa. He found that Isabella was the only one inside their base.

n

"Where are they?

"

n

"Umm... They are on a mission. They left four days ago.

"

n

"Oh,

" Souta understood. It seems that they couldn't wait for him so they took some missions for themselves.

nNevertheless, four days ago...? Maybe, the difficulty was quite high. He understood as it took him almost two weeks to complete the mission in Halbun Dukedom.

nSouta sat down on the sofa and looked at the ceiling.

nHe had nothing to do.

nHe just finished training so he wanted to go out after burying himself inside Saya's inner consciousness for a long time.

nHe turned his head to the side, looking at the banner with Athen's Champion symbol encrypted on it.

nSecond Class Yellow Squadron.

nIt's still the same.

nThe rank of their circle haven't changed but he guessed that they were close to their promotion.

nFirst Class Yellow Squadron and next is Third Class Blue Squadron.

nTwo promotions and he would be able to take one visit to any sub-world under Athena's control.

n

"I'll make it faster.

"

nSouta narrowed his eyes. He recalled that Athena said that she will arrange a territory for himself outside the Champion's Den. It's a good choice considering Alice's identity as a demon.

nIt would be bad if other gods discovered Alice. It would be fine if only Hermes, Artemis, Hestia, or Persephone but as for the others... Souta didn't trust them.

nHe stood up and took out the transmission talisman that he hid in the drawer.

n

"What is it, Souta?

" Torkez's voice echoed.

nSouta inquired about the things that happened there. Torkez answered all of his questions without hiding anything.

nIn short, the Astros grew larger as they slowly began to absorb the nearby smaller villages.

nHe told Torkez about the territory that Athena will arrange for him. He said that he wanted some capable people to send here.

nTorkez answered that he will dispatch Amanda along with some of Eilish's original subordinates. All of them were peak S-rank and would greatly help him.

nAlso, Torkez told him that Lydia contacted him five days ago. She just asked about their situation here and she also gave him the blueprint of Floating Fortress.

nAfter settling everything, Souta put down the transmission talisman.

nHe turned his head and said,

"Isabella, can you prepare me a cup of coffee?

"

n

"Okay!

" Isabella replied.

nFour hours later...

nA knock sounded, followed by a voice of a man.

n

"Souta! Grain Leader Carmel is summoning you to his office!

"

nSouta turned his head to look at the door and found that after announcing those words, the man hurriedly left.

nIt seems that something happens...

n'Ufufu... What a timing.' Saya chuckled.

n'Yep, since I don't have anything to do might as well see what happened.' Souta stood up.

n

"Isabella, Yenxa, take care of the base for me... I have something to do.

"

n

"Okay.

"

n

"Yes, My Lord.

"

n...

nInside Carmel's office.

nCarmel was sitting on a chair with his chin resting on his hands. His eyebrows were knitted together as he glanced at the people in front of him.

nThere were a total of sixteen people and Souta was among them. He was standing in the back row, observing the other people.

nHe found that these people were all Shackled Realm experts. And they were all leaders of a squadron like him.

n'Something serious happened since only people at Shackled Realm were called here.' Saya said.

n'Surely.' Souta narrowed his eyes.

nCarmel slowly opened his mouth and said,

"I called you here because of some important matter.

"

nHe stretched out his right hand.

n

"Several weeks ago, the leader of Astros Squadron, Souta, captured a person in his mission. That person's name is Rufus, and he is connected to Red Matter Association.

"

n'So that old man's name is Rufus... It seems that they are successful.' Souta said inwardly.

nThe other people in the office didn't utter any words. They just listen to their Grain Leader. The matter about Red Matter Association was serious and everyone in the Third Set knew about it.

n

"We interrogate Rufus and we extracted information about the Red Matter. We launched a secret mission and some of you received it...

" Carmel eyed some of the people in front of him.

"We destroyed a total of seven small bases of Red Matter. A week ago, we managed to locate the main headquarters of the Red Matter Association.

"

nSouta and the other leaders were surprised. Locate the main headquarters of the Red Matter Association? If it comes to this, then the next thing that will happen was...

n

"Just now, we received information from the people that we dispatched there. It's been confirmed that place is the main headquarters of the Red Matter.

"

nCarmel paused and looked at them one by one.

n

"The Third Set of Pallas Division will have a large-scale operation at this moment. Several Grains will be mobilized and squadrons that have Shackled Realms in their circle are included in this operation.

"

nThe leaders of squadrons knew that this would be a big battle.

n

"Chief Captain Vandal already summoned some of the available Grain Leaders. Since some of the Grain Leaders aren't available as they couldn't leave the city they were stationed in, we decided to request help from Fourth Set. This was already approved by higher-ups so prepare yourself. We'll have a war.

"

nAfter a series of questions and answers, Souta and the other squadron leaders left Carmel's office. They were going to prepare for this large-scale operation.

n'Finally, something interesting...' Saya laughed.

n'It's getting worse...'

nSouta said as he glanced at the paper files in his hand. He clicked his tongue and entered the base of Astros.

nHe threw the paper files on the table before he slumped on the sofa. He started at the ceiling and sighed.

n

"What's wrong, Souta? Did something bad happen?

" Isabella asked after she heard him sigh.

n

"Nothing...

" He said before he closed his eyes.

nIsabella curiously picked the paper files on the table. She read it and her face slowly turned into shock.

nIn the files, several organizations started moving and confronting various gods' legions. Red Matter Association wasn't the only one that was moving. There were more than thirty organizations as big as Red Matter that moved without care. They already burned and ravaged dozens of villages, towns, and cities.

nIt seems that bigger organizations were sponsoring them. Organization like...

n'Wingless Crow, Burial Face, Tyrant Grim...' Souta muttered.

nBig organizations like the three that he mentioned were almost comparable to a god's legion. The big bosses of these organizations were all gods.

nBig organizations like these three were helping smaller organizations like Red Matter. That's the reason why there's a lot of movement from smaller organizations and they were slowly chipping the forces of each sacred land this way.

nIt's the start...

nGiant terrorist organizations wouldn't be able to cooperate because each one of them had ambition and strength. The big bosses were all gods. Their strength was almost similar to each other.

nThere's one reason why they were conspiring.

n

"Gluttony...

" Souta muttered under his breath.

n

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