The following process was pretty fast, as the leader of the intelligence department of the Elemental Sea, while Bell impersonated the leader of this branch of Black Wave, she had the information of all the assassins that were registered.
She planned to give them all away to Aurora as part of her last gift to Aurora, in other words she basically controlled the underworld of the Elemental Sea, so it was easy for her to summon all of them at once.
Not even half an hour later around one hundred people arrived at this secret underground space, unlike the other branches of Black Wave, this was the one who had the less members.
The reason behind it was simple, Bell wanted to keep a tight grip on the organization, so while on the surface she accepted new applicants, everyone who didn't meet the requirements she had, was killed by her during the "tests" that they needed to do in order to join.
The other members didn't find it weird since this was a dangerous line of work anyway, and they had less competition this way.
That being said, the few members were all at least peak Arch ranks, there were ten peak Half Stellar and surprisingly an early-stage Stellar expert, maybe in number they were less than the subordinates of Olivia but they were stronger.
The early-stage Stellar rank, an old man with a long white beard frowned, before he turned to see Bell who was now wearing her disguise.
"What happened leader, it's the first time we all gather at the same time, did something happen?", he said with a rude voice.
Bell listened to the disrespectful elder and she smirked behind her mask, this old man was also present when things went south back at the reunion, but unlike Bell who of course joined hands with Olivia to resist the forced invitation of the leader of the Maelstrom Sea, the old man was interested in the power he offered.
For a very simple reason, he was getting short on lifespan so unless he found a high ranked treasure to extend his life, or he advanced his life will end in a couple of hundreds of years, it might sound like a lot of time but compared to the normal lifespan of even a Half Emperor which rounds around the eighty thousand or so years, it was nothing, the old mas desperate.
So when Bell harshly rejected the offer, the old man started getting funny thoughts, naturally how could Bell not notice it, in part that's why she accepted Olivia's request to meet her, she was going to do some cleaning with her help, because though she was originally a middle stage Stellar rank and a really strong one on top of that, as she was the older among Jessica, Sylvie and her, after years of being cursed she was barely keeping herself at the early stage of the Stellar rank.
"I had something important to announce Tadeus, if you feel that you are more important than Black Wave's future, feel free to leave", answered Bell, with her disguised neutral genderless voice.
"Humph, do you think I don't know what you are scheming, you didn't want to accept the power it was offered to us, and since I showed clear interest on it you now want to do some cleaning, I have been an assassin for more years than you!", said the old man with a smirk.
He then turned to see the other assassins and then raised his voice.
"Companions, when we joined Black Wave, it was with only one motive, get stronger for our own benefit, and now the leader is preventing us from doing so, join me, if we present the head of this idiot to Lord Romel, we'll be for sure granted the power we want!".
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtMany people in the group were moved by the words of the old man, naturally these assassins had no loyalty, they were outlaws, exiled and criminals who joined Black Wave for convenience.
The previous leader gave them good missions over the years, but now it was blocking their way to a higher realm, so it was time to change it.
"Sorry boss, but with this I'll be able to reach the Stellar rank after being stuck for so many years, so I'll have you die for the sake of my advance".
Seven of the peak Half Stellar ranks took the side of the old man, while around 80 out of the 100 Arch ranks also sided with Tadeus.
"Since when have you been planning this, I don't remember you ever being close to Romel?", asked Bell with her disguised voice.
The old man put on a fierce expression as he took out his weapon a longsword with a serrated side, which clearly was used to rip flesh off.
"Let's just say I happened to know one of the subordinates that accepted the power you rejected, who acted as the intermediary".
"Don't bother to try and activate the arrays, it was Mike the one who engraved them, so of course they are now deactivated", said the old man as he looked at a short guy with glasses that was siding with him, that was the rune master of this branch of Black Wave.
As the battle was about to broke out, the space behind Bell waved and then a silver haired masked youth appeared out of thin air, or at least that's what it seemed to happen.
"Really, villains lose because they talk too much", the moment Daimon finished speaking a horrible pressure fell on all the members of Black Wave, whether they sided with Tadeus or not, they were all forced to the ground.
Having worked as an assassin for such a long time, which required him to escape from bodyguards who were often stronger than him after he failed or succeeded on a mission, Tadeus's face paled, he knew the owner of that pressure was way above his league.
And he was right because soon Aurora followed by Thea and Sarah came out of the visual illusion area, naturally the appearance of one of the two most famous figures of the Elemental Sea and the only other Maximum Stellar rank besides the Shaman, made Tadeous and the other assassins who tried to rebel, despair.
"You betrayed us for the Light Palace!", shouted a half Stellar rank, only for Bell to take out her disguise to show them her true appearance.
"Wrong, I was never your ally to begin with".
The word "shock" was written all over the faces of all the assassins, and you can imagine their reaction when Sarah took off her disguise, they have been following the orders of their natural enemy, the head of the intelligence department and her little daughter!
"Miss Thea, if you do the honors, please", said Daimon.
Thea smiled her right pupil turned bright red and then she scanned all the presents, as the outlaws they were they had many contracts attached to them but all were already fulfilled.
"They are clean, should I proceed with the contract now?".
Daimon nodded, and then Thea's pupil color changed to green, at the same time all the assassins grabbed their heads, the part who earlier sided with Tadeus actually screamed in pain, while those who didn't only seemed a bit uncomfortable for a couple of seconds.
The reason is simple the first ones were turned into cannon fodder, those that will be sent to the first line to test the capacities of the enemy or to suicidal missions, while the others became soldiers for the army they were creating.
The difference between the two is that the first were already tempted by the power of the Nethereal, and so they were susceptible to it, unfortunately the contracts made by Thea weren't completely absolute like his terror contracts, they could still harbor ill thoughts and they won't die or suffer due to that, though they can't act against Daimon and the others as per the conditions of the contract.
Also, it's not like Daimon wanted to see some drama for him let the situation develop to this point, Bell told him about Tadeus's ambition and that meant there was a chance he had made contact with the leader of Black Wave in the Maelstrom Sea, Romel, who is one of his targets too.
Since he didn't know if Tadeus was under what he named as "Loyalty Curse", instead of risking to lose the old man who was their only hint regarding where to find Romel in the vast and dangerous Maelstrom Sea, Bell simply directed the conversation towards that.
The old man ignorantly fell in the trap and since he talked about Romel so easily, it was easy to guess that he wasn't under a curse of he would have kept his mouth shut, after that was confirmed, there was no need to keep watching, so Daimon finished the little play.
'I guess she isn't the head of the intelligence department for nothing', thought Daimon as he stole a gaze at Bell, she came with this plan in a matter of minutes after she learned about the curse of the Nethereals from Daimon.
"We are finished here, I trust you can get the can get the information we need out of him, right Bell?", said Daimon, she asked him to call her by her name without honorifics so Daimon didn't stop in the ceremony.
"Yes, I will know everything by tomorrow's morning, so feel free to leave, Sarah you also go with them… I need to let out some steam".
Surprisingly Sarah who was eyeing Daimon all this time trying to find an opening to jump onto him, changed her attitude to an obedient one.
"Okay mom", she said.
But Aurora had other plans for the pair of mother and daughter.
"That can wait, you two will be coming back to the Light Palace, I have called Sylvie and Jasmine, and we are clearing this misunderstanding tonight", the mother and daughter were a bit hesitant of confronting their friends so soon, but Aurora's expression made them realize there was no use in complaining so they both nodded.
"You don't mind, right?", asked Aurora to Daimon after seeing those two accept her request.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmDaimon shrugged.
"We are leaving tomorrow, so go ahead and settle your own matters first", he said, he understood that with the threat of the world ending in a few days, Aurora didn't want to wait an extra second to solve the feed between the two girls who she considered her daughters, her sole direct disciple Sylvie and the other best friend of her late daughter, Bell.
Though no it was unclear if Byron was actually related to Purplecloud and Bell, regardless of that, Bell and Jessica considered each other as sisters, and Sarah has always considered Jasmine her little cousin, whom she has been watching over from the shadows, there was no way Aurora will accept them being separated now that the misunderstanding has been cleared.
Bell used the transportation array to take Daimon and the others back to the lifeless island, and then Aurora took them to the main territory of the Purple Haze sect, as for the assassins they were all under contracts now, and just in case Aurora casted a restraining spell on them, Bell will later return to deal with them.
A portal appeared under the moonlight illuminated purple island which was the main territory of the Purple Haze sect, more accurately in front of a purple castle.
The guards saw Aurora appearing at the entrance and this time they didn't try to cause any trouble, apparently news of what happened to the high stage Stellar ranked back at the Black Fortress's treasury had spread, and they didn't want Aurora to punish them too.
Bell and Sarah were also accompanying and though Purplecloud and Bell didn't get along, since a long time ago, the fact that she is part of the royal family of the Purple Haze sect remains, not to mention she holds a really important title as the one in charge of intelligence, while Purplecloud is in charge of assassination tasks.
With Bell here they didn't need a guide, so after a few minutes of walking they arrived at the treasury of Purplecloud's castle.
The whole time Sarah's eyes were intensely gazing at Daimon's back, she tried to grab his arm a couple of times, but he easily dodged, which somehow made her try even harder.
Aurora and Bell limited to laugh and kept their distance, while Thea also seemed to be amused at the whole thing.
Daimon on the other hand felt a headache coming his way, because he could guess what was going to happen after the pair of purple haired mother and daughter reconcile with Sylvie and Jasmine.
'Forget it, I'll leave mom and the others handle this crazy girl', he thought, he had the premonition that even if even if he threatened Sarah, it will have the contrary effect, so he just ignored her.
Daimon took out the last token he had and the door of the treasury opened, surprisingly the treasury was also pretty organized, it's not like Purplecloud didn't want to play some tricks, but he was too busy trying to heal his son so that there won't be any side effects to not ruin his talent, so right now he couldn't think of anything else.
The moment Daimon set a foot on the treasury he already decided what he will be taking from this place, the reason is simple the laws that it was radiating were at least four times stronger than the ones of any other object in the room.
"P-Purple Devilish Laurel!", exclaimed Bell, as a poison affinity mage how could she not recognize one of the most dangerous, wanted but at the same time avoided, poisonous magic herbs.
Daimon didn't know the name of the magic herb, but judging by the poison laws and the fact that the case in which it was contained which is a Stellar grade treasure itself, is showing signs of melting, made it obvious it was an extremely poisonous thing.
He waved his hand and the case disappeared as he sent it to the inventory, under the surprised eyes of the girls accompanying him.
"Take it out of your ring, the poison of that thing can ignore the isolated space of the ring and affect you!", Bell immediately tried to warn Daimon, one of the things that makes that herb so dangerous is that no treasure can fully contain it.
The poison will filter through any spatial or physical object overtime, it was one of the things legated to Purplecloud by their ancestors, a priceless treasure, which Bell thought Purplecloud had already gotten rid of, the reason is very simple, this same magic herb was what caused their father's death.