The Author's POV

"Are you here to kill time, or do you intend to declare war on us directly?"

"I wonder about that..."

"Don't feign ignorance."

It was the sound of Octavious and Hemlock's voices that roused me awake.

When I opened my eyes, I noticed that the scene was continuing to unfold exactly as it had been when I had closed them.

I lowered my head to check the time.

'Only two minutes have passed.'

I was surprised to see that not much time had passed since I had activated Monarch's Indifference and that the scene had not changed much since I had left.

'You'll find out in due time.'

These were the words that Kevin told me before ending the connection.

What did they mean? ...I didn't know. There were so many questions that I had, yet at the same time, had no one to answer them.

Whatever was happening was fucked up.

All this secrecy bullshit, I was fucking tired of it.

'In the end, I'm still probably not strong enough.'

I silently clenched my fist under the table. All it took was a deep breath to calm my nerves down.

There was something else that needed my immediate attention at the moment.

"I don't get it; why are you people willing to throw away your lives in such a reckless way? Do you have any idea how formidable the Demon King really is? Do you honestly believe that you have even the smallest chance of beating him?"

"What I'm doing is for the good of humanity, which you guys are unwilling to acknowledge. I have already spoken with the Demon King, and he has promised me that if we choose to submit to him, he will provide us with a land where we can survive in the future."

"Why must we waste so many lives when the solution is right in front of us? Are you really willing to let our race go extinct?"

The air resounded with Hemlock's voice. His voice had a peculiar allure that briefly hypnotized me, but I was able to quickly shake off the effect and my gaze fell on Octavious.

For some reason, Octavious was strangely calm.

Even stranger was the fact that he appeared to be quietly listening to Hemlock's voice without any hints of rage or impatience.

The Octavious that I was familiar with would have almost certainly put an end to Hemlock's life right then and there; however, for some inexplicable reason, he had remained perfectly still the entire time.

For some strange reason, it appeared as if they were both stalling for time.

'It can't be right?'

Another ridiculous notion occurred to me, and I turned my attention to the direction in which Octavious was sitting.

'What exactly are you planning?'

"You seem to be waiting for something."

"I am―"

Hemlock's words were interrupted in the middle of his sentence. The expressions of the other people in the room began to shift at the same time that the muffled sound of explosions began to reverberate in the far distance.

"What's going on?"

"What's happening?"

The room didn't descend into chaos as one might have anticipated it would as a result of the unexpected situation; however, it was obvious that the people present weren't exactly unaffected by the situation, all taking out their phones to check what was going on.

Unfortunately for them, the whole place was sealed; no one was able to communicate with the outside world for the moment.

"Everyone, please relax. There is no cause for concern. I will provide everyone present with an explanation at a later time."

Yet again, he was able to calm the whole situation down.

If it weren't for Octavious's voice, there was a good chance that some people would have already exited the building to see what was going on.

With the same listless expression as before, he turned his head to look at Hemlock, who was seated on his chair with a blank expression on his face.

"I believe that you have been tricked."

Hemlocks' right eyebrow twitched slightly in response to Octaviuos' voice.

"I believe so too."

Hemlock nodded his head in agreement. In spite of the fact that he appeared to be calm on the surface, I could sense the anger that was emanating from his voice.

Clearly, he had not expected Everblood to go as far as blowing up half of the city.

The repercussions of his actions weren't going to be very pleasurable.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

While Hemlock's finger drummed over the wooden desk, his gaze lingered over me for a brief moment, and then he suddenly dropped his head on the table.

Thud―!

Everyone in the room was taken aback by his abrupt action, and when they turned to look at him, they discovered to their shock that his figure had already disintegrated all over the table.

"He's left."

Monica's voice echoed beside me.

Following her voice, the entire room erupted in murmurs. From the sudden appearance of Hemlock to the explosions that echoed outside, a great deal transpired in the span of a few minutes, and it was unavoidable that everyone would be a little unnerved by what was occurring due to the rapidity with which it all occurred.

"What do you think the explosions were?"

Monica asked, her head raised to look up at me.

I glanced at her from the corner of my eyes and shrugged my shoulders.

"How should I know? Just like you, I've been trapped in this room the entire time, if you want to ask someone, he's your best shot at finding out what is going on."

I nudged in Octavious's direction with my head and Monica's head turned to gaze in his direction.

At the moment, she wasn't the only one that was looking up at him. From a glance, I could count more than ten of the people in the room already staring in his general direction, and the numbers steadily grew as time passed.

The atmosphere in the room grew increasingly tense, and before long, everyone's attention was drawn in Octavious's direction.

"Octavious, you must know something about the situation, don't you?"

Douglas, who sat in the chair directly to his left, was the first person to comment. A smattering of solemnity could be seen in his eyes at times when he gazed in Octavious's way.

"You've said before that you would give us an explanation of what is going on. I'm sure you haven't forgotten what you said, right?"

This time, a muscular man with fiery red hair and bushy eyebrows spoke. With his arms crossed and wearing a tight black suit, his basketball-sized muscles were accentuated by his attire, which seemed to be a size too small for him.

The mere fact that he was a head taller than the majority of the room's occupants made him extremely intimidating. In fact, he appeared quite comical seated in his chair, which was obviously too small for him.

Newman Jordan, the new 7th ranker.

His presence was extremely oppressive, with the people around him put in a somewhat difficult spot.

He was one of the few that didn't seem to be intimidated by Hemlock, his gaze remaining firm throughout the entire time.

What was odd was the fact that he didn't do or say anything. Then again, he was probably wary of Hemlock, who was the strongest human in existence.

"Calm down; I have already stated that I will provide you with an explanation, and I will. I am a man of my word."

Octavious raised his hand, and the room fell into an immediate hush.

Interlocking his fingers together, Octavious began to talk.

"I've already stated that I wanted to discuss two topics with you guys before we were abruptly interrupted by... you already know who."

"It was something about an alliance, wasn't it?"

Ivana Krala was the one to speak this time.

Leaning back in her chair with her legs crossed and her glossy red hair falling over her shoulder, Ivana's disposition seemed wild and unrestrained. She was currently donning a one-piece black dress that accentuated her great bodyline and muscular figure.

Her lips were fuller than average, and the color of her pupils, which were yellow like Liam's, added to the allure of her otherwise lovely face.

What made her stand out from the others were, in fact, her pupils, which were horizontal, like a reptile's.

Leaning forward on her extended elbow, she smiled, exposing her pearly white teeth.

"Let me guess, for the next ten minutes you will brief us on how the alliance is going to work before finally getting to the main point..."

Ivan's finger tapped on the table once.

"...and that is you want to be the leader of this so called alliance, am I correct?"

'As expected of her, she really doesn't give a single fuck about anything.'

There wasn't much that I knew about Ivana other than the fact that her personality was wild. She was one of the few <SS> rankers that didn't like to operate a guild and preferred to roam the world outside the human domain.

In any event, she possessed the power to support her personality. There wasn't much anyone could do about her.

"You're half correct."

Octavious didn't seem to be the least bit offended by her words.

He was once again shockingly calm.

"Only half?"

Ivana's brow raised, and Octavious nodded.

"Yes, you're correct about the first part. The one about me going through the details of the alliance. "

"...If that's the case, I got the part about you wanting to be the leader of this alliance, wrong?"

"Correct."

Octavious nodded, and everyone in the room showed surprised expressions.

I too, was somewhat shocked by this revelation.

'What's going on?'

I did say that Octavious's personality was different from what is typical because he was unusually calm, but the fact that he flat-out refused to take on the role of the leader of the alliance was an excessively dramatic shift in his behavior.

In all of my memories, he became the leader of the alliance.

Everyone was aware of the fact that he enjoyed a position of authority due to his personality that thirsted for power.

He hated anyone that challenged his position; hence his dislike for me.

The Union was supposed to be an organization with seven heads, and each head was supposed to hold the same amount of power as the other heads, but everyone knew that this description was extremely inaccurate.

Octavious was the one who truly held power within the Union, and most high rankers knew this.

The fact that he didn't want to be the leader of the alliance seemed too out of character for him.

I wasn't the only one who thought this way, as the majority of people in the room appeared to partially concur with my thoughts.

'This doesn't have anything to do with Kevin, right?'

I had a sudden thought while I reached out for the glass of water positioned on the desk in front of me and took a sip.

"Although it is true that I do not wish to be the alliance leader, there is a very simple reason for this, and that's because I already have in mind a perfect person for the job. I can vouch for his strength and abilities, and I will assist him in the initial stages of his adjustment as alliance leader if need be, and..."

In the background, Octavious's voice smoothly echoed in the air.

"...The person whom I wish to be the alliance leader is Kevin Voss."

"Pffttttt!"

I spat out my drink.