CHAPTER 184: EVERNIGHT CONFERENCE

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  In a matter of hours after she had instructed some of her savants to gather all of the people on the list to the conference hall with due haste, the direct subordinates of Alister von Fai could be seen seated on their own thrones in the left corner of the round table, while at the other side of the round table, Samantha's subordinates could be seen seated like noblewomen at the highest place.

  Their figures were imposing to ordinary onlookers, as their mere presence alone radiated their murderous intent that was so thick that an illusion of death could be seen in their pupils alone if one stared for long enough, especially those who ignorantly gazed at Solia's pupils long enough, thinking that nothing could happen, would be able to witness an illusion that could be called hell in the realm of the living, as a visage of a fair maiden wearing a white blindfold with golden runic symbols could be seen standing atop a mountain of corpses that were piled up, as she continued to kill more and more humans in every passing moment like they were beasts in human clothing, but before you could see her face, her lean dual swords had already cut you off in the illusion.

  To compare their subordinates' prowess was a fool-worthy question that shouldn't be asked nor a question that needed an answer, since Samantha's subordinates, which were Anastasia, Aliya, Fenda, and Shuxie, were far too insignificant compared to her husband's subordinates in all of their aspects, be it in their racial race, physical or magical abilities, nor would any of the achievements that they've accomplished be significant, for it was too insignificant to even compare.

  "Huhuhu, now is not the time to muse on something insignificant like that, so please remember what is your objective today..." She snapped out of her reverie at Alister's soft whisper, which was impossible to hear since they were far too apart, but she didn’t feel the need to pay heed to something as insignificant as their distance, as she whispered to herself. 'Your concern is appreciated, so please wait for me.'

  "Let us..." Samantha cut her sentence midway as she stared at all of those present in the room.

  ....

  The room went dead silent in the next second, as all of the people present in the room stopped their activities then stared at Samantha, who was perched at the highest platform outside of the round table, where her subordinates and her husband's subordinates were sitting in their thrones loftily.

  "Let us commence our first conference..." Samantha continued, her voice that was gentle as ever, endearing like a mother's call that was as sweet as honey, echoed to everyone's ears like the tune of a world-class orchestra performed by the greatest of mankind, as her pupils redder than blood stared down at her subjects. "Then let us discuss their invasion..."

  Not even waiting for her words to finish, Lumicor interjected as he chuckled in amusement that something as insignificant as this empire that housed merely those in stage one possessed such a threat to them... to him whose abilities had been crippled by his so-called master that merely observed them in his laziness to not move. "Mistress is it? No, maybe I should call you master? Well, whatever it may be, I don't really care for such futile formalities, for I am someone who only cares for power and nothing else."

  Everyone who knew what his words implied gulped harder than they could ever recall, since what Lumicor was doing right now was extremely dangerous, no, it was an extremely dangerous situation... Lumicor was yet again challenging the authority of Alister von Fai, the man who crippled his mana to the point that after he had painstakingly trained for years to raise his attunement with mana.

  No, even if he trained for decades to try and maximize his attunement with mana or even go beyond it and reach a transcendental state, Lumicor would still be unable to recover to his peak, the peak where his mere presence alone was a nightmare to his enemies, and Samantha, knowing all of this thanks to her master's knowledge along with the knowledge that her husband imparted to her, felt a chill run down her spine, along with the rest of Alister's subordinates who gulped even harder as they nervously glanced between Alister and Lumicor with dread visible on their expressions, while the oblivious savants of Samantha's merely stared at the nervous bunch with confusion.

  To this, Alister merely stared at the now silent Lumicor, who was testing the limit of Alister's patience, then he smiled as he said coldly. "Huhuhu... even though I am quite benevolent at all times... but know that there is a limit to my patience."

  Lumicor gulped down a huge clump of saliva in his throat, then nervously glanced at Alister, who could be seen sitting at his desk reading a book like a nobleman, then Alister took a sip of a newly brewed black coffee a few seconds later as he winked at Lumicor before his attention returned back to the book, leaving the extremely nervous Lumicor stunned for a moment as he regained his inner calm that none present in the room knew, as he smiled then continued. "Worry not, for it is not the time for me to rebel yet..."

  Lumicor paused for a while so that all of the nervous people sitting right beside him could breathe a sigh of relief, as he continued soon after. "As for the things that I was about to say earlier... dealing with those bunch of lowlifes calling themselves ever righteous when they weren't even one to begin with wouldn't be an issue right now if you hadn't erased the mana networks in my core."

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  ...

  The silence after his words was deafening, but he ignored their accusing gazes that told different stories as he continued. "Yet still, it isn't truly an issue for us right now, for we would only need to sacrifice a few hundreds of thousands of men to buy us, your future domain lords, some time to annihilate their ranks."

  "Indeed, you're smarter than you seem, Lumicor; I didn't think that someone as arrogant as you would be able to think clearly for once." Tellus, the ever-wise sage, said as the room went silent yet again, only to be broken by Solia sighing like an old lady worrying how many cows her incompetent old husband would save this time, as she reprimanded him. "Silence, Tellus... we are not here to bicker, nor do we have the time to settle your petty grudges, so please remain shut."

  Tellus, though he was unwilling to yield this time, gave in since Solia asked him, so he begrudgingly stared at Lumicor's visage, who had entered into a deep meditation while ignoring Tellus blatant provocation. 'To think that fool would ignore me...' said Tellus internally, as he too closed his eyes and entered into a deep meditation.

  "Mistress, please continue the conference, for our opinions won't truly matter." Lumicor said with eyes still closed, as Samantha nodded. "No need to feel dejected, Lumicor, since you'll be one of the core elements of this final battle against the empire, so please remain seated and continue to listen to me." Samantha apologetically said in her softest voice, and Lumicor, hearing her, nodded his head in acknowledgment before he said. "I am not feeling dejected, mistress, so let us listen to your plan of who'll be expecting whom right now."

  Everyone present in the room had now truly known of Lumicor's innate arrogance, that even if the heavens fell today, Lumicor would remain as he is, like an arrogant young master that wouldn't bend down to the mandate of the heavens, for his arrogance alone would destroy heaven itself.

  For some whose ignorance knew no limit, they were still oblivious of his true power, while others who had known him since the beginning could only acknowledge his prowess, for they knew the nightmare that he once was, a nightmare so worse that you'd wish that all of this was a dream, yet sadly, due to his belief that he was just as immensely powerful and invincible as he was, Lumicor fell from grace.

  Arrogance, this keyword was the result of his downfall; it was only because of this that he had lost, for if not for this, he wouldn't have lost, or did he really lose? Did he truly lose because of his arrogance, or that he had met an opponent so crafty that it had exploited his weakness, thus he was brought to his place?

  No one could answer this for now... yes, for now... for he had not truly given up, so although he is extremely weakened right now, Lumicor was still undoubtedly the strongest of all of them combined, except for one true monster which words themselves couldn't put nor piece together, who was Alister himself.

  "Hmmm... Lumicor, from what I've heard from your reports, you can now use mana, correct? So how about having a little warm-up by taking on the emperor of the empire, since you're likely second to none?" Samantha said cheekily as she stared at the others, then continued. "For the others, well, it's up to you whether you choose a single or multiple opponents amongst the respective powerhouses of the emperor's entourage?"

  Ishtar, still at stage zero, for she had delayed her transition to stage one, chuckled at her mother's... no, her master's suggestions, as she quickly moved through the room then passed some documents to each of the people in the room pertaining to their enemies' information, well except Clarice who was a librarian and Alister who was excluded from this, as she said. "Master, could you let me and Shuxie fight together? Since I am probably the weakest amongst us."

  "A candid idea, Ishtar, but we are not here to fight them like what's expected, since what I had planned is sweeping all of them under the same rug in a single strike, hence this battle shall last no more than an hour at most." Said Samantha in an exhausted voice, as eye bags could be seen on her eyes, though she was a creature of the night that didn't truly need sleep, but still, overworking herself for far too long had taken a toll on her body, albeit she was extremely fatigued right now, Samantha still took part in the evernight conference, as she manipulated her mana to hand out a flier with detailed information of each of their opponents and how to exploit them, which was more sophisticated than the one Ishtar handed to each of those present in the room, as she continued. "I am tired right now, so for starters, please read their information first before the battle begins in an hour; for now... you are all dismissed."

  There was nothing too grand in her plan; it was just exploiting their opponents' weaknesses so that the fight could end in a matter of an hour, though it was indeed ingenious to think of such a dirty plan, but Samantha didn't care for it, nor did she care for any of their subordinates remaining standing in the room, while others such as Lumicor and Solia left the moment their part was handed to them silently, since why would she care for their own affairs when she had one of her own?

  "Haaaa... dear, I am beat up..." Samantha said in a tired voice; she was tired of war, she was too tired of managing her church, she was too tired to maintain her dignity, so she sat on Alister's lap without a care for the world, then rested her head on his broad shoulder, enjoying herself in his company as she heaved a heavy sigh, then continued. "Maybe sometimes we should go on a vacation; I am tired of always coping with work, so maybe a time for relaxation is good for us?"

  "Hmm, let us go on a date sometime, since I too miss your company." Alister nodded as he kissed her forehead with utmost gentleness, for he feared that if he put too much force in his actions, that sooner or later he would break her, so although he did not know what he was feeling this moment, whether it be love or just a part of him longing for Samantha, he didn't truly care, since in the past, Alister wouldn't be able to truly feel something profound like this, though it felt unpleasant yet pleasant at the same time, a contradiction to his own feelings, but he enjoyed it nonetheless, as he said gently while brushing off her hair. "For now, let us relax our minds."

  "Hmmm... let us enjoy this moment of pea..." Samantha said, unable to finish her words mid-sentence as she fell asleep in his embrace, and soon enough, Alister fell asleep for the first time in a while.