The grand meeting room of the Cracked Shell Council was layered in defensive wards. Unauthorized cultivators were prevented from just teleporting in. Detection wards were set up to find hidden recording devices. Sound wards prevented any noise from escaping.
The meeting had continued without Lubomir revealing what the Tortoise had said. That was not unusual. It was a highly confidential piece of information, and the less people that knew about it, the better. The Council took a little over an hour discussing Eugene and everything they knew about him. A comprehensive battle plan was drafted, with orders sent out to begin readying the sect to respond to Eugene. In addition to that, it was decided that the Five-Headed Tortoise Sect would publish their findings about Eugene to the entire Hibiscan world.
After concluding the meeting, he discreetly signaled Wen, Stefan, Iwan, and Katarzyna, head of the Dagger-Shaped Scar sect, to stay afterwards. The other Council members departed but they stayed.
“Katarzyna, what I’m about to tell you is of the utmost secrecy. We’ll need to enter the cube of silence.”
Even the level of security granted by the meeting chamber wasn’t enough for Lubomir’s purposes. Some might call it excessive paranoia, but Lubomir wasn’t taking any chances if Eugene was back.
“Ok,” she said. “Did the Tortoise ask us to kill someone?”
Lubomir grimaced and pulled out the cube, laying it in the center of his upward-facing palm. The four cultivators around him placed their hands on it.
“Activate,” said Lubomir.
The cube instantly expanded and the five of them were enveloped in it.
“So, was it Kash?” she asked.
“Very perceptive,” said Lubomir.
The Five-Headed Tortoise, when eating the corpses of powerful cultivators, could absorb their energy and use it to prevent its wound from getting any worse. However, it recognized that it existed in a symbiotic relation with its Sect, and so would only request dead cultivators when killing those cultivators would benefit the Sect in the long term. Right now, killing Kash would return the Red Dragon to Lubomir, simultaneously weakening the Jade Alliance and strengthening the Five-Headed Tortoise Sect. Thus, it was an easy assumption for Katarzyna to make.
“To put it bluntly, I want to kill him,” he continued. “And I think it’s a very plausible thing to accomplish.”
“We’d have to maintain plausible deniability,” commented Wen.
Iwan furrowed his brow.
“I don’t want to directly include our members in this. It would be too difficult to hide our involvement.”
Iwan was the commander of the Five-Headed Tortoise Sect’s military forces. He was an inspired genius regarding war-related affairs but wasn’t as smooth as navigating internal sect politics as most others. He had risen through the ranks through sheer, undeniable talent.
“I agree,” said Lubomir. “Which is why I want to contract the Umbra Crimers.”
“That’s the utmost foolishness,” scoffed Katarzyna.
“If you consider it thoroughly, there isn’t any other way of going about it,” said Wen. “The Umbra Crimers are unparalleled in their skill and efficiency.”
They were a sect of assassins and thieves, one of the three independent sects that had managed to escape the grasp of large sect organizations.
“For killing a Sect Leader who is objectively the most powerful cultivator, the price would be ruinously expensive,” stated Stefan.
The Umbra Crimers would not refuse any mission if they were paid enough. However, murdering a righteous Sect Leader in cold blood would be a first even for them. Stefan was right, they would demand an outrageous cost.
“To be honest, I dislike the idea, but less so than any other option,” said Iwan.
“Well, I have to vote against it,” declared Stefan.
“I concur,” said Katarzyna.
“Three against two,” said Lubomir.
“Lubomir, why am I even here?” asked Katarzyna. “I don’t see why you had to drag me into this.”
“To put it bluntly, it’s because I trust you, and it’s because of your power.” stated Lubomir.
Katarzyna was a peak-tier Kambili, of six in the world.
“If we’re to meet with the Umbra Crimers, I want to bring our strongest members as a show of force and to demonstrate our dedication.”
“Bring Saddam then,” she scoffed.
“You and I both know why that would be a bad idea,” said Lubomir.
Not only was Saddam Hussein a recent inductee into the Sect, he believed very strongly in honor, respect, and virtue. He likely would not consider paying assassins to kill someone purely to make the Five-Headed Tortoise Sect stronger an honorable thing to do.
“Look, I’ll go,” she said, “but I won’t actually participate in the negotiations beyond just being there.”
“That’s all I want,” said Lubomir. “And the rest of you?”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“I’d rather not,” said Stefan, “but it’s your decision.”
“I hate to say this, but I would really rather you go. As our Chief Hibiscologist, we need you there to ascertain their strength and abilities if possible.”
“I’ll go,” interjected Wen.
“Good.”
“I retain my support for the idea in general, but I think I would better serve the sect by overseeing the preparation against Eugene,” said Iwan.
“That’s for the best,” said Lubomir. “So, our party has been decided. Any other points to raise while still in the Cube?”
“We need to craft a plan for the aftermath,” said Wen.
“Of course. If the Umbra Crimers accept the job and the attempt goes through, we need to be ready to release a statement denying all involvement.”
“Alright, anything else?”
They shook their heads. Lubomir let the cube retract the walls and fold them into itself. He stashed it away.
“I should go check on my spies, see if they’ve ascertained Kash’s location.”
“Do it.”
Wen opened a portal and vanished through it, coming out a minute later.
“He’s meditating on the carbon fields.”
Lubomir smiled. This was their chance! Kash had a noted habit of isolating himself in the carbon plateau when he wanted to engage in extremely intensive meditation sessions. The plains had been created during the final attack on the Demon Pact during the Demon Age. In the last moments of the battle, the assembled forces of the Five-Headed Tortoise Sect and the Third Jade Alliance powered up an enormous energy blast.
The armies were fighting above the brimstone sea, and when the haze from the explosion cleared, the demon cultivator army was wiped out, and the brimstone had been neutralized, purified to carbon. The attack created an enormous, flat plain of graphite that cultivators sometimes retreated to when they wanted solitude.
If Lubomir got ahold of the Umbra Crimers and contracted them to kill Kash, they could eliminate him when he was isolated and had no hope of escape. It was a genius plan.
Every prominent Sect Leader had a way to discreetly contact the Umbra Crimers if their services were ever required. The assassin sect had distributed them out decades ago. It was a small disk that, when pressed in the middle, would let the sect know that that particular Sect Leader wanted to employ them.
Lubomir had his stashed away in the timeless realm along with his other most important belongings. He entered it, grabbed the disk, exited the timeless realm, and pressed it.
“They’ve been called,” he said.
He glanced at the disk. Glowing letters appeared on it, relaying the coordinates they were to meet up at.
“We’re going,” Lubomir declared.
----------------------------------------
They hadn’t just opened a portal to the coordinates and walked through. They sent a Hibiscan energy powered camera among other devices to check if it was safe. Only then did they go through. Eight crimers in dark gray shrouds awaited them and the Crime Factory loomed ahead.
“We’ll fly,” one of them said.
Lubomir, Katarzyna, Wen, and Stefan took off with the eight cloaked cultivators. They soon reached the vicinity of the Factory. It barely resembled a normally constructed sect headquarters, instead being built as a bizarre amalgamation of an industrial building and a pulsating, organic thing. Large, twisted metal pipes ran along the exterior, pumping some white fluid about. At the top, smokestacks spewed out fumes. It was a disgusting blight upon the land, a true factory of crime.
Massive doors creaked as they slid open, letting the party inside. The interior was a poorly illuminated cylindrical hall with a nauseating sludge on the floor. At the end was a spherical room with nothing in it but four speakers. A door shut behind them as they entered.
The eight crimers crumbled to dust, their robes falling to the floor.
“Welcome,” boomed a distorted voice from one of the speakers.
“What do you have for us?” an unnaturally deep voice asked.
“Kill Kash and bring us his mostly intact corpse as soon as possible. He’s meditating in the carbon plain as we speak.”
“The Tortoise grows ambitious,” the distorted voice responded.
“This is not unfavorable to us,” a tinny, barely understandable voice piped in.
“And what is your price offer?” asked the deep voice.
“We have none. Considering the unprecedented nature of this deal, we ask for you to set it yourself.” replied Lubomir.
“First thing,” said the distorted voice, “you will inform us of the Hibiscan wisdom that the Tortoise tells you after it eats the corpse.”
Lubomir restrained the urge to slightly tense his body, which would give away his true thoughts. It was unfortunate that the crimers had already sussed them out.
“And what else?” asked the tinny voice. “A few artifacts, certainly.”
“Handing over more than one or two treasured Hibiscan artifacts is off the table,” Lubomir asserted.
“The Fractured Shield, then,” replied the distorted voice. “Along with a diverse selection of enchanted hibiscuses of great quality and quantity.”
Lubomir was fine with handing over the Fractured Shield. It was an extraordinarily powerful defensive artifact, but the Five-Headed Tortoise Sect didn’t lack in defense and would lose little in giving it up.
“And a large amount of cultivator corpses, of at least Aunty Ifeoma rank,” rumbled the deep voice.
Now that was unusual. The Five-Headed Tortoise Sect kept a stockpile of cultivator corpses to draw the energy out of if necessary. Said stash officially did not exist, but every sect had one of their own, so no sects would call each other out for it. What purpose would the Umbra Crimers have for it? It was still very much an acceptable demand.
The speaker that had been silent the entire time sparked to life.
“One final thing,” it said in an uncannily high-pitched, glitchy voice. “We want a guarantee that the Five-Headed Tortoise Sect will rise to the protection of the Crime Factory if it is attacked.”
This was the key to understanding their motivation! The Crime Factory Sect was concerned with their very survival. To want one of the most powerful defensive Hibiscan artifacts was one thing, but to want the Five-Headed Tortoise Sect to defend them from attack was another. What were the Umbra Crimers so concerned with? Eugene’s return? Perchance. That did have the entire Hibiscan world on edge, though the Umbra Crimers seemed especially paranoid. It was likely something else in addition to just that.
Lubomir glanced at his fellow cultivators. They nodded in assent. It was a fair deal, even if some of the terms were a little odd. The Five-Headed Tortoise Sect was giving up a lot, but the Umbra Crimers were risking a lot. Kash was the strongest cultivator, and killing him wouldn’t be easy. Furthermore, any retaliation from the Fourth Jade Alliance might end the Crime Factory.
“We accept.”
“Then let us strike a Bondage Vouch,” creaked the high-pitched voice.
“I swear to uphold those conditions with my authority as leader of the Five-Headed Tortoise Sect.”
“I swear to uphold the deal as hegemon of the Umbra Crimers.”
The deal was seared into their souls, the Four Gods glancing their way to seal the contract. There must be some person and soul behind that voice, else the Bondage Vouch would not be possible.
“We bid you farewell,” the four voices spoke simultaneously, each of their respective strange intonations and distortions merging into one uncanny voice.
The door behind the cultivators opened and they flew out, speeding through the cylindrical hallway and into the open air, where Wen carved open a purple portal back to their sect.