The group at the table could only silently watch on as the two stood off, one in the center of the room, and the one just having opened the doors. To create such a commotion in the middle of a high-ranking meeting within the Divine Eye Sect without a dire reason usually would spell disaster for the instigator. But Hando wasn't just a stranger.

He was Vera's brother.

In spite of that fact, the rotunda waited quietly to see what the Sect Master would do in response to the declaration made. Vera would likely be shocked, and spread the news that such an event was on the verge of occurring; the massacre that happened almost three decades ago… She would certainly do whatever she could to prevent that.

That was what Hando thought would happen.

But instead, he got the looks of disappointment and dissatisfaction, as if the news of an Invasion was as simple as talking about the weather. Even moreso, Vera stood flabbergasted, staring quite angrily at Hando.

The only person who was completely clueless and unsure of what even was happening, was of course Joran.

"Uh… Was it really that important to incite their temper?"

Hando shook his head, snapping out of the daze he was apparently in, "Wait… You knew?"

Vera sighed, expressing how much disappointment she had, as if a child burned themselves on a stove, "Hando… This is something we've known about for a few months now. We've had security raised all over the Realm for this reason, moreso because it's such a strange occurrence. It's not an Invasion, but it's something we're calling an 'Incursion."

Hando began to tremble, unable to believe what he heard, "You mean… You knew and no one sent a messenger to the Central Districts…?"

Once again, Vera sighed disappointedly, "No, we did, we sent one out a month ago to each region once we were certain of the issue being a very real concern."

At this, Joran widened his eyes in realization, "Hando… Is it because we closed off the Class?"

Hando quietly gasped as he sucked in air that he seemed to be unable to breath, choking on that realization, "So Liam…. It was because of me…"

Tears began to threaten to spill as his lips quivered, which sparked genuine concern from Vera, "… Hando, what happened?"

Hoarsely, he began to explain what had happened to Liam, and why he had rushed over to inform the Sect of the urgent matter at hand.

After he finished, Vera was frozen in place, thinking deeply about what Hando and Joran had gone through in the last few days, "Liam… ugh, how did this happen?" Immediately, she pointed her finger at Hando accusingly, "Why did you close down the Class Terrace? If you hadn't, Liam would be alive right now."

Joran was one to usually stand idly and care little for whatever was happening around him. With one exception to that rule of his: If his friends were in danger.

He without hesitation bolted in front of Hando and raised his voice righteously, "It's because of me. Don't accuse Hando for something he had no foresight to see. How could he? This… 'Incursion' was something we weren't told about, and as a result we carelessly ventured between the Central Districts to here. It could even be said…"

Joran squinted his eyes, his voice trailing off in an accusatory way, to which Hando chimed in, "Don't pay him any mind, Vera. He's been a student of mine since I had gone to the Central Districts under your… advisory."

Vera, who was a mix of surprised and angry at the two of them, finally collected herself and folded her arms, "Alright, so who's this student?"

Joran kowtowed respectfully, "This one is Stu-, my name is Joran."

Vera raised her eyebrow at him, and then shifted her glance to Hando, "So what kept you from letting him leave with the rest of the students? It's been months now since the last Exam."

Hando smiled faintly, and looked over to Joran, "Show her."

Without any need for clarification, Joran pulled out his card that he considered a curse more than anything else. The magenta swirls reflecting the bright bronze light, and the joker holding up all the cards proudly in the center.

At this exact moment the Joker card was held up, the entire room gasped and shook tremendously. Hands slowly began to quiver in amazement, while eyes shook with disbelief. Hando and Joran were used to this news, but the rest of the room felt as if a legend had just walked in.

Vera swooned, with her eyes wide opened, before she stammered out, "He…. You are a Joker?"

Joran apathetically nodded, noticing the clear difference between before and after the reveal. Vera had paid almost no mind to him, mostly paying attention to Hando. But now…

Joran sighed internally, bitterly accepting the truth of the world even more.

"…"

Hando bowed deeply, "I apologize for barging in with such old news in regard to the… 'Incursion."

Vera clasped her hands together and shook her head, a warmer smile appearing, "It's fine, little brother. I didn't think you'd ever fulfill my condition, but here we are. So I'll forgive it this time."

The room's atmosphere cooled off, but eyes continued to sporadically dart over to look at Joran, to make sure he didn't vanish into thin air as if it was all an illusion, or a dream. Hando walked closer to the center of the room, towards the table, with Joran in tow as Vera pursued the question on everyone's mind.

"So, Joran is… Here, because….?"

"Ah, right. I lost myself after realizing an Inva- an Incursion was most likely happening, and of course, with Liam…" Hando coughed, to abruptly force his way through the conversation with himself, "Right, so! Joran was in my Class for the last 8 years, except he seldom showed up. However he still drew the Joker card, so I'm sure we can all agree this is all that matters, yes?"

The table all nodded in staggered unison, still unsure of what to believe.

"Yes, so, since he had skipped out Class for so much time, I decided to close down my Terrace so I could do one on one teaching with him. So as far as knowledge goes, he is somewhat caught up."

Vera then frowned slightly at this, "But… He didn't seem to know what an Invasion was?"

"Ahem, I did say 'somewhat'."

Here, Joran spoke up, now sitting in one of the empty chairs that he had picked out, "Speaking of, could you fill me in, Hando…?"

But before Hando could speak, Vera very amicably spoke up, at which Joran instantly frowned at, "Well an Invasion is a complete, and utterly overwhelming attack from the Beasts from the Beyond. When it occurs, it leaves the entire Hero Realm to rally together to hopefully repel the attack.

"When this happened last 30 years ago, we repelled the Invasion at a bitter cost."

"I see," Joran replied flatly, and utterly unamused.

"So now that that's covered, what is Joran doing here?" Vera said as she was finally looking at Hando.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

It was at this point that Joran finally spoke up for himself, "I am here for two reasons. The first is, this is Hando's sect, and as such I wished to pay respects towards it. The second is that Hando has imparted upon me the Sect's Art, but I've been incapable of obtaining 'Divine Sight', so we decided for me to come here to find someone better suited to training."

The silence that pervaded the room at this point was completely different from before. The table mutely thought about the phrasing of what Joran said, as well as the information that Joran had been at the Terrace for half a year now before getting to this point. Which meant….

An older gentleman in a sleek black suit quivered, "Wait… So you've managed to obtain the rest of the Art?"

Hando closed his eyes, nodding slightly, but letting Joran speak, "Well, yeah," and as he spoke, he let the golden hue radiate from his eyes to prove it.

Murmurs erupted, alarming Joran slightly, but Hando stayed completely cool, and whispered to him, "Like I said, what you've achieved is unheard of. Which doesn't surprise me to be honest given you're a Joker."

Joran dryly laughed, "And as I've said, it's still not enough."

"This I know, already."

The clamor continued for a little longer…

"To think the Joker could possess such shocking talent… And to think he'd learn our Arts!"

"The Heavens are looking to bless our Sect!"

Finally the murmurs died down, and those in the room who heard of Joran being a Joker calmed down significantly.

Vera stood, pondering to herself about what's just transpired, before frowning, "While I am honored… You do understand that you've chosen our Arts, and potentially our Arts alone, right?"

The collective breath in the room held, as Joran hesitated to answer, but once he did, it was with absolute sincerity, "To be honest, I don't care that much about this Sect. Frankly speaking, I looked to gain power as fast as I could in order to shield myself and the people I call friends. So here we are."

After a moment, Vera walked over to Hando, giving a wicked smile before slapping him across the face, "Well, you're still my brother after all."

Joran was utterly stunned, but Hando could only chuckle wryly, "Well, at the end of the day, I can only hope for so much."

Hando sighed, and turned to face Joran, "The main reason I had wanted to give you my Sacred Sight Arts, is so that I could accompany you back here. I never intended to slight you, even if you were the one that did ask in the first place."

Joran was completely at a loss for words, confused and utterly puzzled, "Okay… So what's going on right now? Why are you apologizing for something I asked for in the first place?"

Vera warmly interrupted, once again to Joran's utter lack of amusement, "Well, he never seemed to intend to bring you here, since we are such a small Sect, in comparison to what could protect you."

"What could protect me…?" Joran wasn't following, and so Hando sighed.

Adjusting his glasses, he went straight to the point, "We're talking about the Sovereign Swift Clan."

Now Joran was truly flabbergasted, "Them? I mean… Would they really protect me?"

They both nodded, but they nodded for seemingly different reasons. To Vera, she assumed that naturally they would wish to defend the Joker Holder.

For Hando, however… He was thinking of a completely different reason altogether.

With this, Hando turned around back to Vera, and rested his chin on his hand, asking ever so curiously, "By the way, since you know we'll take our leave, I want to ask what it was we intruded on? I understand that it's that time again, but so many of our elders and high-ranking officials are here so soon?"

At this Vera assumed her normal stature, of absolute cold and apathy; the prose of a Sect Mistress, "Since the Incursion is looming over us, we decided to go over the processions faster than usual. And well, the sooner we finish up, the sooner everyone can go back to their proper stations."

Hando was nodding in understanding; however Joran was sitting in his chair like a headless chicken, trying to make sense of what they were talking about.

Hando smiled warmly, "Well if you need me to come back, I'll be ready whenever. Until then, I will be making sure Joran makes it around Crown City safely."

Vera coldly replied, "If we need your presence, I will demand it. If you barge in again, I will expel you. If you decide to try to make off with one of the Elder's dau-"

"ALRIGHT! Alright! I get it! We'll take our leave now!"

And with that, the duo was promptly sent off, in about as respectfully of a fashion as kicking out would appear. With the bronze doors slamming shut, and the footsteps echoing away, the two stood in the hallway, Hando sighing, and Joran once again, utterly bewildered.

"Wha…. What just happened?"

"We got let off, is what happened."

"No, like…. What the hell just happened?"

Hando took a second to look at how utterly confused Joran was, before giving a hearty laughter, echoing around the halls that they were in, "Well, Joran; you got a taste of my Sect, what did you think?"

"…. What am I even supposed to be thinking? In one moment, it looked like we had intruded on some extremely important meeting, then it was all forgiven because I had the Joker card, but then Vera was still being stiff as a board once she addressed you… what? What???"

(???????????????)

Hando guffaws died down little by little, until he could seriously explain, "We walked in on the middle of one of the most important sessions in the Sect. While we are a modestly sized Sect, we pale in comparison to the other Major Families. We only stand amongst them for once reason only, and it's the fact we are exceptionally well-known merchants and traders.

"We walked in on the [Financial Stratagem] meeting, where the highest officials from both the main Sect and the other branches of it report what's happened in the year, and what the plans are for the next year fiscally.

"Basically, it's a big Family Reunion to catch up and stay on the same page."

Joran slowly took everything that Hando said, and stood still for a minute or so, before asking, "So what's with the Sovereign Swift Clan? How come you didn't mention any of this?"

"Well see, I was going to talk about it once we had recovered from our…" Hando once again choked on his words as he remembered Liam, "Experience. But the Incursion news caused me to lose my rationale, and I couldn't explain anything until I made sure the Sect knew. Evidently, they were well ahead of us in this regard."

After he finished speaking, he took a deep breath and recollected his thoughts. There would be a time to mourn, but right now things needed to keep moving, is what he thought to himself as he finally calmed down.

Joran shook his head, "But I want to learn how to use Divine Sight! I need to become stronger, even if only a little!"

Hando frowned, "And you should have clearly seen, even the absolute masters of the Sect were baffled at your progress. For them to teach you the ultimate Art of our Sacred Sight Arts, they knew that it would be no different if it would be them or me; so they chose to not attempt and fail, thus making your opinion and impression of them, and more importantly of the sect, befuddled.

Joran groaned in frustration, but Hando gave some comfort, "It's fine, once we get to the Sovereign Palace, you will see that your frustrations are but a moot point."

"Are you really that certain they'll help… me?"

"Even setting aside that you're a Joker, there's another reason."

"… which is…?"

Hando smiled mischievously, as he started to walk away from the Rotunda's entrance and towards the exit of the bronze building, before continuing, "Well think about it, what's the family name of the Swift Clan?"

"… The Family name?"

Joran stumbled behind Hando, as they entered the car they first came in with, and as Hando drove them through the streets of the City. Joran was completely drowned in his own thoughts.

…

Well let's start from the easiest:

Divine Eye Sect's Family name is Jura. Going from there, the Bloodhound Clan's name is Heca… The Distilled Mind Family's is Argo. And the Cael Sect's name is Cael…

Those are the smaller families within the Major Families. So then what about the Big Three?

Gouriki is the name I loathe, so it's easy to remember that it's the Family name of the Earthbound Clout Family. Suekamikou is the name of the Metal Boulder Sect… And the Sovereign Swift Clan's…

At this, Joran's eyes widened, as he looked up and found himself smacking right into Hando's back. Even as he was completely absorbed in his thoughts, he had mindlessly followed Hando even as he had left the car.

And at some point they had ended up in a marbled chamber, with gold, silver, red, blue, bronze, and black intermittent with each other, scattered across the ceiling tiles, as well as individual streaks of colored cloth that merged to a point at the other side of the chamber, where a golden throne shone brilliantly, reflecting the light off of it. Upon the throne sat an older man, with a long flowing red cape, and a golden Dao resting at the side of the throne. He had broad shoulders, with short black hair that was tinged with silver; his eyes were sharp, and an intense yellow as he watched Hando and Joran walk the distance from the gargantuan entrance to a fixed position from him and them.

"Welcome, Hando of Jura. As you know, a sibling of a brilliant Sect Mistress such as Vera is always welcomed within my halls. So tell me, why the formality?"

His voice boomed, a deep bass that displayed vast wisdom and age alone, Joran couldn't help but be planted right where he was, unable to utter a single word.

"Realm Monarch, we come with a plea, from a familiar friend, and a unique one."

"Do tell."

Joran at this point was gently pushed into a kneeling position by Hando, as he did the same and continued, "My young friend here, a former member of the Earthbound Clout Family, has come for aid. He is one that possesses the legendary Joker card from the Exam."

Unlike any before, the one before them, the Realm Monarch, showed not a single ounce of surprise or shock, only displaying a single, stern nod. At this point, the impression that the man placed on Joran exponentially increased, and a cold sweat formed on his back.

"I see, and why would I give a care for such a frivolous status? It only means that he's gifted. But does it mean he truly deserves it?"

Joran at this point shuddered, questioning why Hando had such confidence in Joran's status as a Joker holder, and even quietly berating his judgement.

Until…

"I know," Hando said, as he got up and smiled warmly.

"My young friend has left a very good impression on myself, as I'm sure he will on you. However, that is not why I'm confident you will help."

Joran's eyes widened as he realized his plan in an instant.

Of course…

Joran got up and thought the same thing as Hando said it.

The Family Name of the Sovereign Swift Clan is Idaten.

"He had been good friends with your son, Drekor Idaten."