All of my perception around the city focuses solely on the scouts that seemingly appeared out of thin air.

Some of them touch down in random areas of the city while others fly far away to the other side of the massive mountaintop to other districts.

There are even some nearby that fly to the top of tall towers, but the only three guards I focus on are the ones coming straight my way.

A faint noise emanates from the orange core, and I channel all of my perception toward him as he flies.

The image of him holding a silver transmission device in his right hand is clear, and his voice rings out in a steady, monotone manner.

"Yes, Redgrave, I'm checking in on the unidentified subject now. Based on the recordings, he appears to be an intruder from outside of central. But there is no ID coming back on our facial recognition. I'll be arriving in a few seconds."

There's a click, and a familiar angry voice responds.

"It doesn't matter. Your focus should be elsewhere. Kill the intruder and anyone he is with. Don't spend a moment more on it. If they're from outside, then good riddance; if they're a rogue that got rid of their tracker to make a statement, then kill him and make an example of it. Destroy the bodies and leave no witnesses. No loose ends."

There's another click, and the orange core puts the tablet away.

He's getting extremely close now, and a plan begins to form while I watch the old man who pulled me out from the bar fall to his knees. His heartbeat slows to a stop by the time his forehead hits the pavement.

I don't know exactly how he was killed, but from the name I heard on that transmission tablet moments ago, I know a convincing display will be necessary to satisfy their wishes.

Instead of using stealth and slipping away from the orange core's sight, I do the opposite and raise my mana control to that of a low B-Grade hunter.

Once they're within range, a few blocks away, I turn in their direction and activate my master of illusion buff, mixed with my echo skill.

As I step to the side of the empty street and activate stealth with my main body, a perfect lifelike afterimage of myself is left behind.

The three divine core holders don't slow down at all.

The orange core activates wind magic tethered with divine threads, and less than a second later, releases an attack as they dip down into the street even closer.

The slash slices through my mirage, and the two red cores following close behind drop divine energy-imbued balls of fire to incinerate the corpse of the old man and the illusion.

The three of them hover mid-air after gliding upward for a few seconds, overlooking the city, and the orange core pulls out his transmission tablet again with a straight unbothered face.

"The job is done. I will continue preparing for the reassessment of the Dark Continent in less than two days. We will not return without data on that corrupted information of the yellow core beneath the Crimson City this time. If you need anything else before your arrival in just over four days, please do relay the message."

There's a pause, and no response for a moment, but finally, the same man responds.

"Thank you. There actually is one more thing I'd like to ask of you: report back to the supply base. I need you and a team to help Angelica investigate a trade deal gone wrong down in Ashmore. There was quite the incident that took place less than an hour ago, and Beckman wants a second opinion from an outside source."

"Certainly, I'm on my way," the orange core replies and begins to fly away back in the direction he came from, with the two red cores following.

I lean up against the side wall of a building for a few seconds, staring at the black ash left behind, with a small amount of red and orange divine threads disintegrating into the atmosphere as they leave.

All of the red and orange cores throughout the city and neighboring central regions finish up their missions around the same time, and simultaneously, I feel all of the wells of gravity throughout the city migrate back to the center of the mountain, in the densest part of the central headquarters, about 40 kilometers north of where I am.

Dozens of citizens disappear just as the old man did, being deleted from this world above the flames for various infractions without any warning or chance to refute them.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Moments later, they all fade away from my senses, disappearing into various black buildings with shielding made from the same material as the floating rectangles above the city.

My mind wanders as I walk the streets alone, with my stealth skill completely activated this time, watching the flashing lights and people all around me go by.

Many streets pass as I recount the words spoken over the transmission tablet and compare them to what I know of the big three, and the new information graciously given by the old man that was killed and burned to ash before my eyes.

The reality of the true strength of the leaders of this city finally dawns on me... or, to put it more honestly, the leaders of this entire world. The power they possess is far beyond my wildest expectations.

The fact that the flames below the city have been burning for decades, long enough for the old man and most of the population to believe the world outside was no longer livable, means the man who put them there has far more power than merely this small fiery barrier.

That being said, there are two others... Elara and Beckman. I can imagine what the fire user is like from his tone of voice, and get a vague understanding of the massive scale of Redgrave's power, but the other two are supposedly just as strong, and their abilities are even more mysterious.

As I walk many blocks through the city, passing tens of thousands of people, and looking up at the hundreds of skyscrapers with endless floors, it makes the big three seem like gods.

It's like Raven said; they've been in power for centuries, yellow cores even before the system existed on this world... They have truly thought of every possibility and have even scoped out the entire Eight Great Regions and the Dark Continent, and believe we are no threat at all.

Based on my findings here, it's true.

In most circumstances in the past, I have my power hidden, or at least the gap is not so massive... So, the confidence of my enemies to not take me out early is usually working against them.

However, seeing the result of their power and influence for myself, they may be right not to bother crushing the ants when they're not even strong enough to bite back.

The society they created atop this mountain decades ago has been a long-lasting metaphor for the end of the world they seek to create.

The orange core said he'd be back to survey the Crimson City in under two days... and that the big three were coming to challenge the throne in four...

I have just enough vision to watch the entire world burn, yet nowhere near enough power to stop it from happening.

As I let out a long sigh and look up into the starry night sky, more of Raven's words come to mind.

It was what she said about the fact that when I battled her, I didn't hold back at all. I had no fear of losing despite being at a disadvantage the entire time. All I wanted to do was continue the fight, and find an edge for the fun of it.

The thrill of the fight itself, and the prize of getting stronger at the end of it, was all that mattered.

Like following the thread of my swordsmanship skill, without knowing where it's leading, but understanding and knowing that it will lead to a fatal blow.

Now, I am at a critical point. The very world as I know it is at stake. My new regions, freedom to grow and live as I please, and to put it bluntly; my control over my own life is on the line.

Though, it isn't just my life on the line. To get what I want, I'll be aiming to save the entire human race from living in a society entrapped by the fear of the world around them burning.

It is a nearly impossible feat with the resources available to me now... but, this just means I have to look deeper, think more tactically, and train harder than ever before. I just have to find the hint of a thread to victory and follow it.

There are two immediate ways I can think of to become stronger.

The first is to absorb more yellow divine threads. Most, if not all, of the yellow fragments in the world have been consumed, and the ones that aren't are in the hands of the very enemies I need to become stronger to defeat.

The only source I can think of now is the endless roaring fire around the city. They could be harvested for their pure divine energy; however, attempting this so close would be the riskiest plan of all.

The second option I have is bringing more links of loyalty into my rising emperor's domain.

Pulling the stats and mana control from the crimson army to push myself out from the divine flames faster did make a noticeable difference.

While I have a steady growth rate of a few hundred new links per day coming into the crimson dome, I'm going to need to up that by a magnitude of thousands in order to compare to the power pure divine energy grants.

However, with the new connection I've made with the Eight Great Regions, and my control over every sector in the Dark Continent, my access to potential links of loyalty does reach the necessary threshold to pull something like this off.

Ember may have valuable input on this matter, but until he awakens, I need to do everything I can to gain an edge myself.

As these thoughts race through my mind, one of the many dungeon hubs in Central City comes into view, with hunters forming a line in front of it and a single guard on duty.

The temporary feeling of absolute authority looming above me starts to weaken in my mind, and I can't help but grin as I've just found the beginning of my thread that will lead to the necks of the big three.

In full stealth mode, I walk between all of the late-night hunters in line, and slip through the automated doors and silver ID scanners to walk into the closest dungeon portal I can find.

Moments later, I dungeon walk right back to the island of Palmyra, not bothering to keep my stealth ability activated.

I walk through the secured hallways right past security, and out the front door to float up and above this massive palm jutting out from the sea, full of citizens.

My perception fills the entire island and down deep into the sea below, where massive Qi reserves rest all around the wrist of this Originator Artifact.

On the finger island where I assassinated the king and queen, I sense my double, Marcus, Bri, and Rodrigo all talking to each other as I instructed.

However, as I look down at this island, I decide this will be a great start for my expansion.

I open a link between the four of them and myself.

"I have new urgent information. There's been a change of plans."