Sebastian's eye's flicker open, lifting himself of the bed as Riley steps in,

"Seb!" She quickly puts the tray of food aside before barrelling onto him, her arms wrapping around him,

"What happened?" He questions,

"We should be asking you that!" She responds slapping his chest, "C'mon I'm sure the girls will want hear it too" she follows, the two making their way to the building complex's top floor, the entire floor used as an eating hall, seated on the floor already is Duke at the table's head with Tobi and a few other of the high executives, Sebastian takes a seat at the tables end now seated opposite Duke, with Riley at his side,

"What happened?" Duke questions, Sebastian goes on to explain what had happened, including his proposal to the SYNDICATE. Duke's face morphs through the explanation from one of displeasure to worry,

"We don't need to join anyone, doing that paints a big target on our backs" Duke states,

"You're leader now kid, but we...you all already have targets on your backs, backing away now will help no one, either double down or gets swept, a war is coming, no one will be left untouched, and by then, there'll be no side to pick" Sebastian replies,

Duke frowns, despite his displeasure over having to become a subsidiary organization, nevertheless putting his feelings aside he knew it was the best course of action,

(I'm sure they all feel the same way i do), even if no one said it they all felt like shit for having to be protected by him even now, he was basically doing what he'd done back during the case of MERCHANTS.

"Alright" Duke replies, "we'll accept" he decides, Sebastian nods,

"More pressing is why the attacked you?, Could it be because you're unaffiliated?" Konan questions from his seat at the long tables side,

"Most likely, think back to the text, i think i know who sent it" he replies,

"Dexter" Duke states his previous assumptions coming to the fore of his mind,

"That doesn't make any sense" Daniel replies,

"He's probably why news of my advancement didn't leak, i'm ninety percent sure those guys are from one of the big three, eliminating the SYNDICATE would leave ALITHEA and MURAKAN, abd given your reply when i described their combatants it was undoubtedly the latter" Sebastian states,

"The question now is why?" Duke follows,

"Well that would make sense" Konan mumbles as his mind operates like clock work,

"What would?" Bradley questions on behalf of the puzzled others,

"Follow me with this" he begins, "if you were fighting a war against two organizations, both of whom held similar size to your own what would you do?" He questions,

"Seek assistance" one of the other senior members replies,

"What if there was none?" He follows,

"Then recruit more combatants" Bradley replies,

"Right but they could also do the same" Daniel follows,

"Then you'd prevent them from doing the same" Duke frowns the pieces falling into place,

"How so?" Bradley questions,

"By removing those very combatants, removing the very possibility of them joining the opposition, capture or elimination" a female senior members replies,

"Exactly" Konan begins, "i think i know what those ANAN guys wanted, they mentioned their former head, Jefferson Ha, most likely..." Konan trails,

"MURAKAN probably got to him, they might either be killing or capturing neutral Shifters who haven't picked a side, or who have clear history not to" Tobi speaks, "if so, it won't take them long to figure their attack has failed, given the fact that no one was given the opportunity to leak your advancement information so far, there's no doubt that they'll try again" he follows,

"So will leaking it deter them?" Daniel questions,

"The opposite" Duke replies, "while training with that blonde bastard..." He begins,

"Who does he mean" Sebastian turns asking Riley,

"Jhon Wuu" she replies,

"He mentioned that ATTUNEMENT level combatants are the back bone of every powerful organisation, enough of them to make up a considerable amount of the upper echelons, few enough of them to be prescious, rare, leaking that he's now at ZONE would incite MURAKAN to attack with multiple ZONE level combatants to remove Seb" Duke concludes,

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"I agree, if Sebastian's observation about MURAKAN'S ATTUNEMENT level Shifters are correct, given that fact that they can now mass produce 'defective' ATTUNEMENT level Shifter's on a mass scale removing 'real' ATTUNEMENT level Shifters who have a possibility of reaching ZONE becomes a priority, especially with the war so close, Jefferson Ha might just be one of many" Konan concludes.

"By the way, Seb, what happened to your body" Duke inquires,

"Still experiencing the effects of the advancement" he replies, "from what i know my bones will undergo the next change, then my imprinted 'Force'" he replies,

"It's following the stages of advancement, it seem advancing once doesn't mean on suddenly evolves beyond humanity, it's a process, before it's complete you probably won't be able to exert your full strength" Konan replies, "You mentioned it had something to do with your observation" Konan follows,

"It does, even at the ATTUNEMENT level, the body needs to evolve to handle the levels of gravitational force and pressure, as well as experience synthesis between their 'Force' arts, once at ZONE your connection with your body and consiousness exceeds conceivable limits, i could sense something inside them, a Relic, perhaps an Artifact, someone much stronger has found a way to pump them with 'Force' through THE WAY, but for such imprinted 'Force'to be accepted there are harsh conditions, one, having the same or very similar martial arts, two, having a vestige of the persons consiousness in your body, even of dormant, three, having that vestige of consciousness take root, corrupting their soul, it's similar to the..."

"Ophiocordyceps unilateralis" Konan interjects,

"What?" Several people questions in unison,

"It's called the zombie ant fungus, infects and controls them" Konan quickly explains, "What Sebastian is taking about is similar",

"It is" he replies, "the last requirement is probably for the subject to truly attain breath control then spend months forcing them to adapt to the procedures, like Konan mentioned they're basically like living Zombies, they can function autonomous to the central consciousness but it's subjective hold over them is iron clad, it's like having the devil's voice in your head, the only way to help them would be to uproot the consiousness thereby ruining their bodies and cultivation, that is, if they even survive" Sebastian concludes,

"I see" Duke replies his forehead wrinkled in thought, "there is one thing that still brothers me though" he follows,

"What is it?" Tobi inquiries with a face showing readiness to go execute such a thing, "what Dexter's game in all this is, suppose all we've theorised is correct, what does he stand to gain?" He questions,

"Autonomy" Kona replies swiftly, "seeing the things he did when he was under Hide it's become clear, that guy will never stay under anyone, not for long, i could bet my life MURAKAN treats him as nothing more than an errand boy, especially for an organisation like that which values the law of might makes right, a non trying becoming part of their organisation and trying to attain power, they'd never have it" he replies,

"For now we need proof" Duke replies his eyes trained on Konan's,

"I'm on it, i'll contact the others and inform them" he replies,

"Good, i have some investigations of my own to conduct" Duke replies, "you should get some rest" he turns speaking to Sebastian,

"Tobi" he calls

"Sir" comes the reply,

"You Daniel and Bradley go register us tomorrow as a..." He pauses contemplating,

"Security company" Sebastian replies, "you're minors, i'll handle it" he responds, Duke nods in affirmation.

(There's a lot more work to do, there'll be no peace for the lazy) Duke sighs watching the executive and senior members exit the floor.