“My Lord, shortly before you awakened, I intercepted these three as they traveled to the temple. They mentioned being on a mission from the Ombra Clan that required them to journey to the temple to verify if Your Lordship had arrived. Should that be the case they were then supposed to lead us back to the Ombra clan.” The Royal Guard who the trio spoke to before quickly spoke while bowing before the group could even answer the question.

“Clan..? Not a country? It seems there is much to discuss…” Spoke the Lord with furrowed brows.

“We’ll discuss that more back at this “clan” you speak of then. What are your names?”

“Laiya!”

“Rykos!”

“Jace!”

All three of them yelled out their names simultaneously, with probably a little bit more expression than needed. Of course, being able to accurately hear what they said despite it being said at the same time wasn’t a problem for someone at the Lord's strength.

“I see. Then Laiya, Rykos, and Jace, are you three aware of who I am?”

He received three very flustered nods to show they knew.

“Haha don’t be so nervous! If you are Umbra, then you are my family, and if it’s anywhere that you should feel safe...It's within my presence.”

From the Royal Guards to the team of three...They could all feel the love and warmth emanating from the Lord. This was their Lord! Their one true Pillar in times of crisis and need! Someone who would bring the Umbra to greatness. Someone that deserved their devotion.

“Alright, we will return to this Clan you speak of shortly, standby for now.”

The Lord then turned to Shawk, who was calmly standing by.

“Shawk, are you the strongest beast in this forest?”

“I am one of the strongest, my Lord.”

“One of.. but not the strongest huh...give me a moment.”

Everyone watched on as the Lord closed his eyes and stood motionless.

‘When I broke out of my pod, I felt a powerful presence resonate with my blood...I thought it was this little hawk but whatever was strong enough to resonate with my blood couldn’t be just “one of the strongest” in this forest. I need to verify just what caused it.’

The Lord closed his eyes and began to focus on the darkness mana in the surroundings and more specifically the shadow essence found within that mana.

As someone who had command and dominion over shadow essence, he could sense it wherever it was present as long as he was close enough, this of course included if it was within a lifeform.

And as someone currently at the Rank 8 level of strength his “close enough” was thousands of miles.. and so he searched. Slowly latching on to all the darkness mana he could grab onto, and then focusing on large concentrations of shadow essence within that darkness mana that would signify some type of lifeform.

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‘Not you… not you..no..not you…wait..’

Just as the Lord finally grasped the most profound concentration of shadow essence he could feel, the beast that was therefore being focused on immediately cut the connection between its own essence and the senses of the Lord.

‘Found you.. and to be able to cut me off.. interesting.’

“Do you know of any beasts stronger than you in the forest?”

A slightly confused Shawk quickly responded,

“No, My Lord, there should only be a few other beasts all around my level of strength”

A small smirk could be seen on the Lord’s face as he heard this.. Of course, to everyone else present they could only guess why he decided to smirk.

“Alright, it's time to go! Ah wait”

The Lord’s expression turned slightly serious as he turned to face Laiya, Rykos, and Jace, who all were just nervously waiting on the Lord.

“What type of threat is the Clan currently facing?”

Laiya, Rykos and Jace were immediately shocked once more.

How did he know the Clan was currently facing a threat?!

Could he read their minds? Did he hear their earlier conversation during the journey here?

Despite the thoughts going through his head, Rykos decided to speak up first as this was a subject that made him furious.

“My Lord, a country next to us began asking for access into the Forest of Shadows, and of course we told them no. Yet they never stopped asking and recently they have started getting a little forceful with they how ask”

By the time Rykos finished speaking, both he and the Lord were leaking highly concentrated shadow essence from their bodies...Although the Lord’s own essence began to manifest in weird shapes around him...It wasn’t hard to tell that he was absolutely furious despite the calmness showed on his face.

“Forceful how?”

A surprisingly calm voice came from the Lord in response to Rykos.

“My Lord, they started stationing troops at our borders, even ‘accidentally’ sending patrols through our lands. There've been one or two light skirmishes with our own border patrols, no one has died or been seriously injured as of yet but it's been slowly picking up in intensity”

“So they think my Umbra are easily bullied…no more."

“Shawk.”

“At your service my Lord”

“Do you know where this clan of mine that they speak of is located?”

Shawk quickly nodded.

“Good! Now hear my order and hear it well. Make your way to the clan with haste and declare for all to hear, The Lord of the Umbra has returned and anyone who steps foot in his lands without permission will face death. Kill all who disobey without mercy. Go!”

Noticing the seriousness of the Lord’s tone, Shawk quickly nodded and then took off in his full size. Moving at his maximum speed in the direction of the clan.

From the members of the Umbra Clan to the individuals who are demanding access into their lands, Shawk inwardly vowed that all will come to know that being the cause of the fury in his Lord comes with fatal consequences.

As she watched the mighty Shadow Hawk who would otherwise be seen as a calamity if it showed up at their clan’s front door seriously taking orders from their Lord even after the Lord had a vice grip around its throat not too long ago... Laiya couldn’t help but feel both helpless and in awe at the fact that this is the being she served.

Is this what it meant to be the Lord? Having hegemons bow down at your feet and carrying out kill orders just because your upset? Such is her Lord. This was something for her and all Umbra to take pride in.

But despite those feelings, she still felt the need to ask a certain question, even tho it may not be her place to do so.

“My Lord, I apologize if I’m overstepping my bounds, but was it alright to do that? The Leader of that nation is rumored to be Rank 9..and it is confirmed they have multiple Rank 8 beings as well.”

At this point, all five Royal Guards were staring daggers at Laiya. If they weren’t in the presence of their Lord already she would have long since been eviscerated. Questioning their Lord?! What right did she have ?!