"But what can we do?" One chairman sighed. "Our organizations are falling apart."

"We can't afford to compete with each other." Another remarked. "No, we can't even afford to operate separately anymore."

That was a strange remark. "What do you mean?"

"I'm saying that we must merge our organizations into one." The man resolutely declared, sending a wave of surprise across the many human leaders. "Rather, we must dissolve our respect assassination organizations and create a single brand new one from scratch. By pooling our remaining resources, inventory, territory, and manpower, we can sustain the assassination supply market. We can own it! We can rule the Shadow Isles together."

This radical idea would have been preposterous to suggest in the past and would have earned him the scorn of everybody in the room.

Yet this time, everybody remained silent in consideration. Their circumstances had deteriorated to such a degree that even such a radical idea seemed rather tame in comparison.

"There are some shortcomings but...it is not without merit." One man remarked.

"The fact of the matter is that there is a massive demand for assassination services in the Derschek Region." The man boldly continued. "The Voidreaper does not change that. However, due to the decrease in the number of Martial Artist assassins, especially Martial Seniors, supply of assassination services has grown scarcer. Which means we can charge significantly more for every commission. Our profit margins will skyrocket. If we merge into a single organization, then we will be able to maintain prices as high as we need them to be without having to compete with each other for prices."

This was true. The fact that the market could very easily switch from purchasing any one of them and purchase from their competitors had always been one of the biggest reasons that each of them had to be careful about their prices.

This was no longer true if there was only one assassination supplier in the Shadow Isles. They could regulate the prices however they liked without any conflicting considerations.

That was why many of them were seriously considering the option. Right now, their greatest priority was damage mitigation. As long as they could mitigate the damage by the Voidreaper, they could slowly work on developing their assassination industry from scratch.

They just needed to make sure that they had a good foundation under them.

All of the human officials continued to discuss the plan as they slowly established a skeletal structure for their new singular organization. By the end of the meeting, all of the leaders of the various assassination organizations had come to a unanimous agreement on the new initiative.

"The three of you are also important to our plans." One of them informed the three remaining Martial Seniors that had chosen to stay back while the others didn't. "You will be the pillars of our new organization. You must become the new pillars of the assassination sector of the Shadow Isles."

The three of them nodded, taking their roles seriously. Inwardly, they gloated at their peers who had departed, allowing them to take such a central role.

The meeting concluded. All of the members left the meeting in a hurry. They had a lot of work to do, after all.

It wasn't easy creating a brand-new organization that was effectively the fusion of many other smaller organizations. A lot of matters and tasks had to be completed and fulfilled before they could succeed at this grand undertaking.

They would also have to flesh out the details across numerous meetings, tackling matters such as division of power and hierarchy, efficient and effective assimilation of the workforces of the various organizations, and most importantly their own positions within the new organization.

In the meantime, word of yet another wave of Martial Seniors emigrating spread across the Shadow Isles. It did not take an intelligence agency to figure out that fact.

This instantly cut away the confidence that many Martial Squires and Apprentices had in the Shadow Isles. Although the Voidreaper had yet to target Squire-level and Apprentice-level assassins, they knew that they would be massacred if he ever did.

And if he did, it would be too late to run away then.

In the following week, many of them, too, left the Shadow Isles, leaving the assassination supply market in a greater predicament than it had ever been since the dawn of the market when the Silent Shadow announced that she was joining the Shadow Isles.

It was an unprecedented event in the region, drawing attention from not just all over the Derschek Region but also beyond.

It was said that King Hermen of the Varion Kingdom in the Derschek Region, one of the greatest customers of the Shadow Isles had actually gone as far as to file a complaint against the Voidreaper to the Panamic Martial Federation for bullying Lower Realm Martial Artists while being a Martial Master.

"Goofy." Rui shook his head, amused. "They don't actually think I'm a Martial Master, do they?"

"No, they're just hoping to inconvenience you in some way." Professor Carl replied. "King Hermen got to power and maintains said power by relying on the Shadow Isles. You are a source of great inconvenience to him."

"I see. Makes sense." Rui nodded. "Will this inconvenience me in some way?"

"No. The Panamic Martial Federation does not intervene lightly." The professor remarked. "More importantly, the pieces of the assassination sector are planning to group up and rise as one. How do you plan to deal with this?"

"They are at their most vulnerable now," Rui replied as he calmly analyzed the information. "Their assassin member count has all plummeted considerably, they are unable to fulfill commissions that they have already accepted. It's going to make them bleed when they refund and compensate unless they want to shatter their credibility and earn the ire of many powers in the Derschek Region. They are just barely hanging on after the mass exodus. Merging is actually a really good idea, probably the only one that saves them." This belongs to : ©.

"And yet..." Rui narrowed his eyes. "...It will fail. Because I won't allow it to succeed."