On the other side of the continent, a lone figure, much like Cale, stood on the cliffs and let his gaze fall on the rough sea. Waves lapped powerfully against the rocky shore, accompanied by the stench of dead fish and other shellfish. In the distance, he could hear scattered voices, too far away to understand. None of his men used light to ensure they went unnoticed. One warrior, however, came running hastily towards the man, causing him to break his gaze from the East Coast and look into the dead forest behind him.

"Chairman Hosik", the warrior spoke up, getting down on his knees as he arrived in front of him. "I bring you news from the city Exarion."

"I'm listening", Hosik replied sternly.

"Leader Quell reports that they have been unable to gain access to the City of the humans. Almost all of his warriors and the creatures you sent with him were also killed."

"That was to be expected", the Chairman muttered, lowering his hands. "Deliver this message to the leaders and inform them that we are moving to the second offensive."

"Very well."

With the words, Hosik let the warrior step back and turned his attention back to the sea. Here in Phaseen the sea was a good deal wilder than he was used to in Kahira. As a child, he had often gone north and watched in fascination as the sea carried huge chunks of ice from Frignez to Tsuke. Until the day his father had caught him doing it and forbade him to show outside of the city.

They went into hiding. Back then in Kahira and also here in Phaseen. They were hiding from the humans in order to survive. Never again would they let it come to such a war as it did 500 years ago, but at what cost? Why were they the ones who had to hide when they were the stronger ones? Hosik had not understood that even back then. There was enough room for everyone in the world, so why had his ancestors launched such a massive war without properly informing themselves about their opponents? They were destined to lose and thus gave the death sentence to the whole rebellion. It is a miracle that they managed to reconquer the land and kill the nobles centuries later. An astonishing number of them had survived in the aftermath of the betrayal - the betrayal of the Paserus and the Kamas. A fact Hosik could not accept. First they start a war, lead the rebellion to the absolute existence-Minimun, and then they cast all blame away?

Hosik sighed as he thought of Tsuke's past and how he lived when his father became the first chairman and founded the city of Kahira. But since his quarrel with his elder sister Shari, he had turned his back on Kahira and built his own city here - a city full of warriors with whom he would wipe out humanity. Phaseen.

He would kill every last one of them, and if that was the last thing he did. It was no longer just a battle between the citizens and the nobility, but a battle between the last rebels and the humanity who oppressed them.

The mana of his sword spoke up. As if it had noticed that Hosik was agitated, it attracted the chairman's attention. Grinning, he picked up his legendary weapon and held it as if it were one of his four children. Memories of his family abandoning him came up.

"You're excited too, aren't you, Mirajokama?", he muttered softly to himself. "Don't worry, you're not the only one. As soon as I get rid of the High-Mages and we get Exarion under control, we'll go north and rescue your brother from the clutches of the Paserus. I promise you that."

Like a lunatic, Chairman Hosik spoke with his sword, but it did not bother him. Why should it bother him? After all, he had made it his personal mission to punish humanity for its misdeeds. A certain degree of madness was simply part of that. Above all the healers in Frignez, who were responsible for his current lifestyle and that of all his followers, he would personally make them bleed. He would not hide like his sister, no - he would use the gift of the gods to get his revenge at humanity.

After quite a few minutes of silence, the warrior Cistel, who served Hosik, emerged.

"Chairman."

"Is there any information from Bellator yet?"

"Nothing new, I'm afraid, Chairman", the man announced. "Leader Nodiavi was inconveniently unable to find out where your wife fled to."

"Did she communicate anything else? What is the situation in Bellator?"

"Unchanged. Her identity remains unknown and she is in control of the situation."

"Has the palace been able to find out anything about the creatures' attack on Groka and Kutam?"

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"Not yet, but King Leonhardt is showing signs of taking the situation more seriously than expected", the warrior replied. Hosik, on the other hand, sighed softly and reattached his sword to his waistband. He always assumed that Exarion would become his main problem, but Bellator was close on the heels of this position. Constantly, the royal house was doing something that he simply had not expected. First and foremost, the fact that they had brought a High-Mage to Bellator who could prevent the attack on Kutam. If he hadn't been there, Resneme would never have escaped. A big issue, since the death of Neyla and Liora, he really needed her ability.

"All right. As soon as you hear anything new from Leader Nodiavi, let me know."

"Of course, Chairman", the warrior replied, bowing before speaking up again. "Would you allow me a question?"

"I'm listening?"

"Are you sure we can take over Exarion?"

"I'm convinced, yes. It will definitely not be an easy task, but we have the element of surprise on our side. The High-Mages will be so busy with the creatures that they won't even see us coming", the Chairman confirmed calmly. "We will have a meeting tomorrow at noon to go over how to proceed."

"Very well, Chairman", the warrior replied in a clear voice, bowed again and then went on his way. For a few minutes, Hosik stood silently at the precipice as his gaze led him towards the moon and he remembered why he had gone outside in the first place. The secret exit and this place were known only to a few of his followers, which was why he always went outside here when he had to attend to the unpleasant task.

He unsheathed his sword and began to let the mana of the weapon flow through his body. As he did every time he used the legendary weapon's ability, he then sat down on the ground before complete darkness and absolute silence surrounded him.

Immediately, his body made itself known. With heavy movements, Hosik opened the stone sarcophagus and looked for a few moments towards the small gap that marked the exit. He waited for some time to see if anyone would be waiting for him there, but as noone came, he straightened up with relief.

He did not want to deal with one of the Layon tribal chiefs. Seeing him as an apostle of the gods, they worshiped him and brought him daily offerings of some kind to get the blessing of prosperity for the tribe. When he was in a good mood, Hosik sometimes did this too, although he preferred to avoid facing people with his real body. Since the incident with the man from Sylve, who had made his own inquiries about Hosik, he avoided contact with the tribal leaders even more. He was merely his reserve for emergencies. Superstitious people who ignorantly took care of his body.

One of the reasons why he stayed in a sarcophagus. He hid his real body here when he used Mirajokama's mana and switch to his duplicate. Hosik simply did not have a safer place that served him in the course and was protected by people who were loyal to him.

Unobtrusively, he climbed out and sat on the steps leading to his platform. As every day, members of the faith community brought him plenty of food, which he used to keep his real body alive while he stayed in Phaseen the rest of the time. He stuffed it into his mouth and then licked his fingers clean while he thought amused about how stupid the faith people actually were.

They thought he was an apostle. An apostle of the gods, although Hosik was still not sure how it had actually come about. One moment they saw him as an intruder and the next moment they went down on their knees and bowed to him. According to the rumors, Hosik was very close to the gods, although Hosik had never once met a god. He didn't even believe they existed, which made the whole situation all the more abstruse.

If the gods really existed, then surely they would not allow this injustice to continue. The fact of how his race had to live to be safe. Therefore, Hosik had also begun to take this injustice into his own hands.

When he had finally finished eating, he straightened up again, reached for Mirajokama and decided to take a look outside. Carefully, he squeezed through the relatively narrow gap and stepped out into the open, surrounded by massive trees. A long stone staircase led up the hill to the shrine where he was staying, but he did not go down. Instead, he elegantly jumped up the ledge and after a few minutes reached the top of the enormous mountain.

Fascinated, he discovered the Holy Island of Velence, which was lit up tonight by glaring fire. He had never seen anything like it and when his warriors informed him about it, he almost couldn't believe it. Since nightfall, the dragons had been fighting with each other. Why? No one could say. There was a rumor among the humens that the dragons were at odds with each other and had therefore begun to scatter all over the land. Hosik could confirm this, because he had already seen dozens of dragons flying in the mountains of Sylve. At first, the chairman assumed that they were hunting his warrior Ezzedin, but since their arrival a little more than 10 years ago, the dragons had never come close to Phaseen. Sometimes he wondered if they even realised that the Thormod they were looking for was there.

"Damn Ezzedin", Hosik muttered, leaning against the rock with his arms folded in front of his chest. Ezzedin was among the best warriors he had under him, but Hosik could not stand the young man. It might be true that he could provide countless sums of mana thanks to the dragon's mark, but the price had always been too great for Hosik. After all, he did not want to risk starting a war with the dragons. The dragons were a risk factor in his plan that he could not possibly calculate. Since they appeared, the inhabitants of Phaseen are frightened, which had repeatedly led to confrontations, in which he had to intervene.

Therefore, he also allowed isolated warriors to enter the West to observe what was happening on the Holy Island. He often did not see these warriors for months, so that he always had to fear that they had been discovered by the humans. But they all followed his instructions and distanced themselves immediately when they came across people.

One of the reasons why the humans would not see the attack on Exarion coming.