Beyond the Bloodline-Chapter 364: The Guild Network

Rewinding time by roughly three months, to just minutes before Jamie and Sarina departed from the Zanerth Universe toward the Vladi Supercluster.

At that moment, Miranda was on the Argent Empire’s capital planet, Volarth, addressing both internal imperial affairs and issuing orders to handle the aftermath of her recent meeting with the Supremes of Zanerth’s Council.

Only two days remained before the scheduled trial date, where the Race Rulers and prominent figures accused of collaborating with the Neo-Extinction Legion were to stand before the council in Zanerth-O1.

Most of the accused had already been confined in various maximum-security prisons in the Prison Realms scattered throughout the Zanerth-O1 Galaxy.

Miranda had just concluded one minor issue when a ten-ringed magic circle materialised in her office, its sudden appearance prompting all her subordinates, who had been busy organising files and making calls, to immediately abandon their tasks and draw their weapons.

However, Miranda raised her hand, a silent command to stand down, which they obeyed at once, though their wary eyes remained fixed on the magic circle.

Within seconds, it expanded into a Spatial Gate, and through it stepped the familiar figure of the eldest Cathedral sibling, the Golden Magician, Richard.

"Sup, Miranda."

"Where’ve you been all this while?" Miranda asked immediately, not even bothering to lift her eyes from the tablet she was skimming through.

"Chasing a false lead. I ran into Jamie and Sarina just as I was about to leave. They were heading to the galactic trash yard."

At that, Miranda finally looked up, her expression incredulous.

"What for?"

"Beats me," Richard replied with a shrug. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Before he could say anything further, Miranda’s eyes suddenly widened, and she abruptly rose from her seat.

Richard also turned his gaze toward the direction in space he had come from, infusing magic power into his eyes as he peered through the dimensional layers.

Miranda, however, proceeded to do something that left every Cosmic Superior across the Universe stunned for a second.

She dominated all ambient Cosmic Energy in the Universe, directing it to scan across over a hundred billion light years in search of a single entity.

Naturally, she didn’t find them, as said entity had just departed the Zanerth Universe.

She was about to ask Richard which of the trash yards he had encountered Jamie at when the telepathic message Jamie had sent before leaving the universe finally reached her.

As the contents echoed in her mind, Miranda frowned momentarily before sighing and releasing her control over the cosmic energy.

"What did he tell you?"

Richard, who had quite literally seen the cosmic energy wave that carried the telepathic message, posed the question, and Miranda replied in a low voice.

"He said they’re heading to somewhere called...Vladi?"

She looked up at him and asked, "You know the place?"

"Yeah. There’s a pretty famous Eternal Candidate from there. She was involved in that mess that ended the Candidate Selection, where almost all the Eternals and Aggressors showed up at once.

I happened to be nearby when it all went down, so I remember her clearly."

Richard’s explanation did little to ease the concern on Miranda’s face, and noticing this, he snapped his fingers, conjuring a barrier to isolate the sound of what he was about to say next.

"Maybe it’s better that he’s away for now. He’s not exactly in the best condition, and sticking around runs the risk of randomly encountering a wandering Grand Supreme."

"But that risk is even greater outside..." Miranda muttered, her voice laced with concern.

Richard, however, reacted quite differently.

"He’s with Sarina, so he’ll be fine. Besides, it’s not the first time he’s pulled this power-loss stunt."

As he thought about it more, Richard figured Jamie had probably kept his distance from central Zanerth to avoid anyone discovering his weakened state, which could jeopardise all Miranda’s current plans.

Pushing those thoughts aside, he turned to Miranda and asked about the state of the storm she had cast over Zanerth.

"What’s the current situation?"

"We’re reconvening in two days to put the traitors on trial."

At that, Richard raised an eyebrow. "You’re actually holding a trial? What for?"

The way he said it made it sound like the whole process was unnecessary, and Miranda’s cold response came almost immediately.

"So I can officially declare their death sentences."

In other words, the trial was nothing more than a formality. Miranda was going to have them all executed regardless.

She was simply giving the Supremes the courtesy of allowing them to capture and deliver the traitors themselves, avoiding a scenario where her forces would have to cross into the territories of various races to conduct manhunts.

But that was the extent of her leniency.

No matter who they were, or whose relative they happened to be, she intended to kill them all.

Collaboration with the Neo-Extinction Legion carried the same punishment that had been enforced during the Destruction Supreme’s reign, when captured spies faced a single consequence: death.

Some of the Supremes had likely realised this and were clearly trying to find a way around it. A few were even planning to hide the accused and later claim they had escaped.

But Miranda didn’t care. She had already tasked a number of the Incomplete Hybrids to keep watch over those likely to try such tricks, and if any of the accused were hidden or moved, the order was simple: eliminate them on sight, without hesitation or mercy.

"The dragons have been making noise in my ear, wanting to see Heilong. Naturally, I refused.

Who knows what kind of schemes those lizards might hatch the moment I turn my back? If it weren’t for Heilong’s family bloodline search, they wouldn’t even know which prison I put him in."

Miranda clicked her tongue as she recalled the scene from the day before, when the Dragon Supremes had caused a commotion outside the prison realm.

Upon hearing this, Richard chuckled and shook his head, then walked over to the holographic map of Argent that hovered above the central desk in the room.

"I’ll stick around until this whole mess is dealt with. I’ll call in my mages too."

"That would be most appreciated," Miranda replied as she returned to her files, while Richard silently began issuing commands to his mages.

Much like how Sarina stood at the top of the Angel and Demon races in Zanerth, each of the other Hybrids had their own major forces they had cultivated over the years.

Jamie had his ’Disciples’, along with most of the Incomplete Hybrids and the Vampiric Races.

Miranda held greater influence over the Werewolves and various other Beastkin races, which was the primary reason she was known as the ’Wolf goddess.’

Oliva led the largest faction of Witches across the Universe, a force rivalled only by the combined strength of all opposing factions.

As for John, he oversaw adventurers, explorers, mercenaries, and similar types. While he hadn’t created these groups himself, he currently controlled the majority of Adventurers’ Guilds and related organisations that managed and regulated those professions across countless planets.

For Richard, being the Golden ’Magician’, it was only natural that he commanded the largest number of ’Mages.’

To put it plainly, Richard led what was essentially a Mages Guild, except this Guild operated on a universal scale, with decillions of mages spread across more than 75% of the known universe connected to it in one way or another.

Most of them weren’t even aware that Richard was their boss at the top, which was expected due to the sheer scale of the organisation.

An organisation spanning 75% of the known universe dealt with billions upon billions of mage towers, outposts, branches, and an even greater number of personnel at all levels.

The structure was deeply hierarchical, with each level reporting solely to the one directly above it. For the average mage, their only points of contact were their local Tower Master, regional Archmage, or sector Overseer.

Very few ever thought to question who ultimately ran the entire thing, let alone received an answer.

So while they were familiar with the name Richard Cathedral, the Golden Magician, they had no idea he was the leader of the Guild structure that governed their careers.

Then there were those from low-level or isolated planets that didn’t even have the understanding to comprehend the scale of the organisation, let alone who sat at the top. To them, their local Mage Tower was the Guild, unaware that it was merely one node in a vast network stretching across galaxies.