Antra...

The name had now been imprinted in my mind like a dark stain that could never be removed.

But the interaction with him had allowed me to understand a very important thing.

Power—true power was the only way to win.

No matter how many strategies you devise, no matter how smart you are, no matter who serves you...

In the end, it was your personal power that mattered the most.

The same was the case with the headmaster.

Antra too was the same.

I was alive only because they hadn’t acted against me.

I could get all the psychological advantage and try to manipulate everything around me, but...

The moment I offend an existence above me—

Death.

That was the only outcome for me.

Arthur was strong... there was no doubt in that, but there was a limit to his strength.

My immovable trust in Arthur was due to the fact that I had witnessed his carnage in the game.

The Arthur Dimitri in the game was an existence that was like a calamity for the world.

Be it the Immortals or Sovereigns, no one was truly able to stop him.

Only after several alliances were formed, and with Noah’s help... the world had been able to put an end to Arthur’s madness.

But—

The Arthur that now served me wasn’t the same.

He still had his daughter and his sanity intact.

That... made him weaker than the version of Arthur in the game.

I couldn’t treat the two as the same... that much was clear from the way Antra handled Arthur.

And the headmaster too might be able to do the same.

I wasn’t doubting Arthur; I had always known his strength.

If it had indeed come to a fight, then I had enough confidence that Arthur should have been able to fight Antra head-on.

It was only because Antra wanted peace that Arthur had to hold himself from going all out.

Still... I wasn’t one to overlook such things.

But, well... I couldn’t exactly increase my rank as per my wish.

Though my speed was far greater than the rest of the world, that didn’t mean that I would be safe from over speeding.

Unnecessary haste would result in my own doom.

And from my conversation with Antra, I could only hope that he meant the words he had spoken.

I truly hoped that we didn’t end up becoming enemies, because Antra...

To me, he felt a lot more dangerous than the headmaster.

Nemur Daithra was someone who was known all over the world, yet despite that, it was the leader of a cult that I felt the need to be careful around.

Antra... He had never been described in the game, and—no cult in the world had any individuals like that in their leadership, at least according to the game’s storyline.

But analysing Antra’s case, it was clear that every cult must have its own secrets that were never revealed to the world.

The cults had always been shown to be strong in the game, but not up to the level of having someone who could talk about killing Sovereigns with ease.

I still had my doubts about Antra’s claims, but that didn’t mean I had to dismiss them.

No.

It was better to be safe than sorry.

Now that all the cults had accepted our proposal, it was time to move on to the next step.

"Has everyone arrived?" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

I asked Julien, who sat before me with the device in his hand.

We were currently in the control room, overseeing everything.

"Uh... I think it will take two more days for all the necessary troops to arrive. We will have to wait until then."

Haa...

A lot of time was being wasted, but it wasn’t like I had a choice.

I needed numbers more than anything. Taking a few elite troops would suffice too, but that would look too suspicious.

The soldiers in the lower ranks were the most necessary; after all, it wasn’t like I was going to wage a war against the world—

Or was I?

Well... the answer was debatable.

While thinking about everything that I had to do going forward, my gaze shifted to one of the screens, which had the live footage of Alfred’s base.

As I focused my attention on it, Alfred could be seen working on some blue-coloured liquid, as he repeatedly changed its contents only for the liquid to burn away.

But no matter what, Alfred still kept doing his work without being upset about it.

Looking at him...

Alfred wasn’t that bad, was he?

***

"It won’t suffice."

Alfred commented as his assistant brought new materials for the experiment.

"The potion should at least be able to match an individual’s body temperature."

The assistant didn’t say anything, as he knew that Alfred wasn’t talking to him.

Standing by his side, he helped his boss clear the previous space and proceed with the next attempt.

"Hm... Is that? Yes, it might work."

Looking at one of the materials at his side, Alfred picked it up before beginning to heat it until the metal melted away.

"This should do."

Alfred began pouring the contents into a new container while, at the same time, adding different things and creating something that only he knew.

After going through the entire process, Alfred waited for the result.

The potion that he had created didn’t burn right away like the previous attempts.

Alfred waited... but his wait wasn’t long, as after seven minutes, smoke began to emerge from the potion.

"I see."

The assistant didn’t know whether the comment meant success of the potion or another failure.

Alfred picked up the liquid before throwing it away.

This might have been his sixteenth attempt at creating a potion which could be used for—

"This would just burn the small intestine. It should at least be able to travel across the outer lining, and then..."

Alfred paused as he suddenly realised something.

"That’s right."

The assistant observed as Alfred raised the pitch of his voice—

No.

Looking closely, Alfred’s tone had stayed the same.

"There’s no need for the potion to burn the intestine."

The assistant nodded his head, though he couldn’t understand why a potion should even be used for such a purpose.

"Melting it away would suffice."

"..."