Inside a meeting room inside Juju city, located within the territory of the sages, four figures were seated around a table, facing each other.
"So? Have they surrendered yet?" Yin Mei asked in an irritated tone.
"No. Not as of yet." Hillferd replied.
*Smash*
"THEN WHAT ARE YOU STILL WAITING FOR!" Mei shouted, smashing the table in anger.
"Please calm yourself lady Yin!" Olaf replied as he brought out a new table from his spatial storage ring.
"CALM DOWN?! YOU VOWED TO HAND ME THE REMNENTS OF THE YANG CLAN SO LONG AS I REMAINED PATIENT! I HAVE WAITED, SO WHERE ARE THEY?!" Mei screamed.
"As I recall, they still have some time left to respond!"
"Hmph! It is not uncommon for pea brained fools to hold out hope until the last moment! However, spiders like these will often abandon a limb to save their life." Wilhelm spoke.
"What?"
"It's called autotomy! Apologies! I forget who I was talking to! Perhaps if I rephrase it as a lizard cutting off its tail, you may understand my meaning!" Wilhelm spoke condescendingly.
"YOU DARE-!"
"Quiet down!" Hillferd spoke, the temperature dropping drastically at his words as frost began to form around the room.
"Should I take it you share this wretch's opinion?!" Yin replied as she released a dense pressure that plunged the room into darkness.
Had an ordinary mortal taken this pressure, they would have perished in an instant. However, none of the mortals within this room could be considered ordinary. They each had their own methods of warding off this deadly concentration of darkness that filled the room.
"I mean no offence! Though lacking in respect, he was simply trying to explain the reasoning behind our actions! So, could you please, calm thyself!" Hillferd spoke politely.
After cooling her head a bit, Yin Mei eventually calmed down and they resumed their talks.
"I still do not understand why we wait! It would be much quicker to go in and take them by force!" Mei said.
"Need I remind you what occurred, last time we followed this suggestion of yours?" Olaf spoke, referring to their assault on the Yang estate.
"Hmph! We were caught unawares and outnumbered. That has changed, so we should just go in there and take them!"
"And waste our resources and energy unnecessarily? I think not!"
"What?"
"If we attack now, we'll provoke the Dark Empire to side with the Yangs and retaliate."
"So what? This is merely a trial ground by the demonic. You confirmed the prince's presence on the 3rd continent, so there is no danger of him being caught in the crossfire. As long as that remains the case, there is no reason why we cannot raise this nation to the ground!"
"The Dark Empire may be a nation of the 2nd continent, but it had near complete control of the continents resources. The 2nd continent may be less impressive compared to the 3rd, but with how often the demonic, the divine and even your draconic alliance send their youths here, there is no saying what lost treasures and artifacts they may have uncovered."
"Agreed! And Yangs aside, though less frequent, it is not as if this continent is absent of immortals either! If we rush into a conflict as you suggested, we would have to face all of them. Or that used to be the case!" Olaf stated.
"Used to?"
"We may have appeared to be passive up until now, but secretly, we have been encouraging the empire's vassal states to rebel! Once that happens, they will not have the time or energy to fight with us over the Yangs!"
"Of course, the Yangs won't just go along with this, but-!"
"But if they choose to stand their ground and fight, they'll only wear themselves out, and should they try to flee, well, I'll put my faith in your information network. After all, it was your side who discovered their location." Hillferd said to Yin Mei.
Finally, understanding the sages' strategy, Mei fell into thought, before asking.
"Then what would happen in the event your plan fails?"
"Excuse me?"
"You did say they have all kinds of power and resources at their disposal. What's to say they do not have ways of putting an end to the descent in the south with little or no losses, or for whatever reason they deluded themselves into thinking they could handle us on top of the rebellion! What then?"
"Given the history of the Dark Empire, if they possessed the power to do the former, they would not have need of vassal states, and the later would be illogical. They may not understand the power difference entirely, but even a fool would understand fighting us as well as defending another front would be suicidal." Hillferd replied.
"Hillferd. You once told me that the base condition for the lunarias participation in my plan to remove the Yang would never happen, because it was too illogical! Remind me, what was the result?"
"…!"
"Not every decision is based in logic! People can be surprisingly irrational at times! So, tell me! Are you absolutely certain this plan of yours will work or can I-!"
*RUMBLE*
"What was that?"
As the whole room suddenly started shaking, Olaf pulled out a communication artifact to ask what was happening outside.
*BOOM*
However, before he could connect, the building they were in exploded. The three sages were completely unharmed of course, while Yin only had a few minor scratches. However, looking at their surroundings, Olaf dropped his communication crystal ball in shock. Less than an hour ago, before they entered the meeting room, this was a flourishing city brimming with life, surrounded by green fields under an open blue sky. However, in the short time between then and now, the scenery had been changed entirely. The city was in ruin, and the fields of green now a desolate wasteland, and the blue sky was replaced with dark smoke and spatial distortions dropping high grade explosives across every inch of land in sight.
*Static sound*
"Hello! Anyone there? Is this a prank call?"
Suddenly, the transmission crystal connected. Hearing this, Olaf picked it back up, only to find another surprise.
"Oh, there you are, Longbeard!"
Instead of the disciple Olaf had been expecting to show up on screen, he saw Nox wearing a clown mask and holding the severed head of the man he called.
"YOU?!"
"Oh good! I was worried you wouldn't recognize me!"
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?"
"I'll let Jimmy John explain!" Nox said as she started moving the lips of the head as she began her ventriloquist act.
"You fuckers have been a pain in our asses for long enough, now prepare to die!"
"And what else!"
"Uh! Oh! We will not stop until you are all dead!"
"And?"
"And anyone and anything that gets in or near the way will be annihilated as collateral, because we genuinely don't care!"
"Very good Jimmy!"
"WHAT ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT!? HAVE YOU GONE MAD?! THE DARK EMPIRE-!"
"Has given me full control over all-military actions! Thanks for that by the way! The court was one thing, but the red palace guys would have never handed over command to me if you hadn't placed them in such a desperate situation!" Nox replied.
"What?"
"You know the funny thing is, this all started because you tried to murder my disciple, and here I am, holding the severed head of yours!" She said as she threw the severed head over her shoulder.
"WHERE ARE YOU?!"
"Not near you, I'll tell you that much! Oh thanks!" Nox said, as she was suddenly handed a colorful drink with a crazy straw in it by a four armed man in a maid outfit.
"WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, I WILL MAKE YOU WISH FOR DEATH!"
"Sorry, but not this time! I am done playing around! You assholes have been harassing me for too long, and I am out of patience! You are all going to die, and I will be the one to put you all down, and I am not afraid to burn down this, or any other continent to do so! Remember! You picked this fight!" She said, her eyes going dark.
After having said what she wanted, she ended the call.
Her words echoing in their heads, the sages looked out at the exploding wasteland before them and realized, Mei might have had a point.