Royman Mardeel frowned.
Sitting on his impeccably clean desk was an unfamiliar crystal orb, emitting a faint blue glow.
A chill instantly shot down his spine.
Aside from the Chief God's prayer room, his office possessed the highest level of security in the entire Guild Headquarters. Without his explicit permission, absolutely no one could enter.
Who... could have placed something on my desk without making a sound?
Quickly, a realization dawned on him. A glint of understanding flashed through eyes squeezed into slits by his fat. There was only one existence in the entire Guild capable of pulling this off.
The messenger of that esteemed personage.
The color rapidly drained from Royman's face, replaced by a sickly pallor. The joy he had felt from winning his previous bet vanished completely, replaced by an ominous premonition that loomed over him like a dark storm cloud.
With heavy steps, he dragged himself to his desk and reached out to touch the crystal orb.
In the next second, a hellscape unfolding on the twenty-seventh floor projected before his eyes.
The longer he watched, the uglier his expression became. The violent trembling of his body worsened with every passing second.
When he saw Finn and the others utterly suppressed by that pitch-black Demon Lord; when he saw second-string members like Anakitty crushed like weeds beneath the overwhelming might of "Flamescion"; when he saw Ais and Riveria locked in a bitter, desperate struggle...
Royman violently clutched his chest, a pained groan escaping his throat.
An intense stress response seized his mind and body.
He was thrown back fourteen years into the past—back to that era of darkness. He remembered how the Zeus and Hera Familias, two invincible factions that had once shined over all of Orario like the sun, were slowly dragged into the abyss during their Great Feat to subjugate the One-Eyed Black Dragon, ultimately facing complete annihilation.
He remembered the sheer despair that was potent enough to drag the entire world into darkness. That feeling of watching the city's pillars collapse while being utterly powerless to stop it was a psychological trauma he could never shake.
And now, that damned shadow had descended once again.
The desperate situation the Loki Familia faced in the projection overlapped perfectly with the tragic end of those two legendary Familias in his memories.
Royman trembled violently, bead after bead of cold sweat rolling down his forehead. He shoved the crystal orb aside and collapsed against his desk, gasping heavily for air. Deep, bone-chilling fear and despair were written all over his face.
Knock, knock.
"Guild Master? It's Eina. Are you back?"
Without waiting for Royman to respond, the door was pushed open a crack. The half-elf girl, Eina Tulle, poked her head in, clutching a thick stack of documents.
Having heard that Guild Master Royman had returned, she immediately rushed over with the latest files regarding the Focalors Familia. Just moments ago, the Focalors Familia's captain, Aiden, had officially reported his level up to Level 4. For a newly established Familia barely a few months old, this was a miraculous achievement. And Royman had specifically instructed her that any critical intelligence regarding the Focalors Familia must be reported to him the moment it arrived.
However, her polite smile vanished the moment she saw the state of the office.
The Guild Master, who was usually so high-and-mighty and pampered, was currently slumped over his desk like a dying fish, clutching his chest and trembling violently. His face was frighteningly pale.
"Guild Master?! What's wrong?!"
Eina cried out, abandoning all etiquette as she rushed into the room.
Hearing Eina's panicked voice, Royman seemed to snap out of his endless nightmare. He snapped his head up, his bloodshot, terror-filled eyes locking onto her.
"Quick, Eina!" he bellowed in a hoarse, distorted voice. "Go find Goddess Loki! Tell her... 'Braver' and the others are in critical danger!"
"O-Oh... right, I'll go right away!"
Though she had absolutely no idea what was happening, Eina instinctively nodded at Royman's unprecedented panic.
Then, the true weight of his words hit her.
Braver and the others... are in danger?
Her pupils shrank, disbelief flooding her expression. She finally understood why Royman was in such a state of panic.
That was the Loki Familia. Along with the Freya Familia, they were one of the two massive pillars upholding the very order of Orario. If something happened to them... if that pillar collapsed, the entirety of Orario would be plunged into a devastating upheaval. The remnants of Evilus, long since driven into hiding, might even seize the opportunity to return, dragging the world back into the flames of war and chaos.
Realizing the severity of the situation, Eina's face grew just as pale as Royman's. Abandoning all other thoughts, she spun around to run and find Loki.
"Wait. Take this," Royman wheezed, forcing the words out.
Cold sweat poured down his forehead as he fought back the nauseating urge to vomit, pointing a trembling finger at the crystal orb on his desk.
Eina cast a worried glance at the near-collapsing man. She despised this corpulent elf. She hated his greed, his prejudice against half-elves, and his constant efforts to stifle her at work. But seeing him in this state, her kind heart couldn't help but feel a twinge of concern. After all, despite his many despicable flaws, Royman used his own methods to keep this city running.
But there were more pressing matters at hand.
Taking a deep breath, she snatched the crystal orb and bolted out of the office without another moment of hesitation.
Watching Eina leave, Royman finally went limp in his chair, pulling out a handkerchief to frantically wipe the cold sweat from his brow.
Only his own heavy breathing echoed in the empty office.
What is going on... who exactly is that man? And 'Flamescion'... shouldn't he be in the Palais Mermonia? Why is he on the twenty-seventh floor, attacking the Loki Familia?
A tidal wave of incomprehensible questions crashed into his mind. But he knew now wasn't the time to overthink things. Sending reinforcements to the Loki Familia was the utmost priority.
The brutal combat footage from the crystal orb resurfaced in his mind, and his expression darkened to the extreme.
"I have no choice but to go to the Freya Familia," he muttered to himself.
To rescue a top-tier fighting force like the Loki Familia that had been forced into a corner, relying on the Ganesha Familia alone simply wouldn't be enough. Furthermore, as the city's military police, the Ganesha Familia was needed to maintain order throughout Orario and couldn't be deployed lightly.
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