21. In Four..... Months
"I promise I am not affiliated with them yet!" Avani screamed loudly, tears heavily pouring from his eyes. "They gave me that crystal to test out its potency, that's all," he stammered. "Please! Don't kill me." He groveled at Revet's feet.
His snot poured all over Revet's slides, and Revet took a step back.
"You are so pathetic. Wouldn't it be better to die with dignity intact?" Duran asked, his eyes filled with disgust.
Asmaroth tapped Duran on the shoulder. "Duran-chan, don't spoil the fun," she giggled angelically. "Isn't this so entertaining to watch... hahaha." She placed her well-designed nails over her mouth. "Hey!! Why don't you oink for me and I might beg my handsome master over here to take you as his cleaner," she said mockingly with a terrifying look.
As expected of the Prime Goddess of Karma, the rumors fit perfectly. Her sadistic nature was something Revet found very disorienting. She was a goddess who found it interesting to trouble powerful men and stomp over their remains. Aria had warned him to be careful of her, and now he understood why.
Revet turned towards her with a disinterested look. 'Asmaroth... allow the man to finish what he was saying.'
She took a step back lacklusterly. "Ok, ok!"
'Are the "they" you are referring to the Nuxeon cult?'
"Yes! Those bastards with bony masks. Please spare me," Avani continued to grovel at his feet.
So their reach had spread this far.
'You chose to attack my domain because you had a grudge—that I get. But how did the likes of you come across them?'
He raised his head shakily. "They usually waited around strategic locations outside of the neutral zones. For some reason, they couldn't enter inside. That's how I came across them. They promised me a spot in the top 500 if I successfully captured the souls of 2 summoners using this."
He brought out an eerie-looking wooden box. Duran's eyes widened slightly. "That's a forbidden artifact: a Soul Catcher. But it looks like this one is of a smaller capacity."
They were gathering souls. This aligned with what Nirvana had said earlier. It had to be for the grand summoning ritual.
'Did they mention anything else?'
"They didn't tell me much apart from the fact that when I collected the 2 souls, they would find me at my domain. Also, the crystal they gave me could dampen spirit energy for a limited amount of time."
That meant the artifact likely had some kind of signal to notify them when it was full so they could retrieve it. A spirit energy dampener could be extremely dangerous in the wrong situation. He didn't seem like a threat, but to be safe, Revet decided to take control.
'Subordination.'
[Avani has successfully transferred all his summoner rights, domain, artifacts, and catalysts to you]
Afterwards, Avani returned to his domain, crying his eyes out—or rather, Revet's vassal domain. Revet called a meeting with the SPS to discuss his latest findings.
"Revet-sama, it seemed you had a visitor," Fubuki said calmly.
Revet looked at the monitor, and it turned out to be Nirvana.
The surveillance unit let her in, and they met at the balcony.
'What's with the sudden visit?'
She took a seat, her face more serious than usual. "I just got feedback from the infiltration unit I sent to the Nuxeon headquarters. They told me the cult would be carrying out the grand summoning ritual in Four... Months," she said coldly.
'Four... Months? This wasn't good. We needed to make preparations to stop that ritual.'
She went on to explain other concerning developments. She also informed him that another mass recruitment would be held in a day's time. The intel unit planned to take advantage of that to regroup with her summons at their headquarters. Since it was a mirror dimension, they would need a method to breach the mystic-grade barrier.
'My intel squadron will join up with your infiltration unit, if that's not a problem.'
"Of course. That's going to make the breaching operation easier," she replied.
'If you don't mind, I thought we should be holding daily strategic meetings and training sessions.'
"That won't be a problem. But wouldn't it be better if we established a combined base of operations? And since the rankings were now based on points, we also needed to make time to clear conquest taverns," she said boldly.
'I just took over my neighboring domain. We can use it as our base of operations.'
"As expected of Revet-dono, you had this all well thought out." A smile played across her face. "I'll inform my summons about this!" She stood up calmly. "See you tomorrow."
'Bye, Nirvana.'
Revet waved at her as a portal appeared behind her.
After the meeting, he informed the intel squadron about their next mission.
"Hihihihi, a high-stakes infiltration mission. Vampika likes," she said, blushing immensely.
"If it's to stop corruption and evil, I'm all in," Hina said calmly.
"Whatever, let's get this over with," Uriel said sleepily.
The next day arrived quickly, and they departed for their mission.
"Intel Squadron commencing infiltration mission," they all said in harmony.
Nirvana arrived afterwards along with Beta, Gamma, and two unfamiliar males.
"Revet-dono," she called, waving at him.
"This is Zux." She pointed to the male with pointy eyes wearing formal clothing.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," Zux said calmly, bowing slightly.
"This is Raymond." She pointed to the male who looked half-asleep, dressed casually.
"Nice to meet you," Raymond said sleepily.
"They will be participating in the strategic training exercise," Nirvana stated boldly.
'Allow me to introduce to you: Aria.'
"Hello," Aria said sweetly.
'Duran.'
"I believe we have met," he said abruptly.
'Famel.'
"A pleasure to meet you, Lady Nirvana," he bowed slightly.
'And Lamina.'
"It's a pleasure to meet such outstanding warriors," she said formally, interlocking her hands together on her thighs as she bent her head slightly.
After the introductions were done, they proceeded to the training center.
"Revet-dono... this place is quite spacious, and I see you reinforced it thoroughly," Nirvana said, tapping the wall lightly.
Everyone settled into position.
It was time for the first practice match.
'The first practice match would be Team R vs Team N.'
They all got into position.
'Begin!'