Before Draco could continue, there was a powerful knock on the door. Knowing who was behind it, Draco frowned a little and beckoned them to enter.
In came Akainu and Sanji with grim expressions, the former smoking a black cigar while the latter had a half burnt cigarette in his mouth. The contrast between the duo was always striking to onlookers, but Draco could tell from their emotional output that things were not going to be pleasant.
"Greetings boss, we come bearing some bad news." Akainu greeted respectfully.
Draco pointed to the couches in the room. "Have a seat and let me know what's going on."
The two sat down heavily and adjusted their suits before speaking. "Well, its some outside trouble as you may have guessed."
That was obvious enough to Draco as Akainu handled all outside business while Sublime handled all internal business. Usually, it was impossible for problems to appear in game as the guild was on the right track, but outside was still open to many forces that did not value what the guild represented at this time.
"To simplify, we've somehow come under the scrutiny of the World Council." Akainu stated simply.
Draco's face changed greatly. "What? So soon? How?!"
You have to understand, the World Council on paper sounded like some fictional UN group, but it was far from that. After World War 3, the resolution was that the United Nations was a useless paperweight organization that could do nothing and achieve nothing.
What the world needed was a group of like minded and visionary men and women to make snap decisions backed by the entirety of the world's power. These people would be councilors, set there by their merits and achievements to decide the bigger matter of the world.
Hence, 'World Council'. The 12 councilors had all the power of the world, whether it was economy, military, digital, whatever. They could freely harness and utilize all the powers of each and every country without any restraint.
Even behemoth countries like the Central Country, UK, China and all else were subverted by the World council. They had the kind of absolute power that the UN lacked, and the kind of firm control over nations that allowed for full exercise of that power.
Previously, when Draco was ranking threats in the world to his person, he placed the World Council at the top along with the Primordial species that existed on the planet before the advent of the human race. The reason he did that was not because he was confused, but because he - after reaching his height in the previous timeline and integrating with many factions - understood just how powerful the World Council was.
Individual power was great, especially with Draco and co having control and their bloodlines. There was a lot they could do to solve any IRL problem, like Apport into the councilor's bedrooms, mind control them or kill them and leave.
So why? Why hadn't either Draco or Eva done this? Why were they still farting about hiding and playing this game instead of having long taken over the world using their powers?
Heck, why hadn't anyone from the Lineages done same? Why were they hiding in this era and pretending to be obscure?
It was simply because they couldn't, not at this time. Not without paying a price either.
This was 2065. Even in the earlier parts of the century, technology was pretty advanced much less now. Just think about it. Boundless was all the hype now with its 100% FIVR immersion, but one had to know that the previous number 1 game had around 45% immersion.
And the key aspect often forgotten was that this was fully developed by human hands. The AI was obviously not something of humans hands and just capitalized on the tech of this era to launch itself. However, it was a fact that not only base Virtual Reality, but nerve connection technology had been developed by human hands.
They even went as far as to achieve basic FIVR!
The key thing was that this was civilian technology, and everyone knew that civilian tech was at least a decade behind military tech. So what level had the world achieved in the shadows and how much of it could change the fate of society?
Draco himself did not initially know much. Even as Hellscape's leader and with his ties to the Central country and its upper echelon, he hadn't been qualified to know. He had only gotten to know through Maria, who got all her details from The Fifth Councilor, Nathanial Rothschild.
However, this was all to do with their power in the light. As for their power in the dark…
"Exactly who has their eyes on us and why?" Draco asked severely.
Sanji by the side spoke with a grim and murderous look. "The Elemental Group."
Draco heard this and closed his eyes with a look of frustration. He wasn't sure Akainu and Sanji knew, but this news was actually not too bad. It was something that, even without his or Eva's response, could be solved by his current human resources.
However, what would come after would be like a repeat of constant harassment, doubt and having the vanquish even more troublesome foes to stay afloat. That cycle would terribly waste time for the guild and cause them to lag behind others in their growth.
Well, lagging behind was impossible at this point, but rather, it would make the guild slow down their climb to the pinnacle, which was intolerable for Draco.
"What exactly happened?" Draco inquired.
Akainu took a puff of his cigar and held it deftly before answering in his deep voice. "They are currently investigating our Private Security Organization made up of Supernatural's youngsters that we took into our guild. They suspect our company is a front for something since we've never taken any jobs."
Draco frowned. They weren't wrong with that assumption, but it was a fucking company meant to take in these special youngsters and teach them to play a fucking game. Even the dumbest intelligence agency should know this, much less a power subsidiary to the World Council.
As such, Draco didn't need to hear anymore. The Elementals were intent on finding fault with them and just needed an excuse. The only question that was left was why?
Aside that, who are the Elemental group and what power did they represent?
Well, if one remembered correctly, Draco once entered the Glorygore labs as a fixer where he met Amber and the AI, and then unlocked his bloodline. At the time, he did it for money because he was broke and did not want to sell platinum.
He had taken the job through Parkins, Jada and Jade's elder brother, which was how he even kidnapped the two darlings over. Parkins represented an intermediary agency that connected fixers with organizations that gave out missions.
That mission he took was from another World Council affiliated organization. The Elemental Group were one of those, but also different. It was of a far, far higher rank than one could imagine.
As stated earlier, the councilors of the World Council had power in the light and the dark. Their 'dark' power was that each of them had a subsidiary organization that did their bidding where the sun could not reach.
These powers were only terrifying because they had access to resources that the factions in the light could not and adopted certain means that were reminiscent of movies about the underworld, but far more callous.
Each organization under a councilor had a specialty. It could be advanced weaponry, robotics, superpowers, and more. This world had already proven itself to have human beings not similar to any other type in the multiverse.
The Elemental Group… their specialty should be obvious, right? A bunch of freaks experimented on who can now shoot fire, water, earth, or wind as if they were taken out of the Avatar story. Thankfully, they didn't need to do any shitty movements to unleash their powers.
How did Draco know this?
Maria again.
The Elemental group was precisely Nathanial Rothschild hidden organization. Draco only knew of two others, which were the Third Councilor's Vernitia's Alliance and the Seventh Councilors Vanishing Lords.
The Vernitia Alliance were the ones who gave him the task to rob Glorygore back then. They were a group focused on AI and software-related intrusion, so of course, they coveted Boundless AI which was light years ahead of all others.
The Vanishing Lords were a bunch of assassins trained to the highest degree. Draco was unsure if they had superpowers, but what they did have was a 100% success rate. However, they hardly ever moved unless something threatened the interests of the Seventh Councilor.
To have the Elemental group as an enemy was not really an issue on paper. After all, Draco now had his Serpent God Generals along with some other powerful core members with at least Tier 2 Control. Dealing with those fellows in a fight would be too easy, though it would be catastrophic for the common man.
However, the government would likely either wrap it up or blame it on the Purgatory Group and label them as a terrorist organization. This was why Draco was annoyed.
He had the power, a lot of it, but the standing was lacking. Once you live in a society, no matter how much individual power you have, there are some things that could still pose a problem for you… unless you're willing to tear down society.
Draco sat down and pondered for a bit before speaking. "Summon the God Serpent Inheritors and all the core members."
He had made a decision.
...............
Right now, in a massive tower that was built in the heart of the Central State, three men and women were seated around a large coffee table while being served various drinks and accouterments. They were dressed rather strangely in the eyes of the servers, but it was their job to serve and not judge, so they did not show it.
The three men wore long, mage-like robes that were of different colors, two were red and one was green. The two men wearing red had fiery red hair that seemed to smolder every now and then, with scarlet pupils that were definitely not contact lenses.
One was of the Caucasian denomination while the other was Latino. The final man in green had light green hair that seemed floaty, a pleasant smell hovering around him. His eyes were a lovely azure color and his bearing was slightly feminine.
He was definitely a Central-African with that composition and bearing.
As for the three ladies, two wore blue robes and one wore brown robes. The two wearing blue were twins who had the same features and bearing, to the point where you would struggle to tell the difference between them.
They were definitely Asian with those smallish bodies and almond-shaped eyes which glowed with a cyan light. Their hair was cut short, bearing a soft and watery blue hue. They wore soft smiles that told of a mischievous bearing.
The final woman in brown was, even when seated, quite tall. When standing, she should be about 6 foot 7 at least! She was well built, which firm, toned arms and a slender yet musclebound body. Her brownish and thick hair was styled in an afro and her piercing brown eyes showed her stern demeanor.
She too was either Central African or pure African by the looks of it. This strange and diverse crew would not have turned eyes if they were wearing normal clothes and had normal bearings, but it was exactly because they looked like something out of a shounen anime that they drew eyes.
However, the people sharing this space with them were not ones to judge. One could only be up here if they had status or money, and an especially hefty amount of both. These fellows were likely a group of scions from some big families who craved attention, so they dressed absurdly.
