Truth be told, this wasn't due to some innate superiority, but rather because while the Emperor God Clans were held together by a single strong family, the Emperor God Sect had two pillar families. The Cromwell and Valore families.
At this moment, a villa styled akin to ancient medieval era aesthetics was the location of a meeting between two noble men and a servant.
"What did you say?" A man wearing leather armor stared at the servant with a fierce aura radiating from him.
His aura was valiant, identical to a legendary paladin. His deep brown eyes and long flowing hair involuntarily emitted a golden aura that made those around him want to bow down. Not to mention the fact that the two-handed sword that hung from his waist filled him with a sense of awe-inspiring might.
This noble man was none other than the successor to the Valore family, key wielder, and one of the few Kings of the 74th quadrant, Percival Valore.
"I'm sorry, Sir Percival." The servant trembled, unable to withstand the successor's anger. "We did a thorough investigation, but Young Master Rand was nowhere to be found. He didn't exit the Valley of Geniuses."
If Virvor was there, he might have snickered in laughter. This 'Young Master Rand' was none other than the Duke who provoked him outside of the Pill Tower of Sapientia Corner. He was also the same 'Young Master Rand' who tried to corner him within the Valley of Geniuses, but ended up dying instead.
"How is that possible? My son wouldn't die in so easily!" Percival roared, causing the servant to fall to his knees and beg for forgiveness.
Percival's valiant aura shattered the ground beneath his feet, sending ripples through his leather armor. Because of an extreme yang technique he practiced, the probability of him siring a male heir dropped drastically. As a result, despite his best efforts, he had dozens of daughters, but only two sons despite being almost 2000 years old!
It was the way of the heavens to bring balance to everything… Since he was an extreme yang, it was almost guaranteed that he would always give birth to an extreme yin. The good news was that his daughters were all extremely powerful in the yin path, and equally as astonishingly beautiful, but, in the 74th quadrant, a woman had never led, nor would a woman ever be accepted to lead.
He originally found this technique in a ruin on the celestial floors of the tower, but it was a double-edged sword that he had no choice but to accept for the sake of grabbing hold of this 74th quadrant.
The day Rand was born, he felt a weight drop off of his shoulders. And, when he learned that Rand's talent also wasn't too far from his own, he felt that the heavens were finally shining down upon him. But now this son of his had mysteriously disappeared? Killed even? How could he take such a thing lightly?
"Brother Percival calm your anger. Let the boy explain the rest. Should you need revenge, the Grand Templar Sect will do its best to support you." The second noble man spoke, place a sturdy hand on Percival's shoulder and pulling him back from doing something stupid.
This man's aura wasn't as holy or refined as Percival's, but that was only because he didn't have access to the same technique Percival did. After all, it was no surprise that Percival would keep this as his most closely guarded secret, he didn't even share it with his son.
However, this man's valiant momentum didn't lose out. He was yet another King of the 74th quadrant, one of the three of their Grand Templar Sect.
He was Bors Cromwell, the successor to the Cromwell family. Although he was just as talented as Percival, he was unluckier. Because Percival was born before him, he was acknowledged as key wielder before Bors was born. Still, the two had a very close relationship, akin to brothers.
One had to say it was rare for a quadrant this lowly ranked to have even a single King, let alone three. But, it seemed that the 74th quadrant was gearing up to soar through the rankings.
Percival's chest heaved, but he eventually settled on saying nothing, waiting for the servant to speak.
"A-according to reports, Young Master Rand had an altercation with some of the 98th quadrant, causing him to be banned from Sapientia Corner by Grandmaster Gallagher. There's a good chance that his killer was involved in this incident, possibly taking advantage of the young master while he was resonating for revenge."
The truth was that the servant knew that his Young Master Rand died fair and square at the hand of Virvor, after all, many were present at the time. After the big news relating to Dyon and Anak was disseminated, many smaller news stories that were much less interesting were released, including the story of the death of Young Master Rand.
However, how could a servant dare to tell his master that his son was too weak to defeat a member of the 98th quadrant? That would only lead to his death. Instead, he simply placed the blame on the 98th quadrant's shamelessness, saving himself.
Percival's fists clenched so fiercely that drops of red-gold blood fell from his hand, searing the ground with a profound heat.
"98th quadrant…" Percival sneered. "Marco Ricci, do you believe that I don't know where you've been hiding in your turtle shell? It seemed the lesson I gave you in stealing your wife wasn't enough, now you dare to reach out your hand toward my son?"
The more Percival spoke, the fiercer he trembled. His skin shone a golden light and the audible sound of something snapping reverberated through the courtyard.
Bors' eyes widened. "Congratulations on reaching the 6th celestial stage Brother Percival!" He laughed uproariously, slapping his good brother's back. "In times of darkness, there will always be light! If you want to raze that 98th quadrant to the ground, your brother will follow you and we'll bare the anger of the tower quadrants together! This would be perfect practice before the ranking tournament. No longer will we be the 74th quadrant!"
Before Percival could respond, another servant rushed in, panting wildly. "Sir Percival! Sir Bors! Someone has destroyed the Grand Templar Gate!"
The Grand Templar Sect was sent into an uproar. Who dared to challenge their prestige in the 74th quadrant? Even the two Emperor God Clans wouldn't dare to do something like this for fear of being frozen out of the tower. Although the sect wouldn't take its punishment too far for fear of a joint attack by both clans, it wouldn't remain quite either.
Yet, someone had destroyed their gate? Stalking into their prestigious sect without a care for their face? This was no less atrocious than spitting on the corpses of their ancestors.
Despite such an event being completely unprecedented, it didn't mean that there weren't counter measures in place.
The Grand Templar Sect followed an odd culture of Kings and Vassals, where Vassals were the name given to disciples, while King referred to the current head of the sect which happened to be of Bors' Cromwell family.
Disciple rankings, or rather, vassal rankings, decided the number of disciples one could have under their direct control along with the amount of land they harbored. According to the system, higher ranking vassals were given more prosperous lands nearer to the central sect while weaker vassals were given lands further outward. This system suffused all 29 universes the Grand Templar Sect controlled.
In line with this system, vassals not only manned a portion of the fighting power of the sect, but also had an obligation, according to sect rules, to provide said fighting power in the case that the sect required their services. Thus, it was no surprise that vassal rankings fell in line with title rankings of the tower.
The lowest ranking vassal allowed to own land and command fighting powers of the sect were Viscounts, with untitled individuals not having earned this right. However, in line with their low ranking, Viscounts were placed in the outskirts of the sect's territories, manning the very edges of their conquered universes.
Further inward, Earls began to appear, solidifying the middle regions of the sect's territories. However, the backbone of the sect's power were Marquises who manned the middle-central portions.
That said, the power houses of the sect were without a doubt their Dukes, with their Kings then ruling over them all.
The gate that was destroyed was one leading to the very center sect, a place where only Dukes, Kings and their family members could enter. Unless you were a high-profile guest, entering such a region was completely unheard of.
While the Grand Templar Sect only had three kings, they had fifty-seven Dukes. Sixteen of whom were saints, while forty-one of them were celestials!
This may seem odd. After all, it would make more sense for there to be weaker dukes as opposed to stronger dukes. However, this didn't take into account the culture of weaker quadrants.
Unlike Dyon and his demon generals, most weren't confident enough to enter the hardest trial they could immediately. In weaker quadrants, only the best of geniuses would immediately enter Duke level trials, making those who became Dukes while they were still saints more talented than others.
Usually, one wouldn't enter a Duke level trial until they first tested themselves in a lower level trial. After gauging their limits appropriately, they would then enter a higher-level trial, which resulted in many Dukes of the 74th quadrant coming from those who hadn't attempted the trial until they broke through and became a celestial first.
