Noel walked in front of me, his back straightened as he led the way, the aura around him heightened as the two of us walked into the hall, my eyes meeting the five individuals gathered around in the room. The collection of them consisted of three males and two females, all within the middle-aged range and all of them brimming with some power.
Two of the males is of Origin level 6, while the last male has a power range of Origin level 7. Both the women stood at a whopping power of Origin level 5, all of them seemingly having a light unease on their faces as they saw me walk into the room. A moment of silence fell between us as I kept scrutinizing the people in front of me.
"Do you know why I gathered all of you here?" I asked my voice light yet commanding. The male of Origin level 7 came forward as he shook his head.
"No, we do not, young leader," his words were polite and careful. The people gathered here held mid-level positions within the association. They are important but not too important. However, the male of Origin level 7 in front of me has the backing of a higher official, one of significant power within the Archery association. To be more exact, he has the backing of one of the QuiverLords, the highest position below Eleanor, and only seven of them exists within the association.
"I am to presume that all of you deal with the financial part, right?" I asked, to which all of them nodded their heads, the unease in the room increasing.
"And recently, all of you and some others came together to deal with the flow of resources and money to our branches, right?" And once again, they all nodded their heads. Being smart, they quickly understood where the situation was heading. The atmosphere in the room grew heavier, and I could even detect a small trace of killing intent leaking from the Origin level 7, but he seemed to hide it very well, even from Noel beside me.
"Then can you all tell me why you all acted together to fool the eyes of the Archery Empress?" As my question hung in the room, the atmosphere finally exploded. Two of the men among them fell to their knees, tears streaming down their faces as they started to crawl up to me, their voices heard across the hall.
"Young leader! Please forgive us! We let our greed take over us! Please forgive us this one time!" Their voices of despair spread around the room. My eyes weren't even looking at them as I kicked them off. My eyes landed on the Origin level 7 who looked extremely pale, his lips trembling as he kept looking at me. Meanwhile, one of the women had already fainted, leaving the other one trembling on the ground with tears in her eyes, unable to form words.
Now, the situation purely arose due to the fearsome reputation of my master. While laws and rules existed to deal with this, they were just paper laws that could easily be overturned by an Imperial, especially if a situation arose that showed foul play against that Imperial.
And in that case, my master, Eleanor, is a monster. Due to the betrayals and things she had gone through in her life, she abhorred betrayals more than anything. The stories and horror of what happened to the very people who betrayed her were chilling tales that made anyone's legs tremble in fright.
"P-Please spare my da-daughter..." The only woman awake finally spoke, her voice trembling on the edges of despair. While the other two men kept crying their hearts out, stories of their families and loved ones leaving their mouths as they groveled at my feet, it reminded me of how my life would have ended up without power in my hands. I would have been no different than these men on the floor.
"What excuse do you have?" I finally spoke, my eyes focused on the Origin level 7. His face was still pale, and he looked worn out. He opened his mouth and closed it, then opened it again to speak.
"The lo-lord Daxton wou-"
"He will not protect you, and you should know that better. I have all the proof I need here," I said, cutting him off while waving the file in my hand around. At this, the chattering of his teeth increased, while the atmosphere in the room grew even darker. It was within this situation that the Origin level 7 froze, his expression becoming expressionless as he muttered.
"Oh... well, this is good too..."
Just as he said so, he tried to activate the bomb inside him that he had been activating until now. All the expressions until now had been a ruse to earn some time.
"Young-"
The beginning cry of Noel was heard as time slowed around me. My speed was unleashed to the full, and I appeared in front of the man, catching him by his head as I lifted him above the ground. The destruction energy flowed from inside me directly towards him, destroying the bomb and every power within him.
The tendons in his hands and legs evaporated, and so did his plate tower. Within a second, everything he had built disappeared from existence, while time soon renewed around me.
"-Leader!"
The final call of Noel sounded out as the room turned completely silent. Everyone's eyes were focused on me as I remained in the center of the hall, holding the man by his face. His expressionless face soon shifted to one of surprise, then extreme pain as he opened his mouth to shout out.
"ARGH!"
I didn't let him complete it as I shut his mouth, but that didn't stop his eyes from turning blood red while blood leaked out from his orifices. He tried his best to scream out as I kept his mouth shut, the extreme pain of his tendons disappearing along with the destruction of his plate tower hitting him. The man fainted from all the pain covering his body.
A stunned silence filled the room as I kept holding the limp man by his face, then quickly threw him to the floor, his body hitting the ground. Noel still had his mouth wide open as he kept looking at me, his mind not yet processing all the facts.
I paid no heed to him as I focused back on the others who remained conscious, the woman who had fainted now awake as she looked around with confused eyes, while the rest kept looking around with pure fear in their eyes. Their eyes shifted between the fainted man and me, and seeing this, a cold smile filled my face as I spoke.
"I destroyed all his tendons and completely broke his plate tower. Does anyone else want such a fate?"
My cold voice filled up the room. I could see my words intensifying the fear in their eyes, but then I continued, this time giving them the carrot after the stick.
"Hold yourselves back, and you and your family will be goners. But take my hand, and as the young leader, I shall give you the chance to perhaps survive this ordeal intact. This is my word as the young leader."
I let my words settle in, their expressions shifting again until one of the women spoke with a trembling voice.
"How do you want us to proceed?"
Her words were followed by the support of the remaining members as they fearfully nodded their heads. Their minds desperately tried to clutch onto the faint last hope of surviving this ordeal.
'Good, the first step is done.'
"I shall tell you what you all have to do. For now, Noel, keep them all under your control. I will soon call up the Council of the QuiverLords."
With these words, I snapped my fingers and created an ice throne, taking a seat. My lips curved into a threatening smile, an orb appearing in my hand as I activated the unique call to gather all the QuiverLords in a special situation commanded by the young leader.
'Let's shake up the tower, shall we?'
