Seeing the whale’s strange and thoughtful gaze, Fey became anxious and intervened. "You can’t leave the sect! It would be a betrayal, and no larger sect will accept someone capable of betraying them."
The whale turned to her and huffed. "Why would I do that? You will value my people and take good care of them, right? Unless..."
He spoke, and then his expression changed, murmuring thoughtfully. "Even without a sect, they can still become heroes; after all, as you said, no one knows how to advance in ranks. Perhaps resources aren’t the main thing, but talent. Having a sect might be useless... in fact... maybe it’s better to have nothing protecting them and be free... perhaps the key is to be favored, free to temper oneself in the world. The death of that hero proved that being protected by a sect isn’t the way."
"Wait!" Mistie quickly interjected, her expression conflicted.
The whale responded without hesitation. "What? We’re Red Disciples, and the rules I received don’t say I can’t simply choose to leave. Our name will be tarnished, and normally that would be problematic, but..."
"Why try something so risky?" She spoke, then continued somewhat awkwardly. "The sect... no, I am the leader. We trust each other now, right? It’ll be easier to progress with my support."
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The whale looked deeply into her eyes, and she felt as though he was reading her soul. Nonetheless, she clenched her fists and faced him, speaking with determination.
"We are a sect recognized throughout the universe. We may not have a history of possessing Empyreans, but I assure you, we will do everything to help them. Now that the rotten roots will be eliminated, this will be a safe place for them to cultivate."
The whale listened and nodded. She passed the test; even though he hinted they could leave the sect and live on their own, she felt no animosity or desire to act against him. She was simply trying to convince him with the tools she had.
She was honest and wouldn’t impose her desires forcefully. If it were any ordinary person in her position, with the whale’s people being a salvation for the sect, they might have used everything to forcefully keep them.
"Well, let’s leave that for the future. The sect planned to create these new types of heroic disciples, so they left Ruri alone?" The whale asked calmly.
She nodded. "Yes. Even though the sect was aware of that scale, we would have offered her to an Empyrean disciple when we had a talented one. If we don’t create heroic disciples, we’ll fall behind. You’re their leader, but not an Empyrean; I can specially appoint you as a heroic disciple."
"If you want to benefit all of them, forget it. I don’t want them to have privileges. It’ll be better to climb the sect’s steps and temper ourselves in sealed worlds." The whale spoke slowly. "These sect’s heroic disciples must have followers and an army to assist them, right? It’ll be better for my allies to gradually meet new people and form their groups. If they stand out too much, they’ll attract many greedy looks. I don’t want to deal with that."
Fey listened and agreed after some thought. She could help them not publicly; that would work too. Then she asked, "Do you want to know anything else?"
He nodded. "The sect must have a long-standing dispute with that Shadow God branch targeting me, right? You must know a lot about them, and I want all the knowledge you have. I’m not someone who lets intimidation go without retaliation."
She took a deep breath, feeling a subtly bloody aura around the whale. There was no doubt this human had fought all his life to get here. So, she told him everything she knew; after all, she also had her informants infiltrated; having knowledge of dangerous opponents was essential for the sect’s survival.
It took a few hours; she indeed possessed extensive knowledge of the enemy’s backstage. The whale listened attentively. When she finished, he simply rose smoothly and spoke emotionlessly.
"Great, it was a fair trade. I have to return soon; that sect will continue attacking my allies. As for you, I advise you to act swiftly."
She nodded, slightly surprised. But as she saw him walking away, she remembered something and spoke quickly, "Hey! I’m not letting you get away like this. What did you do to me earlier?"
"Hm? It’s a secret family technique. Do I have to reveal everything to the sect now?" He replied dryly.
"But..." She tried to find the words, looking down in thought, but quickly turned back to him as she sensed a fluctuation. The whale’s fists subtly lit up, and suddenly the spatial laws of the formation were activated. "You!"
"I’m busy. Goodbye." The whale waved and disappeared before her.
"Son of a..." Mistie clenched her fists furiously, but despite being able to pursue him, she never would. As Alm and Bruno concluded, she was honest and wouldn’t abuse her power.
Alm and Bruno arrived back at the building in the center of the sect. There they found the elder who had brought them, waiting for them. He looked at the whale in alarm, and seeing that he was calm, became even more unsettled.
"He... he liked it?" He muttered, and the whale heard but chose to ignore.
"I’ve finished everything. I need to return to my place." The whale spoke softly, and the elder nodded, still dazed.
Shortly after, Alm and Bruno were back in the Black Forest. They moved on without looking at the elder, who watched them strangely.
They had gathered a lot of important information and seemed to have uncovered something even more valuable. In the divine world, their enemy didn’t necessarily have to be the Yinblood sect or the planet Gloom.
Since the Feys weren’t Empyreans, the queen’s domain wasn’t fully active. The question was whether the sect was truly reliable to help them, or if they would have to deal with them at some point.
But there was a possibility of a path where they could unleash the Chaos Dragon without causing a major disturbance. That was a good possibility, but the bad news loomed large. They also learned that life in the divine world would be more complicated than they had predicted. Countless powerful Empyreans would vie for their resources, and all sects would strive to rise at any cost; conflict and problems would be plentiful.
’But first, we need to settle our differences,’ Alm said as they spotted the mountain that was the base of their group. ’Let’s fuck those bastards up; it’ll be a good whetstone for us. The first of the divine realm.’ He finished with a villainous laugh.