King John taunted the leader of the current Ratmawati City brazenly with a prideful smirk.
Not only President Sebrof, but the other Awakened inside the room reacted strongly when they heard this. Each of them clenched their hands tightly, finding what King John said is outrageous and too much.
Despite their personal problems, they are still on the same side.
But to think that King John would actually say something like this disregarding everything that President Sebrof do prior to this incident is just pure disrespect, something that has crossed the line.
President Sebrof paused and keep his stoic expression glued to his face.
"Maybe what you said is true, the situation is perfect for a change of leader in the public's eyes," President Sebrof said, he then shifted his eyes and keep strong eye contact. "Yet you fail to consider that the public chose me because of one major reason, and that is the fact that I'm backed by the Elpida Alliance..."
While saying this, President Sebrof puts his cigar on the ashtray gently.
Grabbing the cup of coffee beside it, he then puts it near his mouth to inhale the aroma before sipping it elegantly. "Like I said earlier, gaining my position doesn't only start and end with strength"
Upon hearing this, King John's expression tensed in response.
Clearly, he underestimated President Sebrof's power and influence, and the fact that he was backed by the Elpida Alliance, the biggest organization that controls all of humanity's area all over the world evokes trust from the people.
Out of frustration, King John also takes a cup of coffee and drinks it in silence.
"If you think you can dissuade me from the duel just because of the public's trust, then you're dead wrong. With time, I can gain the public's trust with or without the help of the Elpida Alliance" King John eventually said.
As their discussion continues, the tension around the room keeps on rising.
Both of them who are sitting at the pinnacle of power stare at each other sternly, trying to find weaknesses in the other's expressions. Only a discussion of high caliber can produce such choking tension inside a room.
Smiling lightly, President Sebrof then raises his hand as a signal.
One of the Awakened who is standing on the side immediately walks over with a brown office envelope. "Once again, you underestimated the power of the Elpida Alliance. The SCO, how good you might think of it is still a small organization..."
Grabbing the office envelope, President Sebrof then pushes it to the other side of the table.
King John stopped the office envelope while still keeping eye contact with President Sebrof, he then lift the office envelope and unravel it. Pulling the documents inside, his eyes shifted over to read them.
But it didn't take long before his hands clenched the documents in his hands.
"I also did some digging around you and your organization, expecting the day when you aimed for my position to arrive. However, I can't quite find anything until recently. If I'm being honest, I should've expected something like this about you" President Sebrof said with a composed and collected voice.
Not only there were testimonies, but there are also photographic evidence inside.
Compared to the United World Organization that has been built not long after the Supernatural Emergence happened, the SCO is a relatively new organization with not a well-known background.
The UWO has official articles stating their background while the SCO doesn't.
Just like what many should've guessed including President Sebrof, the SCO that has members boasting power rivaling Awakened turns out to have a bad founding history that starts from King John himself.
Of course, this is expected considering their members are once normal humans before.
Since the motive of the SCO is to find other sources of power that might make normal humans stronger aside from the path of Awakened, the process of learning the way to achieve that is bloody.
Unregistered human trials and involuntary rab lats were the common avenues.
Despite the UWO is not a white angel themselves, there are no instances as extreme as this one. Maybe it ended up as a good thing considering how human forces have become stronger thanks to their existence, but this wouldn't sit well with the public.
No civilians are ready to learn the truth and do anything it takes for survival.
Most of them are still limited by their human heart, advocating the opposite of inhumane ways no matter how dire the world becomes. But for the higher-ups, the ones that know exactly each of the problem humanity faces, there is simply no other choice.
Either they do anything to achieve survival, or humanity perishes instantly.
Compared to them, the public is more impulsive with their emotions. And President Sebrof utilizes this to his advantage, there will be no position of power without any people under them.
Just from that alone, the power inside the room shifted to President Sebrof immensely.
King John knows clearly that if this evidence were ever to get leaked, his credibility will take a huge hit to the gut. Without a doubt, there will be some riots if he ever ascends to President Sebrof's position.
"How did you get your hands on this...?" King John asked grimly.
Upon hearing this, President Sebrof simply shrugs his shoulders, "How I get it doesn't matter, the only thing that matters is that I have them. What you need to do is to postpone the duel to a later date, can we be in agreement about that?"
Despite coming here in a good mood, the development is not quite as expected.
Even President Sebrof didn't predict the situation will shift like this, his mind then wandered back to Cyrus who is the one that provide him with this evidence. It seems Cyrus and his family are keeping close watch from the shadows.
If they didn't, then they shouldn't initiate a thorough investigation on the SCO.
"One should know that no man can truly become untouchable, even a man like you who has no family or substantial relationships, you are still gullible as you still care about the SCO that you built from the ground-up and yourself. Coming here alone is the testimony of your arrogance, King John..." President Sebrof added, tilting his head to the side a little.
King John can only endure the rage inside of him, it was wrong for him to not be meticulous.
Since his men find that President Sebrof seems to be giving up as he spent most of his times in the club drinking to death, he thought that he has already won, but turns out is all nothing but a facade.
A trick to make him think that he was winning when he clearly was not.
Looking at King John who still seems to be hesitating to postpone the duel, knowing full well that there's a definite intention behind this demand, President Sebrod then opens his mouth again, "I'm trying to be nice here, King John. I hope you understand that I'm not asking you to postpone the duel"
Upon hearing this, King John looks up before something weird happened.
Suddenly, a purple tint started to devour his vision, turning the world from his view purplish.
In response to this King John widened his eyes before he glared at President Sebrof, he was not expecting that he would actually attack him like this. "Are you seriously doing this, Sebrof?! Do you think you'll get away with this?!"
"Rule number 1 of leading humanity, don't let your emotions consume you"
Not even answering King John's yelp, President Sebrof said that instead with a calm tone.
Clearly, as of this moment, he was the one in control instead of King John. Knowing that King John would act arrogantly, he doesn't need to fear anything, there will be no one to disturb them right now.
On top of that, the Executor also probably doesn't know this is happening.
Aside from the fact that King John probably didn't tell him and the place is quite a distance away from his castle, the damage done to King John is also not substantial enough for the Executor to realize. President Sebrof makes sure of that.
Wanting to retort back, King John was about to explode his energy.
In the next split second, faster than the eyes can see, two blades are already leaning close to King John's neck. Each belongs to an Awakened, but these two Awakened are not regular Awakened.
Judging from their sharp aura, they both are also ninth-rank realm Awakened.
Upon realizing this King John quickly dissipates his energy, "So this is what's going on, you got help from the Elpida Alliance, is that right? I thought you've lost your mind, but it seems you're not"
Not having any other choice, King John finally concedes.
Despite having the power of a ninth-rank realm himself, fighting multiple ninth-rank realms is not a good situation to be in. Even with the Executor backing him up, it would be useless if he died here.
"Fine, I'll tell the Executor to postpone the duel" King John finally declared.
Gaining those words from King John, the two ninth-rank realms Awakened pull back their weapons before they vanish from their spots once again, leaving a trail of ominous feeling behind their tracks.
Like trained assassins, the two Awakened come and go without an eye spotting them.
President Sebrof then stands up from his seat and tidied his suit elegantly, "I'm happy that we can come to an agreement, King John. I'm thankful for your understanding" Gesturing towards the door, he then added, "If you've come to a decision, my subordinate will guide you out"
Clenching his jaw, King John turns away and went straight towards the door.
As the door opened and closes, a figure appeared beside President Sebrof with white glowing eyes that are looking at the door the same as him. "Are you sure that this is the best way to handle this? We provoked him"
"Yes, we need time to prepare. So this is a must" Cyrus replied firmly.
Shifting his mysterious eyes back to President Sebrof, he then added, letting out his suspicion, "No matter how he was right now, I believe he's influenced by the Executor which makes him act like this"
President Sebrof agrees with this, King John isn't always like this.
On top of that, a stark change in a person can only happen when they were facing a traumatic event. Since King John hasn't experienced any recently, it's safe to say that the Executor made act like this.
"Now we only need to wait, we need the final piece. Rex Silverstar..." Cyrus mutters.
Upon hearing this, President Sebrof's body tensed up as hearing the name alone evoke a massive reaction from him. "I hope she can do it quickly, or else the Executor might cause more damage before we get the final piece"
~
Meanwhile, the Dwarven Kingdom.
Currently, Adhara, Evelyn, and Flunra are sitting inside a residence provided for them.
A couple of hours ago the three of them has already finished consulting about repairing the Amuerus Katana as well as information about strong mutated animals that have powerful cursed abilities.
Rex's requests are the priority, and the three of them have gotten all of the answers.
On top of that, Adhara and Evelyn have already been training to accustom to their new realms by fighting the mutated animals around the Dwarven Kingdon which is quite plenty even compared to the Humming Damned Forest.
Since the Dwarven excels at infrastructure and weapons, their cities are akin to a fortress.
Due to that, none of the mutated animals would be able to get inside no matter how hard they tried. Taking advantage of their powerful defense, the Dwarves decide to cultivate the mutated animals to act as an extra layer of protection for them.
But as of right now, the three don't seem to be looking good.
Each one of them is connected or linked to the Alpha, and currently, they are feeling immense unease inside of them. It definitely comes from Rex, yet they don't know what or who can make Rex be this uneasy.
Although they wanted to know, they were told to not come back and do their tasks.
It's killing them inside, the curiosity is building up, and the results are this.
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦