Yalen was currently sitting on a chair, around the table, the top nineteen powers of humanity residing on their various chairs with a Solemn expression on their faces...well except Yalen and Yelen who didn't really care for the affairs of humanity.
Yelen was Yalens' twin sister. She had long silver hair and silver eyes, and she was wearing a white trench coat with a black top underneath while glaring at Yalen angrily. "You could have gotten killed by an unknown force, and you would have left me alone, Yalen?!."
Yalen shrugged. "Come on, I am a Monarch rank ability user, and I can feel the next breakthrough into an even higher rank. I just need one satisfying fight."
A person snorted, and apart from his eyes, his body was covered by smoky darkness. "Oh please, Monarch could be our limit, we can already shake planets in that rank, so what are we going to be if we enter the next rank, God's hah how whimsical."
Yalen chuckled. "That is an interesting analogy and we should probably call it the God Rank, I am starting to gain a grasp on a strange energy beside Axis energy these days, as you know I absorb the abilities of a beast which can sense its prey using vibrations and I can somewhat weave webs with an energy besides Axis energy, the difference between this webs and the alien webs is that they are made entirely from vibrations. I named this energy's Law Energy."
William, who wasn't really there but is attending the meeting using a hologram, spoke curiously. "Indeed, I do also feel the strange 'Law' Energy he mentioned but our abilities are different as I can observe the structure of an object and cut it apart using Axis energy but lately I sometimes gaze into the microscopic world of reality which is the reason why I have been able to advance in my research a bit."
An old man waved his hand with a sigh. "Ok, we can talk about this in another meeting, we have to address the Spider in the room. So without our permission, you decided to hold an alliance with an alien species. Is that right, Yalen?"
"Yeah, I did and they aren't really that bad honestly they just look immature dragons for all I'm saying and it would be great if we humans increase our territory beyond this puny galaxy of ours," Yalen said with a casual tone.
The old man with his Amber eyes looked at Yalen intently before speaking. "While I won't refute your reason, you still need to communicate with the Earth Council in things like this."
The head of the Chanes family beside the old man had green eyes and black hair, and there was a scar underneath both his eyes that reached his cheek. "You may be one of the strongest gestures of the human race, Yalen, but you need to respect your colleagues."
Yalen raised his brow and pointed at the head of the Chanes family. "Isn't a child of the third main branch married to William and didn't you almost destroy one of his Faction bases in a fit of anger after you found out, I wonder why you're talking about respect, old man."
The entire chamber froze.
The scarred man's jaw tightened, his green eyes flashing with barely contained fury. The smoky figure in the corner even chuckled, his darkness flickering with amusement. William, though only present as a hologram, sighed and rubbed his temple as if bracing for impact.
"Yalen," Yelen hissed, slamming her hand against the table. Her silver eyes narrowed dangerously at her brother. "Do you have to antagonise every damn person in this room?"
Yalen leaned back lazily in his chair, utterly unbothered. "I'm not antagonising anyone. I'm just pointing out hypocrisy. If we're going to talk about respect, let's put all the cards on the table, no?"
The old man with amber eyes finally raised his hand, silencing the low murmurs and the building tension. His voice was calm but heavy, carrying a weight that forced the others to listen. "Enough. Yalen is reckless, yes, but he has not lied. This Council can not afford to drown itself in petty feuds when the matter at hand is cosmic expansion."
The scarred head of the Chanes family clicked his tongue but leaned back, his scarred face shadowed with bitterness.
The amber-eyed elder continued, "Yalen, your impulsive alliance with this… Akriel of the Star Race… it complicates matters. But it also opens doors we never dared to imagine. We have reached a ceiling with Axis Energy, and now you speak of Law Energy. William confirms it, and I, too, have felt strange fluctuations in my own techniques lately."
A younger woman, dressed in crimson robes with short hair, spoke for the first time. Her voice was sharp, calculated. "If there truly exists a next stage—beyond Monarch—then our race has no choice but to embrace it. But Yalen, tell us: do you trust this alien? Do you truly believe the Star Race will not turn on us the moment it suits them?"
Yalen tapped his fingers on the table, thoughtful for once. "No I don't, that's why in a month from now after the alliance the children we take as apprentices will fight against the youths of the star race as a friendly competition between races, they wouldn't dare to fight with us when their Youths are around, so if they did attack us we would have an excuse to trap take hold of their youths as hostages."
Suddenly, five of the people in the chamber shuddered, and Yalen was actually that decisive. They were surprised.
The smoky figure laughed first, the sound a low rasp that slithered through the chamber like living shadow. "Hah…" ruthless. I like it. You really thought this through, Yalen. Hostages, leverage, an excuse for war or peace depending on how things unfold. I can already imagine the panic on their dragon-like faces if their prodigies end up in our hands."
The crimson-robed woman's lips tightened. "That is not diplomacy. That is baiting war under the guise of alliance."
"War or not," William's hologram flickered faintly as he leaned forward, "he is not wrong. An alliance without leverage is nothing but blind trust. The Council must admit—we can not yet match the Star Race in sheer heritage. But if we discover this Law Energy develops faster under conflict, then perhaps…"
"Perhaps humanity could leap ahead," the smoky figure finished, amused.
The old amber-eyed elder's fingers drummed on the table. His gaze lingered on Yalen, hard to read. "It seems you've already made up your mind. Very well, but know this: if your scheme backfires, humanity's blood will be on your hands, Yalen. Can you bear that responsibility?"
Yalen's silver-eyed twin glared at him again, her voice sharp as a blade. "Brother, don't you dare treat lives as pawns in your games. You always chase your itch for battle, but this is bigger than you."
Yalen only grinned, leaning back until his chair creaked. "I'm already bearing responsibility just by being here. If I wanted to play games, I'd be fighting monsters in the void. Instead, I'm at a table with nineteen grim faces, talking about politics." His grin widened. "If it takes being ruthless to carve a future for us, then so be it. I'll carry the blame. I don't care."
A heavy silence spread across the chamber. For a moment, only the faint hum of the Council's electronics could be heard.
Then, the scarred head of the Chanes family sneered. "You sound more like a tyrant than a protector. But I suppose that is the mindset of a monarch."
The shadowy figure, the family Head of the Umbra family, clicked his tongue. "Don't you think you changed sides too much, Chanes, for example, you seem to hate William, but you have a good impression on his child and wife despite his child's ability being permanently locked by the Chane family's genetics."
Hearing that William awkwardly scratched his cheek through the hologram, he was trying to find a way to unseal his son's ability but his ability and the Chane family's abilities seem to contradict with one another and keep each other inactive in Seth's body despite being one ability.
Well, it doesn't really matter now, Seth had Thally, and he sees that as a much better substitute than his other plans.
Either way, he did address the head of the Umbra family. "Can you please not talk about my son like that, Minos?"
Minos scoffed, his shadowy hand waving at William nonchalantly. "Very well, but are you letting Nolvas treat you like an insignificance all the time?"
William chuckled. He was amused by Minos's suggestion, and for a moment, his purple eyes flashed with something unreadable. With a chilling tone, he spoke. "Oh please, I have better things to do than concern myself with a Family that plays children's games and are quite hypocritical with one another well my wife is an exception but you know what I'm saying, I do not really like involving myself with insignificant things, Nolvas has already paid me back for all those damages or else I woul have just taken a few experimental 'Samples'."
Once again, the atmosphere in the meeting room tensed.
The crimson-robed woman sighed. She was the family head of the Ignis family, her crimson eyes staring intently, and William before speaking. "Do not disregard the lives of other living creatures like that...Vector."
William frowned and looked at the woman with hostility, his voice slightly darkened. "Do not compare me to Illuminai, Enya."
The woman tilted her head with a mocking smile on her face. "Hah, why should I? You're not different—."
Before the woman could speak, the hologram glitched and seemed to have turned tangible before she could react. An invisible force flew towards her.
*Clank*.
SHATTER.
A light scree appeared before her, and when the invisible force made contact with it, it shattered.
A woman from the nineteen people pulled her outstretched hand down to the table and snorted at William. Her yellow eyes looked at him, scrutinising him for his actions.
The old man immediately glared at the red-robed woman and turned to William apologetically but also warned him. "William, you shouldn't attack a fellow member in the meeting room. It's disrespectful."
William tapped his fingers on the table, his tangible form glitching into an illusion with each tap. His eyes were strangely staring at the woman like two black holes waiting to devour her when he tapped for the fifth time. He chuckled darkly, and his hologram disappeared, making his leave from this meeting.
Enya's heart was currently beating. If not for the head of the Hikari family, she would have died. She gave a thankful nod to the yellow-eyed woman.
The woman with the golden-yellow eyes—the current head of the Hikari family—merely inclined her head in return, her expression unreadable. She wore a simple pale robe, but her presence was like a sun locked in flesh: blinding, oppressive, yet strangely calm.
"Enya, your sharp tongue nearly cost you your life," she said, her voice soft but cutting. "Do not forget that William is not a man you can provoke so carelessly. Even as a hologram, he could pierce the defences of this chamber. That alone should remind you of the danger he poses."
Enya scowled but said nothing more, folding her arms.
The amber-eyed elder exhaled slowly, trying to dispel the suffocating tension that William had left behind. "We are straying from the matter. The alien alliance. The Law of Energy. Humanity's path forward. These are not discussions to be muddled with personal grudges."
Yalen leaned forward now, resting his chin on his hand, a faint grin tugging at his lips. "Actually, I'd say grudges are part of the package deal. We're all powerful enough to destroy planets, yet we sit around here pretending to be civil. You think the Star Race doesn't do the same? They've probably got their own family politics and backstabbing brewing behind the scenes. It's what keeps their powerhouses hungry."
Yelen shot him another glare. "Stop enjoying this."
He winked at her, utterly unrepentant.
Minos, the Umbra head, chuckled from within his veil of shadows. "Yalen isn't wrong. Every great race thrives on internal strife. Too much peace makes for weak bloodlines. Perhaps this alliance will reveal whether humanity is still capable of clawing its way up the ladder—or if we've grown complacent."
The amber-eyed elder ignored the provocation and focused on Yalen again. "You've spoken of 'Law Energy.' If it truly is a higher form beyond Axis, then the Council must prioritise its study. Not just for you or William, but for all of humanity. Do you agree to share your findings with us?"
The chamber went quiet.