"This changes everything."
The Sunlit Order had a gathering the following evening, much to the surprise of most mbers.
Normally, they only had etings once or twice a month.
The only exception would be if an Elder mber called for a eting. Even then, there had to be a justified reason for the gathering.
The reason for such a structure was valid.
Every mber of the Sunlit Order lived double lives.
They had embedded themselves into different strata of society in order to ensure the completion of their plan.
This ant they couldn’t afford to be suspected by the people around them. That would jeopardize everything they had bided their ti for throughout more than a decade.
However, after gathering and hearing the news of Davin’s death, most mbers grew solemn.
They understood the severity.
But the matter didn’t stop there.
Just as Rey predicted, Logan ended up using Soul Arts to search through Davin’s mories, which was how he uncovered the cause of his death.
Once that happened, it was only a matter of ti before hysteria took over.
"The Desgarron Family is onto us. We truly cannot afford to waste any more ti." Logan sighed, finally breaking the silence in the room.
He had shown everyone his findings, which included Davin’s conversation with the mysterious hound of the Desgarron Family.
They saw it with their own eyes.
The shock was palpable.
Everyone here had been careful. They thought they were invisible. Untouchable.
Now, they knew...
The noose was getting tighter on their necks.
"If we delay any further and they bring reinforcents from the front lines, our window of opportunity will shrink." He continued, casting his gaze on the apparent leader.
He had an apologetic expression.
"You should have seen this coming. It’s your fault that the Family Head suspected there could be spies in the first place." One of the other Elder mbers growled at Logan.
"I don’t think it’s fair to bla him. We all agreed that poisoning Amara and also using it as a chance to rope that slave was the right decision to make." Soone else argued.
"Yes, but he must have been sloppy sohow. How else would the Family Head suspect our existence?"
"You go too far, Julius!"
"No, it’s fine..." Logan raised his hand and responded solemnly. "I must have misjudged the Family Head. Even after cleaning things up, I tried to probe and see if the Family Head would make any moves, but there was no such movent. I now realize that I was fooled."
"Don’t beat yourself down too much. The man is rather shrewd, hiding his plans from everyone. None of us could have done better in your shoes."
"Thank you, Serena." Logan bowed slightly, revealing a grateful smile.
As for Julius, he snorted with dissatisfaction.
"Hmph!"
"Right now, rather than casting bla, we should be looking for a way out. I agree with Logan that attacking early is our best shot."
"B-but we’re down one more mber. That’s two down, if we include the slave Mr Logan talked about. Our chances of success have reduced yet again." One of the younger mbers said in worry.
But the older ones quickly shook their heads.
They were more astute, so they understood the situation better.
"If we don’t act soon, our chances will be practically nonexistent. The ideal scenario will be to have all our cards, but even now our chance of success is about seventy percent. We will have to take risks, and maybe sacrifice a few people, but we will ultimately erge victorious."
"I thought the plan involved no sacrifices. If we have to risk our lives for this, what was the point of waiting all this ti?"
Exasperated sighs filled the cathedral.
It wasn’t that the more seasoned mbers could not understand the current worries.
They too had waited this long because they wanted a plan that would yield a success rate as close to a hundred percent.
A situation where no one had to be sacrificed.
Under such a plan, everyone would be clear on their roles and would function effectively since they were assured of their survival.
Regardless of their lofty ideals, it remained a fact their motivations were selfish.
Everyone wanted to move to the Aether Realm. Taking down the Desgarron Family was just their ticket to that new life.
As such, no one wanted to be the sacrifice.
However—
"Too much has changed now. Hesitance will lead to failure. Do you understand?"
"We must act fast while we still have the initiative."
"If we don’t make haste, all our preparations these ten years would have gone down the drain."
The more they spoke, the greater everyone’s worries beca.
This was precisely what Rey wanted.
Fear and anxiety.
These two elents impeded rational thoughts and often made people behave in spontaneous and predictable manners.
The mbers of the Sunlit Order were no different.
They simply weren’t thinking clearly.
If they were, they would have considered other possibilities and questioned things a little more.
Perhaps they would have done further investigations to confirm their suspicions.
But they were now in a hurry.
They felt like there was no ti to verify the claims of the masked man and were certain that this was the machination of the Family Head.
Without realizing it, every single one of them had turned into fools.
... Just as Rey wanted.
"We have no way of telling when the backup will arrive in the Manor and when the Desgarron Family will complete their preparations. That ans we must act faster than even they can."
"A day has already passed. We can’t afford to waste any more ti." Logan pinched his nose and looked at Serena. "How long will it take to transport all the things we need?"
"Three to four days."
"Can we make it two? Three days at most."
"I have to agree with Logan." Although he was still upset, Julius had to offer support this ti.
That was how much he wanted to succeed.
"Fine... I’ll do my best."
"Good."
Everyone discussed for a little longer, their voices rising and falling frequently.
It took so ti to convince the younger and less sure mbers of this sudden change in timing, but eventually everyone ca on board.
Since the success rate was still high enough, the benefits outweighed the risks.
Even if there would be a few sacrifices, there was no way of telling who it would be, and most of them would make it back alive anyway.
Thus, they had to rely on their luck as well as the grace of the Five Holy Gods.
Of course, so also had intentions to resort to sches so that they would survive.
Regardless... The plan was set.
Three days from this mont, they would strike the Desgarron Family as a service to the Aethers and to prove their fealty to the Five Holy Gods.
’Hehe... This is good.’
Rey watched this all from a distance and felt excitent coursing through his veins.
’I’ve managed to source enough funds to obtain an Artifact to hide my identity as an Undead, even without my mask. As long as I don’t leak out Chaos Energy or deactivate the Artifact, no one will be able to tell.’
Rey felt very confident in this because he knew his investigative thods didn’t work on him even before he turned into a Soulless.
If even the Family Head couldn’t tell that the Curse Imprint on his body was gone, that his Ether Cire had grown, and that he had multiple Souls, he felt assured that no one would be able to tell that he was an Undead as long as he fixed his outward appearance.
’Now, all I have to do is go with the flow that they set and bide my ti.’
The invasion was about to begin!
[A/N: We are now approaching the climax of the story’s first Arc. Enjoy the chaos!]
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