The Black Dragon Society.
A name that no longer held any significant presence, pushed aside by the Heavenly Change Society, a name that wouldn't be surprising to see disappear soon.
The only reason they still existed was because they were a long-standing organization that had existed in China's underworld for at least several decades before the Great Change. Even that was a thing of the past.
'The Black Dragon Society… It's an unfamiliar name, but there's a lot of information about them in the database?'
That meant they were a powerful force in the past. In the early days, when returnees were just beginning to appear…
They were lucky enough to have one of their core executives return as a master of the Transcendental Realm, which allowed them to successfully restructure themselves and enjoy a period of prosperity. Although a great deal of blood was shed internally and externally during that process, it was nothing special, as it was something that happened whenever there was a shift in power. The master of the Transcendental Realm who had overturned the organization was also killed by someone stronger than him within a few years.
'The important thing is that the Black Dragon Society developed some unique characteristics in the process.'
One of the most representative was their preference for martial arts-type returnees, those who used "martial arts" among the various supernatural abilities. Of course, there was a practical reason for this. For some reason, the proportion of returnees from martial arts-type dimensions was very high among those of Chinese descent. Considering that most of those sent to martial arts dimensions were of East Asian origin, it was possible that the unconscious mind of the Awakened had some influence on the selection of the target dimension.
'It's the same with how vampires are particularly dominant in Europe.'
Moreover, since the returnees, whose growth stagnated upon returning to Earth, had no choice but to hone their skills by interacting with their peers to become stronger, it wasn't surprising that the Black Dragon Society was mainly composed of martial artists. Well, in the end, their pursuit of such an extreme direction contributed to their decline…
"…So we concluded that migrating to Korea is the only way to revive the Black Dragon Society. The Korean peninsula has been a region the Heavenly Change Society has been strangely uninterested in."
The Heavenly Change Society's forces deployed to Korea were mere scraps compared to those in mainland China. Heukyeong, who had said this, quietly lowered his head, adding that they hadn't taken it seriously even after hearing that the Heavenly Change Society had completely withdrawn from the area.
'Honestly, that means they completely ignored the Blood Alliance, which represents Korea's underworld, right?'
It was nothing new for Chinese people to look down on Korea as a small country. They must have thought that even the transcendent being, Phantom, wouldn't be able to properly respond to such insidious schemes alone.
"Alright, I understand your motives."
Heinz II slowly nodded. Heukyeong was the vanguard dispatched for the preliminary work. It would be ideal if the plan succeeded and the Blood Alliance completely collapsed, but even if it didn't, the goal was to keep them too preoccupied to deal with other matters.
"So, you're saying…"
The fact that a master like Heukyeong, who was at the peak of the Transcendental Realm, had been dispatched for such a sabotage mission showed how seriously they took this matter.
"…that the head of the Black Dragon Society who ordered this is right there?"
"…That is correct, Lord."
Although they had made a critical mistake in misjudging the opponent's capabilities…
Heinz II, extending a hand and pointing to a city in the distance, looked in that direction. Harbin City, one of the largest cities in Heilongjiang Province, located at the eastern end of China.
'Alright, let's go see the face of the person in charge.'
The city's night view spread out beautifully before his eyes as he personally set out to ensure the successful conclusion of this matter.
The number of individuals called transcendents on Earth was currently estimated to be around one hundred. It couldn't be helped that the number was uncertain. Not everyone revealed themselves and acted openly, and for various reasons, many regions were difficult to contact. Places like Africa, which had become a savage land overrun by countless warlords, South America, where the influence of superhuman cartels surpassed the government, and the Middle East, teeming with extremist terrorists, were nearly impossible to gather information from without special means. It was only possible to estimate the number based on the ratio of transcendents to the population.
However, there was one fact that people hadn't anticipated.
There was a common force behind the scenes in each of these isolated regions. It was natural, since they were the ones who had instigated such chaotic situations in the first place. Whether it was Africa, South America, the Middle East… or any other region, it was the same.
In that sense, today was a very special day. It was the day of the clandestine meeting of the masterminds who had been manipulating the world from behind the scenes.
A hidden world, radiating a solemn atmosphere like a temple, with pristine white marble floors and elegant patterns carved everywhere.
Creak
With a small noise, the door connecting to the outside opened wide, and a middle-aged Hispanic man with a magnificent Kaiser mustache and a scar across his eye strode in. He glanced around briefly and then headed straight for the round table in the center.
Clank! Clang—Clank!
A heavy metallic sound resonated with each step he took. Thick metal armor covering his entire body, a warhammer the size of an adult's torso in his hand, and a large-caliber shotgun slung over his back, swaying back and forth.
As the fully armed man approached the round table, as if ready for battle, a black man who had arrived earlier and taken a seat smirked.
"You make quite an entrance, don't you, Mr. Dictator? Unlike the one who's always late."
Unlike his counterpart, he wasn't carrying any weapons or equipment. He only wore ornaments seemingly woven from bones and feathers. However, for him, who had reached transcendence through shamanism, these ritual tools were his true weapons.
"Hahaha! My apologies! There was a little commotion in my jurisdiction. Business requires a lot of attention, you see? Unlike warmongers who only waste the money I earn."
The Hispanic man pulled out a thick cigar from his pocket. He bit off the end, spat it on the floor, lit it, took a deep drag, and then slowly exhaled the smoke towards the black man. At the same time, the surrounding air began to grow tense.
"…Hmph! As if making money through drug smuggling is something to brag about so openly."
"Isn't it better than waging meaningless wars and gorging yourselves like piglets? Don't you think so, Mr. Self-Proclaimed Liberator?"
"Meaningless? Countless people have escaped oppression, and countless villages have regained their freedom through our struggles. You filthy dictator… are you calling our holy war meaningless?"
"…"
"…"
A cold silence hung between the two.
It didn't last long.
Whoosh!
A fierce storm swirled with a surge of energy. The barrel of the large-caliber shotgun, imbued with tremendous energy, pointed at the Liberator, and something that materialized in the air bared its fangs at the Dictator.
A hair-trigger situation, as if they were about to clash…
"Both of you, stop before you get beaten to a pulp."
…but they weren't the only ones present. Both men flinched at the languid female voice. A messy head of blonde hair, still buried in the round table as before, unmoving amidst the commotion.
But no one here could ignore her warning. Even though they were transcendents and heads of their respective branches in South America and Africa, they couldn't help but be wary in front of this absolute power that transcended everything.
"Tsk, consider yourself lucky."
"Ha! That's my line."
In the end, both of them withdrew their energy and sat down at opposite ends of the round table, as far away from each other as possible. Of course, they continued to glare at each other.
Since their ideologies and personalities were polar opposites, it was inevitable that friction would arise when they were together. So far, they hadn't clashed much since their areas of operation were separate, but…
'Ah, this is already tiring.'
The blonde woman, the Arbiter, who had her head buried in the table, let out a deep sigh. This wasn't the first time she had intervened to stop a fight. They had already clashed several times before, despite having only met recently.
'Everyone has such strong personalities and pride. And since there's no camaraderie to begin with…'
It was natural, since they all had their own reasons for joining the Heavenly Change Society. Some were indebted to them for saving their lives or helping them grow, some judged that it was advantageous for their own ambitions, and some were intimidated by or awed by the absolute being that was the Lord of Heavenly Change…
She wanted to just leave them alone to fight it out, but she couldn't just let the executives try to kill each other, especially with the Lord's orders. Moreover, her counterpart, who was of equal rank, was currently absent, carrying out the Lord's command.
And also…
Her gaze shifted to the several empty seats, now vacant with their owners gone.
'I knew about it, but… seeing it firsthand makes it all the more real.'
Despite this meeting being called by the Lord of Heavenly Change himself, a mandatory event for high-ranking executives above branch manager level, many seats were still empty.
'The Lawgiver, the Dukes, the Scribe, and even Nagaraja…'
And that wasn't all. Not only had the Executioner, second only to the Lord in terms of power, been taken down by them, but so had the Doctor, who was practically the Lord's right-hand man along with the Oracle.
And since she bore some responsibility for the Executioner's failure to escape in time, due to her support bombardment, she couldn't simply overlook the current situation.
'I clearly confirmed his escape before ceasing the bombardment. Why couldn't he escape properly despite possessing such incredible abilities?'
Was the Executioner incompetent, or was Masquerade too capable?
After grumbling inwardly for a while, she took a deep breath. Even if she personally disliked him, she had to separate business and personal matters. If the enemy force, Masquerade, was that powerful, they needed to quickly formulate countermeasures.
Creak
While she was lost in thought, the door connecting to the outside opened once again. Fifteen high-ranking executives, exuding an extraordinary aura regardless of age, gender, or race, turned their gazes towards the door. Since everyone who could attend the meeting had already arrived, they could easily guess who had just appeared.
"My apologies for the wait."
And as expected…
The voice of the being they had all been waiting for flowed softly from the direction of the door.
"Ah!"
"The Lord has arrived."
"Lord!"
A vague voice, neither that of an ordinary young man nor an extraordinary old man, impossible even for her, an Arbiter who had sprouted divinity, to fully comprehend. She swallowed hard and wiped the sweat from her palms on her clothes.
"Hmm, it seems you've all been behaving. Good job."
Then, the Oracle's voice, laced with amusement, followed. Judging by the way he glanced at her from time to time, he seemed to have already grasped everything that had happened here.
'You knew and left it all to me, didn't you? What a twisted sense of humor.'
An unexpected variable appeared at that moment.
"Woohoo! It's been a while, everyone! Have you all been well? Ah… come to think of it, I heard the news. The Executioner… that Executioner…! Sob!"
A middle-aged… seeming cyborg with hazel hair started speaking in a high-pitched, frivolous tone, then began to sob, tears streaming down his face, as if genuinely heartbroken.
It was the Doctor, who had gone into hiding to modify his resurrected body.
"Boohoo—! Sob! Hiccup!"
As everyone stared blankly at his erratic behavior, even more unstable than before, his fluctuating emotions continued to change.
"Aaaaaah! This is unacceptable! To lose the Great Demon, the Great Demon's body, to them! There are so many experiments I haven't conducted yet, how could I lose such a precious, top-tier test subject?! I'm so envious, envious, envious! This is unacceptable!"
Rage followed by envy. The direction of his grief over the loss of a colleague was different. After all, he was a man who had lived like that his entire life.
"…Sigh, but thankfully… I had the foresight to create a homunculus in secret, without the Executioner's knowledge. If it weren't for that, I would have gone mad. Hehehehehe!"
And the end of his outburst was enough to leave everyone speechless. The Executioner repeatedly challenged the Lord of Heavenly Change, and the outcome was always a serious injury from which he could barely recover. The Doctor had always actively assisted in his regeneration, but judging by his words, he seemed to have been conducting all sorts of experiments in the process. It said a lot that he had even created a homunculus by collecting materials without permission.
If the Executioner had found out, it wouldn't have ended well. The existence of an artificial life form identical to a divine being was no different from a weakness that could threaten the accumulated divinity. Although it was irrelevant now.
"Huh? Why are you all looking at me like that?"
However, the Doctor only tilted his head as if he didn't know anything.
"Isn't there a reason we've gathered here! Now, now! Let's begin!"
Then, with a bright smile, he clapped his hands cheerfully and exclaimed,
"The strategy meeting to capture all members of Masquerade as test subjects!"