Guild Wars

Within a single office set apart from all others, a slightly pudgy old man with gray hair seated in a couch, where before him stood a large panel. On it was a group of men and women in formal attire, staring back at the old man.

Chairing this group was a young woman with an 8/10 visage. She had short-cut blue hair, light brown eyes, a small nose, and pink, pursed lips.

Her attire was made up of a tight-fitting women's suit, her slightly above average bust pushing her blouse and suit jacket forward.

With her light brown complexion, she looked somewhat like a girl who should be in a club rather than chairing a board. Currently, she was speaking to the pudgy old man sternly.

"Mr. Jones, your recent record has been quite disappointing. Not only have you failed to manage your province properly, losing us an entire facility worth of personnel, you were also unable to discover the connection between the two young Control masters and Supernatural."

Hudson Jones sweated a bit, a far cry from the arrogant disposition he had put up when dealing with the young Garrett Marshall all those months ago.

"President, it is understandable that the Board is displeased, but no matter how you look at it, blame cannot be thrown about willy-nilly. Such a situation, I doubt anyone could have anticipated."

"It was sudden, rapid, and accidental. Such a situation that cannot be foreseen through any means provided to me was natural to come to a head. However, now that I am aware of the details, it would not happen a second time."

Despite being pressured, Hudson still spoke clearly and normally, defending his stance. The members of the board on the other side had furrowed brows, unable to accept his words but unable to refute either.

The President scoffed coldly. "Beautifully woven sophistry, Mr Hudson. Nonetheless, the Board wanted to make you aware of our unhappiness, not blame a poor innocent manager like you."

The President took some papers and checked them. "We'll be sending over the details of the two young Control Masters we've managed to gather."

"The male is called Draco with no discernible last name, whereas the female appears to be Eva Reiwa, the Princess of Japan's Reiwa Dynasty."

Some papers were printed out on the machine before Hudson Jones, and he picked them up with a solemn expression.

"They appear to be spending most of their time playing the controversial FIVR game, Boundless World. We've tried to acquire the rights to it through various means, among them a recent litigation, but these two stepped forth and ruined our efforts by calling in support from Supernatural."

"They seem invested in the game, seeing as they are the figureheads of the number 1 guild called Umbra, and we strongly suspect that most if not all the core members of this guild possess special abilities."

"We have made attempts to contact some of them near and far, but they always brush us off."

The President smiled thinly. "Their loyalty is certainly admirable."

"However, we also have no wish to use force yet. For the time being, we prefer to use soft tactics. For special reasons, it is imperative that we get the cooperation of the two. Draco initially showed interest, but his price was too much for anyone to bear."

While the President droned on about important matters, Hudson Jones, as well as the invisible Garrett Jones behind him, were reading the document slowly and with solemn expressions.

The more the young man read, the more his aura became unstable as it roiled around him. He realized that, for all intents and purposes, the person he might be looking for to understand what was going on with him was likely this Draco fellow!

With that in mind, he paused and gazed at Hudson Jones again. His original goal had been to mind control this man to release his daughter and allow them to get married, but he didn't see a reasonable way to do so anymore.

Not only was he unstable due to this new power, but Mr. Jones was obviously part of something bigger, and like the girl upstairs who snapped out of it, he too might realize he was being controlled if he tried.

Garrett Marshall made sure to remember the faces of the Board members and what they said, staying in the shadows until the meeting ended. He then left the office while Hudson Jones was still digesting the information and planning what to do next.

With ease, the young man returned to the ground floor and gazed at the still busy Science Center with a changed look. Who would have thought that such a family-friendly place housed something so dark underneath?

Garrett Marshall walked into the sun, which disrupted his cloaking aura a little. However, he only had to burn more of his energy to maintain his invisibility, but there was no need to anymore.

Making sure he was in a quiet place, he revealed himself. He was wearing a full-body black cloak that prevented anyone from seeing him, just in case he fell out of stealth.

To be honest, it had been a bit of a gamble whether he could have kept his abilities up all that while. You could say he was lucky and reckless, but there was a certain confidence that existed in his heart ever since that fight in the alleyway.

"Urgh…!!" He moaned in pain as he grabbed his head, swaying to the side.

Along with the confidence, came something else. It was a desire that would strike him at random times, especially after he used his power, even for short intervals.

A hunger for energy, energy of any kind. It encompassed his mind greatly, and always left him dazed. He would find himself in a dark dream where he would 'hunt' his 'prey' for their Life Energy, which was his favorite meal.

Feeling the onset of his daze, Garrett groaned. "Go away… Ugh. If you're going to do this… at least, target that mafia group that sells women…"

As if acknowledging his compromise, Garrett roared once more, his bright gray eyes blackening as his dark aura roiled and coated his skin. The robe he wore was ripped to shreds and was replaced by a classy gentleman's suit made of dark energy.

With Garret's now black eyes and his suit which leaked Darkness Energy into the atmosphere, he looked like a supernatural Lord of Darkness and Evil. He grinned too widely for a human face and clenched his fist.

"Now this… is much better. I have no idea why my Inheritor allows me to take over so easily, but I guess it's because it helps his body grow stronger and acclimate to my power." A dark voice emerged from the young man's throat that was fundamentally not his, nor did it sound human for that matter.

The entity looked up to the sun and licked its slips. "This world has become shit after the Boss left. No Worldly Energy from the planet itself, and there's a barrier around the planet that prevents Solar and Lunar energy from forming Qi."

"However, the humans seemed to have progressed so much. This abundance of Electrical Energy is truly amazing and tantalizing, but it has too much of a sour and tangy taste. I much prefer the sweet and nectar-like life energy that living beings possess, so it's time for a slaughter."

With a smile, the entity entered a shadow portal, sinking from his feet slowly into the hole he created in the ground.

"Ah, right, he said to clear out that mafia group. Sure, I understand the need to stay low-key and not be in the limelight. I agree with his idea."

The entity then disappeared from that dark alleyway, nobody any wiser to its existence or presence.

……….

Today was a terrible day for the number 9 mafia group of the city, Snakehead. This was a Supernatural funded organization that was led by Samuel Brown, a sketchy-looking fellow who looked far from trustworthy.

Supernatural was not a good organization, no better than Superhuman. Both would use any means to achieve their goal. It was just that Draco was on Supernatural's side officially, making them seem like the good guys.

However, the mafia groups they established weren't like a bunch of Strawhat Pirates who claimed to be pirates but never did what pirates actually did to seem like good guys.

They actually took part in various aspects of crime. Snakehead specialized in kidnapping and ransoming. In case they failed to ransom a target, it only meant that they would be getting sent to a brothel.

After all, the group exclusively kidnapped only women!

Most people would feel a pinch when a woman was kidnapped in case her captors decided to defile her while they wasted time, but if a man was captured, there was far less pressure because in the minds of most, the worst you could do was kill him.

Besides, if the ransom failed, a woman had far more value in human trafficking compared to a man. Today, the boys of Snakehead were counting money in the midst of a ransom, one of them speaking on a phone to the target while their little miss was terrified, trembling in another seat.

The father on the other side repeatedly promised to have everything ready, and begged them to leave his precious daughter unharmed, to which the thug assured him. They just wanted the money, they couldn't give a damn about the girl.

None of them noticed that a Shadow Portal had opened behind them, a sleek form coming out with a smile that was too wide to be human. With darkness roiling around this silhouette that formed a sleek business suit, it suddenly jumped forth and spread to the entire room, swallowing everyone within instantly.

"Ahhh, there we go, there's that feeling again." The entity spoke in euphoria as it closed its eyes to savor the taste.

"It then frowned at some interruption from Garrett's consciousness. After listening in, the entity sighed and compromised.

"Fine, fine, whatever. I'll exempt the girl."

The shadow pulled back, revealing a room devoid of any human presence except one little miss who was a bit thin and haggard, her body passed out on the seat she had been bound to occupy.

"Right, now that this is settled, it's time we talk, Inheritor. I am aware of most of your actions, and I saw what you read when you were eavesdropping on your 'father-in-law'." The entity began.

"But first, let me introduce myself. You have been using my power to do various things, which is fine and dandy, but it's time to put a name to your prowess."

"I am one of the 9 God Serpents, the strongest serpentine warriors under the Boss, Lucifer. I have many names in history, given to me by various cultures in their own language as an interpretation of my own name, but you…"

The entity grinned widely in that eerie way it usually did and spoke majestically.. "You can call me Nidhogg, the Dragon of Energy Devouring."