Master Of Myths

The conversation shifted from near the stairs into the meeting hall, with the added privacy the generals started voicing their opinion on which option would be best, none fully supporting either and merely giving the cons and pros of joining the alliance 

The most obvious flaw was that they would be needing to actively participate in the wars of these lower leveled and new races, disturbing the stability that Hortus managed to achieve by becoming a high leveled group

On the other hand these races could very well become the force they require to stomp Genus Insania once and for all, especially so when combined with the information Ephai was to share

"May I add on to this debate Commander?"

"Go ahead Basu"

"Thank you"

Basu rose from his seat, addressing everyone in the room with his eyes before settling them on Ephai

"Everyone has been swept up by the momentum of this 'trader' but I believe we have grossed over an important matter"

Letting steam out his trunk he looked like he was preparing for a battle

"The threat that Genus Insania poses is not something so great that we need to ally ourselves with weaklings"

Harsh words were spoken, yet Basu was only getting started

"How long has the group occupying the middle floors existed? Two centuries, merely two centuries, and what have they been doing all this while? Keeping to themselves and barely taking a step out of their floors, meanwhile sneaking about with their little schemes in a uslessss effort to try to weaken us"

He turned to look at the generals with bilitteling eyes

"Now you suggest we join hands with some newborn rabble of unknown intentions so that we could rid ourselves of this 'threat'? We are the rightful owners of this tower, an outsider's assistance is uneeded to root out the peskes"

Finally he turned to Aminta, yet when he did his built up vigour seemed to heavily dwindle for her ever expressionless eyes were looking down at him with a condensing light

"W-when did we..."

He stuttered, taking a deep breath to calm himself before continuing

"When did we become so weak that we couldn't face them head on? The only reason we ever postponed weeding them out was due to the heavy losses we would suffer, and joining this would be alliance might bring just as much or perhaps more damage to our group"

Finished he kept standing to reply toward any comments from the generals, especialy the trader whom brought up this offer, but Aminta beat all of them to it

"It was never a question about might"

She said, adressing him with a somwhat berrating tone

"It was due to their unexpected arrival and interference, unknown origin and intention, that is why we held our hand all these decades, and furthermore who said their efforts were usless? May I remind you it has only been a couple of months since the parasitic incident, if not for YuJu we would have lost plenty of our people"

<br/>"Perhaps their ace up the sleeve commander, many would have been lost but it is all for naught, and I believe nothing like that should ever happen again with the black guard leader by our side now"

"Its only because of YuJu that we do not have more spies within our midst, but that does not mean this was their first time doing this, now that I think about it we have suffred many unexplained disasters over the course of time, most notably the Emerald Luster breakout"

By the end her eyes narrowed with a ray of suspicion glinting through them

The generals looked between the two anxiously, feeling uneasy about this sudden turn of atmosphere

Aminta did not preasure Basu any longer however for she turned to Ephai with a determined expression

"We shall join your alliance on the terms you put forth, but add on that if ever our group's existence was to be threatened by your actions or battles our allaince is thus null"

"But of course, allow me to welcome you into Vanguard, and congratulate you on making the right choice"

Saying so Ephai slipped a paper out his smoke and into Latvia's hand before his smoke started dwindling

"I shall fulfill my end of the deal once the alliance is formed, until then"

And so he disapeared leaving behind a very solmne atmosphere.....

'That was amusing and suprising at the same time'

YuJu thought as he made way out the tower, recalling Aminta show one of her rare expresoins, not once but twice

'What triggered her to be so active nowadays? In the past she only got so personally involved when totall war broke out and the two traitors fully showed their true colours'

Whatever it was he was glad it happend, now they could make waves in Hortus with her help, though it came at the cost of him being unable to easily anticipate her motives and thoughts

'Lets check the progress on the rest'

The tatoos on his body glowed one after the other while he closed one eye, gaining sight through his servents

First was the expansive view of white, a sword held by two shivering bloody hands as the weilder trained feircly with giants of snow

Then he saw himself looking down the Capri who were cleaning out the Deep Swamp of all living creatures in order to level up

Next he saw himself watching over the humans as dreary flames surrounded clouded his entire vision

'Looks like the Witness is back after finishing the task, I just need to send the Watch Tower seed Mia's way and swing by the Impassable Hills since Ellis most probably did not convince that old monster to join the alliance'

He never expected her to, she was merely paving the way as well as getting a good look at what a true Aura Master was

'Hopefully her training puts her on par with those of the new race'