Yama Rising

The sound of urgent footsteps rang out, and a door was abruptly pushed open, following which a group of Yin spirits wearing crisp professional suits appeared at the entrance.

They were panting heavily, and their hair was slightly disheveled.

This was an extremely intricately constructed circular room that was brightly lit and had smooth marble flooring. Bookshelves that were constructed to fit the curvature of the walls were present all around the room, and the shelves were filled with scrolls. On the ceiling was a mural with strong religious elements, depicting death gods and humans roaming together over a cast rice field.

The decor and furniture in the room were all of a lavish ancient Europa style, and Borfis was seated behind the ornate wooden table at the very center of the room. He slid his golden wireframe glasses down the bridge of his nose slightly, then set down the goose feather quill in his hand and said, "The International Underworlds Energy Resource Association and the International Underworlds Trade Association are all parts of the Coalition of Underworlds. As the chief secretary of the Coalition of Underworlds, I believe I deserve a bit more respect than to be barged in on like this."

He leaned back in his chair and continued in a calm voice, "Even if I'm just a janitor, I'm still sitting in this chair, and I should be given the appropriate respect. Otherwise..."

"The second-generation forbidden arts startup module has appeared!"

Borfis's voice immediately cut off upon hearing this, and he stared at the people who had just barged into his office with an incredulous expression.

"This is not a joke! We hold a great deal of respect for you, and if it isn't for the urgent nature of this situation, we definitely wouldn't have barged in so rudely!" A female Yin spirit with pronounced curls in her hair made her way over to the table, placing her hands on its surface as she looked directly into Borfis's eyes. "Half an hour ago, the press conference held by Yanluo Qin of the Cathayan Underworld concluded, and during the press conference, he revealed the entirety of the Zhu Rong plan."

"What does it entail?" A strong sense of foreboding had suddenly welled up in Borfis's heart.

"Essentially, they've unveiled nuclear energy," a voice replied from behind the woman, and the woman immediately stepped aside, allowing the group of men and women behind her to face Borfis directly.

All of these Yin spirits were in different attire. Some were wearing white Arabic robes, some were wearing standard business suits, some were wearing kimonos, and their appearances were just as varied as their attire. None of them were very remarkable in appearance, but Borfis immediately drew a sharp breath and rose to his feet at the sight of them. "Why are you here?"

A Nipponese woman who appeared to be in her thirties and was wearing a kimono that was even more lavish than Izanami's smiled and said, "Five million Yin jade."

Borfis raised an eyebrow with a perplexed expression, clearly failing to understand what she was referring to.

The woman explained, "It took five million Yin jade to recruit the service of a Yama-King level death god to establish a set teleportation array that led straight to Nara. It was a little expensive, but it was worth it. I just didn't expect to see all of you here as well."

The woman combed her fingers through her own hair elegantly as she cast her gaze toward the Yin spirits around her.

"Even the young mistress of the Nipponese Sacred Treasure Consortium, one of the world's 15 premier consortiums, is here, how could we be absent?" a handsome Caucasian Yin spirit said with a smile, then turned to the other Yin spirits. "I also didn't expect to see all of you here. Aside from our Anderson Consortium, I can already see that there are representatives from 11 of the world's 15 premier consortiums. I'm sure representatives from the remaining four are also about to arrive soon."

All of the Yin spirits remained silent with polite smiles on their faces.

"Is there something you need to do here?" Borfis could already feel his own temples pulsing violently. These representatives weren't the top dogs of their respective consortiums, but they were all extremely important figures in the international financial sector!

Their importance didn't come in the form of their status. Instead, they were all direct lineal descendants of the families running these extraordinarily important consortiums, and their presence almost always indicated that a massive financial opportunity was afoot.

Why were they here?

Linking their presence to the news he had just been informed of by the International Underworlds Energy Resource Association and the International Underworlds Trade Association, he felt as if his head were about to explode!

When had his office ever hosted so many immensely influential figures at the same time?

"Of course we have something to do here!" A man wearing a white Arab robe stood in front of the table and leaned down to look directly into Borfis's eyes.

He swept a hand through the air, and the door behind them was gently shut, following which he continued, "We want you to immediately invalidate the verdict to rescind the Cathayan Underworld's international forbidden arts supervision rights."

Borfis's eyelids twitched violently upon hearing this.

"The outcome was decided through a vote and cannot be altered." He was feeling very uneasy, and in order to establish some authority, he slammed a hand onto his desk as he spoke, yet right after he did so, he immediately looked down with a surprised expression.

A piece of paper had appeared beneath his fingers.

It was an extremely intricate printed piece of paper, resembling a credit card from the mortal realm with the design of a golden lion's head inscribed on its surface. This was the symbol of the Arabic Consortium!

The man in the white robe pushed the piece of paper toward Borfis and stared straight into his eyes as he said, "This proposal was raised by the three pillars. As long as they don't object to the decision to invalidate the outcome, then there won't be any issues, and I'm sure they wouldn't be shameless enough to raise any objections."

His voice was as alluring as it was implacable, and he pressed the card firmly into Borfis's hand as he continued, "The three pillars have lost, and they have to accept their defeat. As the chief secretary of the Coalition of Underworlds, I'm sure you'll make the right decision."

He leaned forward so that his mouth was right beside Borfis's ear as he whispered, "This card is worth thirty million Yin jade, and the sum can be withdrawn from any bank under the jurisdiction of the Arabic Consortium. I hope this is enough to show you our sincerity."

Borfis drew a sharp breath, and his mouth felt as parched as a desert.

As expected, in the face of such an opportunity, the first to act would always be the major consortiums, followed by the research centers of the major nations and important private research centers. All of these people were most likely going to be flocking to this place like moths to a flame during the next few days!

In other words, the representative team of the Cathayan Underworld wasn't going to be able to leave anytime soon.

"What do you plan to do?"

"It's very simple." The man in the white robe stood up straight again as he smiled and said, "Very soon, you will receive applications from all of the major underworlds, requesting expansions to their representative teams, and I want you to approve all of these applications. We are going to officially become members of these nations' representative teams, and we want to be able to attend this conference in person."

"Is that all?"

"That's all."

Silence.

After a long while, Borfis finally nodded in response. "I agree with your proposal. The three pillars most likely won't be raising any objections. Even if they do, it won't be in person. Just like you said, they aren't shameless enough to raise objections after suffering such a crushing defeat. In that case, all that's left is to confirm that the Zhu Rong plan doesn't conflict with the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts. If you want to attend the conference, then that can certainly be arranged."

As he withdrew his hand, the card on the desk beneath his fingers had already vanished.

………………………………………………….

Tables and chairs were littered all over the bluestone floor, and behind those was a massive statue. As the gates were shut, the surrounding candles lit up in unison, giving the temple a sense of eeriness.

Izanami was seated in her chair in silence, and in that instant, she felt as if she had aged significantly.

The outcome was already decided.

The revote still hadn't taken place yet, but the result was already obvious, and they were only sitting here to listen to the announcement of the inevitable final result.

Even in this instant, she felt as if she were living in a dream. During the past seven days, she felt as if she had already seen hope, and that victory was within their grasp. The Cathayan Underworld had virtually not resisted at all, yet from the moment the conference began, her nightmare also commenced.

The two rulers of the new continent stormed the conference hall, killing 12 international arbiters and destroying most of the pavilion. As a result, the meeting had to be held again, and within the short span of a single day, the Cathayan Underworld had completely flipped the tables, comprehensively crushing the three pillars with its nuclear energy announcement.

The losers were supposed to be staying in the corner, licking their wounds in silence, yet she had been forced to come here to watch the winner gloat, to witness the Cathayan Underworld return to its rightful throne! It was as if she had already been killed, yet her killers were still intent on desecrating her corpse!

She looked up at the ceiling with a forlorn sigh, and she couldn't even be bothered to listen to Borfis's opening address.

Of course, there were many people in the same position as her, such as the nameless god of death of the Russian Underworld.

His position as the fifth pillar had seemed all but assured, but before he even had a chance to celebrate, he had been brutally shut down.

He was like nothing more than a pathetic clown, celebrating over nothing for less than three hours before his hopes were dashed in devastating fashion.

Most of the underworlds were completely silent, and amid this peculiar atmosphere, Borfis announced, "Next, it's time to re-sign the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts and the effective period of this new agreement will be 100 years. All of the terms and clauses have already been seen and agreed upon by all of the death gods, and the only step left now is to sign the agreement."

"Please wait a moment." A death god suddenly rose to his feet and said in an extremely reluctant manner, "There was a proposal from the three pillars before..."

A wry smile appeared on the nameless god of death's face.

Are they still not content with accepting defeat?

The three pillars were still hanging onto the hope that they could secure the final victory, but this hope was far too slim. Thus, they had forced one of their loyal lapdogs to bring up the issue in their stead, but the expression on the face of the death god who had just spoken was enough to tell the whole story.

He had done as he had been told, but he was extremely reluctant to do so.

How many more underworlds like this were there in the utopia alliance?

Borfis slid his golden wireframe glasses down the bridge of his nose before turning to the death god who had just spoken with a meaningful smile. "Are you referring to the proposal to rescind the Cathayan Underworld's international forbidden arts supervision rights?"

The death god didn't even want to speak, and he merely nodded in response with a glum expression.

His underworld was situated right in between the Argosian Underworld, the Aegyptian Underworld, and the Hindustani Underworld, so he had no choice but to accept this task. However, he knew that after raising this issue, he would never be able to hang onto the coattails of the world-leading powerhouse that was the Cathayan Underworld.

Borfis nodded in response before turning to everyone in the hall with a serious expression. "We will hold a vote in one minute. Those who are in support of restoring the Cathayan Underworld's international forbidden arts supervision rights, please raise your hands when the minute is up."

Borfis didn't wish to dwell any further on this pointless matter.

The three pillars were unwilling to give up until they saw the final outcome, so he was giving them that opportunity.

The minute passed by very quickly and very quietly.

There were no discussions, and not a single death god displayed any hesitation.

Everyone already knew what their vote was going to be, and Qin Ye was the calmest and most confident of them all.

During this minute, he swept his gaze slowly across the faces of every single death god present, and all those who detected his gaze immediately smiled and nodded in response.

Just a day ago, many of these death gods had been avoiding his gaze and standing firmly behind the three pillars.

Just a day ago, many more of those death gods had refrained from voting and didn't dare to meet his hopeful gaze.

However, on this day, he was like the sun, while the other death gods were like sunflowers eagerly soaking up the blessing that was his gaze. How ironic a scene this was.

"Now then, let the voting begin." Borfis's voice snapped him out of his train of thought. "Those who support the restoration of the Cathayan Underworld's international forbidden arts supervision rights, please raise your hands."

In the blink of an eye, all hands in the hall were raised in almost perfect synchronicity!

The dozen or so newly appointed arbiters were standing in the corner, counting the votes over and over again, thinking that they had counted the votes incorrectly, but after several minutes, they finally managed to verify the final outcome. "34 votes, it's a unanimous decision, Mr. Borfis. According to international regulations, the Cathayan Underworld will retain its international forbidden arts supervision rights."

Hypnos turned toward Anubis and Yamaraja with stunned expressions, and they were just as astonished as he was.

Traitor! Backstabber! Scum!

These three words were being communicated wordlessly between the three death gods, yet at the same time, they were all trying to raise their hands higher than one another, as if they were afraid that others wouldn't be able to see them.

How could you renounce your dignity and loyalty just like that? How could you betray me and the utopia alliance?! It's a good thing I made the exact same decision...