Inside a luxurious meeting hall made only with the finest of materials and furnished with nothing less than the best the world had to offer, nine individuals sat in front of a massive blackwood table imported from Cluster 2, Afreia.

An old man with long, white hair tied into a messy ponytail and a bespectacled, pink-haired woman had determined looks on their faces as the other seven eyed them like hungry wolves.

"So, your excellency, Aurelius, the day has finally come for the government to give us an explanation," said a brown-haired, hulking man dressed in a formal suit.

At least they still had a bit of respect left for the world government.

They wouldn't have made too much of an effort to prepare their attire, otherwise.

Before Aurelius could respond, another of the seven representatives of the Seven Sword Guilds added with a subtle, threatening undertone:

"We've allowed you to evade us to this day. We're not leaving without so much as a satisfactory answer, your excellency."

They were calling Aurelius the appropriate title.

However, the fact that they dared speak to him in such an aggressive manner revealed exactly how much respect they had — clearly not too much.

They respected their rich and powerful lords more, and why wouldn't they?

Any of them can go in an all-out war with the government right now and give them a deep run for their money, perhaps even overthrow the fragile rule, had it not been for a single individual, a man who had been preventing them from taking the last step.

But that man's era is almost over now.

They could imagine why Aurelius was suddenly making bold moves and taking drastic measures, borderline abusing their authority.

Of course, the Seven Sword Guilds had competent people — many of them.

How else would they be able to rise to prominence?

They would never allow the fading authority of yesterday to get its grip back.

The reason they gathered was because of a single novice bladeborn, which would've been a laughable cause of worry, especially with how mighty the Seven Sword Guilds are, their connections running deep in the entire world like lethal poison that had long seeped into one's marrow.

Yet, this decisive prudence was the reason why they've grown to immeasurable power.

They knew all too well how a single powerful bladeborn could stop them from further progress.

Edric Valemarch, also known as Sword Saint Caladbolg.

The mightiest in humanity's history.

Starting off as an SS-ranker whose sword had the capability to reach the apex after two confirmed awakenings, Sword Saint Caladbolg had been far from the most talented.

In fact, he came from a fairly mediocre family — one inferior to even Skylar, Noravia's Southern Prince.

The now-celebrated Valemarch Lineage wasn't so prominent in the past.

While they had a good amount of resources, to an extent, the sword saint was, at most, a silver-spoon young master and not a gold one.

Even the four monstrous geniuses of this batch: Gram, Sigrun, Chi Xiao, and Durandal, could be considered far more talented than he was back then.

Caladbolg couldn't even be compared to them at the same age.

Naturally, nobody expected that he would become a Sword Saint, ending up using some of the brightest of his generation and even the ones from before his, as mere stepping stones.

His growth suddenly became explosive, unstoppable.

Worse, he was as loyal as a well-fed dog, choosing to never betray the world government despite receiving practically peanuts in return.

He would have had so much more if he had just chosen to ally himself with one of the seven.

But he didn't, and to this day, he's holding the fort, preventing the gates of authority from being breached.

While the Seven Sword Guilds had extremely confident and raring Sword Saints, they dared not test Caladbolg's might again after something that happened behind the scenes almost a decade ago, when they believed he was already past his prime and couldn't contend with the younger saints.

Only the seven and a select few in the upper echelons of the world government knew of the slaughter in the shadows.

The guilds lost a lot that day and gained nothing.

So, they decided to take a different, safer approach, one that guaranteed their victory.

Father time is on their side, after all.

There was no need to do anything else aside from lulling the old ones to a slow and peaceful death without being able to do anything to change the course of the future.

In just another decade or less, Sword Saint Caladbolg would succumb to the limits of his mortal shell, and it would be impossible for him to continue stopping the powerful young.

Only the seven were as affluent as each other; they would get a steady supply of the best of each generation every year.

The world government, on the other hand, wouldn't, and its authority would completely crumble once Edric Valemarch fades.

They wouldn't be able to do anything when that time comes.

As long as the Seven Sword Guilds don't allow the government to obtain a single SS-ranker in the next decade or so, the future is set in stone.

S-rankers were still fairly numerous compared to those with higher ranks, and it would be impossible to prevent all of them from joining the government, especially the talented sons and daughters of those already working there.

They were welcome to slip away, though.

After all, even Caladbolg had been an SS-ranker, and the Seven Sword Guilds did not believe that someone with a lower rank would be able to achieve anything even remotely close to what the miraculous saint did.

Even now, they planned on sticking to their plan — one that the government had no chance of dealing with without ruining their reputation and credibility with the public.

But Aurelius didn't seem fazed. Hailey, too.

The world government might be slowly fading into obsolescence.

However, they'd been steadfast in performing their duties and had been doing an impossibly great job at them, thanks to Caladbolg's fearsome reputation.

They had a lot of competent individuals, too, mundane as most of them were.

They only needed a chance to turn things around.

Luckily, the heavens have eyes, giving them a path.

It was just that it was unknown whether this path would prove fruitful yet, especially now that the option wasn't in the best of conditions.

Nonetheless, the world government was willing to bet it all.

Aurelius cleared his throat and then spoke: "Now then, about Onimaru Kunitsuna…"

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