Although the venue cards didn't require Azrael to elaborate extensively on their background stories, creating two cards consecutively had consumed a significant amount of his mental energy.
But it wasn't time to rest just yet.
He waved his hand slightly, signaling the Shadowkhan soldier who had come to remind him about dinner to leave, then pulled out his encrypted communicator.
Now that the mission was complete, Azrael needed to report to Jin and see if he could extract any additional information.
[Six: President, I've completed the task you assigned.]
[Jin: I understand. Well done.]
[Jin: There are no other missions for now. Lewis, don't reveal your identity.]
The old man's reply was quick, clearly keeping constant watch over the mission's progress.
Azrael's eyes flickered as he read the message.
Although Jin hadn't revealed anything explicitly, it seemed that what was happening in the secret realm matched his suspicions quite closely.
Just as he was about to put away his communicator, the old man sent another message.
[Jin: I'll have the executives return to Velkairos in the next two days.]
[Jin: When that happens, Lewis, you'll meet them properly. Fifth Brother will inform you of the specific time and place.]
Seeing these two messages, Azrael's eyes instantly sharpened with focus.
The young man naturally knew that besides Jin and Memphis, he couldn't be the only high-ranking member of the Crimson Oath Society. It was just that because he'd been operating within the Empire of Aetherlight before, he'd never encountered the others.
Even though countless thoughts whirled through his mind at the moment, he still replied swiftly.
[Six: Yes, President.]
After sending the message, Azrael put away his communicator and fell silent, staring at the empty desk before him.
After a long moment, he stood and headed to the dining room.
"Levi, you're out so early?"
In the early morning, a slightly plump middle-aged woman looked at the black-haired young man putting on his shoes at the door, her voice tinged with concern.
Hearing this, the young man replied nonchalantly, "It's actually getting late, and you're well aware of what happened at the Imperial Court recently."
"Besides, I've recently reached Gold rank, so naturally the guild is assigning me more tasks."
"I'm heading out now, Mom."
With that, he stood up, opened the door, and walked out.
It was still early morning, and the air carried a slight chill.
But for the young man, already a Gold-level Lore Cardian, this was nothing.
He rubbed his hands together and summoned his means of transportation: a slender white dragon.
Touching the dragon's cool scales, he immediately climbed onto its back and headed toward the Nirvale District Cardian Master Association headquarters.
It wasn't long before the young man arrived at his destination.
He dismissed his card and strode into the headquarters.
Just then, a woman at the front desk stopped him. "Director, President Lian told you to see him when you arrive."
The young man was none other than Levi, Azrael's first and most formidable rival.
Levi paused for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, I understand."
He then headed for the stairs.
Gazing at the young man's tall figure, the two receptionists couldn't help but whisper among themselves. "Director is so young! This is the first time I've seen a Lore Cardian his age become a director."
"Exactly! If my boy could achieve that, I'd wake up laughing in my dreams."
"But he's still single, isn't he? I have a relative who's the right age and quite pretty."
"Relative? I think it's your daughter, Michelle? Let's be realistic. Girls from ordinary families like ours aren't in his league."
"Well, that's true."
Hearing the chatter behind him, Levi couldn't help but smile wryly. I wonder what their expressions would be when they meet Azrael.
He'd actually thought the same way as those two receptionists not long ago, until he learned that Azrael had returned to Velkairos to assume the position of Vice President at the main headquarters.
At first, the young man had wondered if it was merely a ceremonial title, but he'd soon realized he was deluding himself.
There was no such thing as coincidence in this world. Levi had been instantly devastated.
If he remembered correctly, Victor, the other Vice President of Velkairos, was a Diamond-level Lore Cardian.
This meant that Azrael, at his age, was also a Diamond-level Lore Cardian.
In comparison, the other was undoubtedly a true genius. A complete monster. Hadn't Azrael even dyed his hair back to its natural black after the Elite Elite Talent Cup?
While his thoughts wandered, Levi had already arrived at the office door of Lian, President of the Nirvale District Cardian Master Association.
Knock knock,
"Come in."
Levi pushed the door open, looking at the tired middle-aged man behind the desk and speaking softly, "President, you wanted to see me?"
"You're here? Have a seat."
The young man obediently sat down on the reception sofa.
Seeing his awkwardness, Lian couldn't help but chuckle, then attempted a joke. "You still want to be director when you look like this?"
Hearing this, Levi looked at the middle-aged man in bewilderment. "Huh?!"
Realizing his words had backfired, Lian quickly explained, "That was just a joke, don't take it seriously."
Then, to change the subject, he got down to business. "A high-level demon has been running amok in a secret realm controlled by headquarters these past few days, so they've asked us subordinate branches to conduct self-inspections of our secret realms for any potential safety hazards."
"As Director of the Nirvale District Secret Realm Department, this task falls to you."
Due to Velkairos's sheer size, the Cardian Master Association headquarters didn't directly oversee all secret realms. Instead, it delegated management of lower-level secret realms to branch organizations.
This was generally standard practice in all major cities.
Hearing this, Levi's expression grew serious. "Yes, I understand."
"Any other tasks, President?"
Seeing his earnestness, Lian offered reassurance. "Don't worry, after all, these are low-level secret realms here. Even if something does happen, you can definitely handle it."
The Nirvale District Cardian Master Association primarily controlled Bronze and Silver-level secret realms, with very few Gold-level ones.
As a Gold-level Lore Cardian, Levi was naturally more than capable of handling them.
"Thank you, President."
Gratitude flickered across Levi's face as he quickly left the office.
Watching the young man depart, Lian's expression darkened considerably.
He muttered to himself, "Kid, don't blame me. Blame your bad luck."
Feeling somewhat guilty about Levi, Lian glanced at the transfer notice on his desk.
Thanks to the Imperial Court's downfall, he'd been transferred to headquarters. While technically a promotion, his autonomy had been significantly reduced.
This was undoubtedly a detrimental situation for Lian, a traitor within the Crimson Oath Society, but he couldn't defy headquarters' decision.
"But it's been so long... the Crimson Oath Society should probably pay me some compensation."
Thinking of his wife, whose condition continued to deteriorate, the middle-aged man's expression grew even grimmer.
He'd agreed to become a traitor on the condition that his wife be saved, but to this day, the Crimson Oath Society hadn't taken any concrete action.
Lian was beginning to doubt whether his decision to join the Crimson Oath Society had been the right one.
Unfortunately, there was no turning back now, he had no choice but to continue down this path.
Elsewhere, Levi, unaware of the turmoil he'd left behind, returned to his office and retrieved data on all the secret realms in the Nirvale District.
"This is way too much."
The young man scratched his head, feeling somewhat overwhelmed.
With so many secret realms, if he had to inspect them one by one, he wouldn't be able to rest for days.
But duty called, and no matter how hard or tiring it was, Levi had to do it.
After transferring all the data to his phone, he immediately summoned his subordinates.
"Get ready! We need to inspect every secret realm in the district over the next few days."
Upon hearing this, the Lore Cardians exchanged bewildered glances.
Ultimately, however, they obediently followed Levi's instructions, saying goodbye to their families before accompanying the young man toward the nearest controlled secret realm.
The task of investigating secret realms was undoubtedly tedious.
Iron-level secret realms were relatively small, so checking every demon within wouldn't take long.
But starting at Bronze level, the space expanded exponentially, not to mention Silver and Gold-level ones.
Fortunately, things were going so smoothly that Levi began to wonder if the higher-ups were being overly cautious.
That was until he led his team to the third Gold-level secret realm in Nirvale District.
"Wait, where is everyone?!"
The young man froze for a moment, staring at the deserted base in shock.
Then he realized something was seriously wrong.
Without further delay, he immediately gave the order. "Leave two teams to guard the entrance and contact the association for support."
"The rest of you, follow me into the secret realm."
With that, Levi rushed in first.
After contacting Jin, Azrael had been waiting for Memphis's notification.
But several days passed without a word from the man in the suit, causing the young man to wonder if he was being deliberately sidelined.
"That shouldn't be the case, should it?"
Azrael muttered to himself.
Just then, a mass email suddenly appeared on the computer screen on his desk.
The young man instinctively read the email subject, "Nirvale District Secret Realm Incident."
"Finally."
Azrael's face darkened. He'd been waiting for Jin to initiate his second demonization, but the old man seemed to have completely forgotten about it, showing no signs of activity whatsoever.
"Time to confirm my suspicions."
While the young man was confident that Jin was indeed contracting with secret realms, it was still best to gather more concrete information.
He planned to investigate the situation personally.
After sending a brief text message to Dareth and Victor, he vanished from the Vice President's office.
At his current speed, reaching the scene wouldn't take long.
Azrael looked at the base, now under complete martial law, and nodded to himself. Quick response times.
At that moment, the Lore Cardians guarding the base entrance noticed the unfamiliar face and shouted, "Halt!"
Before they could finish, the guards found themselves speechless from the overwhelming pressure of Azrael's spiritual energy.
For a moment, they couldn't determine what level of Lore Cardian the young man before them was.
Fortunately, the intimidating aura faded quickly as Azrael handed over his identification.
After frantically accepting it, several Lore Cardians' eyes widened in shock.
"Vice President Azrael!"
They shuddered and quickly made way.
Seeing this, Azrael harbored no resentment. After all, he'd only been back in Velkairos for a few days, so it was natural for his subordinates not to recognize him.
He nodded slightly in acknowledgment, then flashed to the entrance of the secret realm.
Without hesitation, he entered.
Inside the secret realm, Levi couldn't help but frown as the sulfurous odor filled his nostrils.
"It's an Emerald-level demon!"
"Were the personnel stationed here just doing nothing?!"
Setting aside the question of why an Emerald-level demon would appear in a Gold-level secret realm, the mere sound of its movements couldn't possibly be hidden from the surveillance cameras throughout the area.
Yet until his arrival, not a single alarm had been raised.
BOOM!
At that moment, a distant explosion echoed, followed by continuous tremors.
"Tsk!" Levi's expression darkened. "Still can't take it down?"
The bad news: a mere Gold-level Lore Cardian hadn't defeated the opponent.
The good news: the opponent didn't seem intent on attacking them.
But who knew what would happen if the situation dragged on.
The young man observed the out-of-control demon's movements and asked the Lore Cardian beside him, "Have you notified the association?"
"Director, the distress call has been sent. Support should be arriving soon."
Levi nodded slightly.
Just as the group was trailing the demon from a safe distance, a terrifying aura suddenly erupted.
WHOOSH!
Amidst a piercing sonic boom, two meteors, one crimson, one golden, plummeted from the sky to the ground.
Then, a roaring pressure shattered everything around them.
The association's Lore Cardians stared wide-eyed at the earth fractured by a single breath.
"Is anyone hurt?"
Just then, a gentle voice sounded from behind them, causing everyone to turn and look.
It was a man who looked even younger than Director Levi.
Seeing the familiar face, Levi hesitated before speaking. "Azrael?"
It was, of course, Azrael himself.
Hearing the name he hadn't been called in a while, he startled at first, then looked at the young man standing nearby. "Who are you?"
Soon, the face matched someone from his memories. "Levi?"
Hearing Azrael recognize him, Levi's eyes lit up. "I didn't expect you to remember me."
Hearing this, Azrael smiled helplessly. "My memory isn't that bad."
"Come to think of it, didn't your hair used to be blond? Why did you dye it back?"
Levi gave an awkward smile. The young man couldn't exactly admit he'd been utterly demoralized and had chosen to return to normalcy.
He awkwardly changed the subject. "Azrael, that's your card, right?"
Before he could finish, Levi stared blankly into the distance.
At that moment, he sensed that the Emerald-level demon he'd considered completely invincible had already lost its life.
Watching the black-and-white figure carrying the demon's corpse back to Azrael's side, followed by the swordsman, Levi found himself at a loss for words.
The Emerald-level demon whom he had deemed utterly unbeatable had perished in a single exchange.
Wait, a swordsman?
The young man caught sight of the familiar swordsman in his peripheral vision. He remembered his first crushing defeat as a Lore Cardian being delivered by that very card.
He'd never expected Azrael, even at Diamond level, to still be using him.
It was truly frustrating to compare oneself with others. After all, his Iron-level Yaksha card had already become a warehouse keeper by the time he'd reached Bronze.
Unaware of his old friend's thoughts, Azrael sensed the same aura as before and sighed. "I was right."
Just as he'd suspected, Jin's goal was to contract with secret realms.
He just wondered how many secret realms in Velkairos had been influenced by the old man.
Thinking this, he turned to the numb figure beside him and asked, "I came in a hurry. Levi, please tell me the details."
Hearing his question, Levi suddenly snapped back to attention. "Huh? Oh."
"When I brought my team here, the base outside was already deserted."
"Then, as soon as we entered the secret realm, we found this demon motionless in the monitoring room."
"You already know what happened after that."
Hearing this, Azrael couldn't help but frown slightly.
The situation wasn't what he'd expected. He'd originally thought this incident had just occurred, but now it seemed considerable time had passed since the event.
No wonder it had played out exactly like the last time.
Setting aside his thoughts, Azrael instructed everyone present, "Let's evacuate first. There shouldn't be any danger here now."
With that, he led them out of the secret realm.
Glancing at the vast spatial rift, Azrael pondered for a moment before using his immense Diamond-level mental power to scan the surroundings.
Unfortunately, he found nothing.
"Strange! Logically, the base sends daily reports. If this hadn't happened today, the Nirvale District Cardian Master Association should have noticed the anomaly long ago."
"Unless..."
He thought of Lian, the branch president who had suppressed the information.
But the flaw in doing so was too obvious, and Azrael didn't think Lian would be so foolish.
The young man remained puzzled for a moment and could only suppress his doubts temporarily.
He turned to Levi beside him and said, "Levi, you handle the rest. I'm heading back now."
"Alright, thank you for your hard work."
Late at night, Azrael emerged from his meditation and spoke coldly, "Since you're here, why are you hiding?"
As he finished speaking, five figures materialized in the bedroom.
Clap, clap, clap,
Accompanied by a burst of applause, one of the figures spoke up. "So you're Lewis?"
"It's true that hearing about someone is never as good as meeting them in person. No wonder the President thinks so highly of you."
Though the words were complimentary, Azrael detected a hint of disdain and displeasure.
He opened his eyes slightly, tilted his head, and asked with some confusion, "Who are you?"
In the darkness, the speaker's mouth widened, revealing a flash of white teeth. "Just call me Fourth Brother. As for my real name..."
"Do you think you're worthy of knowing it?"
"Oh, right, that secret realm you visited today was Third Sister's handiwork. It's a shame you didn't seem to notice."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Is that really all you've got?"
"Lewis."
At that moment, a cold female voice echoed. "It has nothing to do with me. Don't drag me into this."
Hearing their exchange, Azrael glanced calmly at the silent Memphis.
Jin had said he would be notified to attend the gathering, but now it was clear that the man in the suit had brought his associates to undermine Azrael's authority.
There was no doubt that this so-called Fourth Brother and Memphis were very close, and if it were just that close, Jin obviously wouldn't interfere.
Fortunately, it seemed not everyone present supported Memphis.
In that case...
Amidst five different gazes, a figure with yellow hair instantly appeared before them, and the shadowy image of a vast city flashed behind him.
The next moment, everyone present noticed that their surroundings had completely changed.
"Memphis, it seems I've been too lenient with you before."
"You've forgotten your place."