The Departure

In an unassuming airstrip that was quite remote and far from any sign of civilizations.

Both Helena and Ramon were walking towards the place where several aircraft were parked in a row. The sounds that those aircraft made indicating that they were preparing to take off.

Around them, stood dozens of men and women clad in black outfits. Their expressions were indifferent and their postures straight.

As Helena approaching closer, one of them, a woman with bright red hair, stepped forward.

"Did you complete the mission, Mary?" Helena asked, her outfit now has totally changed.

She currently wore an exquisite dark purple robe that tightly hugging her body and accentuated her explosive figure. A faceless mask also hanging on her face, completely hiding her kingdom-toppling beauty. Overall, she still looked ethereal but totally mysterious at the same time.

Mary bowed slightly, "Yes, Mistress. We've killed all of their rankers, leaving behind a few people without power."

Helena nodded indifferently, she doesn't care at all about Oxford's fate.

"But we discovered something a little bit disturbing while we were there."

"Which is?"

With a serious expression, Mary reported, "We found a spy from Profound Ancient World, a disciple of Dark Sky Sect, within the Oxford's mansion. At that time, he seems to have been in the middle of a discussion with the Clan leader, John Oxford."

Hearing that, Helena and Ramon raised their eyebrows.

"It appears the enemy have scattered their spies throughout Gaia. There's no way they only sent one person to do the job. There should be many local organizations or forces that are in contact with them." Ramon said his opinion.

Helena agreed with his conjecture. One doesn't need to be a genius general to discern the enemy's strategy. Sowing discord and chaos from within before the main invasion was a classic tactic, after all. And they can achieve that by using spies to contact and made deals with the natives.

This would prove to be really troublesome.

"Then you must investigate this further. I suggest you use our entire intelligence division. Find those spies, and uproot them, ASAP. And make sure to inform the Association about it as well." Helena gave the order with a stern tone.

Ramon nodded, "Acknowledged."

"Can we set off now?" Helena turned her attention back to Mary.

"We can, Mistress. All preparations are completed."

"Alright, let's go then." Said Helena as she proceeds toward the aircraft while Mary and Ramon followed her from behind.

A few minutes later, all of the aircraft started to taking off from the airstrip and flying high to the night sky.

***

All over the Merlin Kingdom, every media station was covering a live broadcast of a massive fire engulfing the luxurious mansion that belongs to John Oxford, causing an immediate shocking sensation that quickly spread out throughout the Kingdom even when it's still at midnight.

People were watching the coverage on their TVs or other devices, locking their visions to the sight of John Oxford's mansion being consumed by the fire while bustling activities could be seen around it.

Hundreds of firefighters were trying their best to putting out the fire and searching for any survivors. Furthermore, paramedics and their ambulances were already standing by at the site, they set up a temporary field hospital to immediately treat the survivors due to the mansion situated quite far from Seastar. The police forces were there as well, locking down the area around the site to prevent ordinary citizens from getting close to.

The Kingdom's authority has yet to spoke any official statements regarding the incident and its result, but several officials have said to the media that they would investigate it with utmost urgency.

Although the people were still confused and stupefied, they believed one thing for sure; the Oxford Clan finally met their demise.

Meanwhile, at the grand palace of the Merlin Kingdom, located in Seastar's central district, Lyanna Windsor was watching her own TV inside her room with a ghastly pale face.

Even though there was a satisfaction feeling partially filled her heart from seeing the downfall of Oxford Clan, she couldn't but feel dread and afraid.

Three hours has not even passed since Sophia's party ended, but the repercussion of the ruckus caused by Oxford's uncle and nephew duo has hit their clan like a thunder, quick and fast.

Lyanna's sure the Oxford's incident was committed by the Carter. She even deduced that it was Helena who precisely does it.

Thinking about Helena Carter's background, there was no way for a mere manager of Regalia Jewelry to hold the kind of power that can eliminate a noble clan full of strong rankers in a quick manner.

Helena must have possessed another identity, an identity which influential enough to enable her to command the forces under the Amethyst Queen.

But what was it?

Lyanna could not find the answer even after racking her brain for long. She sighed heavily as she lamented her stupidity at the party before.

She really hoped her status as the Princess of Merlin and the disciple of Sky Tearing Witch would be enough to let her escape the repercussion unharmed.

In the end, Lyanna silently praying for that to be the case.

***

The Republic of Arguna.

A nation that was founded on the eastern coast of the Europa Continent. On the grand stage, this country was one of the superpowers in Gaia, possessing ample natural resources, powerful military, and rich economy.

It has a democratic-style government led by a Consul, who was elected directly by its citizen once every ten years.

While on the surface, the country's situation seems to be safe and peaceful, but under that facade, there was actually a growing undercurrent that could potentially wreck the nation hidden within the shadow.

Currently, inside a military forward operating base, situated in the northeastern coastline of the country's territory, Lt. General Cordelia Cassar was staring at the tactical map spreading out on top of a table within her command post with a serious expression.

She was the commander of Arguna's Joint Task Force-10 (JTF-10), an elite unit whose members were all talented and powerful rankers, usually tasked to perform a variety of highly dangerous and covert missions.

Cordelia was famous among the ranks of Arguna's military, not only because she was herself a peak-stage Titanium-class ranker, but she had also made many great contributions to the country. Her stern personality and her style of command also contributed much to her stellar reputation.

Under her lead, JTF-10 has transformed from an ordinary unit to an efficient and elite fighting unit, capable of executing many hazardous tasks with minimal casualties.

But today, the unit will execute the hardest mission they have ever received.

Arguna's high command has deployed the unit in response to the incursion from foreign worlds.

Cordelia looked to the wristwatch on her left arm, it showed the time still at 03.27, around two and a half hours before the operation they have planned for weeks will be commenced.

She pinched the skin area between her eyes, trying to alleviate the headache and tiredness she had suffered after not sleeping for the past few days due to her being so much busy in planning and preparing the upcoming operation.

She then let out a sigh, thinking that the enemy that the country had to face this time will be much dangerous and frightening.

A moment later, she began to walk to the nearest window, her movement was noticed by other military personnel inside the command post, who were mostly busy handling their own tasks, but none of them wants to disturb her, and merely ignored her instead.

As Cordelia peering to the outside, she could see a vast ocean sprawling across the horizon. Her high cultivation allowed her to possess enhanced vision, enabling her to see through the dark. However, her gaze wasn't being aimed toward the ocean. Instead, she focused her vision on an island that wasn't really far from the base.

That unassuming and ordinary island was exactly the primary target of their operation.

About a month ago, a few local fishermen from a nearby town, who usually fishing in the surrounding sea, came ashore to the island in order to investigate strange noises coming from it. They were curious and wanted to know what was going on since the island has always been uninhabited as long as they can remember.

But unlucky for those fishermen, upon landing on the shore, they were immediately attacked by dozens of hostile rankers, leaving most of them died while only two people were able to survive and escape from the island.

Those two later were rescued by Arguna navy's warship that was coincidently patrolling not far from the island.

The interrogation of the two survivors yields a very disturbing report that made Arguna's authority restless and alarmed. They quickly made a few followed-up investigations by sending law enforcement forces and military personnel to the island. But the result was basically the same as the earlier accident, both organizations suffered some casualties at the end.

The government was prompt to utilize every method that they have to unravel what was actually happening inside the island.

After constant monitoring by satellites and direct means, they found that some sort of military base was actually under construction by an unidentified group of people deep within the island itself.

But limited intelligence means that there were no possibilities to know the true identity of those people. Until the government received a warning from Gaia Ranker Association, an independent alliance made up by rankers from Gaia and helmed by the Four Diamond-class experts, which has always operated inside Heavenly Tower's 1st layer.

This warning was also received by every nation on this planet.

The Association warned that several powers from three different worlds, Profound Ancient World, Dark Nether World, and Balestier World, have banded together and combined their forces aiming to attack and invade Gaia.

As such, Arguna had no choice but to reveal the island's matter to the Association in order to ascertain what was hiding behind it. The Association then made a followed up investigation through their own method, and finally confirmed that the alien powers were indeed behind the island's incident.

And that's why Cordelia was here, commanding and leading the entire operation.

Gazing at the island, her eyes were filled with hatred. She had lost many JTF-10's members on that island, getting massacred when they tried to scout for information.

But she calmed down her heart, she knew that she to kept her mind cool so that she could lead the operation well. Besides, it won't be long before she got her revenge.

Cordelia has the entire military power under her disposal for this endeavor. Not only that, she had been told that the Association would also send several of their best rankers to support her. Not to mention, it was said that the government has hired Violet Global Security for the operation as well, with the rumor spreading around that they will be accompanied by the Amethyst Queen herself.

With that kind of powerful forces, Cordelia's sure they would be able to recapture the island in no time.

Subconsciously, a wicked smile beamed from her lips as she thought of that.