THE DARK APOSTLES

The dark apostles had gathered. Prior to the meeting, shockwaves caused the ground to tremble, and an arcana storm threatened to tear through the city. Then the storm cleared, and golden bells rang in the skies above the Capitol as gold dust fell like snow, signaling that the Tower of Babel had been conquered.

Rigarde could only guess that it was Kojo's doing. It was common knowledge that the tower's 100th floor held treasures from the Age of Prosperity and relics of the Dark Ages. Rigarde had covertly funded many mercenary groups to clear the tower, but they hadn't gone far. The saints used to use the tower for training anytime they were in the kingdom. Yukio was the first to break through 86 floors on her first day, but she hadn't gone there ever since she went to Ekron for the Dio'ri tournament. Even though he had the title of bishop, he had no authority over the saints, who took their orders directly from the Holy See, that's the Pope himself.

"Tch," Rigarde said, opening his eyes.

He was seated at a round table with the other Apostles. This time, all of them were in attendance.

They were:

Antoine Winfred, a man who appeared to be in his twenties in a colorful robe, with signs that he took great care of his skin. He sat immersed in his appearance in a mirror.

Rigarde Àalbers, the bishop, who sat with his hands on his lap, fingers intertwined.

Oslon the doctor, who sat with a faint smile as if thinking of something extremely funny.

Nefaria, who wore a revealing purple dress and sat with her legs crossed, her poker-faced expression beginning to show signs that she was annoyed.

Urland Agaard, the buff and hairy man with bushy hair and long dreadlocks. He had tattoos of loops around his arms, his sides, and under his eyes.

Aldean Frost, the handsome Knight with wavy hair and blue eyes, who played with ice on the table.

Vammona Dugres, a woman in all black who was giving off goth vibes.

Hanzet Bizél, a girl with pigtails, sat in the lap of a buff old man with a patchwork doll, and all her attention was in a book, smiling as she looked through pages that depicted dissection and disembowelment.

Sid Qinette, a well-dressed young elf with blonde hair and green eyes who seemed to be twelve, well dressed in a white shirt and shorts. He sipped tea, a tray of pastries beside him.

Astelasia Qinette, Sid's sister, sat next to him, elegantly wiping wine.

Faust Teufel, a handsome man with long black curly hair and slits in his eyes like a cat's. He wore a black robe and a plague mask on the table behind him.

Juan Bjornson, who sat with his legs crossed on the table and his arms crossed. He wore earrings and had a Mohawk.

This group, meeting holographically from realms far and wide, pulled the strings that influenced the lives of the millions of people all across the world from behind the scenes. This dark gathering, known as the Apostles of Doom, who hailed from places of power from all across Gaia and beyond, had been playing God for generations.

This time, however, instead of the usual plans and plots, they were gathered at this auspicious time in order to deliberate what to do about the newest obstacle, Kojo Atari.

"Hey priest, when will we move forward with the plan? I'm tired of waiting for so long, Rigarde," Juan said.

"Patience, Bjornson, the time for our revelation will soon be upon us," replied Nefaria.

"Still, you need to speed things up," Nefaria spoke to Rigarde, a hint of irritation in her voice.

"It matters not; the objective of the operation has already been fulfilled. We can move forward with other plans," Antoine Winfred said.

"However, there's the matter of the tower being cleared. I hear it was by the Dio'ri champion Kojo. Shouldn't we be concerned?" the feminine Astelasia Q'inette asked.

"Shouldn't we see if we can make him into one of our pawns? It would be beneficial to have someone like that on our side?" Hanzette asked.

"It would be best, preferably, but I doubt it's possible. If it was, Rigarde here would have done so," Sid said.

"The fact that he hasn't been able to means that this one's different," his sister Astelasia added.

"Well, it would be a difficult task. From what I've seen, he's not someone who can be easily convinced or manipulated," Oslon said.

"All this is irritating. Why not just kill the fucker and get over with our plans?" Urland said.

"Patience, barbarian," a melancholic Aldean Frost said. "But I do have to agree with him. If we can't bend him, then we break him. It's that simple."

"If it was that simple, we wouldn't be having this conversation," Rigarde said.

"Oh, come on now, how hard could it be? I hear he walks around with a troupe of young women, and one of them happens to be royalty. Seems like he's also a good manipulator."

"Not everyone's like you, Frost. I hear you made a name for yourself among a lot of ladies' circles," Nefaria remarked.

Adrian just smirked.

"If you're so convinced that he's having others fight for him, how did he win Archadia's tournament, hmm?" Oslon asked.

Adrian opened his mouth to reply, then paused and thought for a moment.

"Yeah, that's a fair point. But so what if he's a bit strong? He's still nothing but a small fry."

"Yukio told me that despite his appearance, he's extremely powerful. He even managed to give her a bruise on the cheek," Rigarde said.

Adrian looked at him. Yukio was the strongest saint, one of the strongest people on the planet. She once decimated a fleet of 250,000 strong within a minute, yet this guy managed to bruise her. Even if she intentionally took the hit, all attacks would have been nullified by the Goddess' Blessing.

"You have yet to give your thoughts on something, Hanzette," Rigarde prompted.

"I don't care, as long as I get to have some fun," said the cheerful Hanzette.

"Hmm," Rigarde said, looking at her.

"What about you, Antoine?"

"I couldn't care less what becomes of that brat. Hey, does my hair look alright?" he replied.

"What about the boy?" Vammona said as Nefaria gave her a side-eye.

"Well, he's relatively naive, so it'll be easy to manipulate him. If not, we can do it through the people around him. Come on, we've done this before; stop acting like you're virgins. Even if he impedes us, it won't be a problem. I'll just go and eliminate him myself," Juan said, banging his fist on the table.

"Do you have to be vulgar about everything?"

"I guess that's that then," Hanzette said.

"In the name of our Lorde," Rigarde said, getting to his feet and raising his hands to his head and intertwining his fingers.

"In the name of our Lorde," the others said, getting to their feet and doing the same.

Kojo looked down at Reynolds. The girls had told him what had happened. Adriana had taken him to where her brother was. He glanced at Adriana and saw sadness in her eyes. He held her hand and smiled reassuringly. Adriana wiped her tears and smiled back. Kojo's other hand, however, was tightly balled into a fist.