--

"I just want to preface this by saying that I didn’t do it."

It hasn’t even been a minute since the video call started, yet the Crimson Tyrant is already onto his usual antics.

"We know," the Verdant Matriarch responded. "Your three remaining brain cells couldn’t have possibly come up with a fine and sophisticated product such as the Green Lotus Core Technique."

"Hey! I resent that!" The Crimson Tyrant got up and close to the camera, wearing a large frown on his face.

"Bite me, old dog." The Verdant Matriarch wasn’t intimidated at all.

"Freakin’ hag," the tyrant snorted.

"Gosh, you two! Can you be serious for a bit? We literally just started." Azure Saint sighed and scolded them.

She was expecting this to happen, and honestly, it’s exhausting and exasperating.

"So, it’s definitely not Crimson Tyrant. Was it you, then, Verdant Matriarch?" The War Sovereign asked.

"No." She shook her head. "Though, I certainly wish I were. That would’ve been wonderful. But I won’t shamelessly steal credit from the true creator. Especially not when this technique also benefitted me. Besides, if I did, you all wouldn’t have received notice from the World System. It’d be from me instead."

"True. That’s very true." The War Sovereign hummed, deep in thought.

"I’m not the one, either," Azure Saint declared. "Was it you, Voidstep?"

The Voidstep Silent Monarch stayed silent; he simply shook his head in denial.

"Okay, so it didn’t come from any of us, or anybody we know of," Crimson Tyrant muttered. "Or, is it? Maybe it’s from someone we know, someone that decided to go on a different route than us?"

"No. It can’t be." Azure Saint denied the possibility. "They won’t dare. The GMU folks are desperate for our approval. Aren’t they sending us plenty of things in hopes of getting our attention? They’d do anything to get close to us. If it’s really one of them, they certainly wouldn’t choose the World System over us. Not when they’re members of the GMU."

"Ah, right. Sorry, I forgot that’s a thing." Crimson Tyrant scratched his head, slightly embarrassed. "In my defense, I haven’t checked my mail for a long-ass time. Out of sight, out of mind."

"Well, it’s not like they send anything useful to us," the Verdant Matriarch sneered. "What they could send, we could get just by making a little effort. These flatteries are all for the sake of shackling us down with them, a pitiful attempt of putting us on a leash. They’d never learn."

"Yeah, that’s why I often don’t want to return." The War Sovereign sighed. "It’s exhausting to deal with politics. Their attempts at dragging us to their personal agendas honestly disgust me. So much so that I much prefer being surrounded with literal mountains of corpses and rivers of blood instead of wading through their fake smiles and schemes. At least this place doesn’t hide its intentions from me."

The War Sovereign’s words turned the atmosphere of the video call a little somber and strange.

Nobody could refute him; that’s the worst part.

Even though they stand at the pinnacle of the human race, they’re not completely immune to the ties and burdens that come with the position. Don’t get them wrong; this was something that they willingly took on simply because they had no other options at all.

Wielding great power comes with abundant responsibilities. This is the fundamental truth of this world. They couldn’t have possibly made it this far if they were irresponsible. The world itself would stop them if they tried.

And those people knew this too, which emboldened their desire and attempts to tie down the martial gods with mortal shackles.

Honestly, as much as they loved being in charge, it gets exhausting sometimes. That’s why they often make plenty of excuses to not return unless their home is truly in danger.

They much prefer being on the front lines, fighting against monsters, rather than being at home and wrestling with gentle-faced schemers that are trying to put a leash on them.

"How’s the effect of the Green Lotus Core Technique for everyone?" The Voidstep Silent Monarch asked, speaking for the first time.

"It’s great." The War Sovereign was the first one to respond to that. "It softened my scar, which is a pretty huge fucking deal for me in case you aren’t aware."

"That motherfucker, Profaned Beast...just thinking about it makes me angry. You all know how I swore to kill that thing the next time I see it, not just because of a personal vendetta, but because I thought that only by killing it would the scar it left finally heal completely, and I’d be free of the nightmares that come with it."

"But this technique...it hasn’t done much, really. It did soften it after I tried for the first time. If we’re going by estimates, I’d say that it’d take at least three months before it manages to completely soak through the scar and begin filing it away."

"But that’s already massive! This thing has tormented me for decades! No healer, not even you, Verdant Matriarch, could do anything to this scar. Yet this thin and tiny book with simple instructions about stretches did it. And it only demands 15 minutes of my every single day moving forward? Hell, I’d be willing to sacrifice hours on it just to get rid of the scar."

"It’s a pity that I can’t accelerate the healing, though. It’s in the rules of the technique itself that it could only be a slow-healing chakra attribute. But it’s sure damn persistent and effective. But hey, having it is much better than having none!"

"I completely agree with you," the Verdant Matriarch followed up. "For me it...well, it’s fixing the very problem I’ve been struggling with for all my life, something that not even the Verdant Immortal Art, my own creation, could fix. It’s awesome."

"Oi, War Sovereign! Don’t leave me out of the hunt! You promised me that you’d call me if you see that fucking Profaned Beast! It’s not just you that had a scar from that piece of shit!" Crimson Tyrant strongly reminded.

"I know, I hear you, brother. And I fully intend to uphold my promise. I won’t fail you. We will kill that thing some day in the future. Of course, you have to call me too if you happen to see it first."

"Well, duh! Of course, I’ll call you. As much as I hate to say it, I can’t 1v1 that thing. Hell, I might even call in Voidstep too, just for his ability to lock down space. You know, to prevent that thing from escaping. That is if he’s down for it."

"Anytime, boys," Voidstep responded positively.

Azure Saint got to hand it to Voistep. He’s a man of few words, but when he does speak, it’s got substance. With just a single question from him, he changed the tune of the entire conversation. Of course, he’s one of the most reliable people she knows too.

"I’m happy for you, Verdant Matriarch." Azure Saint acknowledged the emotions of her martial sister.

The verdant matriarch’s infertility had been something she struggled with immensely since her youth. She didn’t get the ’matriarch’ title because she raised a clan on her own. It’s an inherited title; she became the matriarch of her clan simply because she was too strong.

She had a husband once upon a time. Alas, they never got the chance to have their own children, one of the biggest regrets the Verdant Matriarch had in her whole life. Although her husband never blamed her for it and willingly stayed to accompany her, she couldn’t take it.

Eventually, her husband died. And Verdant Matriarch’s heart has hardened since then. She rarely concerned herself with the mundane world after that. Instead, she dedicated her life to her duties as one of GMU’s Martial Gods.

"Thank you, Azure Saint. I assume this technique had some benefits to you too?"

"Well, not as profound and life-changing compared to you. But it did give me a strong dose of inspiration," she responded. "Speaking of which, I assumed that the World System would fiercely protect the identity of this technique’s creator."

"Oh, for sure!" the Verdant Matriarch agreed with her completely. "I’d do the same if I were the World System. Additionally, this technique will most certainly appear on the Honor Roll, too."

"Right, the Honor Roll," the War Sovereign spoke as if he just remembered it. "The World System declared it a new core martial art, too. Damn! The Basement’s bound to get really noisy once this comes out."

"Let’s make preparations, just in case," Voidstep Monarch reminded everybody. "Let’s not bother with the identity of this technique’s creator. Anybody who could create something like this shouldn’t be a bad person. Let’s focus on the impact it’ll have moving forward."

"We have to keep a lookout on the traitorous cults too," Crimson Tyrant reminded them. "Those imbeciles will definitely try their best to get their grimy hands on this technique. We have to remind the team to be on the lookout for them!"

"Oh, I wouldn’t necessarily worry about that." Azure Saint’s light and easy tone startled them a bit.

"Why is that?" Crimson Tyrant asked in confusion.

"Because the technique was tailor-made for humans. Those who had taken the blood of the outsiders won’t be able to benefit from this at all. It’s a security measure built in to the technique itself, cleverly omitted by the creator, I assume."

"So yes, no need to worry too much about them. In fact, we can use this to fish them out."

And just like that, Azure Saint started scheming against those who turned their back against their own people.