Death Mage with an SS-Rank Talent

City of Valora...Somewhere Underground...

"Did you find why our plan to cause damage to Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities failed?" Big One asked.

"Yes, we were able to uncover why that happened. A patrol member caught the leaders who were supposed to be coordinating the attacks in Rock City. How the patrol guard found them, no one knows. Even at first, they just thought the patrol guard found some low-life criminals or low-level cultists, that's all".

"It was during interrogation that they found who the five were, and even some top interrogator was sent to the city. They easily found what was going to happen. They found every member that was involved in the mission".

"The other cities, well, the five had connections with many leading attackers. So, the information was quickly gathered, and many attacks were thwarted before they were made. The only cities that were disturbed were those where the leaders had no connection with the ones that were caught", Big Two gave a detailed report regarding their failure.

"Oh, it looks like the alliance was just lucky, and there were no moles that leaked the information. That is good news, but did you find the identity of the patrol guard who found the five?" Big one asked.

"Sadly, no. We tried, but the alliance had hidden the person's name. We only heard rumours of fights that broke out early that day, and we are checking to get a possible sketch of the person", Big Two answered.

"Do we need to waste our resources on such a matter? The plan failed, and there was no mole; just the alliance being a bit lucky, that's all. Instead of wasting time and resources on a failed project, shouldn't we concentrate on something more important, like the Supreme?" Big Four asked.

"Yeah, we indeed lost a lot of people and resources because of Supreme. The alliance was able to uncover many details that only the top leader knew about, which meant they came from the Supreme. We may have changed locations, but we now have to look for new places for resources, and the Supreme Court knows who we are. If he hadn't spilled the details, he would do so, sooner or later", Big Five chimed in, agreeing with Big Four.

"I agree with Big Four and Five. What they said was true. Though I knew that we should hunt down the patrol guard to send a message, it was a small message. What we needed to send to the world should be a big one. We need to either rescue Supreme or silence him forever, or else, we would be silenced forever", Big Three, who were silent from the start, spoke.

When Big Three spoke, others looked at her.

Big One and Two wanted to argue that they need to make a statement.

Dare to cross the Cult, and death would be your only option; whether that's swift or not depends on you.

This way, the morale of the society would crumble slowly but surely, a way for the society to slowly make them afraid to even think about helping the alliance.

More would join the cults to gain more resources to grow. This way, the alliance would be weakened, little by little, and in the end, they would fall.

It is a good plan, but it is not an immediate way to grow their strength. It is also not something that can save them in the present.

The Cult had started to fight the alliance with everything they got, damaged the Alliance a lot, but they also got burned in the process. There was not much of a gain.

Also, with the alliance raiding their usual resource points and seizing them for the alliance, this created a massive gap in their treasury. They need to fill it soon, or they will fall and disappear into the annals of history, as if they never existed.

So, sending a message was not their top priority, but gaining new assets, new resource points, and new personnel should be their primary focus, but before that, they need to either rescue the Supreme or end him, as that person knows these five very well, well enough to anticipate what moves they would make.

As long as the supreme was under the alliance's control, the cult couldn't re-establish itself properly. There would always be problems.

"What you said is true, but what can we do about that?" Big One asked.

"Yeah, we may have the information that the supreme is captive, but we don't know where he is located. So, there was no reason to think rescue or silence", Big Two agreed with Big One.

"Do you think I don't know that? I also know that finding that piece of information is gonna cost us a lot, but if we don't find him, it would cost us everything. So, you have to choose. Which one would you choose?" Big Three asked.

Big One and Two turned silent. They couldn't exactly say what Big Three said was not true.

If they go after small things, useless things, it won't be enough for their survival. To survive, they have to end the advantage that the alliance has over them, even if that costs them a lot. It was the only way for their survival.

"What do you want us to do?" Big One asked.

He knew that the Big Three wouldn't have spoken if she hadn't thought of a way to do what she said.

Big Three smiled, "I do have a plan, something that would confuse the alliance, and cover their eyes, while we complete our goal of either rescuing or silencing the supreme".

She continued to tell them the plan down to the smallest detail, to ensure there would be no mistakes. Their survival depends on whether this plan succeeds or not.

She didn't want others to think something else, instead of what she meant them to do and ruin everything. This needs to be executed perfectly, down to the point.

Big One sighed, "That is a good plan. I hope it succeeds, and we survive long enough till we are old enough to die. Okay, everyone, you heard the plan and you know what to do. Go and implement your part of the plan", he ordered.

The others felt the same. There is a good chance for their survival, though the cult might collapse to a point where they have to rebuild everything, but they would rather rebuild the cult than lie dead on the ground.

All five left the underground, thinking about the mayhem they were going to cause soon.