The last Asura Sovereign

For Punya, this had been a hectic week. He had been reviewing the treasury, current affairs, and personnel in different fields. The elders were of no help and he couldn’t tell them about the details of the preparation. Even yesterday when he asked for their help, not one of them stood up. Although for most of the elders, their loyalty lies within the clan, their foremost priority lies in themselves.

There were very few people like the fifth elder in the clan. The infiltration towards the major clan had been put to a stop because Punya knew no one among his informants had that high reach and since this was a sensitive period, the major clans would be extra careful. After breakfast, he had discussed about defenses of the clan in depth with Keshab. Although Keshab didn’t tell him about all his improvements, he told him about the estimated strength of the arrays within the clan.

After Keshab had improved the mountain-protecting formation that encompassed the whole clan, it was strong enough to withstand a few attacks from the golden core formation realm cultivators. As for other arrays, Keshab had mixed many small arrays for illusion, killing, defense, and some curses. Although anything related to curses was frowned upon by orthodox sects, it was because they didn’t have strong curse inheritance themselves.

In the world of cultivation, right and wrong were decided by the strong ones, any means could be justified as long as they were strong enough to defend it. As for the curse arrays, Keshab had only mixed some in the arrays so they could gain an unexpected advantage, but the materials required to set up curse arrays were sinister and weren’t readily available in the city. Even though Punya didn’t know the specifications of the arrays, he became a little confident when Keshab said that if everyone in the clan didn’t survive, the enemies also should forget about surviving.

Those words were ominous and reflecting upon them it would seem as if surviving may be the least possible option. But even if the clan is destroyed, if they could inflict heavy loss upon the major clans and the foreign clan, it would be worth it. If the foundation building realm cultivators from the two clans died, it would be easier for the fifth elder and the children to survive. As for taking revenge, they could wait for decades or centuries if they had to. One thing the Rijal clan was good at was holding grudges.

It wasn’t known why they were a little petty, but it seemed to be inscribed at their genetic level. Maybe it was the trait of the Rijal clan. The clan members didn’t care much about the face but when it came to the clan, they would group together and act out their petty vengeance. The Rijal clan was perfect to be described as when a younger one is defeated, the older one comes, and then the ancestor.

If there was a protagonist in this world, they would probably start with the Rijal clan as a stepping stone. But now, the elders had grown complacent, they hadn’t quite figured out the consequences of what was about to happen. If it was the Rijal clan of the previous century, they would have already attacked the two clans. But maybe this generation hadn’t seen the war or the clear reality of the world.

When most of the people present in the clan had been born, the beast tide had ended and after Keshab took the helm of the clan, most of the pressure was borne by himself making the way for the clan members smooth. And the Rijal clan later becoming the strongest clan in the Lunaris city made most of the members complacent. Maybe it was the lack of struggle when making the clan a top-tier one that caused the members to have less loyalty towards the clan. Punya didn’t know what the elders would decide today and he didn’t have much faith in them either.

Whether they would support the clan wholeheartedly or they would just brush it off with little resources remains to be seen. Not everyone was like the fifth elder who could abandon his very freedom for the clan. And it wasn’t like Punya and Keshab had counted on their help while making preparations. If the elders contributed heavily, then it would be a plus point, instead, Punya was counting on the enemies to be ruthless so that the elders had to fight selflessly for their lives and the clan.

Punya sighed and walked towards the clan hall. The clan members on the way greeted him, completely unaware of the situation the clan was going through. Punya replied to the greetings with a polite nod. He reached the clan hall and saw almost all the elders were present. He knew he had to open the clan hall early today. After greeting the elders and deacons present there, he went inside and started reviewing the reports.

After reading the reports superficially, he found nothing interesting or helpful to the current situation. He waved his hand and opened the clan hall door to let the elders in. After they entered, they sat on their respective seats and were ready to speak. Punya felt, that if he let them talk at once, it would be noisy so he exerted pressure and looked at the first elder “First elder looks like everyone has something to say today. Let’s start from you.”

The first elder Shyam getting the signal began to speak “The situation seems to be grave. I am willing to donate pills I have stored over the years to the clan. If the clan leader has any requests for refining pills I’m available.” After Shyam had said his piece the other elders and deacons also showed their support. Although they had said that they would support the clan with all their heart, Punya knew the resources provided by the elders would be subpar at best. This was the fundamental human nature.

The elders then started discussing about various rumors and information their subordinates or their informants had gathered. Today they had gathered more information than yesterday because they realized where to look. They were busy for the whole night gathering information and planning for survival. Even now a part of their rational thought was saying this was just a rumor, there was no way the clans would attack them suddenly when they had nothing to gain.

It wasn’t that there was no precedent of other clans annihilating another clan within the city, but that was when they had something valuable to gain. Without gaining anything, to attack a clan, they would have to plan for months or even years. At this time, rumors would eventually spread but there was no information or rumors about this few days ago.