...
{3rd Pov}
One could see that inside a spacious room, several people were seated around a large table.
Every single person present possessed at least Super Tier magic cultivation, and the aura they naturally gave off made it clear that none of them were ordinary individuals.
These people were none other than the Monarchs who served directly under Astreo's command.
Among them, one figure stood out without any surprise.
It was Lisa, a peak Super Tier mage whose strength was already well known among the group.
She had long red hair that fell neatly behind her back and a pair of blazing red eyes that reflected her sharp and decisive personality.
She was dressed in a formal businesswoman suit, giving her an appearance that was both professional and intimidating at the same time.
Another member of the group was a woman with long black hair that reached past her shoulders, paired with striking red eyes that immediately drew attention.
Her presence was calm but heavy, indicating considerable strength hidden beneath her composed exterior.
For some reason, Astreo himself found it slightly amusing that a significant number of the women under his command all shared the same red-eyed trait.
Whether it was pure coincidence or some strange alignment of fate, even he did not bother to question it too deeply.
The third individual present was a man with short black hair and equally dark black eyes, with a distinct scar running diagonally across one of his cheeks.
The scar gave him a rough and battle-hardened appearance, hinting at the countless confrontations he had survived in the past.
He sat quietly, his expression calm but sharp, as if he were constantly observing everything around him.
The fourth person was another woman, this one possessing long green hair and clear blue eyes.
Her appearance was striking, and she carried herself with a composed and confident posture.
Although she appeared calm on the surface, there was an unmistakable sense of danger about her, suggesting that her strength was not inferior to the others present.
The fifth member of the group was a young girl with long black hair and soft brown eyes. Despite her youthful appearance, she was far from weak.
Her presence alone was enough to prove that she belonged among the Monarchs under Astreo, and no one in the room dared to underestimate her based solely on her age and Magic Cultivation alone.
The sixth and final person present was another man with brown hair and matching brown eyes.
He had a solid build and a steady demeanor, giving off the impression of someone reliable and experienced.
These six individuals represented six of the seven Monarchs who served directly under Astreo.
Among them, the man with black hair and black eyes was known by the nickname "The Shadow."
He was one of only two people under Astreo's command who had already reached the Forbidden Tier, making him one of the most dangerous figures in the room.
"We are undoubtedly gathered here to discuss a very important matter," Lisa began, her tone firm and serious.
Her expression showed no hint of humor, and everyone else seated around the table wore equally grave expressions, clearly understanding the significance of the discussion.
"Our Lord has joined Tianlan High School," she continued without hesitation.
"Because of that, we need to carefully discuss how we should handle this situation moving forward."
Her gaze swept across the room as she spoke, making sure everyone was paying full attention.
"Should we simply buy the entire school?" asked the woman with black hair and red eyes.
Her name was Yumeko, a Japanese woman whose voice was calm but direct, as if she were proposing a completely reasonable solution.
"No, that would be far too obvious," replied the green-haired woman immediately.
She was known by the nickname Rumy, and she shook her head slightly as she spoke.
"If we did something like that, our Lord would realize what was going on almost instantly. It would defeat the purpose entirely."
"You do all realize that no matter what we do, Lord Astreo will notice it sooner or later, right?" said the man with brown hair and brown eyes.
His name was Yi Ze, and he let out a quiet sigh as he spoke, sounding mildly exasperated.
"Trying to act behind his back isn't exactly easy."
"Hm, I honestly don't think we need to do anything at all to help Lord Astreo," the final woman spoke up calmly.
She was none other than Ding Yumian, the Psychic Calamity herself, who was currently only an Intermediate Mage.
Despite her lower cultivation level, her words carried weight, and her expression remained composed as she finished speaking.
She was the newest addition among the Monarchs serving under Astreo, and it had not been very long since she officially joined their ranks.
Compared to the others, her position was still relatively recent, and her circumstances were far more complicated.
After the death of her grandmother, her powers spiraled completely out of control.
Without anyone capable of restraining or guiding her, her abilities went haywire, eventually resulting in a catastrophic incident where she killed almost an entire school.
When officials arrived at the scene and assessed the situation, they did not hesitate for even a moment.
Their decision was immediate—they chose to eliminate her on the spot rather than attempt containment or negotiation.
The reason behind their reaction was simple and deeply rooted.
China had long been infamous across the world due to the Ice Calamity Qin Yu'er.
The massive losses and devastation caused by that incident had left permanent scars, and the blame for the great depletion was still widely discussed even years later.
Because of that history, Calamity bearers were viewed as absolute threats rather than individuals.
As a result, China, already known globally for its extreme prejudice, alongside countries such as Japan, Korea, and America—where discrimination could arise from something as trivial as skin color—became even more ruthless when dealing with something tied to past suffering and destruction.
In such an environment, someone like her was never going to be shown mercy.
It was Astreo who intervened at the critical moment and saved her from certain death.
He took her in and brought her under his command, offering her protection that no one else would.
However, that protection came with severe limitations.
Effectively, she could no longer walk freely in the outside world.
If she were to expose herself, she would immediately be hunted down by the entire Chinese Government and likely pursued internationally as well, due to the world's strict and unforgiving policies against Calamity bearers.
At first, when she met Qin Yu'er, she was filled with anger and resentment toward her.
In her mind, Qin Yu'er was the very reason that, as a Calamity bearer, she had been subjected to discrimination at every level.
Because of that reputation, she had been feared, rejected, and even publicly disowned by her own parents, who wanted nothing to do with her once her powers were revealed.
To her, Qin Yu'er symbolized everything that had ruined her life.
However, as she spent more time with Qin Yu'er and interacted with her on a daily basis, she slowly began to realize that most of the things said about her were nothing but lies and exaggerated rumors.
Qin Yu'er was actually very gentle and kind in her everyday behavior.
The only truly unsettling thing about her was her unhinged level of devotion toward a man who was practically half her age, something that left her feeling conflicted and uncomfortable rather than fearful.
Later on, when she learned the full truth behind what had really happened during the Venice incident years ago, her perspective completely changed.
Only then did she finally understand how badly Qin Yu'er had been wronged by the world, just like herself.
That realization forced her to confront how misplaced her anger had been from the very beginning.
After coming to terms with that, she eventually met the other Monarchs under Astreo's command.
Aside from their extreme devotion and absolute loyalty toward Astreo—which honestly bordered on insanity and was somewhat unsettling—they were surprisingly kind and approachable individuals.
Among them, Shadow, who was the oldest of the group, naturally took on the role of a reliable big brother and guide.
He often offered advice and quietly watched over the others, especially the newer members.
Shadow was also married and had a wife and children who lived peacefully as ordinary humans.
They were completely unaware that they were constantly surrounded by High-Tier mages assigned to protect them, as well as numerous powerful artifacts that Astreo had already arranged for their safety.
Shadow himself was also the Forbidden Tier mage who acted as the public face of the Star Clan when dealing with government officials.
His presence alone was enough to deter those officials from taking any direct action against the clan.
There was also another man named Yi Ze among them.
Unlike most of the group, he already had a lover within the Star Clan itself, and she also happened to be his direct subordinate.
Their relationship was known internally, and no one particularly cared about it, as loyalty to Astreo always came first within the clan.
Aside from that, all the other women were single and showed no real interest in forming romantic relationships with anyone else.
According to their own words, they did not even bother with such matters because they considered themselves to be the "property of Lord Star Emperor."
Yes, they were clearly after his dick, and honestly, there was no real reason to question why they felt that way.
Before meeting Astreo, most of them had been nothing more than discarded pieces of society.
Their lives had been filled with injustice, suffering, and constant humiliation, always being trampled on by others stronger than them.
Then they met Astreo, a man who offered them a chance to survive and rise, even if the price was becoming his subordinate forever, bound to him in both loyalty and fate.
For them, that price was more than acceptable.
Even Ding Yumian had to admit this to herself.
Considering that Astreo was currently very young and close to her in age, saying that she felt no interest in him would be a blatant lie.
In fact, it would be a serious understatement.
After all, he was the sole reason she was still alive.
He provided for her, protected her, and ensured she was taken care of when the entire world wanted her dead.
Unlike everyone else, he never saw her as a monster.
Because of him, she now had companions who understood her situation as well, and that alone made her feelings toward him impossible to ignore.
She also often wondered what Astreo must have experienced in his past life for him to establish such extremely strict rules for anyone who wished to join his clan.
The requirements were harsh, the screening was ruthless, and absolute loyalty was non-negotiable.
It made her curious, but at the same time, she felt a strange sense of understanding toward his paranoia.
She was not the only one who thought this way.
Many of the others under his command had reached similar conclusions on their own.
They believed that their Lord must have suffered betrayal in the past, just like many of them had.
In their eyes, that was the only explanation for why he was so cautious, so distrustful, and so unwilling to leave anything to chance.
Because of this belief, they were determined to ensure that their Lord would not have to suffer even a little in this life.
It might sound ridiculous or even laughable from an outside perspective.
After all, these were people who could not harm Astreo even if all of them attacked him together at the same time.
In terms of raw power, he did not need their protection at all.
However, strength was not the only thing that mattered.
What they wanted was to ease his burdens in other ways and make his daily life more comfortable and stable.
That, in their minds, was the true purpose of servants and subordinates.
None of them knew the real reason behind Astreo's extreme paranoia.
They had no idea that it had nothing to do with betrayal or past trauma.
In reality, it was simply the result of him inhaling peak cinema on a daily basis in his previous life, shaping his mindset into one that trusted absolutely nothing without preparation.
Just as the discussion among them was starting to turn into an argument, they suddenly received a psychic message from Astreo himself, informing them that he was on his way.
The moment the message reached them, the atmosphere in the room changed completely.
Almost instantly, everyone fell silent.
Any lingering expressions of disagreement vanished as they straightened their backs and adjusted their posture, their attention fully focused.
No one dared to speak anymore as they waited patiently for their Lord to arrive.
Moments later, a spatial disturbance appeared in the center of the room.
A portal door slowly opened, its surface filled with violently swirling space energy.
The pressure caused by the spatial fluctuation alone was enough to make weaker mages feel uncomfortable.
The first person to step out of the portal was a woman with long white hair and piercing blue eyes.
The instant she entered the room, the mana in the surrounding area went completely berserk.
The Ice Element responded to her presence automatically, rapidly filling the entire room with chilling energy and frost-laced mana without her even needing to cast a spell.
She was none other than one of the only two Forbidden Curse Tier Mages under Astreo's command.
Her existence alone carried the combat prowess of a Low-Tier Emperor, making her one of the most terrifying beings present, even before Astreo himself arrived.
The only reason she had not fully acquired the strength of a Low-Mid Tier Emperor or reached an even higher level was because Astreo himself deliberately limited the resources available to her.
Aside from the initial joining bonus she received upon entering his command, she was required to work for every single resource that was provided afterward.
Nothing was given freely.
This included undertaking numerous missions that directly served Astreo's interests.
Those missions ranged from expanding the influence of his company and clan to eliminating rivals and opposition forces.
Her work was not limited to China alone; she was frequently sent across the world to deal with threats, suppress enemies, and ensure that Astreo's growing power structure remained uncontested.
Through these actions, she steadily earned the right to receive further resources.
After a long period of continuous service and proven loyalty, Astreo finally provided her with enough support to raise her Super Tier Ice spells to Tier 6.
This advancement alone pushed her combat prowess to the absolute pinnacle of what could be considered within the Low-Tier Emperor realm, placing her above most beings at that level.
It was important to remember that the majority of Emperors feared even by Forbidden Curse Tier Mages were not true high-ranking existences.
Outside of powerful magic arrays that allowed mages to cast spells at extreme speed, most of these Emperors were merely Lesser Emperors—a full tier below Low-Tier Emperors.
In direct combat without preparation, the gap between these levels was far more significant than most people realized.
Low-Tier Emperors already stood at the 10% of top Emperors present within the Main Plane.
Reaching that level meant standing above almost all beings, whether human or monster.
A Mid-Level Emperor, on the other hand, was already ranked among the absolute strongest existences in the entire Main Plane, second only to the three top beings who ruled at the very apex.
Fortunately, those three supreme existences would not bother with lesser matters unless someone truly crossed an unforgivable line.
Because of this structure, merely possessing the strength of a Low-Level Emperor was enough for someone to be counted among humanity's strongest forces or strongest among monsters who always had a powerful physique.
From that perspective, her status was unquestionable.
Among humans, reaching such a realm placed her in an extremely small and elite group.
However, even within humanity, there was still a clear hierarchy.
Without a doubt, the strongest human was Astreo himself, followed closely by the Archangels of the Holy City.
Each of those Archangels possessed at least the combat strength of a Lesser Emperor, making them terrifying figures in their own right.
After Qin Yu'er emerged from the portal, another woman stopped just outside it.
She was a familiar presence, someone they had always seen standing beside Astreo whenever he appeared.
However, aside from Qin Yu'er herself, no one present knew the truth about this woman's identity.
In reality, she was Astreo's contracted summon, bound to him by a powerful and exclusive contract.
Not only that, her true strength was far beyond what anyone suspected.
She was a Mid-Level Emperor who could freely travel between two different worlds.
This was only possible because Astreo had forcibly connected the Dimensional Plane and the Main Plane, allowing travel between them by using the Astral Plane and the System's Dimensional Plane as a stable path.
This hidden connection was something known only to a select few, making her presence even more dangerous than it appeared on the surface.
After Xyra entered the room, she moved without hesitation and took her position beside the seat meant for Astreo, standing alongside Qin Yu'er.
Her posture was calm and composed, clearly showing her role and status without needing to say a single word.
The atmosphere in the room had already grown tense, but everyone knew the main presence had yet to arrive.
Finally, Astreo entered the room, clad in his Chaos Armour.
Purple flames flickered continuously around the dark surface of the suit, reacting to his presence as if they were alive.
The moment he stepped inside, an overwhelming aura of power spread through the entire room.
With every step he took forward, he seemed to deliberately "farm" aura, his presence pressing down heavily on everyone present and forcing them to remain completely silent.
He walked up to the desk at the front and stopped.
At that moment, a throne manifested behind him—a grotesque seat formed from the remains of a High Emperor's corpse.
Without hesitation or ceremony, Astreo sat down on it, casually crossing one leg over the other as if this display of dominance was entirely natural to him.
Meanwhile, everyone else in the room remained perfectly still.
No one dared to speak or even shift their posture under the sheer pressure of the aura he was both emitting and actively amplifying.
Although Astreo would never openly admit it, he genuinely enjoyed farming aura.
He always preferred making grand entrances like this, deliberately exerting his authority over the Monarchs.
The reason was simple.
He had noticed that many of them tended to become far too comfortable around his human appearance and demeanor.
Because of that, he wanted their minds to instinctively recognize the difference between when he was relaxed and when he was serious.
More importantly, he wanted to remind them, without words, that no matter the situation, he was their Lord.
In the end, Astreo wanted absolutely no issues within his chain of command when he was being serious.
That was precisely why he made sure everyone clearly understood one thing—he was a being they could not disobey under any circumstances.
He enforced this understanding so thoroughly that the very thought of betrayal would never even cross their minds, let alone be acted upon.
After letting the silence linger for a moment, Astreo finally spoke.
"I heard that you were trying to discuss matters related to Tianlan High School."
The instant his words reached their ears, the room fell into complete and absolute silence.
No one dared to respond immediately.
"Y-Yes, my Lord. We believe that such a school is beneath your notice," Yumeko said at last.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, her tone remained straightforward and no-nonsense, though there was clear tension behind her words.
"I also do not fully understand why my Lord would personally need to visit a high school," Shadow added politely, choosing his words carefully.
The moment he finished speaking, Astreo went silent again and stared directly at them. H
is silence alone was enough to make sweat form on their backs as pressure filled the room once more.
'Damn it, what else am I supposed to do?' Astreo complained inwardly.
'Work twenty-four hours a day without rest?' His irritation grew as the thought crossed his mind.
'What is even the point of having all these abilities if I cannot farm aura and actually enjoy my life?'
He had grown strong for the sake of freedom, not to be chained endlessly by paperwork, meetings, and responsibilities.
He was not some thousand-year-old cultivator with a Dao heart as stable as Mount Tai, completely detached from worldly pleasures and personal enjoyment.
Not to mention, he was currently living in the world of a Chinese novel, and on top of that, he was in China itself.
In a place like this, not performing at least one proper face-slap in his lifetime was practically a crime.
It went against the unwritten laws of the genre.
"Every action I take has its own meaning," Astreo said calmly.
"You do not need to concern yourselves with it." His voice remained steady, but the flames flickering around his silhouette slowly shifted in color, turning a deep red.
Rumy nearly suffered a nosebleed just from the sheer amount of aura Astreo was farming at that moment.
The pressure, presence, and confidence combined were almost too much for her to handle.
Meanwhile, Yi Ze couldn't help but internally marvel at how unbelievably cool his boss looked right now.
As for Yumeko, she was barely managing to hide the lust written all over her face.
If aura alone were capable of getting someone pregnant, Yumeko would have already been creampied and impregnated on the spot without a single physical touch.
None of them realized the true meaning behind the red flames.
They didn't know that the color change could indicate anger, excitement, or embarrassment.
In this particular moment, it was clearly the latter.
Astreo could almost feel like he was gaslighting them unintentionally, and that realization made the situation even more awkward for him.
Ahem.
After that, Astreo asked them to report on the current matters concerning his clan.
Once he finished speaking, they began responding one by one, each giving their own update based on their responsibilities.
"For now, our control and influence over China continues to increase steadily," Lisa reported in a composed and professional manner.
"At the same time, we have begun establishing influence in India, Bangladesh, and several other nearby nations. In addition to that, we have successfully opened multiple strongholds in Europe and the United States of America. Those operations are currently stable and expanding as planned."
"However," Rumy added next, her tone noticeably darker, "it must be acknowledged that the defamation campaigns against our group have also intensified, especially within China. There are increasing numbers of people openly spreading slander, and many of them are using racist slurs against individuals who choose to join our clan and company. This hostility is becoming more visible and organized."
Ding Yumian could not help but feel hurt as she listened to this report.
In the past, while she was still under China's brainwashing-style education and research programs, she had never truly felt that there was anything fundamentally wrong with how foreigners were treated.
Back then, she only believed that China was especially hostile toward Japanese people, and she never questioned it deeply.
But now, after seeing the truth behind the actions of higher officials and meeting someone as genuinely understanding as Yumeko, her perspective had completely changed.
She had finally come to realize just how biased and discriminatory her own people could be, and that realization left a bitter feeling in her heart.
"Proceed according to our previous policy," Astreo said calmly.
"Ignore verbal insults and baseless slander, but retaliate without hesitation against anyone who attempts to attack us directly. At the same time, gather solid evidence and use our news channels to broadcast unfavorable information about the opposing clans."
His voice remained steady as he issued the order.
Then he added, "Racism, bias, and sexism are all ugly parts of humanity. We are not naive enough to believe that we can change how such people think or perceive the world."
"People like that always drown in their own filth eventually," Astreo continued bluntly.
"We do not need to waste our time or energy worrying about such mongrels."
Upon hearing his words, everyone in the room nodded in agreement, fully accepting his stance without objection.
After that, the meeting continued with further discussions and planning.
Decisions were made, strategies were refined, and responsibilities were assigned. Unbeknownst to most of the world, the foundations of a future world power were being laid brick by brick within that very meeting.
To be continued...
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