Chapter 217: The First Step
Morning at the Abyssal Watchers headquarters didn’t feel like the mornings that usually opened a mission.
Nobody arrived in damaged armor. No emergency alarms. No monsters. Just reports, tablets, guild records, district maps, everyone filing into the conference room like it was any ordinary workday.
Kai looked around the table. "...Feels strange."
Sera raised an eyebrow. "What does?"
He shrugged. "No one’s bleeding."
Lily laughed. "Give Raze five minutes."
"I’m behaving."
"For now."
The room chuckled, easy and loose, the kind of mood that didn’t usually survive past the first ten minutes of a meeting like this.
Then a blue System window bloomed above the center of the table.
[Guild Cooperation Initiative: Selected.]
[Initial City Project: Activated.]
[Objective Updated.]
Unite the Guilds of Mythal
The laughter died out at once.
Kai read it twice before speaking. "...Looks like our next dungeon isn’t underground."
"It’s politics."
Sera groaned, dropping her head back. "I’d rather fight another Lich."
Raze nodded immediately. "Same."
Even Elden let out a breath. "...Unfortunately, politics usually lasts longer."
...
Mira activated the central display, and a three-dimensional map of Mythal rose above the table, glowing faintly. Districts. Roads. Guild headquarters scattered across the grid. Supply routes threading between them. More than eighty guild emblems lit up across the map, some sprawling, some barely larger than a handful of pins.
"Every guild protects its own territory," Mira said, highlighting each district in turn. "Normally, that’s enough."
The display shifted. Footage from previous Gate Upgrades played across the map. Road collapses. Evacuations. Monster swarms breaking through half-manned checkpoints. One district had waited nearly twenty minutes for reinforcements because a neighboring guild refused to cross into unassigned territory without permission. Another guild had refused entirely, citing that the attack technically fell outside their jurisdiction.
Silence settled over the table.
Lily crossed her arms. "We survived."
"Barely," Mira said. She pulled up the casualty numbers, letting them sit there a moment. "If three guilds had cooperated, these deaths probably wouldn’t have happened."
Nobody argued.
Kai studied the map for a long moment. "The city’s stronger now."
"...But we’re still acting like eighty different cities."
...
"So," Kai said, leaning forward. "How do we fix it?"
Raze answered first, no hesitation. "We stop asking."
Everyone looked at him.
"They’re hunters," he said. "They know cooperation saves lives. If they’re still refusing, make the decision for them." He crossed his arms. "If they don’t like it, they’ll adapt."
Elden nodded slowly. "I don’t entirely disagree."
The table turned toward him.
"The longer we delay," he said, calm as ever, "the more time they’ll have to organize against us. If unity is inevitable, we shouldn’t drag the process out."
Mira shook her head. "I disagree."
She zoomed the map in tighter. "If we force cooperation, they’ll obey. But only because they have to." She looked around the table. "The first time we’re occupied somewhere else, they’ll return to doing things their own way." She paused. "I want allies. Not prisoners."
The room went quiet, thinking that over.
Lily spoke next. "I understand. But convincing everyone—" she gestured at the eighty emblems scattered across the map, "—is expensive. We’ll have to hold meetings. Offer shared resources. Negotiate. Probably compromise." She sighed. "And after all that, they still might betray us."
Every argument on the table made sense. That was the problem.
Kai didn’t answer right away. He tapped the tabletop once. Twice. A third time, slow and deliberate, and the room quieted around him, watching him think.
...
He stood.
"...You’re all right."
The room went still.
He enlarged the city map again, then pulled up a second display beside it, every recorded Gate Upgrade, every emergency broadcast, every evacuation order stacked on top of each other until the room was filled with flashing red zones.
"We start with Mira’s method," he said. "We talk. We explain. We show them what cooperation can accomplish."
Everyone nodded.
Then he changed the display. Destroyed neighborhoods. Collapsed buildings. Hunter casualty reports scrolling past in clean, clinical text. His voice firmed up.
"But we don’t pretend the world’s safe."
Another System window opened beside the map.
System Evolution Continues
Future Gate Upgrades Expected
Kai pointed at it. "The System hasn’t stopped changing. Another Gate Upgrade is coming. Maybe next month. Maybe next year." He let that sit. "But it’s coming."
Silence held the room a moment longer.
"So we remind them," Kai said. "If another disaster happens, the Abyssal Watchers will focus on districts willing to cooperate." He raised a hand before anyone could react to that. "We won’t abandon civilians. Never. But we also won’t let one stubborn guild put every hunter in danger because they refused to work together."
He looked around the table.
"If they reject cooperation, they’re choosing to face the next disaster with only their own resources. That decision belongs to them."
No threats in his voice. No shouting.
Just consequences, laid out plainly on the table between them.
...
Sera was the first to smile. "...I get it."
Kai glanced over.
"We’re not threatening them," she said. "We’re reminding them." She pointed at the casualty reports still glowing above the table. "They already know another Gate Upgrade is coming. They’ve all seen what happened."
Kai nodded. "They’ll understand."
Mira’s expression eased into something close to a smile too. "And if we approach them respectfully first, they’ll never feel cornered."
Lily picked up the thread. "They’ll feel like they made the decision."
"Not that we made it for them," Kai finished.
Raze scratched the back of his head. "...I still would’ve threatened them."
The table laughed, even Elden allowing himself a quiet chuckle. "I expected nothing less."
The tension that had been sitting over the room since the System window appeared finally broke.
...
Lily changed the display once more, pulling up the citywide Guild Rankings, Top Ten glowing at the top of the list.
Kai studied the names. "So who first?"
"We don’t need eighty guilds," Lily said. "We need ten."
A few confused looks passed around the table.
"The strongest guilds influence everyone else," she explained. "If they support us, the smaller guilds will follow naturally."
Sera nodded. "People trust successful leaders."
Kai kept his eyes on the rankings. "The first guild decides the tone."
Mira scrolled down to the eighth spot.
Ocean Peaks
Known for discipline. Professional leadership. A strong reputation without ever tipping openly hostile or openly friendly toward the Abyssal Watchers either way.
Kai nodded slowly. "A good place to start."
...
Mira and Raze left headquarters together that afternoon, the Ocean Peaks compound waiting on the other side of the city, an entire block of modern glass architecture fused with enchanted stone. Blue banners rippled from the upper floors, catching the wind. Hunters moved in and out through revolving doors, and past the building, training fields stretched out under the afternoon sun.
Everything about the place said the same thing.
Professional.
Mira took a slow breath outside the entrance. "This conversation could decide everything."
Raze rolled his shoulders. "...Or we punch somebody."
She didn’t even look at him. "We are not punching anyone."
"...Unless they punch us first."
She gave him a long, flat look.
"...Still no."
He raised both hands, surrendering. "Fine."
They stepped inside.
The lobby was spotless, polished stone underfoot, glass walls letting the afternoon light spill across the reception desk. Several hunters glanced over, recognition flickering across their faces almost immediately.
Whispers followed a second later.
"That’s Mira."
"And Raze."
"Why are the Abyssal Watchers here?"
The receptionist straightened as they approached. "...Welcome. How may I help you?"
Mira smiled, polite and even. "We’d like to speak with Guild Master Rowan."
The receptionist hesitated. "...Regarding?"
Mira and Raze traded a brief glance.
"We’re here to discuss the future of Mythal," Mira said.
The receptionist studied them both for a long moment before reaching quietly for the phone. The call lasted less than ten seconds.
She looked back up. "The Guild Master will see you."
Mira nodded. "Thank you."
As they crossed the lobby toward the elevator, every hunter in the room had already stopped what they were doing to watch them go, phones quietly coming out of pockets, a few messages already being typed before the elevator doors had even closed.