Chapter 103: Found Signs
Everyone waited for the leader's decision. Gregor looked at them and said:
"But it's not that simple. The fact that Raon brought the core of the supreme artifact is something no one on Earth would've believed possible. His father doesn't have that kind of power."
Leander nodded. "Yeah, there's something hidden in this mission—something big enough for the Red River Pact Clan to burn such a valuable resource."
"Could the Empire have hidden information about the mission?" Darian asked, narrowing his eyes.
"No," Leander replied without hesitation. "My mom and my brother read the full mission on the missionary altar. This is clearly something not written directly. Probably info only high-ranking people with secret knowledge would know."
Gregor let out a huff. "My clan knew ahead of time that the Red River Pact Clan was taking this mission super seriously. But we didn't expect it to be like this. We just knew Raon might try something weird... that's why I brought this."
He then showed a small, grayish cylindrical artifact. Leander recognized it—his mother had helped Gregor get that before the mission.
"This is a copying artifact. Super hard to find. Basically, it can copy data and info from specific artifacts," Gregor explained, staring at Darian seriously. "The plan was always to keep Raon under surveillance. If he did anything sketchy, we'd copy all the footage from our group crystal. That way, even if his clan tried to cover things up, we could release the footage and force the Empire to respond. We just didn't think Raon would have the power to kill us—and then complete the mission."
The Empire couldn't really ban that kind of action. After all, if nothing shady happened, there'd be no reason to hide anything. Plus, since the artifact was so rare, its use would be limited, stopping things from getting messy.
Darian's eyes lit up hearing that, but he quickly took a breath. Not knowing what was coming made everything more intense. If Raon brought something that powerful... it meant a serious threat—and maybe a huge opportunity.
Darian thought hard. All the white and black power he had came from the underworld people who attacked his brothers. He didn't have much white power left—and worse, he'd used over 90% of his remaining black power against Raon.