“This is a national broadcast. Demonic Beast have broken through and are now attack the following states… All EXO users are hereby required to help eliminate the threat!”

An unexpected broadcast emerged following the end of the Twelve God Tournament. The sudden notification caused countless hearts to skip a beat.

Klyde furrowed his eyebrows.

‘What caused them to move? The barrier shouldn’t have lost its strength considering that ‘he’ is still alive. So how in the world did they escape?’ Klyde kept his emotions hidden well, but he couldn’t stop the numerous thoughts.

He knew what this meant. The last remaining member of the old age was either in a weakened state or he died and someone was covering up his death. That or no one knew he was dead yet.

The borders were being guarded by the military and his family, so there was no need to worry about demon beast getting through.

Klyde had hoped before a situation like this occured The Association would have already been up and running. At least at that point there would be greater security and the chaos those beast could cause would be minimal.

It frustrated him, everything was proceeding as he envisioned. Step by step, his plan was going flawlessly. Now that there was a bump in the road it needed to be dealt with, and quickly. Except this was not something that could just be flattened out, not even by Klyde. It was much bigger than him and had a power just as great as his own.

This minor upset would cause everything to change.

Klyde couldn’t help but click his tongue.

‘Getting everything in order is my first priority, I can worry about the internal damage later.’

At moments like this he wished he came with his wife. She’d be able to attend to the most important affairs while he dealt with the military. She was an important pillar and the way she handled things was exactly like he would.

He quickly got up from his seat and signaled the other core families to follow him.

There was no reason for him to talk to those here at the tournament, that would be taken care of by the staff. What he needed to focus on was the threat outside.

He moved to the conference room where two people were already waiting.

“I take it you decided to take my offer?”

Klyde asked the woman wearing a white blouse.

“Sadly. I saw no other way forward, I sincerely hope I do not regret my decision today.”

Dir. Campbell answered him in a cold tone. She was not happy with her choice but it was the only one she could make. Klyde could fil her ear with false promises, but it was up to her if she chose to believe in him. That may seem simple, but due to his track record it was not.

“You’ve chose wisely. I feared you'd keep me waiting. That… wouldn’t be good for either of us.”

Klyde stopped himself from continuing on as the other core members from the other families poured in. Klyde hinted for Dir. Campbell to stay silent.

As for the other person that was here waiting, Klyde ignored him.

All of the core members took a seat at the table, behind them stood their successors.

Klyde opened his mouth to speak, but he stopped himself as one of the other families raised their hand.

Seeing that Klyde did not say anything the man put his hand down.

“I understand that you’re from the Guardian Family, but what makes you the right person to take lead here? You have no forces in this state, no power and very little authority. In New York you’re invincible but here, not so much. You hold the border and we, the ten families shall deal with any threat that steps foot here.”

‘Figures something like this would occur.’

It was within his calculations that one of the ten families would emerge and say they or someone else should take charge. It was true, he was weakened here but that did not mean he was powerless.

“Indeed, I say you let me take lead here. My family is based in Ohio therefore I have the greatest strength.”

“You and your family? No, that would be pointless. Your family holds an edge over everyone else in technology, but not military strength. I can have thousands of soldiers here within the hour, it is best for me to take the head role here. Not to mention I have experience leading.”

Somehow before Klyde even began everyone was already talking about why they should be the one to take charge. No one assumed he would argue with them considering they all knew where his forces were.

At the end of the day, the person that solved this situation would gain something the others wouldn’t. Respect.

It was something hard earned but came with many perks.

Klyde had to cut their heads off. If he let them challenge him now, then they’d be bound to do it again in the future.

“That’s enough! You’ve already wasted five minutes of my time on this pointless chatter. None of you deserve to be in a position of power. Seriously, at a time like this.”

Klyde raised his voice causing the commotion to calm down. He did not know it but his small action caused him to earn a little respect from Dir. Campbell.

“This is a national matter, not a state matter. None of you have the authority I do, nor the ability to command a large enough force to get everything under control. Our greatest resource has been lost and at this point it’s safe to assume we’ve lost thousands of lives. You may not like the way I do things, but I can care less.”

Klyde looked at the man who spoke up earlier.

“From now on your forces are under my command. Assemble them in groups of a hundred, and go to each city. You’re primary goal is to kill any demonic beast in sight. We need to cut off them off before they go any deeper into the state.

You, create a medical unit and be on standby. Save only those with injuries that are treatable, anyone else isn’t worth saving.”

Klyde looked at Dir. Campbell and grinned slightly.

“You will take charge here. This place holds our future, but most of them are fledglings. This is the first real danger they’ll face therefore they need to be prepared.”

“Wait! You plan on using those students? You’re fuckings nuts!”

“If we are to gain an edge over our opponents then we must use them. They lack experience, but this will make up for it. Get them ready and have them form small groups. Each group will have to help, just make sure that the task given to them are simple.

As for the rest of you, sadly our deadline has been cut so you better work fast, quick and in a hurry. The Association must be up and running by the end of this month.”

Klyde started issuing orders to each member. He had hoped that The Association would be open in the coming year. If it wasn’t for this situation things would have stayed on track.

His timeline had been accelerated.

“We can’t just go and open our doors. There is only a week left in this month, how do you expect us to resolve all our plans in such a short amount of time? This project is delicate if we rush this, the entire foundation will be unstable. Do you really want that?”

This time a woman yelled out. The resources she put into The Association was just as large as the others, but she put in more time. Day in and day out, she worked on all the plans for it. They had no employees to boot!

Sure, they could open their doors to the public, but the very core of The Association wouldn’t be finished.

“Surely you do understand that i’m not making this call because I want to. It’s needed. None of you can deny that The Association is the greatest organization we’ve created in the last hundred years. We’ve put in the work, we’ve made adjustments. Even without the final parts being adjusted it’ll be fine.

Turn everyday citizens into a fighting force. That’s what we wanted, and that’s what we need now. The EXO users that grew up are now working jobs in a safe environment, forgetting the very essence of what they’ve trained for.”

All those in the room were silent. They weren’t stupid as each of them knew what those people were doing now. More than likely with the rest of the citizens running around as if they were powerless.

Unless one joined the armed forces, they basically lived a peaceful life. It was safe to say that the times they needed to use their powers could be counted on one hand. Even in specialized fields that demanded they were and EXO user.

The time for demonic beast to emerge seemed like it was far away, but it wasn’t. They were hoping to introduce a project that would bring those with EXO abilities back into the light. Give them a reason to use their powers while also earning money. Which they did, but it just was not ready yet.

The conversation between them continued on for ten more minutes before everyone was satisfied. Or at least a majority of them were.

With everyone having a role to play they had no more time to waste.

As everyone left the room, Klyde stayed behind. Along with one other person, the same one that he ignored before. That man never spoke up once during the meeting, it was as if he was never there.

All those that were in the room knew who he was. He was a Sergeant Major in the military with a special unit under his command. Most assumed he came here to hear what Klyde had to say.

That was and wast not true.

He had another identity that only a select few knew about.

“From the way you were speaking it was almost as if you cared about them.”

Klyde snorted.

“What do you know? Appearances must be kept, even your own.”

“Naturally, but I do not move for their sake. Also, why didn’t you tell me that a member of the Guardian Family would be attending that training?”

“For starters, he is not a member. I assumed he would not be much of a problem for a simple retrieval. Seems I was wrong.”

“It matters not as we’ve managed to make a breakthrough without her.”

“Enough about that, you aren’t here just to spout a few words.”

The man couldn’t help but smile.

Naturally there was a reason he was here. If not he’d be at his base.

“We’ve found her. She’s in France at the moment, preaching tales of an ancient god. Bunch of nonsense.”

The man paused as he looked at Klyde.

“You should have told us how powerful she was. We’ve lost eight key members in France.”

“I’d be disappointed if you hadn’t lost any. She is my mother.”