With the increase in gates, Japan has implemented the guild system, where groups of players will be backed by an organisation and prioritize in defeating gates.

A total of 5 guilds were official created, Ashura, Sakura Guards, Hunting Dogs, Naga, and Kami Temple. Each have their distinctive Guild logos as well as Guild leaders. Kazuto Kirigami was the leader of Sakura Guards, with his guild being the biggest out of the 5. But two weeks after the start of Sovereign’s Battleground, all five leaders have been called into a meeting.

The atmosphere in the room was almost suffocating, with all five leaders glaring at one another like predators in the same forest. “I’ve heard Hunting Dogs lost a high levelled combatant, what a shame…” The young blonde man of Naga laughed coldly. The Hunting Dog’s guild leader gritted his teeth, forcing out his words, “We still have more combatants than you snakes!” The blonde man’s smile vanished, and his eyes narrowed to slits. “Not for long…”

Bang!

Kazuto Kirigami slammed his fist on the table, cracking the sturdy word with a single fist. “That’s enough!” He glared at both the blonde man and Hunting Dog’s guild leader, forcing both of them to back off.

Voummm

The door opened and the President of Japan stepped into the room. All five guild leaders stood in respect and sat when told. The president sat and spoke in a grave tone, ‘I’ve gathered you all today to discuss the problem of the high levelled gates.”

“First of all, our country is one of the first in developing the Gate Radar. We now have an in-depth knowledge of all gates around Japan!”

The five guild leaders widened their eyes before clapping enthusiastically, Kazuto even showed a content smile. The president smiled in return but his all pride vanished at his next words. “We have a total of 7 B rank Gates in Japan.”

Kazuto gulped, and the others all showed ugly expressions. The president continued, putting a screen up on the wall, showing countless of red, yellow, orange dots all over the map.

The president’s assistant then pointed at seven green spots on the map, pointing one at Sapporo, then another at Tokyo, then one right at the Imperial palace, one in Osaka, 3 in Nagoya and the last one on Mount Fuji. When the name Mount Fuji was heard, both Naga guild leader and Kazuto widened their eyes.

The president seemed to notice their reactions and held his hand for the assistant to pause. “Mr Kazuto, is there something wrong?” Kazuto was silent for a while before asking a strange question. “Is the B rank gate on Mount Fuji still there?”

The president then waved to his assistant and they brough the screen up once again, this time there was only 6 B rank gates. The president turned to Kazuto with a look that craves for answers. “Recently, I have been trying to recruit a player into Sakura Guards, he was one of the highest levelled players at just the start of the game. A week ago he dealt the most damage to the Giant croc in the districts of Tokyo. Recently, he went to Mount Fuji and was not heard from again for a while…”

The president widened his eyes at those achievements, “Well, he sounds like a very capable person. What’s his name?”

Kazuto glanced at the President before speaking, “His name is –”

“Blood Mask”

Everyone turned to the source of the voice, a man standing in the corner of the room, slowly stepped out of the dark. The man wasn’t tall, about 1.7 meters tall, but his face was covered by a black, red demon mask.

“My name is Blood Mask.” Han Ling repeated his statement again. A full bout of silence stretched across the room as everyone stared wide eye at the youth that appeared out of nowhere. “H-How did you get in here?”

Han Ling shrugged before turning to the president, purple eyes staring through the demon mask.

The president was the first to calm down, “So, Blood Mask? Why are you in this room?”

Han Ling raised two fingers, “I want two things. One is to attack B rank Dungeons, two is to have priority on any items.”

Kazuto sighed as if he expected this, the Naga Guild Leader let out a hearty laugh while the others had dark expressions. “Don’t be too inconsiderate kid!” “Inconsiderate? Are you saying you can clear B rank gates on your own?”

The Hunting Dogs guild leader sneered, “Of course we can, we have numbers and quality.” Han Ling smiled and asked, “What’s the highest levelled player you have sir?” the guild leader smirked at the question, “We have two level 17 experts. And a group of level 15s.”

Han Ling stared at the man before asking with an incredulous tone, “That’s it?” the guild leader’s face immediately darkened, “What do you mean that’s it?” Han Ling let out a hearty laugh, “I’m afraid your team is way to incompetent for a B rank gate, they might survive in a C rank, but its no question they’ll be dead against an B rank.”

The guild leader flushed, anger reddening his face. Just as he was about to retort, the president asked a question. “Are you confident in clearing a rank B gate?” Han Ling laughed inwardly if they found out I have 20 years of experience… “Yes sir, I am confident.”

The president silently stared at that red, black mask before nodding solemnly, “Very well, you shall lead a team to clear the B rank gates, as the most experienced player. This meeting is adjourned.”

The president stood and made his way to Han Ling, but the latter just bowed slightly before vanishing in purple light. Flustered with the situation, the President sighed and left. Out of the five guild leaders, only Kazuto and Naga guild leader were slightly unaffected by the new leader of the party. Both tried to recruit the young man, they would have collected detailed data on the teen, his strengths and his weaknesses. But the other three felt their prize was snatched away. Hunting Dog’s guild leader Hidosha was fuming, eyes filled with hate. He pulled up a phone and dialled a number, he placed the phone at his ear and spoke. “Hey, its me. I need you to call the team.”

“I will crush all those who dare mock me!”