The black sun hangs high

Chapter 218 "Leader"

The process of gaining control of the Tricolor Brotherhood was outrageously simple.

Faced with this rabble, Hugh didn't even need to give a speech or make any promises. He only needed to rely on Bourwa's introduction and assurances, as well as the terrifying demonstration he staged after entering the venue, to successfully subdue these thugs carrying various weapons.

In fact, after these Brotherhood members discovered that Hugh and Borg were actually two Stream-level or higher mages, they completely abandoned the idea of ​​opposing the two.

Regardless of Hugh Ernst's past identity, he is now a terrifying and ruthless spellcaster.

Moreover, the magic he used perfectly matched the most evil and terrifying fantasies ordinary people had about magic.

In fact, Hugh even considered summoning a swarm of rats to strengthen his control over the members of the Brotherhood of Three Colors, but considering that the legend of rats eating people had appeared in Seren before, Hugh ultimately chose to restrain himself to avoid unnecessary speculation among Bourwa and other members of the society.

When Bourwa solemnly prepared a clean, tidy, and solemn meeting room and invited Hugh and a group of Black Sun Society members into it, Hugh almost laughed.

The scene before me was utterly absurd.

Even if Herbert, Kizlov, and others racked their brains, they would never have imagined that an enemy who had openly opposed the Black Sun Society and even personally killed several important members would become the temporary leader of the society in the city of Seren through a series of maneuvers.

Yes, this is the name that the Society members, including Bourwa, temporarily gave to Hughes after careful consideration.

They believed it was no longer appropriate to refer to him by his original name. In the eyes of these devout believers, such a name was tantamount to trampling on the authority and miracles of the ancient gods. When they heard from Bourwa about the purpose of Hugh's visit, they showed extraordinary enthusiasm.

In their eyes, this young man, who had transcended mortals and possessed genuine divine gifts, was the only leader who could lead them toward reality and the faith they had longed for.

Although the fanatical behavior of these society members made Hugh extremely uncomfortable, he accepted their "support" and "following" for the sake of his next goal.

From these people, Hugh finally obtained the "medicine" that the Iris Guard had taken.

However, calling this thing a "drug" is a bit of a stretch.

Because it looks like a "black lump of mud" about the size of three fingers, under the light, it has a texture very similar to the offspring of the Dark Abyss. However, it is not a living part taken from the offspring of the Dark Abyss, because Hugh has no way of sensing the breath of life from inside these "medicines".

After Hugh attempted to remove the magical membrane enveloping the medicine, he clearly sensed a power fluctuation closely related to the Dark Abyss Palace.

However, the Mirror Messenger and the court hounds, who were members of the Dark Abyss court, were not very interested in this. They only paid attention to it for two seconds before withdrawing their gaze. Clearly, in their eyes, this thing was not as valuable as a Dark Abyss offspring that could be directly drained of power.

The members of the society watched Hugh's actions with trepidation, before Burva asked, "Leader, is there... a problem with it?"

"To be precise, there is a big problem."

Hugh casually tossed the black sphere back onto the table. Leaning back in his chair, he addressed the Society members before him: "The Society's main purpose in creating these was to prevent major oversights in the previous sacrificial rituals. If such a situation were to occur, they would serve as an important remedial measure..."

Relying on his memories and some half-true information, Hugh once again "fooled" these guys who seemed to trust him completely: "Unfortunately, based solely on prophecies and previous research, the Society's understanding of the Children of the Abyss is still far too limited."

He pointed to the black sphere spinning on the table and glanced at everyone present: "Taking it will allow you to become incomplete Abyss Children while retaining your original memories and wisdom, but that does not mean you can become the sole will that controls that vast group... The Society has underestimated the Abyss Children in the past, which is a dereliction of duty on the part of the Dark Abyss History Society."

Hughes spoke very harshly, even showing little respect to the Black Sun Society and the Dark Abyss Historians, but the more he did so, the more convinced Bohrwa and the others became.

In their eyes, even if Hugh Ernst had not yet become the complete Abyss Child as prophesied, he was not far off. At least he had returned here and had been "recognized" by the Society. For them, who were currently unable to communicate with the outside world, Hugh's words and judgments were a manifestation of confidence and authority.

"So... what should we do?"

Hughes frowned and said, “Give them to me, and maybe I can find some ways to improve them… Of course, I don’t want to use them. As I said before, I don’t want any extra sacrifices. In my opinion, that’s unnecessary and meaningless.”

Hughes underestimated the impact of these words on the Black Sun Society members.

In fact, no matter how much they despise the civilizations, kingdoms, and beings that rule Vaan, and no matter how much they consider themselves believers of the ancient gods, they are still human beings, and therefore possess the emotions, desires, and fears that humans have.

Hugh's words precisely hit these weaknesses.

With high expectations and great trust in Hugh, these words, which contained some minor flaws, became a magic potion that gave them motivation and inspiration. The Mirror Messenger mist that flashed through Hugh's body and eyes at the right time made them believe that the young leader in front of them was not only the messenger of the Society, but also a spokesperson sent by the Dark Abyss Court to the present Vaan.

Even a shrewd old fox like Bourwa firmly believed in this matter.

After all, Hugh's performance was extremely perfect and natural from beginning to end. Even if there were some omissions in his words, the magical aura and power that belonged to the Dark Abyss Court could not be faked at all. Bohrwa did not believe that anyone other than the Black Sun Society could understand and control this power.

Therefore, everything fell into place naturally.

After obtaining Hugh's permission, Borg immediately demonstrated his ruthless methods. In just a few hours, this ruthless sorcerer, who had already established considerable prestige within the Tricolor Brotherhood, easily "dealt with" the Brotherhood's leader and, in front of the other Brotherhood members, directly "purged" those who remained loyal to the former leader. Hugh did not appear during these actions.

But from the faint smell of blood wafting down the building's corridors, Hugh knew the scene wouldn't be pleasant. Hugh's attitude towards the Brotherhood of the Three Colors and its members was very clear.

If in the past, within the extremely complex organization of Seren, there were still some passionate young men like Putrin, as well as thieves and rogues who adhered to the code of chivalry and strictly adhered to their principles, then the current Brotherhood of Three Colors...

It is neither "three-color" nor has many "brothers"; it is simply a gathering.

A bandit group whose primary goal is survival, whose means is to plunder other survivors, and whose hidden objective is to destroy the last remaining order in the city of Seren.

Hughes felt no pity for this group. He had no interest in understanding each person's past and thoughts, nor did he want to waste too much time and energy on it. In his eyes, the large number of armed bandits and the Black Sun Society members who led them were all unstable factors that needed to be dealt with sooner or later.

Hugh sat alone in the room where he had been sitting. A mage's hand, shimmering with dark mist, held up one of the black, round "pills" for him. The dense mist of the Mirror Messenger gradually flowed from between the fingers of the mage's hand and transformed into countless tiny tentacles that pierced into the sphere that emitted an unusual glow.

At that moment, the sphere seemed to be "activated".

The instant that Hugh's vibrant magic flowed into it, the sphere, resembling the remains of a Dark Abyss offspring, was imbued with life, as if it had been in a deep slumber. In an instant, the black sphere began to writhe, but it was unable to break through the seal of Hugh's power and could only barely change its shape under the grasp of the mage's hand.

As this twisting continued, some dark green light and shadow began to appear inside—looking exactly like the offspring of the Dark Abyss.

"What is this? A flawed embryo of a Dark Abyss offspring? A defective product among defective products?"

Hughes frowned; he really wasn't sure what the thing was really about.

However, considering that the Black Sun Society does indeed possess the method to summon and create Dark Abyss offspring, this possibility still exists.

Just then, an extremely strange magical fluctuation came over.

Hugh stared in astonishment. He clearly felt that as he continued to input Dark Abyss magic, the pitch-black sphere held by the mage's hand became more active. Then, a magical connection, similar to that between a spellcaster and a summoned creature, slowly formed between him and the black sphere.

The next instant, a subtle fluctuation slowly transmitted through the magical connection between the two. It was not language, nor any particularly specific information, but a simple transmission of "emotion".

Under Hugh's magical stimulation, the damaged embryo successfully regained its vitality.

It was born, and it seemed to regard Hugh as its creator or source of power.

Feeling the faint, strange magical connection, Hugh boldly withdrew his mage's hand and caught the writhing black ball with his own palm.

The connection between the two became even closer, and details about the Dark Abyss Embryo finally appeared in Hugh's mental world.

He clearly sensed that this embryo was more primitive than those Dark Abyss offspring. They were extremely weak and lacked any instinct for devouring or learning. Even the shapeshifting insects were more dangerous than them.

Hugh looked at the dark shadow that seemed to regard him as the "subject" or "parent" and tried to slowly crawl in his palm to express intimacy, and began to think seriously.

"Perhaps this is why the Society distributes them to its members as medicine... because they are simply pure power, lacking the strong instincts and basic desires of the Dark Abyss offspring, thus allowing them to retain the original intelligence and memories while transforming the human body."

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Hugh didn't hide what he was doing, but casually mentioned it. So, Bohrwa pushed open the door and entered. He immediately saw the Dark Abyss Embryo slowly crawling in Hugh's palm, which startled him. After all, based on his experience, these things always treated their prey the same. This was the first time he had ever seen such a scene of "close contact" with them.

But this strange phenomenon seems perfectly reasonable when applied to Hugh.

The fact that these dangerous beings could become so compliant, even willing to be close to him, only further reveals Hugh's true identity.

“Leader…the matters within the Brotherhood have been settled. As per your instructions, they will reduce the frequency of going out to obtain supplies and will not disturb the others in Seren City.”

“That’s good, Berva.”

Hughes nodded approvingly: “We must not let those children of the abyss, who are obsessed with primal desires, continue to devour us. They have already devoured too many fools and accumulated too much erroneous knowledge and ideas... This will not do us any good for our plans. After all, what we yearn for is a messenger who can welcome the Black Sun, not a beast that only knows how to devour.”

"You're right."

Bourwa nodded with conviction: "We never thought of such a thing before. If you hadn't returned to Seren in time, we would probably have made one mistake after another."

“I’ve already said there’s no need to be ashamed of this. You’ve done a great job… Instead of wasting time on this, you should prepare for what’s to come.”

Hughes smiled, then asked, "As I told you before, I'm planning to visit those mages from the Legal Committee... Bourwa, you only recently left the Legal Committee branch, tell me, what was it like there before you left?"

(End of this chapter)