In an imposing under-ocean palace that seemed to be shaped like a gigantic whale, giant hominid whales were sitting in a room around a table grimly, looking at the projection of a huge blood sphere surrounding imperial guards of the whale race.
"This is simply absurd!" An imposing Whale hominid wearing white robes and a white glowing runic marking around his neck slapped the table in a fury and a hint of fear, creating powerful ripples within the water.
This person was none other than one of the four pillars of the Mighty Whale Empire, the Blue Whale Duke, Ameer La Balaen, also the Emperor's third brother.
"This monstrosity! Just what in the ocean name is this thing!?" Another agitated female's voice rang from another whale, but the runic markings around her slender neck were glowing green-violet.
This slender yet fierce woman was White Whale Duke, Belle Van Balaen, and the Emperor's only sister.
"Boom!"
Everyone in the room suddenly shuddered when a powerful ripple overflowed from the towering giant sitting on the main chair. He was wearing an imperial robe and a jeweled crown on his bald head. Crimson glowing patterns were spread around his neck and hollow cheeks, and his black eyes were filled with terrifying murderous intent.
This was none other than the Emperor of the Mighty Whale Empire, Houston Kai Balaen!
When everyone's attention was on him, Houston finally opened his mouth, revealing sharp rows of saw-like teeth, and spoke in his husky voice, "I didn't summon you all here to make this matter more complex. If you don't have anything helpful, I would appreciate it if you kept your pathetic opinions to yourselves!"
No one dared speak anymore. Even the four dukes present in this room decided to keep their mouths shut since they all knew the Emperor was enraged.
They were all waiting for the news about the imperial army who were on the hunt for the monster, but instead, they suddenly received an urgent summoning notification from the palace.
When they arrived, they were all exposed to this video feed that recovered the entire scene of carnage from start to finish. Truth be told, they were all feeling quite apprehensive right now, especially the four dukes, when they witnessed the annihilation of the entire army of 10,000 imperial soldiers and powerful experts hidden among them.
Houston's eyes shifted towards an old whale with a wrinkled face, but his eyes were sharp and filled with wisdom. He coldly asked, "What do you think, Prime Minister?"
Everyone looked towards the old whale. They knew this was the only Prime Minister of the Mighty Whale Empire and the Emperor's personal advisor. He was also Houston's uncle and the Army Strategist of the entire Imperial Army, Alfonso Kai Balaen!
Alfonso spoke in an impassive yet cold tone while closely looking at the paused projection: "If Your Majesty is thinking that there were traitors among the army, I can assure you that wasn't the case. Although it appeared that this massacre happened because our own men initiated the attack, I'm not going to believe that all those high-ranking officers were traitors.
"Especially the Chief Commander in this mission, Brantley Kai Balaen, your grandson, Your Highness. That monster seemed to have some troublesome ability that could control the minds of anyone indiscriminately. He took control of your strongest men and then used them to create chaos before using them to kill everyone when they were still clueless."
Everyone's heart trembled as they felt even more fear of this unknown monster. After all, if he could control the mind of Chief Commander Brantley who was one of the three chief commanders of the entire imperial army, an Initial Stage Inception Legend Rank, no one was safe here!
"I've also noticed it. Do you have any suggestions for tackling this problem? I can't have my grandson dying in vain!" Houston's eyes shimmered with killing intent. He liked his grandson a lot and was very competent.
If not for the fear of this unknown monster's abilities, he would've personally led the charge to avenge him.
Although Huston might not show it, he was shaken inside, after all an enemy that could control others mind and make them slaughter their own people were terrifying.
But he can't show fear or hesitation in front of these people; his pride won't allow him, and he will not seek foreign help since it would turn their strongest empire into the laughingstock of the entire ocean.
Even though he was sure the spies of the other empires would've already gotten this news, this was another reason he needed to get rid of this monster quicker before their prestige took a critical hit. He also sealed the news of the imperial army's annihilation since he can't let the Battle Sharks get the wind of it, or they might start an unexpected attack.
That's why he summoned everyone here and took this matter seriously. Now it was the matter of pride and prestige, it was no longer about putting up front.
Alfonso thought for a moment before speaking, "I won't lie to His Majesty. I'm absolutely stumped after witnessing this battle, which was more like a slaughterhouse.
"But I think I found the purpose of this monster of doing all this killing. It seemed to be the Blood! As you all might've already known, the corpses we found in the killing sites were all dried up, and as you all can see, the sphere of blood he gathered after he was done killing, so the mystery behind those dry corpses was easily solved.
"Not only that, I've noticed a pattern. The first killing incident happened in the Sturgeon region, which is on the outer territory of the empire, and many such incidents took place in the same territory.
"This place has something in common; everyone there is repetitively weak, and only those subordinary races live there. Soon after, however, this monster turned its sight to the inner territory of the empire, where the members of our own race lived. He only hunted weaker ones and did not directly attack the dukedoms.
"What does this strange pattern imply? I think this monster is after blood, and the more he has it, the more powerful he becomes. He's extremely cunning, and he knows where to attack and when. This means that he knows our forces and might even know how we react.
"So, we're dealing with someone with a high intellect and terrifying ability to scheme. Now that he's opening hunting and drawing our attention, I think he's confident in hunting whatever we throw at him, or at least he's confident enough to flee.
"That's why if we send more men after it, it would be akin to feeding him more, and he wanted just that. So, we can't use the same number tactics again, or we'll only be making our enemy even more powerful." He gravely stated.
Houston's eyes narrowed dangerously as he completely agreed with Alfonso, "What do you suggest we should do then? After all, even if we don't send anyone after him, he'll just go after the commoners and cities. We can't evacuate others into the core territory since there is simply no space, and he'll continue to grow this way."
Alfonso thought for a moment before hesitantly replying, "Since this monster is intelligent, why don't we try to have a dialog with him? I'll personally go!"