A group of seven people looked at each other as they stood in a circle.
Three of them were physically present, while the other four were represented by projections on big panels of glass.
"Helia Janus. Codename: The Left Arm. Present. Line secured via presence of the Champion," the Left Arm spoke from one side of the room.
Her black hair and older face gave her an intense aura of leadership as she glanced at the person to her left.
After she finished speaking, the person to her left scratched the back of his head awkwardly, his white hair unkempt.
"James Cloudless. Codename: The Technician. Present. Line secured via presence of the Champion," the Technician added.
Then, the Technician looked at the hologram to his left.
To his left was the hologram of a man who was almost two meters tall. The man was quite voluminous, and it wasn't apparent whether or not that was muscle.
The man smiled with a mix of mirth and confidence as he put his hands on his hips.
"Elaborate on the Isolation Barrier," the Left Arm ordered with a serious tone.
The Wall shook his head and sighed helplessly but complied. For around 30 seconds, he kept talking about different settings and standards his Barrier followed.
"Acknowledged," the Left Arm said after the Wall finished talking about his Isolation Barrier.
Then, everyone looked to the person's left, at the next hologram.
The hologram was of a little girl who could barely be older than ten. She looked dirty and malnourished, but her white hair and her bright smile made her appear radiant.
"Henrietta Opfer. Codename: The Knife. Present. Line secured via a direct link through grade A Stronghold Conference Barrier," the little girl spoke casually.
Without waiting for the Left Arm to ask, the Knife elaborated on how the Barrier here worked.
Naturally, everyone knew how these Barriers worked.The reason why it was necessary for everyone to talk about how they secured their connection was to prove that they were truly themselves.
Depending on from where they connected, it was expected of them to speak different key phrases as secret authentication.
These were the Shields of Aegis, and they were speaking about top-secret matters.
Aegis' enemies were extremely powerful Specters, and some of these Specters had the ability to use human equipment and disguise themselves as humans.
It was imperative that no Specter managed to infiltrate one of these meetings.
"Acknowledged," the Left Arm said before looking at the next hologram.
The next person was a man who looked to be in his mid-twenties. He had black hair, and he looked just as serious as the Left Arm.
In a certain way, he seemed like a younger male version of the Left Arm.
"Mendez Silpheon. Codename: The Politician. Present. Line secured via grade S Isolation Barrier," he spoke with an emotionless voice.
Then, he talked about his Barrier for half a minute before falling quiet.
"Acknowledged," the Left Arm spoke before turning to the next person.
The next hologram was of a taller man with blonde hair. He was about 185 centimeters tall, stalwart, relatively muscular, and wore a suit of shining armor.
He was one of the only two people who did not wear Aegis' uniforms.
His aura was reliable, powerful, shining, and heroic.
"Byron Inferno. Codename: The Right Arm. Present. Line secured via grade A Stronghold Conference Barrier," he spoke with an authoritative but encouraging voice.
Just like the others, he talked about the way he secured his connection for a while.
Naturally, it wasn't enough to just repeat what someone else said.
There were many key phrases that one could say, and one only needed to speak four fitting ones while not being allowed to copy ones that had been used already.
"Acknowledged," the Left Arm said.
Finally,she turned towards the person to her right.
This person was also to the Right Arm's left.
Naturally, there was only one person who would have the Right Arm to his right and the Left Arm to his left.
"Everyone is present, Champion," the Left Arm spoke respectfully.
"Good," a booming voice spoke.
The voice came from a person who was shining with dark-orange light.
The man had white hair and looked to be in his early thirties. His face was angular, and his eyebrows were like swords.
His dark voice encompassed the entire room with authority and power.
His aura spoke of only one thing.
The top.
The leader.
The peak.
The king.
He was the leader of all of humanity, the Champion of Light.
He was the other person who didn't wear Aegis' uniforms.
Instead of wearing the uniform, he wore a white shirt and a form-fitting pair of black trousers.
In a way, he looked like an executive who was dressing relatively casually to their standards.
"The monthly conference hereby begins," the Champion spoke before turning to his right. "Byron, what news do you have from your side?"
Every month, all the Shields had a big conference to exchange information.
These meetings hadn't existed before the new Champion of Light took over.
The new Champion had created these meetings so that everyone could be up-to-date on the matters the other Shields were dealing with.
Back when he had arrived in Aegis to claim his rightful throne, he had been infuriated by the chaotic mess of information.
Some Shields had been telling him one thing, while the others had been telling him other things.
It was almost like the right hand didn't know what the left was doing.
Ever since then, every Shield had to come to the monthly conference to exchange information.
"I have pinpointed the Eternal Hunger's location to an area spanning 10,000 square kilometers," the Right Arm said. "I will continue pinpointing the location without being found."
The Champion of Light nodded with seriousness. "Have you decided on the Eternal Hunger's fate?"
"Not yet, Champion," the Right Arm answered. "Killing the Eternal Hunger will make it possible for life to exist again in the outside world, but without its deterring effect, the False Hope will become almost unstoppable."
The Eternal Hunger and the False Hope were probably the two most widely known Adversaries.
The Eternal Hunger created countless black slimes all across the world that attacked anything that lived.
The False Hope created false forests that killed any living thing that stepped inside.
These two were in constant war since both of them preyed on the same thing.
"Is there no hope for containment?" the Champion asked.
"I would need the assistance of Helia and Bieronymus to have a chance, and I would need them for a while," the Right Arm answered.
The Champion narrowed his eyes as he looked to the ground.
This was risky.
"It is not worth it," the Champion said after a while. "I will leave it up to you."
The Right Arm nodded.
This only left the options of killing it or trying to force the two Adversaries into a final conflict.
If the Right Arm could pinpoint the locations of the False Hope and the Eternal Hunger, he could find a way for them to find each other.
It wouldn't be certain that either of them would die in the conflict, but they would definitely be weakened, and the ensuing chaos might create opportunities for Aegis to deal with one or both of them.
This was all the Right Arm had to report about the last month.
After the Right Arm, the Politician spoke about the things he had done.
The Politician had been one of the Left Arm's students, and his job was to produce Zephyx for Aegis as a whole.
The Politician gathered data from all over the world to see how the Zephyx production was going and which areas were producing the least Zephyx.
It was also his job to determine new settlements for new cities.After the Politician, it was time for the Knife to speak.
The Knife did not have any leadership role.
She was simply a powerful assassin whose job it was to find and hunt humanity's enemies.
She had also been the one who had found Pestilence's whereabouts a couple of years ago.
Sadly, that mission went nowhere.
After the Knife, it was the Wall's turn.
The Wall was essentially the opposite of the Knife.
The Wall had an immense array of defensive abilities, and it was his job to protect humanity from the Adversaries.
While he wasn't powerful enough to deal with the Adversaries, his set of abilities made it possible to stall for time until the Knife arrived to help.
When the Knife and the Wall worked together, they were stronger than if the Left Arm and Right Arm worked together.
After the Wall, the Technician reported his findings.
His job was HR and research.
Finally, it was time for the Left Arm to report.
"We have freed 16 cities in the Grand Continent of Specter influences," she said.
After she said that, the others looked at her with surprise.
That was a lot!
"How did you accomplish that?" the Champion asked.
The Left Arm didn't immediately answer.
"James and I have been working on a secret project for a couple of decades," she said. "The liberation of these cities is due to that project."
The Technician smiled sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head.
The others looked at the Left Arm.
Secret projects were… frowned upon.
There was no reason to keep things secret between them.
"You know our policy about secrets," the Champion spoke in a reprimanding tone.
"I do," the Left Arm answered. "However, if I had told everyone before there were positive results, you would have told me to stop."
Silence.
"Explain," the Champion ordered.
The Left Arm took a breath.
"We have a Specter as an ally."