A group of people wearing green uniforms stood around a table.
In the middle of the table was a huge document, and everyone looked at it with worry.
The atmosphere in the room was solemn and serious.
"How are we going to respond?" the Head Elder asked.
The document in front of them was the very document that every power in the Secondary Sector dreaded.
A declaration of battle.
Due to the Laws of Karmic Luck, warfare in the Supreme World had certain rules to it.
Launching a sneak attack on another power would drastically reduce the Karmic Luck of the attacking power, and nobody wanted that.
Because of that, it was customary to send a declaration of battle, and there also had to be several options to choose from.
One of these options was always the refusal to partake in the battle. If a power chose this option, the challenging party wouldn't be allowed to attack.
Of course, choosing this option always seemed to be the right decision. After all, the power would get to keep its territories and resources.
However, it wasn't that easy.
According to the Laws of Karmic Luck, Seekers were also allowed to expand their influence and territory. The best resources should belong to the strongest powers.
Power was everything, and the Cosmos wanted to encourage everyone to battle and to become stronger as a result.
Because of that, refusing a declaration of battle came with a massive drop in Karmic Luck, which the challenging party would receive.
The options to refuse battle and to accept battle were available in every declaration of battle. Any additional option was just extra and depended on the power declaring battle.
This specific one had five options.
Refuse battle.
Enter an alliance, which came with a hefty tribute of resources.
Capitulation, which just meant that the old upper management of the attacked party would become lower management of the attacking Organization.
Acceptance of battle but without battles to the death.
Acceptance of battle with battles to the death.
If a power accepted a battle without battles to the death, the two warring parties would send representatives to battle the other party.
If a power accepted a battle to the death, it would just turn into all-out warfare.
"Have any of you heard of this Organization called Explosive Karma?" the Head asked.
Everyone shook their heads.
"They must be from the outside," the Head Elder said with a serious expression.
"Are you sure? " the Disciplinary Elder asked with a raised brow. "We're not on the edge of the Sector. Powers from outside usually choose an edge territory to establish their base of operations."
"They have to be from the outside," the Vice-Head said from the side. "Otherwise, we would have heard of them. We're not exactly weak, and any power that can declare battle on us must have some renown."
"Also, there are only four people. What established power only has four people?"
The group became silent as every member looked at the declaration of battle.
Only four people.
This was extremely suspicious.
This group was the upper management of the Deep Thorn Sect, and the Deep Thorn Sect owned two Planet Systems.
They were not weak, and while they were not on the level of the peak powers, they managed to establish themselves securely.
Choosing the Deep Thorn Sect as a first target was quite ballsy.
"Are they just fishing for Karmic Luck?" the Vice-Head asked. "Maybe they're betting on the fact that we would be intimidated by their strange constellation and size. Do they want us to refuse battle?"
"That's possible," the Head said, "but it's also possible that they are four Major Crushers who want to become Advanced Crushers."
In order to become an Advanced Crusher, a Major Crusher needed to consume three other Major Crushers whom they had killed themselves. Alternatively, one could also use beasts, but they had to be Peak Crusher Beasts.
Peak Crusher Beasts were almost always stronger than Major Crushers, and only the most talented Seekers would try to kill beasts to become Advanced Crushers.
This prerequisite to become an Advanced Crusher was one of the main driving forces behind why Crushers entered the Secondary Sector.
Finding other Major Crushers to kill was not easy in the normal world. After all, almost every Crusher belonged to an established power, and killing them would result in a conflict with their backer.
However, in the Secondary Sector, there were no backing powers.
There were no Sages and Spirit Lords who would take revenge.
"I'm not sure," the Disciplinary Elder said. "They are only four people. If they were all Major Crushers, they would have chosen a weaker power. If they're confident enough to challenge us with only four people, they must have at least one Advanced Crusher. They should know that we have at least six Major Crushers. Attacking us without an Advanced Crusher would be suicide."
The others agreed. "Do you think it's a group from a Supreme Organization?" the Vice-Head asked.
"That also doesn't make much sense," the Disciplinary Elder answered. "The fact that there are four people is strange. Groups from Supreme Powers mostly arrive in groups of three, five, or ten. Additionally, this would mean that they are New Crushers. While it's possible that some extremely talented individuals could evenly fight Medium Crushers, only very few can hope to contend with Major Crushers."
"While they don't know that we have eight Major Crushers, they know that we have at least six. If we were to accept an all-out battle, they would be running to their deaths, and they know that. Because of that, I don't believe they're from a Supreme Organization. They're probably just a group of friends who are traveling together."
"I think they are four talented Major Crushers, and I believe their goal is to enter a normal battle or to harvest Karmic Luck."
The others listened to the Disciplinary Elder for a while.
What he said made sense, but were they willing to bet their lives on his suspicion?
"You know what I think?" the Formation Elder, who hadn't spoken until now, asked. "I think they want to join us."
"Elaborate," the Head said.
"They send this strange declaration of battle with their strange setup to intimidate us," the Formation Elder explained. "They want us to accept the battle without declaring all-out war. Like this, they can fight us one-on-one, lose, impress us with their strength, and join us."
The Head looked at the declaration of battle. "And what would they gain from that? They could also join us without declaring battle on us."
"That's the thing," the Formation Elder said. "If they joined individually, we would become suspicious. Why are so many talented Seekers suddenly joining us? Everyone knows that Organizations don't accept big groups of powerful Seekers since that could create a sub-faction inside the Organization, making it vulnerable to a coup."
"But if they are accepted into the Organization as a reward for winning a battle, it's less suspicious. I think they simply want to erode us from the inside out."
The Head combed his beard with his fingers in thought. "What does everyone think? How should we proceed?"
The group discussed for a bit longer, and after a couple more minutes of planning, they made their decision.
tg://resolv?domain=StrongestHammerGod
The author's patreon. If he gets more than 1000€ per month, he will increase the number of words in the chapter.