Hesabeth hoped that Jason wasn’t annoyed by her choice. But Jason just smiled, and he said it was fine. Jason understood that Hesabeth had struck the best deal she could, given the circumstances. And since they managed to avoid going to prison, Jason was fine with it! Hesabeth smiled happily before she turned and walked through a portal to return to her high seat, and the loud booming voice suddenly echoed over the hall once again and asked both Jason and Gina to take a seat in the spectators’ area.
The two lovers floated off the ground and went to sit with the other TITAN Ranks that were involved in the next part of this meeting. Along with Jason and Gina, there were also the Amazon-like warriors from Bengari, a group of lizardmen with large, bulky bodies, with a particularly large lizardman sitting in front of them as the leader, a pair of hooded creatures that wore masks to cover their faces, and also a single man with a tall stature and a long staff in his arm. Although they were all diverse, there was one similarity between every single person here, and that was the fact that they were all TITAN Rank beings! Jason and Diane were the only TITAN Rank III’s in the room, but everyone else was either a TITAN Rank I or II, and Jason could feel the tension in the room rising just from the many superpowered beings sitting together!
Within the Sixth domain, these were the only people who not only had the strength necessary to become a member of the council, but they also checked out a majority of all the other boxes set out by the council, and this meant that at the end of this meeting, one of the people seated here would be the next head of the Sixth Primordial Domain.
Farlow looked over the group gathered, and he could already tell that this would not be an easy decision! Many of the gathered mages were warriors who had been instrumental in the formation of the Primordial Treaty years ago, and this meant that they had more prestige than Jason amongst the members of the Elder Worlds in their domain! But even though the other candidates were more experienced, that didn’t mean it was enough to give them the title, and even though Jason didn’t have the same amount of history as the others, there was something that Jason had that no one else here did, and that was the legend factor! In just the few months since Jason gained his abilities, he had made a name for himself in many of the worlds in his Primordial domain, and this had given him a legendary status that was higher than any of the other people seated here! This legendary status ensured that Jason would not only be able to instill fear and respect in the members of his domain, even if he wasn’t present, it would also give him the freedom to command and punish the members of his domain if they ever went out of line! That singular fact was the main reason why Jason was rated so much higher than all the others!
’But it’s not enough. There are other things that are dragging him down the ranking. And one of them is the world he’s a part of. Earth just isn’t strong enough to be seen as the head of a Primordial Domain.’
Farlow frowned, and he glanced to Rak’hael opposite him to see her glaring down at Jason in annoyance. When the council had their closed-door meeting earlier, Rak’hael had been the most vocal criticizer of Jason, and it was obvious that she would be the one most likely to refuse Jason’s claim to the seat. Farlow just let out a small sigh, and he turned as C’thlyanu spoke up.
"Okay, now that we are alone, I believe we can begin. I’m sure we all know why we are here, so there is no need to beat around the bush. We have gathered here because there is a need to pick a new member of the Sixth Domain who will become the Overlord, and as is tradition, the council has nominated you four as the candidates with the highest potential to claim this seat. First, Diane Ralkikov, Queen of Bengari and the Warrior General responsible for the great massacre of the Falling Mountains. Second, Vagart Blunde, the King of the Lizardmen tribe of Parital and the wielder of the venerable title of Primordial Killer. Third, Jaen Trush, the Head of the Northern Solstice Alliance Magical Academy, and the creator of the Great Second Grade Rune [Blasphemy of a Thousand Suns]. And Fourth, Jason Marc, the man behind the Legend of the Undying King. We shall deliberate within this room for as long as it takes, and hopefully, by the time we are finished, we would have come to a satisfactory decision, and the Council of Nine and One will be complete once again."
Jason simply listened calmly as C’thlyanu took charge of the meeting and began to address all of them. Jason knew that this meeting wasn’t going to take long at all because every member of the council already had an idea of who they wanted to be on the council, and they only needed to vote for their preferred candidate when the time came! The only reason they put all these powerhouses in this room together was because the council needed to be transparent in their decision making! C’thlyanu spoke up again and drew Jason from his thoughts.
"First, we shall carry out a preliminary voting session. There are nine members of the council present in this room, and each member shall cast a vote for which candidate they believe will make a good addition to the council. The result of this vote will be scrutinized and questioned, after which a second vote will be cast after new considerations are made. Our second vote will be the final one, and whoever comes out on top in that vote will be granted the title of Overlord of the Sixth Domain. Now, shall we vote?"
A piece of paper appeared in front of each council member, and they took up a pen and wrote down the name of their preferred candidate. But before the paper could vanish, a voice spoke up.
"Wait, I have a concern I want to address first."
Everyone turned to the second seat on the council, and Rak’hael leaned forward as she steepled her hands in front of her and frowned! Rak’hael had been waiting for this exact moment all this time because she knew that the council would have brushed away her concern at any other time. But Rak’hael was not going to allow something like this to stand! C’thlyanu asked Rak’hael what the issue was, and Rak’hael immediately glanced towards Lamina.
"My issue lies with her. How are we allowing a subordinate of a Dead Apostle to stand as judge and jury over the actions of that Dead Apostle? Do you not think there exists some sort of impartiality in her decision-making? Let us not lie to ourselves; we all know what it means to be a subordinate to a Dead Apostle! The subordinate displays absolute obedience and complete reverence to their Apostle! It is obvious who Lamina is going to vote for, and if we already have one member of the council compromised in this way, then this entire discussion is nothing but a sham."
There was tension that filled the room the longer Rak’hael spoke, and Rak’hael’s glare deepened until she was practically shooting daggers at Lamina and Jason! Over at the spectators’ area, Jason hummed calmly as he leaned back in his seat.