Hicham and Dominic’s eyelids twitched, knowing that nothing could faze Feng Ling’s depressive and cold persona.
"I need to ask a favor."
"Anything."
Feng Ling cut to the chase and requested, "My region’s team wants to join the exploration of the Ancient Site in Sphinx’s region... It’s a life or death situation."
"Tell me more."
Hicham took it from here and started explaining what happened in the expedition and why they needed to join the exploration, missing no crucial detail.
When he finished, Sir Dominic crossed his fingers on his chest, tapping one rapidly, seemingly in deep thought.
"If it were anyone else than the Hound, I would have come down there personally and slain him inside the Dominion." Sir Dominic shook his head, "But, he is Bishop Na’thir’s dog, and if I were to make a move, he will flip out, and all of the surviving regions in your continent will feel the wrath of his empire as payback."
"We know, that’s why we didn’t ask you to handle it, just give us a chance to take care of our own business." Feng Ling said indifferently.
Only a select upper echelon knew that the seven Eternal Empires across the world were owned by the Bishops of the Duskbound Order!
The Eternal Empire in the continent of Africa was ruled by Bishop Na’thir... the mastermind behind Levi’s cursed night!
Although he was an Empire Nest Ruler, his movements were limited for a reason, just like the rest of the rulers... They had an unspoken, unwritten deal with the SAS Headquarters to remain passive, and at the same time, the Saviors wouldn’t come knocking on their doors.
In this manner, the empires grew slowly, but no massive war would break out between the two sides, allowing the Saviors and the Rulers to earn steadily from the platform until the day the corruptive atmosphere would reach them.
The ones harmed by this were the natives, but if even Sir Dominic couldn’t find a solution to this under-the-table union, no one could...
Well, the obvious solution was to get strong enough to fight them off, but Sir Dominic knew that it was nothing but a dream... as an Ecliptic Daywalker, he knew just how difficult it was to break through his rank... don’t even mention becoming a Radian Daywalker to take on the Bishops and their empires.
Unlike the natives, the Bishops were already powerful for centuries before their planet was invaded... once the planet was devoured whole, they would move on to another planet to repeat the cycle, over and over again... How could humans ever catch up?
Thus, the sole viable solution was to make the Saviors do their job and get rid of the empires, but... none of them would bother with Earth’s potential being inadequate... (lifeforce, and its natives.)
"I also can’t do that, my friend." Sir Dominic smiled wryly, "You know I can never turn you down if it’s related to me alone... but, there are three slots for a reason."
"I know, the Distorted Site is Fractured."
"Yes, and we can’t risk putting more teams since they are bound to fight against the Corrupted, which will create a higher energy disturbance." Sir Dominic shook his head, "It might tip the balance and bring the site to its early destruction... I can’t afford, no, we can’t afford to lose this opportunity to curry favor with the Radian supervising our dimensional sector... we all know, if we please him with the Sun Amulet, he might secure our planet’s survival, leaving the Saviors with no choice but to obey his orders."
"..."
"..."
Hicham and Feng Ling went silent, understanding that Sir Dominic had a point... it would be foolish to risk such a fine opportunity to bring attention to their planet to the supervising Radian from the thousands of other planets he managed in his dimensional sector.
It was like an intern skipping management and talking about his woes to the CEO in the company... it might not work, but if they curried favor with him, he might just bless them.
Sir Dominic was betting on this opportunity even if the Radian never said anything about this... these kinds of entities knew only to deliver orders, not make deals.
"Also, while your team’s performance is admirable in their first raid, it is still not enough to convince me of giving them a spot, even if I had an actual chance... the ten teams in the Conference have been competing for the right to earn their slot for a while. You might have just received the news of the Ancient Site’s emergence, but we knew of it fifteen days ago."
"I can’t just in good conscience put your team ahead of them because of one raid, even if it was related to a life or death situation... the other regions also have their own problems and are making sacrifices daily... It’s the Daywalkers’ life, and we have all signed up for it, knowing what awaits us."
Sir Dominic added calmly, his true supervisor persona was always there, hiding behind those friendly, laid-back attire.
"Ah... our apologies, we didn’t know the details, we just thought it might be a good chance to save our friend." Hicham smiled bitterly.
While Hicham seemed to have given up on convincing Dominic, Feng Ling was only getting started.
"Dom, I didn’t come to get lectured on being a Daywalker or to beg for an opportunity for my team." He said indifferently, "If you can give them a free slot, then good, if not, then how about they fight for it? You said only three teams can enter... I have no problems with that, but I want my team to be part of them."
"You make the rules... either a team fight, a four-way competition, or even one vs one... if they win, we get in, and you boot another team, if we lose..." Feng Ling paused, "I will join your side in the Headquarters, as you have always been bothering me for years."
Hearing this, Hicham swiftly turned his head in shock, not expecting Feng Ling to use himself as a bargaining chip... he knew that, unlike other governmental officers, Feng Ling hadn’t signed an exclusive contract with the government since he wasn’t born in their region... this meant he could leave any day he wanted, but he stuck with their region, using his immense strength to help them many, many times.
Although the rules applied to him as any other officer, punishment-wise, he never batted an eye at accepting them... just like getting sent to guard an outpost as a disciplinary sentence.
He made it clear to the government many times over, he would rather accept such punishments than become a governor of a settlement.
His excuse? He refused to sign any contract that would bind his life to a single place forever. Yet, here he was... offering himself to join the SAS Headquarters, which accepted nothing but binding contracts.
"Oh?" Dominic showed a flicker of astonishment, "Feng Ling, I have never seen you fight this hard for anyone since that..."
Feng Ling interrupted him with a cold tone, "Do we have a deal or not?"
"Having you on my side to reclaim Earth? Always, but first... why?" Dominic leaned in, asking with a tint of wonder.
"Because unlike you, I don’t place my faith in aloof deities and lazy bums." Feng Ling said, "The survival of this planet is on us... humans, always have, always will."
***
Back to the present...
Levi and the others settled in their own personal tent while Feng Ling remained with Dominic to discuss what format he had decided on for the fight.
After some time, he returned to the tent and relayed the news to the rest, finding them chilling in the living room with some snacks and soft drinks.
"As you all know, your place here hasn’t been earned yet." Feng Ling said.
He was leaning on a wall, peeking from a window at the active camp, which was filled with staff members and security guards belonging to the SAS Headquarters.
"Since we are here, we aren’t leaving," Arthur smirked.
"Not so fast, tough guy." Feng Ling crossed his arms and said calmly, "Dominic has decided on the Gauntlet format... It’s not going to be a walking experience."
"Gauntlet format..." Levi held his chin, "Is it standard? Are we going to fight only one team or all of them?"
Everyone knew that the Gauntlet format implied a team would send a single fighter to compete against another from a different team.
They would fight... The winner remained, the loser was eliminated, and the next teammate would step in. It continued until one side ran out of fighters.
"Unfortunately, Dominic really wants to win the bet." Feng Ling’s upper lip twitched, "You guys will be competing against all eighteen Daywalkers."
"Wait... All of them?"