The four beings were the personal enforcers who answered directly to Drakmor. They were the ones who went to investigate the strange energy and the missing universe.
"That was quick," Drakmor replied, not even bothering to look behind him. "What did you find?"
Andrew gulped as he floated backwards. The presence those four newcomers exuded was enough to crush him several times over. Were it not for the comforting energy that protected him, he would be dead.
'I don't even want to imagine how heavy Lord Drakmor's presence would be.' Andrew thought grimly. 'Heck, I don't have to! His presence would destroy my universe before I even know what happened!'
"We discovered who that strange energy belongs to," Mike replied, his head still down. "It's Alexander Gray."
"So it's him…" Drakmor murmured almost imperceptibly.
"Yes, but there's more." Mike added. "It would be best if you saw it yourself, chief."
The moment those words left his mouth, a power dived into his being and extracted everything he learned in the last few hours.
A small white sphere came out of Mike from his forehead and floated towards Drakmor.
The dragon took the core in his hand and his eyes glowed a deep gold. Within seconds, he learned all that he needed.
"Interesting…" Drakmor muttered, his expression still calm. "To think someone could come up with something like this…"
The dragon found it repulsive, just like his servant did. But he had to admit, it had potential. If only it wasn't something so dark and twisted.
'But if there's an application to the dark cores even we haven't anticipated, they could be more…' While he thought that way, he doubted anything good would come out of it. 'It will still be something dark. We can still play with it to see what comes of it.'
Drakmor dissipated the white sphere a moment later, his hand going back to its place behind him. His enforcers continued to kneel while the dragon closed his eyes.
Andrew was clueless as to what Drakmor was doing, and he was afraid to ask. The enforcers, on the other hand, knew their chief was communicating with someone else.
A second later, Drakmor opened his golden eyes and spoke.
"Looks like we have to push our agenda forward." The dragon muttered softly. "You four are to join another squad of enforcers and journey to Alexander's universe."
They were left with no choice.
With their own attempts failing, they could only call to the mysterious human who was breaking conventions. And now that the white essence was discovered to belong to the same person, they needed to bring him in.
"Your mission is simple: invite him to an audience with the Supreme One." Drakmor ended it there, saying nothing else.
"Yes, chief."
The enforcers nodded and their figure flickered and disappeared into the veil tear. Their orders were clear. No one ever rejects an invitation from the Supreme One.
"Eh, Lord Drakmor…?" Andrew found his gut to speak after the enforcers disappeared. "Does that mean this attempt is over?"
He was ready to ascend to godhood himself. But that was no longer in his hands. He could only be allowed to fuse with his universe core if he was allowed to.
"Not yet." The reply came a moment later. "That person will be brought to us. We'll find out how he did it and see if it's still doable."
"Okay…" Andrew accepted with no choice in the matter. "So what do we do in the meantime?"
"Keep trying." The dragon replied.
For whatever reason, Andrew felt like he was being treated differently from those four enforcers. It made him feel like he was different. Maybe it was all in his head, but he didn't feel any pressure from the dragon.
"Yes, Lord Drakmor." Andrew nodded and sat cross-legged in the void once more.
The dragon gazed at the human with an expressionless face. He could read the boy's mind like an open book and knew what was going through his head.
'Even I don't know why.' Drakmor admitted to himself.
This was his first time taking someone under his wings to guide him. Though it was an assignment given to him, he had come to enjoy tutoring the veilwalker.
'Is this the master and student thing I've heard about?' Drakmor closed his eyes for a moment. 'It doesn't matter either way. Once this is over, he will be nothing more than another vassal for the lord.'
...…..
The four enforcers quickly moved towards a high-level universe on the lower side of the spectrum. Like many other universes out there, it served as a base for their various operations.
They already knew which group of enforcers they needed to join for their new mission. Since they shared the same chief enforcer, they already knew each other.
"I don't understand why we have to join another squad for bringing in one veilwalker from a lower universe." The only female in the group sneered. "The only thing special about him was his ascension."
"Maybe…" Another replied. "But if the chief is giving this level of importance to this mission, then there could be something we're not seeing. Besides, you know that strange energy of his could be disadvantageous to us. It's only right we proceed with caution."
"I agree." Mike chipped in. "Even the chief was not able to interact with that energy in any way. Void energy has no control over it at all."
"Fine…" The woman could only sigh in exasperation. "Let's get the others and go. I can't wait to see that tiny human."
The group of four arrived in the universe and wasted no time heading for the paradise that served as the base. Unlike other universes, high-level universes didn't come with galaxies and the like.
High-level universes were something akin to a floating landmass. It could be said to be an infinite expanse of land that was almost indestructible — teeming with all sorts of terrains that went for hundreds of lightyears.
Even demigods could not destroy the landmass or even tear a portion off of it. That was a power reserved for only gods. Naturally, it still came with a vast space above, but that was a narrative for another time.