"...what's your motive?"

The man shivered as he looked at Lith's cold face and heard those words. He had been through countless adventures and the feeling he was getting right now, it felt the same as being looked down upon by an end level creature of a dungeon.

The man felt fear as he was being gazed down upon by Lith. He was a Half Saint Rank, a being who was almost close to reaching the immortal realms, but now he felt fear. The cause of all of this was naturally due to Lith's aura and his charisma.

The Legendary Rank bloodline not only had the power to suppress vampires fully, it also ensured in inducing fear in the hearts of other creatures and this man was no exception to it.

Other than that, Lith in general appeared really cold. Though he was a warm and caring person, it was reserved solely for his close ones which included his family, friends, the servants, and as such. He was cold to everyone else or had a neutral view of them.

This man's life didn't matter to Lith and it was apparent from his face, which scared the man further when he realized this.

"...wait" the man said in a low voice.

The man was trying to muster up courage to speak to Lith. It was for the first time in his life that he had to drop his pride and do something that was not according to his wishes.

"Make it quick." Lith said coldly.

The man gulped as he heard that and looking at Lith, he finally mustered some courage and said, "I I don't know"

"Hmm?" Lith tilted his head slightly and looked at the man.

The man felt really ashamed of himself for being in such a position. He knew his party members were looking at him and he knew he should man up and fight Lith. But

He knew himself and also was aware that fighting Lith meant causing his own demise.

The skeleton that Lith one-shotted wasn't someone that could be killed so easily. The skeleton had regenerative abilities and killing him was an arduous task. The skeleton was also a Rank 9 Healer and he was killed without even him knowing how he was killed.

Just from knowing this, the man knew that he had to drop his pride and cough up whatever Lith was asking him to. If he didn't, his demise was certain.

The man looked at Lith and regaining some energy, he said again, "I No, we, we weren't told much about this by the others. We were just told to make a hole in the layers and keep fighting for the coming one week. Our job was just this and nothing else was said to us."

Lith listened to it seriously and collected information. He asked a few more questions while the man tried his best to answer.

While Lith did that, on the other side of the city

In the Senzal-Kenzal Common Territory or SKCT for short, two men were sitting in a courtyard and looking at a big screen in front of them.

These two men were the clan heads of their respective clans and were currently in their battle ready robes donned with light armour.

They were watching the adventurers try to make a hole in the layers of the sect and then they noticed the appearance of Lith, which ended up making the two dumbfounded and slightly shocked.

"Since when did they have such a powerful warrior?" The Kenzal Clan's head, Cadel Kenzal, exclaimed.

The Senzal Clan's head, Waymond Senzal, had a serious gaze on his face as he was watching and listening to Kenzal's remarks, he replied, "I have no idea. But we shouldn't worry about it since we still have a lot of trump cards on our hands."

"Hmm, that's right. Like that guy right there." Kenzal pointed in a certain direction and as Senzal looked, he saw a lean man sipping on tea quietly in a small pavilion.

"Who would've thought that we'll be able to hire a King Rank for a while, hahaha!" Kenzal laughed heartily while Senzal just looked at the man with a serious gaze.

Sure they were able to hire him, but the price they paid was also so much that it physically hurt Senzal to even think about it. If he were to lose this war, he was definitely never going to recover financially from this and it was over for the Senzal Clan, once and for all.

Senzal didn't want to take such big risks, but his wife, son, nephew, and another illegitimate son whom he loved dearly were all gone. He had lost too much and nothing really mattered to him anymore. Add onto that, Kenzal was really devious and he ended up pushing Senzal further into the abyss and had him spend more from his clan.

Senzal was obviously not someone stupid and knew the schemes of Kenzal, but he had no other choice and just went with it. He would decide about other things when he won the war.

Still, winning the war was something far in the future and since Senzal had time, he formulated some plans to counter Kenzal and not get too trapped in his schemes and lose his clan to him.

As the two watched Lith, they became even more shocked to see his prowess. Both Senzal and Kenzal knew how powerful the adventurers party was and they were getting thrashed so easily like animals.

They also noticed that Lith didn't even need to do anything to suppress one guy down to the ground and wondered what magic he was using.

"Should we initiate the main conflict?" Kenzal looked at Senzal and asked.

Senzal closed his eyes as he heard that question and lay back on the chair. He knew that starting the main conflict would endanger his own people a lot and he was bound to lose a lot.

But Senzal wasn't a rookie and he thought deeply about the things before initiating the plans.

Kenzal didn't speak and let Senzal think for a while.

A few minutes later, Senzal opened his eyes and looked at Kenzal with a serious gaze.

"From what we have planned beforehand, it was decided that my army will initiate everything, my people will bear the brunt of everything and yours will only act as a support, am I right?"

Kenzal made a devious smile and said in a neutral tone, "Yes, you're right."

Senzal nodded. "Right, then that terminates here."

Kenzal frowned upon hearing it. "What are you even"

"If I am going to lose almost everything, I am ready to lose everything." Senzal looked at Kenzal and said calmly.

"If you're going to push me this far, I am not going to participate in the war and I'll happily let the sect take over all of my stuff. The sect is bound to gain a lot from it and it won't be too long until they end up devouring your territories as well."

"You didn't think of this possibility, did you?" Senzal now flashed a small smile and said coldly.

"YOU BASTARD! YOU'VE BEEN PLANNING THIS THE WHOLE WHILE!?" Kenzal couldn't help but scream on top of his lungs in anger.

"YOU MOTHERF"

"Noisy."

BAM!

Kenzal was slammed on the table they were sitting on by the King Rank sitting a few meters from them.

Senzal chuckled coldly as he noticed this. "If I die, a major chunk of that guy's payment will be gone. Did you not think twice before attacking me in front of him?"

"You scheming bastard! Ptui!" Kenzal got up from the table and spat on Senzal.

Senzal dodged Kenzal's spit and pointed at the seat in front of him. "Now sit down, and let's talk about the future course of action."

Senzal was being taken advantage of ever since day 1 of this battle. He was the one to do most of the things and it had been seven years since the commencement of battle and it had been the same thing.

Senzal was quiet and didn't complain much about it to Kenzal and waited for the right opportunity to come.

The right opportunity was here today. Both the camps were about to enter the main conflict and this was a good opportunity for Senzal to spoil everything Kenzal had planned and grab him by his neck.

If the Senzal Clan backed out fully from the war, the Kenzal Clan would have to bear the whole brunt of it and they were powerless to defeat the sect on their own. They needed Senzal Clan's help.

Senzal took advantage of this and defeated Kenzal in his own mind games.

Kenzal really was thinking that he was a genius for making the most out of the opportunity and leeching off of the entire Senzal Clan as much as he could. But it turned out that he was a fool this whole time.

Kenzal couldn't help but grit his teeth and sit down to listen to Senzal speak. He had miscalculated things big time and messed up. There was no undoing these things and what was fucked was fucked.

Kenzal could only murderously glare at Senzal and stay quiet and listen to him.

Senzal ignored Kenzal's gaze and said calmly, "So here's the new plan"

A while of discussion later

SLAM!

"You bastard! You're saying I should use 70% of all my Clan's resources in this war!?" Kenzal slammed the table in front of him and said.

Senzal looked at him and said, "I am using 60% of mine as well. Had you been a good person and not schemed so much from the start, this situation wouldn't have arised. It's your own fault for sabotaging yourself up now. Don't blame me."

"You! Ugh. Whatever. This is why I loathe you so much." Kenzal got up and left while Senzal continued to sit and ponder over things while sipping his tea.

Both clans couldn't use all of their resources as that would end up making them so defenseless that other people from the city can end up grouping together and defeating them, thereby annexing all their territories and them losing everything despite winning the war.

While there were these things happening in SKCT, on Lith's side, he was done extracting whatever information he could from the party members.

Now all that was left was

Lith looked at the man beneath him and said, "Now to let you live or to let you die, that is the question"