The elders exchanged silent, wide-eyed glances. At this mont, the illusion of William being a lower realm youth had completely shattered.
They felt as if they were standing in the presence of a seasoned, hidden expert who had lived for thousands of years, cloaked in a young man's skin.
"Fifth," William's voice grew even more resonant, vibrating through the table they sat around.
"I have already gained sothing huge from the Fox: this world. This dium World is now my fortress. I can link it to dozens of lower realms, cultivate endless armies of strong, capable masters who know nothing but loyalty to the Fox Guild, to .
Then I'll lead them in the final battle against that son of a btch. Let ask you: is there anyone sitting here, is there anyone currently in the Upper Realm, who can claim such a feat? Is there anyone but who can turn the Fox's own backyard into his graveyard?"
"..."
The elders looked at one another, unable to find a single counter-argunt. The logic was as solid as the ground beneath them.
"And lastly," William finished, his eyes locking directly onto the leader's with an intensity that seed to pierce through his spirit.
"Even if soone as strong and famous, as formidable and scary as yourself, is standing by my side in front of the Fox, the Fox will always ignore you. He will ignore the empires, ignore the grand guilds, and ignore everyone else to try his absolute best to hunt down.
I am the only person he truly fears. I am going to be the magnet that drives all of his actions towards a predictable path. I'm going to keep him enraged, pushed to the edge, acting outside of his cold, treacherous norm. I will always be many steps ahead of him, beating him in every single clash we have, because I know what makes him bleed."
William didn't speak about the extra layer of deception the Fox had wrongly gained from their recent clash, the belief that William was a rogue clone. That specific misunderstanding would drive the Fox into a unique state of madness, a desperate obsession to reclaim a malfunctioned part of himself.
To the elders, being the primary target of the Fox might have seed like the worst possible reason to lead a force, but the leader knew better.
He rembered what happened back at the battlefield. He rembered how the Fox's clones had completely ignored the Blue Purgators, even as their techniques tore through their ranks.
The clones had been fixated, their spirits and minds entirely focused on reaching William. That singular focus had been their undoing, allowing the Purgators to strike them down while their backs were turned.
William's presence was an unbelievably effective psychological weapon against the Fox. And that wasn't a reason anyone could ignore, especially when the man who was going to suffer the brunt of that focused hatred was standing there calmly, speaking about it as if he were reciting a dull, ancient mory.
"Sigh!" Hearing all this made the leader let out a long, heavy sigh that seed to drain the tension from his shoulders. He looked at William with a mixture of resignation and respect.
"The question isn't about , William. I've seen enough to follow you into the abyss. But the question is about the leaders of the other forces who will join us. I know what I saw here... But they didn't. How do you expect to get the respect of the proudest n in the upper realm without gaining their approval first?"
"Don't worry about that," William chuckled, the sound light but carrying an edge of absolute certainty.
"When the ti is right, I'll step up and show myself. I'm not interested in being a ghost forever. But until that mont arrives, you will act as my deputy. You will speak with my voice. Tell the recruited forces that the leader is the Master of the Fox Guild, nothing less, and certainly nothing more."
"Just that?!" one of the elders exclaid, his voice thick with doubt. He shifted in his seat, the leather creaking under his weight.
"But what if the others question your eligibility? What if the elite guild leaders or the great clan heads demand to see the face of the man claiming to map their destinies? They won't follow a shadow, William. They follow blood, history, and presence."
"Then you'll step up to back ," William responded, his tone calm as he t the elder's eyes.
"On top of that, whenever you recruit an initial force using the thods I've laid out, when you heal their sons or reclaim their stolen lands, you'll tell them the truth: that the knowledge and the ans ca from . They will owe their gratitude to the Fox Guild.
Their loyalty will be tethered to as surely as it is to you and the coalition. If others question my right to lead, those who have already tasted the benefits of my leadership will be the first to vouch for . We will build a foundation of results that no amount of scepticism can topple."
"Yet these are all temporary asures, re political band-aids," the leader said, narrowing his eyes as he leaned forward.
"I won't try to teach you about the spirit master world, as it feels like you already know its head and tail better than n who have lived there for centuries. But our world is primal at its core. It acknowledges only one thing in the end: strength. Not knowledge, not maps, not secrets. Raw, overwhelming power!"
"I know," William said, a faint, knowing glint appearing in his eyes. He could read the leader's mind as easily as the map on the table. The man was worried that William's brilliance would be snuffed out by the first high-level expert who decided to challenge his authority. "And don't worry about this..."
He paused, then slowly raised five fingers in front of all the masters gathered in the tent. "Give five years. Five years only, and I'll be standing on the pinnacle of the Upper Realm."
"What?!!!"
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