Chapter 2109: Shocking Objective

Emperor Rael smiled. "It's simple. It means one thing, really."

He narrowed his eyes. "The destruction of the Kandrian Underworld."

Not a single person could maintain their composure at those words.

"What?!"

"Your Majesty, are you truly serious?"

"That is absurd!

Their reactions were justified.

The Kandrian Underworld had long entrenched itself in the Kandrian Empire. It had infiltrated itself so deep that exorcizing it was almost impossible. Even if they tried, the consequences would be devastating, triggering a mini civil war that would harm the nation.

The fact that the Underworld had a Martial Sage, Sage Aggragor, meant that a war against the Underworld would mean a battle between Martial Sages.

That was a disaster that would destroy all life in Kandria.

Thus, the Underworld was left alone and allowed to fester in darkness.

It held the entire nation hostage in order to ensure that it was left alone.

Not a single member of the meeting was anything short of disgusted by the Underworld. Disgusted by their helplessness against the despicable but effective strategy of the Underworld.

Yet, what could they even do?

It was impossible.

"Is it?" Emperor Rael's tone grew frosty. "Is it truly impossible?"

They all gazed at him, speechless.

"Your Majesty..." the Royal Chancellor murmured. "You have always maintained that harmony with the underworld was the best long-term outcome... Why have you changed your stance?"

Emperor Rael shook his head. "You don't understand. I have no principled attachment to Harmony. I chose to make it my doctrine because, all this time, it was the best domestic and international policy for Kandria's circumstances."

"...And has that somehow changed since your return, Your Majesty?"

Emperor Rael smiled.

"Everything has changed."

They frowned incredulously.

They had no idea what he was talking about.

And, clearly, he had no intention of revealing his thought process.

However, he was more open about his espoused goal of the eradication of the Underworld.

"Before, I would have agreed with you that the destruction of the Underworld was almost impossible," Emperor Rael remarked calmly. "However, today, at this moment, it is entirely possible due to a new variable."

He smiled with confidence. "The Silas Clan. More specifically, Matriarch Nephi Deborah Silas."

They grew stunned as they stared at him with widened eyes.

"I'm sure the thought has crossed each of your minds." The Emperor's rich voice grew enticing. "'What if we use the Silas Clan against the Underworld?'"

Their expressions betrayed the truth of his claims.

"I will excuse the fact that nobody executed this plan in the past four years since their arrival because there were more pertinent matters," Emperor Rael calmly remarked. "However, now that I am here, there is no excuse. The Silas Matriarch is a super treasure whose value is priceless precisely because of the sheer strategic advantages that her Martial Art offers. This can be used against the Underworld to produce outcomes that would be absolutely impossible otherwise."

Matriarch Nephi could show them the exact outcome of a military assault on the Underworld, thereby allowing them to adaptively evolve their strategies to be perfectly antithetical against their foes.

They could launch damning ambushes that would cripple the Underworld before it could even understand what had happened.

"More importantly, the biggest priority is neutralizing Sage Aggragor without harming Kandria in the fallout. A targeted strike involving three Martial Sages should be more than enough to capture and neutralize the end outcome. And once he is taken care of, the Underworld is doomed."

It was not an exaggeration to suggest that ninety-percent of the reason that the Underworld was left alone was entirely due to the Martial Sage.

Without him, they most certainly didn't have enough deterrence to push back the Kandrian Empire from swallowing them up.

"I will personally enlist the Martial Sages of the Martial Union to make this a joint operation," Emperor Rael declared. "Two Martial Sages should be enough to ensure he is captured. Three should be enough to ensure absolutely no harm comes to Kandria. I'll deploy four for absolute certainty. There is too much at stake to be lax about this."

He considered deploying Sage Sayfeel, but ultimately decided not to. There was no need to deploy him and risk his existence getting leaked.

At least, not yet.

"Your Majesty, is there a reason that you are so insistent on destroying the Underworld?" The Royal Chancellor inquired, frowning. "It appears to me that you have an especially strong reason to do so."

Emperor Rael's gaze shifted to the man. He certainly was perceptive.

Rael did have an especially strong reason to do so.

The probability of his grand plan succeeding rose by at least six percent if he could eliminate the Underworld as a variable and assimilate its economic and Martial capital. As long as he could do that, Kandria as a force would be much more formidable in the war against those that sought to curb its rise to absolute supremacy.

This was because it was standard tactics for the Underworld to use wars like this to weaken the government's control over the nation to give themselves more leeway. After all, a more chaotic nation was one where they could thrive.

Rael simply could not tolerate such liability impeding the execution of his grand plan. That was the reason that he wanted to uproot this evil before he commenced his grand plan. On top of that, he wanted them gone before they could ever learn of the super treasures that his son had brought back home. There was no telling what those greedy mafias would do when they learned that there were such treasures that were out of their control.

"With the Whispering Widower, Tempestuous Fortress, the Flashing Flier, and the Mindbender, there should be no chance for failure." Emperor Rael's voice was firm. The most important part of the plan was the Mindbender—Sage Farana—and her mental Martial Art. Using hypnosis, she could incapacitate Sage Aggragor and render him weak and incapable so that Emperor Rael could use him as a pawn in his grand plan.