Guild Wars
chapter-278

"Our organization was built to be flexible and fluid. There is no one supreme leader towering above us all, but a group of upper echelon members who come to democratic decisions about various matters."

"This is important, seeing as the organization is made up of members who have evolved with many different abilities. Each member is part of a sub-group under Supernatural that generally covers their field of abilities."

"So, there are Vampires, Werewolves, Undead, Ghosts and other such sub-groups. Please note these names aren't used to denote that each and every member of their sub-group possess that same ability."

"The power each person can awaken is always different. However, if person A has the ability to drain the life of another person while person B has the ability to use his blood to fight, they would both be placed under the Vampire sub-group, as it focuses on abilities derived from that terminology."

"Each sub-group has a single representative in the council. We have more than 15 sub-groups in total, and the newest one would be for our Control masters, which is chaired by Andres Lawson."

"Andres Lawson and 2 others make up the count of Control masters we have. For obvious reasons, majority of Control masters chose to side with Superhuman, and they have 15 of them."

Samuel paused here to relax his vocal cords and gather his words.

Draco was intrigued. It seemed as if Superhuman and Supernatural had some beef with each other, which wouldn't be too surprising. It was essentially science versus magic on paper, but Draco could easily tell that this was bullshit.

Superhuman relied on external means to grant powers. In other words, a person could be given a super soldier serum and turn into someone like Captain America, but that would not be their true self.

It was a given power that was semi-permanent. As was always said, what could be given could be taken away. Draco was 100% certain that the same scientist who created the serum(s) and whatnot that gave power also made concoctions that could strip them away.

It was basic protocol really.

But the fellows of Supernatural were different. They relied on a natural awakening of their genes through evolution to achieve power. They would gain something out of the chaotic mess that had been mixed in human DNA from the Gerdo Galaxy aliens.

They didn't know this of course, and though that it was their own superpowers. Since there was no real indicator of who could awaken such abilities, they felt it was supernatural.

But to Draco, they were both the same. Both relied on aspects of science to acquire abilities, only that Supernatural had a longer history and a stronger foundation, but Superhuman had the ability to easily catch up with enough test subjects and volunteers.

After all, it was basically 'superpowers in a test tube' that made them.

Samuel continued. "This is concerning the sub-groups, but of course, individuals also have their various categories in the organization."

"The lowest are the Thralls. They encompass the lowest rung of our group, and aren't even really considered personnel. They are a mixture of normal humans as well as sentient sub-species that function as serfs for our members."

"The next are the Awakened. They are the largest group in the organization, making up about 95% of Supernatural. These are the basic members of our group, those who have awakened their powers, but their abilities are common and weak."

"Next up on the hierarchy are the Nobles, making up about 4.9% of the total roster. They are Intermediate members, and have much more unique and powerful abilities."

"After that are the Lords. They constitute 0.1% of the roster, and they are the advanced members who can make certain administrative decisions. Their powers are at the peak of their sub-groups, and each one can display enough power to terrorize a city."

Samuel pointed to the 8 members of Supernatural around the table. "We all fall under this category."

"After the Lords are the Superior Lords. There are only a few of them in the organization, not more than 50. They have a right to be present at all administrative meetings and can represent a sub-group in the council with ease."

"Every Superior Lord is like a trump card of our organization, one of our deterrents against our enemies. They are hardly required to act. They are used like nukes; advertised, but not deployed."

"As a Superior Lord, you are entitled to any amount of money from our treasury, as well as full access to all the channels and human organizations we have captured/own."

"For example, your request to protect GloryGore Labs will be considered part of your powers as a Superior Lord, only that it would have to go through some bureaucratic stops first. Of course, for you Superior Lords, these processes are expedited."

Draco raised his hand to stop Samuel here. "A few things before you continue. Firstly, I'll need a list of all sub-organizations Supernatural owns as well as those Supernatural knows about that Superhuman owns."

"Secondly, I'll need the locations of all safehouses, bases and places of note that the organization has or allows access to."

"Thirdly, I'll need all the names of the members from Lords to Superior Lords. Please send all of these to Sanji and Akainu as soon as possible."

The 8 Lords shared and look and nodded. "This is of course. We would send this to you all in detail after this anyway. Is there anything else you would like?"

Draco shook his head. "I'll learn the rest of what I need on my own. I thank you for taking the time to visit me."

The 8 Lords smiled widely. This was their first recruitment of a Control master - even 2 of them! - that went so smoothly. Most other Control masters were old farts, being indifferent to such things.

"We are also grateful for your kindness and geniality Superior Lord Draco. We Lords exist to serve the Superior Lords, so should you ever need us… for any purpose… don't hesitate to call upon us." Keira said in a slightly Slavic accent, her eyes locked upon Draco's form hungrily.

She had been openly ogling him all this while, yet he had ignored her. If it was in Boundless, that was somewhat okay, but she should forget about anything happening between them in the real world.

Draco stood up and bowed lightly to the other before moving to enter the Castle with his men, leaving the satisfied Lords behind. They also packed up and were about to head out when a dismembered head was thrown on the table.

Draco slapped his forehead when he saw the face of the person on the table, as it was the head of the Mayor Ferguson. He had forgotten to call Eva off, since things had been negotiated already. Then again - knowing her - it would have been pointless.

He walked back and put his hand around Eva's waist, as she came out of her invisibility with a heavy frown on her face.

"I'd like you all to meet my wife and soulmate, Eva. She is the most beautiful woman in the world and she despises anyone who stands in our way. Please tread around her carefully, as even I cannot save you if you cross her." Draco introduced Eva with a bitter smile.

Eva folded her arms and raised her nose at the Lords, who also had strange and wry expressions on their faces. While Eva was certainly a beauty on the level of a real goddess, they were superior lifeforms to humans, so her effect on them wasn't as pronounced.

Not to mention that Eva had acceptable control of that aura now, so it wasn't like she absolutely had to wear a veil everywhere anymore.

"We greet Superior Lady Eva." The Lords bowed together, not daring to show disrespect. They could see the cold killing intent and disrespect for the life of others in Eva's black eyes.

She was the stark opposite of Draco, who was genial and very easy to talk to. As such, they made a note to report to the organization that everyone must step lightly around her, and focus communications with Draco.

As for the head on the table…

"Mayor Ferguson was simply a Thrall of our organization, a figurehead we placed there to make our activities in this city easier. Dying at the hands of a Superior Lord is not something even worth reporting to the organization." Julia said with pursed lips.

"Leave it to me. I'll handle the dissemination of news as well as the re-election process. It is nothing to trouble yourself over, my Lord." Genny offered with a smile.

Draco nodded and bowed once more before leaving with Eva. As for Eva herself she just gazed at the fellows with utter disdain and deleted their existence from her mind, right in front of them.

Truly, it was a different feeling to see someone literally forget who you were willingly, and right in front of you too. These 8 Lords looked to each other in dismay before leaving silently.

They left Keith behind, who had seemingly been forgotten by everyone during the whole process. His existence was so inconsequential that not even a common member of the Sanguigno Brothers had bothered to point out that he was there.

He had no forces, no money and no power. He was just a common person among superhumans. How could he be taken as anything but an ant?

This sobered him up and made him realize that he was truly nothing in the scope of things. All the power his family had chased after was but dirt in the eyes of the truly powerful, and this changed his way of thinking.

Keith was at a crossroads. He could try to weasel his way into Superhuman with the information he had been given, and acquire power from them. With their backing, he would be able to resist and find ways to kill Draco!

But this idea was tossed out by Keith almost immediately. He wasn't some braindead fool, who thought himself to be something entirely special.

Superhuman might show themselves generous by just letting him keep his life for this information, yet he knew that no matter what, he would - at most - become just another a cog in the wheel. He would just be throwing away his dog life if he tried to go against Draco.

This left him with two realistic choices. Take the freedom he had been given and live his life normally. He could start a family and even try to edge his way back into the underworld with his sharp ac.u.men as well as the training from Baron D'our.

Or, he could throw away the normal life and continue his life in the dark, working for Draco. The moment he had heard the whole story and gazed at Draco's response, he was able to see much more than the 8 Lords.

There was mocking hidden deep in Draco's eyes, especially when they spoke about the Lineages. It was clear that Draco already knew about this power, so Keith reasoned that he could be a member of one of those groups, hence his absurd power for his age.

He was probably a bastard child, or was born in a side family or something like that which separated him from his source. As such, he could even rise beyond Superhuman and Supernatural in time.

Keith speculated this, but he wasn't sure. He didn't know what his fate would be if he took either choice, and this indecision gnawed at him. He had limited time to choose, as Draco was about to disappear from his sight.

With a steely gaze, Keith rushed up to Draco and got to his knees. "Please accept me into your ranks, Mr. Draco!"

None of the Sanguigno Brothers had stopped him from entering the castle, as he posed no threat. They just watched the proceedings like bystanders.

Even Eva and the others just looked on with mild interest. This further humbled Keith. What was a life-and-death decision to him amounted to nothing but a show for others.

Draco turned around and gazed at Keith sharply, with his light green eyes flashing with surprise and praise. "I expected you to try and join Superhuman for revenge. By bringing them here, I could have gotten more information from them after slaughtering you all."

Keith's heart skipped a beat. So, Draco hadn't forgotten about him, he had just been baiting him to make a very obvious and predictable choice that anyone in his situation would make.

Draco smiled with interest as he brought Keith to his feet. "But since you have shown to possess an IQ above standard, I guess there is a better use for you than just a sacrificial lamb. Go to Akainu and he'll set you up."

Keith had a premonition in his heart at that moment. Something from somewhere told him that he had made the greatest decision of his life at that second.