804 The Future Of Shadow Guardians

"She had to struggle fighting two level 9, now she's taking three! This is madness." Varian complained as he walked off the spaceport and into the ghost ship.

"I could say the same for you." Seth gave Varian a disbelieving gaze. "Barging alone into enemy territory is suicide."

Varian jumped through the ghost ship's entry door and turned around. "No, I don't plan on dying."

Seth clicked his tongue but followed in without a word.

The tutor and pupil were seated face to face as the ghost ship moved out of Neptune and waited in outer space.

Visible to the naked eye, millions of red drones—looking like red butterflies, left Neptune and spread out in space.

Every drone carried the device that Dr. Thomas recently invented—the device to identify a secret realm.

Varian crossed his arms as he waited impatiently.

Thankfully, the device was manufacturable. With this day's technology, mass manufacturing could be done in minutes.

Even though he spent a few minutes acquiring the drones, it was much better than him searching for the secret realm alone.

"We wait?" Seth adjusted himself on the couch as he asked.

"Yeah." Varian turned his attention back to his tutor and noticed that the man had several internal injuries. Not only that, but he was also slightly fatigued.

With a simple gesture, the bots injected him with a healing medicine. Seth already took one, but the medicine Varian used was better and speeded up his healing.

"I know we're in the middle of a crisis. But we got nothing to do now, so, how's everything going, Tutor?" Varian asked.

"The new Shadow Guardians are still in a growth phase. But…" Seth's face had a troubled expression as he leaned back into the couch and sighed.

"Hm? Did anyone cause you any trouble?" Varian's eyes narrowed and he leaned forward.

Unintentionally, a little bit of his killing intent spilled out. Seth's skin stung as the wind grew sharp like a blade. The air grew heavier and a gloomy atmosphere filled the room.

'He's doing this unintentionally?' Seth's eyebrows jumped.

Where did his 'genius' pupil go? This one was clearly a monster! He's a level 9, even though Varian's killing intent couldn't hurt him, he shouldn't even feel this!

Varian misread Seth's reaction and muttered. "So, it's someone you can't speak about? Perhaps a Sovereign? If so, I apologize. Until I become a Sovereign myself or at least an equivalent, I wouldn't touch a Sovereign. I hope you can understand."

"W-Wait, What?" Seth tilted his head and muttered in confusion.

Varian was confused by his confusion. "I jumped to conclusions, I'm assuming?"

"Yes, you did!" Seth laughed. "I don't have any problem with anyone. No Sovereign or level 9 is troubling me. It's just that the problem is with the Guardians themselves. It's weird to say this, but you making them heroes isn't helping."

'Now that's odd. How could a positive reputation hurt?' Varian's eyes flashed and he signaled for Seth to continue.

"Earlier, the Guardians didn't care about fame or profit. They just did what they had to. After Enigma's incident, you elevated them as Heroes Of Humanity. It helped us with recruiting new members. We did strict evaluations and recruited great members." Seth said with an excited expression before sighing. "But here comes

the problem."

"The world, the people, the media, they're watching us. Even the army is revealing the help we're providing. All of a sudden, people are seeing what we really are doing. As a result, many had become overnight heroes."

Varian rubbed his chin as he more or less guessed the 'problem'. "This was a second-order problem. My bad, I didn't think things would steer in this direction."

Seth shrugged, a bit powerless. "These people are still fighting, but they aren't only fighting. Press meets. Social Media. Sponsoring Ads. Luxuries. The list goes on."

"Didn't coerce them?"

"We did. But it's not like we can watch them 24x7. Besides, some old men and women, the ones in level 8, are also enjoying the limelight. They never became the Heroes they dreamed to be." Seth rolled his eyes.

"Now, they're seen as some sort of savior. It's fueling their ego. When even level 8s are like that, you can imagine the younger ones." Seth lowered his head and breathed out a long sigh. "I can't see this situation getting better. The public has given them too much attention. And attention is a powerful addiction."

"Shadow Order was recently destroyed," Varian suddenly said.

Seth raised his head to look at Varian and was about to open his mouth. Yes. Shadow Order's destruction was a great accomplishment. Something that Guardians celebrated grandly.

The new generation proudly proclaimed it the achievement of Shadow Guardians.

While it was true that Shadow Guardians sent all their members and hunted the Order along with the military, the true mastermind behind that incident was the guy sitting in front of him.

"Shadow Guardians was mainly created to protect humanity from internal threats. The internal threats are gone. There are some small gangs and maybe some large mafias. But that's it." Varian smiled coldly and snapped his fingers. "These are small fries. They'll go in a snap."

'A snap?'

That sounded too easy. But Seth didn't dispute. Varian perhaps could really do it in a snap.

Tapping his armrest, Varian continued. "Shadow Guardians have fulfilled their purpose. If they're going down the path of decadence, there's no reason for them to exist."

"…Are you serious?" Seth asked in disbelief.

Varian shrugged. "Even if it doesn't happen now, it will, no, it must happen in the future. Shadow Guardians will be dissolved and transferred to other units.

The internal enemies are dead. Level 7s, 8s, and 9s will only have work at the frontlines. I'm not seeing a point to let them be independent players. Not anymore."

Seth looked at him for a few seconds but didn't say anything. 'Varian suggested me to Guardians so I can continue there for a long time. But even he didn't expect how fast the Order got destroyed. If we make it through this crisis, I need to think about Shadow Guardians seriously.'

It was four minutes since the two entered the ghost ship and Varian's comm rang as the clock was about to hit five minutes.

"Found it!"