Dark Magus Returns

Chapter 1589: The Final Hunt

Gizin owned a startling number of buildings, a sprawling empire befitting the man universally deemed the richest in all of Alterian. Yet, even a magnate like him maintained a singular, universally known headquarters.

His business was built on two primary pillars: enchanted clothing and pharmaceuticals.

In the current headquarters, no official production was underway. Instead, the facility housed the design teams, the marketing experts, the sales divisions, and the administrative staff. The physical site was incredibly empty, a cavernous, air-conditioned void where hundreds of employees should have been working.

The lack of workers wasn’t due to a shortage of funds or a holiday. It was because they had no work to do, and even if they had attempted to clock in, they would never have made it past the front doors.

Outside the immense facility, which was architecturally shaped like a giant, gleaming shopping mall, crowds of people were protesting.

The citizens of Alterian had finally reached their breaking point. They demanded answers for the escalating chaos and the dark revelations surrounding Gizin’s companies, and they flat-out refused to let any of the corporate headquarters operate until they got them.

People were uncovering new, damning information every single day. Shocking side effects from supplements that had never been revealed. They were learning of the horrifying drug trials and the lives that had been crushed before "safe" medicine had ever reached the public’s hands.

However, the protesters and the general public had yet to even uncover the far Darker side of things, the secrets known only to Gizin’s highest echelon.

They didn’t know that the Cerberus Guild was actively working with all of the smaller, allied guilds under their banner to distribute illegal and dangerously unstable substances across the entire realm.

This was a troubling fact that had already spread across the higher echelons of the kingdom, and most of them only kept quiet due to the massive political trouble it would cause with the other Grand Magus. The resulting war would shatter the established order.

The situation was now at a crisis point. Nearly everything to do with Gizin and his vast web of companies was frozen and at a stand-still.

Even his personal financial assets were frozen as well. The economic stranglehold was tightening.

"DAMN IT!" Gizin roared, the sound echoing in the overly spacious, empty office. He slammed his hand down on the sleek, obsidian desk, his face contorted in a mask of pure frustration as he received news of yet another one of his supply companies facing total ruin. The latest casualty hadn’t been an attack by the Dark Guild this time; instead, it was a group of vigilantes taking justice into their own hands.

"What in the hell are the others even doing?" Gizin muttered, pushing himself up, leaning heavily on his walking stick. His body was more than capable of moving without assistance, but the stick was an accessory, a symbol of his power. In the decades he had been in power, his face and his classic fashion sense never seemed to change. He still wore the tight-fitting, high-buttoned blazer, the pristine top hat, and the ever-present, menacing walking stick.

"The Grand Magus have told me to just sit tight and do nothing? Yet they themselves have done nothing to curb this chaos. What is the point of being in the Grand Magus to begin with, if I can’t have basic privileges such as control over my own companies and territories!"

Lifting the ornate, heavy stick high above his head, Gizin then slammed it down onto the polished desk. The wood immediately cracked and crushed, breaking cleanly in half with a deafening splintering sound.

He took several deep, ragged breaths to compose himself. The air in the room was thick with his suppressed rage. Just then, one of the masked Cerebus members swiftly entered the room.

The subordinate spoke rapidly, delivering every bit of available information and providing a full update on the entirety of the dire situation. It appeared there was some desperately needed good news.

"The Dark Guild’s location has been found," the masked member reported, keeping his voice steady despite his master’s fury.

Gizin’s eyes widened, his lips stretching into a savage, hungry grin. "Haha, this is perfect, this is perfect!" he claimed, the manic laughter filling the room. "The tide is turning."

He rapidly assessed his remaining resources. At the moment, there were only thirty Cerebus Guild members remaining, along with the five highly trained members of the Mask.

"The Dark Guild is bigger than I initially thought," Gizin mused, tapping his broken stick on the floor. "With so many members and the protection of the Underside, we will need to mobilize every force we can gather."

He issued a series of rapid, cold orders:

"Contact every allied guild there is. Tell them to come immediately. We will give them every single supplement they can get their hands on to enhance their strength."

"Also, offer massive amounts of money to all of the Black Guilds as well. Some of them will be quite accepting of the money, seeing the state of the economy."

"Pass whatever supplements we can, as well as enchanted clothing gear, to them all. Once everyone has gathered, we will launch the attack. We will destroy the Dark Guild and every single person within it."

He paused, the bloodlust rising in his eyes. "No, not just the Dark Guild. We will eliminate the whole of the Underside for harboring members of the Dark Guild. They are guilty as well."

The Masked man in the room bowed slightly, ready to go ahead with Gizin’s terrifying orders, but he had one crucial question that needed to be answered first.

"Should we inform the other Grand Magus of the plan and the Dark Guild’s location, so they can offer assistance?" the masked person asked carefully.

"No," Gizin said flatly, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "I will be using the entirety of my hidden power to crush them and the Dark Magus myself. If they see how much power I truly possess, they will start asking inconvenient questions."

His grin returned, even wider and more chilling than before.

"After all, I always intended to be the only Grand Magus left. It just looks like I need to get rid of an annoying thorn first."

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