Sapphire City...

Tretch Forest...

A group of Ten men and women stood right at the entrance and viewed the forest with serious faces while the one woman leading the group turned to address the other nine,

"It's time for inspection. Remember, kill every Beast that has advanced to the Aurora Beast realm and all those at the late and Peak stages of the Phenomenon Beast realm.

It has not been too long since we were last here and whatever beast actually advanced to the Aurora best realm before our arrival can't be experienced enough to make use of their human forms efficiently."

As she said this, she retrieved something from her spatial ring. The tool was flat and circular. Much like a disc and it gave off a whirling sound even though it did not move before it created a projection that was no more than an inch above the disc.

She studied it for a while and then her brows furrowed,

"Strange" she said.

The others also brought out similar discs and their expressions were more if the same as hers.

The disc was a beast tracker. Once close to a beat regardless of the form they take, it will locate them. The range, for now, was only Tretch forest but even then it encompassed the whole of the forest, and the fact that it was showing that there were no Demon beasts present was baffling, to say the least.

"Damn tools. Always so fucking unreliable. Let's split up" the leader said and they all did and went into the forest

It quickly became clear that the disc had not been faulty or unreliable as there truly was no Demon beast in Tretch Forest.

There wasn't even a single Wild beast.

Since in the cosmic realm, cosmic energy was enough for the steady germination of plants, the plants in the forest were growing ever bigger and bountiful as there were now no longer any beast to consume them.

Sure they were still harvested by humans, even more so now that it was their main meal, but Hal had laid down subtle formations that would enhance the intake of Cosmic energy by the plants, thereby enhancing their growth.

The others converged with the leader soon enough,

"Maria, there is not a single beast in this forest. Demonic or Wild."

Maria's eyes widened and she could hardly keep from shaking,

"Where are they? Where the hell did they all go?"

...

Sapphire city was Bustling...

And once the Hunters were out of the Forest and sought to investigate the sudden disappearance of thousands of beasts, it was naturally where they went to.

It was then they could finally appreciate the city's beauty.

They had come here by first arriving at the Barony center's teleportation circle and then traveled from there in a carriage but did not actually stop to view the sights and instead went directly to the forest to hunt down the beasts.

Now they were in here, deciding to move by foot so that they would not draw too much attention to themselves, they saw this 'subordinate city was actually on another level to the Barony's center.

They were quite stunned and who could blame them?

Since Hal left the city, it had gone through stringent renovation to bring it to standards befitting of a city governed by the Benevolent Lord who they had now dubbed a more fitting name.

Upon entry, Maria's group of Ten divided into two as a much smaller group was much less likely to draw attention.

"This is... Salmon city?" Maria asked mostly to herself.

While the hunting squads were usually rotated, this was not her first time in this city. The same could be said of many other veterans in her squad.

"Salmon City? Miss, you can be a visitor and stranger all you want, but we will not condone such an insult" said a vendor in a stall.

How could she possibly know how much the denizens of Sapphire city hated to be reminded or related to the days of the past where they were governed by power-hungry fools.

The era before their Master's rise.

His words took Maria aback and she looked him in the eye while those in her squad frowned,

"Did I say something wrong?" Maria asked.

"Yes, you called us what we are not" the vendor said, and in a bid to quell this annoyance, someone with Maria showed off the pressure of his cultivation but the vendor who was clearly only at the Cosmic Armament realm only sneered,

"What? You want to threaten me? Just try it. You'll realize Sapphire city is not a place where you can act however you please. There are rules here and you must follow them. Visitor or not." He said and other vendors nodded in approval to his words.

"Is this man insane...?" The man said and took a step forward but was stopped by Maria who told the vendor,

"I apologize for my companion's attitude but did you say, Sapphire city"

The Vendor put on a proud smile,

"Oh yes. Our City was renamed after our Lord and Deliverer. The Benevolent One. The Sapphirine Prince"

"The Sapphire what?" Maria was confused,

"The Sapphirine Prince" the vendor clarified and when Maria was just about to ask further questions, a few men and women arrived.

All dressed in Black and Blue military apparel and they frowned at Maria and her group,

"Is there a problem here?" Asked the man leading the group of arrivals.

"Law enforcement? In a city like this?" The one who had released his pressure earlier said in a low tone of voice that only those in his group heard.

Of course, that's what he thought but the Law enforcers had heard it as well, but were willing to ignore it.

"No problem. We've not been to the city in a while and are just having a look around" Maria said with a smile.

Then with a subtle now, she left with her group.

They wee not here to cause trouble. They were here to learn what they could about the disappearance of the Beasts in the Tretch forest.

"Maria, how could you have sounded so apologetic back there?" Asked another one in the group. Actually beating the others to the punch as they had been planning to ask that very question.

"So what would you have done if I let you all have your way, Sean? Burst out your Cosmic Aurora Realm cultivation and beat down a practically defenseless vendor to showcase dominance?

That's pointless. And is certainly not why we are here." Maria said with a frown.

At that time, someone called out from the middle of the city.

It was far from where they were but the voice still reached them as the one calling out had infused his voice with cosmic energy and was able to broadcast aloud to anyone who could and would hear,

"Hear ye, Hear ye. Today is the day. The Ninth day in the Inaugural annual nine-day worship of Sapphirine Prince which is to be conducted by the Priestess of our Lord's cult."

After this, the man stepped off the pedestal he had been standing on and while everyone in the city stayed where they were to begin the worship of the Sapphirine Prince, the two groups of the Hunter squad had dashed to the source of the sound and arrived just in time to gaze upon the Priestess...