Lance stood tall as he watched down the main capital of the Indigium Region, Tharalas. He’s been pondering for the past months about what happened in Kayon City. They had to resort to another way to put an end to the madman’s doing.

“Canaries are not enough.” He thought.

The top heads of the Canary made sure that everything is in covered. From the riot and the explosion, they made sure that Theo’s doing was covered up with stories. They told people through media that the riot was caused by an uproar of criminals in the city, the police force tried to contain every criminal but failed to do so. Of course, that’s utter bullshit. If they’re going to make a believable story, they wouldn’t have arrested the mayor, but there would be an uproar among the citizens if the mayor wouldn’t be arrested since, in the make-up story, he didn’t create any preemptive plan to make sure that the citizens wouldn’t be hurt, that would be more sensible to hear. The downside is that the Canary has been dragged down along the name of the mayor. They also blame the agents of the Canary that they weren’t able to stop the mayor’s plan sooner, if only they knew the horror they faced.

The upbringing of the Arbiter still strikes fear in his heart. That power is beyond them. They were lucky that the girl was able to damage him. The question is, what power does that girl possess? If they were able to get her first, then maybe they would have a fighting chance against beings like Theo. What’s more pressing matter is Theo’s plan, that man had thought it through, he’s planning all this time to fake his death as a free ride of getting caught. It seems that he knew that his mere presence will shake the balance of this world.

There’s a balance in this world, actually, there are 9 factors that kept this world at balance. The 3 are the 6 allied nations, The Ark Renevaes, and the Arbiter. But out of the 9, the Arbiters from the Hayan Empire are the ones threatening the most. They didn’t spare anyone during their quest of expanding in the past 30 years. They have conquered 34 countries excluding the towns they turned into barracks for amassing armies like they’re planning to conquer the world through an iron fist. Fortunately, their rivals the Ark Renevaes and the royalties from the Retoliam Kingdom, lead the attack and stopped the Hayan Empire from ever-expanding.

Lance was disturbed by his pondering as Ina flicked her hand in front of his face.

“Stop sulking.”

“I am not.”

“Yes, you are.”

Lance sighed. “What is it?”

“The board directors want to meet you.”

Lance and Ina bowed at the directors. The men in uniform applaud them and probe them to start.

“First of all, I would like to thank you for coming and hearing my proposal.”

“Spare us the introduction. We only have a little time. So, why not cut to the chase?”

“I understand. Well then, I would like to talk about my proposal, ‘Project Watcher’.”

It has been two weeks since the board approved his proposal. The purpose of the project is to enhance human capabilities and bridge the gap between the strength of humans and monsters. Unlike Theo’s horrid way, they will conduct the experiment with the willing specimens to undergo specific trials. Theo, Gary, and Ina will be part of the experiment, of course, they’re also part of the canary, they will also take part of it.

“It seems that everything is going smoothly.”

“I never thought that they would go along with your plan.”

“Of course, they will. The knowledge of the existence of Arbiter within our country brought distraught to our leaders. It is something that we cannot simply allow to slip. We all know what had they done during the previous war.” Lance paused and continued, “Theo’s strength alone testifies the might of the military empire.”

“Who would’ve thought that he’s capable of tricking our intelligence network?”

“How would be able to see his actions if even the person who’s supposed to lead that city was also corrupted.”

“I can’t deny that.”

“This country needs a lot of fixing. We almost let that man incite a big stunt of a terrorist act on our borders without bringing our attention. It’s ashamed that the Glade’s mercenary was part of the trepidation and had to cooperate with them to end his ambition.”

Ina contradicted his thoughts. “But without them we cannot hope to stop him, lone enough if he has amassed that large amount of army. If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t be able to make it out alive.”

“You don’t think I don’t know that?” Lance's voice slightly grew furious. “I can’t believe that we had to rely on them. They were supposed to be the criminals.”

What’s more humiliating is the fact that they had to take the credit for taking down the bandits that caused the massive uproar of the city. Of course, they wouldn’t tell anything about the existence of an Arbiter that was the main reason why it all happened, that lone would cause a commotion among the countries and would rose conflict that might lead to future strife, that is something that must not allow happening.

Lance walked the upper echelon glancing down the training as he saw the old and new members of the Canary sparring while waiting for their commander for the upcoming announcement.

The members were over 300 people. Although the amounts of members of the squad are considerably high, most of them are agents that were pulled out of the cities and continents they were assigned of. Some little amounts of crews volunteered to join. So, might as well be said that this upbringing resulted in some disadvantageous and risky result that is now unavoidable.

The first disadvantage of this formation is the survival rate of the experiment. Given that the Canaries are regarded as an important part of the intelligence network of the region, they had to reduce the number of agents, which would lead to the second problem. If the trials would fail, it’s not only the information would be weakened but also the force and the resources they had spent on the enhancement that Lance spoke of.

But considering the existence of Arbiter, they were put in a position that leads them with paranoia and had to make a choice that would give them a military advantage against an Arbiter. Who knows, there could be more than two that are lurking within this continent.

Of course, this is a top-secret project. If the nations would know that they’re developing new weapons, their interest would rise to keen and might be motivated to send spies and develop on their own that will also match theirs. This is the dilemma and cycle that the countries within this continent must bear. This distraught is enough proof of how perilous the Arbiter is. If it would’ve been an Ark Renevae then every nation would flood over its heels to compliment how noble their country they had.

All of them were serious in their training and he could only hear the faint laughter of a friendly fight or the gasping lungs of the people. Lance went down the stairs and already made an impression without even saying any words. The members quickly realized the man and lined up with a stiff expression. Their initiative amazed Lance.

“It seems that you already knew about me.” He started. “And I think I don’t need to say any word as to why all of you are here.”

His gravitas is enough for them to understand why he was chosen as their commander. They even barely made eye contact with him.

“Well, them, without further ado, let us start…”