“They’ll deal with this easily, you said. We’re allowed to defend ourselves when attacked directly, so let’s crush Thoma and his pet flatfoots, you said. It’ll make a statement, it won’t matter that we’re not allowed to go on the offensive unless directly attacked because no one will dare go after us now.” A man wearing a stone mask growled “And what happened? Pestilence is dead. War died, and Thoma didn’t even have to lift a bloodyfinger, the coppers did it without needing help. This is why we let Fox handle the plans, not the berk with the name everyone misunderstands when they hear it.”

“Kronos, shut it.” Another figure, face covered by a serpent mask, hissed “It’s not Utgardloki’s fault that you’re ignorant of mythology. Also, calm down, a couple of [Aspirants] died. We already had one [Aspirant for the Mantle of War] die, we know that others can gain that [Class] if they hit the fourth Evolution with the right mindset, feats, and Aspects. Sure, it’ll be a pain to replace them, but we can replace them.”

“Besides, you’re looking at this all wrong.” This time, the speaker was wearing a blue-ish rocky mask, showing a grinning face “Kronos, Kronos, Kronos, you’re treating this like it’s all about the material. Deaths, broken materials, and so on. They’re scared, they’re scrambling, and now, they’re going to fuck up massively.”

“Utgardloki is right.” A mountain of a man sitting at the head of the table, a jet-black mask covering his face, rumbled “Powerleveling politicians to save the nation? That’s going to be a shitshow for the ages.”

“If it goes somewhere, it’ll still be a problem. The right country-wide buffing [Skills] could throw a real spanner into the works.” The featureless figure at the head of the table announced, the glowing skull they had for a mask shifting into a massive grin “So how about we mess with him first? Call your contacts, and tell them about the top-secret leveling program, act like they wouldn’t have found out about this in short order anyway. Make it sounds like there’s a conspiracy afoot to some, and tell the others it’s an exclusive program that they can get into if they only they ask. Let’s see our dear friend Dr. Thoma deal with that.”

Utgardloki started cackling at the thought.

“And it’s not like we don’t have years yet to make plans against anyone who looks like they’re getting too strong. They’re in the public eye, we know everything they can do, and when we finally go after them, it’ll be with someone purpose-built to counter their every move.” A man in a fox mask said “We should probably clear out of Germany until then, though. There are too many clues to our operations there out and about, and before someone starts using those to track us internationally, we should just pull out and leave it at that.”

“Pull out? Leave? Coward!” a figure wreathed in illusionary fire spat, finger accusingly pointing at the clock on the wall, eternally counting down to the date when they’d be free to act as they wished “We got attacked, and one man was central to it. Let’s go after him, call it … preemptive self-defense? Are you really willing to sit on your asses while that man goes after everything we’re trying to build?”

“The real question is: how stupid are you?” Utgardloki asked, “You’re trying to rules-lawyer a divine decree, do you really think anyone will choose ‘oh, you’re right, I didn’t phrase that right’ over turning you into a smear on the pavement, eh Surtur?”

The flames burned higher, the only thing keeping the room from turning into an oven being the fact that they weren’t real “Ah yes, let’s hide behind ‘logic’ and pretend you and Fox aren’t shitting your pants at the thought of having to fight?”

“Behave, all of you.” The figure at the head of the table cut in “We will obey the decree as it was issued. But we will not sit idle. We will plan, we will prepare, and the next person who has the audacity to raid us will be met with an army equipped and trained to counter them specifically. The world will burn, and we will gain life eternal!”

The behemoth in the black mask was the first to raise his voice in assent, but it didn’t take long for the others to join in, the cheers shaking the very room itself.