Chapter 707: The Situation

Li Mochen never expected that the good fortune he encountered today would not be limited to just one thing.

When the gods, summoned by Eliza, arrived one after another on the twenty-eighth floor of the Destiny Manor magic tower, Li Mochen first received good news from Bethel Einstein. This 'Lord of Truth' had achieved an epic breakthrough in the study of the power of Slaanesh.

"The magic array I designed is based, first, on some basic characteristics of chaotic evil power, and second, on desire itself. When a person's desire increases and they become tainted with evil power, both their body and soul undergo slight changes. It's like drug addicts—they inevitably harm their own bodies and souls."

"In addition, I have also incorporated Your Majesty's divine emblem into it. As far as I know, Your Majesty has recently been focusing on the divine power of identification and perception? I don't know how far you've progressed, but I believe your talent and wisdom will eventually lead you to the pinnacle of this path."

"It is estimated that this magic array can already help us identify the vast majority of Slaanesh's followers, and the cost is not high. It can be completed for three hundred million gold shields, ensuring that all important locations in major cities are equipped with one, leaving the children of Slaanesh nowhere to hide."

Einstein then took out a glass bottle filled with blood-red liquid: "And for more detailed identification, people can be injected with this agent. Its main ingredient comes from unicorn blood. I have conducted thorough experiments and found that the blood of these sacred beings is completely incompatible with chaotic evil power—they are two extremes. So theoretically, as long as a sufficient amount of unicorn blood is injected into a person, any evil follower will be exposed. The problem now is that the number of unicorns is too small. They were rare in ancient times, and in modern times they have been extensively hunted. The total number we have is less than six hundred and thirty. You need to find a way to expand their population, Your Majesty! The faster, the better."

Then the report from 'First Source' Paracelsus also lifted Li Mochen's spirits: "My latest research is based on the magic array designed by Lord Einstein. On the basis of helping us detect many early-stage contaminants, I have developed a complete set of treatment and purification methods that can free those who have not yet completely fallen into desire and pleasure from the influence of Slaanesh. However, such people require long-term monitoring; they are like drug addicts, always at risk of relapsing. This tests personal determination and willpower. So I recommend that after three treatments, they be gathered together for unified management."

Li Mochen was overjoyed at the research results of the two men, but also troubled by the number of unicorns. Fortunately, the livestock industries in America and Australia were very developed.

"The magic array must be promoted as soon as possible! It must be installed in all cities. As for the unicorns, I will entrust this matter to Lady Artemis and Lady Nightingale. The gods related to animal husbandry will be at their disposal, and funding will be unlimited."

Artemis had always been the protector of the unicorn race, a deity trusted by unicorns, while Nightingale presided over fertility and nursing.

"I hope to complete the popularization of this magic array within three months and launch a large-scale cleaning operation worldwide. At the very least, we must ensure the purity and reliability of the high-level officials of various governments and the internal personnel of the church."

Li Mochen then turned to instruct his assistant Eliza Targaryen: "Recruit some top-tier biologists and form several powerful project teams. The goal is to increase the reproductive efficiency of unicorns. Try test-tube methods, cloning, or anything else. Or, based on the characteristics of their blood, create imitation drugs with similar effects."

Especially cloning—waiting for newborn unicorns to grow up would take who knows how long.

The second piece of good news came from 'the God of Microorganisms, Viruses, Bacteria, and Vaccines,' Carlson. After the invasion of the Blood Feast Maggots, he had made a breakthrough in microbiology and had entered the pseudo-truth rank.

With the elevation of his main divine duty, he would soon become a pseudo-god king with a divine rank of nineteen.

This was undoubtedly a shot in the arm for the Destiny Pantheon, greatly boosting Li Mochen's confidence in combating Nurgle.

To reward Carlson's contributions, Li Mochen publicly bestowed a powerful mythical artifact—the 'Eye of Vitality,' which contained the truth 'Vitality' and the pseudo-truth 'Life.'

This was one of Li Mochen's recent acquisitions, capable of granting immense vitality. But in the hands of the God of Microorganisms, Carlson, it had even greater utility.

This item was envied by many gods, especially 'the God of Surgery, Medicine, Modern Medicine, and Healthcare,' Patrick. He knew that if his medical divine power could reach the pseudo-truth level before Carlson, he might not necessarily be the first to receive the 'Eye of Vitality' as a reward.

After all, in terms of merit, he was only slightly behind Carlson.

But he was confident that the next to receive a pseudo-truth-level mythical artifact from the hands of the Lord of Destiny would be him, Patrick.

"Your Majesty, we have been focusing on improving sanitation in major cities and conducting health campaigns worldwide. We have established epidemic monitoring and response mechanisms in various places. I assure you they are comprehensive and reliable, ensuring that any outbreak can be detected at the earliest moment."

"We have also set up 3,200 epidemic hospitals worldwide, with a total of 9.6 million negative-pressure wards. Additionally, we have stockpiled a large number of container-type assembly wards and field tents, which can increase the number of wards to 20 million in an emergency. Large quantities of orders are still in production, and in the next three months, the number of wards can be doubled."

"Various medical devices capable of dealing with epidemics are also under continuous construction. Currently, our orders can guarantee the use of at least 50 million people."

"Everything else is fine, but I see from your report that the vast majority of these hospitals are located in the New and Old Continents, right?"

Li Mochen frowned: "In India and Africa, the number of such specialized hospitals built accounts for only 12% of the total. I remember mentioning that my Destiny Foundation can provide a 40% subsidy for the construction of each epidemic hospital."

"I'm helpless, Your Majesty. Even if you cover 40% of the costs, it is still a very heavy burden for them."

The God of Healthcare, Patrick, spread his hands: "But economy and finance are only one aspect; the bigger issue is the shortage of manpower. We cannot find qualified doctors and nurses there. Moreover, the Indian pantheon has clearly stated that their followers do not need our concern; they have ample experience in dealing with Nurgle, and India will have no problems."

Li Mochen's face twitched slightly; he had probably heard about how the Indian pantheon dealt with the Plague King.

"Alright, forget about India. But we need to continue strengthening Africa. The shortage of medical staff should be addressed by mobilizing personnel from various countries for support. Your report mentions that large-scale training of reserve nursing staff is underway. That's a good method, but the scale is still too small. Both nursing staff and epidemiological specialists need to be increased."

Li Mochen said calmly: "You need to design a plan to increase nursing staff as much as possible. We must give this Chaos Lord the utmost attention."

The fourth piece of good news came from the Dark World. The two Horuses and the Aesir pantheon had once again erupted in a great war that lasted five days and nights. Both sides suffered heavy losses. Ultimately, with the support of the Destiny gods, the Church of Light killed two divine-rank-nineteen abominations of the Aesir pantheon and forced the gods under Thor to retreat back to the Dark Abyss.

This achievement was indeed glorious, but in the Dark World controlled by those two Creation Gods of the previous era, these abominations could be resurrected at any time. The current victory was just something to hear about, not to be taken too seriously.

However, this battle showed that neither the Lord of Light nor the Aesir pantheon was currently capable of interfering with the situation in the Light World.

This could be seen from the recent frequency of demonic disasters, which had decreased by at least half compared to two months ago.

Undoubtedly, the battle of the Blood Feast Maggots two months ago had exhausted the reserves of the Aesir pantheon and the Church of Desire. But if it weren't for the two Horuses tying them down, the abominations of the Dark Abyss would have intensified their killings and spread fear to collect fuel for their resurrection.

This greatly reduced the pressure on intelligence agencies and disaster response organizations in various countries. The branches of the Divine Wing Knights stationed on various continents had not been deployed for over a month.

Next, they discussed starships, various biochemical implants, and the construction of magical power armor.

Originally, the Destiny Pantheon had a comprehensive plan to build a total of 1,700 starships, fifty Divine Will Legions, seventy Divine Wing Knight Orders, and an eight-million-strong Outer Domain Legion within the next five years.

However, the cooperation with Duke Dak completely disrupted their plans. According to the preliminary agreement reached with Duke Dak, their military production capacity had to be increased by more than three times in the next two years.

This required massive factories, employees, and industrial raw materials, involving every aspect.

"This requires a huge amount of funding for systematic training of workers. Neither the production of magical power armor nor biochemical implants can be done by ordinary people. Most positions require highly specialized skills."

Anthony was both delighted and troubled: "I hope to relax immigration restrictions in America and the New Continent. It can be expected that once this production plan is realized, we will face a severe labor shortage. Also, regarding the Dark World and the Mist Continent, we need more hunting groups and more pioneering companies."

He was the Lord of Machinery and Industry; any expansion of machinery and industry could effectively enhance his authority.

But the demands of Duke Dak were indeed too much for him.

Bismarck added: "If cooperation can really be achieved, it will still be very beneficial to us. It can effectively reduce unemployment. However, at the same time, we must guard against inflation. The influx of foreign funds will make our money less valuable. I suggest implementing artificial intelligence in major light industries, replacing humans with machines to reduce production costs. In addition, we must strictly control housing prices. If the social atmosphere is too lax and too leisurely, it will allow Slaanesh's power to grow. But if people don't feel happy, that will also make society a breeding ground for the growth of chaotic power."

"We still need to increase the population; our population is severely insufficient."

Athena said thoughtfully: "Considering the future star domain campaigns and the advent of the star colonization era, the tens of billions of people currently under the control of the Destiny Pantheon are far from enough. But regrettably, fertility rates are declining year by year in both the New and Old Continents. And even in China, it's not much better."

Li Mochen thought that this issue must be addressed; a declining population was also detrimental to the nourishment of the Destiny Pantheon.

After a long deliberation, he made a decision: "Lady Athena, ask the Goddess of Love and Desire, Venus, and the Goddess of Hope, Pandora, if they are willing to come and join my pantheon!"

Pandora was likely willing; her husband, the God of Afterthought, Epimetheus, was Prometheus's brother, and three of his four brothers were already serving him.

Venus was uncertain; there was still great enmity between this Goddess of Love and Desire and himself.

Li Mochen had seized many of her followers and had once used a Divine Will sniper rifle to blast Venus to the brink of death.

In fact, if possible, he would prefer to cultivate the divine duties of love, desire, and hope internally. But the problem was that his subordinates could never achieve the ultimate, or even pseudo-truth, level in these three divine powers overnight.

These three divine duties were not only related to population but also closely tied to resisting Slaanesh.

The best way to counter Chaos, besides maintaining social stability, was to use gods with similar divine duties to intercept and usurp the source power of those Chaos Gods.

But if these gods lacked sufficient authority, how could they qualify to contend with Slaanesh and Tzeentch?

※※※※

"You must have heard about how the King of No Land was defeated by that Lord of Destiny, right?"

While the meeting of the Destiny gods was underway on the twenty-eighth floor of the Destiny Manor magic tower, an avatar of the Lord of Slaanesh arrived at a bay on the continent of Antolia.

The place was desolate, devoid of human traces. There was only a small dock, a wooden house, and an old man fishing from a small boat.

"Quite an interesting situation. Over a dozen ancient gods of divine rank nineteen and above were dealt with by him in a very short time. Even one of the King of No Land's divine avatars was nearly killed by a single shot from him."

"I've heard about that."

The old man leisurely threw a crab he had caught onto his small boat: "But what exactly are you trying to say, Slaanesh? Are you asking for my help?"

"Help? If that can bring you pleasure, I can accept that explanation."

The Lord of Slaanesh chuckled: "I just want to remind you that it won't be long before he becomes a true God of Destiny. Oh, I forgot, you can prophesy. So can you foresee when he will become the Supreme God of this world?"

"I know. I have even seen the scene of his coronation as the Supreme God. Believe me, that day will come much sooner than you imagine. At that time, neither we nor the Emperor will be able to invade this world anymore. The Supreme God who controls time and destiny can even be powerful enough to confront the Terra Empire and all Chaos head-on in this realm."

This statement from the old man clearly piqued Slaanesh's curiosity, but he smiled slightly: "You really want to know, don't you? I won't tell you."

"Fine, don't tell me. I don't care."

The Lord of Slaanesh curled his lips in disdain: "Are you sure you truly prophesied that, or was it a 'false vision'? Can a truth-level fate and time be prophesied by you?"

His tone turned firm: "Listen, I don't know what kind of conspiracy you're planning in secret, but if you need my help, let me know as soon as possible. That guy's power is no longer something any one of us can suppress alone. Of course, if you decide to let him become the master of this world, I have no objection. As long as the Emperor doesn't get his hands on those things, anything is fine."

His voice began to dissipate, and his consciousness had already departed from there.

"If I think it's necessary, I'll notify you."

The old man smiled: "Also, I suggest you lie low recently. I know that guy's identification and purification abilities have grown stronger—stronger than you can imagine."

The Lord of Slaanesh heard this after returning to the Pantheon. He raised an eyebrow and then sneered.

"It seems Your Majesty has gained something?"

Gaia had been watching the Lord of Slaanesh's expression. Her eyes flickered: "That lord has indeed entered this world, hasn't he?"

"Two of them!"

Slaanesh looked up and gazed toward the direction of the Destiny Divine Kingdom: "They can't sit still. That Lord of Destiny has made a huge gain outside and is now capable of identifying the children of Chaos. This will give him the ability to contend with us. To some extent, this will also be a death warrant for many."

Zeus's spirits lifted: "That is to say, a new war is coming, right? Approximately when?"

"That depends on the extent of the power they have brought into this world. Take Tzeentch, for example. With his prophetic ability and strategy, if his power descended into the Light World before the year 4000 of the Light Calendar, he would never have allowed that Lord of Destiny to grow to this point."

Slaanesh spread his hands: "But I guess it won't be more than half a year. So be patient; we need to give them some time to prepare."

Actually, it was also his and the Emperor's fault. The latter had been using his power to hide this world. And he, Slaanesh, after the disastrous defeat in the Dark Abyss thousands of years ago, had also done everything possible to keep this dual-faced world from appearing in the sight of Tzeentch and Nurgle.

Only Khorne, whom He believed He could control, was lured here by His deliberate or inadvertent provocation.

But now, Slaanesh felt a slight regret for His past actions.

※※※※

On the twenty-eighth floor of the Magic Tower of Destiny, after all the agenda items were concluded, the gods of destiny gathered there had yet to disperse.

At this moment, the eyes of all present were filled with envy, greed, longing, and other emotions.

“This Hammer of Judgment is temporarily lent to you for use, Your Highness Estatin.”

Li Mochen, seated on the throne, waved his hand and sent his ‘Hammer of Judgment’ before Bethel Estatin, the ‘Lord of Truth’ and also the ‘God of Truth and Justice’.

“I hope you can wield this artifact, fairly oversee the laws of the people, and devote all your strength to me and the Destiny Pantheon. Of course, remember to pay an annual rental fee of one million soul gold coins.”

Since acquiring the ‘Will of the Gods’ spear and the ‘All-Heaven Thunderfire Star Core Sword Formation’ at the pseudo-truth level, along with ‘Andre’s Root Hand’, ‘Ancient Dust Mountain Seal’, and ‘Life Authority Seal’, the mythical artifact ‘Hammer of Judgment’ was no longer of much use to Li Mochen, and even hindered the use of other divine artifacts.

Letting this item rot in his hands was undoubtedly foolish, but currently, no one in the Destiny Pantheon had achieved merits sufficient to obtain a pseudo-truth divine artifact.

Even the angels under his command were in debt. Previously, the mythical artifacts they received from Li Mochen were obtained through debt, and they had yet to earn enough merits to repay this heavy debt.

Among them, the ‘Battle Angel’ Robert and the ‘Eternal Angel’ Atlas, who fought most frequently, were close to paying off, but they had no use for this item.

So after deep thought, Li Mochen came up with this method: granting Estatin the right to use it, but the latter must pay a certain rent.

A rent of one million soul gold coins was quite a burden for a main god, but Li Mochen had to collect it, otherwise he could not satisfy the mouths of the gods.

Moreover, not only the ‘Hammer of Judgment’, but also the next few artifacts, Li Mochen intended to handle in the same way.

Now, he had more than one powerful divine artifact in his hands. Besides the ‘Hammer of Judgment’, Li Mochen had seized many good things from the outer realms, and there was also the ‘Hand of Natural Order’, an extremely powerful mythical artifact.

Li Mochen had a premonition that the storms in the coming years would only intensify. Therefore, these unowned mythical artifacts must be quickly placed into the hands of his subordinates. Only then could they be transformed into actual combat power as soon as possible.

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

Estatin bowed slightly and put the small hammer into the pouch at his waist: “Your will shall be carried out!”

Li Mochen could see that the old man was very happy, his face glowing. But whether it was for the enhanced combat power after obtaining the ‘Hammer of Judgment’ or for having a new research subject, Li Mochen was not sure.

“Please step forward, Your Highness Artemis, Goddess of Nature.”

Artemis seemed to sense something; she walked respectfully before Li Mochen and knelt on one knee.

“I can lend you this ‘Hand of Natural Order’ for use, with an annual rent of five million soul gold coins. Can you accept?”

Li Mochen was actually quite conflicted about the ‘Hand of Natural Order’. Artemis’s merits were far from sufficient for this mythical artifact.

Yet it was the same problem as with Venus: currently, under his command, aside from Artemis, there was no other nature deity available. Moreover, behind her was the Sun God, whom he needed to win over.

So Li Mochen set a very high price: five million soul gold coins. Before taking Australia, the entire annual income of the Destiny Pantheon was no more than this.

Of course, this price was also reasonable; renting for three thousand years would total fifteen billion soul gold coins, enough to buy this mythical artifact.

Artemis agreed very readily: “I accept, Your Majesty. This is a fair deal!”

She currently had less than six million soul gold coins in her treasury, enough for only one year’s rent. But in Artemis’s view, that one year alone would allow her to make great progress in the laws of nature. She would also try to earn enough merits during that year to offset the rent or directly exchange for it.

Next, four others, including ‘First Source’ Paracelsus, were granted the right to rent pseudo-truth-level divine artifacts.

Then nine ultimate mythical artifacts were also bestowed by Li Mochen to their temporary owners.

After the gods dispersed, Li Mochen clearly sensed that the divinity of almost all gods had changed somewhat.

This was reflected in the fact that after the meeting, thirty gods of powerful god rank or above approached Bismarck, attempting to take on additional tasks to gain more merits.

In the past, this was a scenario that only appeared in Li Mochen’s dreams. These ancient gods were often lazier than sloths.

Previously, when Li Mochen issued a divine decree, it might take ten days or half a month to be executed. Only the angels under his command would carry out his instructions immediately.

Additionally, the overall cohesion and loyalty of the pantheon had significantly improved. Li Mochen did not feel it directly, but the report submitted by the ‘Spy Angel’ Reinhard Heydrich revealed this change.

The gods’ daily conversations and spontaneous actions to protect the pantheon were all turning for the better.

Of course, this was predictable. Everyone likes a leader who can bring them security and benefits, and Li Mochen was undoubtedly such a leader.

And after that day, thanks to his increasingly powerful sensory and discernment abilities, Li Mochen clearly detected that chaotic forces throughout the world were breeding and growing in corners beyond the reach of his divine radiance.

Although the entire Destiny Pantheon was busily and quietly implementing various measures to combat chaos, and progress was fairly smooth, the sense of danger in Li Mochen’s heart grew stronger.

Danger was approaching, but this time Li Mochen could only wait passively; he could not think of a suitable method to actively strike at the enemy’s forces.

Li Mochen also could not predict how the opponent would act, nor could he determine which targets or levels under his command might become the enemy’s attack points.

The most dangerous situation since his ascension to godhood was approaching.

※※※※

In February of the year 4113 of the Light Calendar, three months after Li Mochen’s return, at the Nason Headquarters Building, Carl Holton, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Nason Military-Industrial Complex, strode into the conference room adjacent to his office and slammed the documents in his hand heavily onto the conference table.

“Who made this production plan? Not enough! Far from enough! Neither the construction of factories nor the number of employees we recruit meets the quantity we will need in the future.”

Holton tapped the long table with his fingers: “Our production tasks are heavy, everyone! This is only the first cooperation with the Asura. It is expected that the scale of our cooperation will expand tenfold on the current basis in the future! And the Pangu Pantheon, it is said they also intend to cooperate. We need more factories, more employees, more human resource reserves.”

Two days earlier, the Destiny Pantheon had guided governments and major military enterprises to formally sign an equipment supply agreement with the Asura.

This was a substantial transaction, including 1,500 various types of starships, 30 million sets of various models of magic-powered armor, and numerous weapons including heavy tanks and armored vehicles, with a total value of 1.2 billion soul gold coins, all in cash prepayment. Additionally, a large amount of technical data, as well as precision machine tools and production lines from the Terra Empire and various technological civilizations, were provided.

As one of the most loyal allies of the ‘Light Magic-Sunrise’ alliance, Nason Military-Industrial Complex received a seven percent share of this order.

This was a fortune that left everyone stunned, invigorating the entire group like a shot of adrenaline, with everyone excited and unable to contain their passion.

“I agree. It’s hard to understand. The HR department’s recruitment plan for this year is only 270,000 people.”

This was an executive director present: “According to my understanding, the Asura have over 2,000 warlords across the entire star domain, each commanding armed forces of over 30 million people, most of whom need equipment replacement. Considering wartime consumption, this is a business that will take us ten thousand years to complete. As for the Pangu Pantheon, their order volume will only surpass that of the Asura. Huaxia alone cannot fully absorb their orders.”

“I think Director Li De is absolutely right!”

Holton looked coldly at those present: “Gentlemen, this will be a grand carnival beyond your imagination. In the near future, the whole world will worry about labor shortages. If we fail to seize the initiative, Nason Military-Industrial Complex will surely be at a disadvantage in future order shares. That is unacceptable to me and a crime against all shareholders of Nason Military-Industrial Complex.”

“The problem is, where will these employees come from? We also need to consider practical issues.”

A middle-aged man at the upper right corner of the conference table smiled bitterly: “This year, the total number of graduates in physics, chemistry, and magic patterns across all of America is only nine million—I mean those who meet professional standards, excluding community schools. And the vast majority of these nine million will be snapped up by Light Magic Industry and Sunrise Industry. The rest will be left for us three major military-industrial complexes. If we lack employees, expanding production is out of the question.”

At this moment, the conference room was filled with complaints and curses.

“Damn happy education has left most of our labor force lacking sufficient quality. In the past, we could transfer to Huaxia, but now they are also overloaded with orders. We could relax immigration restrictions, but the quality of these immigrants is not high either.”

“Mr. Holton, we have visited all schools in California. The current situation is really not optimistic. The number of 270,000 is already the maximum we can achieve. We are even considering persuading retirees to return to work.”

“The job market is also helpless. On one hand, the service industry has an excess of labor; on the other, there is an extreme shortage of qualified industrial talent.”

“Then increase wages!”

Holton’s voice was deafening, causing several directors present to change color: “Don’t think this breaks industry rules. The battle for talent will intensify in the future, and poaching between major companies will become the norm. Therefore, adjustments to the salary structure are foreseeable. If we cannot stabilize our workers, we will surely fall into an extremely passive position. I can guarantee that Light Magic Industry and Sunrise Group already have plans to raise wages. Gentlemen, please be aware that the golden age of the world has arrived, and the unemployment rate will drop to appalling levels in the future.”

Seeing many present fall silent, Holton pondered and said: “We can also build our own professional schools, recruiting young people from society for professional training. Depending on their education level, training can last three months, six months, one year, or even two years. We can waive tuition fees and provide loans, signing a longer-term employment agreement. They will accept it; this is their chance to change their destiny. Funding is not a problem; the prepaid soul gold coins from the Asura have arrived.”

“Additionally, we can sign talent supply agreements with universities in various countries, reserving some of their outstanding students by offering scholarships and American work visas. Also, artificial intelligence needs further promotion; we need to invest more funds in this area. Of course, these are just my personal ideas. You can supplement with specific implementation methods or better approaches.”

“I think it’s feasible. Although the chairman’s proposal is a bit radical, preparing more now won’t hurt.”

This was another director, dressed in a general’s uniform but without rank insignia: “Production capacity also needs to be appropriately expanded on the current basis. Additionally, raw materials—”

He paused: “Although the Asura guarantee sufficient raw material supply, I believe the company should also expand its own material supply system. On one hand, it’s profitable; on the other, it’s a precaution. In the myriad realms, our products should have no trouble finding buyers. I think with sufficient material supply, even if the Asura stop cooperating with us in the future, the company will not suffer. So I suggest the company allocate more funds for armed forces and development companies in the dark world.”

“This is the second thing I wanted to talk about—”

Holton had just reached this point when he heard a ‘bang’ explosion from outside. He walked in surprise to the inner glass window and looked down into the central atrium.

Then he saw a mess there: twenty or thirty people lying nearby, some dead or injured, and a blood-colored figure fleeing rapidly toward the stairs.

But this figure was soon intercepted. The three demigods stationed in the Nason Headquarters Building quickly cornered him. With a burst of flesh and blood, a huge airwave erupted inside the headquarters, triggering screams from the floors below.