Guild Wars

"This conflict? Are you sure you want to know?" Draco asked with a smile towards the news anchor.

"That's right, the people at home are curious to know what could have possibly sparked such a conflict that has led to so many casualties… on one side," Nadia had to assert after forcibly regaining her composure.

Draco was amused. He could already tell that this Nadia woman was from Supernatural, both she and her cameraman. That was why she could resist his passive allure so easily, because her supernatural gene was of the vampire race.

The vampires of Supernatural had always been extremely friendly to him and Eva as official members of their highest echelon group, so this was also a form of support they sent to help Draco clarify to the world that he was the victim here.

The intention was kind and commendable, but it was wasted on him. He had never cared about being perceived as the good guy given the many things he had done in Boundless over the years, even forcing players to live less than dogs for many years.

"Actually, it's quite simple. The World Council wanted to suppress Glorygore Studios, the company behind the game Boundless world, since it's gaining unprecedented influence over society. If not for legalization forcing people to work, who would still be out here in the real world instead of within the game?"

In a rather out-of-character fashion, Draco directly played along and revealed the overarching issue directly on air. This caused the faces of Nadia and her cameraman to show slight excitement, glad that their Superior Lord (the highest title in Supernatural Eva and Draco possess) could understand the cue!

The faces of the World Councilors became ugly as this issue was exposed on open air, with Rosa Astor slamming her palm on the table and making a sharp order.

"Shut down that program this instant!"

The technicians within the room began to work, but their foreheads were soon creased with sweat. The faces of the other councilors slowly became impatient as they saw that the program still hadn't been shut down, glancing at their technicians with dark eyes.

David Collins chuckled and played a game on his monitor while speaking candidly. "Don't glare at them like that, it's clear that some force is interfering with our directives in the shadows."

The technicians released sighs of relief that there was at least one young councilor who understood their sufferings. David's words made the other councilors realize that this must be the case, because they could even transfer money from someone's account with a simple order, so how could they be unable to shut down some TV station?

Back at the battlefield, Nadia's eyes gleamed as she quickly capitalized on Draco's words.

"That's horrible! The Glorygore Studios have already gone through so many layers of suppression, even being dragged to the Human Rights Council for a hearing three years ago. Are you saying that the powers that be still wish to suppress them even further?!"

Draco nodded emphatically. "That is the case. As you said, they have already attacked Glorygore Studios publicly through the Human Rights Council, but that hearing only proved to the world that the evil comes not from the world, but from the human heart."

Draco sighed dramatically. "As such, they decided that the best way to target them was by pulling the rug from under Glorygore Studios' top beneficiary, which was us, the Purgatory Group in reality and the mighty Umbra guild in the game. A little bit of calculation should show you why the World Council would do this."

The people around the world watching this were furious. They cursed the tyrannical World Council that had been oppressing them brutally ever since World War 3 came to an end. Even the UN of the previous era didn't dare to go as overboard as they did.

What the World Council did not know was that the AI, upon learning of this, directly livestreamed the entire news into the game and paused time so all players could only focus on it. This way, not a single person on the planet would miss it, unless they were not in the game and not near their TV in reality.

"And how did the powers that be affect this on the Purgatory Group? What manner of cruelty did they perform on you to warrant such a desperate attempt to fight for freedom?" Nadia asked as she played along, her voice filled with righteous indignation.

Draco looked upwards, a tear shedding from the corner of his eyes, the weight of his emotions and pain causing even the still spectating tattooed warriors to feel a certain sadness in their hearts. Nadia directly wiped her eyes while her cameraman gulped audibly and felt his throat becoming heavy. Continue your saga on empire

Even the nine councilors couldn't help but lower their heads slightly, feeling like they had crossed the line this time. Was it truly right to put pressure on such a fragile group of youngsters just for their greedy ambitions?

"They… they…" Draco began slowly, his voice laden with grief.

Nadia nodded comfortingly, as if telling him that he was safe to talk about it.

Draco shut his eyes and roared out his pain at once!

"They accused us of tax evasion!"

Nadia: …

Cameraman: …

World Council: …

People of the world: …

Primordials who were secretly listening in: …

Eva and Shuangtian: cough blood and faint

Nadia's expression froze as she was about to join him in condemnation, while the tattooed warriors felt their energy dissipate. The people who were at home had their eyes widened to the point that they resembled moe anime characters from the early 2000s.

T-Tax evasion?!

Nadia chuckled weakly and knew she couldn't let her shock be too apparent, so she quickly continued. "How terrible! This must have been a false claim to force the Purgatory Group to concede their finances and be arrested, right?"

Everyone focused on Draco once more, realizing that this should be the case. Even though tax evasion was not something they expected to hear and sounded ridiculous, how could the number 1 guild possibly fail to pay tax?

Even the Glorygore Studios paid their taxes dutifully while the Intermediary Trade Center that players used to change their in-game items as well as in-game coins to real-world money was monitored by the World Council, the various tax, banking, and credit agencies worldwide as part of Glorygore's ways of forcefully targeting the entirety of human life to the game.

Some people who own no assets and are piss-poor in reality can take corporate-level loans from banks now because of their wealth in the game. Some rich people in reality with nothing in the game have to mortgage their houses and put all their assets as collateral for minor loans to kickstart their lives in Boundless.

Given that Umbra was the number 1 guild, the money they made could rival that of a country on its own, so how much could they possibly owe?

"No, we do owe. We have never paid a single cent of tax since we were established, and our arrears are around $20 trillion. Paying our taxes today—plus the penalty from the default—could likely pay off 70% of the Central Country's debt at once," Draco revealed quite casually, his aggrieved expression disappearing.

Ah?

Everyone, whether present here or watching from around the world, tilted their heads in confusion. They felt like their brains couldn't keep up with all the drama, and many were beginning to wonder if this was some sort of prank or comedy show.

Nadia felt like her hair was about to fall out, tears almost forming in her eyes as she wondered why things had switched up like this. The cameraman behind her was also dumbfounded, wondering why their Superior Lord was playing along at first but was now causing trouble.

"Erm… that is…" Nadia didn't know how to salvage this situation.

Draco seemed to not care. "In fact, the World Council is in the right. They may be despicable, but which absolute power isn't? At least they have a voting process and considerations when they do things here. I am the God King of Boundless, controlling the entire mortal world in which most of you play, and at my whim, I can reduce you all to nothing."

"I, more than anyone, have a full idea of how difficult it is to remain moral when faced with the power to control the world. So on that note, I will commend the World Council."

"Also, even though they are technically my benefactor, I will say the World Council pursuing and suppressing Glorygore Studios is somewhat correct. This is a faction that came out of nowhere, had no ties to anything, no weaknesses that can be exploited, and is growing faster than the beanstalk in that famous fable."

Draco playfully rubbed his chin. "The moment AI technology matures greatly and the various functions of the world can be automated, who would still be outside or care about the outside? Everyone would be in Boundless exploring their future, so by that time, who would be the ruler of the world? The World Council or Glorygore Studios?"

Many people were quiet as they thought about it this way and felt that it was true. They were all players of Boundless, and even if you revealed that the studio would harvest their bodies for parts in the pods, they would still willingly log into the game because after tasting it once, they could never go back to the mediocrity of reality.

But the World Council was different; this was a direct challenge to the established social order and their power, so making some moves in the dark was only normal.

By this point, Nadia had already given up on salvaging and was only going to play along with whatever the Superior Lord wanted, so she asked in a puzzled tone, "What are you trying to say by revealing this?"

Yes, that's right!

Everyone snapped into attention and realized that while saying this was insightful, it was absolutely pointless for him to reveal this because it only undermined his own position. So why the heck would he do that?

"I'm simply doing what you asked. You told me that the World Council had blockaded information about this conflict to the world, so I am truthfully revealing the background situation for everybody," Draco responded with a soft smile.

Nadia was forced to become silent and then reluctantly asked, "So what about the conflict? Why did it erupt then if the cause was tax evasion?"

Draco sighed. "Because I found it to be ludicrous."

Nadia was stunned. "How is it ludicrous?"

Draco glanced at her silently and then looked to the side. He gestured to one of the tattooed men to move his body, which the fellow did after his chief nodded to him since Draco wanted to display something. The cameraman also smartly switched the camera's focus to the area where Draco was looking, wondering what he was up to.

Draco raised a hand and casually unleashed a punch towards that side that lacked form, skill, and any kind of finesse to it, looking like some clumsy street brawler's strike. However, the result was a huge shockwave that destroyed everything in that direction, leaving a gully even wider than any of the incineration blasts from before had ever done.

Everyone on-site felt their hearts pounding with fear, and they were all superpowered people. One could only imagine how the people watching at home, within Boundless, or in the World Council were feeling seeing such a strike live on television.

Draco turned to the camera with a serious look for the first time. "That was a casual strike."

His words were like thunder in the ears of everyone because as far as they knew, it really was a casual strike since he didn't charge up anything and his form was completely ugly. Yet, that casual strike that annihilated everything up to a kilometer or more in that general direction meant that with a few casual strikes, Draco could probably dismantle an entire city in the real world!