Influence (4,400 extra)

"Walking through the air, splitting the earth apart—those are powers said to belong only to the saints of legend..."

Inside the Golden Oak Royal Palace, the footage replayed again and again on a gigantic screen. An old man murmured, his eyes blazing with fervent excitement.

Beside him stood several princes and princesses with grave expressions, along with a number of clergy. They had already opened their respective scriptures and begun to pray, now and then spitting out words like "devil" and "demon."

The old man was none other than the king of the Golden Oak Kingdom, His Majesty Yekaterinburg III.

Although the Golden Oak Kingdom was a constitutional monarchy, with the Prime Minister holding the real power and the royal family serving as little more than a symbol and a rubber stamp, it would not take much effort for a king to get his hands on such things.

"Lord Eliye, how are those Federation people doing?"

After watching the footage one more time, Yekaterinburg III slowly let out a breath and asked his aide.

"Professor Luther and the other researchers are fine. They were only knocked unconscious, with several fractures and soft-tissue contusions... But Director Lucius and his agents suffered heavy casualties. Director Lucius in particular seems to have been cursed by that man. He's still lying in the hospital!"

When he mentioned Wu Ming, Eliye couldn't help using a respectful title, even though he knew perfectly well that Wu Ming wasn't there.

"Cursed?"

Yekaterinburg III seemed intrigued.

"Indeed..."

Eliye handed him another stack of photographs. One showed a patient lying in a hospital bed, his entire body covered in festering sores. Yekaterinburg III fought back his nausea and forced himself to look several times before finally recognizing the man as Lucius, who had once come to pay his respects.