Way of the Knights

---

"Whew! No matter how I look at this, it remains crazy..."

"Isn't is just fine? I don't know what you're so anxious about."

"It turned out to be fine, but what if it didn't? What will we do then?"

"Nothing! I mean, Raven had everything covered didn't he? The rune he created won't be easily destroyed by anyone. Even if they did ended up waging war on us, we could just simply ignore them like degenerates and move along."

"That's also risky on their part since if they can't destroy the protective rune in time, they'll be questioned by the numerous people that respects our sect. In short, even though it's quite risky on our part, it's only during the preparation. Once the announcement was made, we're more or less safe." 

"...I guess."

The War Gods went silent after this. Currently, they are gathered once again in Raven's abode, spending some time in relaxation all thanks to Raven again. They were finally freed from their busy schedule after the announcement of the sect's seclusion. They've been working all around the clock for many months now without rest and even though they have high endurance, working restlessly like this will surely take its toll on them. 

First and foremost, it had to be known that the matter about the sect's seclusion was kept a secret to anyone up until the preparations was made, the War Gods included. The only people aware of it were none other than Raven and the Sect Master himself. 

Although they were puzzled about why the situation suddenly changed, none of the War Gods voiced their concern since they knew that Raven has something to do with this and they whole-heartedly trusted him. 

The announcement that the sect will enter an indefinite seclusion surprised many people. A racket ensued which were then pacified by the sect master.  action

The first move that the Sect Master made after the announcement was to execute the moles right away. When everyone's disturbed by the sudden violence, the Sect Master explained the whole situation to them in order to clarify everything that led up to this point. 

This is where everybody was made aware of just how the Sect Master's Heir worked hard behind the scenes, his achievements were brought to light, causing everyone to be blinded by his deeds. The fact that the seclusion of the sect was included amongst his plans was also revealed, causing everyone to look at Raven in a different light. 

"Still though...Raven surely is impressive." Theo praised all of a sudden. "He's practically worshipped by everyone now."

"Yeah, tell me about it. He really went above and beyond from the moment he became the heir. We are so lucky to have him." Henry wore a smile filled with pride knowing that he was the one who recruited this guy. 

"Speaking of which, where is he?" Charles asked as he looked around, "Is he still busy? He should've at least be enjoying a cup of tea by this time." 

"Something came up that needed his attention he said..." Theo replied, "It looked pretty important too. He said that he'll join us later. Don't worry about him, he's going to be fine." 

---

"...everything should be settled down after this." Raven murmured as he finished carving some new runes into tablets.

He then looked at the pile of tablets in front of him and nodded in satisfaction. He then absorbed them all inside a spatial ring after double checking each one and then passed it to Kyrie. 

"These are all done. Kindly deliver this to the maintenance crew along with the letter inside. Tell them follow the instructions written on the letter to the dot. Is that clear?" 

"Yes, Young Lord." Kyrie nodded. 

"Alright, you may go." Raven told her and Kyrie left for the errand. 

Once she left, Raven cleaned up his work space for a bit and after returning everything to its proper place, he patted his hands and cleaned himself as well. He changed to his more casual attire since he's free for the rest of the day. He then went out to join the War Gods for a relaxing tea time. 

"Oh, here he is." Henry said, causing the others to perk up. 

Raven approached and joined them in the table. After sitting down, he said: "Sorry, something came up I had to finish it right away."

"No worries. We're free for the rest of the day anyway." Theo replied with a thin smile as he rested his back on his chair. 

"Oh, what a coincidence. Me too." Raven chuckled and poured some tea for himself. 

"What were you doing just now anyway." Logan curiously asked. 

"I just made some carved tablets for the maintenance crew to install. It's going to take some time before they take effect so I figured to finish them now so that they'll be ready as soon as possible." Raven replied then took a sip of his tea. 

"I see. You did tell us that you were planning to do some overhauls on the training areas in Greece." Charles commented. 

"For now yes." Raven nodded. "My plan is to overhaul every training facility in the sect. That should increase the effectiveness of the disciples when fighting against devils and prepare them for the eventual war." 

"But didn't you already revamped the seals within the Devil Emperor's Pagoda? You said that on top of the security runes, you also installed a rune that will weaken the devils in there. Wouldn't this be too easy then? I'm afraid that the value of Merit Points will deteriorate at this point since killing devils would be much easier."

"The Sect Master has that covered. I mean, he did expose my activities recently so the disciples should expect some huge changes which includes the Merit System as well." Raven replied. "Besides, since we had some recent changes, we won't be having new blood joining us. I want to minimize the casualties as much as I could while also giving them disciples precious battle experience. I thought this way would be more effective."

"Certainly..." Charles nodded, "If they still ended up being killed in this situation then they couldn't place the blame om us anymore since we have given them sufficient advantages already."

"Hmph, they're worthless if that's the case. They won't be of any help during the war." Logan snorted. 

"Which brings me to another point I want to tell you." Raven followed-up, earning the attention of the War Gods. "If you can, do remind them about this. I would like the disciples to accept the reality that we cannot possibly avoid this confrontation. We are already doing our best so they have to show us results as well. I wouldn't want them to die, I would like them to use this time to increase their strength so that they can help our cause." 

"Oh, Psh. You don't have to remind us. We were going to do that even if you didn't say anything." Theo chuckled. 

"Yeah, what he said." Logan replied while cleaning his ear. "Don't worry, I'll whip them up to shape. If they don't pick up their pace, then I'll tell them that I might as well kill them myself." 

"Hey, you don't have to go there." Henry was alarmed. "Just be the regular you in front of them, I think that's enough to terrify them into submission." 

"Why do I get this feeling that you just insulted me in a roundabout manner?" Logan squinted his eyes as he looked at Henry - who simply avoided his gaze while whistling. 

"Anyhow, its just like what they said..." Charles added, "We're aware of the situation as well and its to be expected that we're going to do our best as well. Leave it to us and get some rest yourself. You look ill you know." 

"Oh my! Do I really?" Raven was caught off-guard. 

"Yeah you do." The War Gods replied in unison, causing Raven to smile wryly. 

Raven took out a mirror from his spatial ring to look at his reflection and its just like what they said, he indeed looked like he was sick. He was pale, his eyes were somewhat bloodshot and there were dark circles around them. 

"Yup, I do look horrible alright." Raven chuckled dryly, but he really didn't mind. It's not like this was the first time that something like this happened to him. 

Raven has been working hard lately. In fact, today will mark the 8th day since his last sleep. He had been awake all this time, working all the time despite Kyrie's repeated pleas for him to rest. 

It can't be helped, Raven's too invested in this. This was something that he wanted to do and has to do in order to ensure the sect's victory over the evil forces. He was the next heir to the Sect Master's position so this much should is something he had to get used to. 

However, since Raven just finished his last task for the day, he was indeed planning on having a little rest. He informed the War Gods about this and they didn't say anything anymore.. They continued to discuss random things until it was late and Raven went to rest on his room.