The news that Luke had left the DarkSky guild spread throughout the internal guild chat like wildfire, leaving most of the guild members in utter bewilderment.
"Holy shit… SkyLion is no longer Vice-Guildmaster, his name has been darkened from the group chat"
"What happened to the Vice-Guildmaster? Why can we no longer tag him in the guild chat?"
"Guys, I think the Vice-Guild Master has left the guild….. or he's been fired."
"Does anyone know why the Vice-Guildmaster is no longer a guild member? Why was there such an abrupt decision made?"
The common guild members demanded a response from upper management, however, even the guild elders were as bewildered as the common members, with nobody knowing as to why Luke left except Cervantez.
Lysa, Tor, Toni, and many more flooded the dms of both Luke and Cervantez, demanding an explanation, however, Cervantez holed himself up in his cabin, refusing to reply or meet anyone, while Luke left the guild premises, heading towards the meeting point where he was to meet PinkLotus.
He too, did not bother replying to any guild members, as he did not wish to engage into a debate with them today.
Unfortunately, the longer this discussion remained unaddressed, the wilder the rumors became, with members theorizing everything from Luke being a spy, to him being dissatisfied with Cervantez and more.
In the end, Cervantez only issued a small and curt message to all guild members, writing.
"Ex-Vice Guild Master SkyLion has left the DarkSky Guild voluntarily for personal reasons. Starting tomorrow, applications will be considered for the now vacant position of the Vice Guildmaster"
The message did not explain why Luke had chosen to quit the guild, or what were his future plans, as the lack of explanation made many within the guild feel agitated.
It did not take long for the news to reach the wider masses as well, as many on the global forums felt their interest being piqued by such juicy gossip.
The number3 ranked leaving the DarkSky guild was not a small affair, and it brought a lot of attention to the guild and it's internal structure.
"It's done, the DarkSky guild will never be the same again…. They have just lost one of their strongest pillars"
"I wonder which guild managed to poach SkyLion? Was it a salary issue? Or was it some game item that we can't fathom?"
"Is this some joke? Or a bigger conspiracy we are not aware of?"
The commoners discussed Luke's exit with gusto, wildly theorizing about why a player like him would leave his well established and prestigious position so abruptly.
Alas, no matter how much people theorized nobody even got close to guessing the truth, as the truth of his exit was buried between himself and Cervantez forever.
************
( Meanwhile Leo )
Feeling furious with the DarkSky guild's decision to backstab him, Leo decided to do the unbelievable and approach the demons for an alliance.
Since ChaosBringer had long found out the whereabouts of the 'Demon Whisperer' and had struck a deal with him to train several of the uprising guilds members to speak Demon Tongue, Leo intended to now send a delegation to the demon front and request for a meeting with the Demon King.
"They want to hold-out against me? They want to rally the support of the masses and become the last bastion of resistance?
Let's see them trying to hold out against the combined might of the Demon Army and the rebels.
Let's see if they can fight a two-pronged war and still hold out" Leo muttered, as consumed by his anger, he decided to plot with the demons to take out the DarkSky guild, when the time came.
To his surprise, ChaosBringer approved of his plan wholeheartedly, provided that he could establish a working relationship with the demons, which seemed like an near impossible task.
So far, the demons had not presented themselves as a rational and reasonable species that were interested in collaborating with the humans, however, with the power of [Demon Tongue] by their side, Leo hoped that perhaps he could make a breakthrough, especially since he knew about the secret of the Demon King.
He had especially informed his envoys that incase the Demon King refused to listen to his words, they were to deliver a sealed scroll to the demon king, where Leo had painstakingly drawn the tale of how the Demon King really came to obtain Drogo like a comic.
Drawing based on his memories, Leo depicted the scene of the previous demon king delivering the egg to his son, so that he could bind with the dragon as soon as it was hatched.
It was a small panel, but what it did was prove that Leo knew about the Demon King's past and his reality.
It was a blackmail material, a last resort to compel him to negotiate, in-case words of reason failed.
However, overall it was a big gamble.
The whole world already viewed the rebels as tyrants and madmen and them collaborating with the demons would only further solidify this impression.
Once they went through with this alliance, it would spell the end of their career as the anti-establishment force, which was why it had to come at the very end of their campaign, when they had already finished unifying the Empire under one flag.
In the end, Leo did not intend to fight the demons forever either, and once their collaboration to take down the DarkSky guild had ended, Leo intended to challenge the Demon King to a legendary one on one fight, with the only participants being them and their mounts, to decide, who will be the one true ruler of all lands.
He did not wish to invite the Demons into the Empire lands and gift them a piece of the Empire forever, instead, after using them to defeat the DarkSky guild, Leo wanted to trick the Demon King Anos and his mount Drogo into a one on one fight to try and kill them and complete his final conquest in this game, for once and for all.