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Even though the speakers possessed powerful spiritual abilities, they couldn't overcome their weakness after losing the Spellcaster Corps' reinforcement.
When countless attacks roared toward them again, the Grand Speaker finally gave the order with a grim expression: "Gather the remaining troops. Retreat!"
Of course, "gather" was optimistic—most of the surviving spellcaster army had already fled in panic. Rallying them would be nearly impossible. Not everyone had the courage to return to battle, even if refusing might mean death.
Russell watched the demons retreating and considered briefly. "Keep pursuing. Kill as many as you can."
In a normal world, you'd never chase a desperate enemy. But on Blue Star, with the overpowered profession of cardmaker, even if a card died it would just enter cooldown.
To prevent the demons from attempting to lure them away from the entrance, the three Gold-ranks tacitly kept some cards in reserve.
Russell watched the brown-haired girl—Mikoto—chase after the fleeing demons, then turned his attention back. "Alright, let's get those fortifications built immediately."
As work began at the entrance, several Gold-level cards led by Mikoto returned. Luther's [Flying Zombie] carried several demon corpses, though unfortunately the Grand Speaker's body wasn't among them.
With their eyesight, all three had clearly seen that old man leading the retreat.
Still, under current circumstances, this secret realm couldn't cause major problems anymore. Once they cleared out all Gold-level demons, the cleanup could be handed to lower-rank cardmakers.
After recalling his cards, Russell pinched his brow tiredly. "Let's rest first."
During this period, Dylan Lin had become a glorious security guard at an upscale community.
All thanks to President Russell retrieving his ID documents—without them, he definitely wouldn't have passed the interview and would've been starving on the streets.
He'd recently looked up Laiyang Village Phase 3 online. Not just his neighborhood, but a large surrounding area remained under lockdown. Fortunately, the Association was handling civilian relocation.
"Dylan, take the key and check Unit 114," the security captain called out, lounging in his chair scrolling through his phone. "The owners of 115 reported a terrible smell coming from there recently."
"Got it," Dylan nodded dutifully.
As the new guy, he'd been assigned night shifts—though security night shifts weren't particularly tiring.
Grabbing a flashlight, the young man headed out.
He soon arrived at Unit 114—a townhouse.
"God, that stinks." Dylan frowned, covering his nose with his left hand while scanning the door with his flashlight.
Ding dong.
He pressed the doorbell with the flashlight handle and waited for a response.
After a long silence, the townhouse remained quiet.
"Nobody home?" Dylan muttered.
After hesitating, he pulled out the spare key. The smell was truly unbearable.
The well-oiled door opened silently. The villa was eerily quiet.
Dylan felt scared for a moment, but forced himself forward. After all, he'd witnessed the demon battle days ago from a front-row seat. Compared to the world falling apart, this was nothing.
The stench intensified as he approached the living room.
"What the hell died in here?" Dylan dry-heaved, certain the smell's source was in the living room.
His flashlight beam swept into the room.
Dylan found the source—a bloated female corpse staring at him with dead eyes.
After completing the fortifications, Russell, Luther, and Zayne cleaned up the secret realm systematically.
Perhaps the entrance battle had broken the demons' fighting spirit—the three encountered barely any resistance. The once-united demons fell apart in just days.
Except for the Grand Speaker.
But even he fell under their combined siege without causing trouble. Until his death, he stared at Aizen's gentle expression beside Russell.
"President, this secret realm is basically finished," Luther reported as Director of the Secret Realm Office.
All that remained was assigning cleanup missions to Association teams. While East-Haven had higher education institutions, they obviously couldn't use such a high-risk realm for student training.
Luther breathed relief regardless. This realm had appeared in a densely populated area and lasted too long. Ending it sooner would let civilian life resume.
Fortunately, the affected area was limited to Laiyang Village Phase 3's vicinity.
"Then I'll leave the rest to you, Director Luther," Russell said. "Director Zayne and I will head back to rest."
Hearing his name, Zayne's stone face showed rare emotion. "I'm leaving first," he said hastily, departing without waiting for responses.
Russell and Luther were surprised but assumed the expressionless director was simply exhausted and eager for rest.
With Zayne gone, Russell prepared to leave. "Senior Sister, time to go."
Hazel had been stationed at the entrance these days as a deterrent. As long as Russell didn't request her assistance, she just read quietly.
Back home, Russell asked casually, "Senior Sister, want to stay a few more days? There's still time before NTU starts, and my house is pretty spacious."
After a long silence with no response, Russell turned to find Hazel staring at him silently.
He touched his face self-consciously. "Why are you looking at me like that? Is something on my face?"
"...No."
Still calm as water, still sparing with words.
Russell was long accustomed to Hazel's communication style and didn't take it personally.
"I should go," Hazel continued. "Something..."
"Is NTU starting that early?" Russell asked, surprised. He was technically still a sophomore there, though his early field training meant he didn't need to return.
Hazel shook her head silently, turned, and pushed open the door. But she didn't leave immediately, just stood frozen in the doorway.
Russell frowned, about to ask what was wrong when Hazel's emotionless voice reached him: "Junior Brother."
"Be careful."
Misty clouds swirled around her, and in an instant she vanished from the gate.
Russell was left confused. "Why is Senior Sister suddenly worried about me?"
With his current strength, he could easily protect himself in East-Haven.
Unable to figure it out, Russell began tallying his gains.
The materials would be converted to points and distributed between him and the other Gold-ranks. Plus the reward for suppressing the secret realm... his current points reached a terrifying 20,520.
This was why he'd insisted on handling it himself. If Hazel had acted, the points would've been greatly reduced.
"Could this happen again?" Russell almost asked aloud, then swallowed the words. Without his ability to mobilize forces and create Aizen, who knew how this Gold-level realm would've ended.
"Better give me more weaklings like the Unification Sect to squeeze."
Thinking of his first mission in East-Haven, Russell couldn't help missing those half-human creatures.
"Time to shop."
Russell eagerly opened the points platform on his phone, going straight to his saved items.
The words on screen made his face freeze:
"The Gold-level material [Overflowing One] (Gold) in your collection has been delisted."
The young man stared at his phone, speechless. Someone had bought his desired material.
Inevitable, really—the points platform served cardmakers across the entire Federation. East-Haven alone had over ten Gold-rank cardmakers, let alone major cities.
Russell searched the platform desperately but finally had to accept reality.
"Fine, I'll wait a while." Not really self-consolation—he'd just created Aizen recently anyway.
After calming down, Russell considered another matter.
Jin had sent materials and new contracts for recruiting members. After splitting spoils with Kai and dealing with Ms. Xie, he'd set this aside due to the secret realm crisis.
Now with time available, he'd begin the Spirit Begging Society's summer recruitment.
He'd already selected the examiner: Zayne, Director of Public Security.
Who in East-Haven knew unstable elements better than him? Rather than let those factors join the Unification Sect, Russell preferred them under supervision quickly.
The Society's supervision was still supervision—with all interpretation rights belonging to him.
He activated his [Connector] and sent a message:
[Six: Old time, old place.]
[Zayne: Understood.]
Seeing Zayne's quick response, Russell stretched with relief.
He hadn't had a Pokémon battle in ages. If Steelix didn't mega evolve soon, they'd lose their bond.
Russell watched Kumoko eating voraciously and shook his head. "Eat slower, you're not a starving ghost."
Spider didn't even look up, talking while chewing: "Munch—Russell doesn't respect spider rights at all—munch munch—taking so many days to let Little Spider out—chomp—"
"But for delicious food, I forgive you!"
Russell covered his face helplessly. Did he not want to let her out? He couldn't! He'd been living in the secret realm with countless eyes watching—how could he let the spider out for walks?
A respectful voice came from behind: "My lord, you summoned me."
Zayne had arrived.
Russell tossed a black document bag backward without turning. "New materials inside. Take what you need first, distribute the rest to your brothers."
"Keep some back—the Society needs new members to replenish East-Haven's manpower. You're responsible for recruitment."
Russell turned to face the middle-aged man calmly. "Any problems?"
Zayne glanced at the bag and nodded. "No, sir."
Pleased with his obedience, Russell smiled. "Tell me about East-Haven's recent situation."
Zayne paused, then began sharing his intelligence.
Most Russell already knew, but some details caught his attention.
For instance, Zayne showed rare anxiety when mentioning Hazel. Russell realized why Zayne had rushed home earlier—not exhaustion, but a villain's fear of the righteous and powerful.
Though technically, Zayne was also in the righteous camp.
"My lord," Zayne continued, "remember I mentioned Russell had conflicts with Simon and Luther?"
Russell nodded slightly. "Yeah."
"They tried using a woman to compromise Russell." Confusion crossed Zayne's face—he couldn't understand how a honey trap would work.
But Russell, having seen Ms. Xie's cards, knew exactly how vicious her methods were.
"I learned today that woman died," Zayne said carefully. "Suicide."
He raised his head, observing Russell's expression.
As Public Security Director, he'd naturally seen the body. Death had occurred days ago—before the giant appeared.
Zayne initially thought Vice President Russell had manipulated Ms. Xie into suicide through his illusion card. But the timeline didn't match—Ms. Xie died before Aizen appeared.
And he'd made another discovery.
"The woman's bone age... wasn't as young as she appeared."
Russell showed a playful smile. "What's the Association saying? Stripping Russell of his position?"
Zayne looked stunned, immediately shaking his head. "You're joking, sir. The Association has no evidence—they can't strip Russell's position."
"And even with evidence that Russell did it... the woman's identity wasn't clean. Most likely, they'll let it go."
"Besides, Simon and Luther don't seem eager to investigate further."
Ms. Xie's death consequences didn't surprise Russell—why he'd realized he'd been too timid as a student.
The old woman had done dirty work for decades. Some things couldn't be measured—they'd bring down everyone involved. Who knew how many victims existed before Russell?
If her identity was revealed, only Simon and his backers would suffer.
Seeing Russell's unchanged expression, Zayne changed topics. "My lord, one more thing."
"Today my subordinates reported they might have seen... Unification Sect members mixed with demons."
(End of Chapter 220)