"It would be so much easier to just kill him," Felicia whispered, clutching the man's throat tightly, fear in his eyes.

"Who... are you?" he managed to say.

The power emanating from this mysterious woman was irresistible. No matter how he tried to pull away, her slender arms did not waver. Instead, her grip only tightened, causing him unbearable pain.

"You don't need to know who I am. But you should already understand where I'm from and why I'm here," Felicia replied with a grin.

"I see you've remembered?" — Felicia laughed, enjoying the man's amazement. Not wanting to play with the loot anymore, she knocked him out.

Then, opening the rift, she threw him inside and followed him herself.

Soon, several armed men in black suits burst into the room, but they found only an empty and quiet room. The man they were supposed to be guarding and the one who was supposed to be inside now seemed to have disappeared.

"Hmm...hmm...hmm..." Singing along to herself, Felicia moved quickly through the void, dragging the unconscious man with her. After moving away to a decent distance, she opened a rift and threw the man out.

"Feilin," — Felicia said, simultaneously sending messages through the {Whisper Talisman}. A rift opened next to her, from which her exact copy appeared.

"You know what needs to be done," Felicia addressed her, and her doppelganger, nodding, began to transform right in front of her eyes, turning into a snow—white fox.

With a flick of its bushy tail, the fox opened a rift, which soon connected to another rift, forming a portal.

"Great job," Felicia nodded, picking up the man and throwing him into the portal.

As soon as the man disappeared, the portal slammed shut, and the fox ran up to Felicia and began circling around her.

Knowing that her doppelganger, when she turns into one of the two Spatial Snow Foxes, takes over their affection for their masters and needs attention, Felicia did not refuse and began to scratch her.

Having a fox bloodline, Felicia was well versed in their preferences and knew where the most sensitive places were. Because of this, she could give them great pleasure just by scratching them.

"Well, that's enough," Felicia said with a smile, looking at the pleased face of her Doppelganger. "It's time to move on."

Her doppelganger, still dazed with pleasure, nodded and followed Felicia as she opened the rift and stepped inside.

***

"Here's another one."

Inside the Kingdom, Arabel was very satisfied with Felicia's work. The man she abducted, once through the portal to the Kingdom, immediately found himself in Sierra's hands.

Sierra, realizing that these people were not the cleanest in the world, did not want to delve into their memories. She entrusted this task to Prina, and she gladly agreed.

Prina enjoyed immersing herself in the memories of these people, getting more and more information about this world. It was like watching a movie, simultaneously extracting all the necessary information for the Kingdom.

"I think that's enough for now," Arabel nodded, picking up the {Whisper Talisman} and texting Milena.

--------------------

MBQ: {Milena, it's time to go, tell Irina our response to the Council's demand.}

--------------------

Arabel then began to type out a list of more than ten names.

"Leo," she said as soon as she sent the message.

"So what did you find out about the Federation Council?" she asked.

"There is something, but not as much as we would like," Leo replied.

"The council is too mysterious," he continued. "Everyone knows it exists, but no one knows all its members."

"It is only known that the Morgan family, Hugh, Orleans and several other families have a place on the Council due to their influence and resources necessary for the Federation, but no one knows the full list."

"Moreover, this information is not available on the web."

"I see," — Arabel nodded, not too surprised. "Keep looking."

"Yes," Leo replied, nodding.

As they searched for information about the Council, Arabel began to believe her husband's speculation that perhaps the Council had been created before the world began to change. Perhaps they knew about the upcoming changes and were ready for them. Taking advantage of the chaos caused by the disaster, they asserted themselves and took power over the world into their own hands.

Arabel didn't want to think about it, but she knew it was better to be aware of information about a potential enemy than to know nothing about it.

***

In the capital, in a private room of an elite restaurant, Irina, Samuel, and Iona spent quite a lot of time waiting for a response from the Kingdom Guild.

Knock, knock.

There was a knock on the door, and a waitress entered the room with small orders. She quickly put them on the table and left.

Samuel and Iona watched suspiciously. Because they didn't remember ordering anything.

Irina finally breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

"Well, I hope you brought the answer? I have no desire to wait anymore," she said.

Samuel and Iona, not understanding who she was talking to, looked at each other, trying to find an answer.

However, there was confusion on their faces.

"I've brought a message from the Leader," a familiar voice rang in Irina's head.

"Still not showing up?" she sneered, glancing at Samuel. Then, following Milena's instructions, she leaned forward and found a folded envelope under one of the dishes.

Taking the envelope, Irina carefully opened it and pulled out the letter. After reading more than a dozen names, she caught Samuel and Jonah looking at her in disbelief.

"So this is the Kingdom's position?" thought Irina, finishing reading. After putting the letter into her spatial storage, she stood up.

"Come on, it's time to resume negotiations," she said to Samuel and Jonah.

Then they left the private room and returned to where the representative of the Council was waiting for them.

When they entered, Irina took her seat, and the woman in front of her, putting a glass on the table, looked at her.

"So, I assume you've already contacted the Kingdom?" she said.

"What is their response?"

"Yes, I managed to contact them and get their response," Irina confirmed with a smile, showing no concern.

She was just an intermediary between the two sides here, and she didn't really care how these negotiations would develop.

"Here's their response," she drawled, pulling out the Kingdom Guild's reply in the form of a letter to the Council representative.

She took the letter and began to read.

"And what does all this mean?" the representative of the Council asked, seeing the names, some of which were familiar to her.

Irina smiled in response.

"What is not clear to one person may be clear to another," she replied.

"I believe that if you couldn't understand, then other members of the Council will be able to decipher the meaning that the Kingdom means," Irina added.