A circular table with a gap in the middle projecting a holographic image of three distinct individuals, one had only their glowing yellow eyes visible through their silhouette, the other was a large man with a singular eye and horn on his head.
They sat there in silence watching each other until, two people had joined the table, one of them being a petite human female holding a cylindrical device and a tall shirtless man with black hair, who looked like he had just been woken up from a deep slumber.
They all turned their eyes towards the pair until they sat down, with the lady placing the cylinder in front of her "Well?". The people there exchanged looks before the older man extended his palm, the petite female flicked her fingers and the container landed squarely in the old man's hands.
"Is this the distorted artifact you retrieved from the deep space crack?". He asked while carefully inspecting the seals on the container "it seemed inert", the man was about to twist it open when the tiny woman shrugged and pointed a thumb at the man beside her.
"My father was torn apart and nearly corrupted from it though, so its definitely dangerous" The man with the glowing yellow eyes responded "The report I received from my surviving subordinate tallies with this claim, I opt it be destroyed it obviously can't be used".
The one-eyed creature shook its giant head slowly "We never destroy artifacts, didn't we all learn from the Asura incident".
"The cursed swordsman? He seems to be doing well though". A man in a trench coat commented, struggling to ignite his cigarette but meeting with no success, just before tossing it aside and giving the gigantic man to his left an irritated glance.
"The Asura is only stable due to numerous temporary measures, over thirty experts and twenty masters where slain by the Asuras blood drinking sword," the one-eyed creature crossed its arms over its chest "The vessels artifacts are in serve to contain and rationale their fury, destroying their vessels would make their ranks too unstable".
"So, what do you propose?" The older man holding the cylinder asked, setting the artifact aside which seemed to send the man into thought before it sighed.
"We'll follow protocol, it will be handed over to the federation for deep testing and proper sealing and left in the care of its collectors I have already sent Valeria to retrieve it".
The mans with yellow eyes narrowed as he addressed the one horned humanoid "And what of our compensation? I lost all my on-field scientists, my head researcher was corrupted".
A deep and gruff voice spoke up "Zero will hand over the core of Class 4 distortion beast". They all couldn't help but look at the large man strangely, even the glowing yellow eyes had widened in surprise.
"You killed a class four distortion beast?" A female voice directly opposite him screamed, and the man merely scoffed and retrieved a small crystal from a pouch and placed It on the table, it shone with an eerie purple tint to its light, there was a small dark liquid like substance that ran about the crystals surface.
"A distortion core". The yellow eyed man remained silent for a moment before accepting the offer, a distortion beast core was quite valuable, it was often used for fuel and for their weapons, it had many other uses as well as it could be used to make an artifact.
"I didn't you had killed a distortion beast… Hercules" The man addressed as Hercules exhaled some steam from his nostrils and slouched back into his chair.
"Because I only killed it recently, I was subjugating the abyss gate on sandune caves, I had a rather unusual encounter" He place d the crystal back into the small pouch and crossed his arms "As you're aware Distortion beasts are far more intelligent and powerful than their abyss gate counterparts who only emerge from the surface of deep space".
"Where you wounded?" The one horned creature asked and Hercules extended his arm showing a scar running along the length of his arm that pulsed and throbbed, flames ignited from his forearm and consumed the growth in its entirety producing purple mist.
"Are you insane Hercules? Why would you come for the meeting if you weren't fully purified?". The giant shrugged and covered up his arm.
"I had assumed such a grand summoning meant it was urgent, a class 6 mental based distortion artifact is hardly news". They all wanted to say something but unfortunately the giant had a point, there was no need for them all to be present for an artifact transaction.
"The rift to deep space is getting worse isn't it?" Jin commented, a sentence to which no one contested, ever since the great war, the abyss gates have been getting more frequent, the mere fact that a class four distortion beast was roaming around was proof.
"It's a bit worse, the acolytes are coming back". The old man said tossing the cylinder aside, the object fading away into the darkness. "While we may be at odds for now, those deep space scholars are a much more pressing issue, so its best we all go prepare".
The connection cut off, the yellow eyed man leaned back in his chair and sighed, "I suppose its time we started focusing on capturing the remaining living apostles from the war, those fools are already suspicious of us". He turned his head and looked at the long-necked man who had been standing there since whom he had just taken note off. "Did you hear that?".
Shaking his head frantically he started stepping back, attempting to run when his body froze, black veins spreading around his body growing thicker until they had covered the entirety of his body "This is such a shame, I actually kinda liked you". The mans body started to shrink, collapsing into a small purple bead that flew back into the yellow eyed mans hands "Such a pity"