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‘There are four names you need to be particularly aware of. They are Dozer, Morgunov, Sai-hee, and Sermung.’

Hector squinted. ‘Dozer...?’

‘You know how there’s also a country called Dozer, right?’

‘Yeah...?’

‘That’s not a coincidence.’

‘Oh...’

‘Morgunov and Dozer both lead Abolish, even though they’re said to hate each other. Sermung leads the Vanguard by himself, and Sai-hee is neutral.’

‘This Sermung person fights two at once?’

‘It’s not just them, remember. They have armies of reapers and servants supporting them, and even though they might be the most famous, their highest ranking subordinates are also extremely powerful. But yes, Sermung is an absolute monster.’

‘I see...’

‘Age is generally the determining factor. These four people have been emperors of the community for, I dunno, two or three hundred years now; and that’s because they’ve survived the longest. I think Sermung is about six hundred years old, and I think the others are all similar.’

‘Eesh...’

‘I know a little more about Sermung, because I actually met him before--him and his reaper, Tenebrach.’

‘Whoa, what were they like?’

‘They were a fiercely impressive pair. Honorable, intelligent, and... they had this odd presence that was just... overwhelming to be around.’

‘You said... he’s six hundred years old, but... isn’t that actually kind of young? I mean, if the oldest servants are the most powerful, then I would’ve thought he’d be like... as old as you, basically. Y’know, thousands of years.’

‘Ah. Yeah. Well. There’s a long and complicated history, but suffice to say, the most powerful people in the world tend to get killed, eventually. The longer an empire exists, the more prone to corruption and so forth it becomes. Sooner or later, new generations rise up; a massive power shift takes place; and then it’s utter chaos until a new balance of power is achieved.’

‘But not in the past couple hundred years, you said?’