Without a doubt, the Syndicate of the Hidden Hand had been playing a deeply underhanded and calculated game with him lately, one that went far beyond ordinary interference and into the realm of deliberate, long-term sabotage.
The blockade imposed by the Behemoth of Destruction and the Behemoth of Relativity alone had already crippled his expansion ambitions to a severe degree, tightening the noose around his movements, and driving up the cost of every single operation to such an extent that he was now edging dangerously close to poverty despite the scale of his forces and apparent wealth.
Finding and training suitable candidates for the Shadow Swords was never something that could be rushed or improvised. It did not happen overnight, nor even within a few short years. Each candidate required an enormous amount of resources, specialized equipment, and brutally intensive training that pushed them to their absolute limits.
