As you could imagine, ever since they had gotten rid of Portia, they had been singing and dancing every day. The completion of that particular job came at a very high cost, but it all paid off in the end.
The best part was that they still remained in the shadows since they had manipulated the hatred of alien rebel factions to do most of the dirty work, which led to the current severe suppression of such groups.
When Beatrice began to rise up, they mostly did not dare to touch her because the Eternal Universe had become alert. Obviously, no matter how the Supreme Council or the Prime Human Council felt about Portia, the simple fact was that she was a strong stabilizing power for their universe.
Losing her filled them with rage and regret, forcing them to stop their advance and now focus on defending their territories with all they had, with the occasional smattering of help from Lara.
This chapter was a bit rushed due to power outages in my country.