I took in the stunned silence in stride, my posture immaculate as I walked through the crowd. Lugong's death would serve as the announcement that the black dragon of the south rises once more. It did not take long for the other nobles to return to their festive mood. What could you expect from a group of people so detached from normal life? Not even the death of Lugong could change that; these people were more concerned about my strength than the fact that I took his life. Even when the general mood of the party returned, I still saw they snuck glances in my direction. They were not afraid of me, no, on the contrary, they were more annoyed at the new competition. But that is just something they will have to get used to. I intend to succeed in everything I do, and nothing will change that.
It was not long before Count Alister found me on the balcony and invited me to have the discussion. He led me through the ballroom, into a door on the side. We walked through a few hallways that twisted and turned. Maids and servants walked carrying trays of food and drink from the kitchen. We stopped in an office, and three others were already present in a heated discussion. "Digging a trench would be pointless; the beasts would just swarm us. And the very trench that should have protected us will become our grave." A burly man with a bald head and a magnificent mustache spoke vehemently.
"This isn't the second world war, we will not be hiding inside the trenches, we could lay down spikes at the bottom as an extra deterrent." A lanky man with a wiry frame and short gray hair spoke.
"And who will dig these trenches? We do not have enough earth gifted to dig a trench spanning the entirety of the border. No, we need to funnel the beasts into a choke point so that we are not overwhelmed." The third and final man spoke, he had the air of a military man. His buzz cut and camo clothing made this assumption all the more valid. From my perspective his suggestion was the most sound of the three.
"Gentleman, you are missing the point. We do not have the people to mount a proper defense. Why else do you think I brought you here? We need to recruit more allies, or there will be no country left to defend." Count Alister said while taking a seat behind his desk. "For that reason I brought Duke Whither here." He said while waving in my direction. The three men turned to look at me as I took a seat next to the military man.
"No offense Count but what does this kid have to add, we are discussing manners of life and death." The mustachioed man said with indignation.
Count Alister sighed at his response, taking his glasses off to rub his tired eyes. "Duke Whither is currently our only connection to the Zulu tribes."
"Explain," the lanky man said with pursed lips.
"Duke Whither is nephew to the Zulu king Mandla one of the few Lords within the principality of South Africa. We need their help if we are to survive the upcoming horde." The others looked at me evaluating, I took it all in stride matching their gazes without flinching. "That brings me to why we are gathered here today. Prince Walong continues to ignore the horde threat, my informants lead me to believe he has been compromised. The reports state that the followers of Shaitan have been growing restless of late." The Count's words caused a deathly silence to befall the room.
Every single person alive knew of the followers of Shaitan. Crazed zealots that believed the rifts were a punishment from god, and that the only way to repent was to allow the world to be consumed by the beasts. What made them dangerous was not their zealotry, but the fact that they have methods to cause an artificial incursion before the gate itself is ready. Memories of the Red Day still haunted the minds of many, when they caused the incursion of twelve D-rank gates and one B-rank. Millions died that day, causing the country of Namibia to fall to the beasts. If what the Count said was true, we could be facing a true disaster.
"This changes everything Count. If those bastards are involved, than now more than ever do we have to take this threat seriously. I will contact my people in the military, at best I can get two thousand weak gifted." The military man spoke first.
"The Hunter's Guild will stand with you, Count." The mustachioed man said with confidence, out of everyone he seemed the least fazed by the news. I assume that's because he already knew.
"The Artisan's Guild will stand with you as well." The lanky man was by far the most nervous of the bunch, clearly not a fighting man.
"There is no guarantee that I can get them to agree, but I will fight when the day comes." I said pensively.
"Needless to say gentleman, everything we just discussed remains in this room. You never know who might be listening. Oh, and Zeon, please stay behind for a minute." With that the three men said their goodbyes and left. Leaving only me and the Count in the room. His face turned deathly serious as he studied me. "I do not know what your relationship with my daughter is. But, if you hurt her again, not even the gods can save you from my wrath." His words were highlighted by the flaring of his aura.
I was not afraid just extremely confused. "What do you mean again?"
"Don't play coy with me Zeon, you have been ghosting her since you have been awake. And my poor little girl has been devastated. I like you Zeon, but I will always put my family first, remember that." my heart felt heavy at the mention of her emotional state. Why did her disappointment bother me so much? I know she is attractive but this was something more, and that more than anything scared me.
—-
Baron Liam looked like a shadow of the man he used to be. My cheeks were sunken, dark circles ringed my eyes from lack of sleep. Just the thought of sleeping caused a shiver to run down my spine. For the past month, that thing would visit me every single night. So much so that I began to dread the experience, it has gotten so bad that I have begun to see the little devil during the day as well. But no matter who I asked I was the only one capable of seeing the monster. Add to the fact that the syndicate has been slowly dismantled in this time, this truly was my lowest moment in life, or so I thought.
I was sitting in my office drowning my sorrows with expensive bourbon when he appeared. "Two simple tasks. That was all that was expected of you, but even then you have failed us." A man clad in black clothing appeared on the chair in front of me. Cold sweat poured down my back as I looked at him.
"But, but. I have been doing my work faithfully!" I pleaded to the man but his indifference remained the same as ever.
"The master is very displeased. Our deal was simple, you dismantle the Whither family and in exchange we allowed your little syndicate to grow second to none. Yet here we sit, with the Whither family growing stronger by the day. While you, you are sitting on your ass drinking yourself to an early grave, tsk." The man clicked his tongue, before I could begin begging again I suddenly found it hard to breathe. My face reddened as I clawed my throat in an attempt to regain my breath. But it was pointless, my vision began to darken as my life left me. In my last moments I saw the man turn towards the monster, obliterating it with a single flick of his wrist.
----
A sense of dread was building in my chest as I gathered my courage while approaching Verity. She was busy talking to some other ladies when I stopped next to her. All their eyes simultaneously turned to me when I cleared my throat. "Look Verity, we need to talk," it was a struggle to remain calm under her curious gaze. But by some miracle I managed it.
"It's about time Duke, I had begun to think you that have forgotten me.'' She said with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
Holding out my arm for her to hold onto as was proper in terms of etiquette, I led her back to the balcony for some much needed privacy. We stood in silence for a while I as I was building up my courage to speak. The night truly was beautiful, but even that paled in comparison to the woman standing next to me. I lost myself within those forest green eyes, and for a moment I forgot all my problems. Before I got the chance to speak Verity moved her hands to my mask, caressing its edges. My heart began to burn as I yearned for her touch but as she moved to remove the mask I stopped her. Holding her hands into my own, managed to melt some of the ice that had grown around my heart. "Not yet," my voice was barely a whisper as I spoke, never once breaking eye contact.
Bitting her lower lip she looked at me with confusion. "Why did you call me here Zeon?" She crossed her arms in mock annoyance as she looked at me expectantly. "And why now? You had plenty of time to do this before, so why now?" I could here the slight note of hurt in her voice and that almost broke my calm.
"No excuse that I give could make up for what I did. Look Verity I'm sorry, ever since I woke up I have been less than stable. And you deserved better than that…" I could not finish my sentence as Verity slapped me across the face.
"And who said you could decide that for me? Dammit Zeon, you always seem so smart but end up doing things that are so dumb, ugh! You owe me a date, and this time you can't worm your way out of it." I was so flabbergasted at her reaction that I did not know how to respond. She did not even give me the opportunity too, she gave me a peck on the cheek before vanishing back into the crowd of the ballroom. I just stood there frozen for a few minutes before finally going home, it has been a very long night. While driving my fingers still traced my mask where she kissed me, a light smile gracing my lips for the first time in a very long time.