"Sir! We finally have a signal!" The messenger slammed open the door only to realise that he had interrupted a meeting full of executives. All eyes were now glaring at him with scorn and he knew that unless he could give them a good reason for his action, it might actually be the end of his life.
"Sire, we finally managed to receive a signal from Tyr Gauntlet." The messenger knelt at the doors, closing his eyes while beads of sweat rolled down his neck. His heart was accelerating and the only thing that kept him sane from this pressurising situation was the hope that his transgression would be overlooked in favour of the completion of the task assigned by Atrocity's Shadow King himself.
"You." Without even turning his neck, the corner of Satov's eye was sufficient for the messenger to know that he was being called upon.
"Place the communication ball on the table. Everyone else, dismissed!"
With one command, the entire room was silenced and the only sound was that of the executives' chairs being moved backwards. The executives stood right beside their seats before bowing simultaneously to Satov and walking away in unison. All of them clearly avoided the messenger and his precious crystal ball, not even sparing him a single glance.
"Sire, the signal is weak and there were unfortunately only inconceivable replies coming from the ball. So far, we have yet to decipher them as there was quite a fair bit of mana disruption in the room. I just came here, because it was your command to inform you, no matter how weak the signal was…" The messenger slowly mumbled his words as he could suddenly feel a darkened pressure emitting from the Shadow King's single eye.
Indeed, Satov, Atrocity's Shadow King, was a Cyclops, a race whose members were widely regarded as primitive monsters who only followed their base instincts.
And yet the one before the Tiefling messenger not only had an abysmal amount of strength and endurance that could match a Giant's, he also had intelligence far above the average man. For him to command one of the three large Mafia factions was a testimony of his abilities, rightfully earning him the respect and fear of everyone in the underworld.
Although Neil had claimed that his abilities could rival the other two Shadow Kings combined, he would never deny that based on raw strength, the Red Tiefling would lose in an instant.
"You may get out now," Satov said and the messenger immediately ran with his tail between his legs. The Cyclops would lie if he said he wasn't disappointed with the messenger's result. Merely getting a weak signal was as good as nothing, but it was not entirely the messenger's fault.
The Shadow Kings had purposely used something like an encryption code via magic to protect their messages and for the messenger to even get a signal was already a miracle considering the barrier in Petal District.
While using his innate strengths to survive, Satov hadn't wasted his years climbing to the top of the food chain and had come to learn some basic magic. With some mana gathered in his three fingered hand, the crystal ball started to glow eerily for a moment before he managed to get some footage within the ball.
"Ah, Shadow King Satov, I finally managed to contact you." A voice came from the Crystal Ball, yet it wasn't Neil's nor anyone else he could recognise from Tyr Gauntlet. Satov quickly assumed the worst as the image formed into the one seen on magical screens all over the city.
King Rex.
"Speak." The Cyclops demanded with gritted teeth, making sure to hold himself back from immediately crushing the crystal ball.
"Firstly, thank you for not breaking the conversation and thereby showing me where you are. There is a lot I wish to speak about with you. Surely you must wond-"
"If you wish to waste my time, I shall end this call. If there is anything you want to say to me do it now, or we will speak on the battlefield." Satov interrupted him sternly as he tried to hold his anger, calling him out on the 'bluff'.
Rex cleared his throat before he spoke with clarity. "Alright, I shall get directly to the point. Tyr Gauntlet has surrendered to me. Shadow King Neil is currently working to protect Demopolis."
"So? Did you want to flaunt that you have gained another ally?" Satov questioned while trying to perceive any underlying meaning whether Neil had betrayed the alliance.
"No, I wish to offer you a proposal. Before you reached out, I've already managed to contact the Eld Enclave and their Shadow 'King' has already accepted the deal." Rex clarified and suddenly Satov saw a portal appear right in the middle of his table.
It was none other than the King of Demopolis himself who walked out from it. Upon emerging from the portal, he activated his storage ring and a few suitcases drop in front of him. The King mildly kicked one of the suitcases towards the Cyclops and the lid popped open, revealing a stash of Adamantine bars.
"I've been told gold bars are not to your liking, but these… These will allow you to have suits of armour of unparalleled strength, which will complement that gauntlet you have right over there." Rex eyed the old rusted Adamantine gauntlet at the side of the Shadow King.
Needless to say, Satov was just as intrigued as Neil from the allure of those Adamantine bars. He could only wager a guess who had told Rex about it, but they were spot on.
Those dull greenish metal bars were more precious to him than everything else gold could allow him to buy. If anything, the Cyclops race treated Adamantine as their war trophies. It might just be a piece of rare metal to the other demon races but when a Cyclops wore such metal, it allowed them to harness more advanced magic because of their properties.
And that was for a normal Cyclops, whereas Satov was considered to be the brightest of all his race combined. Unfortunately, despite his high intelligence, his ability to use magic was still hindered by his genetic markup.
These Adamantine metals had the triggering properties to complement his genetics and were able to allow him to wield magic as mighty as the Shadow 'King' of the Eld Enclave. Alas, although powerful, Adamantine would rust and disintegrate with each use of magic, preventing Satov to fully capitalise on them if he does not have sufficient Adamantine to even learn those said magic.
Let's not mention how Adamantine could not be found easily because of the humans' rational fear of the magical wielding juggernauts. (The humans destroyed any sources they could find and even banned Dungeon Cores that created them.)
"So, you wish to stop this war by buying us Shadow Kings under the table?" Satov questioned and Rex laughed loudly.
"Stop this war? We have barely begun." The King smirked as he pulled out the very same contract that Jin had used on Neil previously. The time for war against the human armies was approaching with each tick of the clock, and the King had taken the spontaneous chance Jin had accidentally created to unite the Underworld under him.
"Sir! We finally have a signal!" The messenger slammed open the door only to realise that he had interrupted a meeting full of executives. All eyes were now glaring at him with scorn and he knew that unless he could give them a good reason for his action, it might actually be the end of his life.
"Sire, we finally managed to receive a signal from Tyr Gauntlet." The messenger knelt at the doors, closing his eyes while beads of sweat rolled down his neck. His heart was accelerating and the only thing that kept him sane from this pressurising situation was the hope that his transgression would be overlooked in favour of the completion of the task assigned by Atrocity's Shadow King himself.
"You." Without even turning his neck, the corner of Satov's eye was sufficient for the messenger to know that he was being called upon.
"Place the communication ball on the table. Everyone else, dismissed!"
With one command, the entire room was silenced and the only sound was that of the executives' chairs being moved backwards. The executives stood right beside their seats before bowing simultaneously to Satov and walking away in unison. All of them clearly avoided the messenger and his precious crystal ball, not even sparing him a single glance.
"Sire, the signal is weak and there were unfortunately only inconceivable replies coming from the ball. So far, we have yet to decipher them as there was quite a fair bit of mana disruption in the room. I just came here, because it was your command to inform you, no matter how weak the signal was…" The messenger slowly mumbled his words as he could suddenly feel a darkened pressure emitting from the Shadow King's single eye.
Indeed, Satov, Atrocity's Shadow King, was a Cyclops, a race whose members were widely regarded as primitive monsters who only followed their base instincts.
And yet the one before the Tiefling messenger not only had an abysmal amount of strength and endurance that could match a Giant's, he also had intelligence far above the average man. For him to command one of the three large Mafia factions was a testimony of his abilities, rightfully earning him the respect and fear of everyone in the underworld.
Although Neil had claimed that his abilities could rival the other two Shadow Kings combined, he would never deny that based on raw strength, the Red Tiefling would lose in an instant.
"You may get out now," Satov said and the messenger immediately ran with his tail between his legs. The Cyclops would lie if he said he wasn't disappointed with the messenger's result. Merely getting a weak signal was as good as nothing, but it was not entirely the messenger's fault.
The Shadow Kings had purposely used something like an encryption code via magic to protect their messages and for the messenger to even get a signal was already a miracle considering the barrier in Petal District.
While using his innate strengths to survive, Satov hadn't wasted his years climbing to the top of the food chain and had come to learn some basic magic. With some mana gathered in his three fingered hand, the crystal ball started to glow eerily for a moment before he managed to get some footage within the ball.
"Ah, Shadow King Satov, I finally managed to contact you." A voice came from the Crystal Ball, yet it wasn't Neil's nor anyone else he could recognise from Tyr Gauntlet. Satov quickly assumed the worst as the image formed into the one seen on magical screens all over the city.
King Rex.
"Speak." The Cyclops demanded with gritted teeth, making sure to hold himself back from immediately crushing the crystal ball.
"Firstly, thank you for not breaking the conversation and thereby showing me where you are. There is a lot I wish to speak about with you. Surely you must wond-"
"If you wish to waste my time, I shall end this call. If there is anything you want to say to me do it now, or we will speak on the battlefield." Satov interrupted him sternly as he tried to hold his anger, calling him out on the 'bluff'.
Rex cleared his throat before he spoke with clarity. "Alright, I shall get directly to the point. Tyr Gauntlet has surrendered to me. Shadow King Neil is currently working to protect Demopolis."
"So? Did you want to flaunt that you have gained another ally?" Satov questioned while trying to perceive any underlying meaning whether Neil had betrayed the alliance.
"No, I wish to offer you a proposal. Before you reached out, I've already managed to contact the Eld Enclave and their Shadow 'King' has already accepted the deal." Rex clarified and suddenly Satov saw a portal appear right in the middle of his table.
It was none other than the King of Demopolis himself who walked out from it. Upon emerging from the portal, he activated his storage ring and a few suitcases drop in front of him. The King mildly kicked one of the suitcases towards the Cyclops and the lid popped open, revealing a stash of Adamantine bars.
"I've been told gold bars are not to your liking, but these… These will allow you to have suits of armour of unparalleled strength, which will complement that gauntlet you have right over there." Rex eyed the old rusted Adamantine gauntlet at the side of the Shadow King.
Needless to say, Satov was just as intrigued as Neil from the allure of those Adamantine bars. He could only wager a guess who had told Rex about it, but they were spot on.
Those dull greenish metal bars were more precious to him than everything else gold could allow him to buy. If anything, the Cyclops race treated Adamantine as their war trophies. It might just be a piece of rare metal to the other demon races but when a Cyclops wore such metal, it allowed them to harness more advanced magic because of their properties.
And that was for a normal Cyclops, whereas Satov was considered to be the brightest of all his race combined. Unfortunately, despite his high intelligence, his ability to use magic was still hindered by his genetic markup.
These Adamantine metals had the triggering properties to complement his genetics and were able to allow him to wield magic as mighty as the Shadow 'King' of the Eld Enclave. Alas, although powerful, Adamantine would rust and disintegrate with each use of magic, preventing Satov to fully capitalise on them if he does not have sufficient Adamantine to even learn those said magic.
Let's not mention how Adamantine could not be found easily because of the humans' rational fear of the magical wielding juggernauts. (The humans destroyed any sources they could find and even banned Dungeon Cores that created them.)
"So, you wish to stop this war by buying us Shadow Kings under the table?" Satov questioned and Rex laughed loudly.
"Stop this war? We have barely begun." The King smirked as he pulled out the very same contract that Jin had used on Neil previously. The time for war against the human armies was approaching with each tick of the clock, and the King had taken the spontaneous chance Jin had accidentally created to unite the Underworld under him.
