The Game of a Blood Mage

Chapter 82



Title: The Meeting of the Strong (Part 1)




…
Within the sky above the Soul Sect Alex sat down on a floating chair. He was playing around and doing summer assaults. 



"Can you stop that?" Camilla's voice interrupted his joy ride. She appeared there floating on the air, having come through Alex's barriers like they were nothing. 



"Wanna join me?" He asked her while tapping his lap. "Also you didn't call me a brat, were you enamored by my new appearance? The red eyes even make me look like a vampire, pretty cool right?"




"Copy-cat! Also, you have to hide your real form, which is ugly and very lame." She acted childish while looking away, but she still sat on his lap as there was nothing better to do until the other Legendary Ranks came.




Alex didn't take offense to her words and just poked her cheek. "C'mon now~ that hurt my feelings."


From an outside perspective, they seemed like an older brother having fun with his… of course only if the looker dismissed the floating chair.



"Tch, you have no feelings to be hurt." She pinched his arm. "Also don't forget, I still remember what you did to me the last we saw each other. You used me like a rag and then threw me away."



"Hahaha," Alex laughed uncomfortably. "Please don't say it that way, it makes me sound like some kind of deviant."



"Ara~ you being a deviant? Of course not, you are the best person alive, so kind and caring~" though she said those words, Camilla was dripping with sarcasm. 




"There is no need for sarcasm," Alex said calmly, his voice whispering in her ear. But Camilla wasn't some young girl who could be charmed by some guy just acting like this. "Also be careful, some dangerous people will be joining us."




"You are worried about me?!" She asked in faux shock. "Oh my, I might just fall in love. Please take me, my dear Alex."



Alex could still sense the sarcasm. He understood where she was coming from, but he kinda needed her to help a little.



*sigh* "Okay, you can ask one favor from me. And in return, you forget about me betraying your trust and using you as a meat shield against the Lightning Sage." He gave her an offer, and even he seemed a little off-put by allowing Camilla this chance. Others would be predictable and would ask something like helping them in a battle or take out one of their enemies.


That was something any reasonable person would ask. But judging by Camilla's widening malicious smirk Alex could only laugh nervously.


"Please go easy on me." He said in a last-ditch effort to change her mind. 





…
Two minutes later, Camilla was projecting an anime song from a Mana Crystal and Alex was dancing along with her. 


"Boin~ Boin~" Camilla even went the extra mile to sing along with the song. But what Alex hated, even more, was that if he didn't copy the dance moves perfectly then the vampire next to him would know that he was doing it intentionally.




…
-Camilla-



To say that the Vampire Queen was currently amused would be an understatement. She was the happiest she had been in the last millennium. That said more that she likes to admit about her.



Still though, Alex, the young man who seemed to be able to do anything. It was amusing seeing him go along with her childish endeavors. Though he kept a good handle on his expressions and body language, his annoyance seeped through. To Camilla, he seemed more like a raging lion than a nonchalant dancing young man.




But Camilla did feel a strange comradeship with Alex, even if they were fundamentally different. When she was his age, she had made so many mistakes by then, it was unimaginable. By the age of 16 (in the new world) she had already gotten herself in debt and earned many strong people's hatred. She only survived due to having a strong family background at the time.



She admired Alex, he hadn't let his power go to his head. Even when someone said that he was talented, he didn't seem to mind. But at the same time, Camilla was worried about his psyche. She understood where he was coming from, your mind feeling so connected and expanded is an amazing feeling. It makes one think that they can predict anything. At least those were her thoughts when she used to be young. Alex didn't have any of those problems, his views were high, even though she didn't know where his ambition would end.



Camilla called this phase the phase of Growth, the time where a Mage will become emotionless and act on his logic only. Emotions were not even second priority, she would bet anything that Alex's sexual desire was also zero. Why? Because he could rationalize that it was just a chemical reaction in his body that compelled him to breed. Something useless in a Mage's eyes, it became a distraction. So there were females around them that would be used to situate their lust.



She knew that it would usually take hundreds of years for the average Mage to let go of this obsession and see things normally once more. Have emotions added to their lives. Of course, the more ambitious the Mage, the longer this stage would last. Camilla had been in this stage for a thousand and two hundred years, from what she knew that was the longest. By that time she had forgotten how to even feel emotions. She didn't even feel herself anymore, that was why she drove herself into manga and anime from her last life. 




Camilla never again wanted to lose herself as she had done back then. Having almost no emotions made someone blind in one eye. She didn't want Alex, a fellow otherworld like her to fall into this pitstop. Plus she could see it in his eyes, Alex was someone with crazy ambitions. How long would it take for him to start enjoying things again? Hundred years? A thousand? Ten thousand?






Suddenly Alex turned to her and asked. "Why do you keep staring at me like that? It's creepy."





Camilla clutched her heart in mock shock. "Ugh! You insult me, my dear friend. Aren't you supposed to act gentle with a lady?"



"Lady? Where?" He asked, looking around. This made Camilla narrow her eyes.



…
They continued their routine of joking around and Camilla tried to get him to enjoy some things. Though he smiled politely along, the joy never seemed to reach his eyes, they always stayed calculating. 



Soon enough new people started coming to the meeting, the purple-haired Vampire, Yomu was one after Camilla to show up. Next came a bald middle-aged man whose body was covered in rippling muscles. He was Shai, the Monk with an unbreakable body. Not once in his life had there been anything that had injured him.



After that, many people came in by Teleportation. But amongst them only a handful was important, and amongst the important ones was the man known as the Heavenly Demon. He had long dark hair and eyes that looked at the world around him with cold indifference. His red robe fluttered about as his eyes settled on Alex like a hawk looking at his prey. The Heavenly Demon is the leader of the strongest Demonic Sect, and also enemy and rival to the now dead Lightning Sage.



In contrast to the cold man, there was an elderly man with a long white beard and hair. He had a gentle look on his face and seemed to radiate a feeling that made people feel at ease around him. He was the Pope of the Holy Kingdom, he was both the leader of the church and the country that it was based in. One wouldn't be able to guess that he had such a humongous amount of power as the old man Yonko wore a simple white robe that could be found even in a simple market.




Some people hadn't shown, but Alex didn't mind. The guests were all floating in the sky, seeing this he waved his hand and royal-looking chairs started appearing together with an appropriately sized circular table. 


"Everyone, thank you for coming here. I am sure it couldn't have been easy." Said Alex superficially, knowing that people of their level could easily traverse even when the world was like this. But every meeting needed its empty words to function. It was human nature. "All of us know what is going on around the world as we are speaking. So we are all here to discuss what we are going to do about the situation and how we will deal with this."



Alex's eyes then went from polite to sharp like knives in an instant. "Also we will be discussing allegiances today. Everyone states their opinions on the Beast War and the Corruption Virus. This way we know who we can cooperate and ask for help from. We will go clockwise from me as its ending point. Camilla, you can start first."



She smirked. "Well, I am neutral in both cases. Neither the Beast War nor the corruption virus affects me or the vampires in any way. My Shadow Island even became better for some people due to the Corruption rain."



Immediately everyone looked at her intently. This table floating in the sky was filled with some of the brightest minds of the Mortal World, so they understood what she just implied here.


Come and become a Vampire, we are unaffected by the Curse of Corruption and we have a stable living situation. Also, Camilla will guarantee the safety of anyone who joined. – That was what she essentially had just said. This was a recruitment procedure, the Mid and Top Level Legendary Rank wouldn't be swayed. Yet the ones who had just entered the Rank also didn't have a stable foundation and were most likely afraid of their mortality. So combined with all this, Camilla had made the perfect move to bolster her forces. 




It was a bold thing to do, especially right in front of the Pope and she had just killed the man's protege during the fight between the Shadow Island and Holy Empire. 



But contrary to many people's expectations, the Pope seemed calm and had a serene smile on his face. He didn't say anything.



"I will join Miss Camilla," someone said unexpectedly. It was the Dark Mage, the man whose face wasn't seen by anyone. He was also the guy who had escaped during the first battle against the Beast Army and his base was in the Paraseon Kingdom, which is now overrun by beasts. 


Still, him joining the vampires? The man was a mid-level Legendary Rank. His power and special ability were special, something that would have allowed him to get by even without the help of others. 



Alex nodded. "Anyone else can wait till it's their turn to speak if they want to join Camilla or not."


Even he was surprised by this outcome, though it wasn't necessarily impossible. Still, he knew from the game that the Dark Mage could see Bad Ends for himself, so he could dodge those scenarios. 


So why did he decide to join a vampire? That was when it hit Alex like a lightning bolt. Camilla was growing stronger and he wasn't thinking about her numbers or how many Legendary Ranks she had under her thumb.




'No…' thought Alex. 'It should be years away. Yet she is doing it right now? That will be very bad.'




What this all meant, was that Camilla was close to breaking through Legendary Rank and reaching a new level of power. Just like the Beast Emperor had. Still, though, Alex kept his facial expressions calm, even though he felt he wanted to throw up immediately.





…
A/N: There were so many hidden and silent conversations between the Legendary Ranks. Many alliances were made before Alex even spoke the first word in the gathering. 


P.S: Though Camilla has a relatively close relationship with the MC, even after everything he did. But at the same time, if she truly is close to a breakthrough then staying low is the best move. There was no need to agitate her enemies early or make new ones by getting
herself involved.


P.P.S: With this many powerful, egotistical and greedy people in one place... yeah, this can't go good. 😉