Butcher's Graffiti

Amira was the founder of Orophrus and has been its ruler for the past 60 years with an iron fist. She is the empire itself.

"The Church seems to think itself welcome in MY lands." her tone was ice-cold, an oppressing aura silently blaring from her formas she sat lazily.

"...we come in peace and merely ask for your partic.i.p.ation. That is all, your highness. Our desire to protect all life, no matter what race or culture, is genuine. I very much hope you would consider this humble request." the priest bowed.

His voice calm and unshaken despite the suffocating bloodl.u.s.t in the air.

"Pfft!...and where is it that you plan to hold such a gathering?" her words didn"t match the unblinking and emotionless poker face she was wearing.

Phillis and Nikolai were present as well, along with the fully-armoured Personal Guards of the Lord at ready with weapons. The pin-drop silence was only relieved with each monotonous response from either side.

"The Summit between Nations shall be held in The Sanctuary. And yes, it will be hosted by the Great Inst.i.tute of Mistainn."

"What!? That means—!"

"Yes. Professor Gregory has agreed to a.s.sist us in this endeavor."

The Great Inst.i.tute of Mistainn is an academy established independently by the Mythic Cla.s.s Mage, Gregory Augustus Mistainn. It stands under no country or outer society"s influence and is easily capable of standing on its own two feet, all made possible by one genius.

The man "Gregory Mistainn" was an ordinary human mage with extraordinary intellect, and was the one who put an end to the Great War of Races, 80 years ago.

u003c"That sleazebag! Why would he...?"u003e Amira was panicking inside, but it wasn"t showing.

u003c"That idiot! Why would he...?"u003ePhillis too was having a panic of his own.

"Three representatives from each nation shall attend the summit, in place of the rulers. Also..." the priest continued, gesturing at his companion.

The other retrieved a small silver chest from his dimensional pocket, closing the tiny rift in s.p.a.ce and handing it to the priest.

"...a gift, as proof of our goodwill. We have distributed these Communication Devices to every attending country."

Inside were two, clear crystal b.a.l.l.s sitting atop silk velvety cushions. Three Magic Inscriptions that glowed in a warm hue overlapped each other, slanting in different directions. The inscriptions rotated in synchronize with the other crystal ball, its faint light pulsing in rhythm.

The Empress was reluctant.

u003c"Not to be paranoid, but I"ve yet to figure out the true intentions of these geezers. Saying that this is pure charity without any ulterior motives is crazy talk."u003e

"...alright, whatever. I shall comply to this silly meeting of yours and send my representatives. Now leave!" she stood, prompting for the messengers to exit her domain.

Phillis silently performed the Inspect Spell on the items and their container as soon as he received them, looking for any funny business that may have been implanted along with it. Nodding to Amira to confirm that it was "clean" of any mischievous tricks.

"Very well, we shan"t overstay our welcome. It was truly delightful despite being so brief, Empress Amirabeth." said the priests, bowing with a hand on their chest.

"We shall meet again at the Summit. Farewell."

.

"Fuu~...this is bad. Like, really bad." Phillis said, lighting a cigarette.

He was laying down on one of the sofas, relaxing along with the others in the lounge for afternoon tea. Amira, on the other hand was tossing one munchkin in her mouth after the other.

"What"s wrong?" Nikolai asked.

"Oh right, you never met did you, with Professor Gregory?"

"We have...briefly."

"Oh. Well then, you probably have a general idea on how eccentric the man can be, yes?" Phillis said, asking Bastian for another cup of warm chocolate.

"Gregory Augustus Mistainn, or "The Professor as the t.i.tle he"s well-known for, is—...hold on." he stopped, pointing to Nikolai who was standing. "What are you doing?"

"What?"

"Why aren"t you sitting down?"

"..."

"..."

There was a brief silence among them with only Amira"s audible gobbling in the background.

"I"m...heavy." the giant sighed, humbly refusing the offer.

"Nonsense! The chair manages to hold with Amira sitting on it so I"m sure you"ll be fine." the bloodsucker snickered, patting the vacant seat lazily.

"...did you just call me fat?" Amira"s eyes were reduced into fiery slits, still holding munchkins on either hands.

"Heavens no, darling! I would never! I"m just trying to convince Nikki to join us as we relax. Hehehe~"

The bloodsucker hurriedly denied, putting out a cigarette b.u.t.t in his tray and lighting another.

"I"m good...really."

"Oh, come on. Just sit down for heaven"s sake!"

The argument reached yet another lull. Phillis gestured for Nikolai to take the vacant sofa once more, gleefully nodding.

"...fine." he sighed, again, in defeat.

The seat"s golden cue legs creaked as Nikolai slowly settled himself while holding onto the armrests, wary of the possible disaster. The onlookers were amused, watching 4 thin legs struggle to carry the mountain of a man.

"You were...saying?" Nikolai asked, relieved that the chair somehow managed not to break.

"...right." the vampire"s eyes were glued to the bent sofa. "Let"s make this quick, what do you know about him?"

"Human. Smart. Strong. It...was just...a quick...clash."

"Wait, you two fought?! Who won?"

"I was...knocked out."

Some munchkins rolled on the floor, Amira and Phillis donning a stupefied face.

"HOW?!" they exclaimed at the same time.

Nikolai could do nothing but sigh, once again for the third time.

"I"m sorry, is there something strange about that?" Bastian"s interest was piqued as well.

"Nicholas does not need sleep, though he does get tired still but even then, he can just burn a bit of that infinite Life Force of his in exchange for some stamina. That"s why him being forced unconscious by someone of a clearly inferior bodily strength is extremely rare, a feat in and of itself." Amira explained after wiping off the chocolate staining her lips.

"...I see."

She stood up, walking to the front. The lounge was set facing a wonderful view of her garden in the afternoon sun, all sorts of flora swaying in the light breeze as petals danced in the air. Amira pressed one of the many rings adorning her fingers, one embedded with a small ruby.

"I"ll do the explaining. First of all, I"m sending you, High General Vladimir, as the main representative of our Empire. If they"re getting something out of this, then we might as well grab this opportunity create a few secret alliances.

Nikolai, you will have to attend as well. I"m quite sure they"ve already heard of your return, so why not intimidate them a little. Your presence alone will help us a.s.sert dominance, preventing any gestures of unwarranted "kindness". Break a some bones or whatever, I don"t care, just don"t kill them."

Tall curtains set high into the ceiling closed and darkened the lounge, the chandeliers glowing with magic and lighting the room. The petals from outside found their way in on an opening above the curtains, controlled by the empress as they morphed into shape.

They took the form of a man.

Red petals combined to form the Warlock"s Robe that the man wore while the other petals were also grouped in corresponding color and purpose. The man was posing with his right arm out, palm opened as blue and white petals swirled to represent 3 orbs of magic.

"This is Professor Gregory Mistainn, A human t.i.tled "Grandmaster of the Arcane". He is a renowned genius, not for his talent in magic but for his extraordinary intellect. Phillis and myself were once his students, though in different batches for that matter.

It"s funny to say that humans are the weakest race in Verochka when it"s because of one man that the War of Races came to an end, and caused the world enter the Golden Age of Science and Magic.

He is as capable as he eccentric, his methods often differing from the norm. Only if you knew him, that man comes up with the most unthinkable things that it becomes hard to believe that he"s sane.

And now he"s agreed to a.s.sist the Church of Lunatics! Ugh, that stupid genius. What is he thinking?!

...anyways. The only thing I can tell you is be careful, we don"t know what"s happening and there"s still the threat from the past. Be as vigilant as you can."

The petal statue was subtly moving in an animated loop, it"s featureless face looking around as it juggled the orbs from hand to hand.

"Yeah. He even told us that everything is made up of these tiny ball-shaped particles he calls "molecules" and that it can"t ever be destroyed, unbelievable huh. But I do believe him, trust me, that man is outstanding.

He somehow managed to slow the aging of his body and is still alive to this day, while I had to become an abomination!" Phillis interjected.

"I haven"t seen him in a long time, so I"m not so sure that he hasn"t changed either." Amira added.

Nikolai listened carefully. He was starting to think more and more that this person seemed more like a threat rather than an ally, thinking of ways he could win if he ever were to fight against the man, again.

"By the way, weren"t there supposed to be three attending representatives? You only mentioned me and Nikki here." Phillis turned to Amira putting out the fifth cigarette b.u.t.t.

"Hm. Well, I have someone in mind."

.

"You"re leaving me behind?"

"I"ll...be back. We"ll just...be there...for...a week."

Nikolai embraced his daughter. Seffa had just finished preparing for bed and she hadn"t seen her father all day.

Back in their cottage in the Merin Woods, she would often entertain herself with ch.o.r.es, playing fetch with Matros, self-studying magic or practicing it with the books that they had back home.

She couldn"t get used to being treated like a princess and having nothing to do at all, though the books did keep her occupied.

She was still halfway into exploring the entire Palace but she was already bored out of her mind. Occasional talks with the household workers like the chefs and maids was getting old pretty quickly.

Though unintentionally, she would hear their thoughts and even secrets at some point like affairs or personal problems.

"Please take me with you, Papà. I promise I"ll stay close! Please~?"

"No. It is...not safe. I...love you, dear. So please, stay here...for now." he explained, gently wiping her neck with a wet towel.

"But I can handle it! I just learned how to cast the Phoenix Hail Spell from the grimoire Uncle Phiris lent me. I can protect us!" she said, raising her hand as Nikolai changed her clothes.

u003c"Wait...isn"t that a Military-Grade Offensive Spell?"u003e Nikolai thought, raising a brow.

"Yes, it is!!"

u003c"...that d.a.m.n bat! He must"ve noticed that Seffa is a Psychic Type."u003e

He swore to put some extra force when he got the chance to kick the general"s b.a.l.l.s.

"So I can come right? Right?!"

"Dear, please. Listen...to me. Once...I"m done, we"ll go...to the...shopping...district. I"ll spend...the whole...day...with you...and we"ll...buy...any-...-thing...you want. Alright?" Nikolai kissed his daughter in the forehead, handing her a gla.s.s of warm milk.

"...okay. You promise?" she pouted, touching her toes.

"I...promise."

Seffa gave a small smile before drinking the gla.s.s of milk all in one go, getting a foamy mustache after so.

.