In the conference room, other than Arima, Layla, Karma and Night, there were ten people spread around on the different seats "Since we"re all here, I"ll make a quick introduction. I think you already know about them but it"s still better to put details under the name" Ambrogio declared. He pointed to himself and smiled "You already know about me, I am the First Guardian. I am a vampire and the one ruling this city of Melumnia. The t.i.tle they gave to me is the "First Vampire"""You already know Shiva and Shakti, they are the Second and Third Guardians. They are particularly good at life and water magic. Shakti is especially talented with her control. Shiva was named "The Destroyer" while Shakti is called "The Mother""
"Ganesha, who you already met, is the Fourth Guardian. Called "The Elephant". He"s one the most knowledgeable among us and is extremely lucky" Ambrogio said and Ganesha chuckled. It was true that in the legends, Ganesha was the G.o.d of wisdom, success, and good luck "Also, he is said to be Shiva"s son in the legends, it"s not true here" He added and Shiva snorted.
"The fifth Guardian is the lady there" Ambrogio pointed at a beautiful woman with green hair and purple eyes. Her entire appearance was stunning and her presence was extremely sensual "Her name is Evangeline, t.i.tled "The Rose". She"s a succubus and is really good with spirit magic"
"Pleased to meet you" Evangeline said with a really gentle voice and bowed. Arima smiled and nodded. The succubus"s pupils dilated just after. She saw Arima"s eyes looking at her but they did not even waver. Arima was maybe senseless to beauty, but her race could arouse someone pa.s.sively. She was certainly surprised.
Unfortunately for her, Arima couldn"t even observe her appearance, but even if it was the case, she would"ve got the same kind of reaction.
"The Sixth Guardian is this woman here" Ambrogio glanced at the girl who was nonchalantly lying down on one of the couches. Her eyes were half-closed as if she was about to fall asleep at any moment. She was quite pretty too with her amber eyes and black hair, but it was obvious that she didn"t care about her appearance at all based on how messy her hair was and the simple clothes she wore.
"She is Aergia, a really indolent individual as you can see" Ambrogio told and Aergia lazily waved her hand at Arima without even looking at him "Well, she may not look like it, but her power is on par with mine. Just that because of her own personality, it"s really rare for her to even have the occasion to go all out. She doesn"t use any magic and solely fights with her body"
"Well, as for the Seventh Guardian, it"s still supposed to be Raylein technically. So, I"ll skip him since you know him already" Ambrogio said and Raylein smiled wryly.
"The Eighth Guardian is him" This time, Ambrogio pointed at a really gloomy man with dark skin. His entire body seemed to be only black and only his eyes would shine white from time to time. If it wasn"t for that, most people would lose sight of him as long as there is some darkness ""The a.s.sa.s.sin", Victor. He"s the only one among us who started from a simple, mortal human"
"He"s the inheritor of the extinct Rakshasas. He gained his name by accomplishing every elimination mission he received"
Arima was a bit impressed by that. He squinted his blank eyes and raised his hand. He started drawing a strange rune on mid-air. Ambrogio scowled but didn"t say anything as it didn"t seem to carry anything dangerous.
Arima finished drawing the rune and pinched it slowly. Just after, a strange wave spread around the room. The Guardians just felt as if a small breeze had just blown in the room. But among them, Shakti was making a really incredulous expression "(This… is too much. How? How can he conduct this kind of scan so sneakily? He just pried into most of our secrets just like that)"
Arima smiled "You"re different from Yeion" He said toward Victor "You didn"t alter your body; you radically changed your energy so it can produce darkness and shadows only. That"s impressive" He remarked and Victor"s expression twitched. Everyone also felt a shiver climbing up their spine. Even Aergia opened one of her eyes to stare at Arima.
Ambrogio solemnly looked at both Arima and Victor before smiling "Let"s continue" His voice jolted everyone "The Ninth Guardian is that gentleman there" He beckoned one young looking man standing in the corner of the room. He was wearing a white coat, virtually full of medical instruments.
"Nice to meet you, I am Flavio. They call me "The Surgeon"" The young man presented himself and Ambrogio smiled.
"He"s evidently the best when it comes to healing injuries or any kind of illness. He is also capable of swapping the entirety of your organs for something else if he wanted to"
"The last one, but not the least; the Tenth Guardian is the boy who you already met earlier, Gilgamesh. t.i.tled the "Babylonian King"" The gold-haired boy raised his head slowly and peeked at Arima for a second "He"s a master of all elements and a Silver Emperor like you and Raylein. But his main strength relies on the infinite number of artifacts he possesses. The legends say that Babylon held every treasure of the universe within its vault"
"I know, I already used the same kind of magic" Arima stated and Gilgamesh"s eyes widened "Of course, I can"t take something out of Babylon but I can send treasures inside. If I"m not wrong since our theories should be the same, you should have gotten the Bell of Mictlan not long ago" Arima said and Gilgamesh hesitatingly extended his palm. A miniature version of the Bell which Fafnir had used appeared.
Arima smiled and even Ambrogio was amazed "As expected, you really seem to have your hands on any kind of theory and element when it concerns magic" He was full of praises for Arima. Actually, the latter was beginning to be bothered by it. Ambrogio was definitely not being dishonest but his att.i.tude overly polite kept putting Arima off.
The vampire clapped "Anyhow, now that the presentations are done, let"s talk about more important things. Afriose is one of them" Ambrogio finally brought up that topic and the Guardians tensed "I will not be asking you about details since I"m aware that you got that information from Yeion"s memories. But I would want to hear everything you know about him"
Arima shrugged "Even if you say that; I don"t really have any more to say. Even after I looked into those memories a little more seriously, I couldn"t learn a lot. Yeion only knew about the big names. The only thing I know is that Afriose is the Fourth Pillar and is definitely alive. Also, I can"t be sure since it was vague for Yeion too, but apparently, Afriose is rumored to be an immortal right now"
"An immortal?" Shiva frowned "He wasn"t one last time I fought him. I"m also made sure that his body had been destroyed back then"
"That"s why I think Afriose has been reborn by his own curses" Arima a.s.sumed "I stumbled upon Fafnir who had the same kind of const.i.tution. It"s not impossible for the curses he received to have mutated and then transformed him into a true immortal"
Ambrogio hummed and mused for a moment "What he"s saying is pretty reasonable" Flavio raised his hand and spoke up "Curses can indeed mutate as much as illnesses can. And both always are unpredictable and sometimes even defy our logic"
"Actually, if it"s true, I think I would be the best candidate to take care of Afriose. If I can dispel all curses and heal every illness ravaging his body, I may be able to kill him quite easily" He affirmed and Ambrogio nodded.
"I believe in you two. In any case, we have to prepare for the Stavrós Astéri. Shiva, Shakti, I hope you can take care of it in the best way possible" He uttered and the two nodded without any hesitation.
"Next is about the rest of the Pillars, from what Arimane learned; there"s Baba Yaga, as the Eight Pillar, who is definitely someone we have to watch out for. She"s rumored to use true sorcery. She isn"t even a mage but a pure sorceress who was born with the power to enchant, cast spells, practice voodoo, and use necromancy"
"Then we have Ambor. I heard from him. He"s quite famous. People called him the "Equation Solver". He can a.n.a.lyze magic formations, copy them, alter them, and even break them. The fact that he is the Second Pillar shows how dangerous he can be. You definitely have to avoid fighting him alone because each one of your magic will be copied and used against you"
"There"s also a really special individual among them; Harion. He"s also called the "Conqueror" or the "Ultimate General". That man managed to subdue almost an entire Plane just by himself then invaded others with his army and continued like that until his entire territory touched almost every Plane if this Reality"
"He"s not that strong individually, but his army is the biggest that ever existed and the information he gets is surreal. For instance, Yeion was under Harion and the fact that he learned about you is a proof of that" Ambrogio said to Arima.
"Those were the ones you got from Yeion"s memories but we also made our own research" He added "We found about the Fifth Pillar and the Tenth Pillar. The former is called "The Gardener". I heard about him but never learned about his actual name. His abilities are unknown but it"s said that he is the creator of many sacred trees and plants, as well as the one who stole Yggdrasil. That"s why we can also expect Nidhogg, the dragon living in the roots of that tree, to be our enemy too"
"The Tenth Pillar is someone quite special" Ambrogio wryly smiled "He"s "Vlad the Impaler"; Dracula. A vampire, like me. Truthfully, there are not that many pureblood vampires in this Reality. Even those we convert are not really vampires. You could say that Dracula and I are the only true vampires living in this Reality. His power should be quite threatening but I know he can"t produce servants as strong as mine"
"That"s all I had to say. We also have to go through every helper such as Odin and Thanatos but it will be for another time"
Ambrogio sighed "All of you, keep this information in mind and try to find out more by your own ways while coming up with countermeasures. If you have an idea, tell me" He ordered and everyone immediately nodded and swore to comply.
"Good. Now that this is done; before we scatter again, we have to go through the procedure to welcome the new Guardian. First of all, everyone votes," He a.s.serted and stood up "Whether Arimane should join our ranks or not"