The Eternal Flame hadn’t expected that he would encounter such a hard-line. After a moment of silence, he raised two fingers. “I want two extra quotas.”
Noxus and Medanzo were surprised at the small demand. After communicating telepathically, the warlord asked, “Do you have demands as to the order of entry for those two quotas?”
“I’ll decide that later, all I want are two extra quotas. We can take time to discuss the compensation for them.”
The number one bigwig under the Demon Emperor was merely asking for two extra quotas, and personally, no less. Noxus and Medanzo would have agreed even if there wasn’t any compensation in the equation, let alone with. Considering the Eternal Flame’s ident.i.ty, the compensation he was mentioning naturally wouldn’t be small, perhaps worth even more than the two quotas they were supposed to relinquish. Noxus and Medanzo were quite curious as to whom these two quotas would go to.
But the Eternal Flame might not reply even if they had asked. “Fine, two quotas it is then.”
The Eternal Flame laughed deeply. “It’s settled then. I’ll go with you to the neutral lands and stay there for three days. That brat on the Throne of Blood shouldn’t do anything disrespectful to me.”
Medanzo’s expression became somewhat unsightly.
The master of the Throne of Blood was a vampire. With how hierarchal their bloodlines were, he shouldn’t be able to bring out his full power before Medanzo. It should be the Lightless Monarch the throne was most respectful of. Nonetheless, the truth was that the Lightless Monarch could offer no deterrence against him. He had suffered gravely back in the year and almost fell to the Shattered Moment. Presently, that person had matured even further and the battleground was in the neutral lands—even Medanzo wouldn’t dare to claim he could win.
Hence, from a certain perspective, the existence of the Throne of Blood was a big humiliation to the vampire race. Fortunately, it was the Evernight alliance that he had defeated back in the year, killing many experts from other races with his Grand Magnum. It just so happened that Lilith was in deep sleep back then, otherwise, the vampire race would’ve mobilized in full force to destroy the Throne of Blood.
The Eternal Flame mentioning this matter seemed like he was putting in some effort toward seizing the pa.s.sage, but he was also mocking Medanzo while he was at it.
The atmosphere turned disagreeable at the mention of this. The great monarchs returned to their airs.h.i.+ps, and the three fleets continued on their way toward the neutral lands.
It was clear that the vampire fleet was the strongest among the three, while the demonkin’s was less than half that on paper. Despite that, the demonkin fleet flew alongside the other two all the time without falling behind in the slightest. In the Evernight world where strength commanded respect, this was undoubtedly an establishment of the Eternal Flame’s might. The meaning behind was that he had no fear of fleets even double the size of his own.
Medanzo’s expression was ashen. All subordinates naturally understood that the monarch was in a bad mood. They each found reasons to hide somewhere far away, lest the man takes his anger out on them. In the blink of an eye, the hall was completely empty.
It was at this time that Noxus’ projection appeared in front of him. The arachne warlord was just as distressed. “The demonkin are too overbearing!”
Medanzo said with a gloomy expression, “He’s the Eternal Flame, and he holds the demonkin Magnum. What are we to do?”
Noxus said, “The Arachne Empress gave strict orders to get as many of the quotas as possible, they’re going to be very important. What did the Queen of the Night say?”
Medanzo replied, “The Great Queen of the Night has been in deep sleep all this time. All she instructed me to do before her slumber was to find the Eye of Control as quickly as I can.”
Noxus said, “That means she’s still brooding over what happened back then.”
Medanzo replied, “He’s disappeared for so many years. He should have died in the depths of the void, right? Otherwise, it’s time for him to return and sleep in the blood pond. Is it really worth spending all these resources on a dead person? Humph, and she’s actually paying more attention to Habsburg, a little bloke who’s just ascended to prince rank.”
Noxus could hear the dissatisfaction in Medanzo’s voice, but he wasn’t willing to step further into this mess of a topic. Every character on the Sacred Mountain possessed indescribably terrifying power. As the youngest warlord of the arachne race, Noxus had no intention of encroaching on such taboos. Medanzo was one of the vampire race’s oldest great dark monarchs. He had lived long enough to dare utter some complaints.
Noxus sighed. “No matter what, the Eternal Flame and his Grand Magnum can indeed suppress us one on one. This is why he’s so arrogant. It wouldn’t be his turn to be so arrogant if we hadn’t forced Andruil away.”
Medanzo snorted with an ugly expression. If one were to discuss the vampire race’s record of shame, the Black-Winged Monarch’s disappearance was even superior to the Throne of Blood. Andruil vanis.h.i.+ng at the peak of his life was the biggest enigma of the Evernight world. As one of the top characters of the faction, Noxus knew quite a few of these secrets.
It was now Medanzo’s turn to divert the topic. “Since the Eternal Flame has suggested compensation, what do you think we should demand?”
Noxus gave it some thought. “As I see it, a large amount of strategic materials would be suitable, demonic steel, for instance.”
Medanzo agreed. “The amount we ask for will depend on how important those two quotas are to them. I still don’t understand why the Eternal Flame would come to the neutral lands just for two quotas.”
After some further discussion, they came to a consensus about how to share the compensation.
At this point, a vampire viscount said from outside the cabin door, “Your Excellency Lightless Monarch, a wars.h.i.+p has appeared to the front, and it looks like a messenger from the Throne of Blood.”
Medanzo nodded. “Open communication channels and see what they want.”
“I obey, Your Excellency.” The viscount left hastily, and Noxus’ projection also disappeared.
A rather old wars.h.i.+p was hovering in the void up ahead. The vessel was pretty big and clumsy, and it had repair-marks all over the body, a cla.s.sic trait of the neutral lands. But if one were to underestimate it because of its appearance, they would find themselves taking great losses. In the environment of the neutral lands, such old wars.h.i.+ps would usually erupt with unbelievable power output, and they were far more reliable than the intricate new vessels of the Empire or Evernight.
Before the three ma.s.sive fleets, this lone wars.h.i.+p was like a small creature in the face of a pride of lions. But despite the colossal difference in lineup, it remained unafraid.
An old vampire in black clothes stood on the deck. This gloomy yet elegant gentleman was the one who had once met Linken.
“It’s rare for everyone to visit the neutral lands. My master ordered me to welcome you here.”
Medanzo’s majestic voice echoed in the void, “We’re all here, so why is that brat still not showing himself? He doesn’t think a mere subordinate is qualified to welcome us, does he?”
The vampire elder said with a smile, “There’s no way my lord can neglect the great Lightless Monarch and Arachne Warlord. My lord cannot appear just yet, and he will not appear if you do not enter the neutral lands. If you do, however, things might be fairly different.”
The threat in his words was fairly clear. The Throne of Blood didn’t appear because he believed he wasn’t a match for the combined might of Noxus and Medanzo, lest he suffers a pincer sneak attack. But if the two monarchs were to enter the neutral lands, they would face unrestrained retaliation. Noxus and Medanzo might be fine, but none of their subordinates could stand a single shot from the Shattered Moment. Even Medanzo himself would suffer grave injuries if he was caught unaware. It might not be a threat to his life, but his fame would be mostly ruined.
Additionally, with the Queen of the Night in deep slumber and the Azure Monarch in isolated cultivation, Medanzo was the most active great dark monarch. Habsburg was a crowned prince who had received much of Lilith’s favor, but he was still a ways from reaching the next rank. Under such circ.u.mstances, Medanzo needed to cherish his a.s.sets because the greater his losses, the more people would miss the Black-Winged Monarch.
Despite his short-lived fame, Andruil had rampaged through almost everyone below the sovereigns of the Sacred Mountain. That pair of black s.p.a.ce-traversing wings was the nightmare of many an expert.
Now that even Noxus was bringing up old matters, Medanzo couldn’t help but feel restless. The Throne of Blood seemed as though he was backing down, but everyone could see that he was actually threatening the invaders. This angered Medanzo even more. He snorted loudly, saying, “What if I insist on entering the neutral lands?”
The vampire elder said without fear, “My master said that it’s not easy to nurture vampire experts. If you must insist on entry, then the Dracula family might very well slip in rank.”
These rude words elicited a furious snort from Medanzo. However, they were in the neutral lands at the moment, and even Noxus might have more tricks up his sleeve comparatively. The arachne were born physically strong, and the warlord even more absurdly so. The spider might not die even if he were to just stand there and let the Shattered Moment blast him a couple of times.
It was at this time that a raspy voice echoed in the void, “This seat is called the Eternal Flame. Go tell your lord that I’m going to be hanging around in the neutral lands for three days.”
“Your Excellency the Eternal Flame!” The vampire elder was clearly shocked. He quickly bowed in the direction of the demonkin wars.h.i.+p, saying, “Please wait, I’ll relay your words to the master.”
The etiquette displayed was so much better than with Medanzo.
Moments later, the old man returned to the deck. “My master says that if you’re only here for three days, he will make an exception for the Eternal Flame. He hopes Your Excellency will not attack the major powers of the neutral lands.”
The Eternal Flame said indifferently, “I have no qualms with them if they do not come and provoke me.”
The vampire elder hesitated for a moment before saying, “The three-day exception only applies to His Excellency the Eternal Flame. The other two monarchs must not enter the neutral lands.”