World Domination Begins II
"Swallow this" With a flick of his wrist, he took out three tiny blue pills the size of a pearl. It was odorless but shiny. Maxine took the pill without any hesitation while Gibson stared at the pills with a confused face.
"Just take it" Maxine growled as Gibson quickly took the pill and swallowed it. Shorty had no idea what the pill would do but he kinda wanted to try it for himself. He kept staring at Michael expecting that he would give him a pill too.
"Shorty" Michael called,
"You are in charge when we are away. Use this as a last resort and close your mouth and nose after using it" Shorty saw him yet again flick his wrist. This time it wasn't a pill that appeared in his hand but a glass vial. Shorty's hands shivered while taking the vial. He held it close to his chest.
"Tell them to be ready, we will leave when we get back," Michael said as Shorty nodded. The very next moment, Shorty saw a bright light flash across his eyes. When Shorty opened his eyes after closing it due to the bright light, he stood in the hall alone. Gibson, Maxine, Aria, and Ghost were nowhere to be found.
Shorty stared at the vial in his hand, wondering what it could do. He had no idea it was diluted Fear Toxin that would scare the crap out of the pirates if it escaped the glass vial.
With his Inventor skill, he was able to make adjustments to his armor which enabled him to release Fear Toxin into the air whenever he wanted. However, unlike the vial in Shorty's hands, the Fear Toxin in his armor was potent to the point it would kill anyone in Southern Continent in a few minutes while cultivators at or below Core Formation level would die of heart attack if they breathed in the toxin for more than five minutes.
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"Fuck, where are they? We have been waiting for an hour here"
Inside Senator Caius's manor, Tiberius punched the wall, losing his patience. Caius was too focused staring at the map on his table.
"Calm down Tiberius, do you know where H is?" Another sweet gentle voice could be heard in the room. It belonged to none other than Sadie Kaplan. She traveled from newly found Tiberius's kingdom to Gisel with Tiberius to the meeting with Lucifer.
It was time she returned to Elon but to return, she would have to sail by the sea which would take months. Hence, she wanted Lucifer to teleport her to Elon.
The last couple of months had been an eye-opener for Sadie. When she was initially assigned to investigate the killings of Lucifer, she thought he was nothing but pure evil. It was rage and helplessness that pushed her to seek out Lucifer when her sisters disappeared.
Now she changed her mind about Lucifer. Although he was not exactly what someone would call good, he wasn't as evil as the Guardians claimed him to be. Because of Lucifer, the girls were alive and got a second chance at living. The former slaves settled into Tiberius's place seemed to be really getting along with the girls. They were helping the girls overcome the trauma despite being that they had been through traumas of their own.
"Ask the Senator. He was the one who sent him to the Maven Kingdom"
"Maven?" Sadie asked bewildered. She was still not quite used to the landscape and the kingdoms of the Southern Continent.
"What are the seven kingdoms again?" She asked, hoping to get Caius's attention. If he started talking, she hoped it would calm down Tiberius who had no patience whatsoever.
Her melodious sweet voice was indeed able to take his eyes away from the map. She stood up from her chair and walked towards Caius's table to see the map. Sadie saw a huge piece of land divided into seven pieces by black lines. The border of the continent had three adjacent kingdoms which were surrounded by mountains according to the map.
"These are the seven kingdoms, Gisal, Maven, Bralon, Prerid" After pointing the four kingdoms on the map, he moved his fingers towards the border where the three kingdoms were surrounded by mountains
"Qiven, Xoral and Netis. These three kingdoms are known as Trident of Southern Continent because these three are ruled by kings, not senates"
"Yeah. I heard about the freedom fighters were hiding in the forests of gray mountains near Qiven"
Tiberius finally stopped punching the walls and came to join them at the table.
"So what makes you so tense?" Sadie asked. Caius sighed as he moved his finger towards Maven. The kingdom was adjacent to Gisel and almost the same size as them.
Caius's finger rested on the border of the two kingdoms where Sadie saw a marking of a mountain. The mountain seemed to be right between the two kingdoms. Almost fifty percent inside Gisel and fifty percent inside Maven.
"This Stormveil mountain"
"What makes that a problem now? Isn't that mountain closed for some bullshit political reasons?" Tiberius asked,
"Two decades ago, the senate of each senate agreed to close the mountain range until both senators come into an agreement of who owns the mountain"
"This sounds silly to me, no offense. Why not simply share the mountain? Also, what do you guys want with the mountain anyway?" Sadie asked as Tiberius also nodded, looking as though he was agreeing with Sadie.
"Stormveil is not just any mountain, deep inside, there are gold veins. Anyone who owns this mountain will basically become a superpower. Hence, the other senates poked their nose into the matter and brokered a peace talk" Caius rolled his eyes. The other senates brokered the peace talks not to avoid a war but to keep both Gisel and Maven from becoming superpowers. They were only keeping their hands off the mountain because they had no claims on the mountain.
"If there is an agreement, why are you worried?"
"Let me guess, you received news of MAven preparing to make their move on the mountain," Tiberius said, surprising Caius. That was exactly the truth. Caius had been receiving news of MAven spending a huge chunk of their wealth buying weapons, armors, airships as well as hiring mercenaries.
"How did you know?" Seeing Caius's reaction, Saide could tell Tiberius guessed it correct. Therefore, she turned her gaze towards Tiberius and asked,
"It doesn't take a genius actually. After Lord Lucifer helped out Senator here kill the previous senate, the seats of the senates are empty. Although the senate has been filled with Senator Caius's buddies, it's temporary. The elections are coming. Gisel has to spend most of her resources ensuring the elections would be fair and the kingdom would be in a tense situation. Plus, until the elections are over, the spartans would take over the leadership. They are great soldiers but shitty leaders. The kingdom will be vulnerable without the senate to lead" Tiberius snickered as he continued,
"If they conquered the mountains first, it would be near impossible to take the mountain range back because that's a damn good place to defend. It's a natural forte. Anyone who fights will have an uphill battle in their hands. Also, the Senate will have so many meetings, bickerings and when they finally get their shit together, Maven would become strong enough to wipe out Gisel from the map"
After listening to Tiberius explain, Sadie understood the seriousness of the situation. With the senate destroyed in a single day, the people of Gisel were tense as it is, they weren't prepared to face a full-scale war.
"I could send in the spartans to defend the mountain range until the election finishes but it will be like sending them to their graves. Besides, I'm having some problems with the new Spartan captain"
"New? What happened to the old one?" Tiberius asked,
"He was injured during the explosion at the arena. A month ago he died and a new one took his place" Caius sighed,
"Took his place? Shouldn't it be you who chooses the new captain?"
"Unfortunately spartans have their own rules about choosing a new captain. The senate or the senators can't poke our noses into their matter. I can't fight Maven and the Spartans at the same time. This is giving me a headache on top of the upcoming elections"
"I hope Lord Lucifer don't get disappointed with you, Senator" Tiberius snickered,
He hated all the senators including Caius. All the senate and the senators sent their forces to shut down the rebellion. Even now, except Gisel, the other three senate-ruled kingdoms were enforcing harsh rules to put out the rebellion and hanging slaves mercilessly.
Although Caius helped the rebels take refuge in Tiberius's kingdom and gave protection, Tiberius knew he was doing that because of Lucifer's orders, not out of the goodness in his heart. Tiberius was only thankful to Lucifer, not to anyone else.
"Don't listen to him, Senator. Tell everything to Lord Lucifer, he might just go there and destroy their asses overnight" Sadie slightly chuckled,
Tiberius was surprised as this was the first time he saw this girl chuckle since he met her. She always had a gloomy face. He knew the reason for her sadness. After hearing their story, he came to realize that cultivators aren't better than the nobles in the Southern continent. They both seemed evil to the core. Compared to them, Lucifer seemed to be the good guy in Tiberius's eyes.
Swoosh!
Suddenly, a bright light flashed across the room as the three of them quickly shut their eyes close. A few seconds after they opened their eyes to see Lucifer sitting on a throne made of Skull and bones behind Senator Caius.
Sadie saw Maxine and Gibson standing on each side of the throne.
"Lord Lucifer"
"Lord Lucifer"
"Lord Lucifer"
Caius was the first to kneel down, followed by Sadie. Tiberius took a few seconds before finally getting onto his one knee.
"You seem tense, Caius. Tell me everything" Michael didn't beat around the bushes but directly asked after seeing the dread in Caius's eyes.
"Lord Lucifer…"
For a few minutes, Michael just listened to Caius explain the problems Gisel was having since he last saw him. Michael was too focused on the tournament and the guardians and kinda neglected Gisel. It was not because Gisel wasn't important but any problem in the Southern continent could be fixed by brute force as Michael was a godlike existence here, especially now after upgrading himself.
"Maxine, let's buy the warship and take a trip to Maven"
"As you wish my lord, we should destroy the senate as we did here" Maxine grinned evilly as Caius felt a chill running through his spine.