Evil

Illiad Round Table

"Sage!" I called out, waving my hand enthusiastically as I spotted him,"What's up? I heard you managed to defend Shellsby!"

Sage was with his father, Ursine Vita, a renowned figure much like everyone here who was invited. We had been invited by Sir Xavier Alexander to a new 'Illiad Round Table' where every righteous sect would converge to talk.

Of course, necessary preparations were made to prevent this from leaking out and letting the demonic factions run rampant.

"Ah! Julius! How are you?"

"I've been doing well these days, though my father's still cooped up in Juniper doing his utmost to fix the damage. Oh, right! I heard you managed to get Artemis to help you?"

"Mm. She managed to defeat six rank 6s. I'm sure everyone here should have at least heard the gist of it right now."

We entered Skyfall castle together, chatting as we were led to a large room which resembled the rooms clans had as meeting areas to decide on action.

Since it was a round table, there were no 'status symbols' to signify inferiority or superiority. No one would be at the front or back of the table, unlike in the clan rooms. This minute observation made me admire Sir Alexander more.

Just as the 259 clans had gotten seated, Sir Alexander walked to his seat before addressing us,"Thank you, dear clans for coming down to this meeting. I thank each and everyone of you with utmost sincerity," He bowed, showing his humility which everyone admired. The reason for this conference is simply because far too many issues which could threaten to topple Illiad have appeared. We need to, collectively address these issues and actively partake in partnership to resolve them. But first, some good news. It has been confirmed that Lorentio Knave is still at rank 9."

Collective sighs of relief sounded as we heard that piece of news. Sir Alexander waited until we composed ourselves as he took a seat, before putting on a serious expression on his face.

"The thing is, we are facing an imminent threat, several in fact. First is Tarkyol's successor who has been a neutral point as of recently and we need to decide whether she is an enemy or ally. Let me iron out the details. She has aided the Barshiek clan and Vita clan respectively in their defending against a total of 2 rank 5s and 6 rank 6s. To be able to defeat the Damatis Six of Wallaby clan, the strength of a rank 8 at least is required. On the other side, she has, as apparent as it is, destroyed Damascus city, thus, there are only 260 of our clans here instead of the 261."

"Sir Alexander, are you aware of the motive of this woman?" A woman, from the Tiradu sect asked.

"From what I can gather from relevant parties who have met her, the motive is purely for personal gain. Profit. So long as someone has enough money to sway her, she is willing to do anything without remorse. So most likely, someone held enough power to hire her to destroy Damascus city. Such a person would probably be one of the lackeys below Lorentio."

The crowd turned to soft mutterings and whispers as they continued to listen to him,"I originally ignored the Darleen kingdom's warnings of Quarvantcoatl because of my overconfidence in not letting things get out of hand. As you have seen, things are clearly no longer in my control. Aside from this, we have four other glaring issues."

Issue one is bad enough, and there're four more? Does the universe truly want the Illiad Continent to die? But...Artemis wouldn't destroy the continent for personal gain, right? She...

I found myself unable to defend her as Sir Alexander continued.

"But before that, let us vote. Those who say view Tarkyol's successor as an enemy, put up a hand. Those who think other wise, a fist."

Two hundred and twenty-one hands to forty fists. A large majority.

"Then it is decided. Artemis Blythe from now onwards, is decided that Artemis Blythe is an enemy. Those who chose otherwise, I urge you to please follow along. If there are glaring issues you wish to bring up, please do so at the end. Now, onto the next issue: Tarkyol's son. Most likely, Artemis Blythe unleashed Tarkyol's son and brought him back. They seemed to have had a fallout at Shellsby harbour. So we now have two unpredictable pieces moving. This leads smoothly to the third issue: External threat. As it has been made quite apparent, external threats are getting more daring. We need a show of power to stop them from wantonly attacking us."

"I say, we retaliate! We show 'em Wallaby clan bastards who the ones in charge are! An eye for an eye! Tit for tat!"

"Foolish. Doing so would be hypocritical at best and at worst, could give the Alius continent powers a reason to attack us."

"I suggest a neutral stance. The display of power Tarkyol's successor has shown is more than enough warning."

"A formal execution of all caught soldiers at least!"

"Declaration of war!"

"We could call for a peace treaty."

After a round of voting, a neutral stance with the formal execution of soldiers won by a hair's breadth.
As for the matter of Tarkyol's son, since no trouble had been made, a neutral stance was adopted.

"Now, the last issue. That...Woman has stepped onto the Illiad Continent once again. Not alone, but with Tarkyol's successor wrapped around her thumb." Sir Alexander spoke stiffly. At his attitude, everyone could easily guess who he was talking about: The Bewitching Faerie, the Devilish Seductress, the Queen of Temptresses: Charlie Rhode.

His stiff voice was simply because he had been played like a fiddle into her bed when he was at rank 9, unable to resist her charms.

"Hasn't the Rhode Empire assured she wouldn't cause trouble?" Ursine pointed out,"If it's like this, then there should be no cause for worry."

Sir Alexander massaged his temples with a deep frown on his face,"There lies the issue. When I agreed to the decision, there was some wordplay I blissfully ignored. She was at rank 6 then and I truly believed she would never break through the barrier of ascending to rank 8. The caveat in the agreement was that they would guarantee that she wouldn't do anything until as long as she was rank 7 and below."

A string of whispers broke out again as he continued."We now have three possible rank 8s who we can't predict on the Illiad continent. Lucius Sadie, Tarkyol's son, Artemis Blythe, Tarkyol's successor and Charlie Rhode, Rhode Empire's princess. Even for us, only four people would be able to deal with them. Myself, Sir Irving to my side, Lorentio Knave and his advisor, Veera Fawn. With two of the three together, Irving and I must work together to take them down. No doubt we will be injured and Lorentio will see this as key opportunity to invade. So, do we attack or remain neutral?"

(A/N: Remi Irving, for those who have forgotten, is the rank 8 magister mentioned in chapter 'Sister'. He's a close friend of Xavier and the third strongest on the Illiad continent. With Lorentio and Xavier in front of him.)

"Sir Alexander, if I may?" A man, I think his name was Terllion Darleen, king of the Darleen Kingdom, spoke.

"Hm?"

"As you know, we managed to activate the formation set by our rank 11 ancestors. Summoning the supposed great hero. He has disclosed that the more people or animals he bonds with, the stronger his powers become. Most likely, while I cannot reveal how I came to this conclusion, Tarkyol's successor grows stronger by killing."

"How confident are you of this?"

"While I would most definitely bet my army on it, my head, I daren't."

"Good enough. Then, dear allies, what do you say we do?"