Chapter 185: Chapter 96: The Mad Men Who Intrigue Each Other (Part 1)
Rosevelt: "So, Reaper, it's your turn to tell me something."
The Phoenix smiles an enigmatic smile, one that very few would understand. Or, maybe, none would understand.
Grisham: "Fine, what do you want to know from me?"
Rosevelt: "What do you know about the strategist of the Vampire Kingdom?"
Hearing him ask so, Grisham finds himself confused and reminiscing of the moment Walter Schmidt came to warn him about that man.
Grisham: "Well, not much, except the fact that the strongest man in the world thinks he is unbeatable."
He says in a straightforward tone.
Rosevelt: "Ha! Ha! Ha!"
He laughs. He laughs even though it causes his wounds to open wider. He laughs even though the rest of the world would not.
Rosevelt: "Is … that what Walter said? … Seriously?"
Unable to control his laughter, he asks so. The Reaper finds that confusing yet again but only nods and does nothing else.
Rosevelt: "No … no … not at all."
Reid Vezalius Rosevelt - the man who holds the most clout in this world and is regarded as the second strongest man alive - he denies that claim completely.
Rosevelt: "No one, and I mean no one, is unbeatable."
Grisham: "..."
Rosevelt: "The devil fell to God and the God fell to himself. When they were beaten, how could anyone else be unbeatable? The answer is that they can't be. That's just the type of world we live in."
No matter who the person in question is, that person can be beaten - or so claims the Phoenix.
Rosevelt: "So, whoever this man is, no matter how much everyone hypes him up, he can be beaten."
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Multiple battles are taking place in multiple locations. But, none of them seem to involve the Vampire Kingdom. Considering that they were expected to be involved in all of them, this is certainly a surprise.
So, where are they anyway?
There's a simple answer to that question.
Valdis: "Did you … did you really do all this?"
With widened-eyes and a mouth hanging agape, the queen of the Kingdom asks the strategist.
Bronzer: "Well, I did. I sent a few Vampires on a suicide mission to lure Ross Green to the shrine before they confronted the third faction so he can mark it as a teleportable location. I did that to ensure that one of the members of the third faction who is not Ethan Kales fights him and we are able to get a good enough reading on that person."
And, seeing the carnage the shrine has turned into, it seems to have worked - a little too well perhaps.
The most thrilling part, however, is that neither did the teenage Hellfire ever realize anything, nor did the one who fought him, or even anyone else involved with this incident.
Well, as far as plans that were not figured out go, the third faction and Heise also didn't figure out that the reason no Vampires attacked them even as they traversed through their lairs to get to the shrine was that they were commanded not to.
Bronzer: "But, well, I guess luck was on our side this time."
He says as he looks at all the data they have recorded on the third faction's actions.
Bronzer: "Instead of just the one of them that I had tried to get some data on, we got data on all three of them. Now, we basically know about the fighting style of every single person in the third faction."
Gleefully the strategist says but, the leader of their forces interrupts in a relatively unimpressed tone,
Reid: "All of them?"
All heads turn to him.
Reid: "We can tell that Sona Pectus goes on the offensive with full teamwork between her Spirits and her, Sneha Stone prefers to act as a tank while waiting for the right opportunity to strike and Kais uses his intelligence and flexibility to use whatever little tricks would work to continuously outmanoeuvre his opponent."
Bronzer nods to all three statements, and so does everyone else present in the council room.
Reid: "But, what about Ethan Kales? What is his fighting style?"
Bronzer: "Hmm … does annoying people until they want to run away from him qualify as a fighting style?"
Reid: "No."
Says the Vampire leader in a serious tone.
Bronzer: "Well, then, he doesn't have a fighting style. His idea of fighting mainly involves running and taking cover behind others who can fight better than him."
The strategist turns to the one man in the room who has seen Ethan enough times to possibly add or subtract anything from Bronzer's statement.
But,
Ro: "Yeah, that's pretty much his 'fighting style'."
He agrees with everything, albeit with an uncomfortable face.
Darcy: "Why that expression, Ro? Did something happen?"
And seeing the uncomfortability, she asks so although without even looking at him and not even caring about the answer to the question she asked.
Ro: "Well, it's just that … seeing a Hellfire's body torn open and thrown about like they are pieces of paper is not the most pleasant sight for me."
Knowing that everyone else in the room feeds on the blood coming out of the Hellfire's body and occasionally even feeds on the mass, it's obvious why they won't feel any nausea while seeing it but for him, it's not very comfortable.
Ro: "Yeah, I think I am going to be sick soon if I don't leave this place or you don't shut that screen off."
He points at the screen on which Kais' carnage is captured in its full glory.
Reid: "We can't turn off surveillance so get out."
With a straight face, Reid says so, causing Ro to twitch his eyebrows in irritation.
Ro: "... Fine."
He would have retorted, or at least tried to, had it not been for the constant surge of nausea within him as he looked at that horrible sight.
Reid: "Anyway, what the hell do you think?"
Reid asks so, turning back to the strategist.
Bronzer: "What do I think about what? That scene?"
Looking back on it, without any visible discomfort, he says,
Bronzer: "Well, it doesn't look as tasty to me as it might look to you but you know, it's not bad."
Valdis and the four Generals make uncomfortable expressions, Darcy stays indifferent and Reid looks back at Bronzer like he wants to kill him.
Reid: "What do you think about the one who created that scene?"
Bronzer: "Oh, him? … Him, huh?"
Bronzer sighs and looks back at the man quite younger than him who seems to be reattaching his friend's arm.
Bronzer: "Barry's last hope, was he?"
Bronzer does not answer the question, only ponders upon it, for this man might be the one puzzle that he should take his time in solving to make sure he doesn't mess up.
Bronzer: "..."
So, he just stays silent as he stares at the screen showing the man who is said to be capable of changing the course of the war.
Ethan Kales is considered one of the biggest mysteries by many but Bronzer finds no interest in him, for he himself is the author of that mystery. However, he finds a never-seen-before level of interest in Kais.
Kais no longer finds any interest in Ethan either, but he finds a lot of interest in the man Ethan is afraid of.
Is this fate or destiny calling them, telling them that they are destined to clash in the future or something?
Or, is it just two psychos taking a twisted liking to each other?
Those who care to ask this question would not figure out the answer on their own and those who know the answer would not care to tell it.
Hence, the madness continues.
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