"The word ''war'' has a nice ring to it. Vex has been getting annoyinglyzy; she needs a good challenge. She''ll get fat at this rate." ck Fang''s words were thoroughly ignored. The others didn''t even want to make an attempt at understanding how this woman''s thought process worked. She wanted to stake their future on a conflict of scales they had never participated in before in the syndicate''s incredibly lengthy history just because she was struggling to give her subordinate challenging tasks?


    Utterly ridiculous.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, I have a brilliant idea!" The army head shouted boisterously all of a sudden. It was a widely epted fact among the other six heads that he was the least cunning and intelligent among them, so they didn''t have a lot of hope toward him having something worthwhile to say. "Let''s prepare for war! Against stair and all his allies!" His words didn''t exactlye as a shock to anyone; he loved fighting andrge-scale warfare even more.


    However, the n his brutish brain cooked up came as a shock to most present in the call. It would include sending a few curious Consortium members on a truly dangerous but extremely rewarding mission.


    …


    - PoV: Quin -


    *Knock!* *Knock!* *Knock!*


    I knocked on the indicated door with my knuckles three times, after which it opened just enough for an eye to peek out, examining us. "Name and purpose?" the man grunted after five seconds of staring at me and Ayame.


    "Devil, and this is my Herald, de. Orianna sent us to help the Divine Nectar faction and to participate in the uing talks." I also summoned my hologram identification from the ring for good measure.


    At my words, his intense staring continued for a few seconds before grunting, "Good. Lady Ambrosia is ready to head to the citadel where the talks will take ce. You were just in time to catch her. Come on in."


    He parted the door fully to let us in, after which we were escorted to the upper floors of this rather luxurious building, considering it was constructed in an illegitimate underground city. It was clear a great deal of money was spent on it; I can fully visualize Ronan having a nervous breakdown while trying to imagine how the logistics would work and what the costs of transporting the materials would be.


    "My Lady, Devil and his Herald have arrived." The doorman knocked gently on a pair of ornate double doors.


    "Let them in." A feminine voice replied, whose owner became visible as soon as I stepped into the room. It was none other than Ambrosia, a Shadow Vanguard-ranked woman who was the leader of the Divine Nectar faction, making her Aurelion''s equivalent on the surface, as both had the same rank and led their respective Braedon factions.


    However, Ambrosia was a woman who had much greater future prospects than Aurelion, as she was an ex-Phenom like Ignis, and there were even rumors of her being considered as a disciple candidate by ck Fang back in the day, but she was snubbed of the opportunity when the mysterious woman selected Vex instead from the same generation of Phenoms, and thenter Raika.


    Ambrosia thus never managed to be one of the disciples, and perhaps as a direct result even fell behind on the two in bing a Veil Walker. Raika was at least a good 30 years younger, yet she was already a Veil Walker, while Ambrosia was stuck in Braedon, leading this faction.@@novelbin@@


    With that being said, I had to make the observation that even the women who ck Fang discarded were absolute bombshells, as if every single female that had any sort of connection to her had to be otherworldly beauties.


    I looked at the woman with a wry smile hidden by my mask. Ambrosia sat behind her polished mahogany desk.


    Her appearance radiated a strong mix of feminine charms and pure malevolence. She wore a fitted cheongsam-style dress; it was of a pristine white color with intricate ck and red floral patterns climbing along the fabric like creeping vines.


    Her tinum-white hair was framing her face, and the soft waves of her hair served as a sharp contrast against her piercing, blood-red eyes.


    Just like the three disciples, she was also tattooed. Well, to be fair, I didn''t know if Vex was, as she tended to wear kendo-style clothes that hid her skin below the neck level.


    However, I wouldn''t be surprised if she had tattoos; she seemed to be like a woman who would get inked just because her ''sisters'' were inked too.


    Thus, I believed all of ck Fang''s disciples were not mere baddies but inked baddies.


    (Picture)


    Ambrosia was surrounded by her associates, the other higher-ups of her faction, among whom I saw Leia, Cedric''s mother.


    As Ambrosia eyed me, I felt a great deal of hostility in her re.


    It wasn''t hard to guess her current thoughts. I was ck Fang''s newest interest, and from what I could gather, I made her more interested than Raika and Vex did back when they became her disciples. Ambrosia was seething with jealousy.


    Perhaps her misguided brain thought that if no one interesting showed up for a bit, ck Fang might decide to take her under her wing at longst. However, with my appearance, any such dreams of hers were crushed mercilessly. An incredibly young, sword-wielding, freeform-casting Elemental Sovereign just popped up in front of ck Fang, making Ambrosia a mere relic of the past.


    "Devil, it''s nice to meet you," she spoke up after a while and gave me the fakest smile imaginable. She hated my guts.


    "Likewise."


    My simple answer irritated her visibly, but I wasn''t overly concerned with pleasing a person who was already hell-bent on hating me. It would be a mere waste of effort.


    As for why I wasn''t feeling threatened, well, she might''ve been stronger than me for now, but her political influence was not much, same as Aurelion''s, and I would''ve kidnapped him already if it wasn''t for his army of high-level bodyguards.


    She just had a faction that was tasked with doing ck Fang''s bidding in the city of Braedon. Her reach wasn''t wide enough to scare me.


    "Let''s get going then, shall we?" Ambrosia asked while her fake smile grew even stronger.


    "Sure."


    Just like that, Ambrosia and the other notables of the faction stood from their seats, ready to head toward the meeting. I didn''t know what to expect of it, but I would be greatly surprised by the task I''d be given, as it would give me the opportunity of doing something for my beloved first woman I''d been meaning to do ever since meeting her. Explore more adventures at My Virtual Library Empire