Chapter 1199: Azkaban - White Serpent Pirates’ New HQ!

Azkaban.

The ancient fortress had long fallen into ruin.

Most of its prisoners had either been liberated by Voldemort to swell the ranks of his Death Eaters, or relocated to other facilities out of fear that Ekrizdis might weave some foul sorcery through them, given his dominion as the Lord of Azkaban.

Ever since the founding of the Order of the Black Phoenix, the last remaining guards had been withdrawn, reassigned to the Hogwarts Grounds or the Ministry of Magic.

One could even say that, like Nurmengard Castle, Azkaban had become a mere shadow of its former grim glory.

Not anymore.

Legions of Dementors once again haunted its corridors and perimeter, lingering like a deathly, freezing fog from courtyard to graveyard.

Most of the Dementors had already revolted when the Dark Alliance came into being, favoring Ekrizdis over the Ministry of Magic.

The Dark Alliance had scattered those Dementors across North America, letting them feed on Muggles.

However, after the battle that had raged across continents a week prior, Ekrizdis had recalled most of those Dementors back to the abandoned fortress, reclaiming his centuries-old seat.

Unbeknownst to the world, the number of Dementors the Lord of Azkaban had brought back with him had somehow doubled.

None had the time nor the strength to count them, however.

All anyone cared about was the Order of the Black Phoenix’s silence in the face of it, suggesting tacit approval from Lord Black Phoenix himself.

Which meant Azkaban was no longer merely an abandoned prison.

Azkaban was the new headquarters of the Dark Alliance — or what remained of it — replacing MACUSA, which had been wiped from the world map and replaced by a massive crater in the center of the city.

Underneath the fortress, inside a cavernous hall, Kai sat as the Yellow Warlock upon a high-backed chair, letting Devil’s Snare feed on his blood.

With its Growth Manipulation and Dark Vitality abilities, the vine was nearly impossible to destroy unless an enemy obliterated it in a single strike.

Meanwhile, Kai regarded the White Serpents before him — Meg and Red Sun.

Spawn had reached a critical stage of her training under Taejin in the God of High School Bubble.

Moraine, Cersei, Peter, and Orochimaru were operating in the Verse Fusion Bubble.

Mayuri had just infiltrated the Soul Society in the specific Bleach timeline Kai had sent him to. He would wait for Red Sun to assist him from the Human World before proceeding with the plan to investigate that timeline’s Aizen.

The only reason Kai had not dispatched Red Sun already was the sheer danger involved.

If Mayuri were discovered, at least his demise would come at little cost.

The only caveat to using Characters was that they returned automatically to The Tales of Beedle the Bard after twenty-four hours.

However, with the help of his Epithets and Black’s ability to return to his Inventory from anywhere in the Multiverse, Kai could easily bypass that limitation over and over again.

Then there was Tina, who was still stationed in the Fate Bubble.

Kai dared not summon her to the Harry Potter timeline anymore.

He already had his hands full dealing with the Pillars and the looming threats of the higher floors.

The last thing he needed was Tina losing control and butchering everything in sight.

Thus, Kai had no choice but to keep playing the two pieces he had, ensuring they did not succumb to enemies who were vastly superior and far stronger than they were.

Rintaro has remained out of the game for a long time as well, Kai mused, tapping his fingers against the arm of the chair. But I can’t send him alone to any timeline. Besides... if something goes sideways here... then...

Unlike his earlier self years ago, Kai no longer liked the idea of spamming D-Mails.

This was especially true after the creation of Ad Infinitum.

Any use of D-Mail introduced variables that the AI simply couldn’t account for, threatening to ruining all his plans.

In fact, the last time Kai had freely used D-Mail had been in the Verse Fusion Bubble to rescue Meg and the others after they had been slaughtered by the Upper Moon Six duo, Gyutaro and Daki.

Still, after the Book had evolved into a Grimoire, Kai disliked leaving Characters to rot inside it unless he had no other choice.

So, at Rintaro’s request, he had sent the scientist back to his native Bubble.

If Kai required his presence, he could simply cancel the summon and use D-Mail from his end.

For now, he didn’t mind the mad scientist exploring Magecraft at his own pace, backed by the conceptual laws of the Steins;Gate Bubble.

Who knew what kind of bizarre, game-changing permutations D-Mail might reveal over time?

Kai’s Lucky Intuition told him that it was best if the Characters contained within his Grimoire developed according to the core Concepts of their native worlds, rather than relying exclusively on tools and technologies borrowed from foreign Bubbles.

You can’t clap with one hand, Kai reasoned. Nor can you forge a Multiversal Interdependency using the laws of only one Bubble.

However, the two individuals standing before him were not Characters.

Red Sun had only recently ascended to the 12th Floor.

Backing up Mayuri would serve as his Main Mission... an assignment a touch more perilous than what someone of his current level should be receiving from Chaos, as Kai well knew.

There was little point in expecting him to undergo a massive power spike anytime soon.

Meg, on the other hand, could use a boost.

"Do you know what happened with Kira?" Kai asked.

"The one with massive tits?" Red Sun chimed in, making exaggerated, cupping gestures in front of his chest. "You shouldn’t involve yourself with her, Your Majesty. I heard a rumor that she holds massive orgies... Oh, wait. You don’t mind that... yeah?"

Meg drew a sharp, irritated breath, her eye twitching.

"How do you tolerate this piece of shit?"

Kai looked past Meg and Red Sun toward the shadows where Cash stood, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.

"... And?" Kai prompted.

"Tch!" Cash, publicly recognized as the strongest Contestant below the 5th Set, clicked her tongue in disdain. "She detonated. It had to be the Temple of Hastur’s Seal inside your pet. If we had known you were keeping a ticking time bomb beside you, we would have thought twice before stepping foot into this timeline. Morning Mist is nothing but an absolute disaster."

"It’s all right..." Kai said, offering a faint smile to Meg, who returned it with a small smirk. "I like disasters."

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