Will of chaos

Of all the people here at this gathering, my sister in her current state was far from the strongest, but someone as old as her who is known as a Living Catastrophe has already caused so much death, I can’t even imagine the number of lives taken by her hands, killing intent is a separate aspect of one’s Aura, a mark that shows the number of lives taken.

I only realized this because I didn’t have anything like a killing intent when I was born in this world, I also only noticed that I had something like this after the Goblin Village massacre, since then my killing intent grows more and more to the point of being stronger than my normal Aura.

I also noticed that even though it was a mark on my Aura, it wasn’t a permanent feature, it was more like something that activated itself when reacting to my desire to hurt someone, as if it were a warning to the opposite side that a predator had targeted him, at least that’s how I realized what murderous intent was and my sister at the moment looks like a beast of the apocalypse with that murderous intent like a tsunami sweeping in every direction.

Since I wasn’t the target and had already felt her killing intent to a considerably lesser extent during her trainings, I was able to move and go to her by placing my hand on her shoulder.

“Elizabeth, you’re not like that, what’s the first rule of a ruler?” (I)

“…” (Elizabeth)

Elizabeth’s eyes were bright red, glowing with the intensity of a car headlight, the space around her trembling like a volcano about to erupt.

As soon as I placed a hand on her shoulder I used the harmony trait in my Aura on her body while trying to call her mind to rationality, which seemed to work as her eyes returned to normal while her Killer Aura seemed restricted by her Aura as it was retracted for your body.

“Sorry for losing my cool, please continue…” (Elizabeth)

She placed her hand on top of mine as she nodded her thanks, I returned to my seat with only the sweat on my face noticing at that moment.

I looked around and noticed that everyone else was calmer than I was, some were looking at Elizabeth and some were looking at me, but the two people outside who were talking were frozen in place.

Astrid had pure non-elemental Mana flowing in rings swirling around her as her companion stood forward as if protecting Astrid, both of them eyeing my sister warily.

“You were talking about your enemies, please continue.” (I)

“…” (Astrid)

“…” (Miriam)

The two exchanged glances once more before Miriam’s call beckoned to her mate in confirmation.

“Very well… as she was saying before, this problem started in our universe, but unfortunately they came undercover in another vehicle, their minds were consumed with becoming superior by any means necessary.” (Astrid)

“Like us, we believe they haven’t interacted with anyone in that universe, but it’s been a long time since I dare say with full confidence what they may or may not have thought of doing.” (Astrid)

“…” (I)

I fall silent after having managed to get the conversation back on track, my sister watching as her eyes still reveal their fury while her face shows no emotion.

The others are also paying attention, but when I looked at Nicole I noticed her eyes shining, I also noticed the magic circles forming inside her eyes and changing all the time.

I started tracing her line of vision dividing my attention between Nicole and Astrid’s explanation, that’s when I realized that she was focusing her vision on the so-called magical prostheses, apart from her eyes no other part of her body was moving, but I know that in her head countless calculations analyzes and simulations are being processed in your mind.

At least she’s behaving herself, I’m just not sure if she’s eavesdropping on this meeting’s conversations or completely ignoring it.

“Our goal has always been the same, to live like any other nation, as such we seek to obtain enough strength to defend ourselves whether from monsters or other enemies.” (Astrid)

“But you claim that these people who are desecrating the sanctity of life are not seeking the same as you are?” (Uraha)

“No, to begin with, they no longer have a people, all those who fall into their hands have their minds tortured beyond recognition until they become like them.” (Miriam)

“Our people on the other hand are volunteers for their jobs, they are trained and taught correctly, their artificial enhancements are things they pursue on their own, we don’t force anyone to do anything.” (Miriam)

“(What does your Familiar say about them?)” (Elizabeth)

I hear Elizabeth’s voice inside my head, she seems to be trying to confirm what they say, I’d like to believe they’re lying about everything, it would be easier to resolve by killing both of them for being liars and for conspiring for a bad purpose, but to be honest I think they tell the truth.

“(Nix.)” (I)

“(They are still telling the truth.)” (Nix)

“…” (I)

I nod my head in confirmation slightly, its what my sister noticed even without looking directly in the same way that everyone else at the table must have.

“You told us your story and your enemy, but you still haven’t told us about the real subject of the meeting.” (Elizabeth)

“Elizabeth is right, I know we asked you to open up your story to us, it will give us some grounding in who you are, but now it’s time for the issue at hand.” (Orsel)

“What do you have to offer and what do you hope to get from an alliance?” (Orsel)

It may seem insensitive what my sister and Orsel say, but there is no such thing as an alliance without benefits, each and every alliance has its benefits whether they are commercial, ideological, military, economic, or personal issues.

An alliance must be clear about what each side wants from the other from the start or it will end horribly sooner or later.

She claims to be the leader of her people, her display of power when my sister released her murderous intent speaks only to her strength.

Everything she’s told us so far shows her wisdom in choosing what to tell and what to leave out, which it seems I wasn’t the only one to notice.

She also showed a lot of boldness and a lot of recklessness in the way she made this meeting happen, it shows a lot of her desperation and haste.

But none of that matters if it’s not able to provide anything we might want that’s as close as possible in value to what she wants to ask for, I’ve seen a lot of these things in my research into creating stories for my games in my previous world.

My sister even put me through some tests during my training breaks after my evolution where this kind of matter about alliances between nations was involved.

I look at Astrid who claims to be the leader, she seems a little nervous or maybe anxious, which can be understandable for this situation where she is almost begging for something that could decide the lives of those under her leave.

She looks at everyone at the table, I imagine she’s trying to analyze what they think of the use she’s said so far or something, I saw her eyes lingering longer on my sister before she started talking.

“What I have to offer is information of an imminent danger, I can also provide all information about our technology and enemies, of course under some fair conditions for both sides.” (Astrid)

“Other than that, I can promise to fight alongside you against these threats and monsters as long as I don’t put my people in extreme danger for no reason.” (Astrid)

“Let me guess, some kind of exchange of knowledge between scholars on our side and yours, an equal military alliance and information about an unknown danger as well as information about your greatest enemy which would be the abominations you showed earlier, am I correct?” (Elizabeth)

“…” (Astrid) 𝘦𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘦𝑙．𝑜𝑟𝘨

“Yes, that is a correct interpretation.” (Astrid)

“But these are all things you offer, what do you want from us?” (Elizabeth)

“What I want is just a place for my people to call home and the blessing of their Gods.” (Astrid)

“Would the gods’ blessing be to adapt their bodies to the use of magic?” (Zadiris)

“During our investigations, many cases have surfaced both in the history of this world, and it is common knowledge that the blessing of your gods can grant power to your chosen ones.” (Astrid)

“It seems there are holes in your knowledge, I can understand why.” (Elizabeth)

“Zenos, do you mind explaining why she’s wrong about the Blessings since she understands them better than anyone else here?” (Elizabeth)

“…” (I)

She knows I have many blessings and can bestow my own blessings on others myself, I’m glad she doesn’t say things excessively in the midst of so many people.

“I don’t know what you’ve learned about Blessings, but they aren’t things that can be traded, loaned or given to anyone as you suggest.” (I)

“A Blessing needs the sincere will of the one who grants the Blessing and the compatibility of the one who receives the Blessing, which makes his proposal to deliver a blessing to an entire Nation impossible.” (I)

“He is correct, his proposal itself is an offense to the Deities and the Dragons, but we can overlook this due to his ignorance on the matter.” (Uraha)

“But without a blessing, then my people…” (Astrid)

For the first time I saw dread in Astrid’s eyes, she almost gave in to despair when she heard my words and Uraha’s, luckily her companion kept her composure and placed her hand on her shoulder reaching for Astrid.

“I am interested in this alliance, but we must come to terms with our mutual benefits.” (Elizabeth)