Throne of Magical Arcana

Danisos’ appearance as a dragon instead of a human suggested his deepest hate against mankind. After all, the pope who killed his wife, Aflora, was a human, and most members of the Saint Truth were human beings too.

As he talked, an invisible wind seemed to be blowing across the field, bringing the feeling of aging and distance. His eyes that were covered in gray scales did not have pupils, and there were only layers of transparent ripples that looked like the ever-running river of time. It also made Danisos a high and mighty witness of history, who observed the changes of worlds and lived indifferently without ever being involved.

For a moment, Lucien sensed that Danisos was staring at him coldly. He had a subtle, uncontrollable shiver, as if he had been paralyzed because of the changing time and space. The Moon Timer in the pocket of his waistcoat had also been dimmed by the ruler of time.

Right when Lucien was about to unleash his air and resist Danisos by melting the projection of his demiplane, Danisos suddenly moved his eyes away. Instead of questioning why Lucien was invited to come here, he looked at the dozen legendary experts in the dark world and repeated, “The meeting now begins.”

“Dragon of Time and Luminosity, the Silver-Eyed Count and the Lord of Abyss haven’t arrived yet. Both of them are very influential among their people or in their territories, and they may have different opinions. I believe we should wait a bit longer.” Few members of the Dark Congress dared to argue with Danisos, and the Elder Mind was one of them because he was the representative of the mysterious “Mastermind”.

The Silver-Eyed Count, Rhine, was a first-generation legend, and the only legend who could directly summon the Silver Moon. His influence among vampires was as good as that of Dracula. If he was absent, it was estimable that the decision of the meeting would not necessarily be carried out among vampires. The Lord of Abyss, Natravos, was only a level-two legendary sorcerer, but he was the greatest collector of the bloodline experiments in the Magic Empire. After transforming his body into a Demon Lord’s, his real combat ability was as good as that of level-three legendary sorcerers. He was sort of a central member of the Dark Congress.

Of course, after being transformed into a Demon Lord, Natravos seemed even more brutal and bloodthirsty, with additional masochism.

Before Danisos replied, a low voice came from outside of the valley. “Rhine’s absence will not change the decision of vampires. If Natravos is late, it means that he has abstained. All he needs to do is to choose whether or not to accept our final decision.”

A male in a tailcoat walked to the front of the meeting field in a seemingly slow way but covering hundreds of meters in every step. He was a mature, charismatic middle-aged gentleman, with a well-trimmed mustache. He looked around at the meeting field with his crimson eyes.

After he appeared, the whole meeting field became dark again, as if the light had been absorbed by him. Around his cape, which was red inside and black outside, humans, dragons, elves, villas, towers, and other objects seemed to be hidden.

It was exactly Dracula, the vampire prince known as “Night Dominator”.

Dracula looked around at all the experts of the dark world and stopped briefly on Lucien’s face, before he raised his head proudly and announced, “The vampires have reached an agreement with the dragons. We will establish a new Dark Congress, which will not be a loose alliance but an association against common foes. It’s time for you to make a decision whether or not to join it. If you are unwilling to, please leave.”

He was so arrogant that it was more like a notification than a discussion, and the attendees could only choose to accept it or not to accept it. Also, he seemed not worried that it would push the other legendary experts of the Dark Congress away. Perhaps they were not significant in his eyes at all.

However, Dracula had indeed been well-prepared about this despite his arrogance. When the vampires and the dragons were united, he already boasted an overwhelming advantage, and he could totally establish a new force without being restrained by the Dark Congress. Also, although he had only one-half of the legendary experts, there were two top legends, multiple level-three legends, and absolute solidarity among them. Without internal strife, their combat ability would be much higher than that of the Dark Congress right now!

Hearing Dracula’s announcement, all the legendary experts on the spot fell into silence. They had expected a debate on the matter. After all, every legend’s opinion should be appreciated. Little did they know that Danisos and Dracula would be so dominating and arrogant that they did not give the other legends a chance to speak at all. They could only reply with yes or no.

Dracula looked at them coldly with his crimson eyes. “After the new Dark Congress is established, the Dark Mountain Range will be our main territory. Whoever doesn’t belong to us will be attacked, if they are not hiding too well.” There were too many dangerous places in the Dark Mountain Range, and even Dracula could not promise that he knew every secret hideout.

The atmosphere was frozen again after his speech. The tension that Lucien felt upon his arrival reappeared.

Arrogant! That’s too arrogant! We’re legendary experts, not vampires under your command!

We can always leave the Dark Mountain Range for the north to join other forces that are willing to take us in! Will there be any place that does not welcome a legendary expert?

Stanis was the calmest of all. He had been conspiring with the Congress of Magic since a long time ago. Had it not been for his remaining fear for arcana, he would’ve gone to Allyn.

Lucien looked at the King of Nightmare with a smile, feeling that he should thank Dracula for helping Stanis make up his mind and helping the Congress of Magic to secure yet another legendary sorcerer.

Previously, Lucien told the King of Nightmare that the Congress of Magic did not really care whether or not the Dark Congress was successfully united because there would be no difference. However, Lucien admitted that he was wrong and felt genuinely delighted. Based on what Dracula and Danisos were doing, the thing was definitely in favor of the Congress.

Well, should we try to win the two legendary knights over? The Congress of Magic has plenty of prosperous islands, and we are short of hands to defend our territory in the ocean. We can reach out to the Spirit Absorbers, the Eye Demons, and the werewolves too, and see if they are willing to participate in the research work, or rather, to be researched on in the territory of the Congress…

Of course, the odds of success couldn’t be too high, because the Spirit Absorbers and the Eye Demons were probably unwilling to leave the Dark Mountain Range that was most suitable for their survival and development.

When Lucien considered that, the legendary experts of the dark world considered their future.

We don’t know if the Congress of Magic is fully supporting Dracula. In that case, we will be in a very disadvantageous position…

Also, there will be much fewer choices…

The minds communicated with each other remotely, and Fitia had achieved her purpose. As long as she brought Lucien to the field, whatever Lucien said, it would be considered an excuse because his arrival suggested that he was on Dracula’s side, unless Lucien simply attacked Dracula.

Under normal circumstances, Lucien would hardly attack with his prudence. As a result, the legendary experts might be mistaken and make the wrong decision.

Sensing the changing atmosphere in the shabby meeting field, Lucien suddenly understood Fitia’s intention. He couldn’t help but thought that every legendary sorcerer had remarkable wisdom as long as they were not corrupted by the negative air of death or abyss. Dubenal, on the other hand, was an idiot to invite him here. Even if Dubenal told everyone that he had invited Lucien, nobody would believe that the Congress of Magic was working with werewolves, because they knew exactly what a fool Dubenal was…

Right when Lucien was about to speak while disregarding the rules, the Elder Mind stood up. His eight tentacles were drifting in the wind as he said, “Prince Dracula, is the Silver-Eyed Count aware of the decision that you have made on behalf of all vampires?”

If the Observer did not know, it would mean that half of the vampires might be unwilling to work with dragons, and that the God of Silver Moon’s attitude was obscure.

“Rhine has gone missing and is out of reach. We cannot wait for him due to the urgency of the matter. Now, the three first-generation princes of vampires, as well as all the members of the Council of Elders, have agreed with my decision.” Dracula’s face was so pale that he seemed to have been away from the sun for decades, but his lips were in the weird sanguine color.

The “Mastermind” behind the Elder Mind was slightly surprised. Even Sate, the prince who was closest to the Observer, had agreed with Dracula’s proposal?

The two enormous eyes on his octopus head looked at the unusually handsome man, only to discover that the vampire prince had closed his red eyes slowly, giving connivance to what Dracula said.

The atmosphere was frozen again. Suddenly, ripples of time and space spread out, and an illusionary gate appeared. A “young man” in a black magic robe stumbled out, with a loud voice that was enhanced by magic. “Mr. Danisos, Prince Dracula, my teacher has perished!”

He couldn’t have sounded more panicked.

“What?” Everybody was shocked. All the legendary experts knew that the young man was a student of Natravos, the Lord of Abyss. He claimed that the Lord of Abyss had perished!

How could a sorcerer close to level three of legendary, who mastered all kinds of weird spells, have died so easily?

“What happened to Natravos? Give me the details…” said Danisos solemnly. The invisible wind blew again, appeasing the young man.

As a legendary sorcerer’s student, the young man hadn’t even reached the senior rank yet. However, all the experts on the spot knew that it was very normal. Natravos was a demon-like lunatic, and his students had a surprisingly low survival rate.

The young man took a few deep breaths and said, “Your Excellencies, I received the notification of gathering yesterday, but my teacher was engaged in his experiment and had been locking the top floor of his magic tower, making it impossible for me to inform him. This morning, I gave it another try and activated the reminder magic circle, only to discover that the defenses of the laboratory had collapsed.

“… The whole top floor of the magic tower was absolutely destroyed except for the outer wall. I searched for a long time and found my teacher’s phylactery in the remains, but it was already broken. It might’ve even been the source of the destruction…”

Has Natravos really died?

The legendary experts were both vigilant and surprised. Was it done by Danisos and Dracula in secret to eliminate their toughest opposition? Or was it the reason why Lucien Evans came to the Dark Mountain Range?

Ogre brought out his crystal ball and performed astrology to determine the life status of the Lord of Abyss.