"Codex: The Congregation
On the topic of The Congregation, Covenant and Thirteen Lords of The Congregation.
The Congregation was created as the governing body of all Supernatural Species and Factions, from the Jujutsu Sorcerers to the Wizardkind, from the Lycans or Werewolves to the Vampires and Yokai. The Congregation was established on Lost Island of Artaeum, where the Headquarters of The Congregation was built after its establishment together with the entire city.
Prior to the establishment of The Congregation, every supernatural species had its own laws and meaning of management, and nobody really interfered with each other. Wizardkind had their Ministries and their Confederation, Psykers their Psy Council, Jujutsu Sorcerers their Jujutsu Association, Werewolves and Vampires were managed by their respective Tribes and Covens, Yokai congregated under their Clans, and the list goes on.
With the development of the technology of the non-magicals, it was clear that change was needed, which was prompted by several events that happened subsequently that almost caused the revelation of the Supernatural World to the no-magical or muggles, as they are called.
The 1st was the end of the European Lycan-Vampire War between the Old World Coven and Lucian's Lycan Army, which resulted in a vast Demonic Incursion when Vampire Elder Victor made a deal with a Demon known as Kil'jaeden. The 2nd was the Shibuya Incident, which was a huge attack by several Special Class Cursed Spirits and one Pseudo-Legendary Class Cursed Spirit on Tokyo, which resulted in the destruction of the entire Shibuya District...
But it was the third event that affirmed the already established Congregation and the slow fall of the muggles, and the rise of the Supernatural.
On the date of 7. 07. 2007, during the Wizard Civil War in Great Britain, a Dark Lord known as Voldemort managed to reach Pseudo-Legendary Class Wizard and breached the world realms, which connected Terra to the broader Cosmos also known as The Great Dark Beyond, and soon enough, the entire planet was being swarmed by the Demons of the Burning Legion.
With the advent of the supernatural world, which was no longer secret, and most of the muggle population perishing either at the hands of the Burning Legion or the subsequent Undead Plague, which turned them into zombies, it was unanimously decreed that all of the existing supernatural factions would merge into one governing body, the Congregation.
This was the start of the agreement that rules the world to this day, known as the Moonlit Covenant.
The Congregation is managed by 13 Lords of The Congregation, who are thirteen individuals holding the position of head of one of the Twelve Departments and Department of Policies of The Congregation. The other Departments of The Congregation are as follows:
I. Department of the Cursed Spirits Extermination
II. Department of the Demon Extermination
III. Department of the Burial Agency
IV. Department of Research and Development
V. Department of the Sealing Designation Enforcers
VI. Department of the Internal Affairs
VII. Department of the Treasury
VIII. Department of the Lore
IX. Department of the Clock Tower
X. Department of the Judgement
XI. Department of the State
XII. Department of the Mysteries
XIII. Department of the Policies
The Lords are the ones who partook in the construction of the Congregation at its formation in 2007. Offering land, money, artifacts, manpower and an overall foundation for the Congregation to work. Every single one of the most powerful Supernatural Races is represented in the Congregation by the Lord, who is from the most powerful faction within the already-mentioned race.
The Congregation is headed by the Grand Chancellor of the Congregation, who is also Head of the Department of Policies; under the Grand Chancellor, there is the Vice Director, who is the person nominated to the position by the Grand Chancellor himself and confirmed by the Twelve Lords of the Congregation."
- Introduction of the Modern Moonlit World, University of Clock Tower, the Year 2027
***
Razahir Kheme, also known as Raze to his friends and practically everyone, was an old Special-Class Lycan. While among the Special-Class Lycans, he wasn't the strongest, but he was pretty powerful and could go toe-to-toe with any of the Special-Class Vampire Elders if he wished, as long as he successfully delivered the first blow.
That was crucial because the fight would be highly problematic without it. While the Werewolves had far superior physiques and regeneration compared to the Vampires of the same Class, they lacked their versatility and unique powers.
As someone who was almost 700 years old, Raze knew that for a Werewolf to successfully defeat a Vampire or Jujutsu Sorcerer of the same Class without problems, they needed to prevent them from employing their Techniques and Abilities on the battlefield, forcing them to the close quarter combat where the wolves had no rival.
Unfortunately, today, it seemed that he encountered a far more wonderful opponent when he noticed the than-skinned man with golden eyes looking at him intensively, who froze him with his Cursed Energy like it was nothing.
Because of his age and being well-informed, he recognized the man rather easily... in the end, amongst the Supernatural Species, the number of the special classes was small...
Be it from the Jujutsu Sorcerers who had the highest number of the Special-Classes, or the Vampires, Werewolves, Psykers, Yokai, Gorgons or the Wizards and Witches...
Everyone knew about each other, especially when it came to the long-lived ones who lived for many centuries. Even though the Jujutsu Sorcerers were not immortal, far from it, there were several rituals for them to attain agelessness.
Though this wasn't exclusive just to them, even Wizardkind could do it, albeit it was much rarer than them because while the Wizards and Witches had, as of right now, the highest population, most probably, they were also the weakest.
While their Magic was highly versatile, most Wizards and Witches were only around the 4th-Class to the 3rd-Class. Rarely did any of them reach the higher classes, and the number of 1st-class and above could be counted on the last hand...
Such were the laws of nature.
Yet Raze looked rather nervously at Shirou Amakusa Tokisada, the Jujutsu Marshall of the Jujutsu Association. Shirou Amakusa Tokisada was a Jujutsu Sorcerer who was older than many of the Vampire Elders, boasting to be about 1,400 years old.
He was very cautious about this because he knew that the Innate Technique of the Jujutsu Marshall was considered as one of the strongest in the world, and Shirou Amakusa Tokisada was also considered as the strongest Special Class individual in the world.
"What has brought your Lordship to the Budapest?"
Raze carefully asked because the last thing that Lucian's Army needed was to attract the ire of the Jujutsu Sorcerers. Even right now, the tides were in their favor, and the only advantage they had was the cooperation of the Regent of the New World, who was sabotaging any serious campaign in Central Europe.
Jujutsu Sorcerers were a relatively reclusive bunch by nature that wasn't really leaving Asia and Japan if there was no need for it, and they scarcely maintained contact with the other types of the Supernatural Races, with the exception of the Wizardkind as the Japanese Ministry of Magic was under the control of the Jujutsu Association.
"Problems after problems, little wolf... but aside from that, I want to meet your leader... I believe that he could help me with a very delicate problem of mine."
Shirou stated that he really wanted to meet with Lucian because there was a lot that he wanted to discuss with the man. One of the most obvious things was the entire war and its end, and the second was his help in searching for Kraven.
He didn't plan to search for him by himself, and even though he had Toji for that, the young Zen'in was just a single man in a big city. Not to mention, in the world, there were probably no better trackers and hunters than the Werewolves.
They would be a great help in this search for Kraven and also for the later peace negotiations that he had planned to happen in the Budapest after everyone who was a threat to the peace was dealt with.
"I will inform My Lord about your intentions."
Raze said as Shirou released the bindings of the Cursed Energy and let the Lycan Warrior bolt away as fast as his extraordinary physique could carry him out of this place because an encounter with someone like Shirou must have spooked the Werewolf Warrior rather too much.
Meanwhile, the Ancestor of the Jujutsu Sorcery on Earth looked at the emptiness in front of him, as he was standing on the roof of one of the historic buildings of the city and enjoying the view.
[Quest: Resolve the Lycan-Vampire War in Europe
Progress: Pending
Reward: Titan Heart-Blood (Could be used to speed up the progress of World Upgrade)]
Obviously, when he transmigrated to this world, he wasn't here without any Cheat...
But.
But, there was a slight problem with the System that he received.
The entire thing revolved around the development of the world.
Every single mission was somehow related to the world getting stronger and more powerful; for example, even the creation of the Jujutsu Sorcerers was somehow related to the System, as the System gave him a Quest to create a completely new Power System to strengthen the world.
And for every Quest that he completed, there would be some rewards, though most of the rewards were once again related to strengthening the world itself, like some unique resources appearing around the world or so.
But that that was good, because as long the world got stronger, that also meant that he would get stronger over the time. It seemed that each world had a limit imposed on it, meaning there was a limit on how strong a person could become in this world.
The stronger the world became, the more powerful its inhabitants would become, especially if the Mana became more prevalent in the world. Mana was the building block of everything in the world...
Every other energy type that was used by the different Supernatural races was just a variation or mutation of the pure Mana in the environment.
Magic Power was a specific kind of energy that was created by the Wizards in their bodies when their Core absorbed the ambient Mana from the environment.
Cursed Energy was somewhat corrupted Mana with the Negativity of the world. Psychic Energy was Mana used by the Psykers through the powers of their mind, which acclimatized them to the conditions of their mind and made them Mind-Attriubted.
Aura, which was used by the Werewolves, Shapeshifters, Gorgons, or Yokai, was a more physically attributed version of the Mana that developed more according to their needs.
"What now... I need to wait for the little wolves to calm down a bit before paying them a visit, so let's wait a day or two before going to them."
Shirou pondered over what he should be doing because he realized that he had rather a lot of free time now that he had a vacation, which was rather rare. Normally, when he was in Japan, there was definitely a lot of work to be done.
There was an entire Jujutsu Association to run for him as the Jujutsu Marshall of the Association; then there was rather a sizeable population of the Wizards and Witches in the Japana that were under the authority of the Japanese Ministry of Magic, which was, in turn, organization branch of the Jujutsu Association.
That wasn't talking about the population of the Yokai who were also living in Japan in a great number, and there was also a need for a certain oversight from the Association, especially when it came to some rogue Yokai.
There were also some of the Werewolf Enclaves that existed in Japan, which were created by the 1st-Generation Werewolves and turned by the Primogenitor William Corvinus.
Shirou allowed them to live in Japan mainly because they were quiet and didn't cause trouble. He was also open to allowing the other species to settle in the territories controlled by the Jujutsu Association as long as they didn't cause problems and adhered to the Association's Laws.
The population of the supernatural was rather significant in Japan because of the development of the Jujutsu Association, which was prompting various policies to boost the population of the Supernatural races.
The stronger their world became, the better for the entire world it would be in the long term.
Unfortunately, he very rarely got any Quest from the System, and it has been centuries since the last time he got any kind of Quest. It seemed that the missions from the System were activated by some specific circumstances.
Now, he finally had one more Quest, in addition to the long-standing Quest he had activated for more than one thousand years. This mission seemed impossible to complete, and he could only hope for an accident.
[Quest: Repair the world as the Mid-Level Fantasy World
Progress: Pending
Reward: Mana Origin Theory]
The World Development System wasn't the most user-friendly.
There were zero to no explanations about the reward or how to fulfill the Quest. There was nothing, and he needed to come up with the solutions by himself or hope to trigger another mission that would have a reward that would help him to complete another mission.
It was a rather complicated circle that was constantly on repeat. During his very long time, he was able to complete only a few missions, which wasn't anything really to be proud of.
Shirou didn't know what the Mana Origin Theory that the World Development System was giving as the reward for the Quest Completion was, but it was for sure something that would be tremendously useful for him.
Perhaps it would be able to increase his power, for that he really hoped, because he was stuck in the Special Class for too long. It has been centuries since he reached the peak of the Special Class, and in terms of raw power, he couldn't really move forward.
So he needed to depend on the System for this one or on luck.
The only thing that he was able to get out of was that their world was a Mid-Level Fantasy World, which made sense to him because, well... their world was rather too strong to be just an ordinary, average, Low-Level Fantasy World.
Especially the Special Class Individuals, who were freaks of nature. It was no wonder that in the canon of Jujutsu Kaisen, they were considered almost impossible to defeat by normal means.
Shirou had contact with many of the Special Class individuals during his long life and at this age because, well... there were not many of them in the first place. And each one of the Special Classes was being capable of wiping out entire nations on their own.
Like two Special Class Magi, Dumbledore, and Grindelwald, that almost razed Paris to the ground with their duel, and even their average exchanges were enough to destroy smaller villages like nothing.
Around twenty years ago, he had the honor to witness the might of one of the rare Special Class Psykers, Gomez Addams, who was a freak of nature in Biomancy. His physical strength and endurance were powerful enough to survive the explosion of atomics and come out without injury.
Not to mention, his wife had Morticia Addams, who was Special Class Magus, and apparently, two of them had children, which was very rare. It was rarely seen that the two Special Class beings got together and even had progeny.
Such cases were beyond rare.
It was sure that their progeny would inherit their talent and become another Special Class being; in the end, the Addams Family was the strongest supernatural faction in entire North America, and considering the number of Special Classes they possessed together with the other powerful individuals, they on their own were not weaker than the entire Jujutsu Association.
Especially one counted their related Families whom Addamses often intermarried with.
***
The next day, Shirou spent the day sightseeing in Budapest and enjoying a time of peace. He was especially surprised to realize that Toji was nowhere to be seen, as she was still searching for Kraven.
He got a message from the young Zen'in that the Vampire they were searching for was far more slippery than they had anticipated, and it was very hard to track him down. It seemed that he did a really very good job of covering his tracks and making it also impossible to track him down.
While Shirou already anticipated such an outcome, he was still annoyed by it because he wanted this to have done as soon as possible. And that dammed coward was just a 1st-Class Vampire, and even then, he wasn't particularly outstanding.
But when it came to escaping, he had no match.
Which was pretty annoying for Shirou, so he really hoped that the wolves would be able to help him with this endeavor. Lucian's Lycan Army was the only faction that knew Europe like the back of their hands, and though he was considered enlisting the help of some Wizards, he knew that they wouldn't be really that useless.
Most of the Wizards would be too scared when they heard that they were to hunt for the 1st-Class Vampire that was alive for many centuries, not like it mattered that the said Vampire was a coward who barely knew how to fight.
Add to the equation that the majority of the Wizards were relatively weak because they didn't bother training and perfecting their Magic to increase their power; the 1st-class Wizards were rare.
Today was another day, and he planned to go out and wait until the wolves would contact him.
Shirou knew that with his personal power and the power of the entire Jujutsu Association and the allied factions, it would be rather easy to force some kind of peace into Europe between the Lucian's Lycan Army and the Old World Coven.
However, nobody from the vampire side knew that the leader of the Lycan Army was Lucian, who was supposed to have been killed by Kraven in the past. Nobody new that it was nothing more than just a ploy, and everyone believed the lie, because Kraven was good at lying.
Suddenly, as he was about to leave the Four Seasons Hotel, he got a message from the little wolf that he had met yesterday, Raze. It seemed that his Lord was ready to meet with him on a designed place, which was finally something good happening.
Shirou thus recalled Toji, who was still searching for the Kraven without any success, so both of them would go to meet the Werewolves together. A show of strength, one could say, but a necessary one.
He didn't know if and how much the wolves knew about the strength of the Jujutsu Association because their primary area of activity was Asia. Due to the strength of the Jujutsu Sorcerers as a whole, they ruled the nations of Japan, China, and United Korea with an iron fist.
Contrary to the Wizardkind, who preferred seclusion from the matters of normies, Jujutsu Sorcerers were the ones who spread their influence among the normal people and controlled their world from the shadows.
Right now, the Jujutsu Association controls the governments of the Japanese Empire, the People's Republic of China, and the United Republic of Korea. It was for several reasons, but mainly to collect as many Jujutsu Sorcerres of the grassroots origin as possible.
Thus, the Jujutsu Sorcerers created some symbiotic relationship with the normies, and this behavior was soon enough mimicked by the Wizardkind in these countries and other supernatural species.
***
The place where the werewolves wanted to meet was in the middle of the city, with a lot of people and a lot of light. So no vampire would come here, and nobody would get overly aggressive because that would risk the revelation of the entire Moonlit World.
He had to give it to the wolves, and they were rather smart about it. They were aware that the revelation of the Moonlit World was something unacceptable, not because they feared the normies...
No...
Shirou knew that this wasn't the world of Harry Potter or just the world of the Wednesday or anything or just the world of the Underworld.
People here had very real power that was capable of unleashing unprecedented destruction.
Just one Special Class being of any species was enough to raze a big city to the ground rather easily, and that was when they were not going all out.
Right now, everyone was rather content with the status quo in the Moonlit Word. He remembered the times when Voldemort was stirring trouble with his Pure-Blood Movement in Great Britain, where he was attempting to convene people to overthrow the rule of the "muggles" and managed to recruit a lot of Wizardkind to his cause.
Though not only them but also a good number of Magi, Psykers, Werewolves, Vampires, and even some Jujutsu Sorcerers joined Voldemort's cause for a plethora of reasons. However, in the end, it was futile as he was apparently killed by some sort of protective ancient self-sacrificial ritual conducted by Lily Potter.
Shirou knew that the man wasn't really dead, but even for him, it was rather an uncomfortable revelation because it was a reminder that not even the Special Classes were invincible in this world, something that wasn't really sitting well with him.
Shirou and Toji were waiting on the terrace in some random café whose location was sent forward by the wolves as they waited for them to arrive. The ancient Jujutsu Sorcerer just enjoyed the coffee that was served to him.
"They are late..."
The Sorcerer Marshall of the Jujutsu Association stated that he looked around because he knew what Lucian looked like. He could remember the appearance of the leader of the Lycan Rebellion Army from the Underworld Movies rather very well.
Suddenly, he saw a familiar silhouette in the back of the crowd as he sensed several werewolves approaching the café. It wasn't that hard to spot the Special Class Werewolves that were radiating power like a beacon in the night.
It was something that was hard to miss.
"I didn't think that you would still be alive, Lucian. You really did a very good job at hiding your existence from the Vampires, though that would be most probably the work of your collaborator, don't you think so?"
Lucian was one of the first Werevwlves that were created, or rather, he belonged to the first generation that was descended from the feral group of Werewolves that descended from the William Corvinus and were used as slaves to the aristocratic Vampires with somewhat questionable success.
He was a tall man with brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a long leather trenchcoat with some sort of leather armor under a short sword that was strapped on his back at an angle that was invisible to the third eye.
Shirou had met the man once.
Before the 1st Lycan Rebellion when, he visited Castle Corvinus, which served as the seat of power for the Vampire Coven in Europe for many centuries, though it was eventually overtaken by the Lycan Rebellion under Lucian's command and was burned to the ground.
After Castle Corvinus fell to the Lycans, Ördögház became the new seat of power for the Old World Cove. Due to his age, Shirou was well acquainted with all of the leading Vampire Elders; in the end, he was older and stronger than most of them, especially with his Innate Technique included.
Among them all, he never liked Victor... that man was always a snake that was plotting for more power than he could hold, and his ambitions were typically higher than Mount Everest.
"It has been many centuries, Lord Amakusa."
Lucian was well acquainted with Amakusa Shirou Tokisada as well...
He knew that this was someone whom even Special Class Vampires like Victor feared to the bone. Despite the gentle and harmless demeanor that the young-looking Jujutsu Sorcerer was giving off, Lucian saw him fight.
Many centuries ago, he disposed of several Special Class Cursed Spirits created by the ongoing wars in Europe, the failed Crusades into the Holy Land, and other events.
And it was one hell of a fight.
He understood why nobody was really willing to antagonize a man who singlehandedly created the Jujutsu Sorcerery and possessed the ability to destroy anything that he wanted.
"Well, you can call me Shirou... I think you have earned that right with the level of strength that you have achieved; even among the other Special Class Werewolves, your strength would rank at the upper ranks."
Shirou stated as he didn't really care for the honorifics with a people that actually earned his respect.
"Then, may I ask what has brought you to the Budapest, Shirou? The central Europe is very far from the domain of the Jujutsu Sorcerers. And with the havoc that you have caused at the Ördögház upon your arrival, I want to know where your stance lay."
The Jujutsu Marshall nodded his head as this was a relatively valid concern. He knew that Lucian was someone who could be reasoned with. Not to mention, Shirou knew that Lucian was actually a very good leader and cared for the lives of the people under his command and rule.
"Well, some time ago, I was met with some really unpleasant affair. A lot of Feral Vampires carrying Bloodplauge started popping not only in Japan but also in China, Korea, and Southeast Asia... and the source was surprisingly Japan. So we started cracking them down and tracing their origin until it led me to the name Kraven. A Regent of the Vampire Council of the Old World Coven."
This was partially something that Lucian knew, but deep inside, the uncontrollable rage was growing in him because that idiot Kraven allowed Vampires carrying Bloodplague to run around.
It wasn't enough that he was creating Ferals, but on top of everything, they must have the Bloodplague, which was an extremely infectious disease, especially for the Non-Majs or Non-Magicals.
If there was an outbreak of it, it could easily kill tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, which would turn into a huge problem that wouldn't be limited to just Vampires and Werewolves. But it would attract the attention of Sorcerers, Wizardkind, Psykers, and practically any race in the Moonlit World.
And the number of powerful Cursed Spirits such an event would generate would be staggering. Lucian thought that working with Kraven was a mistake; what was worse than having a pig-headed teammate?
Now, he regretted not snapping his neck or capturing the slippery bastard when he came to him to beg for protection.
"Yet, much to my dismay, when I wanted to talk with the Regent Kraven, he escaped from the Ördögház, and I can't really find him. The situation needs to be resolved; one of the reasons why I came to Hungary, aside from seeing the cultural heritage of the country, was to resolve the conflict between you and the Old World Coven. As you are aware, in North America, coexistence between the Vampires and Werewolves is possible, and from what I can see, the primary conflict is between you and the Vampire Elder Victor, right?"
Shirou asked as he still very well remembered the plot of the movies in his memories and he planned to use it to his advantage. He knew that Lucian was reasonable enough to have his vengeance against Victor and be done with it.
Not to mention, this war between the Old World Coven and the Lycan Rebellion was getting a little bit out of hand. A lot of normies were already implicated, and the negative emotions that were being generated by the war were staggering, to the point where, in recent decades, there was an increase in the appearance of the Cursed Spirits by more than 350%.
Many Special-Class Cursed Spirits appeared in Europe as well, which was not sitting that well with anyone. He was forced to send more Jujutsu Sorcerers to Europe and coordinate with the Wizardkind to preserve the secrecy of the Moonlit World for as long as possible.
Fortunately enough, the few Special-Class Wizardkin were helping in this, and be it Dumbledore in Britain, Rasputin in Russia, or Grindelwald in Germany, were doing their best to contain the damage as low as possible.
"Yes. I am also aware of the consequences and the pressure of the Wizardkin and Psykers of Europe on both the Old World Coven and the Lycan Rebellion to end this war as soon as possible, but as you know... it is not that easy, and it won't happen until Victor remains alive and in the control of the Old World Coven."
Lucian knew the severe consequences of the lengthy conflict between the Old World Coven and the Lycan Rebellion. Still, there wasn't actually much he could do about it because his troops were fighting for vengeance, and they wanted Victor's head together with that of his collaborators.
He himself wanted the Vampire Elder's head for the murder of his mate and unborn child.
"The answer to your predicament is rather simple. I will act as a mediator between the two factions. Give me Kraven and I will negotiate with Marcus on the behalf of the Lycan Rebellion and break the peace between you. I already have Amelia on my side because Vampires are as weary of this conflict as Werewolves are, but Victor is dragging this out, and according to some rumors, he is plotting something behind Marcus's back."
Shirou stated thoughtfully, which made Lucian seriously ponder about his proposition because he knew that this was the best deal that he could get. The primary conflict between the Lycan Rebellion and the Old World Coven was due to Victor alone.
Lucian knew that he could kill Victor in single combat, but he seriously doubted that he was a match for Marcus Corvinus, the first Vampire and someone who was as strong as the Jujutsu Marshall before him.
Marcus Corvinus, the First Vampire, was in deep hibernation for several past centuries, and Lady Amelia was in charge of the New World Coven in the establishment of the first colonies in North America. This left Victor as the undisputed ruler of the Old World Coven, and he could de facto do what he wanted without any challenge.
The Vampires of the Nordic Coven were too reclusive to actually care about what was happening beyond their borders to a greater degree, and they only tended to their own matters.
Most of them consist of their studies of higher mysteries, and they didn't really participate in the conflicts in the world.
"That seems agreeable."
Lucian, in the end, agreed to the proposal of the Director of the Jujutsu Association because it would solve all of the problems and prevent the death of more Werewolves. In fact, Lucian also wasn't keen on the senseless death of all of the Vampires that were caught in this conflict.
His primary hostility was with Victor.
He would be greatly satisfied with his death.
"Then please, this is Zen'in Toji. My former priceless pupil, please work with him on locating Kraven and delivering him to him. Most preferably alive for the questioning if it could be done. There is a lot of information that could be extracted from that rat."
Shirou said this as he pointed at Toji, who was sleeping in the chair, bored to death from talking for the past half an hour. Meanwhile, Lucian recognized the surname as one of the Five Principal Clans in the Jujutsu Sorcerers.
The other four Clans were the Gojo Clan, Tsuchimikado Clan, Doumon Clan, and the one-man clan, the Amakusa Clan, to whom the tan-skinned man sitting in front of him belonged. All of those Clans were extremely powerful and produced a lot of Special Class Jujutsu Sorcerers across the millennia.
"Then we can start right now. I think we can capture Kraven within a few days, though that man is more slippery than a snake, and even I don't know where he went after I kicked him out."
Lucian knew that the man in front of him knew that the Lycan Rebellion was supporting Kraven. After he kicked out Kraven from the headquarters of the Lycan Rebellion shortly after the man escaped from the Old World Coven, even he didn't know where he went, and his current location was unknown.
Shirou nodded as he believed that, together with Lucian's Werewolves, they would be able to find Kraven in a span of a few days. Seeing that the situation was resolved, Shirou decided to end their meeting, as they had already come to a solid conclusion about their situation.
"Inform me when you have Kraven so I can proceed with the plan accordingly. Also, from now on, it would be in the interest of everyone involved if you stopped any military operations against the Old World Coven. We don't really need to escalate the situation even further."
Shirou then left for the hotel because there was nothing really much for him to do aside from waiting when they caught the former Regent of the Old World Coven. He was never that good at tracking down people, nor did he want to have anything with such a problematic thing as it sounded like too much of work.
Meanwhile, Toji knew that he would now have Werewolves at his disposition when it came to the search for the escaped Regent of the Old World Coven. Toji hoped that he would finally get some really good fight, and now that he was out of the watchful eye of his former teacher, he could at least bother some of the Special-Class Werewolves for the spar.
Lucian agreed with the statement from the Director of the Jujutsu Association because if he could, he didn't want to escalate the situation right now. He valued the life of every single Werewolf under his command, and he wasn't blind to the fact that many were already becoming tired from the conflict.
***
Four Seasons Hotel, Budapest
When he had returned from the meeting with the Werewolves, now the only thing that was needed for Shirou was to wait for good news. He was sure that Toji, together with the wolves, would complete the task and find that former Regent of the Old World Coven.
He pondered the matters of the Vampires and Werewolves and how to deal with them because these two species were the second strongest in the world. The strongest were, of course, the Jujutsu Sorcerers, who had 8 Special-Class Jujutsu Sorcerers with him included.
Aside from him, the other Jujutsu Sorcerers that reached the Special-Class were:
Zen'in Tojo from the Zen'in Clan and the ultimate Sorcerer Killer due to his Heavenly Restriction and someone whose physical capabilities were even more frightening than those of the Special-Class Werewolves and Vampires.
Geto Suguru is a current student in the final year of the Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College and of civilian origin. He was born with the Innate Technique called Cursed Spirit Manipulation, which allowed him to control Cursed Spirits and even adjust their characteristics after Shirou rigorously trained him. In the canon, he was extremely talented, but in the end, he was led to the wrong path, became Curse User, and later was host to Kenjaku.
Gojo Satoru, the Heir of the Gojo Clan, another one of the Five Great Principal Clans, and someone who was born with overpowered Inherent Cursed Technique, the Limitless, together with the Six Eyes. It was an unspoken secret that among all of the Jujutsu Sorcerers, he was the strongest one after Shirou with his Cursed Technique. Currently a student of the Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College and a teammate of Geto Suguru.
Douman Ashiya, an old fossil from several centuries ago, managed to find a way to prolong his life; although it was rather late in his year, he still managed to do it. He is the founder of the Douman Clan of the Five Great Principal Clans after he was born with the Innate Cursed Technique called Spiritual Disaster Personification, which allowed him to create and control Spirtiual Disasters and imitate disaster phenomena.
Ohtomo Jin, another Special-Class Jujutsu Sorcerer of civilian origin, was born with one of the most peculiar Innate Techniques that Shirou saw. It was called The Five Elements of Mutual Generation, which allowed him to transform his Cursed Eneergy into the elements of Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, and Earth as he wished.
Dairenji Shidou, nicknamed "The Professor" for his research into the applications of the Cursed Energy and the development of something that the man called Cursed Tech and also created a lot of the new Cursed Tools. His Innate Technique, the Akashic Records Archive, allowed him to convert information into data, which can be stored, enabling the user to gain access to previously stored information, such as other types of Cursed Techniques, and even in case of greater mastery from the different Power Systems. This also included those that are rather ancient and narrow down the location to find it, as well as information on certain people.
The last one was Tsukumo Yuki, the only female Special-Class Jujutsu Sorcerer who was more of a free spirit than anything else. Her Innate Technique, Star Rage, allowed her to grant virtual mass to herself and her Shikihami Garuda, as the added mass to their attacks gave them devastating destructive force. Yuki was the one who liked to go to extremes and usually did what she wanted.
However, a large part of that was due to the fact that she was his lover. Due to his rather very high requirements for a romantic partner, he never had anyone for the long term because nobody was really strong or talented enough to stand by his side.
Due to that, he was careful not to have children with any of his sexual partners because of the process of Talent Inheritance and other cases. When it came to the Jujutsu Sorcerers, Innate Talent and Bloodline was everything.
While there were cases, extremely rare when the Jujutsu Sorcerer was born of civilian origin and became the Special-Class Jujutus Sorcerer.
Though Shirou could count those cases, on the one hand, it was rather disturbing that several such people appeared within this age because it meant that something bad was about to happen.
Maybe it was just his own paranoia that was speaking, but Shirou noticed that there was an increased rate in the birth of the Special-Classes around the world for the past fifty years or so, like the world itself was preparing for something bad.
With the eight Special-Class Jujutus Sorcerers, they were the strongest faction in the world, mainly because they were united. Even the ever-free Yuki, who was behaving like a wild pokémon, would be on board with this one because they were dating.
Even though they had been together for only two years, she had already become more tame and had not disappeared to go on adventures around the entire world.
Compared to their overall strength, the Vampires had four or five Special-Class Vampires, but they were not unified at all. Every single Coven was independent from each other, and they didn't really interfere in each other's business.
A great example was the isolationism of the Nordic Coven under the Special-Class Vampire Elder Vidar or the Siberian Coven under the Special-Class Vampire Semira, even though she was apparently the weakest of the Vampire Elders.
Werewolves were the same thing, with their Primogenitor being locked somewhere and Lucian commanding great respect, but even he couldn't command the Patriarchs of the Werevolwf Tribes in America and in Africa as he wished.
The strength was in the unity.
Just as Shirou was pondering over the complex politics of the world, he suddenly felt that someone was sneaking into his hotel room, which was the most unusual. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the target possessed Cursed Energy, but it was different from that of the Jujutus Sorcerers.
It was of the Vampiric origin.
Meaning that the infiltrator was a Vampire and the one that was in the 1st-Class, which was even more unusual because he was wondering why the 1st-Class Vampire would be trying to infiltrate his room.
It would mean rather swift death.
For amusement purposes, he decided to let the 1st-Class Vampire enter his room because he found it rather intriguing. At the same time, he admired the courage of whoever was attempting to sneak in here because they for sure knew that this place was inhabited by Special-Class being.
So sending here 1st-Class being was like sending someone to take a stroll in the pit filled with hungry scarabs. Nevertheless, as he had already decided to entertain the Vampire that was now in the second room, he realized that it was the pretty female Vampire who talked with him when he stormed the Ördögház.
Well, that was certainly a surprise and really welcomed one; he always welcomed the presence of beautiful and powerful women. Most of the powerful individuals in the world were men, and for him, the question of companionship was always something that had been bugging him off.
The Amakusa Clan, one of the Five Great Principal Clans of the Jujutsu World, was just him alone. He knew that there was certain pressure or rather need for him to have progeny for various reasons, and he felt it too...
But there was always the matter of lifespan, which was crucial and a problem for the Jujutsu Sorcerers, who had basically the same lifespan as the Wizardkin and Magi. While they lived longer than the Normies, on average around 150 years, they were not ageless.
Soon enough, a relatively tall woman with pale skin and dark brown shoulder-length hair with electric blue eyes. She wore a black leather outfit: a bodysuit with a corset, a long duster coat, and heavy, high-heeled, under-knee-length combat boots.
He had to admit that she looked very sexy in that tight leather outfit.
"You are that Vampire, right? Selene?"
Shirou asked as he looked at the female Vampire that had sneaked into his apartment because he was rather surprised by her sudden visit. If it could even be called as such when she was behaving like a typical visitor.
"Yes, and I must apologize for such a sudden visit, but it was hard to arrive here without the eye of the werewolves all around the city."
The woman said neutrally as she looked at the Jujutsu Marshall of the Jujutsu Association.
"Well, a visit from a beautiful woman is always welcomed, especially from such a spectacular individual than yourself. So, what has brought you to my humble abode?"
Shirou said with a gentle smile as he could swear that he had seen her smile slightly at his compliment. As they were in Budapest, he had gathered some information on the notable Vampires in the Old World Coven that operated from the Ördögház.
He knew that she was one of the best Death Dealers in the Old World Coven and also one of the strongest 1st-Class Vampires of the entire Coven. According to the information he heard, she was their best soldier who always completed her mission perfectly.
"Since the visit of Your Excellency to the Ördögház has created a lot of chaos in the Old World Coven. And a lot of Council Members are deeply distraught by this news; Elder Amelia is set to arrive at the Old World Coven in a few weeks, and the Council has decided to wake up Elder Victor."
Selene stated carefully because since she had stooped up and spoken with the Jujutsu Marshall when he "visited" the Ördögház, she was considered the new Regent. It was an automatic promotion for her because she was the strongest and last highest-ranking Vampire in the Old World Coven after Kraven fled.
"Please sit. Do you want something to drink?"
Shirou motioned for the female Death Dealer to sit down on the sofa opposite him, and seeing her nod, he poured her glass of scotch from the bar.
"I can imagine. But Kraven has created a lot of problems in Asia with the establishment of the Far East Coven... you know, creating Feral Vampires that are also carrying the Bloodplague isn't something really good for the business. Due to the mess that they have created, we needed to exert a lot of manpower to hide the Moonlit World from the Normies."
Shirou's voice was as indifferent as it could get when he spoke because Kraven created a huge mess in Asia with the idea of the Far East Coven. Meanwhile, Selene looked very serious hearing this because not only did the creation of the Far East Coven go without the approval of the Elder Council, but he was stupid enough to create Feral Vampires.
Feral Vampires were the Vampires that lost control of their urges and typically tended to attack and feed indiscriminately. They were not different from a feral monsters that destroyed and attacked everything around them.
Due to that, the Death Dealers were often dealing with the Vampires that were Feral because they were endangering the Statute of Secrecy that was enforced in the entire Moonlit World.
"Bloodplague? How could that be..."
As the Head of the Death Dealers for the Old World Coven, she knew the severity of the Bloodplague and what it represented. The last outbreak of the Bloodplague in the Middle Ages led to many of the Supernatural Species working together to handle the aftermath.
Due to that, many of the factions, especially the Wizards and Psykers, held a certain grudge against the Vampires as a whole.
"54 documented cases, My Lady. This is a very serious issue, and it seems that this is not the only thing that Kraven was doing behind the back of the Vampire Council and Old World Coven."
Shirou said as he then passed her several papers that contained information about the dealings that Kraven had with Curse Users, some Dark Wizards, and rogue Werewolves under the command of Fenrir Grayback.
This kind of information was something new that came just this morning and was gathered through the information channels of the Jujutsu Association after a certain incident happened in Great Britain.
It seemed that the British Ministry of Magic, in cooperation with the House Black and Barthomeloi Family, managed to dismantle the Snatcher Moon Gang led by the Special-Class Werewolf Fenrir Grayback.
Selene knew of Greyback.
A werewolf bounty hunter, infamous for his general savagery and preference for attacking children. He was a leader in his community and strived to infect as many people as possible with lycanthropy, hoping to build an army strong enough to take over the world eventually.
Dangerous, deranged criminal that suffered from delusions of Godhood and his own invincibility that was nothing more than just a mad dog.
Extremely dangerous and with a very high bounty on his head by the International Confederation of Wizards, Jujutsu Association, North American Werewolf Community, and a few other factions due to his crimes.
The overall bounty was already reaching a few million Galleons, which was a tremendously high number for one criminal.
"Even though Kraven was always a coward... this is... treason of the highest order..."
In fact, Selene knew that Kraven was a coward, but the information that was being presented here was the evidence of the ton of the highest order.
"Well... if you want even more of a proof, then you can come with me to the Azkaban, for the interrogation of the wolf. It seems that he knew even more than we thought because this was just something that they were able to gather during his arrest. The Wizards are preparing to break his mind and read his memories."
Azkaban was a fortress on an island in the middle of the North Sea. It serves the international Moonlit Community n as a prison for convicted criminals of the highest order.
Azkaban was built in the 15th century and has been used as a detention facility since 1718.
Using a combination of the most advanced Charms, Wards, and Barriers, it was hidden from the Normies as Unplottable. The independent warden organization, which included Magi, Wizards, Psykers, Jujutsu Sorcerers, Werewolves, and Vampires, who managed the prisoners in the Azkaban.
"Give me a day. I need to inform Lady Amelia and the Council about this. Also... the reason why I came here was to inform you about the Kraven's Guards that have disappeared from the Ördögház just a few hours after Kraven escaped."
Selene decided to give it the benefit of the doubt because no matter how much she detested the politics, she was, right now, Acting Regent of the Old World Coven, and the situation was much more severe than she had initially anticipated.
She knew that the accusations against the former Regent, Kraven, were very serious, and if proved to be true, then it would mean that the entire Old World Coven was compromised on the highest level.
The fact that Kraven's hit squad led by Soren mysteriously disappeared after Kraven fled from the Kraven was only confirming the accusations. She needed to make sure that the Old World Coven was secured in this turbulent situation and time.
The fact that Kraven was most probably working with the Fenrir Grayback would severely hit the leadership of the Old World Coven. Grayback was an international criminal and someone who was extremely delusional.
Just the name that he gave himself, the name "Fenrir", based on the mythological beasts from Nordic Mythology, was just proving the fact that he was inside. Something that she now knew offended a lot more traditional Werewolves.
Aside from his crimes.
When Victor woke up from his hibernation, he would be furious, but that was something that she would leave to the Vampire Council and other Elders to handle.
"And about Kraven? Have you started looking for him?"
Shirou understood that the Kraven escape from the Old World Coven was a serious problem for the entire Coven. Especially with these new accusations that were supported by some iron-clad evidence.
"Yes, but there is no trace of him. He was always a slippery snake who was very good at hiding, but with enough time, we would find him."
He didn't say anything about that, but he didn't really have anything to say about it.
Shirou knew that Vampires and Death Dealers would have a very hard time searching for Kraven because he knew that the man was already prepared for a moment like this since he was in cahoots with Lucian and now apparently other unsavory elements of the Moonlit World.
"When Lady Amelia arrived at the Old World Coven, she would take charge of the situation and deal with the political aftermath and communicate with the ICW and Jujutsu Association; I am not really built for the politics."
She said with a slight smile, something that Shirou didn't really anticipate because he could see that she was rather relaxed at the moment. She seemed to be a stereotypical, no-nonsense business person with a constant indifferent, cold expression on her face.
"You should really smile more. It suits you more."
Hearing what he said made her feel bashful a bit, because she wasn't really used to receiving compliments from men. Most of them were too scared to approach her, which was rather understandable due to her reputation if she didn't count Kraven.
But he mostly saw her as nothing more than just a beautiful trophy.
"Then I will be on my way, Lord Amakusa."
She stood up as she prepared to leave his apartment at the Four Seasons Hotel and return back to the Ördögház to sort out some matters. Tomorrow, they will be going to the Azkaban to confirm the information from the Greyback's mind.
The Barriers and Wards around the Ördögház needed some serious repairs as they were forcefully broken apart by the man in front of her like they were never there in the first place.
"Shirou..."
Hearing his voice, she turned around and looked at the tan-skinned man in a gown reminiscing that of a priest who smiled at her gently.
"You can call me Shirou."
He said once more as she gave him a subtle nod before she disappeared into the darkness of the night, leaving the Jujutsu Marshall alone in the room who was smiling for some reason.
***
Great Britain, London, 12 Gimmauld Place
When someone who knew of its location approached number twelve, Grimmauld Place, it appeared to shove its neighboring houses, number eleven and number thirteen, out of the way as it appeared between them. The house had a worn set of front steps leading to a battered front door.
On the door was a silver knocker in the shape of a twisted serpent, but it had no keyhole, handle, or anything else that would indicate it was a door, as it was opened only by Magic.
A man appeared in front of the house as he adjusted his clothes a bit and gripped his cane.
He had piercing red eyes, a perfectly cut beard, and a mustache of white and black color. And white hair from a relatively advanced age that was slicked back. Certainly, despite his age, he had a rather muscular physique, which was contrary to his seemingly older age.
He wore a white suit with a golden tie and a golden napkin in the pocket of the suit and also had white gloves on his hands.
When he entered the house, the doors opened into a long hallway lit with gas lamps and a large overhead chandelier, complete with ornate portraits on the walls and other ornaments and antiques that were a testament to their wealth and power.
He headed towards the Drawing Room of the mansion, which was an exquisite room with large windows overlooking the street in front of the house, a large fireplace flanked by two ornate glass-fronted cabinets, and an entire wall covered with a tapestry of the family tree.
The Most Noble and Most Ancient Lord House of Black.
"Toujours Pur"
The family motto was written beneath the family crest, with three ravens underneath the armored hand, which wielded under the skull on the shield symbol.
"How did the things go at the Ministry?"
On one of the sofas, a beautiful woman not older than fifty was sitting as she was drinking tea. She had a dignified appearance and looked every single bit of noble with her long, straight black hair and green eyes
"Interestingly. It seems that the capture of the Greyback led to wider repercussions than anyone had anticipated. That rabid madman was in cahoots with the Regent of the Old World Coven who, on a side note, operated on his own and a whole plethora of Dark Wizards, Dark Magi, and who knows what."
Arcturus III. Black was the Patriarch of the House Black and Special 1st Class Magus, one of the very few in Great Britain. He was capable of fighting against the Special Class under the right circumstances due to the Innate Magecraft - Heaven's Feel.
Through House, Black was able to use any kind of Dark Magic, Curses, and similar, more unsavory forms of Magic without any repercussions, while at the same time, their Dark Magic was several times stronger than that of any other Wizard or Magus.
Most importantly, it allowed them to use one of the most obscure and dangerous types of Spells and Magic, those related to the very own concept of Soul and Manipulate the Souls, be it their own or that of their enemies.
"That's a rather serious situation... especially with that terrorist Voldemort running around."
His wife stated that they had their own dealings with the man named Voldemort. Rahter powerful Magus, who was in the Special-Class and a very dangerous one. He was primarily targeting the Noble Houses of Wizards and Magi to grow his supporting base as he wanted to get rid of anyone who also wasn't a Pure-Blooded Wizard.
Rather foolish idea and one that was doomed to fail from the start.
Even though Arcturus wasn't Special-Class Magus, he was still powerful enough to fight one, particularly with his army of Soul Servants and Undead. House Black won't be a servant to some madman with delusions of grandeur.
Not to mention, if he succeeded in some way, then who would work and do practically everything?
Wizardkin, like the other species that were consisting of the Moonlit World, didn't have the largest population around, and the population of the Purebloods was even lower; it was just a small fraction of the overall Wizardkin population.
"Yes. Greyback had some dealing with Voldemort as well; it seemed that they were rather close allies. But that's not the most important thing that has happened today."
The Patriarch of the House Black sat on the sofa after he poured himself a glass of fire whiskey.
"So what else had happened?"
Melania Black knew that her husband would speak this way without reason, and as an experienced political animal, she knew that something was brewing in Britain with all of the things that were happening.
"I got information that tomorrow, the Director of the Jujutsu Association and Acting Regent of the Old World Coven would visit Azkaban to question Greyback. It seems that the news of his capture has already reached them, and Lord Amakusa wants to oversee the interrogation of that madman personally."
Both of them knew that things were spiraling rather fast. There was practically nobody in the Moonlit World that didn't know the name Amakusa Shirou Tokisada, the Director of the Jujutsu Association and founder of the Jujutsu Sorcerery.
And an old monster that was probably older than one and a half millennia.
The fact that he was coming to the land of Great Britain was very rare because the man rarely left Asia.
For the Wizardkin, he held a very special position because he was also one of the people that facilitated the rise of the Magi among the Wizardkin. The entire breed of Magi came into existence due to the interbreeding of the most powerful Wizardkin and Jujutsu Sorcerers.
"The Ministry must be rather spooked about that. It were already centuries since he had left Japan... I can see that many of the Noble Houses are now scrambling and scheming how to obtain the most benefits. Not to mention, he is visiting with the Acting Regent of the Old World Coven."
Even though many of the Pureblooded Wizards and Witches falsely believed in their superiority, there were many superior species to them, and Vampires certainly were rather high on that ladder.
Melania could already see that many would try to strike a deal with the Old World Coven if they could meet the Acting Regent. The demand for the Magical Blood was extremely high among the upper-class Vampires, and they were filthy rich.
"Well, it won't really help them because the Acting Regent is actually Head of the Death Dealers, Selene... but I guess I can at least enjoy those rats squirming; it would be rather fun."
Arcturus knew very well who she was as Melania visibly cringed because the one that was Acting Regent was a seasoned warrior and killer, and by all records, someone who detested politics to the core.
"But that's not the reason I wanted to talk with you. After you are done with your tea, go fetch Bellatrix and Narcissa."
His wife looked at him rather intensively, knowing that he had some plans after the marriage prospects to the Houses Lestrange and Malfoy fell apart when he found out that they were under the control of Voldemort.
Meanwhile, Andromeda was planned to marry someone from the marriage prospects from the Jujutsu Sorcerer Clans to strengthen their Craft.