I signaled Mason to take the hostages. Ashley, with anger in her eyes, pulled me toward the tower, while signaling to Jane.
— We have to keep going! Even if she dies... We have to keep going! Doc will do everything he can to save her.
But I knew that, even though I was shaking and felt like my heart was stopping every few seconds, I already knew this feeling very well, but really Ashley was telling herself. Jane was deep in her own mind.
We had already paid the entrance fee in blood, and we had paid dearly for it.
"One last effort." I looked at her with a tired but genuine smile, or as genuine as I could muster in that situation.
We both walked toward the gate of the sturdy stone fortress. When we entered, we saw the beautiful corpses the boys had left behind. We entered without any problems, as all the guards had been killed.
Aside from the macabre decor woven from the guards' bodies, I found the interior of the fortress actually cozy. The stone bricks had been carefully polished. The walls were decorated with all sorts of paintings, and the floor was covered with a red carpet with gold trim. The chandeliers provided a good amount of light. At least to my eye, it was even cozy. I'm not entirely sure, but there wasn't even any humidity in the place. It was just too pleasant.
But even so, the atmosphere was so thick you could cut it with scissors. Ashley, Jane, and I were filled with rage.
We arrived at the meeting place and turned off the lights. We sat in the chair furthest from the door. The room had a red velvet carpet, and golden garlands hung from the ceiling. The walls had beautiful portraits of angels and figures I still couldn't define or understand.
About thirty minutes passed when I started to hear footsteps, the windows lit up, and I saw the imbecile faces of the gods and leaders of the factions of this world, some had features that I easily recognized, among them, a Brazilian whose hands were bigger than my head, two women who looked like Arabs, a Russian, and a Mexican with a walrus mustache.
"You must be Sean Dorvin, leader of the rebellion." A man I felt no power over spoke to me. He wore a trench coat plated with pure gold.
"I prefer to call myself a resistance leader, or a stalker of happy fire gods," I mocked.
A man burst out laughing as he sat down, and I was struck by how defined his chin was.
"Wow, you really made yourself a fun enemy." He was a large man with red hair, but his hair color leaned more toward orange. It wasn't too hard to guess that this man was Salamander.
One by one, they took their seats, ignoring my presence. Salamander sat first, another man with Russian looks sat next to him, and Goldes, acting skillfully to avoid being discovered, sat on the other side of the redhead. A man with long, greasy hair sat in the chair closest to me. The only two girls sat to my left, but the one in the gold trench coat didn't; all nine chairs had been taken. However, one of the men who came with the group didn't sit down; he stood next to Vildur, expectant.
Goldes had warned me about him. Thanks to him, Vildur has power without being a god. The one standing next to him was the true god. Vildur spoke forcefully.
"You weren't invited, you don't have an empire. But by your blood of God, you deserve to be at this table. Let me introduce you to all its members. The ladies are the twins, Laila and Latifa. The redhead is Salamander; these gentlemen are Pawel, Karav, Goldes, Gael, and Quetzal." He introduced them one by one.
The man was trying too hard to appear an exemplary leader, something I'd witnessed firsthand. However, I had to be careful; one false step and my carbon footprints would likely disappear.
"Nice words for people who support someone as pathetic as Hermes," I said in a deep voice while holding his gaze.
"The fire god conquered it fairly. From my point of view, you are nothing more than terrorists," replied Vildur, the leader of the gods.
"Well, your god had to flee from simple terrorists... Shameful, right?! The truth is, they were all dragged away by his crying," I said mischievously as I put my elbows on the table, adopting a more prominent position.
Vildur wasn't stupid enough to fall for my offense.
—Indeed, I'm afraid you're right. All the more reason to put an end to the disrespect you committed and just committed here and now. Tell me where our escorts are?
"It's obvious they're dead," said the man with Russian markings, named Karav.
—Not all of them are dead, the son of Hermes and others are with me, and if ending it here is what you want, I will kill them one by one if necessary. —I replied
She was ready but she was shaking, I'm sorry to do this to her, but it's the only way.
"With what power?" the redhead asked challengingly.
Before I could answer, the twin Latifa threatened me.
"If you touched my Guardian, I swear I'll make you pay dearly."
I was in a bad position, and most likely one of the victims was the guardian of these twins. Cornered, I had to use my first card. As I grabbed Jane's arm and bit her hard, she didn't even make a sound, but she trembled, and with her free hand she gripped her katana. Drinking her blood, my body filled with magic, but an absurd amount, at least ten times stronger than what I normally have. I stood up and placed my hand on my katana, giving the other to Jane, who bit me, sinking her fangs into me. We both released an enormous amount of power. The gods also displayed their powers, but as Goldes said, their dragons were nowhere near.
—With the power of the Drangleic family, kings of the Dragons— —my eyes and Jane's turn purple.
I swore I saw Jane stand up straighter after hearing that, wiping the blood from her cheek. The one who had mocked the fire god burst into laughter again.
Salamander's eyes lit up and he screamed like a little boy.
—Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new rival!
"Oh, a very powerful ally," said twin Laila as she placed a hand on her sister's shoulder.
"Stay out of this war. Consider this an act of diplomacy. I apologize for your troops being killed today, but the only person responsible for this meeting and my presence here today is this man." I stood up and stood behind Hermes, who was very tense and sweating cold.
"It's a matter of honor after all, it could be considered a fight between rivals!" the redhead exclaimed.
"But it's not fair! He opposed the power of the gods, he insulted them all!" Hermes shouted back.
"Don't be an idiot. He's against you. I don't have these problems. I fight for my people." Gael scolded Hermes. "It's your fault we were all attacked."
"How dare you say that?" the fire god yelled at him; his leader, Vildur, silenced him and scolded him.
"As I said, you're all welcome to fight if you want, but I'm warning you that if you do, I'll treat you with the same care I gave the fire clown." I stood up with the girls at my side and approached Vildur, the gray-haired man, who prepared for an attack.
"And you think we'll let you get away?" the man snapped.
"Oh, the fire idiot is going to beg you, or he'll be left without a son," I replied maliciously.
Hermes stood up quickly.
"You bastard! I swear I'll kill you!" Hermes shouted hysterically.
"Don't you think that's disrespectful of you? I'll leave your little one with you before I go, but if you want to fight, I'll be happy to do it now." I smiled grimly at him. "Well, gentlemen, I hope to see you when I have a position… I'd love to do business with all of you."
Although they didn't attack me, it wasn't out of fear, nor out of respect, it wasn't in their interest to help the god of fire.
They didn't even care about the murdered soldiers, but it wasn't time to wonder about that, so they just kept going, running as fast as they could from that place.
Doc held Rexia's lifeless body, Mason holds Azumi's body with a strange delicacy from him.
"Let's go, boys, leave the hostages!" I ordered.
"Are we really going to leave Daederos?" Jane asked.
—It's not in our best interest to kill him yet.
We set off, and before long we were already quite far away. We ran at full speed, as we had no intention of being caught.