Ben turned to see the old man and laughed as he beckoned at Daimon and the others, before saying.
"Come, let me introduce you to the undying bastard", though it sounded quite offensive, the slim old man didn't seem to take it seriously, apparently the two of them were in quite good terms.
In comparison, there was a woman who seemed to be in her middle thirties, sitting next to the old man, who glared at Oliver before giving a cold gaze at Jeanne, but it only lasted a moment before she turned to see Eliot with a warm expression.
"What are you waiting, come greet me", she said, her attitude took a whole 180° change when dealing with Elliot, which was explained a moment later when Elliot walked away rom the group to meet the woman.
"Aunt Dorothy, I'm now a junior Adjudicator", he proudly said.
Oliver saw his sister in law giving him the cold shoulder and he sighed, but he didn't blame her, he couldn't protect his wife after all, at the very least, his son kept a good relationship with his maternal side of the family.
Daimon ignored the family meeting and casually sat, accompanied by the crazy girl as well as Jeanne, Emily and Reyne, as for the ten captains that followed them, they were handling the prisoners that were brought for the meeting.
Which included, Dilan, the woman who worked for Jeremy and the top three of the church at Tiria, surprisingly the white haired guy who was Elliot's rival wasn't in the city, so he escaped the encirclement.
Naturally, Daimon's actions didn't go unnoticed, the slim old man gave Ben a questioning gaze, only to see his friend laughing.
"That little friend is Gabriel, he is the one who provided the evidence that those stubborn fogeys had been asking to mobilize against those bastards, don't mind the mask I can vouch for him", he said.
"Oh, it's the first time I hear you compliment someone, so he must be that good", said the slim old man as he approached Daimon to introduce himself.
"I'm Antonio Heldrich, the former Lord of Winter city, it's a pleasure", said the old man, curiously, this slim and well-mannered old man was actually a knight, in contrast, the easy going but quite wild speaking and bulky Ben, is a mage.
"I'm Gabriel, the pleasure is mine", since the old man came with good intentions, Daimon responded in kind, there were other people about to enter the room from both sides, but among them there were only three that were on par with Antonio in terms of strength, one was of course Ben and the others were from the side of the church.
Of course, that didn't mean those four were the only late peak stage Arch ranks, who surpassed the limits of their realm, presents in the facility in which Daimon was, but they were the strongest.
Dorothy who was talking with Elliot, saw him stealing gazes at Reyne who was now calmly sitting next to Daimon, talking with the girl who accompanied the masked youth, and she frowned.
"Oliver, would you mind explaining the seat order to your guests, even if it is for appearance, the Valleris is one of the two pillars of humanity after all", she said.
And now Oliver who was sitting next to Emily found himself in a tough spot, he was sure Daimon wasn't going to follow traditions, heck, he didn't even present himself back then, on the other hand, it was true that Jeanne and Reyne who were part of his family, were supposed to sit next to him.
"How weird, I remember that my contract perfectly stablished that I can do as I please, as long as it doesn't help the flesh eating demons or break the alliance's rules, since when have I needed your permission to sit where I want, Dorothy", Jeanne's answer made the room go silent all of a sudden.
Unfortunately for Dorothy, the time for personal matters had ended, since the doors at both sides of the room, opened, meaning that the other participants of the summit were already here.
Not to mention that, both Ben and Antonio directly interfered by saying.
"Don't forget that violence is forbidden in this building, the arrays will cool your heads if you can't do it by yourselves".
That's why they were meeting here, the whole building was a treasure, used for negotiations between all he higher ups, of both the Adjudicators and the church, because they couldn't fight here, it's a treasure from the past, something that they haven't been able to duplicate.
From the side of the Adjudicators, 14 middle aged man led the group of newcomers, those were the other border city lords, behind of them there were a couple of city lords whose qualifications were enough to be here, but not to voice their opinion.
Each of them was using the emblem of their respective family, so it was quite a varied group with different types of armors and characteristics.
In comparison the group that arrived from the church, was way less varied, there were eight people wearing red and golden armors, meaning they were Cardinals, followed by forty Archbishops wearing full white attires, and leading the whole group there was an elderly couple using silver robes, those were the ones on par with Ben and Antonio.
Naturally as the ones attacked, the group of the church was radiating an overall sensation of dissatisfaction, but they didn't start a fight and instead directly sat at the table, the old couple was directly facing Ben and Antonio, and so the summit started.
"We all know why we came here, so tell me you two, what reason could possibly be good enough to launch an attack against around 80% of our cathedrals?", asked the man of the couple from the church.
"That is because your church was working with the flesh eating demons, and we finally caught their tails", said Ben, which made the woman from the couple grit her teeth.
"You dare to accuse us, when you have "that", sitting on the same table as you!", she exclaimed as she pointed at Emily, who remained indifferent towards the whole situation.
Ben smirked in response and then snapped his fingers, to which the guards brought the prisoners from the church as well as Dilan who was wearing the mask.
"Little Gabriel, would you do the honors, please?", asked Ben, Daimon nodded and then the projection of what happened when the guys from the church came to try and arrest him, appeared on the air above the table.
Next to it, the clip of what happened at the white room, was also projected, by the end of both clips, the members of the church had genuinely unsightly expressions on their faces.
"What you are seeing is your high ranked members, trying to frame an innocent person, following the request of a Blood Earl with an Archduke ancestor, to find the whereabouts of his son, and before you try to come up with an excuse, said son is present here", said Ben, to which Daimon ordered.
"Take your mask off, tell them who captured you and who you are".
Dilan who was dying out of fear, feeling the gazes of all those strong people on him, followed Daimon's orders.
"I-I'm Dilan Raydol, son of the Blood Earl Dan Raydol, grandson of Blood Duke Sarlian and I was captured by him", the moment Dilan removed the mask, it became obvious to all the presents, that he was a flesh eating demon, there was doubt about it, also the most experienced could tell he was a noble.
And the most experienced ones, were in awe at the fact that he wasn't dying after speaking of his ancestor, as to why he didn't mention the Blood Archduke, which Ben spoke about, that is because as a useless third generation, Dilan hadn't gotten to know it.
"I-Impossible, you tell us where the human farms of your family are!", shouted the woman from the elder couple of the church, whose name was Maria, only to be angered at the fact that Dilan didn't answer.
"He only speaks if I allow him to, I already sold the information he has to old Ben, so you won't get that from him, additionally he is forbidden to lie", said Daimon while he mentally added.
'Unless is related to me, of course', he thought.
Seeing the awe expressions on the faces of practically all the presents in the room, both sides included, Ben thunderously laughed before saying.
"I believe you understand what this means right, you shouldn't have any complains regarding my actions now, Turner, and the same goes for you Maria, not to mention I don't see that half-dead bastard and a third of your members here, when this was an obligatory meeting".
The elderly couple sighed, even if they tried to excuse their side, it was impossible with a flesh eating demon proportioning his side of the story, not to mention they were more interested in someone that could make them talk, without becoming empty shells.
"Given the presented evidence, we'll forget about the attack, but I refuse to believe all the prisoners are guilty and request for those who are deemed innocent to be returned to us", said Turner.
"After determining that your own men are trustable, they can be present during the interrogation if you want to, leaving that aside… what happened on your side?", asked Antonio.
Obviously, the church was running their own investigation, and while they had their suspicions on some of their members, they didn't want to accept the truth, that an internal faction who sided with their sworn enemies appeared within their files.
Specially, because unlike the Adjudicator Alliance where highest authority was held by two people, they had three Pope candidates, the third one who was the substitute due to him being the oldest among the three, went missing among with a third of the members of the church all of a sudden.
"Felix is…", before Turner could finish his sentence, the door on the church's side opened once again, which shouldn't be the case, all the ones with the authority to enter were already here, and since they suspected the only one left out, both Turner and Maria had eliminated his authority.
And yet, they both recognized who was entering through the door right now, followed by a group of people that didn't lose in comparison to the side of the church that was already here.
Daimon's eyes glowed behind his mask, Rita just told him that there was a spatial array activating a second ago, outside of the room, and he also noticed a familiar face among the newcomers.
And he wasn't the only one, maybe others couldn't notice it, but he felt the huge murderous aura, radiated by the crazy girl, which was justified since not too far from the one leading the newly arrived group, walking while wrapping his arm around the waist of a woman wearing the armor of a Cardinal, while having that arrogant expression as always, there was the light idiot, Adam.
'You can punch him a couple of times now, or you can destroy his ass later, I assure you that he hasn't met Jasmine, so she is safe', Daimon's voice made its way to Sarah's ears, without anyone but she noticing.
Right now, Daimon was sure that the self-centered idiot of Adam, didn't recognize Sarah, much less him, in part thanks to the Hollow Suit, in part thanks to the bracelet of the god of mischief.
But once they clashed, while he was exempted from the scope of his system, that angel girl might recognize Sarah, since she has fought with him once, and while Daimon trusts that even if all the presents join hands, they can't let alone kill him, even restrain him, they can get in between him and Adam.
Specially because Adam has many tricks to escape from what would be a dead end for others, and even Daimon didn't have a way to deal with that… yet, the best chance to take him down, would be when there are no other guys who can interfere and when the fight was started by himself, it's what his instincts told him.
"Mm", the crazy girl calmed down on the spot, and then taking advantage of the situation, she rested her head on Daimon's shoulder, who for a change didn't dodge as if his life depended on it, probably because he could feel she was feeling genuinely frustrated with the situation.
Leaving that little episode aside, Daimon focused his attention on the situation at the other side of the room, the side of the church all stood up and surrounded the newcomers, Ben and Antonio also stood up and walked until they were in front of the side of the Adjudicators, just in case.
"Felix, what is the meaning of his, what the hell is up with that look!", shouted the previously calm Turner.
The man who was leading the newly arrived group, seemed to be in his early fifties, making him look slightly younger than even Ben, who was the one in the best shape of the old monsters, before.
As a proof of it, his hair had somewhat regained a brown tone and his eyes and skin were brimming with vitality, one wouldn't believe it, considering that he had a foot on the grave a few days ago.
"Oh, I just happened to make a little deal, in exchange for mutual cooperation, I attained a new life as the first ever human Blood Archduke", said Felix, which made both Turner and Maria tremble with anger.
Those who joined the church, were supposed to repudiate the flesh eating demons, the Adjudicators were similar, but their motivation was personal, most of them had lost someone important due to them, that was the common history that first generation Adjudicators shared.
But for the church, it was a more than that, it was their belief and that is why they all were against Emily living among humans, and here one of their highest ranked members somehow turned himself into a flesh eating demon at least partially, in order to extend his life.
"Now, don't look at me like that, while I certainly now need to drink human blood, I don't have a need for meat, so I don't need to kill anyone to live and I got a longer lifespan and other benefits, so what's the problem with it, besides you can't attack anyone here so stop embarrassing yourself and listen to me".
"That ruin will only be open during the blood moon week, and while from the bottom of my heart I wanted to steal the key, I have to admit that the Valleris were much more of a pain in the ass than what I expected, so I came with an offer", he said as he glared at Ben before continuing.
"We have a way of entering without the other key, but the price is quite high, to the point that we might even end up without anything to eat, so I want you to cooperate to open it, in exchange there will be a ceasefire between those outside of the ruin whose realms surpass a certain threshold, until the ones that enter come out, at the same time you'll be saving dozens of millions of people, it's not a bad deal, right?", he said with a smug face.
"Don't listen to him, Lord Turner, Lady Maria, we just have to eradicate them all!", shouted one of the Cardinals.
But the four old monsters stared at each other as they exchanged opinions, through sound transmissions that only they could hear, or so they thought because Daimon and Rita also listened to them.
In any case, they all simply said "I agree" at the same time, before Ben nodded at Felix, he had the highest authority in this matter, because it was his Valleris's family the one who had the key in their possession.
"We'll accept, but the blood contract will be elaborated by us and reviewed by both, I trust you kept your device, I'll call you when is ready, now get out of my sight you traitor bastard", said Ben, to which Felix grinned.
"I'm waiting for our armies to meet on the battlefield later, we'll finally settle that tie from back then", said the man before he left to wait outside of the room, naturally their group was now being watched by representatives of both the church and the Adjudicators.
The moment the door closed, isolating the room once again, Daimon casually sent a message to Ben, whose image flashed, the next thing everyone knew is that he had thrown out of the room, the Cardinal who wanted a fight earlier,
Being met with the questioning gazes of Turner and Maria, Ben fiercely spoke as he showed the token of authority of the Cardinal, which had lost its luster, meaning it was used not too long ago.
"You all came here with Maria's emblem, that guy brought Felix here and he took all the others along, your arrays are breached, everyone on your side but you and Maria has to leave!".
The elderly couple both clenched their fists, but totally agreed and sent them out through a different door, since Felix and his company were also outside but at a different waiting room.
"I guess there is no need to say that your spots on the exploration have been reduced to zero, you'll still receive a certain percentage of the findings, depending on your contribution to the war that is about to start", said Antonio, to which Ben nodded before saying.
"The following will be a discussion of the highest level, everyone but the four of us, Oliver and little friend Gabriel's group, please go out to the waiting room".
The other city lords obeyed, including the neutral ones, since now there was no room for neutrality anymore, the enemy was confirmed without a doubt.
But there was one who didn't leave as told, Dorothy, she saw Elliot giving her a pleading gaze and then turned to see Antonio.
"Father, my rank is the same as Oliver, so I have the authority to stay, not to mention Elliot will stay too", she said.
Only to see Antonio shaking his head.
"I need someone to watch our men over, while the possibility is really low, what if someone choses to betray us, I will tell you everything later, as for little Elliot, he doesn't have the rank to stay here, you know we Adjudicators are forbidden to favor our descendants, the ones staying behind will actively participate, now please go outside".
Dorothy wanted to complain, but saw a rare severe expression on her father's face, and knew it was futile, her father rarely denied her something, since she was the only remaining daughter he had, unless it broke the code of the Adjudicators, so she knew there was no point in arguing anymore.
"Humph, come with aunt little Elliot, we have some catch up to do", said Dorothy as she left the room, accompanied with Elliot who stole a gaze at Reyne to then glare at Daimon.
Once they left, Daimon turned to see Turner and Maria before saying.
"Write down a list of the names of the guys on your side who were previously here, along with a detailed description of each one and give it to me".
"Why?", asked Turner only to be speechless at the answer.
"I'm going to give you a list of the traitors that were surrounding you, so you can dispose of them".
A sepulchral silence fell in the room, as a result of Daimon's words.
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