?


    [ I have a friend who had been eager to enter the maind. Will you meet him and hear his request? ]


    Those were the words Ismael remembered very clearly. The reason he was now standing in this ship, leading an entire fleet to attack the maind. If this was just Ismael, he wanted nothing to do with thend of vampires.


    Ismael might''ve grown some balls after bing the emperor of the new Maganti Empire. However, his courage wasn''t to the point of foolishness. There was a limit to it.


    "Ey, ey, oops."


    Ismael closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. When he reopened his eyes, he turned his head to the side, only to see a man casually sitting on the railing. His eyes studied the man. Thetter was in a casual blouse and in, almost ragged pants. Matching his in and humble attire was a straw slipper.


    One look and people would mistake this man for a peasant. Maybe worst. But only a few — including Ismael — knew who this man was.


    "Are we close?" asked the man, smiling with his teeth on full disy.


    "We''re about to cross the invisible boundary."


    "Almost? It''s quite a long journey, huh?"


    Ismael kept his eyes on the man he met just a few months back at Abel''s request. Yes. This humble-looking man was the man Abel asked Ismael to meet. This man, whom Ismael met on the borders of another kingdom called Cross Kingdom, was that new friend Abel imed.


    "After meeting you, I heard about what happened to the kingdom of Cross." Ismael peeled his eyes away from the man. "It is not my ce, but it seemed what you did in thatnd will also happen in this one."


    "Heh. That''s my conquest." The man shrugged. "And I will not stop until all thends where they treat my people as mere animals cease in this world."


    "Aren''t you afraid this will backfire?"


    "It''s inevitable." The man oozed confidence. "For as long as it is not a battle against the Grimsbanne, I''m alright. Besides, I also have a long-standing grudge against the Bathorys, but that story originated from the time I was yet born. I''m just d you are here to bring me to thend of the people of the night."


    The man grinned as he turned his head back, catching another man approaching. "Unlike that man who didn''t bring me here, no matter how I beg him."


    Ismael looked back, only to see another familiar face. He also met this man at ater date, but surprisingly enough, this new person already knew how to go to the maind. However, he didn''t take Abel''s friend in here.


    "The boundary will hurt you a bit, Your Majesty." The neer stood to the other side of Ismael, nting his hand on the railing, eyes ahead. "Humans will not notice it, but for vampires — especially wolves, it''ll leave a striking sting."


    "Don''t worry. I can tolerate a slight pain." The peasant-looking man answered the other man, who addressed him as emperor.


    That was right.


    Ismael looked to his right and then to his left. This man on his right, who was leisurely sitting on the railing — believe it or not — was the king of wolves, Alpha Sven. But what was strange of all was the man on the left was a vampire from the kingdom of Hearts, imed to be a prince named Yulis La Crox.


    Both of them came from different kingdoms, but they met in the Cross Kingdom. Both had positions important from thend they came from, but here they were with Ismael, sailing toward the Maind.


    "Anyway, we''ll separate once we reach the maind?" Sven, the peasant-looking man, gazed ahead. "I''ll go on my way and you guys do what you must do?"


    "I don''t n on joining this eventful night. I just need to make sure my sister, my nephew, and my niece are safe," answered Yulis in a in tone. "They might need another shelter to go home to."


    Ismael nced at both men, taking a step back. Both men didn''t react as they courageously and patiently waited to cross the invisible boundary that hid the maind.


    ''I haven''t seen them fight, but from what I heard that happened in the Cross Kingdom… tonight will surely be the start of an era.'' Ismael pressed his lips into a thin line, darting his eyes at both men. ''And to think we haven''t counted Abel''s participation for tonight?''


    Just how destructive would this result?


    Ismael cocked his head back, setting his eyes on the starless night sky. ''It will rain,'' he said. Even the night seemed to have sensed the chaos that could reset this world into square one.


    *******


    Meanwhile, in the fort of the maind, countless bodies were scattered around. A figure stood in the middle, her midnight blue eyes shining beautifully as if all the missing stars in the sky went to her eyes.


    THUD!


    She blinked ever so slowly when she felt people''s presence stepping foot in her vicinity. When she turned around, her eyes caught a familiar noble she had been spying on for months.


    Miguel Rothschild.


    Miguel''s eyes were burning at the sight of royal knights unconscious on the ground. Upon sensing someone''s gaze, he shifted them to the figure, only to see a person he hadn''t seen in his life.


    "I knew it." The woman spoke, putting her hood down to reveal her beautiful face. "That woman had sent you here to stop the ships froming."


    Her eyes veered to several people behind Miguel, guessing they were all part of the Raven.


    "Who are you?" asked Miguel, raising his guards upon detecting this woman as an enemy.


    "Von Stein," revealed the woman. "You might be familiar with the name. I assumed you already guessed who I am because you, the Raven, summoned me to thisnd after you ughter my entire n."


    The woman, Florence Von Stein, a princess from thend known as thend of gold dust, pointed at Miguel. She was also the woman who appeared in the garden that day and met with Aries.


    "The ships will dock here," she announced quietly. "You, Miguel Rothschild, will not stop them."


    Miguel held his breath as he held the woman''s gaze. People from across the globe whom the maind offended seemed to have gathered here tonight. And they all had one intention: the downfall of the maind.


    ''Abel Grimsbanne…'' the corner of his lips twitched as he sneered. ''You must have lost your mind to lure all these people here!''


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