A delicate touch of soft lips made him smile in his sleep, and when it landed again and his mind registered her familiar scent, Keith opened his eyes to meet Minami's smiling face.
"It's time, Master," She told him, and he reached up to capture her lips.
"Thank you." He nudged his nose with hers before getting up and then entered the restroom to freshen up.
Exactly five minutes later, a maid knocked on the door, and she surprisedly stepped back when the door opened on the first knock and Inheritor of Erebus smiled at her.
"Let's go." He told her, and she obediently nodded her head before leading them to the place where everyone was waiting for them.
Inside a large room, on top of a risen Platform, an ornate and large silver table was placed in the center, with three seats around it. And all three seats were occupied.
Sitting adjacent to each other were Qin Feng and Azdaar, the Inheritors of Hades and Nergal in this world. And at the head of the table, sat the old man Hodur, still wearing his dark glasses.
Hodur stood up as soon as he entered the room, and both Qin Feng and Azdaar reluctantly stood up too, both looking at him with the same confused expressions, as if trying to see through him.
"Good Evening, Gentlemen." He smiled at them before simply ignoring them and walking to take his seat next to Valarie and Abuzar, which was on a higher platform, adjacent to Hodur, who was sitting at the table of Arbitration.
Yingying Obediently stood behind his chair, whilst he pulled Minami to sit in his lap, hugging her waist.
No one said anything about it, and then the three men at the table of Arbitration sat down again.
"Qin Feng, Azdaar, the two of you have been called here today under the will of the Lady of Night." Hodur reminded them, and the two albeit reluctantly, still nodded their head at his reminder. "On May 5th, the two of you fell into an argument in the City of Sin and you proceeded to break the rules of the city and evoked your Divine Presence, harming those around you. And then you proceeded to exchange fists..."
Hodur recollected the events that took place a month ago and then asked the two if he had gotten anything wrong.
Neither Azdaar nor Qin Feng denied his words, and under the eyes and ears of the witnesses, Hodur asked the first question of Arbitration.
"Do the two of you wish to settle your dispute with dialogue?"
"No." Qin Feng immediately answered and gave Nergal a proactive smile.
"I am afraid it is too late to settle our dispute with dialogue." Strangely, Nergal did not seem to care about his enemy's provocation. "His men attacked one of my Warlords last night and killed him."
Hodur frowned at those words and glanced at Hades, finding him not denying Nergal's words.
"And so, I made things even today by killing one of his commanders." Nergal's words brought a pin-drop silence in the room, and Qin Feng dangerously narrowed his eyes.
His face did not give away any emotions, and it was hard to guess if he was agitated at Nergal's words, however, both Keith and Minami did not miss the slight change in his heartbeat.
"You don't believe me?" Nergal smiled. "Why don't you give a call to your hideout in Syria and see if that man named Jun Huang picks it up or not?"
A wave of Divine Presence washed over everyone as Qin Feng stood up on his feet, and this time, it was Nergal who proactively smiled at him as he shielded himself against the pressure.
"Hades!" Hodur bellowed as he stood up and his Divine Presence countered that of the Lord of Purgatory Island.
"There will be no peace." Qin Feng retracted his Aura and Presence and then turned around to leave.
"Please Respect the Table of Arbitration." Hodur reminded him.
Qin Feng stopped at those words and then turned to look back at Nergal.
"I will let you choose the rules you want to play by. Consider them your last wish fulfilled." And then he turned around again to walk out of the room.
"Mr. Qin." A light voice sounded out in the room and the Inheritor of Hades halted in his steps.
He did not turn around to look, but he heard some very light and calculated steps approach him.
A sense of dread washed over him when he felt Keith stop right behind him, and he finally turned to look around.
"Yes?" He asked, but Keith smiled at him before he turned to look at Nergal.
"What are the rules?"
"There are no rules." Nergal narrowed his eyes at him.
Hadur frowned at those words and so did the witnesses.
"Are you going to pull the other Inheritors in your War?" The old man seriously asked.
The question made both Qin Feng and Nergal frown.
"I have no intentions of seeking help from someone," Azdaar replied. "But things might change if he runs to find help."
"Then settle it between the two of you. There is no need to drag your forces and mortals in your War." The Inheritor of the Babylonian God of Peace stood up and spoke.
"If one of us falls, can you guarantee that our forces would not seek revenge?" Qin Feng smiled at him. "The weeds must be eliminated from the roots."
"Well said." Nergal grinned at him. "I want to see how loyal your forces are. Would the fear bend their knees or would they seek vengeance like you believe they would?"
The truth was that both of them wanted to swallow each other's forces, but it was not going to be possible if the men loyal to the two still lived.
Besides, Nergal loved carnage. He was never going to miss out on the chance to let thousands die in their war. He enjoyed the misery, pain, helplessness, fear, and hatred of people.
Abuzar too understood the intentions of the two men but no longer said anything.
"Well, now that the things have been cleared. I think I must raise my concern about your War." Keith smiled at the two of them before he looked Qin Feng in the eyes. "You owe me Ingvild Carmilla, Mr. Qin. And I can't risk you dragging her in this silly War of yours."
The words piqued everyone's interest, especially Nergal, who wanted the younger Carmilla Princess he had found out that Hades was keeping at Purgatory Island.
Qin Feng felt a sinking feeling in his heart at those words, and the playful smile on Keith's face evoked his hatred and fear.
"Erebus, don't go too far." Nergal grimly said. "I want the Carmilla Princess. You already have her older sister."
"Oh." Keith narrowed his eyes as he looked at them. "What makes you think I care about what you want?" He bluntly asked, and then ignored the glare that Nergal sent his way. "I need her by tomorrow." He looked at Qin Feng and gave him an ultimatum.
The atmosphere in the room took a very strange turn. Suddenly, it felt like Keith was considered an enemy by both Nergal and Hades, who were looking at him with narrowed eyes.
"I still have nine months, Lord Erebus." Qin Feng gritted his teeth.
"But you have already solved your problem." Keith smiled at him. "You have gathered the forces and stabilised them as you wanted to." He pointed out, catching Qin Feng by surprise, who was alarmed at how Keith knew about it all. "You do not need to keep her now or do you want to drag her in this war of yours?"
"A deal is a deal." Qin Feng shook his head.
"Let's make another deal then." Keith smiled at him. "Hand her over, and I will kill Nergal for you."
"Erebus!!!" Nergal bellowed when he heard those words and unleashed his Divine Presence.
"We are talking here. Shut up!" Keith, who was unaffected by the pressure dawning on him, sent the raging man a brief glare before smiling at the Inheritor of Hades.
Nergal felt humiliated by his action, but he had not completely lost his mind yet.
He could not attack Keith here, if he did, he would likely fall at the hands of at least four of these Mortal Gods.
"What do you say?"
Qin Feng looked into Keith's eyes, and he felt a suppression in his heart that he could not explain.
His mind reasoned that he should hand over Ingvild to avoid any confrontation with Keith right now. But his intuition told him that it would not be the end of everything.
At the same time, his heart was unwilling to hand Ingvild over, whom he had started seeing as his little sister.
"Stay for dinner. I will need an answer by the end of it." Keith patted his shoulder and then turned to look at Nergal. "Nothing personal, it would be his call." He playfully said.
Everyone could see that Nergal did not even care about Hades anymore. All he wanted to do was kill Keith, and he would do it right here if he got the chance.
