Mikel struggled to instantly identify a fire spells weak point, let alone dismantling it within this split second.
The book explained that if the mental power is strong enough, it will be able to pry into a spell in an instant. But Mikel had been focusing on his body. No matter, he just needs a fruit from Lu Aang's space and he will awaken mental force.
For today, he is going to attend that dreadful meeting between factions. Mikel has gained the weight he had lost before, he is now fully recovered and as dashing as ever.
Putting on his suit pants, a light brown shirt and a pair of leather shoes, he walked out towards the central base in a leisurely pace.
The place of meeting is already bustling with activity. Unlike when they came to buy pills and recipe from him, the central base actually put together a small feast. Mikel entered without drawing attention to himself and immediately started pulling food on his place.
The pile of pig, chicken, fish meat on one plate made people look at him as if he needs a beating. So much food, what if he can't finish it?
Mikel took a seat and started eating deliciously. Others are in groups, discussing and showing off. Mikel is seated on the table far from them, focusing solely on his food.
Then the doors opened as if a villain is making an entrance. Others looked at the newcomer just like Mikel, it's the hunters.
What more curious, is their action of walking straight to Mikel and surrounding him in a semi circle.
Mikel swallowed the food in his mouth and elegantly wiped his mouth before looking at the leader of the hunters. "Mr. Huo, surrounding me again?" He raised an eyebrow and lowered his voice. "Are you sure about it? It didn't go well the last time." Mikel gave a wicked smile just as the man's face visibly darkened.
Lu Song is about to walk over when the leader gave a signal, and the hunters sat down on the table, ignoring Mikel. What a relief, what to do if Mikel starts poisoning people before the meeting even begin?
Mikel ignored them and continued eating. "Are you a starving ghost?" Huo Fang asked him looking disgusted.
"Are you a busy buddy ghost?" Mikel blinked. "How is my darling Jun jun? When is he coming back? I miss him terribly." He asked with a pout. This question made the annoyed Huo Fang want to strangle this brat.
"Are you having a stroke? Why do you look so bad?" Mikel took a closer look. The man slammed the table making it crumble into many pieces. Mikel had rushed to pull up his food and stepped away from the angry man.
"Such a small temper, sheesh.." Mikel moved to the next table and sat down continuing with eating as if he's forgotten all about the huffing mad Huo Fang.
Just then, another group of hunters entered the hall. They walked straight towards Mikel and greeted him with smiles.
"What are they doing here?!" A man next to Huo Fang asked in outrage.
Seeing Lu Loufei stand there free as can be, the first group of hunters looked like they want to start fighting. But Lu Loufei completely ignored them.
"Mikel, you look good. Can we have a conversation outside? It's a little embarrassing." Lu Loufei this guy knows shame? Mikel laughed happily and went out to have a chat.
Completely oblivious to the strange gazes everyone is giving them. Lu Loufei and the group he represents are a powerful force that everyone in the conference is either wary of or eager to befriend. Hunters are very powerful, but they have their own rules and only ever associate with their own people.
This new group of rouge hunters makes others think they can be absorbed into their own power. However, all attempts have failed from the very beginning. Those who tried to force them, learnt why even the hunters couldn't control these specific hunters.
The important thing is that after their forceful actions, they lost the right to become friends with this powerful group of ex hunters. This scene of Mikel getting along so well with this group of terrifying hunters make them green with envy.
"Mikel, the blood moon pill is a treasure. This time we brought more books, but they should be considered rare magical manuals and should not be given for others to read." Lu Loufei said and called a man over who presented a truck full of books.
"I will give you the formula if this is as valuable as you say." Mikel laughed happily and agreed to the deal.
"Good." Lu Loufei is not a businessman and had no idea how to convince Mikel these books are worth the formula. But to his surprise, Mikel is very easy to talk to and just offered the formula upfront.
The two of them walked towards the truck, Mikel took the truck into his space and gave Lu Loufei the formula without any delays. "Good luck then. This one I have especially made for you, its incredibly detailed." Indeed, Mikel was always planning on giving these guys the formula but just wanted to see sincerity from them.
"The meeting is about to start." They walked back inside just as someone is introducing everyone.
When it came to Mikel, he just smiled and waved his hand looking very amiable. Nothing like the devil who poisons people without moving his hands.
"Alright, I wish to suggest a joint training." A fat base leader said from his seat. He is from M city. That place used to have all sorts of factories producing food before the change.
"And who will lead them?" Ming Ye asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Hunters, of course."
"Alright, that sounds stupid. These people may be 'hunters' but lets face it, they will use our people as cannon fodder if we let them take charge." Mikel said and the hunters wanted to beat him up but the others agreed. They just didn't have the guts to say it out loud.
"Then what do you suggest? We have been fighting the two clans for centuries. If not us, people with experience in such battles then who?" A hunter asked Mikel with a mocking tone.
"Personally I am against fighting these blood sucking leaches. For two reasons, one: we don't stand a chance, they move like swordsman and then there's that terrifying bloody light attack. Its a completely broken super power.
Two: I have a better solution than an upfront battle. Total inhalation. Unlike hunters, I have no moral objection to wiping them out completely. Rid the world of such filth forever." Mikel said cruel words with a leisure tone making people want to distance themselves form him.
"And how do you propose we nihilate them? With hopes and dreams?" Lieutenant Feng asked in ridicule.
"This is the difference between a normal civilian and a man who has been trained to fight his enemies. I don't entertain the thought of winning a fight. Using my skills to best my foes. No, I want my enemies dead. Gone, erased." Mikel put a cylinder disk on the table.
"This is a silent bomb. Let's distribute them throughout the blood kin territory and wipe them out completely." Mikel concluded and took a seat.
"A bomb?" The people seem frightened by the prospect of being so close to an actual bomb.
"What you are speaking of is genocide!" Someone's trembling voice sounded.
"Ah... yeah?" Mikel agreed. "They walk into our homes and kidnap our people, do you expect me to smile and offer them hospitality? Do you have any idea what is happening to those kidnapped and enslaved in that hell hole?!" He asked with a furious roar.
The room became silent. Usually there will be a snarky comment here and there but they are all silent. Frozen stupid by his angry shout just now.
Mikel has already started transforming his heart into mana heart and his emotions have the ability to be projected outside his body. His breath raged from fury, then he remembered, these fuckers have no idea, nor do they care. But he knows, he was there, lived there, he suffered almost everyday under the tyranny of those disgusting things.
"Ehem..anyways its just a thought. We are from a long peaceful era with very little fighting knowledge. But we do know how to destroy our enemies. We've all played games here no? All it takes, is a single press on a button here. And you can kill something all the way there." Mikel's speech sounded insane, but many are inclined to agree.
"No, if we do this, obliterate an entire species, how can we call ourselves human?" Lu Aang asked with a horrified expression.
"Maybe not human, but 'alive and free' from being blood slaves or any other kind of slaves. Do you comprehend what will happen when all the strong warriors die and we are left here without protection?" Mikel snarled at the naïve little brother across the table.
"Alright. Let's discuss other options." Huo Fang's disgruntled voice came out strong and sharp. Mikel collected his thoughts, dark, gloomy and destructive thoughts. He wanted to lash out, but.. one look at the people around the table and he can tell, they already think him a lunatic.
Perhaps they are not wrong. A villain. In the last life, he had resigned himself to being despised, given nothing but cold treatment. Now, even with all the wealth, the security, he is still just a villain in someone else's story.
This moment, Mikel made a decision. He also wanted to smoke, but stayed to listen on the great ideas these pacifist will come up with.
The general agreement is for the great army to receive training and this mass training will take place in the central base.
As the meeting come to a close, Mikel is pulled to a corner by a strong arm. Knowing the person, he didn't resist. Hot breath fell on his neck, Mikel felt weak on the knees. The hand on his waist felt scotching, it pulled his body closer as if wanting to blend their bodies together.
"Did you miss me?" A husky voice asked him. A smile threatened to bloom on his face, but he remained impassive.
"It seems you are the one who missed me." Mikel quipped. He felt a large bulge resting on his back. The strength of it reminded him of the time they spent together.
But the left side of the brain reminded him of the way Huo Jun publicly dumped him in front of others, his heart turned cold. He might have liked him, but Mikel Mo is done being a door mat.
"Mikel.." Huo Jun groaned rubbing himself against Mikel some more.
"So hot and bothered, all for little old me?" Mikel pushed him away from himself as soon as the initial delightful feelings cooled down by the memories of being publicly dumped by Huo Jun.
"Please.." The word came out ragged, but a plea nonetheless. Only for Mikel to sneer and walk out without a single glance.
As soon as Mikel disappeared from the view, another person appeared from somewhere else watching Huo Jun get flustered with his raging boner in a dark corner.
The man let out a silent chuckle. Well, it seems this Mikel is a bit interesting. He then disappeared from his position.
Meantime, Huo Jun is drowning in frustration. He is now married to the Blackwell princess, but as a guy who only enjoys the company of other men, his marriage is without the bedroom ceremony.
He hadn't anticipated the loneliness of being that way. Those who are willing to be with you are no longer willing because of your marital status. There is no way for someone with his 'size' problem to meet a gem like Mikel who will hurt themselves to please him.
It wasn't until he was stuck in the hunters barrier that he began to truly understand what he had given up.
Mikel entered his study and poured himself a glass of bourbon. The next second, he threw the glass against the wall in anger. "Fucker!" He raged. Those people are dilly daling like this because they don't care, they don't Fucken care.
If Mikel hadn't built the Toy city base, how many of the downtown area people would have been trafficked and used as chew toys by those bloodsucking monsters?!
"Hi, wrong time?" A voice cut through the silence in the room. Mikel looked around but found no one.
"I am outside your gate. Do invite me in, please." The voice said in response.
Mikel regained his composure and swiped the screen. He saw no one suspicious outside the gate.
"I'm a non living, darling. There are no reflection of me in the world. Unless it is the river of life." The voice sounded slightly amused now.
Mikel sped up to the main gate. There a man in a long gray suit stood straight near one of the old trees. As soon as Mikel appeared, he walked over.
It took a few seconds for Mikel to see him clearly. Sharp and extremely refined features. The kind of beauty that is unreal to even dream of. Yet here it is, in the flash.
Even his walk is enchanting, the way that suite fit him perfectly like a glove. His eyes are serene, beautiful, and seem wise.
"Am I invited into your home?" He asked Mikel gently.
"No." Mikel didn't hesitate. A Fucken old vampire?
"What do you want?" Mikel gritted out.
"To talk. It is in your interest that you listen to what I have to say. Young man."
Mikel walked out of his base. Then a barrier is erected behind him. The kind where no one can enter or leave.
"Well, talk."
"That look in your eyes. I have seen it before. But all the information we have about is relatively normal. So, tell me Mikel Mo, why are you full of so much hate? Especially towards my kin?" The man tilted his head only slightly, but Mikel caught the movement.
What erked Mikel is the lack of emotions in the man's eyes. No mockery, or even curiosity. Just stillness. Like non of what is happening matter to him. Like he is above it all.
"typical." Mikel spat. The man stood there without any plans to say more. As if he expects Mikel to answer him.
"Do you have a name? Or have you forgotten it through time?"
"Malakai." He answered him and then pressed. "Are you sure this, hate, is warranted?"
"What are you getting at? Speak like you know me." Mikel frowned. He despised the know it all tone from this guy.
"Let me tell you a story."
"I'll pass. Can you please leave me and mine alone? This place doesn't welcome your kind."
"Don't you wonder why this world has blood clan, werewolves and hunters but no ordinary humans with magic?" This..
"Why would I wonder about that?"
"Well, let me put it another way. Have you ever wondered where the blood clan and wolf clan came from?"
This question caught Mikel's attention. Wouldn't he be able to get rid of them if he knew where they came from?
"Back then, only humans with magic existed. In a kingdom ruled by a happy king, who loved his wife, the queen. Their love was so strong, he refused to take concubines no matter how the nobles pressured him."
Mikel listened. Not interrupting the man.
"The queen gave birth to twin boys at the start. Letting the kingdom witness their ability to has on the line. There was no need for concubines after that. The queen and king even had another child on the way. A girl, the Sherman had said. Joyous news."
"The king waited outside her delivery room like last time. A few hours into the delivery room, dark fog blanketed the entire castle. When it finally disappeared, a baby girl was born. But the queen did not make it.
It was later discovered that the girl had inherited magic and accidentally killed her mother while still in the womb.
The king was furious. He hated this girl who killed his beloved. The girl grew up in a cold tower. She would occasionally see her father playing in the garden with his son's.
He never visited her and even secretly wished fir her death. The girl escaped one day. The king, in his anger, hunted all those know to practice magic.
He did not just kill them, but their families too especially the children that may inherit magic. The kingdom was in turmoil. People killed innocent women just to claim the reward offered by the royal family.
The princess lived well outside but one day, she was recognized by someone and reported for practicing magic. The man she had married was killed off with his children, her stepchildren she had taken care of for many years.
She walked out of the flames as they burned her body. It turned out, she was born with a fully formed mana heart. That is why her mother was unable to sustain her for too long in the stomach.
"She is an immortal. A natural immortal." That day, news travelled wide, the king heard them.
The princess came home. At first she had come to kill her father for the crime of killing her step children and her husband. But the king was unrepentant. He pointed a finger at and called her a monster, breaking her heart all over again.
Her eyes turned to her two older brothers. "You call me a monster? Then I will turn your entire line into monsters. The princes both kept trained pets. A wolf and a bat.
She performed a powerful spell bringing the prince's and their pets together forever. One prince turned into a wolf, killing and eating anything with a heartbeat.
The other prince could transform into a bat and drank blood to live. He could no longer bare the sun and had to stay in the shadows forever.
Do you see? Hate, begets hate, Mikel. Whatever the reasons you have for your fixation on the blood clans destruction. You need to remember if the entire clan deserves your wrath."
"That only tells me how the first two were made. Not how the others were made." Mikel ignored the advice and pointed out.
"The prince wolf prince infected others with his powerful venom. If they were injured by his fangs but survived, they will turn into a wolf the following full moon.
The other price also faced the same problem. Although he could choose not to hurt others during feeding, the fangs made them sick and they died, only to wake up as dead creatures who feed on the blood on the living."
"And the princess?" Mikel suddenly asked.
"No one knows what happened to her. The kingdom had two new monsters to worry about. The hunt for magic people siezed from then on. The moral of the story is you, Mikel. You have power, just like the king, and you're using it to spread hate. Just like he did. He punished the wrong person for his grief. Are you sure that hate you are wielding like a spear, is aimed at the right target?"
Mikel pursed his lips unhappily. "Just say it!" He is annoyed now. This person keeps poking at him, shirt if calling him a child. He said everything.
"The thing that really brought you to my gate. Out with it already." Mikel even rolled his eyes.
"The four elders in your hands, the clan would like to have them back."
"I want to staff." Mikel frowned. The man sighed, he pulled the staff out of nowhere and threw it at Mikel.
"The elder, please." He said finally. Mikel also took out four buckets carrying the boneless elders.
"A pleasure doing business with you." Mikel quickly entered his base closing the barrier behind him.
He is very excited to have the staff. Outside the barrier, Malakai took away the four buckets. After glancing the the base, he disappeared from where he stood.
....