The next day Nee went along with Arthur and two other thralls, Verity and Dahir, who would act as the heads of recruiting divisions
Meeting them was the entire assembly of human leaders, with Sofia left to guard the settlement in case something happened, given her current level of power none of them were worried something might cause harm in their absence
"It's nice to meet you, my name is Sid, though I am sure you already know that"
Nee nodded, allowing them to put aside any introductory experience for the vampire side
"I am Nee, the leader of the vampire faction, this is Arthur, the leader of the soon to be Raider Division, Verity of the Phantom Division, and lastly Dahir if the Guard Division"
Though they wanted to ask what these divisions were they had negotiations to do, and if they were brought here then surely things would be explained on their own later
"First off, let me ask you something miss Nee"
"Go ahead"
"Can vampires reproduce?"
"Never tried, but I suspect not"
"I see, then do you need to drink human blood?"
"Not at all, in fact it's more useful to drink beast blood, and tastier as well"
It bothered them to hear her saying blood was tasty, but they'd seen far worse so it didn't disturb them, on the other hand, the fact that vampires required no human blood brought about relief
"Last question, can you turn anything into a vampire?"
Nee shook her head, answering with a pre-made explanation
pαпᵈα-noνɐ1·сoМ "Can't make vampires at all, only humans who change their race can become one, we vampires can turn humans to thralls though, and while I can exercise control over my thralls I would usually allow them to run free given the fact that there is a limit to how many I can forcefully manipulate"
"....So can you let those under you go back to their families now?"
"They are far too gone in their lust for blood given our methods of increasing their strength, I can promise you that any who join us from now on will retain their will, the one's who did already however...few of them remain sane, and those few take important positions like Arthur here, after all their strength is important given they could withstand those methods"
Sid nodded in understanding, from then on the negotiations started in earnest
It was a long and boring conversation, detailing everything from territory rights to resources to the laws governing the human and vampire interactions, taking on an entire day and night before both sides seemed satisfied about the end rules, the gist of which follows:
Vampire population must not exceed a third of human population
Recruiting humans into the vampire side must be approved and supervised by a representative from both sides, as well as compensated
Neither race can make prolonged visits to the other's territory unless in a state of war with other races
Any faction hostile to either race will be the enemy of both regardless of the other race's relationship with them
Both races must counsel the other before waging war, if war is waged both must participate
It seemed like the vampire race was giving away too much leeway to humans given their strength but in fact, considering they needed humans to keep up numbers, a third of the population was already a lot, probably something they wouldn't even reach, not to mention they were now considered a sub-human race as the origin of all vampires and thralls was humanity
"That concludes our negotiations, is there any objection?"
With a somewhat hoarse voice Sid announced, not expecting anyone to actually voice their opinion at this point but doing it as part of negotiation etiquette
"I object!"
Someone really did however, and it was none other than Faris
"Faris, back down, I know you have a grudge against them bu-" "It's not that guild leader"
He cut off the Waxy leader from speaking
"I only want to add a small condition, whether they accept it or not doesn't affect the agreement"
"Then why not add it earlier on?"
The sheepy smile on Faris's face gave away his true intentions of wanting to say aloud that cool catchphrase
"Well, state your conditions"
Amused Nee decided to entertain the funny fellow
"I want to fight your thrall that killed my people"
His face switched into a grave one instantly, eyes unforgiving and deadly
'That's quite the swinging mood he got there'
The request didn't surprise her as much as his one-eighty personality flip, in fact she expected the former
"I thought you'd still be bearing a grudge, so I brought her here already"
Looking to the side Nee called forth a white blur, so fast they could only see it after it stopped next to her
Faris drew his sword without batting an eye, keeping them trained at the monstrosity before him
It was the same white skinned thrall who'd lost a hand, only to be replaced with a hook at some point, its spine seemed jutting further than before making one wonder if it would pop out any moment now, lastly, the hideous ripped open mouth housing even more teeth, the thing looked more and more like a terror out of someone's nightmare
"May I ask you not to intervene"
"I Shant, bu-" Woosh!Clank!
Like the wind Faris's blad slashed unseen at the white skinned thrall, only to be blocked by its long nails effortlessly
His figure vanished once more, appearing next to it again but this time from behind, striking with the wind as his ally, what met him was the wind as well
'Gone?'
There was no trace of movement in the air so where did it escape to? His mind wandered in a split second before his body jumped up high on its own accord, narrowly escaping his head getting bitten off
"Nasty, and quick"
Even though death was breathing down his neck moments ago Faris wore a smile, using the wind as his foothold and shooting down at the worthy foe
Clank!Clank!
Sword met nails, neither willing to bend or break, their wielders the same as they tore through the once peaceful negotiation grounds, turning it to scrap with every clash
"Eat this!"
Seeing as the fight was going nowhere Faris retreated some distance before activating a skill, a cross of wind blades sent at his opponent, so powerful the gale coming off it made ditches in the ground
And it hit! Slicing the foal enemy into four pieces, floating down to the ground slowly
'Just skin?!'
It was unknown what trickery was used to make this trick but one thing was for sure, the teeth chomping at his head from behind couldn't be parried at this point
Fuooa! "Keeee!!!"
Somehow a blade of wind made it into the open maw, ripping it further and sending the almost victorious thrall flying
"Haha, you thought I didn't have tricks of my own too?"
"Keee!"
Angered by his mockery the beast of a thrall launched forth with speed no lesser than the wind
"Such persistence, sad it's present in a mad beast"
Giving his sword a slight twirl Faris sent two seamless blades at the charging foe, meanwhile meeting its direct attack with his sword
Clank! SlashSlash
Two scars resulted from this clash, both present on the thrall's body, smearing its white skin blue
"Truly mad, you even bleed different hahaha!"
Pushing i away to disengage Faris readied his blade for another twirl
"You were a worthy foe, now however I shall end- hold up, wait for me to finish talking!"
Having seen his tricks the thrall drew closer, keeping him engaged so he couldn't throw those wisting wind blades out
"That's what you get for talking too much boy"
"Next time more twirling and less blabbering"
"Never underestimate a woman, especially when she mad"
Mockery came from his own comrades, almost tripping Faris, especially that last guy with the unexpected comments
"Oohhh you asked for it!!"
MId clash he put force into his foot, twisting it lightly
"Ke!?"
Somehow the wind seemed to kick the unsuspecting thrall, giving Faris the time he needed to use his skill, slicing away at the poor foe
Try as it may the thrall couldn't get past the barrage of wind blades, nor escape their twisted pursuit, wounds kept piling one after the other until it eventually couldn't endure, falling to her knees in defeat
"Haah haah, you were a tough one I will give you that"
Walking toward the thrall Faris wiped away at his forehead, admitting its worthiness but pointing the blade at its throat nonetheless
"Your loss"
"..."
The thrall didn't answer, nor troy to beg for mercy, not even a tiny struggle, merely accepting its defeat silently
"You killed my friends, terrorized my dreams for weeks on end after our battle, in the end however it is I who overcame you at last"
He spoke proudly, truly glad to have overcome his fear of this beast
"For that, I shall spare you"
His blade was sheathed, unbelievable as it looked, turning back and walking to his men
"Killing you is far more merciful than letting you serve your purpose under those devil's hands, and I would merely end up the same as you, a merciless killing machine, which I refuse to become"
With solemn words Faris allowed the wind to ruffle his hair, giving on noble airs, his friends watching with wide eyes, pointing their fingers, yelling to him, behind you! Behind you!
"Eh?" Slash!
It was a clean slice, so clean the head dribbled away after falling, reminding the onlookers of a watermelon in summer days…...
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