LBF Chapter 26 The Negotiations

'Now this is ironic and humiliating...even though I don't have the poison in me anymore, its really very...hah!'

Damien was once again at the gates of a certain mansion. Nina had dropped him off 30 minutes ago somewhere at the edges of the city and he had spent some time to walk from there to here. His face was an impassive mask but his thoughts were anything but. It was a maelstrom in his mind.

His crimson red hair waved in the wind as his red gem-like pupils looked through the supposedly iron bars making up the gate. He was having some hesitation as to whether he should even be here. Outside there in the galaxy, he could have ambushed this guy Nino and be done with it. Here, he had to act as if he was weak, something he didn't like(of course he was weak, as the demigods here had more means, but he was still skeptical about the whole situation).

As he stood there lost in his thoughts, a figure appeared afar, within the gates. It only took a blink of an eye for the figure to reach the gates from that far distance.

"I believe you were expecting me." He beat the man to the punch. He was inwardly surprised at his calmness. His words had been devoid of any sarcasm or dissatisfaction.

'At least I didn't embarrass myself by lashing out at the wrong person.'

"Yes, my master was." The Butler too, answered calmly. He had been the driver who had picked him up from the fringe of this floating landmass. The gates started opening while the two men regarded each other. Damien had thought that the man would have shown a trace of emotion at the schemes of his master, but he was calm...as if he had already witnessed this exact situation play out multiple times.

'As expected...I wasn't the first.'

According to the goddess, even the poisoner has no way of detecting the poison, only through its symptoms could he or she come to the conclusion that it has taken effect. Nina had analysed its composition while destroying it, so she had figured out some, if not most of the symptoms, and that was his lips turning a pale black. Since she already had a complete divinity, she lacked the means to manipulate the elemental particles, so Damien had used a bit of the darkness particles to manipulate the color of his lips, mimicking the obvious symptom. The others were a bit hidden, only felt by the afflicted.

He had also noticed that the Butler had taken a glimpse of his lips upon his arrival.

"Let's not delay as the master is very busy." The man said after Damien had made it inside the gates. He started walking away, every step shrinking the ground by kilometers with Damien keeping stride. There was barely any conversation between them as the two men headed towards the mansion, though each was content with the status quo, not eager to change it.

Last time he was here, Damien hadn't gotten the chance to take a good look around, so, now that he had the time, he took in the beauty of the mansion.

The path they were walking on was paved with purple tiles which gave off motes of purple with just the lightest step, green well trimmed bushes with a multitude of colored flowers lined the sides. A lawn of green grass was beyond the bushes, neatly trimmed, with an error margin of a nano millimeter. Butterfly like lifeforms danced within the flowers of the bushes bringing out a spring atmosphere to the path. Damien felt as if his very soul was being soothed just by being near the bushes and the grass. It was a magical feeling that he wanted more of. He had been running around, trying to earn the highest qualifications to make it to this city. The thoughts of relaxing hadn't had any time to get into his mind during that period.

'I wish I could relax here.' He breathed in the air greedily as if trying to inhale the relaxing atmosphere into himself.

"Here we are." The Butler's voice brought him out of the daze.

'So here I am again.' He thought. He followed the man, climbing the stairs of the mansion.

'This time he isn't even here, waiting for me at the entrance. The servants aren't even visible. He thinks he has me in his back pocket, so now he doesn't even care for the politeness. What an ass!' He scoffed within his mind. It was a surreal feeling, being here once again, but in wildly different circumstances.

-----

"So, are you here to whine about the poison...beg for me to give you the antidote?" The voice came from a man who was seated behind the desk. Damien almost...almost had that tiny bit of an impulse to punch him in the face to see whether he would be able to maintain his calmness.

'Asshole.'

"...mmmmm? Why are you quiet? I don't have time to deal with you. I am a very busy man. If you haven't come to talk, you can walk yourself out." Nino said, his fingers linking with each other above the desk, being held up by the elbows. His face was calm...leaving Damien to wonder whether the man was faking it.

He was dressed in a purple suit, his hair gelled and pulled back to rest on his scalp. He was the epitome of fashion. Damien felt s majesty radiating from the man, a faint pressure. He was someone who was very confident in himself. The confidence probably had to do with the fact that he had the high ground between the two of them.

'His demeanor is different from last time. As expected, all those in authority are wily old foxes.'

"The poison...since its slow acting, then you must want something from me, or something to do for you?" Damien asked, his calm face showing no visible cracks in expression. Nino raised an eyebrow at his question causing Damien to snicker in his mind.

'I bet you expected me to beg...hehehehe...even if the goddess hadn't removed the poison, I still wouldn't have let you suck me into your pace.'

"Interesting...I like people like you!"

"Tch!" This time Damien scoffed audibly.

"What do you want from me?" He asked once again.

"First, I will talk about an interesting event that is happening in the near future. This event is going to cause a shift in the power balance of Pantheon city, but it also acts as a chance for demigods to ascend..." Nino started, his eyes practically glowing. Those eyes were directed at Damien trying to get a read as to whether he had piqued his interest. Reading into a person's emotions by staring at their face was a skill everyone in high society had to have. Some had a high level of the skill, while others were still of mediocre level. The way to solve it was to gain experience.

'Heh! What a coincidence, I already know about it. Stop with the act!'

"You mean the ripening of the god fruit, right?" Damien cut the man off. He was sure that he would have gone on to ramble about it, trying to strike his greed.

"...oh! Now this is terrifying! You managed to get information about that event in the little time that you have been here?" Nino's purple pupils gazed into his as if he was trying to capture what it was that made him special. His gaze was sharp, very sharp in fact, that Damien got the impression that the man might attack him the next moment.

As the atmosphere was not anywhere near the verge of settling itself, a breeze broke in from the window by the side, causing the two men to break eye contact. The previously tense atmosphere was also mellowed by the breeze.

"Are you by any chance a spy from one of the others?" Nino asked.

"I have just arrived in this city, you were the first person of stature I met." Damien shook his head at the man's delusions, raising his hands in a gesture that showed that he was harmless. Besides, could someone at the level of a demigod allow himself or herself to be degraded to the point of being poisoned just to spy on someone else? Well...Pantheon city has millions of demigods, so it was possible, but not for him.

"Since you know about the god fruit then there won't be a need for me to ramble on, embarrassing myself in the process." Nino said with a pinch of salt in his voice.

"Before this event, preparations must be made, factions must be bolstered and resources must be collected...I am formally inviting you to join me." Nino said after a pause.

"Aren't I already in your camp with the poisoning and all?" Damien mocked.

"I still have to ask you. You might not want to serve me, preferring to find somewhere quiet to die and all..." Nino smiled a very thin smile.

"What if I want to kill you before dying off, or probably taking you with me in a glorious explosion?" Damien asked. The question caused the mellowed atmosphere to once again gain tension.

"You can try." Just three of his words which radiated immense confidence in himself.

"I have been in wars at a scale you have never been in. According to your information, you were only born after that turmoil. I have been through those dark ages, a young cub like you has no chance against my means. Don't be mistaken that just because I resorted to poison, I feared you. Your record of killing ten demigods is irrelevant in Pantheon. Out there, they must have placed you on a pedestal, causing you to have an inflated ego, but I will give you a piece of advice here...you are nothing." The man finished, a grin on his face. A very potent and thick bloodlust had enveloped the room that even Damien found himself shocked at its terror.

"I get your point, but, how long do you want me to serve you? It can't be forever, right? How can such a good thing exist?" Damien's gaze became sharp. He ignored the man's bloodlust and asked that question. If the man suggested that he serve him forever, he was going to take his chances and attack! He even secretively started moving the corpious amount of energy in his body, preparing...

"No no no...that would be crazy, even for me. All I need is a simple 16 years. When the god fruit saga ends, I will set you free." Nino denied with a shake of his head.

"That's reasonable." Damien said, after which, he took a seat opposite Nino. He had been standing this whole time. The butler had delivered him here and then left for some other duties.

"What will be my duties going forward?" Damien asked after making himself comfortable. Even though the man held his life in his hands, there was no way he was going to act like a dog. They were both at the same level, so a measure of equal respect needed to be observed.

"The first task is going to start this evening. Since you managed to find out about the hidden information that is the God fruit, then you must have knowledge about the semi-hidden information...about elemental synthesis, right?" Nino asked.

"So far I have heard bits and pieces. All of it is still puzzling." Damien answered honestly. Nina hadn't been one to explain very well so he wanted to milk more from Nino.

"Where do I start...hmmm...gods. When someone ascends to godhood, there divinity rewrites itself into elemental atoms. That prevents them from ever manipulating the atoms of a single element..."

"If its so, then how did they create those pyramidal ships?" Damien interrupted.

"...they simply solidified their divinities to create the hull. They then masked the elemental atoms. If they didn't, everyone would have known about the elemental atoms in the galaxy outside this dimension."

'I wonder why they don't want those outside to progress...' Damien wrinkled his brows.

"Anyway, back in topic. A certain God then made a curious suggestion of experimenting whether the people below the God rank could synthesize less complex elements...and what do you know, someone actually managed to!"

"That was about a 100 years ago...now, someone even announced that they could make someone break through to that level." Nino finished. His breath was slightly heavy.

"So...in the past 100 years the profession has been gaining traction, and now is the time that its blooming?" Damien asked.

"Yes...that brings us to the task at hand. There is a certain synthesizer no less renowned than that one who announced that gods will be able to rise from synthesizers. He has been working on a secret project relating to the god of our domain. He has also made a new discovery, that's what I want to find out."

"Is it that important?" Damien asked in puzzlement. Nino was being bold by trying to encroach on the things related to gods.

"Heh! Most lifeforms, you included, still haven't figured it out. Synthesis is going to become very important in the near future. Anything that has seven elemental particles within it will be very valuable. Let me give you an example, if a synthesizer manages to create an elemental atom containing a configuration of the seven elements, and it turns into a metal, imagine the possibilities! Armor capable of resisting god class powerhouses can be made!"

"That's a very nice picture you have painted, but as any picture, its fragile. Do you think gods will allow such a metal to circulate?" Damien asked.

"You don't understand...which god doesn't have descendants? They will make the armor and pass it down to them. Those same descendants, in order to acquire valuable resources will most definetky be enticed to sell the armor." Nino explained.