"WE DEMAND THE PRESENCE OF YOUR CHIEF!" yelled one of the five leaders, present in front of the gate leading into the village.
"AND YOU BETTER BE QUICK, WE DONT HAVE THE PATIENCE FOR SUCH MEASLY CLAN!" yelled another one, clearly irritated by both the other groups present as well as the closed gate in front of them.
And before anyone else got to scream and trow around their weight, the gate slowly opened, revealing a few of the guards, who looked incredibly young for the duty. Both seemed barely of age, with no stubble decorating their chins. Then one of them moved slightly ahead, smiling akwardly.
"We are small tribe, who would not close their gate when they notice a raid sized party aproaching? Not to mention multiple." he spoke, one hand rubbing the back of his neck
"But a talk with a chief means other purposes. Come on in." he added as he moved to the side and signaled for the ones here to advance.
"Hope you dont mind leavign the rest of them out here? We dont quite have the capacity to acomodate so many." the guard once again apologized, well prepeared by Kara for this very ocasion. He had a good head on his shoulders, since this youngster was the very same one who had challenged Rex as the first person during his Warcaller trial, and after that Kara had spent some time in helping the young man to take a bigger responsibility within the tribe. This was yet another such task, and he took in on willingly, it was his way of helping his tribe. Not to mention the few killograms of earth grade meat their Warcaller had promised him as a reward. No, that was definetly not the main reason the youngster leaped at the oportunity. Definetly not.
"Hmph!" multiple snorts came in response to his excuses, though nobody did anything else, since they still needed to work out the best way to proceed with their plans. So, all five smaller groups followed the guard that was deeper inside the gate. The five groups, four men each glanced around as they were escorted towards the bigest building in the relatively small village. They saw no residents around, surely they had taken the defensive postions or moved their old and young ones to one of the few hidden shelters they had prepeared for raids. Wha tsuprised the visitors were the sight they saw once they were led inside the Chiefs hall.
Unlike the ussual setup of chiefs seat, that stood alone in the most elevated place in the hall, symbolyzing the power Chief represents, here there were multiple seats placed there, with three clearly a bit more extravagant. and another two just slightly less so. The rest of the seats were as it would be expected in a small tribe like this, no other distinctions were notable among them. Something that would not pass in the halls of the supertribes. They had to divide the greater and lesser tribe heads as well, since they had multiple such vassals under them. They were asked to take their seats and that the Chief would soon arive. The visitors did as asked, sitting down in five pronounced groups, some of them sniffing the mead cups standing on the tables, noting the relatively low quality of the beverages in them, commenting on the fact with slight displeasure, though that was to be expected, they were only on the eight floor after all.
Soon, the Chief arrived, causing them another suprise. In the three greater seats sat an outsider and two Svergi women, and the lesser seats were taken by yet another two women, one of which was clearly a blood relative to one of the first two, in not her daughter, since th resemblance was quite notable, and the other was another outsider. Another oddity was how the groups seated themselves. The blonde mothersat in the very center of the aranged seats. To her left was the wise woman of their tribe, clearly indicated by her shamans garb, then next in a lesser seat was the outsider woman. On the blondes right side was the outsider man, who was then followed by the daughter of the blonde Svergi. What grabbed their attention was the man though. As he sat in his seat and placed his ands on the armrests both blonde women placed a hand each on his, indicating their close relationship.
'Both are his? Thats odd.' Was the thought running through their heads, though the fact that he exibited peak A class strenght could somewhat explain the situation, since such strenght would earn one a place in any of their armies with ease, since it was the level of true elites, and for a human to have achieved it despite such young age was indeed impressive. With the Silver owl tribes leadership in their seats their shaman spoke.
"I am Kara, the wise woman of our tribe. To what do we owe the visit of such force from all of your tribes? It is not often a small tribe on the outskirts of Svergi domain are visited by Black Vyvern, Golden Tiger, Crystal Mammoth, Apexus Tusk and Mountains Rage tribe members at the same time. In fact, I believe it has yet to happen in the recorded history."
"Dont be coy woman. You should be well aware why. Dont think we are stupid just because we are willing to talk first." said a man from the Black Vyvern side.
"Give us the trueblood and you can continiue your measly existance as you have up untill now." Added a member of the Crystal Mammoth.
"Anything else?" Asked the outsider man sitting among the women.
"Shut your mouth outsider. This is a matter between our people." venomously spoke one from the group from Apexus Tusks group.
"What tribe that trash comes from?" Rex asked in his normal tone of voice as he glanced at Diana.
"Apexus Tusk. They are a tribe who has two tales about felling an Apexus. Thus their tribe could take such a lofty name." She answered calmly, her hand not leaving his even for a moment. The calmness of their group was baffling to the guests present. Each did have an S class entity present except for Silver Owls themselves, though it could be explained since there were five different, competing supertribe members here, preventing any from acting too overbearing. After all taking th truebloods by force in such a situation would be incredibly hard, if nigh impossible. So, a slight amount of diplomacy was to be neccesary.
"Ah, so the Winter Fox tribe informed all the overlords of the domain. Unexpected. Their messangers must have worked hard indeed." Diana said, light smile on her face "But unfortunately, we cannot accomodate to your demands. They are already bound, so you will have to seek your fortunes in another place."
'They?' All five clan members instantly caught the supposed mistake of the woman.'They had managed to hide their trueblood for quite the time. So long in fact she already had produced a child who had grown and is already with a man herself.' That meant exceptionally pure blood.
"It matters not! Hand them over and we might even consider giving some scraps to your tribe." Spoke another member of the Black Vyverns, instantly recieving a quiet reprimand from their groups leader.
"Black Vyverns. They are very arrogant due to their mastery over said monsters. It is said that their leader every generation has a black vyvern as their mount." And to her answer Rex furrowed his brow.
"Isnt that just mid tier A class monster. Whats to be proud about there?" His question caused his ladies to smile and the groups other than Black Vyverns themselves to burts into laughter.
"SHUT YOUR MOUTH OUTSIDER!" yelled one of the Black Vyverns, seething in anger at being mocked. Their entire group was now quite pissed. That man had just disrespected their entire tribe with his comment and they would not let it slide.
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"Stop wasting our time." Finaly spoke the leader of the Golden Tigers. "Bring the truebloods over here. They will leave here today, one way or another. And that ousider is coming with us too." he said as he pointed at Vivian.
"Golden Tigers." Diana instantly said as if aware of Rex coming question. "And no, we dont need them all. A single one will suffice for our needs." she added, clearly aware of Rex next possible question.
"Mountains Rage is willing to forge you our weapons as long as those truebloods live in our clan." Spoke the leader of the Mountain Rage clan.
"Mountains Rage. The best weapon forgers among our people. There is no denying it. They stand shoulders above anyone else." Kara explained this time.
Ignoring the Mountains Rage offer Rex asked as he pondered.
"Kara, did you not say those cloaks would signify that the women are already taken? Then why are those shits still; greedily looking at them, even going so far as to lay claim on any of them?" Clear irritation in his voice.
"The mighty take what..." was all the Golden Tigers leader could say before he faceplanted in the table, as a monstrous aura spread from Rex throughout the hall.
"Remind me never to play such games with barbarians. They are far too stupid for that it seems. I guess I will just leave the cloak and dagger, and honeyed words for proper noble gatherings if I feel the need to play." he spoke as he looked coldly at the faceplanted man.
"Now, what should I do with you all? You did come to steal what is mine after all." His voice was chiling and a slight killing intent escaped him.
"Y-You would dare spill blood at the table of peace?" Crystal Mammoth leader spoke, his hand on his blade that was still sheathed.
"I just shut up a retarded weakling from dooming his entire tribe to oblivion. And although his life is forfeit, its not happening untill you are all escorted outside these walls first. Regardless, you came here to take what is mine, and I happen to be extremely possesive. Any ideas Kara, DIana?" Rex replied, his voice even, and only when he adressed the women by his side did his tone shifted to one of warmth.
"Right now, besides the raiding parties outside, everyone but the Mountain Rage tribes members had been either overbearing and disrespectfull with their words or downright declaring war, since outright claiming a married woman from another tribe is often used ultimatum that otherwise leads to war. So, depending on how clear a message do you want to send, i believe that culling a part of their groups sould suffice. Obviously leaving someone alive to send the message."
"Would the other clan members work as the messanger, since I doubt a single peak A class could reach his home clan without the help of another group?"
"GRHHRHRRH." Grunted the leader of the Golden Tigers, trying to say something but failing, the suppression of mana and aura on him being just that opressive.
"Ow shut up. The grown ups are talking." Rex said annoyed.
"Think sicking an Apexus on their home village would work?" Rex asked as he pondered the logistics of his idea.
"Would not work. Wild Apexus for whatever reason cant descend from his floor, making such an idea not feasible." Kara spoke.
"Well, was worth a shot." Rex sighed.
"So, blacksmiths get a slap on the wrist, but nothing else since they were smart enough to keep their trap shut. On the excact opposite end, Golden tigers have a single man left after for their stupidity. The rest recieve light culling, for the lighter ofence, but those dark lizzard shits who opened their mouths get the axe. Sounds about right?" Rex asked as he looked at Kara and Diana. His words sending a chill down the spines of the great tribe members present in the room.
There was a deathly silence for a few minutes as the two women were once more thinking over the best possible solution, to achieve the greatest benefits, since they had a better understanding of both their customs as well as the nature of the tribes they were dealing with, either through personal experience or stories and rummors. Then the two quietly exchanged their thoughts and ideas with each other, trying to combine the best possibilities according to their knowledge. So, another few minutes later they both looked at Rex, having reached a possible suggestion, though not entirely sure whether or not it was correct. Such a decision was on thescale they had never dealt with before after all. Then, seeing Rex anticipating their answer, Kara timidly spoke.
"If you are willing, we believe there is a better solution at hand after our small discussion that would yield a greater benefit than simple culling. We now believe it is better to reduce the kiling to minimum this time, while still showing that no insults wil be tolerated. Thus, we advise to only execute those who dirrectly ofended us, and let the others go, though they should offer a ransom equal to their worth. They did come here to flaunt their might and take what is yours after all. And the ransom for their lives could depend on just how arrogant they have acted. So, for example, Mountains Rage should recieve the lightest of tributes paid for their lives."
"So be it. It is your decision how we deal with political stuff. I will simply cut down anything that becomes an obstacle, so do what you believe is right. With that said" Rex switched his attention to the visitor tribe members "It is high time to decide what your lives are worth, no?"
The next hour or so the super tribe members tried to negotiate a proper price for their lives. The ones who had not insulted Rex and the tribe, or made an ultimatum like Golden Tiger tribes S class warrior. It was clear by now that one member from Apexus Tusk, two members from Black Vyverns, one from Crystal Mammoths and the leader from Golden Tigers would be executed once this negotiation was over. No one had any illusions that the people mentioned would survive. It was clear that the outsider was at the very least high level SS class entity, so he was at the very least on par with the leader of each great tribe. Such power could only be matched with the same level of power, and even then the losses from collateral damage would be catatstrophic. It is precisely why the great tribes never had dirrect wars among them. Tournaments and all kinds of bets were made when they had a dispute regarding anything.
In face of such overwhelming might, the great tribes people were suddenly timid, not flaunitng their greatness any longer, thus causing quite a favourite outcome for Rex and his group in the negotiations. All the resources demanded were of the rarer variety in the dungeon since the forces brought were elites and as such would be quite valuable. With the negotiations finalized, and the agreements noted down on special parchments, one copy for both sides, the meeting came to an end, and since one more thing was to be taken care off, Rex followed the five groups behind to the gate leading outside the village, Limitless in his left hand in its sheated form.
As soon as everyone was outside, Rex used his left hands thumb to move his blade a few centimeters outward from its sheathe,then slowly grabbed the sword in his right hand and drew it. And as he was doing so, he spoke.
"Now that you have been escorted out, the negotiations are finished, and I am free to punish those who were stupid and arrogant enough to bring it upon themselves. Draw your weapons, come at me and die like warriors, or flee and get cut down like dogs."
The five doomed men gritted their teeth, quickly glancing at each other, as the remaining people from their groups quickly rejoined their respective forces to explain the sittuation. With an understanding nod among each other, they simultanously drew their weapons, four axes and a sword, held by the S class member of the Golden Tigers and in unison charged at Rex, screaming in rage. As they reached Rex, the three axes came swinging from both sides and up, with Golden Tiger, and Crystal Mammoth ready to defend his compatriots if their adversary managed to deflect their attack and tried to counter. Rex movement was swift, crouching low and sliding under the axe coming in from his right side, at the same time performing a sweeping slash from the left side to right, his blade sliding right under the axe as well, spillint the guts of the man it was held by. Then he used his right leg as a spring to chain his next strike, performing a diagonal slash on the warrior who had swung his weapon from above, splitting the man in two, and spinning in the same dirrection avoiding a possible hit from the axe coming from the left side, blocking the sword strike from the Golden tiger with his sheathe. The remaining Black Vyvern, who had swung from the left side, as well as the White Mammoth who was in the second line, were left speechless. Their adversary was just in a different league. His speed, strenght and even reaction was beyond their comprehension. Whatever little hope they had attained when they joined hands, was now extinguished as well, trully dooming them to the abyss.
Before they even managed to recover, the outsider was already upon them, his sword a blurr, splitting their bodies with ease, their blood splutring around from the cut body parts as well as slowly dripping down the blades edge.
"Its only you left." Rex said as he looked at the Golden Tiger warrior. "But your offense is the gravest, so dont expect such clean and quick death." and with that Rex sheathed Limitless, placed it into his storage ring and withdrew to blades he had not used in quite a while. The twin sords left by Royce Rambert.
"The strong take what they will. That is indeed true, but you seem to have forgotten that there are powerfull men everywhere. So, I will remind you of said thruth. And the price fo r the lesson will be your life."