The Leader leaned back in his chair, giving me a tired look. He knew he couldn’t win against me and was probably thinking how he could turn the tables. Unfortunately for him, there was nothing he could do. That was why the meeting had progressed so quickly. Starting a fight just wasn’t worthwhile.

Unlike the Divine Empress, or other crazy people, he didn’t want to fight to the death over control of cities, and I didn’t want his cities. Still, the temptation was there to kill him and send this entire nation into chaos. The Leader’s Domain, what a pretentious name and it was clearly an absolute dictatorship. You don’t give yourself a title and name like Leader, unless you covet absolute power.

While I might have the title of Emperor, it was misleading. I was the strongest, but I wasn’t the person running things in my Empire.

“What about an embassy?” the Leader asked. I shook my head and smiled.

“I need information, but you are in no position to try and bargain. Unless you want to fight?” I asked him.

“You can’t bully us!” the advisor sitting to his side stood up and then began speaking in a foreign language to the leader while gesturing at me. Hasad looked worried at what was happening. The advisor kept it up for about ten seconds, shouting gibberish, before the Leader took action.

“Enough!” he slammed his palm on the table with a bang. “Enough, Yusuf. Enough. We can’t win.”

“But we can fight for better terms. To show them our courage, our tenacity. That we won’t be pushed around. People follow you because of your vision, don’t disappoint them,” the advisor Yusuf said.

“What do you say Hasad?” the leader turned to the Captain who had escorted us here. “You think we can win against him?”

“No. We can’t even strike back easily, either. They are beyond the cursed cities,” Hasad said.

“Coward. Let me fight. I see he has stats, but it can’t be that much,” Yusuf said. I turned my head to look at him.

“You want to fight?” I asked.

“Yes,” Yusuf said. I obliged him. Radiant Beam. Void Beam. I used both skills silently and with no gestures. Unlike the monsters out there, I could actually track his position. At his close of range, there was no way to dodge. By the time he realized he was screwed, it was too late. The beams converged where he was standing, and the annihilation effect blew him apart.

Body parts, blood, and viscera that weren’t exploded away went flying all over the conference room. I noted a finger smack the leader in the side of the head. A good chunk of the wall was burned through. I had aimed upwards to avoid collateral damage and tried to limit the size of the beams as well.

Still, the attacks made a mess. There was shouting and yelling from the soldiers, but the leader held up a hand and shouted back at them, calming them down. He turned to look at me with a frown on his face.

“That was uncalled for,” he replied.

“It was called for, Leader,” I said with a sneer. “Ruler of only three cities. That is nothing. If you want to fight, I will fight. I also don’t have a habit of letting my enemies live. Are you my enemy?” I asked him.

“No. But you caused a panic, and it was a sneak attack,” he replied.

“It wasn’t a sneak attack. I asked if he wanted to fight and he said yes. If he didn’t want to fight, he shouldn’t have said anything. Or are you calling me a liar?” I asked him with a very wide smile. I was being completely unfair, but I was done playing around. This was a new world and not Earth.

Personal power ruled discussions. The person with the power would set the tenor of the meetings. I had the power, and I wasn’t about to be talked down to in any way. I wanted to make a clear statement. You want to talk, you had better be able to back it up.

“No, not a liar. It was Yusuf’s fault,” the Leader said, and I nodded at this. “But now there is a mess.”

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“Yes there is. My apologies for making a mess. My attacks are meant for level 7 monsters, not weak humans,” I said layering in the insults and flexing as much as possible. The look the Leader was giving me, clearly showed he knew what I was up to. The apology I had given was just a fart in the wind, not mattering one bit and it stunk.

“Level 7 monsters. Is there another gap?” he asked. A brave man to ask that question. I stared at him as his soldiers cleaned up the mess from the exploded advisor, and the various chunks of his body littered throughout the room. The fact he hadn’t suggested adjourning the meeting or moving to another room was probably some kind of power play on his end.

“You haven’t poked one yet?”

“I have only cleared some level 6 bosses. I don’t get much free time, away from the cities,” he replied. I considered my response. It wasn’t a simple question and valuable information.

“Then it will be a surprise when you do finally run into one. My first one was quite an experience,” I replied. I had only fought one level 7 monster so far, but I wasn’t about to say that. Well two if the special monster counted as well. “Now the sword and the devil monster?”

“We have never fought the monster, or at least no one has returned. There are rumors of course, but you have probably already heard what they had to say in Meech and from those idiots running things.” I nodded at this and the Leader continued. “The sword, now that I have much more to speak on.”

“It is an object of phenomenal power, that has only increased throughout the years. Over and over. It just gets stronger. Getting favors from the Controller.”

“The ruler of this place you mean, the Almighty System?”

“Hmm, a good name. Regardless, the Sword of Ascalon, finds a user, empowers them, and eventually they die from unleashing a suicide attack. It only has one weakness that I have found and exploited.” I leaned in slightly thinking about what this weakness could be. Maybe some unique combination of skills. A special use of energy. Possibly a meta-point used in the correct manner.

“Politics,” he said. I took a moment to process that word. “The sword’s only weakness is politics. It wielder obeys the Indian Sultanate.”

“So, you cut a deal with them? Why not kill them all?” I asked.

“There are too many and they never all gather in one place. The sword’s wielder follows an abstract belief in justice. Which somehow ties into their rule if they didn’t create the stupid thing in the first place. That is why we have a clear boarder and a non-aggression pact.”

“You tried wiping them out,” I said.

“Indeed, and the losses we took from the Sword of Ascalon were immense before the wielder was finally killed. After that a non-aggression treaty was negotiated. I don’t know what hold that Council has over it. But it is not simple.”

I leaned back in my chair thinking about what he had just said. “You can’t destroy it or find out where it is hiding?” I asked.

“I have tried. But when the user dies it flies off. Not many people are left when that happens. Eventually all trace of the weapon is lost, until it shows up in the hands of some idiot afterwards. The biggest issue is the stat multiplication. For now, only weak people have been chosen, but they are strong. Strong enough to put me, and possibly you on the back foot.”

“And it is only going after the monster now,” I replied, and the Leader nodded at that.

“Exactly. The sword has to be destroyed first, then the monster killed. In that order. Otherwise, the wielder of the sword, will do crazy things. There will be no way to stop the Indian Sultanate from rising up once again as the foremost power,” the Leader explained.

“You haven’t managed a spy in all this time?” I asked.

“Trust me, I have tried. But the people who know more have a very small circle of trust, and don’t show their faces. Who did you speak with Raji Gupta?” he asked.

“Yes, I spoke with him,” I replied, and the Leader nodded at that.

“Then that is one of their outer members. A stand-in for the real powers that can dictate to the sword wielder.” None of us said anything. I was thinking how to get rid of this sword. I needed to run into it at least once to get a better understanding of things.

“How often does it pick a new wielder?” I asked.

“Could be days, months, a year or more. There is no way to tell. If I could that would be incredibly valuable information. But it is too powerful. Like a blinding sun. Defense, offense, passive boosting, the sword does it all,” the Leader said.

“If I attacked Meech, would it be drawn out?” I asked.

“Possibly. I can’t say. I only mounted one serious attack and the sword wielder showed up, fairly quickly.” I nodded at this. We needed to take Meech anyways.

“I also need an airship and a map,” I added. There was a long period of silence at this request. I could tell the Leader wanted to say no, but he also didn’t want to start a fight. I was content with bullying him and taking stuff.

“We only have the one airship, and a map is a strategic item,” he finally replied. He was absolutely right about a map being very important, but I didn’t want to budge on this issue. Both were important for now and later on. Being kind was not something I could afford right now.

“Fifty million,” I said. It was a lot of points, but I could easily grind that much up no problem in less than a day. Getting the information was far more important than trying to chart out the terrain and fight to get an airship of my own.

I could see the cogs turning in his head, but ultimately, he wasn’t in a position to refuse. If anything, he should be grateful I was even offering anything in the first place.