“We’ll see about that,” he said before waving the contract in his hand, “but this thing… the price you are asking…”

“Don’t tell me it’s that high,” I said while raising one eyebrow.

“It’s not about being over or little,” he sighed, “but I don’t hold such authority to decide for other cities.”

The price I asked for was to grant me total access and a chance to contend over the cities lying on this side of the continent. Of course I knew he would bargain, but I didn’t consider his inability to decide such a matter.

From the way the angels treated him, he seemed to be a big shot in the Selvator forces. Also that archlord title was something I still held in high regard considering I got my chariot out of one of such archlords.

“Then who can decide such a thing?”

“Unfortunately we still didn’t decide on our rulers,” he shook his head, “all I can promise is a few places I have men at. As for other places, I can’t help.”

“How many cities do you control?” I felt a strange curiosity to know how strong this dude was.

“Hmm… if we took out Washington DC, Merryland, and Virginia out of the picture, then I control one third of the cities north of it,” he paused before adding, “there is a place up there where a country of your race controlled once before. My territory ends up there. But…”

I knew what he wanted to say. “What about this,” I proposed, “if you want, we can make an alliance between the two of us.”

“For what exactly?” he didn’t hurry to agree before knowing all the details for sure.

“You said you control one third of the regions to the north, right?” I said and he nodded, “then why not we ally together and attack the cities that don’t follow your rule?”

“This…” he hesitated. From the way of things, this dude here wasn’t the only strong powerhouse in this side of the world of the Selvator race.

And there seemed to be an early on competition between these powerhouses. So why shouldn’t I help one side to win over the other? In the end I’d remove many strong does early on and clear the stage from such threats.

“I have to clarify a few things first,” he said before adding, “the areas I spoke about aren’t under my control. I’m sharing all the cities, counties, and towns with other races.”

His meaning was clear, and that wasn’t just an honest confession but a mere test. That Selvator was trying to see how I’d react towards such a situation.

“I can promise you to not harm your forces,” I said before shrugging, “but for other forces I can’t give that promise. Besides…”

My face showed a serious look as I added, “we can help each other while dealing with areas outside your control. But inside the areas you are sharing with other races, I will handle things on my own. On one condition…”

“What condition?” he asked but a faint smile escaped on his face, expressing his delight about my response.

“Your forces will act natural to mine,” I said before adding, “but if anything unfortunate happened from yours, then mine has the right to respond in any means I see fit.”

“That’s fair,” despite my hidden threats in the words I said, he nodded and accepted my condition, “and that also applies to us.”

“That’s natural,” I shrugged, “but when I’m attacking these areas, your forces can’t be entangled with any of the other races’ forces under any situation or else my forces are excused if they hit your forces by mistake.”

“I accept that,” that was why I loved dealing with Selvators. He didn’t even hesitate or took his time to consider what I said. In his eyes, this was a fair trade, a trade based on the honour of our two words and agreement here.

And to him, such an honourable deal was warmly welcomed at any time.

“Let’s sign the contract then,” I extended my hands and he handed over the contract. I edited the content while trying my best to hide my excitement.

What did such a deal mean? I could now head north with more confidence. I could simply evade the regions that lied under his control and in return I gained a strong ally to help me control the other regions.

“You shared the regions two to one… This…” he paused when he noticed the ratio I proposed at the contract.

“I have to admit that I lowered my share a bit for your sake,” I said in a fake honest tone, a tone that made him raise both eyebrows in surprise.

“These regions don’t have only Selvator race,” I explained, “many races are there besides the resisting human forces. In normal situations, you would have focused over dominating most of the areas under your control. If I guessed it right, then you planned to invade other regions outside your dominance after ten quests or more, right?”

His face was slightly unsightly but he nodded.

“So when I’m giving you such a boost long before the time you planned to move against other regions, then I should have asked for more than just two thirds, right?”

I knew this wasn’t totally true. After all, the deal shouldn’t be focused on such a concept, but mainly on the total strength of the two sides agreeing here.

Yet I shifted the talk over such a point and highlighted the big importance of such a move to him. And that wasn’t just nothing light for him.

After all, in any Selvator’s eyes, in any race’s eyes, they’d just see their kin as the main contenders in this apocalypse.

“So you plan to move earlier than ten quests from now?” As I guessed, he really planned to take at least ten quests to control most of the regions he shared with other races.

“I plan to move out once the second quest ends,” I said, “so I deserve that percentage, and even more, right?”

“If you say so,” his face didn’t show much excitement like before, but he edited something in the contract before showing me what he did, “I added the condition to start attacking the other regions five quests from now.”

“It’s fine,” I shrugged, “I plan to move one quest from now anyway.”

“We’ll see about that,” he seemed to not believe my words fully, “what about the areas I shared with other races? You didn’t specify that here.”

He saw through my intentions. After all, I was going to fight this battle on my own. Why should I share it with you?

“If you intend to help,” I said, “then I’m glad to share half of the regions with you.”

“Half?” he paused as if he was tempted, “that can’t be done,” yet he refused, “I gave my word over my honour to them. I can’t help.”

“Then there is no need to add such a thing here,” I motioned at the contract, “what I gain is mine, what you gain is yours.”

“Ok,” at last he signed the contract before it turned into golden specks of light. With these specks of light vanishing in the air, I already placed the first wedge in between the strong races coalition successfully.

And I gained such a strong ally to my side, damn! I wanted to just celebrate!

*Rumble!*

Just as the specks of lights vanished, the entire sky rumbled before a terrifying number of meteorites appeared burning in the depth of the sky.

“Damn!” I sucked in the cold breath of air. That damn Curasee was using the monster’s full strength and summoned enough meteorites to devastate at least half of the city!

“This…” the Selvator finally was convinced about the intentions of that monster, “let’s put that deal aside, for now we have to work to defeat that thing.”

His tone changed. Instead of that calm and domineering tone he showed a faint shaky tone. It seemed he brought his best men here.

“I can kill it on my own,” I suddenly said, instantly attracting a fierce gaze from him.

“Then…” he wanted to ask why I didn’t do that till now.

“I won’t do it for free,” I shook my head, “especially if I have a way to leave this city and let you all face this mad dude alone.”

“You…” the Selvator’s good impression instantly shifted to the opposite. Of course I wouldn’t do anything without gaining the best out of it dude!

“I need another contract,” I said, “and that one will bind other forces here in the city. It’s a temporary deal where it will only apply to this city for now.”

“What do you want to do?” he asked with much doubt. He didn’t even take a contract out.

Alright dude, it was your forces who were on the verge of annihilation here. Of course I wasn’t able to kill that monster without paying a price for it. And if I did so, then my forces would suffer a great blow and that would weaken me by a great margin.

I couldn’t accept that! And that was why I sought their help. If I could kill that Curasee and monster, then the races here would pay the toll for that.

As for what I just said about my ability to escape here unscathed, it was a lie. If I tried to run away, then that monster would simply hurry and chase after me.

No matter where I ran to, that monster would keep attacking. And if those angels had another attack of the star weapon in reserve, then my escape would be threatened.

I had enough stat points to defend myself for almost an hour of constant bombardment from these meteorites. But if a star weapon was thrown in the mix, then I doubted I could survive for even half of that time.

Not to mention I killed a lot of races here. If I left them to be hit by those incoming meteorites for such a long time then in the end their bodies would be burnt to ash.

Without their bodies, I’d lose my rich loot waiting for me! I couldn’t accept that! And if you added the time needed for this monster to die, a couple hours at least, then even running away wasn’t enough to kill that beast.

“I will deal the killing blow to that monster and the parasite it has,” I said, “but in return I’ll gain full control over the forces in the city. And after killing the monster, your forces will all leave the city and deliver all the gates to me.”

“Don’t ask for something you can’t get!” the Selvator’s attitude changed, but I didn’t need to speak again. I left that monster give the right answer to such intense response.

*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*

The first wave of the rocks fell and almost the ground itself exploded open with bright red light. It seemed like this part of Earth turned into a piece of hell.

The scene all over the city was really shocking. If this continued for an hour, then this city would be wiped out from the face of the world.

“Tick tock… Tick tock…” I spoke at this moment, “the monster will continue to rain down its deadly attack all over the city. If we’ll move, then we need to act now!”

“But…”

“I just told you,” I shrugged, “I can simply retreat, watch you guys fall here before I step in and kill it. In the end I’ll get what I want, and eventually the gates and the city will be mine.”

My words were based on the lie I told before. And I said these in a firm and calm tone, a tone of someone confident in what he said.

“If you can do this,” he seemed doubtful to what I said, “then why helping us? After all we are all enemies and we never shared a good thing yet.”

“The contract we just signed is the reason,” I said while trying to give a proper reason for him to believe, “having a city is great, but controlling the stretch of land north of here is much better.”