Criminal X : Epitome Of Evil

Harlia was about to tell Pablo something when her Receiver rang.

She didn't recognise the number but she picked it up anyway.

Also, she put the call on the speaker. She believed since so many events were happening all around, this call might be related to the war that was about to take place so she believed Pablo and the soldiers should hear it too.

But no voice came from the other side and the Admiral got annoyed. She believed it was a prank call or a mistake, so she raised her finger to cut the call. She didn't have time for this shit.

But before she could cut the call, a voice finally came. A playful voice. And the voice introduced itself saying:

"This is Malvador Nocturne speaking. Is this a good time to talk?"

Everyone gasped.

This was the same man who killed the Vampire King and became the king himself.

Pablo and Harlia looked at each other with surprise but the next second, Pablo broke into a smile.

The call had come on Harlia's receiver but he opened his mouth to answer.

Harlia raised her hand though, making Pablo stop.

"Yes. What do you want? And how did you get my number?" Harlia asked.

"I have my ways. I don't use informants like you. Oh yeah, by the way, last month I killed your informant. I met him while shopping for meat. I didn't have my Ego at that time so it was a little difficult to kill him but I won anyway."

Harlia gritted her teeth.

"Just say the main thing."

The vampire laughed. "Fine. It seems you are busy planning for something. I'll keep it short."

Everyone waited and Malvador began his talk.

"You must have already read the report I sent you. You must have told all that to your King and Pablo as well. And now if my mind works right, then I believe you are already preparing for the war. Good job. That's why I called you as soon as possible. Hear me out."

No one said anything and Malvador continued.

"I am in the Hollow Kingdom right now. The full army of Jasper kingdom is here. The king of the Cannibals is in front of me and this call is on speaker. Just like you put your call on speaker too."

The soldiers were taken aback.

Harlia twitched as well.

But Pablo had a smile on his face.

The man figured that the Admiral must have put his call in the speaker as well.

This man is formidable.

Pablo and everyone else said nothing again and the Vampire carried on.

"This King in front of me, as soon as I arrived here with my army, told me to attack your kingdom right away. But I had something else in mind. I had no intentions of attacking you while you are not ready. I don't want to trample over ants. I don't like it. I only kill elephants, that too, those elephants who are in their prime. So me and this king reached a decision and you have no choice but to agree, Admiral."

"What is it?" Harlia asked.

Malvador's playful voice came. "No one shall infiltrate each other's kingdoms. This war won't take place in any kingdoms. The time and place of the war has already been decided by me and we will meet there only."

"Why is that?" Harlia inquired.

"It's simple. If your army came to Hollow then it would take a lot of time as it is pretty far from your kingdom. And if your army came to Jasper, it would take the same amount of time as well. And if we came to your kingdom then there will be destruction and since I want your kingdom, I don't want to destroy it. Rebuilding it will be a pain. That's why I decided we shall meet at an unrelated place to our kingdoms and finish this once and for all."

Harlia looked at Pablo and Pablo nodded.

Harlia returned the nod as she and Pablo both…

"Agreed. Where shall we fight then?" She asked.

Malvador remained silent for a second and finally answered the venue for the war.

"Ashen Crucible—The Dread Horizon."

Everyone's brows shot up.

This time, even Sera and Draxus showed a reaction.

Sera was focused only on Pablo and she didn't care about any of the matters that took place. But that name made her show emotions. Emotions of fear.

Draxus was also not surprised at whatever was going on but that name made him take a deep breath. He felt dread just by hearing the name.

Harlia also gulped hard and looked at Pablo, who simply had a frown on his face.

The Admiral nodded and focused on the call. She believed that Pablo frowning was his way of showing shock but in reality, he had no clue why everyone became tense just by hearing the name of that place.

Pablo had spent a lot of time in Seraphim and he knew nearly every city, country and kingdom of this world. But he remembered nothing known as the Ashen Crucible. He never heard of it. It was not mentioned in the books, it was not mentioned anywhere and he hadn't heard this name from anyone's mouth either.

It was his first time hearing about this place.

Pablo looked at everyone else and all of them were scared. With this, he believed that he was the only one who had no idea about this Ashen Crucible.

Therefore, he had to get this knowledge as soon as possible and he couldn't ask the soldiers about this as they would question him like, How can you not know about that place, Marshal? Even we know about this. How can you not know about that place at all?

Pablo didn't want that so he looked at his best option for an answer who was none other than the female Angel. Cupid.

He turned her gaze at her and was just about to ask it when his eyes went wide.

Even the Angel, after hearing the name of the place, trembled.