( Meanwhile Max )
" I want to talk to my friends about this first " Max said, making his intentions clear to Kremeth.
The old turtle did not understand why Max needed to consult his friends about such an important decision of his life, but regardless of his personal feelings, he decided to just roll with Max's wish and respect his decision as he did not want to tutor a disciple forcefully.
Using his powers, Kremeth began quickly scanning the forest for Max's friends as he searched for about five full minutes before a small frown formed on his face.
" I'm sorry, little one, but two of your three friends are dead and one looks like he will soon be dead.
They have been ambushed by a demon it seems, only the dwarf survives for now". Kremeth said as Max's heart dropped inside his chest.
" Dead? " Max asked as a whirlpool of emotional fury rose up inside him, as the white pupils around his red iris began to turn slightly red with Max baring his fangs in a threatening rage.
" Dead" Kremeth said as he calmly observed the changes inside Max's body realising that Max, although being a primordial vampire, had many of his innate fierceness buried deep inside his consciousness.
This bloodthirsty form of rer pupils and bared fangs was how Kremeth remembered the savage Primordial Vampires from the ancient times, who were impossible to talk to unless they respected your strength enough to let you speak.
Max's temperament was more like those of the civil modern vampires than that of the savage Primordial Vampires, as if he was not born a savage Primordial Vampire but transformed into one at an older age.
" I can take you to your third friend, most likely in time for you to save him if you want. But, in return I want you to follow my advice on how to take the fight to your opponent, do you agree? " Kremeth asked as he observed Max struggle in repressing his anger.
" Okay " Max replied as Kremeth nodded and asked him to mount his shell once more as with a sudden whiplash the two were gone from the cave once again.
Rhea saw and heard everything, to her the simple matters of the mortals were simply beneath herself, as all she cared about at the moment was to see her baby hatch safely.
The hatching day was growing near, she could feel the little one stir inside the shell slowly trying to break free as it was only a matter of time now before it happened.
*********
( Meanwhile Rudra )
" Reporting to the supreme commander, there has been no official response issued by the thunder nation condemning Earth, they have not even managed to put out a hit marker on any space pirate organisation for the surprise attack.
Our understanding is that they don't yet know who exactly was behind the attacks, which gives us a free pass for the time being ". An earthling said as he reported to Rudra.
Rudra fiddled with his hair as he wrecked his brain on what the next move should be.
He had hoped that the thunder nation would single him out and blacklist him after the attack, especially since one of the ships had turned away and the god inside had seen his face. But apparently the god had refused to testify against Rudra in fear, which meant that there was no official target placed on his head yet.
Had Rudra been blacklisted it would be easier for him to get the earthlings to evacuate earth and settle on Radiance under the pretext of military evacuation, but the stupid Thunder Nation displayed its impotence and ruined his plans.
" Send someone to call for our chief Blacksmith please " Rudra said, as he summoned the chief Blacksmith of Earth, the only man beside him having the full copy of how to create the destroyer class battleships earth prided itself on, and the man who Rudra considered to be his close friend, ' Fatty Kalash'.
Fatty arrived before Rudra covered in grease and with mechanical tools hanging all over his body, as even from 20 feet away the scent of his sweat mixed with machine oil repulsed Rudra.
" Jesus Christ mate, bath at least once a week " Rudra said pinching his nose as he tried to pull his friends leg
" I would, if you did not overwhelm me with more work every time I'm done with a project " Fatty said, lashing straight back at Rudra.
Both friends grinned, as fatty was one of the only people on earth whose attitude towards Rudra did not change after his rise to a god.
For him, Rudra was the same guy who he went to school with all those years ago.
" You called? " Fatty asked as he stopped smiling and turned serious
Rudra nodded his head and signalled for everyone else to leave the room as only after secrecy was guaranteed did he talk with fatty.
" Did you corrupt the control equipment shipment? " Rudra asked fatty, who nodded in reply.
While to the rest of the earth it seemed like Rudra had only targeted the merchant ships of the thunder nation uptil now, in reality that was not the case at all.
Rudra only trusted two men with his secrets, his friends Karna and Fatty Kalash, and he entrusted two secret missions to both of them.
To Fatty Kalash, he asked to create a device that looked exactly like a control equipment panel used in frigate and destroyer class ships, however, in reality it was a detonation bomb.
Rudra had began corrupting the thunder nation fleet, getting his decoy control chips mixed amongst a shipment headed for thunder nation as maintenance and repair equipment.
When the time would come, Rudra would detonate these chips to render the thunder nation fleet useless.
For Rudra the war had already long but started, it was just the other party who was unaware of it uptil now.
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/// A/N - Chapter number ¾ for the day! Enjoy you all! ///