South of Hell, Libra City.
Ma En was sitting in a window booth of a coffee shop, gazing attentively at the scene outside. The buildings that caught his eye could be said to be quite prosperous and modern, almost as good as any big city on the ground.
The devils and devils who were constantly walking through the streets were all dressed in "civilized" clothes, and their behavior seemed no different from people who were shopping, which was completely different from the residents of the ancient dragon ruins.
Compared with the residents of this city, the demons in the ancient dragon ruins behave like deliberate imitations, and the people outside at this moment can almost be said to be a group of modern humans wearing devil skins, even indoors or in dark alleys. There was no sound of fighting, everyone behaved extremely politely.
This is related to the fact that most of the residents here are devils, but the more important reason is that the owner here is a prince of hell known as the Balancer, and he personally set the rules for this city that do not allow violence.
In fact, he did not completely ban ordinary violence, and there was no punishment, but his power was permeated in the city, and any active initiator of violence would be restricted.
In other words, if anyone takes the initiative to attack others here, the combat effectiveness will be severely suppressed. Therefore, not long after the city was established, there were almost no open battles, and even the residents here slowly formed a The culture of despising violence gradually made even the devil less likely to attack easily.
However, the city itself will not prevent any conspiracies and intrigues, so in fact, the bloody and dangerous level of this city is not lower than other cities in hell, but it is more subtle.
This also vaguely reveals the preferences of the balancer. Obviously, he has no good impression of the various overt violent behaviors common to demons, and prefers things like assassination or calculations.
At the same time, he also showed some stubbornness towards the rules. Although other devil cities are slightly more civilized than devils, they do not have special restrictions like Libra City, and the power that can suppress others is also secretly It perfectly fits the meaning of "checks and balances". In a sense, he is indeed creating a balance.
The Federation would ask him to sign an armistice agreement with the Salvation Alliance because the counterbalancer has a reputation of not participating in battles directly. This does not mean that he will not participate in anything, but that the counterbalancer will not take the initiative to fight alone. Whoever is an enemy is more likely to influence a conflict that already has opposing factions.
For example, take the war between the Salvation Alliance and the Federation at that time. According to his very "arrogant" words, he was pushing everything towards a certain balance in his eyes. Sometimes he would even provide help for free, just for the sake of it. To achieve the so-called balance, of course, he will still receive compensation most of the time.
But the standard for the check and balancer to collect rewards does not seem to be based on getting rewards. Sometimes he will do particularly troublesome things for a very small price, or the balance itself is the reward he demands.
No matter what, he has a very special characteristic, that is, he does not have a clear position and will not stand firmly on one side of the battle, but treats any customer with a very open attitude.
In other words, no matter who is behind the scenes, the check and balancer will not insist on standing by his side. As long as Ma En finds him, he will have a chance to reach a deal with him, and even thanks to his character, the probability of success is quite high.
While Ma En was observing the scene of this hellish city, a black luxury car that seemed to have been produced in the 1980s slowly stopped outside the cafe, and the back door was pushed open.
It was the little devil who walked out of the back. The moment he got off the car, he immediately ran excitedly into the cafe, walked around a few times and came to the private room where Ma En was, and said with a proud look:
"Master, the balancer has agreed to meet."
After leaving the ancient dragon ruins, the little devil's worship of Ma En can be said to have reached its peak. He will carry out any orders given to Ma En with an almost fanatical attitude, and will feel proud after successfully completing them.
The conversation between Ma En and the Mother of Dragons at that time has been deeply engraved in his soul. It is precisely because of this that the image of Ma En in the heart of the little devil is taller than the fear of the Mother of Dragons in the past, and is not even inferior to that of the little devil. He is the Prince of Hell like the Counterbalancer, and he always maintains strong confidence when communicating with the Counterbalancer's subordinates.
Ma En nodded:
"Good job, you can go back and wait for me first."
The little devil showed a happy expression after receiving the praise, but he quickly turned around and walked out of the private room, executing Ma En's order as quickly as possible, treating the matter of returning as an important task.
In fact, this was somewhat beyond Ma En's expectations. At this time, the little devil had truly developed a loyalty to him that was so strong that it could even resist the fear of death - even if it was based on fanatical worship.
Watching the little devil's figure gradually disappear, Ma En also stood up and left the private room. He threw the silver coins that echoed the mournful wail of the soul to the devil collector, and then walked towards the black car that was waiting for him.
Ma En opened the rearmost door of the black car. The space inside was several times more spacious than it looked. There was even a long table in the corridor between the two vertical sofas where you could play cards and drink. The interior decoration of the car was also much larger than before. All the mansions Ma En had seen were luxuriously furnished, filled with gold and gems that stored powerful souls.
Sitting across the table was a young man wearing a black suit. He looked about twenty years old, even younger than Ma En. He also wore white gloves on his hands.
The man poured a glass of strange light red wine with a smile and pushed the glass to the opposite side:
"We meet again, Marne from the Camarilla."
Ma En sat down opposite him, raised his hand and took a sip of wine:
"The balancer?"
In fact, although the little devil did not notice it, Ma En, who had observed the whole process of his work through the little devil, still realized that the so-called check and balancer who contacted the little devil and agreed was the Prince of Hell himself. However, in this case, Ma En still Pretend you don't know anything.
The counter-balancer smiled faintly and politely raised his glass:
"That's right, when we last met, I helped Qin Luan sign a contract with the Federation. When I watched the battle between you and Hong Yuan, I felt that there must be something wrong with you.
"But I didn't expect you to hide it so deeply. Of course, even if I knew, I wouldn't tell the federation.
"After all, you know that I like to stay neutral."
This is not entirely accurate. The so-called neutrality maintained by a check and balancer does not mean that he does not intervene in anything, but exerts influence in a way that he considers "neutral".
However, this Prince of Hell has a better contact point than Ma En imagined. He is not as arrogant as Ma En originally expected, nor does he have any airs. He is completely different from the Mother of Dragons.
Maybe this is the difference between a devil and a demon, or maybe it's because the Dragon Mother is the unusual one.
After all, he was also an ability user of the same level as them.
Ma En said:
"I also heard that you don't like to get involved in any fights. Is it because you don't like trouble?"
The balancer explained with a smile:
"Not entirely, I do not like trouble, but if that's the case, I can actually participate in fights that are safe and beneficial to me. I stay neutral just to build this reputation.
"You see, both the Salvation Alliance and the Federation can trust me, and no one will doubt that I will do anything to favor any party in the contract, because they have all heard of my reputation.
"Credit, this is what I get by remaining neutral. They believe that I will remain neutral, which is countless times more important than whether I actually remain neutral. I do the latter to achieve the former.
"Of course, you don't have to worry that I will lie to you, because the best and only way to gain the trust of others in the long term is to prove it with actual actions. Unless the benefits of something are enough for me to advance to level VI, otherwise There was no way I was going to throw away the good reputation I had built over the years for petty profits.
"And if it was really about such amazing value, you wouldn't be stupid enough to come to me."
Ma En showed a puzzled look:
"But you often intervene in various battles to maintain the balance of various things, but this doesn't seem to have anything to do with your reputation, right?"
The devil smiled:
"Why doesn't it matter? People like you can realize that I will never give up my most valuable thing for any benefit, but some guys may not be able to figure this out and will doubt that I can do it at any time without any constraints. Breach of contract.
"Most people tend to think that all actions must have some kind of logic and meaning, so if I want them to believe that I will not break the contract, I have to give them a seemingly meaningful reason.
"If they think I am a weirdo who is dedicated to creating balance, they can also believe that I will maintain some kind of neutrality because of my weird characteristics. They are always willing to believe this kind of thing.
"Isn't it?"
Ma En did not expect that he would answer his question so sincerely, but in fact, thinking about it again, it was probably just a seemingly reasonable lie. At this moment, sitting opposite him was a very cunning devil.
He nodded slightly and showed a clear look:
"That makes sense."
Seeing that Ma En was not ready to get to the point, the balancer asked without any hurry:
"I heard that you have also encountered some troubles recently. It seems that someone is secretly dealing with you. Have you found out who was able to do it now? Have you solved this problem?"
Facing his seemingly gossipy question, Ma En shook his head slightly, showing a slightly heavy look:
"Not yet. In fact, my coming to you on behalf of the Camarilla this time is also related to this matter."
The balancer showed a somewhat curious expression:
"Didn't you say that someone wants bad news about me?"
Mahn replied:
"Yes, and I am talking about the person who attacked us. In fact, he may not have been targeting you, but he did do something that would seriously harm your interests, because he wanted us to suspect that you were the mastermind behind it. "
The balancer narrowed his eyes slightly when he heard this, and then asked with a smile:
"And you probably won't believe such a cheap lie. I am a neutral person."
The second half of the balancer's sentence was also a lie, but Ma En didn't care.
"Of course we were not deceived by him," Ma En said, "but if he really deceived us, it would be a very bad thing for you and the Camarilla, and I can let you see the stolen goods he left behind. .”
The check and balancer blinked and did not agree immediately:
"You know I'm a neutral, so I won't get involved in your fight."
Ma En realized that this was the reason why he repeatedly emphasized the word "neutral". The balancers did not intend to interfere in any way with this war between them and the masterminds behind the scenes. Perhaps as he just said, this is because of the so-called Creating a balance is just his disguise, or perhaps this matter has already reached a certain balance for him.
Seeing this, Ma En just immediately clarified:
"No, we don't intend to let you get involved in this matter. We do intend to trade the stolen information, but what we are asking for is not something particularly important, just some insignificant information."
The balancer looked at him and asked:
"What do you want?"
Mahn replied:
"We want to know the ancient demon worshiped by the Dark Star Church. By the way, after you see the stolen goods, we also want to get your judgment on it. After all, you are a very powerful devil."
The balancer only thought for a moment and gave the answer:
"I see, then of course I will be happy to trade with you."
After saying that, he took out a contract and handed it to Ma En.
After watching Ma En sign, the balancer immediately continued:
"First of all, Dark Star is a name that has become distorted over time. Those of us who were familiar with him as big demons at that time knew that his more accurate name should be Dark Sun, but this is not a secret."
Ma En asked:
"Does this title mean something?"
The check and balancer smiled:
"Of course, what he claimed at the time was that he would be as immortal as the second scorching sun. We didn't particularly take this matter to heart at the time, but according to the news I got recently...
"What he said was not a lie. Instead, he probably vaguely revealed that he has some means of resurrection."
Ma En asked curiously:
"resurrection?"
The balancer nodded slightly:
"Yes, I say this naturally because he is dead, at least that's what we thought before. In fact, the name Dark Star is the nickname we gave him later, with a bit of irony.
"Because he was as fleeting as a meteor at that time. Dark Sun was indeed a powerful demon, but because he was too arrogant and stupid, he offended many demons, and was eventually killed by them together.
"Now it seems that he is definitely not a real demon, and he should have other identities, but this style of behavior has reminded me of a few old acquaintances. Maybe I can give you more than you originally expected. "
Asking for a monthly ticket~
