Is this really a Game?!

Reign and the others followed after Elijah and the others, making their way to a new building, the military headquarters of the territory, as well as the entire alliance that they had formed.

Along the way, the golden tree would shine, and the avatar of the golden tree appeared in front of Reign, staring at him with a wronged expression.

"I know, I'm sorry I was gone for so long, I really am." Reign stated as he patted the head of the child. The two of them were linked on a deep level, and Reign's disappearance had truly made the tree feel sad, as well as wronged.

That was not the only reason, however, as thanks to the war that had been going on, the tree had not been able to grow stronger at all, in fact, it had even weakened slightly thanks to the attacks of the vampires as well as other factions.

Both Doncaster and Wilkashere had been attacked several times, but thanks to the immensely powerful shield that the tree provided, they were safe. Even Tier VII combatants would find it difficult to break through the shield and enter the two territories, and without the enemy truly pouring effort into it, attacking with most of their army, they wouldn't be able to easily pass through the shield.

And that was just the first defense mechanism present in the territory, with plenty of more that they would need to get through.

That was the strongest attribute of both Wilkashere and Doncaster, the immensely powerful defensive measures that even Reign and his team would struggle with. Soon, they reached the headquarters and entered the war room.

The war room was silent as a tomb.

Reign and the others sat around the massive obsidian table, their expressions grim as Elijah and Neil laid out the brutal reality of the past seven months. After their disappearance, everybody realized that if they merely waited for them, they would definitely fall to the vampires; thus, they had to take action.

This war room was one of the things they had constructed in the middle of Doncaster. Thankfully, Reign had given Elijah and Neil management rights to the territory while he was gone, thus they were able to utilize the power of the golden tree, as well as construct new buildings whenever they needed to.

They were also able to weed out spies that the vampires had placed, as they were able to utilize an inferior version of the 'God's Eye', which was an evolved version of the 'All Seeing Eye' that Reign had received a long time ago.

With that power, they were able to weed out the traitors and spies without too many issues, not to mention form new alliances, take in new people who wished to join them …

Maps of New York and the surrounding territories were spread across the surface, marked with red Xs where territories had fallen, blue lines where defenses held, and black sigils where new threats had emerged.

Elijah tapped a spot on the map – the ruins of what was once the headquarters of The Ironbloods. Compared to the base of Amelia and her people, which had been taken over by the vampires and now was used by them, the headquarters of The Ironbloods had been completely destroyed.

"The vampires had hunted us, they started attacking with great ferocity and arrogance after figuring out that you guys were gone," Faramis said, his tone low and filled with fury.

"More and more vampires and the bastards from the serpent started appearing on the streets, they attacked without any mercy, and soon, we were on the back foot, forced to use your portals to go and hunt if we wished to get stronger."

"After a while, even that was difficult as our base was being attacked, and the attacks …" Faramis suddenly stopped speaking as fury appeared on his face, it seemed that just by thinking of what had happened was enough to make him enraged.

"They attacked using human slaves, some of which were once members of our factions, they would send them forth, none of them able to resist as the vampires had used their powers on them to control them." Amelia said with equal fury as Faramis.

"What was worse was the fact that they didn't fully brainwash them, all of them still had their memories intact, their minds were still their own, they fully understood and knew what they were doing, but they couldn't control their bodies."

"Their cries of help, the sheer terror in their eyes when they had to fight against the people they once stood by, all of that made it just that much worse for everybody."

Reign's fingers dug into the obsidian table, leaving faint cracks in its surface. The image of brainwashed humans—former allies—being used as cannon fodder by the vampires burned in his mind. He could almost hear their screams, see the terror in their eyes as they were forced to attack their own people.

Laura's demonic energy flickered violently, her nails elongating into claws as she fought to control her rage. Shadow's usual smirk was gone, replaced by a cold, murderous glare. Even Wolf, normally unshakable, had a vein throbbing at his temple.

"They what?" Wolf's voice was dangerously quiet, his orange flames licking at his shoulders.

Elijah nodded grimly. "It broke morale. Some of our soldiers froze in battle when they recognized friends or family among the attackers. The vampires exploited that. They'd send children next. Elders. Anyone who could make us hesitate."

Reign closed his eyes, exhaling slowly through his nose. When he opened them again, his gaze was like tempered steel. "How did you counter it?"

"We didn't … we couldn't," Neil said, his voice quiet as he thought back of what happened. Doncaster was not spared from their tactics either, and thus, they were forced to pull back their forces, as were the others.

"But it wasn't enough," Cameron added, his voice rough. "The Serpent started deploying new monstrosities—hybrids of vamps, humans, and monsters. Faster than the average being of the same realm, and highly resistant to damage."

A holographic image flickered to life above the table, showing a grotesque creature: humanoid, but with elongated limbs, fanged maws splitting its torso open, and scales that shimmered like oil.

"Fuck me," Shadow muttered. "That's new."

"Very," Elijah said dryly. "They call them Reapers. Tier IV baseline, some pushing into VI. We lost three entire squads before figuring out their weakness—fire and decapitation. Even then..."

He trailed off as the hologram changed, showing a battlefield littered with corpses—some human, some vampire, most unrecognizable. Reign recognized the uniforms of Doncaster's rangers among the dead.

Then, the image shifted again.

A massive crater where Central Park once stood. At its center, a towering obsidian spire pulsed with sickly energy, tendrils of darkness spreading through the ruins like roots.

"And then they arrived," Neil said.

The screen zoomed in on the spire's base, where figures in black-and-crimson armor marched in perfect sync. At their head stood a single warrior—tall, clad in plates that seemed to drink in the light, his face hidden behind a horned helm.

"The Ascendancy," Elijah spat. "They came out of nowhere three months ago. Tore through vampire and human forces alike. Claimed they were here to 'purge the weak.'"

Reign studied the armored figures. Their movements were too precise, their coordination flawless. "They're not just soldiers. They're trained. Like an actual army."

"Yes, they appeared and started slaughtering, they even killed some of the vampire lords, about a third of them, before being stopped by the full force of the vampires."

"They are the ones that destroyed my base, it happened so fast … their strength … was too much for us," Faramis said, a vein throbbing on his forehead.

"Right now, the rulers of New York are the vampires, the Ascendancy, as well as the Dragon," Amelia said, prompting Reign and the others to stare at her.

"A dragon?"

"Yes, a juvenile dragon that appeared about 2 months ago, it took over a portion of New York, monsters and humans alike flocked to him."

"To us, he is quite neutral, doesn't seem that he cares about fighting us, to be honest, he doesn't truly seem to care about fighting anybody, even the vampires and the Ascendancy are careful not to anger him, but some skirmishes between them have happened as the monsters and humans under the dragon's command dislike both those factions."

"There are several other factions in New York, but those 3 are the top ones, no other faction comes close to their strength, and if not for the fact that the vampires and the Ascendancy are fighting against one another so ferociously, the other factions would have definitely been destroyed by now."

"As for us, we have explored more regions around us and have made more allies, as well as enemies, with most of them being not that powerful, but some … some are tricky."

"To be honest, we were not sure what to do going forward. It is truly a blessing that you guys came back."