Modern World Warlock

After the Stellar Reunion was over, the Jade Dragons and GTS members returned to the Jade Palace to discuss the outcome.

Camille and Dante were silent the entire helicopter flight back as the two of them delved into their thoughts with bitter expressions.

When they arrived, Camille called all of the teams in the mansion, including the vampires and GTS members, and told them to gather in the courtyard.

An official war between leading mafia families hadn't happened since before the foundation of the current gangs, so all of the members understood the gravity of the situation.

After their skirmish with the Blood Dragons, Camille and Megan wanted to increase the size of their teams by recruiting more members, and they had successfully recruited a few of them.

However, now that they were officially at war with the cartel, finding people willing to fight with them would become much more challenging.

When Camille directed her words at the people in the courtyard, she expressed her desire for everyone to follow their hearts and allowed anyone who didn't feel comfortable fighting the cartel to defect from their gang.

"Some of you might have joined us as a way to help your communities, and those projects will continue… However, I don't want anyone risking their lives unless they are prepared to do so," Camille said aloud to everyone present.

While none of the mafia members stepped up, Camille reminded them that they could leave at any time, so it wasn't a decision they had to take on that same day.

Dante scanned the surroundings and inspected the people's umbra, noticing that some of them showed hints of fear. Nevertheless, they also seemed to be brimming with courage and a bit of anger.

'Camille tends to forget that most of these guys suffered from one way or another under the cartel's schemes…' Dante thought.

"I also want to apologize for starting the war… Some of you may be against it, and I think it's natural to be opposed to it," Camille continued.

"Okay, stop right there…" Megan interjected. Her voice was loud, but her expression was indifferent.

"I was the one who gave permission to declare war," Megan continued.

Dante understood that the brunette wanted to take the blame for their actions in case they lost the war. However, he couldn't help feeling a bit guilty.

He wondered if the mafia families would have solved their problems peacefully if Netherius hadn't found him, so he spoke up to share the blame with his companions.

"It was mostly my fault. Netherius- I mean, Darius has an old grudge against me…" Dante said.

Suddenly, their blaming was interrupted by Neil, the captain of the Kappa Team, who raised his hand to politely ask the trio to shut up.

Dante and his companions were slightly shocked at his words, but Neil explained that they were not blaming anyone or going anywhere.

"We all have our reasons to be here. The Jade Dragons are a family, right? Then it's fine to share our burdens!" Neil confidently exclaimed.

When the warlock heard those words, his eyes widened in realization as his mind drifted to an old memory of the past, where his old party members said something similar to him.

After Dante lost his beloved, Beatrice, he spent a few more years in hell, killing demons out of spite and becoming even stronger than he was.

If his party hadn't gone all the way to hell to look for him, the warlock would've stayed there for eternity.

"This party is like a family, so share your burdens with us!" His party said to the warlock before they took him back with them.

Remembering the faces of his friends, Dante let out a smile, wondering if they were mad at him for disappearing.

As the rest of the Jade Dragons' members agreed with Neil's comments, Camille and Megan had no choice but to acknowledge their motivation.

After everyone was dismissed, Camille called a smaller group to accompany her to the briefing room to discuss what they knew about the cartel.

Dante was the only person who had fought against Netherius in the past, and Imera was the only one who battled Wolfram, making their information quite crucial for the war.

Inside the briefing room, Asphodel and her top six vampires were present, along with Imera, Melinda, and the sibling leaders of the GTS.

From the Jade Dragons' side, the Omega and Gamma Teams were present, as they were the ones who frequented the most battles.

"First, I'd like it if we could get some information on these supposed 'Netherius and Wolfram' guys," Camille said to the group.

They needed to come up with defense and offensive methods, but to do that, they had to be aware of their enemies' weaknesses.

"Hmmm… Netherius weakness…?" Dante pondered aloud.

His memories of the necromancer were quite fresh, as his last encounter with him was around forty years ago, which wasn't much relative to his lifespan.

In the world of Terra, Netherius looked like a giant monster made of bones after having killed countless innocent people.

The man was supposed to be a few years older than Dante, but since he didn't possess the "ageless blessing," he used his necromancy to increase his lifespan with the objective of becoming immortal until he turned into an unrecognizable monster.

It wasn't rare for necromancers to resort to those methods, but the fact they always used innocent lives made them into one of the most hated people in Terra, similar to warlocks.

However, while warlocks mainly were hated by the pantheon's church and their followers, necromancers were despised by everyone.

"A weakness…" Dante muttered as he kept reminiscing.

'Did he even have one?' he pondered.

Back in his old world, it took the help of the rest of his party to defeat Netherius, as Dante wasn't strong enough to do it by himself.

They all played a crucial role in the battle, and he couldn't remember exploiting any weaknesses during the encounter.

'We fought for over twelve hours… If he had a weakness, it would have ended much earlier,' Dante thought.