The Gamer Chapter 1520 – The Empty Seat (Patreon)

“I shall track the votes for the Azure Tribe,” Luna announced, silver light playing around her.

“I shall track the votes for Fusion,” Sol announced, golden light seeping from her armoured form.

“The faction that garners the most support from among us shall sit at this table. Should there be a majority of people that withhold their votes, none shall take this seat today and we will reconvene in a year. Does this find everyone’s agreement?” Romulus’ eyes drifted around the table, waiting for any disagreement. “Then I shall cast the first vote. The Sons of Rome declare their support for Fusion among the Divided Gates. I, Apex of the Abyss, Godslayer, the Second Emperor, acknowledge John Newman’s potential to rival my own. Any guild that is led by him must therefore be acknowledged among the top of the world.”

Part of the golden light around Sol consolidated into the Roman numeral one. A single streak up in the air, that hovered to Romulus’ right.

“Ze Illuminati declare their support for Fusion among us.” Celeste assigned to herself the right to speak second, her French accent permeating her words. “Fusion’s rize haz been meteoric and does not appear to end soon. As their oldest alliez, it is our honour, duty, and privilege to acknowledge them among the ranks of our equals.”

A second column of light appeared next to the first. ‘Whoever manages to turn that into a V first wins… why do I get the feeling that Lee is chuckling about that right now?’ John thought, managing to smile despite the situation.

As he saw it, his victory here was likely, considering who he was up against. There was a distinct possibility of a tie, however. Enough members of the Divided Gates had mixed or uncertain loyalties and goals. Simultaneously, John was just certain enough of what he had accomplished over the past two days to make his loss distinctly unlikely.

Around the table, people contemplated for a long while. New information had entered the equation, and even if their vote did not change, they would have been fools not to give it the barest amount of thought. That Lydia rose long after Celeste had sat down did not insult John in the slightest. She had ever been clear about her priorities on the national stage – and she had ever been a thorough thinker.

“Rex Germaniae votes in support of Fusion,” the brilliantly armoured queen declared. “We cast this vote in support not only of our overlords in Rome and not only because John Newman happens to be the man I love, but most of all because strength is to be acknowledged. Fusion has helped the people of the German crown repeatedly and done so competently. As Celeste of the Illuminati said, there ought to be no other reason to acknowledge them as one among us than their meteoric rise and the production of the Guild Hall.”

‘Three out of the necessary five,’ John tracked, as the third column appeared in gold behind Romulus’ seat. Three parallel lines of radiant sunshine, large enough to be seen even from the back of the court.

Atrahasis put a hand on the table and rose on quivering arms and legs. He hid his age well, most times, but at this moment the frail sultan nearly failed. His voice, however, still projected strength. “The Azure Tribe is a legend returned,” he declared out loud. “There can be no doubting the right to rule of the Father of Arcane and the first humans turned elemental! The Great Sultanate supports the Azure Tribe in taking its rightful seat among us.”

The first line of silver manifested. The pale colour was as gorgeous as the metal Arkan’s body so majorly consisted of. Yet, John felt no delight in seeing it today. A first stroke against his ambition, made by a person that only did it to spite him. If Atrahasis had a bone of political realism in his body, he would have known that inviting a superpower to settle in the neighbourhood was going to do infinitely more long-term harm to his nation than the ending of slavery did.

‘No wonder they are on the decline,’ John thought, noting the immensely displeased expression on Prince Osman’s face, several steps behind his father. ‘I should really try to reach out to the man… there’s an opportunity here for future… friendliness.’ His eyes moved over to King Dangun and Eui, the two of them engaged in a calm debate, the words suppressed by some kind of magic they had put over themselves.

Dangun eventually rose, clearing his throat to gain everyone’s attention. “We would have cast our support for Fusion today,” he announced, words that immediately made John feel surprised and suspicious of what came next. “For all the disagreements we may have with this new player on the world stage, their will to power cannot be denied. Although I have no high opinion of the mouth it came from, it is true that we, of the Dangun Clan, pride ourselves for our consistency. It is in history’s interest that all is predictable, so that no one may step out of bonds. Chaos is a ladder that some can climb at a time. Order is a rising tide that raises all ships.

“We would have cast our support for Fusion today, because John Newman talked to us, despite his disagreements, and proved himself a man of honesty. We have insurmountable differences, but to put personal feelings ahead of the truth is ever unbecoming of people of strength and character.

“We would have cast our support for Fusion today, because it would have been the right thing to do. However,” the word cut through the air, leaving a little pause, “that was in a world before we knew the validity of the alternative… The Dangun Clan withholds its vote! We do not know whether the Azure Tribe or Fusion are more worthy of this position and we advocate a delay because of this.”

The king sat down, while golden and silver intertwined above Romulus’ head into a swirling column. John breathed a little lighter. With this, the admission of the Azure Tribe over Fusion had been effectively prevented already. Five votes had been cast, four remained, and there was strictly no way that all of them went to the Azure Tribe.

“The Purest Front casts its support for the Azure Tribe,” Mengele announced plainly and swiftly. “All that had to be said was said.”

The lack of villain monologuing did succeed in making John feel slightly on edge again. From what he had seen so far, Mengele was every bit the pompous, monstrous cunt that Eliana had made him out to be. Anything short and to the point was threatening because of it.

Behind Romulus, the balance shifted two to three – still in Fusion’s favour.

Lu Zhi rose to her feet next, the last person from which John expected to know what their words would be. “The Mandate of Heaven supports the words of the Dangun Clan, with one important difference,” the Heavenly Jade Empress declared, her voice as sharp as a whistling arrow. “There is no ‘would have’ in our mind. We will cast our support for the new man, not for the ancient puppet that dangles on strings!”

The eunuch next to Lu Zhi stepped forwards, only to be stopped immediately by a raised fan of jade. Clouds curved around the arms and shoulders of the Heavenly Jade Empress, a beautiful white, harmonizing with the intense green of the scales that came to cover the sides of her face and what little of her arms was visible past the loose sleeves of her red dress. Horns sprouted and forked into ivory antlers. A long tail curved from her lower back, its ridges shimmering as if wrapped in gold foil.

“We will not be interrupted, servant!” Lu Zhi chastised the minister that had ruled the Mandate in her interregnum, for all the world to see. Gritting his teeth, he stepped back again, and the sovereign dragon returned her attention to the table. “All must be as it should be. A world power is not forged out of a single will. We understand this, we weave our traditions through thousands, hundreds of thousands, because even the mightiest single Abyssal will not carry the might of a nation. Be he Father of Arcane or not, be his subjects first and mightiest of the arcane elementals or not, we will not acknowledge one that is a pretence to expand the reach of those disgusting revolutionaries that believe they can perfect human nature by stacking corpses. Seven people do not make a nation. Only a nation can be a member of the Divided Gates. We declare our utmost contempt for this political manoeuvring.

“Fusion is a nation of people liberated, now capable of forming their own traditions once more. You will shatter the balance of Africa, fine as it already is, with your machinations of selfish greed. These seven are not their own nation, they are part of yours, or part of none. If they wish to forge their own, we will follow their career with interest. Until then, we fully deny your right to sit on this council. Shame upon the Purest Front. John Newman,” Lu Zhi directed her draconic eyes to him, “you enjoy our full support in this.”

John couldn’t even scream in his own head. Her passionate speech simply silenced his mind and made his heart forget the occasional beat between its rapid drums. ‘I want her.’ He thought, plainly, earnestly, and urgently.

Once again, the Heavenly Jade Empress had managed to fulfil several goals at once. She had admonished her chief political rival in public, she had made her stance very clear, and she had created the moral foundation for a future partnership with Fusion on moral matters of oppression and exploitation – which the raiding of Japan could easily be construed as. All of that, while casting a vote she would have anyhow.

The fan folded back into one block and shattered, ripping apart the tension in the air, alongside the layers of divine jade that covered the empress. Face remaining thunderous with rage, Lu Zhi dropped back down into her seat and allowed the eunuch to step up to her again. Perhaps the most brilliant part of this entire endeavour was that she had not needed to lie for any of it.

Two silver lines, four golden ones, a single column of mixed colour. The results had been reduced to two possibilities now: a draw or Fusion’s victory. Which one it was hinged on the two remaining seats on the roundtable.

Scunnder’s smug look had been entirely removed by this point. Rather, he looked like he had eaten something supremely sour. Reluctantly, he rose to his feet. “By decree of the All-Father,” he pressed out, letting all know what he would say long before he said it, “the Sons of Odin… support the Azure Tribe…”

That was all he said, dropping back down into the seat before the stunned silence in the room could turn into disappointed murmurs. The hands of his siblings patted the Swede on the shoulder repeatedly, in a rare display of affection between the four of them.

‘The pettiness of the world unites against me,’ John growled in his thoughts, although he did not quite know why Odin voted against him. ‘To be fair, it could be that he genuinely knew about the Azure Tribe before and decided they were more worthy of it than Fusion… but I really doubt it.’

All eyes around the table moved to Eglystas. The leader of Prometheus, of the guild that John heavily suspected was founded by one of Remus’ schemes, sat with his eyes closed. The six men of the Wise Council surrounded him and stared and they stared for a very good reason.

Because the smartest entity on the entire planet visibly struggled to come to a conclusion.

Eglystas’ features were twisted into a grimace of deep thought. His lips curved into a frown. His eyebrows were pulled together and sometimes quivered. His closed lids went from simply shut to pressed closed, as if he was suffering a sudden migraine.

Suddenly, he stood up. A sudden motion, like someone had just pressed an ice cube against his naked spine. Eyes shot open, glowing with intense silver as he looked around. He almost seemed confused as to where he was for a moment. Then, passivity returned to his features and his body language.

“Prometheus supports the Azure Tribe.”

The words caused a renewed commotion, particularly among the people of Prometheus itself. The Wise Council stared, open-mouthed at the decision of the Supreme Seeker of the Flame. Immediately they swarmed their leader, talking to him in loud voices, not even waiting for any kind of security magic to step into action.

“Are you certain?” Luna asked, in an excusable breach of protocol. She, unlike Romulus and Sol, did not seem intensely surprised by this development. The sun goddess was visibly furious. Romulus wore the hurt expression of betrayal.

“Yes.”

The fourth column appeared in silver, leaving the number of votes on both sides equal. With a sigh from the Apex, he gestured for his loves to disperse the magic. In a scatter of silver and gold particles, the tallied votes were undone. “It is then, as things often are, a matter of opposing forces,” Romulus declared out loud. “With the agreement of the two guilds competing for the seat among us, I suggest a competition of might. Let it be decided who deserves the empty seat through a fight of champions, rather than a war of everyone!”

“We agree,” Arkan answered immediately. Above him, Mengele continued to smirk.

‘Bastard knew this was his best outcome,’ John growled in his mind, but his face remained even. “Fusion, too, agrees.”

“Then we now move into recess,” Romulus declared. “The ceremony to appoint our new member will be postponed. Instead, we shall decide on the matter of the tournament. We will reconvene with you in two hours!”

And so the expected complications began.