Dark Warlock in the Apocalypse

"And if we refuse!?" Emily shouted, her voice trembling slightly now. The confidence from earlier was clearly fading.

Justin simply raised his hand again, his finger pointed at her.

It was a tense standoff, one move away from all-out chaos. The tension in the air was palpable, but before anything could happen, Damian finally spoke.

"Damn it, I thought I was going to die," Grayson muttered, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

Thankfully, no battle had broken out. In the end, the other side had bowed their heads and backed down.

"We apologize. Let's end this here," Damian finally said, bowing his head.

"Hey! I never agreed to that...!" Emily protested, her voice rising.

"Do you really want to spill blood over this?" Damian cut her off, giving her a sharp look.

Emily tried to maintain her dignity, but Damian's intervention left her no choice. She stepped back, though she didn't forget to glare at Justin, as if trying to prove she wasn't completely backing down.

Of course, Justin wasn't about to let that stand.

"Why are you staring at me like that? If you still want to fight, drop the pretense and come at me."

"Maybe you should stop too," Damian interjected, trying to de-escalate the situation. "Haven't we done enough?"

"Done enough? Do you think I'm relieved this didn't turn into a war? Don't pretend this ended in a draw just because you're walking away. It's either my victory or straight to war. So, say it clearly," Justin demanded.

"...."

Damian's face flushed red as he bowed lower, signaling his group's retreat. Even Emily, who had tried to save face, eventually had to bow as well. Seeing Justin prepare for a fight forced her to mutter an apology.

"S-Sorry for the threats. Happy now?"

"Your voice is softer than a mosquito's wings," Justin remarked.

"I said I'm sorry! You want me to crawl on my hands and knees too!?"

"Not that far," Justin replied, but Emily, unable to bear the humiliation any longer, bolted from the scene, her pride unable to take it anymore.

Grayson, now safe, let out a long sigh of relief as he turned to Justin. "Whew, I owe you for that. Looks like I picked the right ally after all."

"Don't get too comfortable. You owe me a favor now. I'll be collecting on it later."

"Of course. That's what alliances are for, right?" Grayson grinned, clearly more pleased with the idea of maintaining their ongoing alliance than concerned about the debt.

He seemed more interested in the long-term relationship with Justin than the immediate cost.

"By the way, your talk about the authority of a head of state—never thought of a leader that way before."

"Oh, that? I just made that up," Justin replied nonchalantly.

"...What?" Grayson blinked.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Yeah, it was just a bluff. We were playing chicken. I had to show I wasn't going to back down. To be honest, I don't really care about authority. What matters most is keeping everyone alive."

At this stage, individual lives were more important than abstract concepts like authority. The pioneers cared more about survival than some grand notion of leadership.

"But if I talked about that, they might have seen me as weak, so I bluffed to gain the upper hand."

"If I had backed down first, it would've been over, so I just declared that I was willing to go down with them. They had no choice but to yield if they didn't want to die."

Grayson stared at Justin, his expression a mix of disbelief and amazement. "What if they hadn't backed down?"

Justin grinned, "Then we would've gone to war. I could use the battle experience anyway. Besides, we could just clean up after the fight, take the dungeon rewards, and still come out ahead."

"...."

"Let's get moving. It looks like we're not the only ones here, and we'll be safer traveling together." With that, Justin turned to prepare for the next leg of the journey.

At Justin's signal, Nathan nodded and began gathering the resting pioneers to get them ready. As the group made their final preparations, Justin overheard Grayson muttering under his breath.

"Damn... If I hadn't made that alliance, we'd all be dead by now."

Justin smirked. 'Nothing new there.'

Outside the withered forest, they were greeted by a vast wasteland, stretching so far that the distant horizon was visible. The only signs of direction were faint markings on the ground, remnants of an old path. Stray too far from the path, and it would be nearly impossible to find the way back.

"So you really ran into the other leaders in a place like this? I bet most people would avoid this wasteland if they saw it," Justin commented.

"Yeah, we were close from the start. I came out from over there, and they popped out from both sides," Grayson pointed toward a nearby location, barely 50 meters away. "It was bad luck. What are the odds of running into two people I know at the same time in the same place?"

Justin nodded, "True, that's rough. The location is one thing, but the timing? You all tore your scrolls at almost the exact same moment."

"If I hadn't run into you, I'd have been dead," Grayson admitted with a wry smile.

"Don't curse the heavens. Be grateful for me," Justin said with a grin.

"...."

As they walked, Justin could hear the chatter of his group behind him. He had allowed some small talk to lighten the gloomy mood. They had been walking for what felt like an eternity when, finally, something changed.

"Ding! You have entered the Nightmare Zone of the Red Wasteland."

"Ding! The trials of the ancient native race await you."

"Ding! All leaders must reach the Black Tower and confront the submitter."

Along with the system message, a towering structure appeared in the distance—a massive black tower rising from the barren land.

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More Golden Tickets = Mass Release .

More Power Stones = Mass Release .

More Collections = Mass Release

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