Perfectionist

The 'Alliance'

Alexis' POV.

On the boat.

After heading to the three other camp spots, we finally gathered the important people in one place to discuss our next operation.

It was a round table discussion with eight people sitting at the table, me included.

The Queen, General Horndale, General Belfrey, James Mckenzie(An American Diplomat that was in Britain when the beasts appeared), Maddox Carnegie, Antonio Giovanni and Nadia Thomas, the Minister of Foreign Affairs that had met with the queen just a month prior and was the figurehead for the EU after Britain left.

"Right, let's dispose of the formalities, yeah? Right now, we have Britain and the rest of the world in peril and humanity is on a knife's edge, about to topple to it's doom. We have thousands of beasts out there about to decimate camps and survivors worldwide and we need a contingency plan to tackle this."

"What are you suggesting, Miss Niko?" General Belfrey asked in a gruff voice.

"An Alliance. Since currency has been rendered null, we shall go back to a simple time, shall we? Barter trading. I will provide some methods to deal with the beasts and some materials to build safe refuges worldwide. I hope this alliance will spread to the entire world and we will be united as a whole to make it possible to rebuild our glorious empires once more."

"...How can we build sanctuaries when we have no manpower?"

"Ah, I forgot to mention. The sanctuaries have been built. It's honestly a matter of building more. I currently have ten safe zones that I can give out. All you must do is join this alliance."

"...How do we root out corruption then?" Maddox asked with a grin.

I take out the Divinium contract.

"A contract? Please, who honours contracts when profit can be made?"

"Sign it then. And I'll guarantee that it will be impossible for you to break it." I slid the contract in front of James Mckenzie.

One of the conditions was absolute loyalty, to the point of being a slave.

I had prepared for this reaction and thus, made it to instil into the people who could not change their stubborn perspective that the world had changed, that times were different.

"Hmph. It's just a piece of paper, what's there to fear about it?" He takes out a pen and signs it,"See? I'm completely fine!"

"Oh no, Mister Mckenzie. You need to drip your blood on it."

"What?"

"What's wrong? You are confident of it being just a piece of paper, right?" I chuckled.

"H-hmph! Fine! I'll prove that it is just a piece of paper! Give me a knife!"

Maddox lends him an crudely made iron knife that he has used.

He makes a cut and drips it onto the contract.

A moment of silent passes and he smugly says,"See? It's just paper!"

"Bark like for me." I said as I leaned into my chair.

His eyes open and he starts barking uncontrollably, leading to gasps from the others.

"Stop."

He gasps for air and stares at me,"W-what was that?"

"That was you honouring your contract, good sir. Have you not read it? And I quote 'You will be absolutely loyal to Alexis Niko and the alliance, you will never go against her and you carry out all her commands faithfully and without question.' Quite a nasty bit of work there."

"Y-you!" He stammered as he slumps into his seat,"Cancel the contract!"

"Honour thy word. Or in this case, thy contract. Do you really want to break this tradition?"

"T-this is akin to me being your slave!"

"Alexis, this is a little too far..." The Queen had said.

"It's enough, we don't need to go that far, just break the contract." Nadia said.

I stand up, the chair making a dull sound as it creates friction.

"Don't you see? I'm making an example. This is to change your perspective. We aren't living in a world of diplomacy anymore. We are living in a world where the supernatural is the natural. This is our world. And this contract, was to help you realise this fact. The sooner, the better. But...Unfortunately, this is irreversible."

I see the blood draining from that man's face.

"I warned you repeatedly. I truly did. Everyone here heard it. I warned you. And now, you've signed an irreversible contract"

"This world is changed. Ruling powers have now been overturned. This is a time of crisis. Yet, equally, in this window, there is opportunity abound. If you can get a leg up as compared to others in this short window before humanity stands up and fights back, you will be able to profit unimaginably. And the losers, will end up like him." I point to the man that looked soulless after hearing that it was irreversible.

"You will end up as slaves, or even dead. That is because in this era, money isn't power anymore. Strength is. Even if you had all the money in the world, if you had no strength to protect it, what would be the point?"

"I will give you this stepping stone. This golden opportunity to profit. And to become the leaders of this world. All you have to do, is sign that contract."

Immediately, Antonio hands out the Divinium contracts, my mind hard at work.

I was going to make an empire of unconscious slaves.

My power was Loki, named after the god of trickery.

Deception was my forte.

Just because I condemned betrayal, didn't mean I condemned tricking and deceit.

It was the opportunity to bring this world under my reign all the while making the rest think they were above me.

How?

I changed the words.

They would perceive the words on the contract as a reasonable one when in reality, the true contract beneath the honeyed words and tempting rewards was one that essentially made them a slave, much like James Mckenzie had demonstrated.

Even if they found out, even if they knew.

There wasn't a single thing that they could about it.

My mouth subconsciously twist upwards as I lick my lips watching them cut themselves.

I see the drop of crimson dripping onto the contract.

And at last-

My 'Alliance' was complete.