Infinite Classes in the Apocalypse

Chapter 113: Council Meeting

Eve reached him before anyone else could react.

She stopped close enough that Nyla’s grip on Damon’s arm visibly tightened, not dramatically, just the particular adjustment of someone who had noticed something and chosen not to comment on it yet.

"Do you have a minute?" Eve asked, her gaze moving to Nyla’s grip on Damon for a moment before looking back at him. "I have something important to discuss. I thought you might want to hear it. Maybe I can come to your room like yesterday?"

A smile flashed across Eve’s face that said she knew exactly what she was doing.

Nyla’s grip tightened another fraction.

But before she could say whatever was forming behind her brown eyes, a calm voice cut across the noise of the hall.

"Damon."

Ivy appeared at his other side. She looked composed at first, but as Damon turned to meet her gaze, there was something about it that screamed anger.

Her crimson eyes moved briefly across Eve, then Nyla, then settled on him with the practised neutrality of someone managing a room.

"I’ve called a council meeting," she said. "It’s in ten minutes at the top of the east tower." She paused for a brief moment. "It would be good if you attended."

The way she said it left no room for debate, yet somehow it didn’t sound like an order.

Nyla released his arm. Though she would’ve liked to stay by his side, she knew she had no place in the council meeting.

"I’ll be there," Damon said.

Ivy nodded once, her gaze sharpened for a moment as it landed straight at his eyes before she suddenly turned and walked away.

Eve watched her go with an expression that was difficult to read, which for Eve probably meant she was reading everything.

"Hmm, I guess we can go to your room another time," Eve said before moving away, just not before brushing her hand across his shoulder. "I’ll see you at the council meeting."

Nyla lingered a moment longer, staring needles into Eve’s back until she disappeared and she turned toward Damon.

"I’ll wait for you after the meeting."

***

Ten minutes later, Damon pushed open the door to the council meeting chamber.

The room was smaller than the grand hall, with a long table in the middle, high windows letting in grey morning light and a map of the ruined city already spread across the surface with markings he didn’t recognise.

Someone had been busy.

Ivy sat to the left of the head of the table, hands folded and visibly waiting for the last person, who was Damon, to arrive.

Far away from everyone present sat Theodore, the broad-shouldered man whose grin as Damon walked in was the most uncomplicated reaction in the room, which, given who else was sitting around that table, was quietly appreciated.

Eve had already claimed a chair at the far end, legs crossed, watching the door with the expression of someone who had arrived first and wanted everyone to know it without saying so.

And beside her sat someone Damon didn’t quite recognise.

The stranger looked up as he entered.

She was in her early twenties, wearing a plaid mini skirt and a cropped top that, if it wasn’t for Eve’s short mini dress, would’ve looked out of place in the room. Her short, tousled light brown hair had a soft, golden sheen, framing her face as she met his gaze with an unreadable expression.

"This is Hana," Ivy quickly explained. "She joined us recently. She had been of great help, so we added her to the council."

The girl practically jumped to her feet. "I’m Hana, nice to meet you, I heard so much about you!" she spoke oddly fast, but Damon didn’t really pay attention to that at the moment, as he noticed someone missing.

"Where’s Victor?" he asked.

Hana slid back into her seat with quiet disappointment as Damon’s eyes barely grazed over her before moving back to Ivy.

There was one person Damon still hadn’t seen since his arrival at the Citadel. His scrawny healer companion.

"He left for a rift a couple of days ago and is yet to return." A brief pause followed the statement, small but noticeable, as if even Ivy wasn’t entirely sure how unconcerned she should sound about it.

Damon nodded before moving toward the table. He took the seat at the head without hesitation, a choice that would’ve felt strange a month ago and felt entirely natural now, which was perhaps the most unsettling thing about how much had changed.

He was the official leader of the citadel, and now it was time for him to step up.

Moments later, Ivy began describing her plan for the next few weeks. They were going to send a scouting group to fetch information from the other two citadels. Theodore would take the lead on scouting the citadel in the city outskirts, while she assigned Damon to deal with the third citadel, which they knew very little about.

While she explained this plan in slightly more detail than necessary, Damon looked around the room, more specifically to the new person who kept taking quick glances at him from time to time.

’Let’s see...’ he thought to himself before activating one of his two new abilities, the one that allows him to inspect other people’s status system.

To his surprise, a window just like his appeared before his eyes, with the sole exception being that it wasn’t his.

[Name: Hana]

[Level: 41]

[Race: Human]

[Class: Telepath]

[Attributes: Mental Fortress, Empathic Resonance]

[Abilities: Telepathy, Mind Veil]

[Stats: ...]

Damon ignored most of the status screen, especially the girl’s stats, which had no use to him. He did, however, focus on one particular ability.

[Ability: Telepathy]

[Description: You are able to read the minds of intelligent beings within a 10 meter radius.]

His brows rose slightly.

’Mind reader?’

As Damon echoed the words in his head he saw the girl suddenly stiffen, her eyes widened in a clear surprise, the involuntary reaction of someone who had just heard something they weren’t supposed to.

And Damon was quick to take notice.

’Was she... reading my mind just now?’