Blood Warlock: Succubus Partner in the Apocalypse

United States, somewhere in the state of Georgia near what was once Atlanta City.

It had been almost a year since the world changed when the Soul Record arrived on Earth, and during that year the world's inhabitants changed along with the world. Everyone tried to adapt in the best way they could to survive, and humans were known to be a very adaptable species despite being physically weak.

At first, as for any human in the world, surviving amidst waves of zombies and rampaging mutant beasts had not been an easy task at all for American survivors. However, as the days turned into months and more and more powerful soul evolvers began to appear, the human bases began to become stronger and stronger; strong enough to shelter hundreds of thousands of humans and withstand waves of zombie attacks or mutant creatures whose numbers sometimes exceeded two or three million.

There were several factions in different territories of the American country, however, the most powerful of them all was undoubtedly the faction led by Angelo, who was not only the son of the ex-President of the United States but also turned out to be a talented warrior with great leadership abilities.

Accompanied by strong and courageous soul evolvers, as well as brilliant minds capable of devising different types of strategies depending on the circumstances, Angelo did not take long to conquer approximately 50% of the humanity still alive on the eastern side of the country; especially the areas closest to the Atlantic Ocean.

Approximately 400 kilometers distance from Washington was the central base where Angelo's faction operated. As for the name of his faction, Angelo had not given it much thought when he named it the United States of America, and in fact, he still used the national flag as a symbol, and every time his army moved to a new location, there was no shortage of flags fluttering in the wind.

In a subway base, a team of about 20 people split into two parts to work on what seemed to be a huge supercomputer that was simply impossible to be controlled or operated by normal humans. All of these 20 were soul evolvers whose classes made it easier for them to control electronic devices.

This supercomputer was actually a lost technology whose capabilities could only be described as superb. Despite having no combat capability, the supercomputer whose name was Abyss possessed an artificial intelligence that was not only capable of blocking or intercepting any communication coming from a device not registered in the system but even had the ability to send sonic waves capable of blocking teleportation or speed boosting skills powerful enough to affect the space of any human soul evolver whose DNA was not registered in the database.

Of course, Abyss was not able to cover the entire United States, not because of its inability but because for its waves to spread it needed to be connected to a different computer every 1000 kilometers. This was the reason why the faction led by Angelo could only protect its own territory and the rest of the country's territory was not under the control of Abyss.

The team of 20 men was working underground in a forbidden area to which no one was allowed access except a very limited number of people. Everything was going normally until suddenly the big screen changed, showing the complete map of the territory controlled by the faction.

"Abyss, is something wrong?" The serious voice of the team's leader, a man who appeared to be about 37 years old, sounded inside the large room.

A woman's sweet voice sounded from the screen, "Attempted activation of over 50 different skills has been detected, all attempts were unsuccessful. There is an 80% chance that the reason behind it is due to a territorial requirement and a 20% chance that it is due to a different requirement."

"More than 50 teleportation skills?! Abyss are you sure?" The leader's eyes widened in shock.

"That's right, all the skills were activated by the same soul evolver." Abyss replied with no change in her voice.

"Impossible!" One of the twenty men shook his head, unwilling to believe what he was hearing. "Even in the hypothetical case of a human actually possessing enough luck to obtain 50 teleportation-type lifesaving skills, to possess 50 teleportation skills that would mean the other party must be a Third Order soul evolver but without any active attack-type skills!"

Because hiding strength was important since one never knew when a traitor might appear, only a limited number of trusted people knew of the existence of the titles that allowed the faction leader to teleport anywhere in the territory they controlled. In the United States of America faction, only Angelo himself and his close group knew about it.

It was precisely because of this that upon hearing of 50 teleportation-type skills supposedly belonging to a single soul evolver, no one could believe it even though they knew in their hearts that Abyss could not go wrong within the territory under her watch.

A small red dot was marked approximately 200 kilometers from the western edge of the faction's territory and Abyss' voice rang out inside the sealed room.

"In addition to these teleportation skills that did not get activated, the other party also activated a teleportation skill with a global scale range. I have consumed 30% of the total energy to block space and prevent the opening of a space door as instructed by Sir Angelo in the past. The approximate location where these skills were activated is near to what was once Kansas City, about 260 kilometers to the edge of the territory controlled by the United States of America."

Everyone stared at the small red dot with wide eyes as Abyss' voice continued to propagate in the room.

"The other party has been identified and the chances of him possessing a communication device that surpasses the current world's technology by a wide margin are 99.9% since I was forced to consume 60% of Soul Stone number 1's energy to spread communication jamming waves throughout the area."

"What? Abyss, have you managed to identify the other party?" John, leader of this privileged small team, was very surprised when he learned that the AI had identified the unknown soul evolver.

Unless the other party was near a computer within the faction's territory, it should not be possible for Abyss' capabilities to accomplish such a thing.

"Besides, the other party has technology that surpasses the technology of our current world?" John's heart clenched as he said in an apprehensive voice, "Abyss, who is the other side?"

Abyss did not speak but opened a file and a second later put a recorded audio on playback.

"This is Bai Zemin addressing to the Sky Destroyer. I repeat, this is Bai Zemin addressing to the Sky Destroyer."

A man's deep voice echoed inside the room, and for a moment no one understood what was going on.

"Is that Mandarin?" One of the operators muttered in puzzlement.

"I don't understand Chinese." Another commented as he looked at his colleague.

"For starters, what's a Chinese man doing in this place?"

Only John had a drastic change in his expression when he suddenly shouted in shock, "Bai Zemin? Abyss, do an analysis regarding the chances of this unknown person being the leader of China's strongest faction!"

"I have already did it." Abyss replied in her usual tone of voice. "Exactly 12 minutes and 35 seconds ago, a space portal outside of my blocking ability opened in the sky near one of Kansas City's forests. The likelihood that the other party is Bai Zemin, leader of the biggest faction currently leading a large part of the Asian country known as China is 100%. His reasons for arrival are unknown, the location from which he teleported is also unknown."

The room was silent for a few seconds before everyone gasped.

About 6 months ago, one of the Chinese factions that managed to take over a nuclear base fired a missile into Chinese territory but that missile did not explode. However, from that point on, the U.S. faction had kept its radar focused on China for fear of receiving a nuclear attack.

During the past months, there had been several nuclear launches but all of them were inside China. However, the United States was surprised that none of those missiles exploded.

It was then that the name of the Transcendent faction began to become known and they probably also knew of the existence of the faction under the name United States of America as they most likely also possessed a satellite base. They consumed a lot of resources and lost hundreds of soul evolvers who were attacked all for the sake of sending some people to China, and that is how they found out the name of the one leading them.

"Why is the leader of the Chinese here?"

"Could it be that he wants to attack us?"

"That doesn't make sense. Bai Zemin has not yet gained control of his country, it would be stupid of him to leave home and travel to the other side of the world to attack a territory so far away from his homeland."

"In that case nothing makes sense. Why is Bai Zemin in this place?"

...

The operators began to try to discover or find a valid reason regarding the mystery of why Bai Zemin was on American ground.

"Abyss, what do you think about it?" John asked after a minute of consideration.

"There is too limited information to make an analysis, but the chances that the leader of China's most powerful faction has decided to antagonize us are not high." Abyss replied. She didn't give him time to think too much when she calmly requested, "Advanced orders are required to proceed. Do you wish me to continue blocking the other side's attempts to open a space gate in the near future? If yes, it is recommended to replace Soul Stone number 1 with a new Third Order Soul Stone as I will not be able to block the global scale teleportation skill a second time."

The 19 operators subconsciously turned their heads to look at John.

John frowned tightly and did not dare to take this matter lightly. There was a lot to think about as depending on his decision the future could change from this point forward.

In the end, he did not dare to make such an important decision as he could not afford to face the consequences.

"We'd better report this to Leader Angelo."

Just at that moment, the alloy door closed 95% of the time was opened.

* * * * * * *