The clans of Amour and Eau were, in case you forgot, the two other big three clans of France. With the Amour clan having a T grade but few S grades and the Eau clan having zero T grades but many S grades. Overall, their power was practically equal.

And the Mur clan was also previously equal to them, but with my addition as a potential T grade, the balance was broken. And thats why I not only had Mayumi as my only body guard coming with me, but the staff of the airplane as well.

Oh, and Charlotte would be meeting with the other big three clan leaders nearby. And she was pretty powerful. As one of the… about 76? Yeah, 76 T grades in the world. Excluding Japan of course. Damn them.

'They deserved Hiroshima.'

Entering into the fancy building that the private jet landed near, I was greeted by two other people relative to my age and two who were not. Their bodyguards. All of them seated at a round table with a space in between each section where no chairs were located. Basically : : : but circled.

"Greetings, heir Alexander, heir Antoine." I said in such a formal voice it nearly made me vomit. Two of the same vomit inducing formal voices followed, "Greetings to you as well, heir Andre." Said Alexander Amour who was followed by Antoine Eau, "Likewise, heir Andre."

Alexander was a black haired brown eyed nearly twenty year old man and Antoine had dirty blonde hair and blue eyes who was slightly younger than me at 15. Both wearing suits, also both S grade sorcerers.

[No image here, they weren't worth the effort. Maybe in the future]

Sitting in one of the two empty chairs, Mayumi hesitantly followed me and sat down beside me, as the other not worth describing bodyguards did for Alexander and Antoine.

Alexander seeming eyed up Mayumi for a brief moment before I glanced over to Antoine to find him sharing my look of disgust with Alexander. The Amour clan were known to be perverts, and with their cursed technique it was easy for them to be playboys.

The Amour clan cursed technique, emotion manipulation, allowed the user to do two things. See what people were feeling towards them, and to slightly nudge these emotions. Although not in a very noticeable manner it only became actually mentionable when said person's eyes were looked into by the Amour clan member.

While the Eau clan's cursed technique was actually a mutation of a cursed technique from Japan. Back around 185 years ago, a member of the Kamo clan left Japan and decided to stay. Although the lack of cursed energy in the surroundings slowly weakened them, they were still a force not to be reckoned with. And then, 100 years ago, a mutation happened to the cursed technique and it became water manipulation.

I did not need to explain that technique, hopefully.

"What owes me the pleasure of meeting you two fine gentlemen?" I said dryly, "Especially you, Alexander." The older man smiled, "Oh, don't be like that. I know you did the same, you too Antoine. Only enough blood for one head."

I hated how he was right.

I nearly growled, "Sometimes I wonder if you even have enough blood for one." Alexander shrugged, "A lot of people know that I do." I clicked my tongue. The ever sharp tongued Amour heir was as annoying as ever.

Antoine meditated, "Ahem! Back to the topic of our meeting. I assume both of you have heard that the pope is retiring and a concrete grading system is being formed." The insult that was on the tip of my tongue faded, and instead everyone at the table started to focus on Antoine.

Antoine continued, "Well, the Eau clan was hoping that both the Amour and Mur clans, in case of any votes, would agree with the Eau clan and that in case of any other event we should team up."

I shrugged, "Why not? I figure that this should just be basic protocol." Alexander decided to be sharp tongued, "How about instead the Eau clan and Mur clan agrees to vote with the Amour clan?"

I shrugged again, "I don-" a powerful kick from Mayumi delivered itself to my leg. "I don't not care. I would rather vote with the Eau clan in exchange for next time the Eau clan votes with the Mur clan. And the Amour clan can join this deal."

Alexander chuckled loudly, easily able to perceive what had just happened. While Antoine merely considered the offer for a long while before agreeing. He was by far the most serious of us here.

The rest of the meeting went the same as usual, Alexander being an annoying piece of shit and Antoine being one of the most likable people I had met. Until it eventually came down to the usual boiling point. That being Alexander demanding something outrageous.

And what had he demanded this time?

"Heir Andre, would consider giving me your bodyguard?"

I felt like a Chinese novel protagonist.

"Not in the slightest." I said stern faced. Alexander smirked, "Want her all to yourself? How about this, I'll agree to form an alliance with the Mur clan in exchange." I grinded my teeth in rage at this. After I refused this offer, he would say something outrageous again.

But before I could respond was Antoine, being the most likable person in this room, "I'll agree to an alliance with the Mur clan if you DON'T form an alliance with the Amour clan. Actually, just don't form an alliance with Alexander. I don't care about anything else."

Alexander's face fell.

I laughed out loud along with Antoine. Whatever stupid plan Alexander had would no longer work. Honestly just seeing his face right now was enough to make me happy for weeks. This bastard had been terrorizing mr and Antoine for years now.

"Don't you think that laughing at me is disrespectful? I demand a duel for my honor." Alexander poached. Attempting to make us feel shame after being defeated in a two versus one against him. He was by far the most powerful person in the room after all.

"No." Both me and Antoine said at the same time. Why bother entertaining this fool? Highfiveing Antoine we started to chat while completely ignoring Alexander. Eventually agreeing that we would definitely take it up with our respective clan head to form an alliance. And that we should meet sometime to hate on Alexander.

'Damn you… I'll get you back for this' was written all over Alexander's face but neither me or Antoine really cared. What was the worst he could do? Complain to his mommy?

After saying my goodbyes to Antoine, I left with the still confused Mayumi. She had no idea what had just happened in that meeting. No blame to her. Entering the private jet once more, I explained to the confused Mayumi what had just happened before we watched a moive for the duration of the plane ride.

Overall, today had been a good day.

——

24th of November, 10:43 PM, unknown location.

Seven thrones stood tall in a pitch black room, with one person seated upon each of the thrones. The centermost throne slightly risen above the others. Each of the figures stood in silence, observing each other. Until eventually the person seated in the centermost throne spoke.

"He should have been here by now." A deep voice that sounded like thunder said in a menacing tone. The rightmost throne then spoke in response, "Patience brother, he should be here in just a moment."

The leftmost throne then shouted in obvious rage, "Patience?! Please. You should know best of all I'd have no patience, especially for insolent fools such as him." The dark room fell silent once more.

The centermost throne spoke, "We mustn't get too impatient. He is a vital piece for reviving-" The throne on the right of the centermost throne interrupted, "Silence! If he overhears…"

The door to the room cracked open, a beam of sunlight streaming into the room and revealing a horn on the centermost throne's voice's head. Stepping through the crack in the door was a woman with stitches on their forehead.

"Sorry for the inconvenience… I was a bit held up." Shaking the blood off her hands, the woman bowed before closing the door behind her. A lamp held in their hand, "Kenjaku, you have you found it?"

The woman closed her eyes and smiled, "I have… but you do remember your side of the deal, correct?" The leftmost throne snorted loudly, "How could we forget? Killing Geto Suguru without damaging his body and THEN helping you seal Saturo Gojo? The item you've provided better be of adequate quality."

"It was a binding vow, was it not?" The woman answered. The centermost throne then spoke, "When is our strength required? It would be better if it was after the EJS meeting on January 5th." The woman nodded, "A year and a month from now."

The leftmost throne shouted, "Then leave us!" Twirling around in a showy manner the woman exited the dark room while smiling.