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By the time I returned to Meisian’s castle, I found its owner decidedly still mad at me -I probably had Anmi’s bedside talk to blame for that. Some time had passed since we started drawing blood from Gaiuz. Roughly a third of what was needed had been drawn, but because we wanted to avoid causing any permanent harm to him, we couldn’t draw any faster than we already had.

The Hellhounds still needed some time to gather their troops. This was a battle that would decide the future prosperity of their races, so a bit of caution was only to be expected. Thankfully, war between creatures of Purgatory was a lot simpler than human wars. There was no need for an orderly mobilisation, nor was there a need for supply lines.

The army itself could supply itself as it travelled, so food wasn’t our biggest constraint right now. What had me worried the most, on the other hand, was the relationship between the Hellhounds and the Purgatory Shadowcats. While it would entertain immensely to see a bunch of cats and dogs duke it out, they were now my allies in the upcoming war, allies who weren’t on the best terms with each other.

What was the old saying again? Cats climb the wall, Dogs crawl through the hole -that saying didn’t just come out of nowhere. The bad blood between these two races was only to be expected, but that didn’t mean that reconciliation wasn’t necessary or possible. Upon reconvening with the cats of the Elders’ Consortium, I took out my number one trump card: Mahjong!

Mahjong was without a doubt the perennial pastime of the Chinese on Earth. How many sleepless nights were endured just for that one extra round of Mahjong? Truly an obsession.

The moment I casually mentioned this game and casually demonstrated a round before these cats, their eyes lit up. No longer was I Passerby A, instead I had become an idol to them! That’s right, I was now a Devil to be worshipped, because I had brought them a game to play!

It was worth noting that whether it was cards or Mahjong, the cats of the Elders’ Consortium always played with their signature black tiles. I had to say, the sound of those weighty black Mahjong tiles slamming down on the ground brought back fond memories…

Because Mahjong was a four-person game while the Elders’ Consortium was made up of nine cats, that meant only two groups could be formed at one time. The last remaining cat had to watch from the side till a loser was decided from one of the groups… Watching a bunch of cats play Mahjong was surprisingly fun…

“Mama, why do those cats always play with the tiles floating in the air?”

Mo Na had recently become addicted to Mahjong as well. She would often drag along Jeerah, Sinmosa and me to form a Mahjong table. Because we didn’t have the ability to float our tiles, we could only play on said table.

With regards to this unique way of playing, it had long fascinated every one of us as to why they did so. However, this subject was never broached because we thought that they wouldn’t tell us even if we asked. Yet who would have thought that our Mo Na would simply throw out the question like that with a childlike innocence that she probably didn’t possess.

Surprisingly, the Mahjong-playing cats were more than happy to oblige. Masrow looked at her kindly, then patiently explained, “This is one of the unique abilities of our clan. By using our mana as a medium, we can employ our psychic energies to control objects remotely, like how a paw would. We call this ability Formless Paw.”

“Formless Paw…” I couldn’t help but perk my ears up at that revelation. “But why haven’t I seen other Purgatory Shadowcats use this Formless Paw ability?”

“That’s because you can only learn this ability after reaching Six-star.” Having said that, Masrow puffed out his chest and began explaining how exceptional their abilities truly were. That ultimately led to even his fellow cats getting a little impatient with him. “Masrow, can you just throw out your tile already?”

“What’s the big rush? I still haven’t seen which was the previous tile thrown out…”

“It was a Nine Numbers.”

“Nine Numbers, huh… Hold on, who threw out that One Coin?”

“Me. Why?” The player directly opposite of Masrow eyed him curiously. Upon realising that Masrow was intently eyeing that single tile, the rest of the cats reacted as well. Don’t tell me you want to Pong?”

“Not Pong, I’m about to win.” Masrow stretched out his paws to reach for the One Coin thrown out two turns ago. Unfortunately, he was immediately stopped by two other elders.

The player before Masrow slapped away Masrow’s paw and snapped, “I already threw out a tile, that One Coin isn’t legal!”

“Well then, take back your Nine Numbers. That One Coin is mine!”

“Masrow, you’d better behave yourself. We even asked you if you wanted that tile and you ignored us! You have no one else to blame but yourself.”

“I didn’t hear it. Doesn’t count!”

“There’s no such thing as taking back the tile you threw out. What was that saying again? Something something gone?”

“It’s gone once it sees the light of day.” Mo Na eagerly reminded that elder, as if she was afraid she would miss the opportunity to cause more chaos. “You can’t take back a tile you threw out, once it’s out, it’s gone.”

“That’s right! It’s gone!”

Faced with three other angry players, Masrow had no choice but to back down. However, that didn’t stop him from rudely glaring me at me. I couldn’t help but wonder then, it’s just a game, why hate me for it? Also, it was Mo Na who got in your way, not me… Forget it, at least you’re glaring at me and not my daughter.

It was only later that I learnt an interesting fact: Masrow’s combat strength was basically the worst amongst all of them. The only reason he was the Head Elder was because his card skills were amazing… in other words, their ranking was decided by cards… Well, that sure made things awkward for our upcoming battle of historical proportions. Assuming there was even a Devil who recorded history.

Either way, I now had their elders in the bag so working together with the Hellhounds should be a lot smoother.

Just like that, a span of one month passed by in an instant. During this period of preparation, we contacted the Hellhounds multiple times. Upon confirming the meeting point, I led my seven hundred over golems to the borderlands between the Hellhounds and the Warhorses. Along with us, marched one thousand five hundred Purgatory Shadowcats.

Because she was still mad at me, Meisian chose to sit out this attack. But even with that slight disagreement between, she was still a little tempted at first. However, the moment she saw Anmi eagerly volunteer to fight, she knew something was up, thus she promptly chose to stay behind and perform some kitty procreation.

That was why it was Masrow who led the charge this time, along with a hundred strong combined army of Six-star and Seven-star elder cats gathered from all the other regions.

Shameless Self-promotion

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.