Lord Shadow

𝒪𝗏𝐥xt.𝔠𝗈𝗆

Trust.

This word sometimes is very light.

Sometimes, it is heavy

Azief paused for a second.

Letting them digest his words.

Azief leaned back on his throne, his cold eyes looking at those four people.

Then he spoke

‘You either trust me or not. I dare bring out this proposal at this time because you all have seen the Weronian War. You have seen the almost possible future extinction of our kind. If the Weronian succeeds at that time, humanity would be wiped out. We may have evolved to a higher life forms, but we still are humans’

Hearing this everyone has an ugly expression on their face.

Azief did not see most of the Weronian Occupation because he was in other worlds at that time.

When he returns to Earth, he fought against that Weronian Warrior and then nearly died before Katarina saves him and encased him inside a mountain of ice.

When he opens his eyes, the Weronian Occupation has already ended. But the people in this room had seen what happened then.

They have no words to describe the situation at that time. Whatever you think you know about war, that cognition changed that day

Narleod, Jean, Hirate, Hikigaya, the Grand Researcher, Kairu and many others changed that day. So, when Azief mentioned that year again, they could not help but remember certain dark days.

Azief only knows about the war and the cruelty under occupation of the Weronian through reports. But even through the report and the videos, he could tell that it is worse.

Because it is not a war for the survival of their race. It was a genocide.

A barbaric race that tries to eradicate the human race. The stories nowadays portrayed the Weronian and a mindless barbaric cosmic race, not having intelligence.

But Azief read the report. The Weronian did try to make other methods like releasing gas so that humans could not procreate.

It reminded Azief of a certain nation that uses the same method before the Fall where they try to control a population of a certain race.

The Weronians also tries to send some humans to reeducation camps where they would be sterilized, raped or killed, being a plaything for these barbaric race.

There is a moment of silence. The air becomes heavy.

Azief sighed and then said

‘I am not a man who speaks many words. I find that speaking too much sometimes diminish the meaning of my action.’

‘But this time, I must speak’

He went silent for a second. He was about to say something but then he stopped. No one noticed this but Jean and Hikigaya. For a moment, Azief squint his left eye.

Azief pretend everything is fine but his heart is beating right now. He seems to see a vision in that brief moment.

He saw a trident, saw the world bringing down thunder and saw a vision of a being clothed in light, surrounded by water.

This vision is brief. Usually Azief could ignore it but this time, the feeling is so strong that he could not restrain that vision from filling his mind.

But he quickly focused on the matter at hand. The vision that he just saw is put on the back of his mind.

He then said to the four people he needs to convince

‘I would not try to inspire you with rousing words of duty or responsibility. You know who I am. I never cared much about that kind of stuff’

At this Narleod chuckles.

They all know that while Death Monarch is probably the strongest person in the world, he is rarely active in doing anything for the world.

It is not that he is selfish. It is that he never put the world in his thought at all.

However, it has been years since the Fall.

Most people changed.

And he too, also changed

‘I could not rouse you to believe in me. And you would not be tempted by some kind of idealistic utopia’ he paused and then continue

‘But what I will do is paint a picture of horror’

‘And that picture is simple. I just want you to all remember what you see during the Weronian Occupation. I want you to remember that feeling when you saw all the things that were happening back then’

‘I know you all have rivalries and enmity against each other. We all have something we want to the other for. I don’t see you as my friend. We are all entangled in benefits, in profit and losses and that is fine.

‘But tell me……’and then Azief look at Narleod ‘I know you hate Hirate and the World Government, but I also know you cooperated with them during the Weronian Occupation. You hide it from the world, but Sasha is very capable’

Azief chuckles a bit and said

‘The one noble thing you do for the world, yet, you want to hide it from the world like you are committing some unspeakable sin’

Narleod face tightened.

‘You hate him but you trust him enough. I see that you have anger and hate. But you, for once, manage to put that aside. You must see something in humanity that you ae not quite ready to abandon.

‘You are dangerous. Crazy. But, you are not Void’

‘And all of you, regardless of the profit and loss, you cooperated with each other resisting the Weronian Occupation. You remember that don’t you? That is the horror we will face’

‘Sooner or later, there would be another barbarian race that would come to this planet again. We are no longer a small rock floating in the nothingness of space. We have alerted the Universe and they have heard the sirens and they see us now.’

‘If we have nothing to fight against them at that time…’ he let his word trails off and there is silence in the room

Azief sighed and then said

‘We either stand together, or we all die alone…and in misery.’

‘I do not intend to leave Earth and I don’t think any of you wanted to. Whether it is because it is our home, or whether it is because it is the only place in the Universe filled with pure energy, I don’t care. Whether it’s for the benefit or for nostalgia, you all want to stay here’ So, choose. And don’t be wishy washy about it’

Then Death Monarch lean back on his throne and close his eyes.

He had said all that needed to be said.

And an eerie silence descends on the room.

They could feel the time is ticking. Death Monarch is there on his throne waiting. Jean and Hikigaya also close their eyes.

In the end, even if they have the intention, they could not do it alone. Narleod look at Kairu, Kairu look at Hannah, Hannah look at Lee Sangmin and they all seems to know that this is the only time that Death Monarch would give them

They then push a button and the area around their throne is surrounded by a translucent barrier before the translucent barrier become black.

Only four throne areas are like this. Azief did not say anything to this as he knows that this is them discussing things with each other.

Azief on the other hand is trying to make sense of the vision he had just saw. A trident? He thought to himself. The trident looks familiar to him.

Then he thinks about the other glimpses he saw. Some of it doesn’t seem to make sense. He doesn’t like this.

But he could not stop it either. Since the moment he had Erika eyes, he had been getting these kind of glimpses all the time.

The time passes on and then the black barrier become translucent again.

Kairu then spoke, his voice seems particularly loud in this large room.

‘We have discussed among ourselves and we have decided’

Azief nodded. Kairu continue

‘Representing the will of the Order of Thinkers, The Lotus Order, the League of Freedom and the African Alliance, we- ‘before he could finish saying it, Azief suddenly stood up, his aura exploded almost in an instant

‘How dare!’ he seems to said

The entire room was surrounded by a maelstrom of energy and the roof of the Dome cracks.

This sudden action shook everyone.

‘What happened?’ Narleod said as he got up from his seat. The other also got up from their seat.

In that moment Azief look toward Jean and Jean nodded.

He disappeared almost immediately from the room. Hikigaya follows after him. Azief waves his hand and a powerful wind seems to have been generated.

All the others in the room is puzzled but then they felt a great power suddenly erupting

This feeling that they felt is like an uncontrollable energy that exploded all of a sudden and those who felt it knows that this is not normal at all.

‘Shit!’ Narleod curses.

Hannah Storm who is in holographic form seems to be distorted. The real Hannah Storm in the Antarctica did not feel the vibration or neither could she senses anything.

But she could see something is wrong. Lee Sangmin who is in his throne looks around him, his eyes shines and inside his pupils are matrixes of formation that seems to assemble itself

Kairu ready his hand, a curved saber appears on his hand.

In that moment they understand. Someone has attacked the Dome. Because now they could hear the explosion and feels the vibration coming toward this room

They did not notice such explosion in the beginning because of the protection formation that is embedded all around this Dome.

And it is also because this is the land inside the Turbulent Sea, a place where their Divine Sense are dulled.

Boom!

Booom!

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