538 Shadow Guardians [4]: Hope

Misha sat with a thousand people in an auditorium. On the way, she also changed her dress and put on the black uniform.

She glanced at the smooth walls that reflected her figure and sighed. Unless they were on a mission, shadow guardians didn't cover their faces.

Yet, looking at herself in all-black, she had a weird feeling. It was as if she gave up on the path of light and could only live in darkness from now.

Once Barry is brought here, her connection to light would be gone. She'd live as a shadow from then on.

'But for how long?'

"At most, two years." A voice reverberated in the auditorium, causing the pair of thousand eyes to focus on the stage.

A hologram appeared out of nowhere.

It was a golden throne filled with white carvings. Like a jewel under the sunlight, it glittered.

But more striking than the throne was the man seated on it.

Contrary to the shadow guardian code, he was in a pure white dress. A brilliant golden mask covered his face except for his eyes—those eyes glanced at the crowd silently.

"Hek." It was just short eye contact, but Misha straightened her back.

She couldn't explain this feeling, but there was a sense of…authority in his gaze. It was like a lion's command over sheep. They were fundamentally on a different level.

Misha controlled her pounding heart and focused on Dreamer.

"At most for two years, you guys will give up everything about yourself and fight for our cause," Dreamer said lightly, but his words caused a ripple in the crowd.

It began as a little wave, but soon, everyone realized the implications behind his words.

And that's why their eyes widened in disbelief and they felt like they were being fooled.

"How can abyssals be solved in two years?" An old woman raised her hand and asked.

From her unstable aura, Misha was able to infer that she was a level 8. From the same unstable aura, Misha was also sure that this granny was reaching her end.

'She might survive for three more years at most. Nah. Maybe only two years.' Misha understood the reason for her agitation.

"I've lived for a hundred and twenty years. I'll die soon." The old woman looked at Dreamer and said in a plain tone.

"I want to contribute my life to this cause. Don't insult it with such cheap promises." Her tone was even harsher than her words.

'Ohhh!'

The crowd fell silent as they waited for Dreamer's reaction. While some of them didn't feel or think much about Dreamer's statements, a good portion of them felt offended that he was making light of the situation.

Even if humanity grew at the best rate, it'd take at least a decade to overpower the abyssals.

But overpowering never meant crushing. Yes, humans would grow stronger than abyssals, but they wouldn't be able to wipe them out without inflicting serious damage on themselves.

What was true for abyssals today would be true for humans tomorrow. And if they needed to reach a level where they could crush abyssals without much damage, it'd take a few more decades.

Of course, it wasn't like humanity would overpower abyssals in a decade for certain. If they didn't grow fast enough, it'd take longer.

But there was another possibility—humanity would be exterminated before it reached that stage.

People would've scoffed at the idea a few weeks ago, but after the Uranus Cluster conspiracy, they were slapped with a harsh truth that if planned properly, abyssals did indeed have the ability to wipe them all out.

That's why no high awakener was complacent since then.

But Dreamer's words sounded exactly like that. And more. They were an insult.

"Insult?" Dreamer repeated his words plainly. "You can believe what you want to believe, but in the near future, you'll accept reality."

"…." The old woman wanted to refute, but somehow, his words were too confident, like he had already seen the future.

His mysteriousness only helped him further as no one tried to refute him any further. Not even the old woman.

'It isn't like they accepted his words.' Misha sighed inwardly. 'They and me, we all decided to wait and watch.'

Since those words came from a man who always did the impossible, perhaps…

The lights in the auditorium flickered and Dreamer disappeared, leaving behind a few more words.

"At most is two years, but at the latest, it's just one year."

"Wha—"

Everyone gawked at his final words.

Either he was trying to fool them or knew something they didn't.

'If they let him speak here, he's not crazy.' As Misha sighed, the auditorium flashed a light once again and another hologram appeared on the stage.

A woman in complete black. They could only see her tri-color hair and eyes, but that was enough.

'Enigma!'

Everyone in the auditorium, be it a level 5, level 6, or even the level 8s stood up.

This was not only a show of apology for humanity's wrongdoings but also a show of respect.

Enigma glanced at everyone. Unlike Dreamer, she wasn't commanding. She was merely…indifferent and distant.

"By the end of this year, we'll take back Pluto."

"!!!"

Everyone's minds stopped working. At first, they thought they were hearing it wrong.

But when Enigma repeated her words again, they could no longer deny reality.

"Prepare yourself. You might lose your life in the war, but we'll take Pluto back." Enigma declared.

Misha, like every other person in the crowd, couldn't believe what she was hearing.

Unlike Dreamer's words which they only decided to observe and didn't take to heart, Enigma's words carried a far heavier weight.

'Where does her confidence come from?'

It wasn't just her or the crowd in the secret realm, but across the solar system, shadow guardians, new and old, asked the same question inside their minds.

They weren't given answers, instead, the leaders of the respective secret realms appeared on the stage.

And in the secret realm, Misha was in, it was Seth.

"Let us sweat more during peace to bleed less during the war." Seth raised his arm and roared.

"YES!" The crowd roared.

Riding on the momentum, Seth started the actual orientation.

*** *** ***

Varian watched the roar of a hundred thousand thousands of recruits across the holograms.

Earlier, they mostly had recruits from Earth and their total numbers barely amounted to ten thousand.

But now, people from all over the solar system came forward.

"Julius tried to destroy them, but his actions only made them stronger than ever." He chuckled and said.

"Their cohesion is still weak." Enigma shook her head as she sat at a distance from him. She glanced at his throne and said. "You're still using it?"

"Of course." Varian raised his chin proudly.

"...you're still holding onto your childhood dream."

"Did Sia tell this to you?" Varian narrowed his eyes.

"..." Enigma remained silent.

"Whatever, their cohesion is indeed weak. They're newbies after all.' Varian shrugged. Then his voice turned serious. "But their dead predecessors and they had one thing in common."

Enigma looked at the holograms and took a deep breath.

It was evident in their collective voice.

Hope.

Hope to see a world not plagued by war.

Hope to watch the moon without military bases.

Hope to live in peace.

Thinking back to Julius nearly wiping out the guardians, Varian mockingly smiled.

A verse he read in the past resurfaced in his mind.

'Throughout history, it was proven again and again,

People can be killed, Nations can be destroyed, Races can be eliminated,

But as long as a heart is left beating,

Hope lives on.'