797 The final hurdle [3]

"We've come a long way, everyone…"

Jezebeth stared at the sea of demons that stood before him. They numbered in the millions, and they all looked at him with fervent eyes.

The sight made Jezebeth smile.

'Who'd have thought that our race, which was on the verge of extinction a few centuries ago, is now the most dominant of all races.'

The sight…

It moved him, and the smile on his face deepened if ever so slightly.

"A lot of you are probably confused… perhaps even annoyed by the sudden orders, but I want to make something clear."

Jezebeth paused and looked down at all of the demons present.

"The order… It was something that I had passed down. It was a decision that I made, and not something that was made on the fly."

Jezebeth's soft vice traveled through the ears of each of the demons present.

It gently vibrated within their minds, and almost seemed to bewitch some of the demons as their eyes turned hazy and their bodies swayed.

"If you are dissatisfied with the orders, you can voice out your complaints now. I'm all ears."

Jezebeth stopped and looked at the army of demons in front of him. He waited for someone to speak up, but none dared.

The place was incredibly quiet, and all the demons looked at him with the same eyes as before.

"So it seems like no one here is dissatisfied…"

He didn't know whether to be happy or disappointed with this news.

He would've loved to have seen a few demons oppose him. Show him that they were different from the others, but he was disappointed to know that such demons didn't exist.

'I expected too much.'

Hiding his disappointment, Jezebeth raised his head up and looked at the demons in front of him once more.

"Now that I got out of the way, I am happy to announce that the war is officially over," Jezebeth continued before the other demons could cheer, "but! ..and I mean but! The real war hasn't even started yet so don't be too quick to rejoice."

As if pouring cold water on them, all of the demons that were previously showing excited expressions revealed disappointed ones.

Jezebeth continued.

"What we have dealt with at the moment is merely a taste. A taste of the true war that is about to come to us…"

What everyone had currently experienced was merely the prelude to the true war that was about to come.

Their forces were strong, and Jezebeth was confident in his chances of victory, but… that was before he came to learn of Kevin's action.

At the moment, he was uncertain.

He was uncertain about the imminent future.

What he previously thought was certain was no longer certain, and at the moment, all preparations seemed for naught.

That being said, there was actually one certainty… And that this was truly the last regression.

Having collected all of the Akashic fragments, he was certain and knew that whoever won between the two of them would be the ultimate winner.

With the Protectors gone, there was nothing stopping him from getting to the records.

No… In fact, there was someone.

There was a certain someone who held the key to getting to the records.

He was someone who he was very familiar with, and the one entity that he could truly claim to fear.

He was the only person to have ever beaten him, and probably his greatest opponent.

'I'm afraid that things won't be so simple anymore now that Kevin has given him all of his powers...'

Just thinking of him made his core palpitate, and his gaze shifted toward his right. He felt himself relax, and his face loosened.

'That's right, I'm not completely unprepared.'

There was still a little something that he had…

"Get ready. We will soon depart."

He gazed at the army of demons in front of him and turned around.

"…Victory or defeat will dictate whether we will be the only race that exists within the universe."

***

"You're planning on migrating everyone here?!"

It was Octavius's voice that rang loudly inside my office. It was just the two of us at the moment, and he looked at me with a look that seemed to suggest I was crazy.

"I'm not crazy."

"Like hell, you aren't."

"That's kind of rude."

"Laying out the truth doesn't make me rude."

"Oh yeah, it does."

"Then you're delusional."

"There you go being rude again… Is this how you treat your savior?"

This went on between Octavious and me for who knows how many more minutes, or hours.

I had lost count.

"Come on, you know best that I'm making the right decision."

Even though I could see where he was coming from, I still don't think my choice was that illogical.

When one stopped to think about it, it was obvious that this made perfect sense, and I had no doubt that Octavious was aware of this on some level.

That being said…

'I really can't get used to this new Octavious.'

I was completely at a loss for words.

He was displaying a great deal more emotion than he ever had in the past, and some of the things he was saying and doing with his face were quite unsettling.

'I want the old Octavious back.'

As much as I despised the old Octavious, he was incredibly rational and never let his emotions get the better of him.

A stark contrast to the current Octavious, who appeared to be on an emotional high, if one could put it that way.

'It's not like it's a bad thing, but in situations like these… it's really annoying.'

"Are you, honestly, not concerned about the blowback that is going to be directed toward you in the near future? Do you realize that the majority of people will be angry with you because of the decision you make? Do you have absolutely no interest whatsoever in the potential protests that will take place?"

"Calm down for a moment and listen to me."

I let out a sigh and pinched the middle of my brows.

Thankfully, my words seemed to have reached his ears, and he soon calmed down.

I continued.

"To begin, I will not be forcing anyone into going to Immorra."

I already stated this to Maylin and the others.

"Everyone is free to decide for themselves whether they want to come here or not. It would be a different story if I forced them, but since I'm not going to do that, I'm confident that there won't be any protests... and if it turns out that some do exist, I'll have to reevaluate my perspective on where we stand as a species."

Nobody would be that stupid, right?

"They should know better than anyone that a war is about to come, and what I am doing is merely providing them with a safe haven to help them avoid this war and not die a useless death."

Another reason was that I didn't want them to be a burden on me, but I kept that to myself.

For those who chose to remain, I decided to let them be, and if they were in danger, I would place them at the bottom of my priority list of the things that I needed to care about.

I couldn't allow them to become a burden to me.

"Okay, I get it."

Octavious sat in front of me, calming down at last.

His expression returned to normal for the first time in a while, and he fell into deep thought.

'Normal' was a bit of an overstatement since this was supposed to be his normal self.

"Alright."

He eventually said, raising his head to meet my line of sight. Rubbing his chin, he leaned back on the chair and asked.

"If… and I mean if… we're going to do this, how much do you need?"

"How much?"

"As in cores."

"Oh."

My brows furrowed.

Indeed, in order for me to open a portal, I needed to use a core as a source of energy. I remember telling him this piece of information beforehand.

'If an <S> ranked core is enough for tens of thousands of people, then… If I am to take into consideration that I am probably going to migrate over millions…'

My expression turned grim.

"Most probably several <SS> ranked cores."

I sighed, feeling a little part of my heart ache.

It was such a big expenditure, and with it, I'd probably be able to add even more mana to the city, but I still felt my heart ache.

Those were a lot of cores…

If not for the fact that they were a necessary expenditure, I would've probably used them for something else.

"S,several?"

Octavious's limps trembled at my words, but he eventually managed to calm himself down.

"I understand."

He stood himself up with the assistance of the chair's armrests and then turned his attention to the door of the room.

He walked toward it at a slow pace.

"I,I'll tell them of your decision through a press conference I'll arrange soon. The media will soon make an announcement throughout the entire domain…"

His feet came to a stop right before the door.

"Do you really think there won't be any backlash?"

"I'm certain."

If there was one thing I was confident in, it was this.

"Okay then."

Octavious placed his hand against the doorknob, and just as he was about to twist it, he turned around again.

"By the way…"

He paused.

"…What's the name of the city?"

"The name of the city?"

I opened my mouth, and just as I was about to speak, my mouth closed.

Thinking for a moment, my lips curled.