"We've co 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 sothing clear."
Jezebeth paused and looked down at all of the demons present.
"The order… It was sothing that I had passed down. It was a decision that I made, and not sothing 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 seed to bewitch so 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 soone to speak up, but none dared.
The place was incredibly quiet, and all the demons looked at him with the sa 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 disappointnt, 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 an 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 mont is rely a taste. A taste of the true war that is about to co to us…"
What everyone had currently experienced was rely the prelude to the true war that was about to co.
Their forces were strong, and Jezebeth was confident in his chances of victory, but… that was before he ca to learn of Kevin's action.
At the mont, he was uncertain.
He was uncertain about the imminent future.
What he previously thought was certain was no longer certain, and at the mont, all preparations seed for naught.
That being said, there was actually one certainty… And that this was truly the last regression.
Having collected all of the Akashic fragnts, 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 soone.
There was a certain soone who held the key to getting to the records.
He was soone 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 sothing 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 mont, and he looked at with a look that seed 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 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 for who knows how many more minutes, or hours.
I had lost count.
"Co 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 so 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 so 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 mont and listen to ."
I let out a sigh and pinched the middle of my brows.
Thankfully, my words seed to have reached his ears, and he soon cald 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 co 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 so 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 co, and what I am doing is rely 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 , 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 beco a burden to .
"Okay, I get it."
Octavious sat in front of , calming down at last.
His expression returned to normal for the first ti in a while, and he fell into deep thought.
'Normal' was a bit of an overstatent since this was supposed to be his normal self.
"Alright."
He eventually said, raising his head to et my line of sight. Rubbing his chin, he leaned back on the chair and asked.
"If… and I an 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 to open a portal, I needed to use a core as a source of energy. I rember telling him this piece of information beforehand.
'If an 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 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 sothing 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 dia will soon make an announcent throughout the entire domain…"
His feet ca 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 na of the city?"
"The na of the city?"
I opened my mouth, and just as I was about to speak, my mouth closed.
Thinking for a mont, my lips curled.
It was a cringe-worthy na, but as I imagined how 'he' would've reacted had he still been alive, I found myself laughing silently to myself.
Almost like an inside joke, and the thought was what made go through with the decision.
Perhaps, deep inside of , I prayed on the thought that one day he'd see what I had built and curse at for what I had nad it.
I'd always laugh whenever I thought of the improbable possibility. Nonetheless, it was this single idea that inspired to na the city as such.
"...Voss City."
I looked at Octavious and repeated.
This ti more slowly.
"The na of the city… It's Voss City."
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