studiobondurri Chapter 74 Proposal
Chapter 74 Proposal
proposal
the emperor sat on his throne silently. next to him was his wife whose eyes were puffy, and behind him were his children, however, one of the thrones was empty.
the family heads as well as the nobles all sat down in their respective seats, a somber mood overcoming the room. and why wouldn't it be?
the worst terrorist attack to have occurred in the history of the empire just transpired and quite frankly, they were helpless against it.
it was only after a while that the emperor spoke.
"someone, report." he spoke evenly, as if unaffected by what had happened.
a few seconds later, a female in glittering scaled armour came in front of the throne and kneeled.
"commander tyris reporting." she said respectfully and the emperor just hummed and gestured for her to continue.
"we've... tallied our total losses since the attack. i will say them now." despite her best efforts, the sorrow in her voice was clear.nôv(el)b\\jnn
"in total, we lost 733 empyrean guards, 1,067 civilians, and in terms of damage, we received about 30,000,000 stellar coins worth of damage." when she finished, the somber mood in the hall became even more depressing.
on the elevated platform, the princess was struggling not to cry. the numbers may not seem too large,but one must remember that these were people. each of them had a life, a family, goals and dreams. each life was priceless, and yet now they were dead, and they weren't coming back.
not to mention, that empyrean guards were extremely hard to train and were very limited in number. as such, this was quite the blow to them as their most elite force had suffered such heavy losses.
when the emperor heard the report, he nodded calmly and showed no signs of anger or sadness. instead, he simply gestured to tyris to return to her post and was silent for a moment before speaking.
"my people." he started and everyone focused on him.
"what has happened is an unprecedented disaster. one that will haunt this nation for a while. as not only did we lose valuable soldiers, we lost fathers and mothers, children and friends to these ingrates." his tone was calm, but his eyes were sharp. it was clear that, despite his calm outlook, he was not happy with what happened.
"and i will not sugarcoat it either. the only reason we managed to survive this disaster is because of the one we've come to know as the dreamer." at this, the gazes of most of the people in the room shifted to paul who had a solemn look on his face. unsurprisingly, he'd revealed that christopher and the dreamer were the same person.
"this stranger, not only stopped the attack, but he also saved my life and the life of my family... and removed the rotten eggs as well." his voice turned slightly tired at this last part and the queen closed her eyes tightly, not bothering to hide her sorrow.
the faces of the nobles and high class people in the hall also changed. no one wanted to hear that the prince of their empire had actually been a traitor, but that was simply the truth.
"still, that doesn't change the fact that there was damage done. and we will not let this disrespect slide. no one is allowed to come into this place, kill our people, and leave unscathed." hearing this, the mood changed again. the somber mood started to morph into one of rage.
and why wouldn't they be angry? one of the most renowned races in the world, completely and utterly disrespected by a group of ingrates that didn't know their place. would they take that just sitting down? they didn't think so.
"the onis and the dwarves couldn't even deal with a dozen or so! thousands?!"
all sorts of exclamations rang out in the hall, and those who spoke couldn't be blamed. felicia and han were among the strongest people in the empire. and yet, they had only barely managed to kill a single void creature and were rendered utterly helpless by another one.
if belladonna was speaking the truth, then every single race was going to be facing thousands of these harrowing creatures on their own, most had only one thought on their minds.
extinction.
"how are we sure your words are to be trusted?" the emperor, calm as ever, asked.
belladonna didn't say anything and instead summoned something from her spatial storage, a small glass ball.
she tapped on it, and then a large projection was shown in the hall, and what it showed made everyone pale.
at first glance, it looked like a black ocean. but when one looked closer, they'd realise that it wasn't some strange liquid, but thousands of void creatures moving together in a certain direction. and everything in their path was simply erased from existence.
"they will arrive here in about 2 weeks. that's because they keep sinking into the ground wherever they walk. and something similar is happening with the other races." hearing this, the emperor sighed.
"alright, i doubt your master sent you here simply to tell us the horror that awaits us. he must have a plan, so what is it? and what does he want in return?" belladonna nodded at this.
"indeed. he has a plan. it's quite simple really." she smiled behind her mask.
"me." everyone was silent, and the queen who hadn't said a word since spoke with a dubious tone.
"you? as in, you'll handle it yourself?" hearing the question, belladonna nodded without hesitation.
"that's correct. i alone will be enough." when she spoke, the silence returned.
"no offense, lady crimson, but how in the world do you intend to deal with such a swarm? sure you dispatched the void creature that attacked this place. but there are thousands of those things." the emperor asked, even he was doubtful. and yet, belladonna laughed softly.
"your concerns are completely reasonable. those things aren't something anyone can face in battle. the recent attacks prove that." she said calmly.
"however, i'm both old enough and strong enough to know if i'm doing something that could potentially get me killed, and this... isn't one of those scenarios. and besides." she grinned under her mask.
"my master... has given me a few special... 'items' to help in this operation."
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a/n: the second chapter will come a bit later. sorry for the delay