Chapter 70 | Chaos in Kronesthion
[3rd Person POV]
"Explain it, this instant," Malachi ordered, his thoughts running wild with the possibility.
"We don’t have any ongoing conflict with any continent. Who could be attacking?" Silen questioned.
"The enemy is not from another continent; there are reports flooding in from many cities and towns about Rifts opening inside as well as outside," the guard explained.
At the same time, 4 more guards rushed in as the gate was left open. Sibhan also rushed in with others.
"Sibhan, what’s the situation?" Silen asked.
"The reports are coming from most of the major cities and a few small towns scattered across the continent. The town guards and cultivators are engaging in a fight." She explained.
"However, it has just been a few minutes since rifts opened; we can’t measure the strength of the monsters pouring in."
"Especially rifts that opened inside are causing panic and loss of life at a high rate. It’s total chaos, my lord," Sibhan finished reporting.
"Do we know the reason behind such an event?" Malachi asked.
"No, Chancellor, at the moment it appears random, but this situation needs a closer look," Sibhan answered.
"Okay, first of all, everybody return to their territory and work on fending off the monsters."
"I will also dispatch Sage and Saint Rank cultivators from the council to help in extermination," Malachi commanded.
"Leave the matter about Aiden to me; I will inform him about this. Everyone leave," he added.
"You don’t have to tell me twice, Chancellor," Fenris said as he walked out of the room.
Other lords followed him too, in a hurry to reach their territory to minimize the damage.
The room became empty in just a few seconds, leaving only Malachi and Solkar.
"Go to your territory for now; I will decide on your punishment later. Don’t even think about taking action against Aiden if you don’t want to lose all your territory to him."
"You wouldn’t want to become a lord with nothing, would you?" Malachi threatened.
"I will obey the Chancellor," Solkar spoke as he sat up.
"Now hurry along." Solkar left without wasting a second, not even thinking about correcting his disheveled appearance.
"Do we have a list of locations of the possible rifts?" Malachi asked.
A guard entered through the already opened gate. "We are assembling the list now. Should I bring the list to you, Chancellor?" The guard asked.
"Yes, tell them to be quick about it. Contact the Nesthorin army; I want to talk to the commander. Also bring me a paper and my seal," Malachi ordered.
The guard left immediately, while Malachi sat back on his sofa, trying to think of a possible reason or any enemy with such capability.
– – –
<Somewhere in Kronesthion>
"Are all rifts active?" asked a vampire dressed in black from head to toe.
"Yes, I just confirmed. So what do we do next?" the werewolf with the same attire spoke.
"Well, our primary goal is already achieved; this many rifts will damage the spatial fabric of this world to a good extent. Now we just wait for our secondary goal," the vampire answered.
"You think this will work? Won’t it have been better if we had damaged his territory more and then pressured him to join?" the werewolf asked.
"Well, it was our boss’s decision, so I can’t say much. But from information we have gathered on Solkar Moonken, he is the weakest of the lords and has an insecure personality, so it will be easiest to manipulate him," the vampire explained.
"That kind of makes sense, but I still think we should just destroy his territory a bit and beat him up. He will come crawling," the werewolf argued.
"That’s why you don’t rise in the ladder of the Accord. Why use force when you can use words? Also, he is still Sovereign Rank, so we will need to move our top members."
"Doing that will expose us more, and all the work we have done to keep ourselves hidden will go down the drain," the vampire countered.
"Leave all that; tell me about your bet in the tournament. Did you get lost too? I had put a large sum of one S-rank and fifty A-rank stones on that Marion guy as he was almost confirmed to win." He added.
"But I don’t know where that Aiden guy came from and won the tournament. When we get Solkar under our thumb, I am going to skin Marion alive for making me lose a significant portion of my fortune," the vampire shared in frustration.
"Don’t ruin the mood, man; we just completed such a big mission. I lost 100 A-rank stones I had betted on that bastard wolf."
"I just hope rewards from the Accord after this mission will be as grandiose as promised," the werewolf spoke with irritation, sharing the frustration of his colleague.
"Yeah, I hope the rewards from Accord will help me a bit in gaining my fortune back," the vampire agreed.
Both continued their talks as they traveled together, like they hadn’t caused a situation that had the possibility to change the Kronesthion forever.
– – –
[Aiden’s POV]
"Phew!" That was much harder than expected.
Even with the natural trait of my bloodline to never bow before anyone, the mental fortitude needed to stand in the presence of such high-ranked cultivators was tiresome.
Especially when everyone had their eyes on me, trying to scrutinize just with their eyes as I spoke. I had mentally prepared myself, but having to experience it for real was something else.
Damien and I strolled through the gallery; I noticed some guards running like they were in a hurry.
However, before I could even think of asking something, they stormed off to wherever they were going.
We settled in our room as Damien stood beside me.
"Can you locate Marion even now?" I questioned.
"Yes, master. "What are your orders?" he spoke.
"Well, he served the purpose; otherwise, I would have just killed him in the arena. But he is just a loose thread now."
"Kill him."