Chapter : 127
Chapter : 127
Lancelot looked directly at Mordred. His single, glowing purple eye seemed to pierce right through the man’s heavy metal helmet, staring directly into his soul.
"A small price to pay?" Lancelot echoed. His voice was no longer just cold; it was lethal. It carried the chilling promise of absolute destruction. "You speak of glory and sacrifice while hiding comfortably behind a mask in a dark room. You know absolutely nothing about the reality of power."
Lancelot slowly began to pace behind his chair, his dark cloak sweeping elegantly across the stone floor. Every single eye at the table tracked his movements with undeniable fear.
"You think this rogue research is a path to technological success," Lancelot lectured them, his tone completely merciless. "You think you can harness the radiation and use it as a leash to control your enemies. But you are arrogant, and your arrogance blinds you to the truth. This project is not a weapon you can control. It is an uncontrollable curse. The moment you try to cage it, it will spiral out of your hands and rot this entire Empire from the inside out."
He stopped pacing and slammed both of his hands flat onto the stone table. The impact didn't make a loud noise, but the sheer force behind it made the massive circular table tremble slightly.
"Listen to me very carefully, because I will only say this once," Lancelot commanded, addressing the entire room. "The commoners of this city are not your disposable test subjects. They are not collateral damage for your pathetic political games. If you allow these rogue researchers to continue... if you let those old men harm ordinary, innocent people like they did ten years ago..."
Lancelot’s purple eye flared brilliantly in the dim light.
"I will not wait for a police investigation," Lancelot vowed, delivering a chilling, absolute ultimatum. "I will not wait for this Council to hold a vote. I will personally step out of the shadows, I will hunt down every single person involved in this project, and I will erase them from existence so thoroughly that history will forget they were ever born."
The silence that followed was completely deafening. Nobody dared to breathe. Nobody dared to move.
The eleven shadow rulers knew that Lancelot was not bluffing. They had seen what happened to people who crossed him in the past. If they voted to keep the Soluriam project alive, Lancelot wouldn't just kill the researchers—he would likely execute half the Round Table just to prove his point.
King Arthur sat up straight, breaking the heavy silence. He could clearly sense the lethal promise radiating from Lancelot's posture. As the leader, he knew exactly when to fold his cards.
"Lancelot is entirely correct," Arthur announced, his voice firm and decisive. He looked pointedly at Mordred, shutting down the warmonger’s ambitions completely. "We cannot risk trying to control this. The danger far outweighs the technological benefits. Banning them on paper is clearly no longer enough to stop their ambition."
Arthur looked around the table, meeting the eyes of every knight present.
"We must take absolute action," Arthur concluded. "We will follow Lancelot’s suggestion. We will not negotiate, and we will not capture them for trial. We must completely and totally eradicate this rogue faction before the plague can spread any further into the city."
Gawain nodded heavily in agreement. "I support this. Burn the operation to the ground."
"Agreed," Percival added quickly. "It is the only logical way to save the city and prevent a public uprising."
One by one, the rest of the knights nodded their heads. The consensus was unanimous. The Round Table had officially declared a death sentence on the illegal Soluriam researchers.
Lancelot stood tall, looking at the men who had just surrendered to his will. He offered a slow, single nod of his head, accepting their decision.
Internally, Ken let out a massive, highly relieved sigh.
"Thank goodness that worked," Ken thought happily to himself, feeling the dramatic tension finally leave his shoulders. "I really didn't want to argue with them all night. I used up all my good villain quotes for the month on that one speech. Now that they agree, my team can actually handle this properly without the government getting in the way. Excellent. Meeting adjourned."
With the final vote cast and the target officially marked for destruction, the shadow rulers prepared to leave the pocket dimension. The deadly threat of the Soluriam plague was finally going to be dealt with, and Ken could finally go back to his real goal for the evening: getting a good night's sleep.
----
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
The incredibly loud, highly annoying sound of someone chewing on a very crispy rice cracker echoed through the deadly silence of the room.
The neutral, highly guarded parlor in the Inner City was supposed to be a place of serious, high-level political discussion. The heavy wooden doors were locked, and elite guards stood outside. Sitting around a massive, polished mahogany table were three of the most unpredictable Royal siblings in the entire Belmontia Empire: Princess Iris of the 13th Unit, Princess Hestia of the 16th Unit, and Prince Hephaestus of the 9th Unit.
The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a sword. The three Royal candidates were staring at each other, waiting for someone to speak.
And in the corner of the room, completely ignoring the heavy atmosphere, Ken Eliot was happily digging his hand into a silver bowl of complimentary snacks. He popped another cracker into his mouth and chewed with absolute joy.
Naomi, standing right next to him in her dark combat uniform, reached over and gently but firmly grabbed his wrist. She didn't glare at him with absolute disgust like she used to. After Ken had literally thrown his body in front of a cursed spear to save her life yesterday, her entire attitude toward him had completely shifted. She now treated him like a highly naughty, slightly embarrassing friend who needed constant supervision.
"Ken, please," Naomi whispered, leaning close to his ear. "I am begging you. Just chew with your mouth closed. We are in the middle of a massive diplomatic crisis."
"But they are so crispy, Naomi," Ken whispered back, giving her his best, most innocent puppy-dog eyes. He slouched his shoulders, his dark blue uniform shirt hanging untucked over his belt as usual. "This is a neutral parlor! That means the snacks are neutral territory! If I don't eat them, they will just go to waste. You should try one. It tastes like cheese and victory."
Sayma, standing on the other side of Princess Iris, pushed her thick glasses up the bridge of her nose and let out a very soft, polite sigh. She decided to completely ignore Ken’s snacking and focus on the serious business at hand.