BXBX NOVEL Chapter 95: The New Plan
As much as he had a thousand questions to ask, he needed to get to the point.
"Firstly, I want you to be aware that we\'re here on a mission to close the rift."
"As you might already know, it leads straight into the Abyssal realm, and the release of nightmarish creatures might just seal the fate of this realm completely. That is the only reason why we\'re here," Oliver said, making their objectives clear.
"I understand that," the king replied. He didn\'t seem to be one who was truly oblivious to the ways of the Celestial heirs.
"Good. Then can you let us know more about this rift? And the pressing question of why this realm is still standing and not yet overrun by the nightmarish creatures? Or the reason why you have not begun evacuations yet?" Oliver asked.
"The Rift\'s presence..." King Sammdora began.
"It has been there for close to a thousand years now..." He completed as they all immediately widened their eyes in shock.
"A... A thousand years!" Ferris asked, astonished, as the king nodded.
"When our \'little\' machine exploded exactly 1,000 years ago, it not only brought ruin upon our advanced civilization, but it also ripped open various rifts all around the place."
"According to my count, over 500 rifts were opened up, but as time passed, every single one of these rifts closed up until they all disappeared—save for a single one that refuses to close up," he explained, and they all listened intently.
"The last rift refuses to close up, even after the rest of the rifts had already disappeared close to 300 years ago, but it hadn\'t been a matter of concern as the rift remained shut tight. It had only been a matter of interest until a week ago, that is..." he continued.
"A week ago, we noticed dark energy suddenly began oozing out of the rift that had remained dormant for the past thousand years, and in less than a few hours, it rapidly spread, covering the entire kingdom in pitch darkness," King Sammodra said, his eyes looking into the distance.
"In the ancient records, we learned of the power of the rift and the nightmarish creatures that would spew forth, but we were wrong."
"No nightmarish creatures spilled forth, even though we could see an army of nightmarish creatures within the rift. Only a single one came out of the rift," he explained.
"And he came with a deal!"
"A deal that we have been pondering for the past few days, but we have yet to come to an agreement on," the King said as Oliver\'s eyes narrowed.
"What did he propose?" Ferris asked, his hair beginning to light up brilliantly with a golden glow.
"The corpse of a thousand Atlanteans and an ancient artifact of ours," he said as they all gasped in shock, and Ferris\'s golden hair reached a whole different level of intensity.
"Calm down, Ferris!" Gojo called out to Ferris, whose hands brushed against his lap, a sign of him trying to calm his nerves.
It wasn\'t Ferris who was consciously reacting—it was his bloodline, self-aware enough to turn his mind into a raging ocean.
"What did he threaten you with if you fail to agree to his deal?" Oliver asked.
"He gave us exactly four days to make our choice, and he threatened to widen the rift and release the gathering army behind it if we refused."
"We have no idea how to close the rift, so we have been stuck debating all this time. We can\'t afford to face his wrath."
"While I might be willing to part with the kingdom\'s artifact, I can\'t sacrifice a thousand of my own people."
"But I know more than a thousand of my people will die if I refuse his request."
"That\'s what has led to the indecision, and we only have a few hours more before he fulfills his threat," King Sammodra said as Oliver rose to his feet.
"We can close the rift. We possess the power."
"Now, you lead us to this figure, and we\'ll bring an end to him quickly, before we go up to the rift and shut it up."
"Then there will be no danger to your people, nor will there ever be. We will also have completed our mission here and can return back to our world."
"What do you say?" Oliver proposed the new deal to King Sammdora, whose eyebrows furrowed.
"There are two problems..." he called out.
"Go ahead."
"Can you really close the rift?" he asked, his eyes filled with suspicion.
"According to the mission report that we have received, this place ought to be on the brink of getting destroyed by the nightmare creatures."
"You don\'t think we came here to be locked in an immortal battle with the unending creatures of the nightmare realm, do you?"
"We came here to lock the rift and then kill the remaining nightmare creatures that run amok," Oliver said, and his points really made sense to King Sammdora.
The rift could never stop spewing out creatures according to the report, and if they were here to help, then probably the first step was closing up the rift.
If they didn\'t know how to do that, weren\'t they just coming for their deaths? They might be young to him, but none of them looked foolish to him.
"Good. Then there\'s a second problem."
"And what is that?"
"Only two people can appear before this nightmarish creature, according to his terms. That would mean I will have to go, and just a single one of you..."