"Wait, My Queen…what do you mean she's coughing out blood?" Abrax asked with a bewildered expression.
"Exactly what it means." Despair Queen's hologram spat. She looked pissed, causing him to drop any further questioning.
"Should I be happy that her old injuries relapsed? Or be crazy that they happened right now?!" The fuming woman asked.
Abrax couldn't answer. He wanted to smash the stone table in front of him and yell. 'I'm fucking nervous already! How about you don't ask me and do things properly?'
But he knew better. So, he watched in silence as the hologram went off.
"Sir, the army is set to go." Entering the room, Draven, Shadow Lord of Uranus Cluster branch, said.
"Let them await." Abrax said and clenched his fists.
He was in one of the three secret realms near the cities they were about to attack.
The reason?
'I want to personally lead the armies.' Was his statement.
While it sounded heroic, he wanted to use this as a publicity stunt back at home and raise his reputation.
As an abyss prince, he needed to maintain his own faction.
Before Varian's mission, he was a but a rising prince. After ending Varian, he got a chance.
If he could do well in this mission, chances were, he'd be appreciated by the emperor himself.
Then, showing off his 'bravery', he'd strengthen his faction and aim for the throne.
Everything was supposed to go well, but…
"Prince, are you alright?" Draven asked in concern.
"Must be this stupid disguise." Abrax scratched his hair and pulled his cheeks. A bright light flashed.
The man was gone, replaced by a 7'6 abyssal with long white hair and blood red eyes.
Since the call ended, he was feeling uneasy. It was as if something was about to come. By blasting itself into his life.
"…are you feeling better?" Draven asked.
Abrax was about to nod when he felt his right eyelid twitch uncontrollably. And then, his heart race began to speed up.
His palms were sweating and before he knew it, his pupils dilated.
It suddenly struck him and he understood why.
With ragged breath, he asked. "D-Did our people at the cluster cities contact us?" He gulped and asked.
Yes. They all were around the city kernel, waiting for his instruction. He said he'd give them the instruction after a minute. But it was already thirty minutes. Yet, not a single one contacted him.
"Did something go wrong?" Abrax didn't want to consider the possibility, but something in the back of his mind told him that ignoring the truth wasn't going to change the reality.
"Maybe an emergency meeting. Yeah, if their commander called, they'd have to attend." Abrax patted his chest.
"Prince?" Draven raised a brow.
"Contact our spies in the military region. How is their status quo?" He said.
"Right away." Draven saluted and opened his alpha orb.
Cling!
Cling!
The call wasn't picked up.
Abrax's face turned gloomy.
"Ahahah! Our bad luck. Must be an emergency meeting in his city." Draven laughed nervously and started the second call.
Cling!
Cling!
"….maybe we're just unlucky?" He muttered with a hopeful smile and called the third person.
Cling!
Cling!
"…." Fear crept on Draven's face for the first time.
Gulping his saliva, he called the fourth.
Cling!
Fifth. Sixth….Fifteenth. Sixteenth. Seventeenth.
Cling!
"Ah! goddamit!" Draven smashed the alpha orb to the ground and walked out of the room.
"Where are you going?" Prince Abrax stood up and staggered behind him.
Draven turned around and looked at the Prince. Both of their faces were incredibly gloomy and full of rage.
To Draven, this loss meant loss of countless resources, manpower and time. Not just his, but even the chaos families'.
Would he admit that it was his mistake?
Of course not. All the blame would fall onto Abrax.
Sure, the Uranus abyss would be upset. But who would they value more? A level 7 prince that'd take decades to reach level 9 or him, a level 9 powerhouse?
That look, Abrax understood what he was about to do.
"Don't you dare!" Abrax yelled, but Draven simply turned around and walked out into the field.
The assembled army filling the field of vision looked at Draven with anticipation. Was the war finally going to start?
"Due to unforeseen circumstances and incompetence by Abyss Prince, we'll withdraw." Abrax said.
Then without a care, he used his authority on the secret realm and started moving it away from the cluster cities. This secret realm needed to hide.
The hundred thousand soldiers were bewildered as they stood in awkward silence.
Most of them were low and mid awakeners. They didn't know the dangers of their war and were looking forward to making big merits and gaining a drop or two of the Siloy potion.
Naturally, Draven's announcement dissatisfied them. Slowly murmurs started in one of the platoons and soon, they spread everywhere.
"Draven." Prince Abrax called out in the open, without any disguise.
Draven ignored him and eyed the army officers. They shivered lightly, but nodded.
With a fierce expression, they raised their weapons and beheaded a few that were trying to protest.
"Silence!"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
At least a hundred bodies collapsed to the ground as blood dyed the ground red.
"Follow orders or DIE!" Draven stated and left the area.
This time, not a single soldier dared to breathe loudly, much less speak.
"Draven! How dare you slander me?" Prince Abrax followed him into the commander building and growled.
The guards pretended like they saw nothing and continued their duty.
Draven didn't answer and instead, contacted the chaos families' heads. Upon his call, they too started controlling the secret realms and started their escape.
Abrax's eyes burned with rage. Not only did you slander me, but you were also ignoring me.
He grabbed Draven's shoulder. "You worm! How dare y—"
Slap!
A loud sound reverberated across the building followed by a deep silence.
"Y-You!" Abrax clutched his broken cheek and stared at Draven in disbelief. This…this insect, did he just have any idea what he did?
Just you wait, I will—
"You're but a level 7. Don't be too cocky. This mission failed. Their kidnaps is something you're personally responsible for, are you not?"
Abrax opeened his mouth painfully. The bastard really hit him hard. So, all the flattering smiles were fake, huh. This fucking pest deserved to be tortured to death. "I did—"
"Yes, it's you who insisted that we also get Colin on our side. This delayed the mission by at least four weeks. I'm positive that without you, this mission would've been successful." Draven crossed his arms and sneered.
"Shut up!" Abrax bellowed, his aura on the verge of exploding. But he wisely didn't lash out. The burning pain on his grey cheeks was not only a warming, but also a teaser of what would happen should he anger the human.
"Anyway, don't disturb me. I have to drive this shit." Draven waved his hand and sat in a luxurious red chair.
Abrax's body trembled with rage, but he didn't speak another word. It was futile. He was going to face the wrath of the emperor.
He knew how important this mission was…how much thought and work went into this. Yet, everything was gone. No, not everything, Irene Nial…
Suddenly, it struck him why Irene Nial suddenly coughed out blood and didn't enter the target area.
Perhaps, no, she definitely knew!
'Fuck! Fuck! Everything is gone to waste! All our blood and sweat! Why?' Abrax exited the building and walked to a deserted area.
In the distance, the army was slowly dispersing. Even though they failed, they wouldn't face death.
Unlike him. He'd face punishments worse than death.
"I wish I could simply die." He muttered, and in that moment, his extraordinary perception caught a few objects falling to the ground far away.
"Huh?"
Abrax's body blurred and he appeared at the location the next moment.
He saw a huge cube, the size of three buses, made of durasium and hundreds of blue spheres attached to the cube.
These blue spheres were present in white boxes, preventing them from touching durasium.
But the very next moment, the white boxes cracked and the blue spheres…the ragnaroks touched durasium.
Abrax's eyes widened and he desperately reached for his bracelet.
Right then, a blinding light flashed from the durasium cube and enveloped the whole secret realm.
BOOOM!
