"We came for peace, but you chose war"
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Soon after the view of the massive warship came into view, the ship docked itself at the edge of the island located in the middle of the ocean which acted as a boarder between the old earth and the mainland of the world.
The sight of the supreme generals coming down from the warship hidden in the white mist made the silence surrounding the three foreigners even more frightening to them.
Before they took refuge onto the old earth, the foreigners witnessed firsthand the power of earth's strongest generation of sorcerers, and their barbaric actions during the world's bloodiest war, but even now they didn't know what to expect of them now that the war had ended just four days ago.
But once elder Caelirach helped himself to a seat across from elder Kael, they knew that the talks for peace were going to start off as nothing short of hostile to say the least.
The four generals sitting across from elder kael were Hotoke Masayoshi, Kojiro, Asami and obviously Caelirach himself who were all accompanied by one respective member of each of the royal sorcerer families, all of them standing in the far back.
After some time, Hotoke Masayoshi had pulled a scroll from the pouch inside his outerwear and rolled it out across the table.
And Caelirach read its contents aloud.
"Dear sorcerers. As you all know, the blood war has now met its end with General Kahal unleashing the malediction and exterminating the demons, which we are truly grateful for. However the effects of the Malediction is currently causing the deaths of our people, and we would like to propose a plea for peace. We also ask that you bear in mind that we bear no ill will towards you."
Once he finished reading the message sent to them by the foreigners, Caelirach raised his head and looked right at elder kael with blank eyes that raised every hair on the elder's body.
While General kojiro's milky eyes fixed themselves onto lady Atsuki's figure, and saw only a red color outlining her very soul.
He then whispered into Hotoke's ear and said:
"The lady seems to be experiencing symptoms of Kahal's malediction. And from what I can tell, she is with child."
The eye patched general of the south crossed his arms. His murderous eye washed over the three foreigners as he spoke in a ruff voice.
"I have many questions for you. Such as who are you people, and how do we know you are not a threat? Because last I recall, we've just ended a hundred year long blood war, and what's there to assure to us that you aren't planning something?"
Elder kael wasn't surprised by their first two questions. After all, throughout the past hundred years the foreigners have been living their lives in the shadows of the world, that had been sectioned off by the boarders set up by his people, so he understood the sorcerers not knowing exactly who they were.
And just four days ago, Benjiro himself argued against the idea of exposing themselves to the world of sorcerers just a few days after the long war met its end.
After darting his tense eyes around the respective representatives of the royal families, elder Kael calmed himself with a deep breath. Cracking his knuckles as he answered Hotoke's questions.
"We… we're not sorcerers, elder Caelirach. Just people. No sorcery, no more resources to prevent ourselves from becoming a dying race… just people."
As soon as those words left elder kael's mouth, one of the royal families representatives stroke a brush across a scroll.
He had a blindfold wrapped around his eyes, with ink on it that read "Kuronami".
And the words he wrote on the scroll were the exact same as what elder kael had spoken. Along with the three foreigners appearance as well as every movement they made.
That only unsettled elder kael and lady Atsuki even further, but it wasn't surprising considering how they'd expected the sorcerers to converse with caution and expected some hostility.
Seeing them shift in their seats, Benjiro cleared his throat and spoke out.
"What my father is trying to say, is that we just don't want to die."
Benjiro reached into his robe. Causing the sorcerers to tense up for a second until he pulled out several hand drawn sketches he'd done of his fellow people who've suffered from the malediction.
"Our people are terrified for their lives… Women and children are suffering agonizing pain. We just ask that you share enough resources to save the lives of innocent people."
Caelirach's eyebrows crinkled. Stroking his chin, he responded matter of factly.
"You are aware that the war has left a devastating blow on the mainland, correct? We still have wounded sorcerers, humans, as well as entire landscapes to rebuild. And quite frankly, you've still yet to give us any reason to believe that you don't pose a threat, seeing how you've been hiding yourselves all these years."
He then leaned forward. As though reading elder kael's body language, and not failing to notice his quivering lips.
"So I'll ask you this. If we refuse to hand over our resources, did you plan on taking them by force?"
The blindfolded representative in the far back paused his writing, and lifted his head.
'Elder Caelirach. Is he trying to provoke them into attacking us?'
'Just after we've ended the biggest war in history… what the hell is he doing?'
He pressed his ink brush against the blank space on the scroll, and waited tensely for elder kael to give his response.
But the old man hesitated for a moment. His lips quivering even more now as he recalled airu's suggestion of attack. In this moment, he prayed in his mind that Airu wouldn't go through with it.
Then suddenly, his mind raced with fear of this very meeting itself being interrupted by Airu himself. That only made him sweat profusely, and wipe his forehead.
"I asked you a question… foreigner."
Beside the blindfolded representative, a woman who was sitting on her knees watched elder Kael intently. Behind her scarlet eyes, her thoughts ran back to a time just a couple days ago.
Right when the war ended, the supreme generals along with the royal families were summoned by Kesean, who shared a prophecy of an inevitable second blood war.
His exact words were:
"A second blood war is inevitable."
"Bigger than the last."
"A sea of evil's origins will spill into the earth, and show us all the pinnacle of evil."
The woman's eyes darted between elder kael and elder caelirach as she thought to herself.
'Just two days ago, kesean revealed a prophecy of an inevitable second blood war which will be even bigger in scale than the first'
'There's no telling what he meant by evil's origins. And now with the emergence of these foreigners who we have no knowledge of, there's no telling if they are what kesean's prophecy meant by evil's origins'
'So he's provoking them, in hopes of gathering more information about these foreigners'
The silence was then interrupted by the sound of lady atsuki's fist slamming down onto the table.
All eyes trained onto her. Her eyes bloodshot, teeth gritted and every aching muscle in her body tensed as she spoke.
"What's with this interrogation?! You're all treating us like animals when all we're asking is that you clean up the mess you made by sharing your resources to stop the deaths caused by you bastards!"
Elder kael and Benjiro's eyes widened in horror. Their bodies froze in complete stillness, and for a split second they felt an intense surge of overwhelming fear.
General Hotoke's hand rested at the hilt of his katana. The other two general followed suit and tensed themselves, preparing for a battle.
However elder caelirach remained seated. Leaning back, he crossed his legs and brought his fingers over his lips and said:
"Is that your response… foreigners?"
Elder kael shot out of his seat, and dropped to his knees. Bowing down as he spoke in a frantic tone.
"Elder caelirach, please! We mean no ill intent, we just want to save our people… we just want to live! Show mercy!"
Hot tears streamed from his eyes, but immediately Hotoke and Asami already had their katanas trained at his throat, and pinned him to the ground roughly.
Benjiro shouted.
"Father!"
Lady Atsuki tried to stand, but immediately felt an unbearable pain in her abdomen which made her vomit.
But then, she was roughly restrained by two representatives of the royal families as they pulled her away toward the massive warship.
Benjiro felt a wave of despair wash over his entire being. Just as he was about to rush after his wife, a thunderous sound stopped him and everyone else in their tracks.
Looking behind themselves, the sorcerers watched as their warship exploded. And went up into white flames and black smoke which immediately filled their lungs and made them cough.
"What the hell?!"
Elder caelirach, as well as everyone else's eyes were then pulled up to the sky.
In the sky was Airu, but something was different about him.
His pale skin now had black cracks branching out from his now dark pools for eyes. And there were giant black wings protruding his back.
"My name is Airu."
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Continued in chapter 124: Eye For An Eye
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