26 Chapter 24: Betrayal

- MIYA'S POV -

"H-How? Does that mean... Kadita's dead..?" Odette asked. Fear is evident in her eyes.

Lunox avoided her gaze and sighed, "She sacrificed herself for the Land of Dawn. We didn't force her to give her body to me. She volunteered willingly."

Silence surrounded the whole room.

Kadita's dead. She's been missing for almost a week and now we just found out that she's dead. My best friend is dead!

I can't bare these problems anymore. First, I rejected Alucard for his safety which is my fault, Odette has a point. Second, the fourth Mystic is nowhere to be found and there's a big chance that he's just hiding near our base, finding a perfect time to ambush us. And now? Kadita is dead. And I haven't talked to her since I went outside of Land of Dawn just to be with my mate which went to nothing.

What's next?

"We have to prepare ourselves. Tomorrow evening, we will attack their base and caught them off guard. Well, not everyone will go to their base to finish them off, some will stay here to protect the Land of Dawn. This is a great chance because their leaders are not around and they might be wandering here in the Land of Dawn so we still need to leave some people here. Any other suggestions?" Lunox wandered her eyes to all of us but none raised their hands.

Layla stood up and bowed her head, "If you don't mind me asking, where is their base exactly?"

"Hell Empire," Minsitthar muttered.

Half of the people here had their eyes widened. Obviously, they didn't know about Hell Empire existing at all. Hell is considered a myth here, while some don't believe because they've seen it personally. Well, I haven't seen hell but I believe it's true and existing.

"Hell?? No way we're going in there. What if we get trap? We become slaves forever? Even my cables won't get me out there on time!" Fanny said.

"She does have a point. It's a suicide mission." Claude added.

Kimmy snarled, "Then what do you suggest to do, smarty pants? Do you have a better plan? We can't just stay here and wait for them to attack us!"

The whole room became silent until Gusion broke it.

"That's a good idea. We let them attack us but we need to be prepared. Fanny's right, we'll only lead ourselves to a trap if we ambush their base. How about lead them to us? Declare a fake war towards Dark Empire and let them think that we're already weak and tired because of the war and they'll attack us since we can't fight anymore which is all an act. We'll definitely defeat them, don't forget about Dark Empire is also on our side too. They may be our mortal enemies but our land here is at stake and we need to work together."

A lot of people agreed to Gusion's plan while others are still undecided. Lunox narrowed her eyes at him.

"So you want us to trust the Dark Empire? The only person I trust there is my mate. Remember, they are the reason why I ended up like this in the first place. Their damn queen is hungry for power, what do you expect from her people?" She gritted her teeth.

I can feel the tension between the two. Gusion rose from his seat and remained his gaze at Lunox, "Really? That's your reason? That happened a long time ago! It's in the past already, just accept it. Yes, it's the queen's fault but isn't she allowed to create some mistakes? She's human too. You're human, you've made some mistakes. And I'm pretty sure you regretted them. I, myself regretted them. And you don't judge people just because of their leader's image. I thought Mystics like you are smart enough to understand that."

"Paxley..." Estes tried to calm him.

Lunox scoffed, "Yeah, I regretted every single one of them. I made a bunch of wrong decisions for me just for the safety of the Land of Dawn. I sacrificed almost everything for this damn world and almost nothing was left for me. A fire burned down this building and my whole family was in it with other councils. You know what they asked me? 'Save the councils first', my father said. I don't want to follow his order but he left me no choice. I saved the councils but my family burned inside with the building."

"I want to die at that time but I met my mate, Zhask. He made me feel alive again but the councils did everything to keep me away from him 'cause they said he was just a distraction. The other Mystics felt so bad and sorry for me and none of them can also do anything about it. I want to end my life that day but I just couldn't. I'll only die when my energy or power is drained. So here I am again, sacrificing myself for the last time. If that's what you want then fine. Declare a damn war to Dark Empire. If anything goes wrong, that is not my fcking fault." Lunox left the main hall, leaving us all speechless.

×××

"I'm scared, Miya..." Odette murmured.

I tried to smile at her, "You don't need to come with us you know."

Odette shook her head, "No. I don't want to be useless. I'll fight, for Kadita."

My smile faded away by the mention of our friend's name. I still can't accept the fact that she's dead.

Wherever you are, Kadita. We love you and we will fight for you.

The carriage stopped moving so I took a peek inside to see what's happening. That's strange, we're still far away from the Sacred Statues where we're going to meet the Dark Empire. My heart fluttered when I saw Alucard walking towards us.

W-What?

Tigreal went in front. I went off the carriage to hear their conversation. Why is he here? He should be at the Sacred Statues!

No emotions can be seen from his face and stood up sternly. I tried to look into his eyes but he never looked at my direction. Is he avoiding me..?

Of course, he will. After what I did to him.

"Alucard, the famous demon hunter. What bri—" His sentence was cut off when Alucard shoved his sword to Tigreal's chest.

Oh my, what the hell is happening?!?

Everyone looked shocked. Tigreal knelt down and looked up to Alu with confusion on his face. He fell on the floor and Alucard easily removed his sword from him before raising it.

"Attack them!"