The Raid [2]

"Fear comes in a lot of forms," Caesar began his speech with these ambiguous words.

"Fear of death. Fear of the unknown. Fear of failure. But, during all of these years I spent as an adventurer, I noticed that in this world, the biggest fear is the fear of not having control. Why do humans fear death? Isn't it because they don't have any control over it? And why do you, Emperor Solomon, fear letting all of this knowledge and this technology get out of this city? It's because you are afraid that you will lose control, isn't it?

"How dare you address the Emperor in such a way," Garcia snapped, seeing Caesar's attitude.

"It's normal to be afraid of something. We are all humans," Caesar continued, ignoring Garcia and the other knights who glared at him. "We also fear that if not handled carefully, this power that you try to control all by yourself would destroy humanity. It might be alright now, but who knows what will happen if the next emperor is evil. As such, we adventurers request the abolition of the monarchy and the creation of a new form of government that can distribute all of the resources to all humans equally, for the entire human race to reach new heights."

"What are you trying to say, Caesar?" George who was quiet finally reached his limit.

At that point, it was clear that a conflict was unavoidable. Caesar emphasized the fact that it was for the benefit of the entire human race and that the Emperor held too much power. For the adventurers who were born outside the city, what Caesar said was an undeniable truth.

Lucian found Caesar's words quite interesting, although there was a fatal flaw in the solution that he proposed. This flaw was humans themselves.

No matter what kind of solution they come up with, as long as humans weren't aware of the root of the problem, nothing would change.

Humans can't coexist as equals. There would always be those who want to be special, to be different from others, it was in their nature.

"You might be right," Solomon said, not losing his composure. "But all of that doesn't matter anymore. Soon, the entire human race would disappear. That's why I am taking part in this raid too. You know what that means, don't you, Caesar?"

The Emperor's revelation shocked not only the adventurers but also all the knights that were present there. Even Caesar himself looked like he didn't expect this kind of twist.

"Brother, what does this mean?" Rezalea was the first one to ask about the meaning of Solomon's words.

"The meeting will take place in three days at adventurers guild as planned. The truth will be revealed there and each one of you will be free to choose what you will do after hearing the truth," said Solomon as he gestured to his attendant that he was done there.

"What? Do you really think that we will just believe in that kind of bullshit?" Zebal yelled. "I was trying to restrain myself from killing all of you, but it seems like I need to make this clear. We are fed up with being the ones to put our lives on the line while you are here, enjoying your lives because of our hard work!"

"Stand back! Don't take a single step forward," George warned Zebal who looked like he was about to go on a rampage.

Lucian observed all of this without saying anything. He could tell that there was someone who was also observing him from this crowd. And he could tell that they were not simple humans. As he expected, all of this had a connection with the helmet.

"Let's wait for three days," Caesar said, turning his back to the palace and ready to leave.

"What? Don't tell me that you believe that bullshit, Caesar?" Zebal yelled.

"This works to our advantage. If the Emperor used that kind of excuse to get out of this situation, that would mean he is cornered. Use your head, Zebal. And don't make me repeat myself," Caesar said, thinking about Solomon's words. He knew that Solomon wasn't the kind of person who would lie which made this situation more concerning.

Caesar was trying to connect the dots and figure out the best course of action that he needed to follow from there.

He already knew that there was a fatal flaw in the solution he proposed, but his goal was to make it possible for the entire human race to access this advanced form of technology, so he needed supporters.

And the best way to gather supporters was to create a common enemy.

Of course, he knew that not all of his supporters were trustworthy and he planned to only entrust the important responsibilities to the ones he trust.

"I always had the feeling that you were a coward. It seems like I was right," Zebal said. "I will do this myself. You guys, let's take back everything these bastards took from us!"

After Zebal said these words, some adventurers rushed forward following him, charging at the knights.

"Zebal!" One of the three adventures that were next to Caesar shouted. She was a black-haired woman with a pixie cut and long pointy ears.

Zebal was a black adventurer, so he was strong. But even among the black adventurers, his ability was considered very destructive.

Anything that came in contact with his skin would explode.

"Stop them!" George ordered, and the knights formed a defensive line in front of the palace's entrance.

"Kill them all!" Zebal shouted like a battle freak.

Boom!

He created a huge explosion by throwing stones at the knights. These stones exploded as soon as they left Zebal's hand, blowing away several knights.

"Hahaha! To think that we were ordered around by weaklings like you!" Zebal's true nature showed.

George came forward and used his ability. He could slow down anything in movement that came in his direction.

"Good! It should be at least like this or it will be boring," Zelba shouted, seeing that some of the explosions were happening in slow motion.

But when the knights and the adventures were about to clash, someone appeared in the middle of the crowd.

"This is not what I expect from you."

Suddenly, all of the adventures and the knights stopped moving.

No one saw him, but before they knew it, Lucian was standing in front of Zebal.

Even Caesar was stunned. He saw what Lucian had done inside the elevator but it seemed like he had not seen everything yet.

"Don't make me regret permitting you to speak in front of me," Lucian said, looking at Zebal who was confused by what was happening to him. "I can't even differentiate you from a mutated beast the way you are now. And I don't like it when mutated beasts howl in front of me."

Rezalea, the knights, and all of the other adventurers held their breath.

"So, are you a muted beast?"

After saying these words, Lucian released Zebal and the other adventurers.

"Who the hell are you?! I will—" Zebal didn't even think twice before he tried to attack Lucian again.

He was completely useless, Lucian concluded. So before Zebal could finish his sentence his head vanished, leaving his massive body collapsing on the ground, blood overflowing out from the place where his head was attached. Thud!

This caused the knights as well as the adventurers to freeze in place. Their expressions were of bewilderment, fear, and awe.

Lucian looked at Caesar and the adventurers that had come with him. All of this was still within his expectations.

This would initiate another event that would further bring him closer to his goal of gathering a group of people that could be considered the human race's strongest.

He was building an image of himself inside of these people's minds. Not a leader, not a ruler, but a being that they needed to surpass.

This was necessary to create situations that could give birth to another superior human in the future.

To do that, he didn't need words, just demonstrations. He would show them that the entire human race would be annihilated by a being like him whenever he wanted to. Then, the next step would be to tell them that they could do what he did. Despair before hope. The stick before the carrot.

Nonetheless, he also had the feeling that he was being observed by something that wasn't human. He looked at the adventurers but couldn't pinpoint the origin of the stare. All he knew was that he had to prepare to face some troublesome situations from there.

"…" Caesar didn't say anything and walked away. He also signaled the others with his eyes to not do anything. He had to confirm his stance in a situation like this, or else the situation would be reversed and they would be nothing more than a bunch of lawless, and their claim would lose all credibility.

It was weird that Lucian was standing there next to the Emperor, Caesar thought. Was he the Emperor's trump card? And that power, what kind of relic was that?

And when everyone else took their eyes away from Lucian for a second, he also vanished from the scene.

"What's going on?" Resale muttered, rushing inside the palace to get some answers from her brother