Chapter 260: Warning
The heads of the most powerful villain organizations in each country gather at the Cathedral, the S-Class Villain Conference.
Time passed, and the day came again.
An information-sharing meeting, organized by Celeste, at a round table under a giant chandelier, was the same as always.
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It was a normal, if unremarkable, meeting as usual, until my turn came.
At the center of the great round table holographic images of countless cities being consumed by flames and monsters floated.
ââŚAnd that, my friends, is the end of my story.â
I stopped the projected view of the catastrophe and shut up after saying that.
And then the room sank into another sudden, heavy silence.
âŚâŚ
Soon enough time had passed for everyone to gather their thoughts.
âI donât understand.â
The muttering came from the far side of the room.
It came from an elderly gentleman with a monocle that glowed with gold, an Italian S-class villain.
He muttered something unintelligible, then turned to me, his eyes locked on mine.
âCities, nay, nations, are being destroyed by those monsters? I donât think the Association is that far behind. Youâre taking a leap of faith, arenât you?â
He asked me that, as if he genuinely didnât understand.
It was a fair enough thought since all of them here were the strongest villains in the country.
They can cut down mountains and destroy cities with all their might, and they are far stronger than me in terms of force.
Therefore, they all have absolute confidence in their own strength.
They never underestimate the ability of heroes who are strong enough to fight them, thatâs why they couldnât understand what I was saying.
With heroes like that hanging on by a thread, what, the country is going to collapse and the planet is going to be destroyed? Isnât that some kind of conspiracy theory?
If the monsters come, as I said they would, the heroes will prevail, this kind of story.
And I, for one, donât believe in such wishful thinking so I had to smile and deny it.
âNo, they wonât.â
ââŚ.â
âLike I said, these monsters are scary not just because theyâre powerful.â
I said, and turned on the projector once more.
And just like that, the white, round projector shot a hologram into the center of the round table.
In the center of it, countless beasts lined up like anthills.
âThese beasts are a threat for three main reasons.â
âThe first is quantity, thatâs the biggest problem. Thereâs an overwhelming number of them, and theyâre coming out of the gate all at once. Even the best heroes wonât be able to keep them out of many areas, especially since these gates spawn in more populated areas.
And second, their continuity.â
With that, I changed the projectorâs image again.
The invaded cities were changing rapidly, as if time were accelerating, but the ominous gates in one corner remained visible.
âThese beasts wonât stop attacking in a day. Maybe three days, maybe a week, maybe a month, since those gates are the passageways for the otherworldly invaders.
And unlike humans, they wonât get tired, so theyâll be endless, new ones.â
By the time Iâd gotten that far, the faces around the table werenât happy.
No wonder. No villain, no matter how badass, would be happy to see the world go to hell. Theyâre all leaders and heads of some kind of coalition.
âThird, there are some special individuals. Iâll call them boss-level beasts. Some of them have unusual abilities, from soul-suckers to those that negate all abilities. The other problem is that they are overwhelmingly numerousâŚâ
ââŚI see. I see.â
After listening to me, the old gentleman stopped frowning and leaned back with his hand on his forehead.
His head was beginning to ache and so did everyone else at the table.
It was too much to take in, as I had a history of guessing everything Iâd uncovered so far.
From the existence of time traveler to the first portal in France, I had already predicted them, especially that portal incident, which led to the current events.
Katana, Li Xiaofeng, and Atlas, who had already been preparing for this since I told them, were looking grim, but the others were confused, because suddenly, a few months later, itâs like the world is about to end.
Of course, some of them were still in disbelief, but they all had a faint hint of anxiety in their faces. Like everything Iâve ever said, what if this bullshit is true?
âSoâŚâ
And then the elderly gentleman, the first to question me, looked at me and asked in a slurred voice.
âSo, what do you want me to do, watch it go down?â
Thank you for asking.
âWellâŚI guess thatâs up to you to decide.â
Having said that, I cleared my throat for a moment before continuing.
âI think itâs possible that this could be over in three days, or a week, if things go well. Iâm sure there will be countermeasures that I canât see right now, and Iâm sureâŚothers will have ideas.â
I glanced in Celesteâs direction as I said that but her eyes were closed and her expression unmoved.
I wasnât really looking at her to see what her reaction would be.
It was just a message to the others, a reminder of her presence.
âAnyway, if thatâs the case, the hardest hit will be on the first day of the catastrophe, when weâre suddenly invaded on a massive scale before weâre ready, and the major cities of each country will be in ruins before we can do anything about it.â
âSo, in the end, itâs all about stopping them on day one, isnât it?â
Yeah.
I meant two things.
First. If you donât want to get screwed, youâre going to have to tell your national associations and heroes about the invasion. Secretly, of course. You never know who might be behind it.
Two. Help out on the first day of the raid. Weâve got a city to bomb and citizens to deal with, so what are you going to do when theyâre all smashed and dead?
ââŚ.â
At my words, everyoneâs faces became stiff and troubled.
I know.
In fact, Iâm only able to do this because this is Cathedral, a place where the heads of the most powerful villainous organizations in the world gather.
As such, itâs a head-scratcher.
Most importantly, their goal is not destruction, but conquest.
If youâre a doomsday nutcase, you might actually enjoy this, but all of the villains here want to rule their countries, not get screwed.
Right now, Katanaâs goal is to conquer her country, and so is Li Xiaofeng. Everyone else is pretty much the same. Especially when they reach Atlas or Celeste rank, their dreams of world domination grow.
They want to have a world thatâs intact, not a world thatâs half-ruined. Whatâs the point of having that?
In the original, the villains actually ate a lot of countries after the Moonlight Gate disaster, but they werenât particularly happy about it, so in the original, they started working with the Association and Cathedral in the middle of the disaster to clean up the monsters, but it was too late.
Anyway, seeing the anguished looks on everyoneâs faces, I spoke up for the last time.
âWellâŚThatâs the end of my story.â
The restâŚYouâre on your own!
And with that, my time was up.
By a very fortuitous coincidence, I was sitting next to Celeste, close to her side of the table. After my information sharing, the meeting quickly ended
As soon as Celeste made the motion to adjourn the meeting I got up from my seat to quickly disappear
ââŚ.â
and as I was doing so I felt like I made eye contact with Celeste, who was sitting next to me.
âŚIt must have been the mood, because she didnât look up.
Anyway, with that, I walked back to the hallway I came from.
I was followed by Li Xiaofeng and Katana, who had been following me for some time, standing to my right and left, respectively, and Atlas, who followed behind me as if to block the others.
We quickly tore up our letters and returned to our original places.
Okay, so thatâs the end of the matter with Cathedral.
Now itâs time to prepare for something other than my country.
After all, thatâs what we came to Cathedral for.
Just as I was thinking that I heard Katana, who was standing next to me, ask me.
âThank you, Egostic. ButâŚâ
âWhat?â
âWhy did you say that for them, the catastrophe would take three days to a week, while for us, it would probably be over in a day?â
âOh, thatâs right, of courseâŚâ
If I say itâs a one-day thing, they might think differently.
If itâs just one day, itâs easy to fix the country if it falls apart a little bit, so letâs take this opportunity to drown all the heroes. The balance of power must be maintained. If it takes a while, theyâll start to work together, or at least they did in the original.
âAnyway, I guess everyoneâs on their own now.â
I muttered.
Okay, so Iâve done my best as a villain. I entered the Cathedral, built up trust with information and based on that trust, I predicted a catastrophe, and made everyone believe me.
ââŚItâs almost fall.â
I muttered, sitting down in a chair.
Fall passed, and winter came.
The day will come, the day that changed the original story forever, the day when everyone dies and the world collapses.
The day I was most wary of, from the moment I fell into this world.
âNow we wait.â
When youâre ready, you wait.
Time will probably fly by from here on out just as time flies when youâre about to take a test, so will this.
âŚMy next attack on Stardus will be the last before the catastrophe.
I thought to myself, silently.
Three months until the day of the Moonlight Gate catastrophe.