Chương 69: Tables

With a pop and some broken plates Cyrendale appeared back in his home and back on top of the same table as always.

"What in the void!" A fat, bearded man yelled out grabbing a cloth to wipe himself off. Cyra sighed and motioned for the server standing aside to come help clean up the guests.

"Cyrendale I am happy you made it home safely, but can you not pop in somewhere else?" She turned to make eye contact with three of the rulers at the table who were making disgruntled noises while trying to clean their elegant clothing.

"I apologize on behalf of my brother" she said while gesturing at the clown of an ancient standing on the table. The celestial level cultivator was currently trying and failing to stifle his own laughter.

"He doesn't have the mind for much more than rune work." Clutching his chest in a dramatic manner Cyrendale gasped out loud before confronting the accusation.

"Dear sister, how was I supposed to know you had such prestigious guests." He then places the back of his hand on his forehead in a silly mimicry of fainting before continuing.

"After years of travel for the kingdom, this is how I'm treated." Then he hops off the table through a gap between two of the guests. And makes his way to an open spot on the table before making himself a plate of various parts of the feast in front of him. Two servers bring in a chair and a cup full of wine and present them to him.

"Why thank you. At least someone around here cares for my well being." He exclaims with the extra dramatic flair.

"Bah, is this fool really to sit and eat with us while we discuss the state of the war?" One of the men wearing red and black clothing that fit closer to his lithe form than the rest. Clearly presenting himself as one of the few leaders who wasn't afraid of being part of the fighting. Cyrendale gave his sister a smile and a squint in challenge before she responded to the man and all the guests at the table as one.

"This is my older brother, he is likely the best chance we have at ending the war. A few of you may already know this, but he is also the single person responsible for the gates between our worlds that allowed you all to be here today. We should probably all listen to whatever he has to report after his travels." Then she nods to her brother with a look he interprets to mean he should start being serious.

"Well I have been gone a few years updating the portals. Honestly I don't know what the fight looks like from this end anymore. Unfortunately the void beasts have already found a way to spread to several of the less developed worlds in our network. I found traces of them scattered among the wildlife. Fortunately that doesn't equal celestial level threats to those worlds. I informed the civilizations who were advanced enough to understand in an effort to help them defend their own worlds from takeover from inside.

Some set out to form purge teams designated specifically to fight the new threat. Some ignored me entirely and they will likely fall to arrogance. I will request that some of you help spread your cultivation knowledge to the lesser worlds. This isn't a fight we can win with a few elite worlds. It will ultimately be a battle of scale. Oh cheese!" He gets distracted for a second as he reaches over for a circle plate off to the side.

"Thank the void for cheese! It's been almost a year."

"Brother." Cyra redirects her child of an older brother with annoyance.

"Right, right. So the gates are updated and that should slow the void beasts incursion on new planets, and I've handed out hundreds of mana compasses to help the worlds connect. The issue now will be to make sure they cooperate over the coming decades. I'm afraid we will spend as much time policing our own forces as we do fighting the voids." The man wearing red and black butted in.

"Why can we not just send our elite units to each of these worlds and force their cooperation? They can be conscripted by force if necessary." This had some of the guests nodding while others frowned. A woman who clearly had advanced early enough in her years to retain her youthful appearance responded with disdain.

"We will be better than the beasts we fight or my world will not be a part of this coalition." She said before popping a purple grape into her mouth. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Would it be beneficial to form a squad with the skill to train and spread information to the lesser worlds? Like mobile combat trainers?" The entire group looked over to the end of the table at the older white haired humanoid with what looked like blue crystals for eyes and void black skin. She had been mostly silent while the others discussed the war effort for the last hour and most had forgotten she was even there. Noticing the lack of food in front of her, Cyrendal waved to the servers.

"Get this fine lady some cheese!"

Lord Hesties removed his sword from the cloaked man with some force.

"Julie, why can't these guys take the hint?" His slicked back dark hair, neatly tucked into a ponytail that trailed down between his shoulder blades a stark contrast with his ragged military uniform that held several missing pieces and blood splatters. His partner in crime, while not as powerful, was learning to hold her own in a more deceptively deadly way. Lady Julie walked slowly out from the dark alley in the now abandoned fortress with a small chuckle.

"Unfortunately nobody believes a kingdoms lord would take the time to remain in shape and capable. Remember every kingdom we brought along to the gate had a lord or lady that was pampered. It only makes sense they underestimated you from the jump. Now can we move on from this depressing place? I'm tired of thinking about the cost to the people this war will bring." Within months of establishing a forward base on the rocky new world, a handful of the elites turned on one another in an attempt to end the competition.

Apparently there had been at least two separate groups plotting under the table to take control of the gate and eliminate their peers from rival kingdoms. Unfortunately the sneak attack from the first group sparked the sneak attack from the other fearing they would miss their opportunity. This lead to nearly ten solid layer cultivation experts in a full scale battle on two separate sides of the gate. With no clear winner in the chaos and constantly underestimated, the duo fled the area with their lives.

Hesties covered for his lady's lack of power with his own fierce determination leaving them both lost and alone on the wrong side of the gate. The battle happened fast and ended just as quickly as elites either succumbed to their wounds or fled in an effort to warn their kingdoms of the betrayal. The two nobles hadn't had the time to determine which kingdoms were on which side of the conflict and as such had no way to inform their own kingdoms of the situation on the other side of the world.

Luckily, being from another continent entirely would most likely protect their peoples from the instigators on the other. Over the last few weeks the two had explored the new world and come across several smaller abandoned settlements. There were skeletons among some of the rubble that had decayed to a state that suggested the locals had been forcefully removed from the area possibly within the last year or two.

Most of the buildings remained standing in each settlement but that just made the settlements look more sinister. Ever so often they would be attacked by some scout or assassin who had tracked them through the portal suggesting that one or more of the kingdoms now controlled it and were making an attempt to eliminate the trapped duo as a threat.

Julie pointed out, "If I was the person calling the shots on a world scale like this, I would paint the new world as so terribly dangerous that the loss of elites was due to the environment and not my own betrayal. That would lock them in as protectors of the kingdoms from the dangers of the gate instead. If the other kingdoms discovered a betrayal it would be an all out war for this resource."

Hesties nodded while cleaning the blood from his blade on the fallen scouts cloak before digging through his satchel for information or food.

"They will either send larger groups after us or assume something else took these guys out. They wouldn't actually know if we were the ones ending them yet. If I was in charge, I would be considering the state of the environment and assuming there was something powerful enough nearby to scare off or kill all the locals. There is no way they have the manpower to keep throwing solid layer cultivators into the gate to never be seen again. Lucky us though, I'm not sure we can handle two at a time working together."

Julie walks over and places a hand on the open bleeding cut to his lower back pushing mana in to close the wound before attempting to wipe away some of the blood from his bedraggled uniform.

"Well… we should keep exploring and maybe we can find the locals somewhere." The two make eye contact. Understanding passed between them. Their privileged lives had been upended, potentially forever. The gate home was a death wish. The new world was unknown and looked dangerous. With a sad smile she reached up and brushed some blood off his jaw.

"Well will be ok. Let's just keep moving darling."