Shades of the New World

Chapter 98: "Menace"

A woman with pale skin, with long, straight, dark hair and two completely dark holes instead of her eyes, wearing a comfortable looking gray dress sat at one of the seats around the table. Her two black eyes seemed to contain the infinite darkness inside it, mesmerising the onlooking Evin. Noticing the boy staring at her, she sent a gentle and amiable smile back.

'That must be Helain. She's much different from what I imagined her to be'

Another woman, much older this time, with curly silver hair and eyes which also shined in a silver hue. The shining pupils in her eyes, though, looked to be vertical, giving off a unique hue compared to the other Authorities. She also wore a set of tight fitting woolen clothes, covered with a stylish shoulder guard, holding some sort of fancy wooden staff in her hands.

'Probably Veidrakar'

Another woman sat at the table, wearing a set of elaborate dress that was a mix of orange and black. The most prominent feature of the woman was her eyes burned in a unique color of orange and her slightly humped nose. She glared at Evin when she noticed that the boy was checking her out, so Evin hurriedly retracted his eyes.

'How scary, was that the queen of Griffins, Librack?'

Next to her sat an old man, with shining white hair and eyes, lazily looking around the room. He wore a well-made tunic with an enthralling white thread, and wore a crown seemed to be made of a Light energy infused metal. He exuded a certain aura of pride and confidence, making Evin wish to idolize him.

'Judeus Arcwall, the founder of the Western kingdom,'

One more person sat at the table, but this one didn't have a glowing gaze like the others in the room. But he did exude an unimaginable amount of mana from his body. A long crimson horn adorned the man's head, as his eyes coldly looked at the other individuals in the room.

'Is that Selat's representative or something?' Evin thought, but then he directed his gaze towards the most conspicuous individual in the room.

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A teenage girl, perhaps only 12 years old, was comfortably sitting next to Two Tales, looking at Evin with a Cheshire smile, her eyes glowing in a dark blue light. Evin glanced at her clothes and saw a white tank top that said "Legal Loli" in English, and a pair of short, blue jeans.

In the room filled with people wearing full body clothes, she was definitely the most eye-catching.

'Of course,' Evin thought as he tried his best to not stare. It was best to not think about it, and besides, it was obvious that the Authority was just joking around. Evin also knew that Two Tales was somehow related to Earth, so it wouldn't be weird if Twelve Jokes was the same.

"Ah, Evin, we were just talking about you," Kena said, finally.

"What did you want to ask from me?" Evin asked.

"We wanted to ask about the people that tried to attack you. I've glanced through the head of that lesser-imposer, and saw some very interesting things. Although he did kill himself the next second," Kena said.

"In truth, I don't know much about them in the first place," Evin began and narrated everything he knew about the organization, starting from how he met Karan and then Elashin. He then told them how Galashin said that Elashin was his brother and he came to avenge him or something.

After listening to the whole story, Kena nodded slightly and glanced towards the Empress' duo, particularly towards Two Tales. The other authorities acted similarly as well. It was a sore truth that the two Authorities of the Empress knew much more than the others in the room.

Just like how Evin used other people's reactions as a gauge to judge some things, the ten authorities used Two Tales to gauge the severity of a problem. Twelve Jokes was also the same, but the girl didn't really show any reactions or emotions to things.

Anyway, the expression that Two Tales had was one of unsurprised, annoyed disinterest.

'No surprise means that the Empress knows about it; disinterest means that the Empress doesn't really care; annoyance means that even if she doesn't care, it would eventually turn into a problem which needed taking care of,' Kena judged.

It obviously could've meant a different thing, but Kena judged that it should be something along those lines. The other Authorities also seemed to judge that it was something like that.

At this point, whatever's happening with that Organization in the East, it would surely be ignored until it becomes something that can't be ignored.

"Ah, can't you just peek through Karan's memories? He was the one who lived through all of that, in the first place?" Evin asked.

Kena replied.

"We'd love to, but a peek at the metal skinshifter tells us that the procedure would most likely destroy the man's soul. It also happened with the lesser-imposer as well. When I started going through his head, his soul had such a violent reaction to it It almost felt like it was going to explode. The boy, the lesser-imposer, managed to kill himself before that But I felt something extremely weird about how he behaved. He was completely fearless towards death, he even seemed to see hope in it Which makes me think that he was sure he was going to be reincarnated," the old man said slowly before asking Evin: "What do you think?"

"I can't be sure, but the fact that the lesser-imposer had the appearance of a teenage boy should mean that he was reincarnated before. He also called a man who was obviously older than him his younger brother. There's also the weird Oath they impose on their members and their test subjects, one that follows them into the afterlife. If none of the countries have a similar technology, I suppose I can safely say that this organization of theirs specializes in the research of souls," Evin concluded.

The boy's words caused a stir among the listeners, especially the ones affiliated with countries. Librack, the Queen of Griffins stood up from her seat and announced.

"The South will be in charge of taking care of this menace! Livendia Threetails agreed to have me represent her"

"The West will send a delegation as well, I'm sure the North and East have something to say as well," Judeus said.

"I'll tell the big guy, he should want to get in the action as well," Va'eri said.

"The North finds these unknown enemies a threat to the balance. The Paradra will send a team," the Crimson horned Northman said.

The four representatives of the Countries began to argue about who to send to the unknown Organization. At some point a huge metal golem appeared out of nowhere and started arguing with the rest. The golem was made completely out of some unknown metal and its eyes shine with a beige light.

With the Golem's arrival, Va'eri took a step back and the rest of the Authorities gathered in the room started dispersing. Alanor said his goodbyes, which fell mostly on deaf ears, and left through some portal. Rith was left behind and she hesitantly approached Evin.

"Hey," Evin said to the Cosmic.

"I'm sorry, Evin," Rith said.

"After having spent so much time with me, I'd think you'd know that I won't care about such things It should actually be me who should apologize," Evin said with a sigh.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know what I felt when I thought you had died"

Evin said it in a way that made it look like he was the bad guy here.

It was even more ironic, since it was clearly Rith who first betrayed the boy. Sure, the circumstances did not allow for much choice, since she would've died at the spell of that Lesser-imposer. And even if she wanted to, she wouldn't really be able to do anything to help Evin.

Evin could clearly look at the situation from an objective perspective and not blame the Cosmic for her actions with confidence.

But Rith was slightly taken aback from the words.

Should she feel glad or should she feel offended? If she felt glad, then should she be disgusted at herself for being glad? If she felt offended, should she reprimand herself for being such an entitled person?

"Hey, don't think about it so deeply. I know I said it vaguely myself, but there wasn't really much choice for you back then, right? No one's perfect. Just think of it like this: It is what it is," Evin said and picked up the Cosmic in his arms and said.

"I'm glad you're alive"

"You too," Rith replied.

"Though, how did you survive?" Evin asked.

Rith then explained that she could eject her astral body out of her physical body and hide inside the World of Space. It takes a lot of Space energy to work, but most Cosmics had this kind of safety measure.

The argument of the representatives was going swiftly. All of them were people who practically ruled the four countries, so they were more than capable of deciding what to do with their countries.

In only a few minutes, they had decided to send a rare, unified force that consisted of the four country's best mages, one representing the Empress' will. They were, technically, fellow countrymen, after all.