BXBX NOVEL Chapter 260: Warning
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.
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.
“…And that, my friends, is the end of my story.”
I stopped the projected view of the catastrophe and shut up after saying that.
And then the room sank into another sudden, heavy silence.
……
Soon enough time had passed for everyone to gather their thoughts.
“I don’t understand.”
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.
“Cities, nay, nations, are being destroyed by those monsters? I don’t think the Association is that far behind. You’re taking a leap of faith, aren’t you?”
He asked me that, as if he genuinely didn’t 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, that’s why they couldn’t 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? Isn’t 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, don’t believe in such wishful thinking so I had to smile and deny it.
“No, they won’t.”
“….”
“Like I said, these monsters are scary not just because they’re powerful.”
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.
“These beasts are a threat for three main reasons.”
“The first is quantity, that’s the biggest problem. There’s an overwhelming number of them, and they’re coming out of the gate all at once. Even the best heroes won’t be able to keep them out of many areas, especially since these gates spawn in more populated areas.
And second, their continuity.”
With that, I changed the projector’s image again.
The invaded cities were changing rapidly, as if time were accelerating, but the ominous gates in one corner remained visible.
“These beasts won’t 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 won’t get tired, so they’ll be endless, new ones.”
By the time I’d gotten that far, the faces around the table weren’t happy.
No wonder. No villain, no matter how badass, would be happy to see the world go to hell. They’re all leaders and heads of some kind of coalition.
“Third, there are some special individuals. I’ll 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 numerous…”
“…I see. I see.”
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 I’d 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, it’s 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 I’ve ever said, what if this bullshit is true?
“So…”
And then the elderly gentleman, the first to question me, looked at me and asked in a slurred voice.
“So, what do you want me to do, watch it go down?”
Thank you for asking.
“Well…I guess that’s up to you to decide.”
Having said that, I cleared my throat for a moment before continuing.
“I think it’s possible that this could be over in three days, or a week, if things go well. I’m sure there will be countermeasures that I can’t see right now, and I’m sure…others will have ideas.”
I glanced in Celeste’s direction as I said that but her eyes were closed and her expression unmoved.
I wasn’t really looking at her to see what her reaction would be.
It was just a message to the others, a reminder of her presence.
“Anyway, if that’s the case, the hardest hit will be on the first day of the catastrophe, when we’re suddenly invaded on a massive scale before we’re ready, and the major cities of each country will be in ruins before we can do anything about it.”
“So, in the end, it’s all about stopping them on day one, isn’t it?”
Yeah.
I meant two things.
First. If you don’t want to get screwed, you’re 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. We’ve got a city to bomb and citizens to deal with, so what are you going to do when they’re all smashed and dead?
“….”
At my words, everyone’s faces became stiff and troubled.
I know.
In fact, I’m 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, it’s a head-scratcher.
Most importantly, their goal is not destruction, but conquest.
If you’re a doomsday nutcase, you might actually enjoy this, but all of the villains here want to rule their countries, not get screwed.
Right now, Katana’s 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 that’s intact, not a world that’s half-ruined. What’s the point of having that?
In the original, the villains actually ate a lot of countries after the Moonlight Gate disaster, but they weren’t 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 everyone’s faces, I spoke up for the last time.
“Well…That’s the end of my story.”
The rest…You’re 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
“….”
and as I was doing so I felt like I made eye contact with Celeste, who was sitting next to me.
…It must have been the mood, because she didn’t 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 that’s the end of the matter with Cathedral.
Now it’s time to prepare for something other than my country.
After all, that’s what we came to Cathedral for.
Just as I was thinking that I heard Katana, who was standing next to me, ask me.
“Thank you, Egostic. But…”
“What?”
“Why 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?”
“Oh, that’s right, of course…”
If I say it’s a one-day thing, they might think differently.
If it’s just one day, it’s easy to fix the country if it falls apart a little bit, so let’s take this opportunity to drown all the heroes. The balance of power must be maintained. If it takes a while, they’ll start to work together, or at least they did in the original.
“Anyway, I guess everyone’s on their own now.”
I muttered.
Okay, so I’ve 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.
“…It’s almost fall.”
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.
“Now we wait.”
When you’re ready, you wait.
Time will probably fly by from here on out just as time flies when you’re about to take a test, so will this.
…My 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.