"What's… going on?"
If there was perhaps some sort of solace to their situation, it was that the number of those who were looking at them with glowing eyes was… less than the ones who were still unarmored and confused.
But as creatures of a certain intellect, the variants that were still not armored up quickly come to the correct conclusion — King has already reached out to the others and managed to bring them to his cause.
And so, in less than a second, all of them were now wearing their armor; their eyes, sizing up each other.
"Dad… what's happening?"
Perhaps the most unfortunate was the Hannah variants, who seemed completely oblivious about the situation as they looked at their fathers, wondering what they should do.
"..."
"..."
Even after a full minute had passed, however, none of them moved even a single millimeter. Even without uttering any words, they all knew what was about to happen — and it wasn't pretty. If they were to suddenly fight here, most of them would die. Their fight was inevitable, but none of them wanted it to happen solely for the fact that some of their daughters were by their side.
"Shit." "Fuck."
Hannah and Nannah both cursed at the same time as they felt themselves almost being suffocated by the sudden silence that filled the council. Their fathers told them to leave the auditorium as soon as something goes awry. But with the deafening silence, the sound of a single step would probably be heard by everyone.
And so, the only thing that Hannah could really do was look up.
"W…"
She was only going to look at the deck where Riley and the others were waiting, but she was welcomed by the sight of Riley very slowly floating down toward the center of the auditorium. His arms were stretched to the side, wearing a full suit of white armor that could really only be defined as… technologically magical.
The torso itself was not bulky at all, almost a t-shirt that had its sleeves cut out; exposing some of his pure white skin. His arms, however, were covered by bulky sets of vambraces; his gauntlets, also oversized and even bigger than his head. As for his greaves, they were… almost pointy and obviously longer than his legs.
Hannah quickly thought how uncomfortable it would be to walk, but Riley did not really touch ground and instead just hovered a few inches above the floor. His wide oversized cape, fluttering and flowing even though there was no wind.
"Wait…"
And surprisingly, the hair that he did not want to cut at all was now shorter than even before — almost shaved in the sides while the top of his hair was slightly brushed back, but still held a lot of volume. The front was slightly curled and parted in the middle, covering the sides of his forehead as the ends of it seemed to pointed at his clear eyes.
Suffice it to say, he had never looked more like a villain than now.
"What in the k-pop shit is this…?" Hannah momentarily forgot the situation they were in as she looked at Riley from head to toe; slightly wincing with her eyebrows raised. She wasn't the only one in a trance, however, as Nannah was also staring—no, ogling at Riley from head to toe.
"Well, well, well…"
And as Riley opened his mouth, some sort of resonance echoed throughout the entire auditorium. He wasn't really looking at anyone in particular. In fact, it was almost as if he wasn't looking at anyone at all as he started to speak,
done.me
"...For half of you to already be against us means that the variant known as King had already reached out to you even before we all had the pleasure of meeting. How long? Well, it does not really make a difference to me."
"Bernard…" Bard whispered, "...Your son."
"...And what exactly do you want me to do?" Bernard could really only close his eyes and sigh. As for the variants that were surrounding them, all of them were also looking at Riley; using their guardian force to gauge Riley's energy – but nothing was really coming up.
"Surrender…" Riley then breathed out.
"W—"
"...is not an option."
"!!!"
One of the variants that have sided with King was about to speak up. Before he could utter even a single word, however, the orange glow that was raging in his eyes disappeared, almost as if the switch to it was flicked.
And everyone did hear a flicker, but not a switch at all. It was the sound of the variant's armor forming a hole as a small stone plopped out of it — the guardian force.
"You have all chosen your side," Riley once again stretched his arms to the side, "And that is that."
And without even waiting for anyone to explain, all the variants that even looked at Bernard with tiniest bit of animosity all dropped to the floor all at the same time; their stones, now circling around Riley.
"Now…" Riley then started hovering around the center of the auditorium. And unlike what he did earlier, the variants that were left standing could really only hold their breaths as he passed by them,
"...For the rest of you — I know that some, or maybe even most of you were just lucky enough not to be approached by King yet. Because if he had, I am sure you would also join his side. So, rejoice; the lot of you get to live for a moment longer."
"..."
"But just as a precaution, perhaps I should actually kill all of y—"
"Riley, no!" Bernard finally raised his voice as he blocked Riley's path; slightly taking a step back so as to not get hit by the guardian force that was orbiting around him,
"We need all the help we could get."
"No, not really, Father," Riley shook his head as he turned around and started hovering the other way, "The fewer Bernard variants we have, the less chance you would be betrayed. In fact, we should start moving across the multiverse and start killing each and every last one of their inhabitants before King could get to them."
"Wh—No!" Bernard once again blocked Riley's path, "Our goal is to save people from a conqueror!"
"Killing them is saving them, Father," Riley smiled, "Based on the stories I have heard of this conqueror, he treats those he had conquered as slaves. He is a tyrant that would kill and torture those beneath him — at least I treat everyone equally."
"Riley, just—"
"And is that not what the council has been doing from the start?" Riley looked at Bard, "Eliminating threats before they could become threats? I am only doing the same, except exponentially more efficient."
"It's not—"
"!!!"
"I was not really asking, Father."
And without any warning, all the variants that were still left standing all dropped to the floor like mannequins with their strings cut.
"What have you done!?" Bard also blocked Riley's path; grabbing his arm as he screamed at his face, "Do you have any idea how long it took to gather these people!?"
"I do not," Riley shook his head, "But I have an idea how fast they turned against you."
"You…" Bard gritted his teeth and almost snarled. But after a few frustrated breaths, he let out a long and deep sigh and calmed his breaths, "Fuck, you're right. You're right. This is the option with the most minimal risk. This… fuck…"
Bard turned to look at each of the people he used to call a comrade. Although he truly was still mad at Riley for not even considering that some of them could actually be loyal to the council, it is also true that he couldn't risk having someone from King's side infiltrating them.
"...Fuck," Bard once again sighed, before he almost crouched down; completely agitated as he let out a scream that was enough to quake the entire space station,
"Fuck!"
"..."
"..."
"Are you done, Bard?" Riley tilted his head to the side as he looked at the almost growling Bard.
"...I am," Bard let out one final heavy breath as he nodded, "What about the Hannah variants?"
And as soon as the Hannah variants heard Bard, they all quickly raised their hands in surrender.
"My loyalty lies with the council!"
"I am with Riley Ross!"
"..." Bard's eyes slightly widened as he heard the women. Their fathers just died, and yet the only thing they really did was look a little sad as they stared at their fathers' corpses.
"Riley Ross is right…" One of the Hannah variants leaped out from the seats and onto the center of the auditorium. She then took one final glance at her father, before shaking her head and looking Barrd in the eyes, "...We have done much worse — it is only right that we should be fair."
"..." Bard returned the Hannah's stares, and with a soft sigh, he once again nodded, "We should leave. There is no doubt that King already knows about this place — in fact, we should assume that he is already preparing something."
"We do not need to assume, Bard."
And before Bard could walk away, Riley suddenly pointed at one of the seats. Everyone quickly turned to look where he was pointing, only to see a table with corpses resting on it.
"What… do you mean?" Bard squinted his eyes as he carefully observed the corpses.
"When I pulled out their guardian stones, one of them seemed to not have one," Riley slowly hovered near the seats; his eyes, not leaving the corpses,
"That one is pretending to be dead."
"W—"
"Hah… Hahaha."
And all of a sudden, one of the Bernards started shaking as a cold, and eerily sinister peal of laughter echoed throughout the auditorium. And with a long and deep breath, the variant stood up carrying a weird smile on his face; wide and open to the point that one could see his gums,
"Wonderful," the variant inhaled deeply before he started clapping slowly,
"Truly wonderful."
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