Chapter 141
Their expressions were far too flat for people who should have just witnessed something at the outermost borders of the city.
They were soldiers previously assigned by Zhulumat himself, alongside the captains, to guard the outer perimeter of Thalyssra, to ensure that nothing entered or left without their knowledge, to serve as eyes and ears reporting every suspicious movement beyond the defensive ring.
And now they were here, inside the meeting room, even though no one had summoned them, no one had sent a messenger requesting a report, no one had given any signal that they were allowed to abandon their posts.
"Captain, the security at the outermost border is gradually loosening. The Angel formations in the eastern and western sectors are no longer as tight as before. Some surveillance rings have even been dismantled. However, that is not the main news."
Huuuuh!
"The number of Angels and Holy Beings around the castle has instead surged drastically. This is not merely reinforcement—it is a total concentration. Our rough calculations show a continuous increase—surpassing percentages in the trillions of energy units."
Hiiiih!
"They are no longer spread out, Captain. They are piling up. All concentrated around the castle."
They did not arrive in a unified wave, not in combat-ready formations, not in numbers that would make anyone feel physically threatened.
They came as representatives, as envoys from the subordinates left at the borders, as eyes and ears sent to report what could not be seen from within this hidden meeting chamber.
One by one they emerged from the same shadows, but this time with clearer steps, with more visible purpose.
They no longer stopped at the edge of the circle as before, no longer stood in loose formations that felt like an encirclement, but instead moved directly toward their respective team captains with a calmness that slightly eased the hearts of the high command.
Because the calm they carried this time was a recognizable calm, one born from duty to be fulfilled, not the strange calm that had made the hairs on their necks stand moments earlier.
Apathy stepped toward Shaqar with movements that were neither hurried nor hesitant.
He was one of those assigned to guard the borders, one of those who should have reported from afar, and now he stood here, in the same room, with information that could only be delivered at the closest range.
When he finally stopped beside Shaqar, when he slightly bent to bring his lips closer to the ear of the team captain who had long been his superior, the room seemed to shrink until it contained only the two of them whispering within the circle of high command and captains.
No one tried to listen to what Apathy would say, because at the same time, other representatives were doing exactly the same to their respective captains.
The room, which moments ago had been silent in tension, was now filled with whispers that could not be caught by any ears except those they were meant for.
Whispers carrying news from the borders.
Whispers that would determine what step would be taken next.
Apathy's voice entered Shaqar's ear like cold water seeping through the cracks of stone.
He spoke in a flat tone, yet within that flatness lay a tremor that could not be entirely hidden.
He said that the security around the borders of Thalyssra Blessed by the Great Sanse was gradually loosening.
That the formations that had once been tight and unyielding, that had served as barriers between them and whatever lay beyond, were slowly showing gaps that had never existed before.
That the guards at the borders, including himself, had begun to feel something strange in the air, something that could not be explained but felt like a burden slowly lifting from their shoulders.
Yet at the same time, amid that seemingly relieving news, Apathy delivered something that made Shaqar's blood feel as though it stopped flowing for a fraction of a second.
That the number of Angels and Holy Beings around the castle was not decreasing in the same pattern.
That instead, they were experiencing an absurd surge.
That their numbers kept increasing, exceeding anything ever recorded in previous reports, surpassing percentages that human logic could calculate, surpassing trillions and continuing toward figures that no longer had names.
"The report has been delivered. We await further instructions from each captain. If there are no additional orders, we will return to our respective sectors."
After the whispers had been delivered, after each captain's ears had received news they never expected that night, Apathy and the other representatives of the Anti-Resonance Unit did not remain in the room any longer.
They stood upright beside their respective superiors, waiting patiently, their eyes directed toward the center of the circle, toward the place where Zhulumat sat with a calmness whose depth could never truly be measured.
No one moved, no one spoke, yet the air itself felt as though questions floated within it, unspoken.
Questions of whether they were permitted to leave.
Questions of whether their duties at the borders still awaited them or had become irrelevant after what they had just witnessed and reported.
Questions of whether the world outside this room was still the same as the world they had left just minutes ago.
Zhulumat Katamtum did not need long to answer those unspoken questions.
With a nod that was almost imperceptible, with a movement so slight that only the closest and most observant might notice, he signaled that the envoys were permitted to return.
That nod came without words, without explanation, without any additional command.
Only a brief nod that spoke more than a thousand sentences.
A nod that said they had fulfilled their duties well.
A nod that said their place was not here, in this room heavy with silence and tension, but out there at the borders, where security was loosening and where the number of Angels and Holy Beings continued to surge beyond what any human mind could comprehend.
A nod that said war—if this truly was war—would not be won by those gathered in meeting rooms, but by those who dared to stand on the front lines.
Apathy was the first to move after that nod.
He stepped back from his position beside Shaqar with movements that were neither hurried nor hesitant, keeping his back straight, ensuring his face revealed nothing that did not need to be shown.
One step, two steps, three steps, until he finally reached a distance far enough from the circle of high command and captains.
Around him, the other representatives did the same, retreating slowly yet surely, leaving the same room they had entered minutes earlier in a way that had made the hairs on anyone's neck stand on end.
To be continued…