Chapter 26: Incoming...War!

Hero Headquarters (City of Levigne)

Topmost floor

"Everyone is here," General Rayon said right after entering the room and slamming the door behind him.

Facing the round table in front of him with a sober expression on his face, he finally settled into the only empty seat remaining at the top of the table.

Around the table were men and women, with most of their attention focused on the big screens in front of them.

"This is a big problem," General Rayon, the man in charge of all the affairs of the city of Levigne spoke in a loud and deep voice that resonated across the room when he spoke.

"There is a beast horde coming and the red zones around the city are getting overrun regardless of how many people we dispatch to the areas,"

" We can always send more Villian guides. It's not like they are fully allowed to operate in the city. What else are they good for?" Council Karun spoke up, arrogantly speaking his mind as he looked around at the other highly placed members of the city sitting at the table.

"We've dispatched enough. Any more and it would become increasingly clear that we're out rightly putting them at a disadvantage," General Rayon replied.

"Council Karun is right. Their powers have high levels of attack with no finesse. How can someone shoot out drops of acid from his hand in a battle and expect for the people around him not to be collateral damage?" Council Maya, who sat right beside Karun said with a bold expression on her face all the while keeping an eye on Council Dawn, the only person belonging to a villain guide in the room.

Not once had he spoken since the meeting began and although he was only one person. The fact that he was able to make it as a council in the room spoke volumes for his power and ability even if the Awakening AI deemed his power to have a greater propensity towards evil.

"Still, the fact remains that the beast horde is getting bigger and spreading even wider than before. If we don't send more people into the red zones then it's only a matter of time before the city falls," General Rayon sighed, half his attention mostly on the screens in front of him watching citizens of the city battle high-level monsters regardless of which guide they belonged to.

The people visible on the screen were still battling a level 5 monster when one with a greater level rose from the ground to attack them. It was a level 6 gruuut worm and in seconds half of them had disappeared into his belly. Swallowed entirely before they were fully aware of what was happening.

Every single person in the room winced at the sight, right before they painfully watched the remaining half of the team put up a pitiful fight of trying to fight both monsters only to be withered down and torn apart in less than a minute.

"If this continues…it's only a matter of time," General Rayon said in a clearly sad tone looking around at the council members sitting around him, wondering if anyone had an idea of what to do to solve their gradually worsening situation.

"We could ask the continent leaders for help," Lorena, Another councilwoman spoke up looking around with a hint of fear in her eyes, seeing a tinge of her emotions mirrored in the eyes of some of the council members surrounding her.

She had family in the city, she couldn't afford to see disaster coming and dive away from it.

"Yeah, and I wonder how long it would take for them to see it…" council Nima chipped in,

"…and respond," Council Nisha said finishing his words before he was done with them. The both of them sat down side by side in every meeting, and were close enough to finish each other's sentences so much so that there was a little rumor going on about them being lovers which none of them paid attention to.

"Madam glow could help if we beg and offer up something," Council Maya, thought not daring to voice her thoughts out since she was already away of the kind of person General Dayon was. The thought of doing anything that so much as deviated from the rules even in a life-and-death situation wouldn't sit well with him.

For the first time, since the very short meeting of council members started, a long moment of silence prevailed. So thick that it was obvious that everyone in the room was lost searching their minds for a possible solution to their huge and sudden problem.

This continued for a while when unexpectedly a council member leaned forward conspicuously in his chair, loud enough to make a squealing noise with it drawing the attention of everyone to himself, before he finally opened his mouth to speak.

"Maybe…" Council Dawn said speaking for the first time since the meeting started while looking at General Dayon, paying no mind to the other council members sitting around him,

"Maybe we could use the Red prisoners," Dawn said in a low but clear voice that no one could pretend not to hear but which every one of them couldn't help but wonder if they somehow heard him wrong.

"Red Prisoners??" General Rayon's voice echoed through the room in a loud and alarmed tone. At that point, none of them could pretend to not have heard the somewhat ridiculous idea Council Dawn had said.

Refusing to be disheartened about the response he got, Council Dawn went ahead to speak a second time.

"Yes, they have numbers and great abilities but as long as you put people that can watch them in whatever team they're in, everything should be fine," He said looking at The general with desperate eyes trying to convey how grave their situation was becoming.

"We don't have to take away the limiting bands on their necks. We can just selectively power it off and on depending on when we need to use them. This could work.," General Rayon thought, thinking deeply about the idea Council Dawn threw into the air, while making sure to keep a cool expression, not allowing even a whiff of his thoughts to seep out.

He even went as far as to put a big frown on his face, showing a look of annoyance as he looked at Council Dawn.

"Shit…I was sure they would go for it. This chance is a one in a million one and yet it looks like I'm still unable to grab it," Council Dawn thought leaning back in his chair and looking down like he was ashamed to have even brought such an idea to their ears.

"Limiters can be broken but unless General Dayon authorizes their release from the prison. There is nothing that can be done," Dawn internally groaned in despair lifting his head slightly to see the angry expression the general directed his way.

The only reason the Hero guides had an edge over that of the Villian was simply because of how much authority the Hero guides had. Almost all the Villians with S-ranked powers were instantly locked into the red prison the moment they were identified by the Awakening AI, which was completely different from the treatment those in the Hero guides got.

No villian in their right mind would see such an opportunity and fail to grasp it but Dawn had no choice but to watch as it slipped out of his fingers.

Before the general could voice his views, Council Maya and Karun beat him to it.

"Madness…"

"Only a member of a villian guide would dare to bring up such a suggestion,"

"I don't see you bringing up a better idea. At least this meme er of the Villian guide is using his brain unlike some other people whose job is to decorate their seats with their bums," Dawn yelled out beyond pissed at the provocation. Him being the only member of the Villian guide was a sour spot for him and except for the general whom he respected, the others were nothing in his eyes.

"Just shut up. Wouldn't it be better if you weren't using your brain," Karun yelled right back at him going as far as to jump to his feet. Hoping that Council Dawn appreciated the luck that made him decide to seat three seats away from him on the opposite side of the table.

"I can't help but agree with Council Kahan." Council Maya said, backing up Kahan for the second time in the emergency meeting the general had suddenly called.

"The fact that Council Dawn would even think of bringing up such a ludicrous idea makes me question his dedication to the city of Levigne as a council member," Maya continued already seeing the situation as an opportunity to again call his council membership into question.

"Red prisoners on the battlefield is a difficult future to envision…" Council Nima said voicing out his thoughts clearly

"…but it's even harder to see our city invaded by beasts don't you think," Nisha said the moment Nima stopped talking, speaking in an even louder tone before Karun could have the opportunity to continue yelling at Dawn, who looked prepared to fire him back in the same exact fiery tone.

"Everyone is commenting and stamping their feet on the ground but it's not like any of you have a better idea," Council Lorena voiced out. She had a calm expression on her face but her voice had a sharp edge to it, one that instantly brought the room back to how it was before.

Lorena was a high council just below General Rayon and although she didn't speak much, her words held almost the same authority as his own. As she spoke, her eyes were fixed on the screens switching between that and staring at Rayon who also did the same thing.

The teams sent out by the city were being killed by the second, compared to the number of beasts they were taking out.

It didn't help that the beast had a higher birth population than humans did, which meant that for every human that was born in the city, seven more beasts were being hatched. And unlike humans who took more than a decade to grow, the beasts simply needed to feed on the blood and flesh of humans to gain levels.

Knowing Rayon, she was almost confident that he had also come to the same conclusion she had.

They had no choice but to bring the prisoners out, it was that or watch half their city be wiped out while waiting for the continent leaders to respond.

Rayon too was unusually quiet as different thoughts seemed to flash through his mind.

"Releasing the prisoners is sure to piss the continent off but not doing so would spell doom for the city"

"It would have been easier if it was a matter of choosing the lesser evil…" Rayon thought looking at the faces of the people sitting around the table in front of him, still scrunched up in anger at the simple mention of the red prisoners being let out.

"It's obvious that some of them would rather die…"

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