Chapter 516 - 1516: I Oppose
The nations which weren't in the control of the Uprising decided that they needed to protect themselves from a sudden invasion. Still, they also couldn't attack Elisium prematurely without determining if they were actually going to attack.
They sent more soldiers to the border and deployed their long-range weapons. They didn't have any intention to attack unless Elisium actually attacked first.
They also wanted to stop all the flights to and from Elisium; however, before they could declare it, Elisium declared it first.
Since Elisium was sealed, they sealed their airspace as well. Not a long time had passed, but the looking of Elisium already started looking like a dead nation that didn't have anyone living inside. All the public places, including shops, malls, and streets, were empty.
Only a few cops were seen on the streets occasionally who were making sure that the rules were being followed.
Uprising had a shortage of Variants. Most of their own men were killed in the War, and they were still trying to reinforce their ranks with new members. However, it had been a short time, and they didn't receive much success.
They also had the support of the Hunter Union, but even that wasn't something they could rely on since the Hunter Union was much weaker now since their most powerful Warlocks were killed. And the members who were remaining were taking care of Dungeons.
Kellian issued a command for the Hunter Union to send at least half their men to join the war while keeping the bare minimum to keep Dungeons in control. Both things were important.
All the guild members from different parts of the nation had taken a flight to the Capital City to get more information from Kellian about the upcoming war and what they needed to do.
As most of the Hunter Union members rushed to the capital, more than five thousand Variants ended up in the Capital.
The Uprising didn't have enough space inside their temporary headquarters to accommodate all, so they only allowed the Hunter Union executives and the Guild Leaders to enter the building for a meeting.
Twenty-five guild leaders and seven Hunter Union members entered the Uprising Headquarters, representing the five thousand people of Hunter Union.
The meeting room this time was even bigger than the one which was used the last time for meeting with top ten guild leaders.
All the Hunter Union members were taken inside the meeting room where Uprising Members were already present.
Kellian was sitting in the main seat. Besides him, Dallas, Jean, and Tristan were also present inside the room. Other than the four Uprising Members, no one else was inside the room.
The Hunter Union members knew that these four people were the highest in the Uprising hierarchy, but they were still surprised. Why wasn't Lucifer here? Wasn't he supposed to be the leader?
The Guild Leaders who were here last time also wondered about it. Even last time they came, they hadn't seen Lucifer. Just what kind of person he was who never attended any meeting.
"Stop gawking and sit down," Kellian lazily said.
The men sat on the available chairs according to their positions.
"I'm sure you know why you're here. That's why I will keep it short. The Warlock Council is going to attack Elisium, and if they succeed, Elisium will be destroyed. So I want you to fight with us," Kellian said after everyone took a seat.
"I am sure that the Warlock Council will first attack the capital before going to other cities, but I don't want the war to reach here. That's why you shall be assigned to the border town," he added.
An image started showing on the screen in the back, which was the map of Elisium. Two border towns were marked with red.
"We have their flight trajectory, and we believe they would pass through the airspace of one of these two border towns to enter Elisium."
"That's where we will stop them. Any questions?" he asked.
"I had a question," One of the men raised his hand. "How many Variants will be in the enemy army?"
"We believe there would be three hundred Warlocks only," Kellian said.
"Three Hundred Warlocks?" The room filled with gasps.
That wasn't a small number, especially when all of them were Warlocks.
Even though the enemy was only in the hundreds, their firepower was certainly more.
"We will take care of most of them. They're nothing to be scared of," Kellian said. "So no need to be intimidated. Any other questions?"
"I have one," Another Warlock raised his hand. "I haven't heard about the Warlock Council before. Who are they? And why are they attacking us so suddenly?"
"Why are they attacking us? It doesn't matter. What matters is that they are attacking us. Just keep that in mind," Kellian answered.
"Can we solve this by talking with them? If we knew why they're attacking, we could stop them without losing our people," Another Guild Leader suggested.
"Solve by talking? You mean by groveling under their feet? I'll tell you directly. This war will be avoided if we beg them for forgiveness. Now tell me, how many of you agree that we should do that?" Kellian asked, staring at the Guild Leaders.
"If that helps the citizens and helps maintain the peace, I think it's not a bad decision," A Guild Leader said after slight hesitation. "If we go to war, a lot of us will die. Isn't it better to just apologize?"
Kellian glanced at the man lazily. "Is that so?"
"Anyone else who agrees with that decision? Raise your hands. If you think we should rub our noses at their feet and beg them not to kill us, raise hands right now," he continued.
Slowly, more and more hands started rising.
Soon, there were thirteen hands raised, all belonging to the weaker of the twenty-five guild leaders.
As for the others, they didn't believe they should beg.
One of the Warlocks who hadn't raised his hand explained his reason, "I don't think we should beg any outsider for anything. They want to attack us because they think we're weak. We should instead show them our strength so they won't bother to attack us again!"
"Yeah. If we started begging, how is that different from throwing away our self-respect? I oppose it."
Contrary to the thirteen weaker Guild Leaders who supported asking for forgiveness, the others opposed it since they had a self respect that they didn't want to give up.
The Guild Leaders' vote was split as thirteen supported surrendering and twelve supported fighting.