Kapitel 363: Preparation
'What exactly are we doing here?' -Stars
Akiol walked up the path to a beautiful building, "Kiro informed me of a meeting that was going to take place. Knowing how those in power tend to act, I have to provide them with a bit of confidence."
What was going on inside wasn't necessarily a secret, Akiol could hear the chatter from the beginning of the stairs. Although access to the building was restricted, Akiol had special permission granted. Courtesy of Kiro's superiors—although the individuals inside didn't know of this just yet.
Touching the door he took a breath, he had thought of a plan. Everything now relied on whether or not he succeeded here. He pushed the doors open, everyone inside quieting down and staring at him.
He walked forward with confidence. Convincing others needed confidence, no one would be willing to believe someone who doubted themself, "All this talk about losses, you fear the unknown. After all you were given a surface-level plan that required you to give up a valuable resource—with no guarantee of success at that!"
Akiol now had their attention fully. Everything was proceeding as he expected. Spreading his arms he continued, "I propose a different course of action. With a properly thought out plan. One, I can guarantee, has quite a high success chance."
The one speaker who originally tried to rally forces was the first to be intrigued. Hoping to use such an opportunity to stir the doubtful, he questioned, "What exactly is this plan?"
"The Calamity is terrifyingly strong, this I'm sure you are aware. In return its mind is corrupt, devoid of any logical reasoning. This can be taken advantage of."
"How do you propose that?"
While Akiol appreciated the assistance, the questions was diverting from the path he had planned. However avoiding the questions would only cause more doubt, "I hold the Calamity's weakness! An item capable of tearing through its almost invincible regeneration. I propose to use this weapon to seal the very thing that lets it live: its heart!"
Someone else spoke up, "How can we trust your words?"
"An excellent question. One I am afraid there is no answer for. However I wouldn't stroll into such a precious meeting with false promises."
"So you just want us to trust you? Not likely."
"I figured you'd say that. So I'm offering the only thing I can to prove what I say is truth. My own life."
Another immediately objected, "Your life means nothing to us!"
"But it means everything to me. Let me ask you: how much to you value your life?"
No one answered. So Akiol continued, "I am sure you hold it dear to your heart! The same goes for me. I am sure this alone is not enough to convince you, so I shall begin explaining my plan."
Akiol dispelled a scroll, placing it onto the ground a magic holographic image appeared. An item he had Kan'na make beforehand. A fierce Hydra appeared and moved slightly.
A small blue dot formed at the center of the Hydra, "After studying the anatomy of various Hydras, we have determined the location of its heart."
Another individual pointed out, "That's at the most defensive part of the body!"
"Good eye, it is. Now onto the plan, I require assistance for the most crucial part of this all. I require the Hydra to be distracted and immobilized just for a moment. Enough for me to get close and use the weapon."
He expected more questions and objections, but oddly enough everyone merely watched in interest. Despite this surprising outcome Akiol did not falter, "What I ask of you is Fourth Star fighters. Those proficient in defensive capabilities, fast enough to avoid the Hydra'a devastating attacks, and strong enough to restrict its movement."
Akiol paused for just a moment, "This—I am afraid the choice of fighters will be decided by you. I only require them to fit in the categories provided, and be balanced in number."
The one who organized the event asked, "So say we have these fighters, what exactly is to happen?"
"Although I wish to relay that only to the fighters, I still sense some doubt lingering. From the intel gathered he have deduced that the Hydra has approximately five minutes before it unleashed its terrifying strength that wipes out cities. This timer is started the moment it targets a threat."
"So the mission has a five minute timer? That's dangerous."
"Yes, but if the plan succeeds, then I suspect we only need two. If at any point it fails then I would assume those involved would flee."
A man interjected, "You speak of all this, but fail to deliver a promising plan."
"Then I shall get on with that immediately."
Akiol adjusted the projection slightly with mana, "The plan is prepare a trap beforehand. Those proficient and confident enough are to make a defensive barrier to stop the Hydra. Then, we are to immediately surround it and restrict its movement with everything we have. Once I find the perfect opportunity, I will use the weapon and seal the Hydra."
"This trap, how can you guarantee we'll be able to lead it into it without triggering the timer?"
Akiol lifted a finger, "Are you aware of what the Hydra targeted first?"
"Everyone knows, it was the Cities."
"Do you know why?"
Everyone looked around, but none dared to give an answer lest it be wrong.
Akiol lifted another finger, "Two reasons. First is the fact that powerful individuals linger within the cities. I believe the Hydra holds a keen ability to sense power. Second is noise. I am confident that some Fourth Stars are able to fulfill these requirements easily."
The organizer smiled, "Excellent, so all we are to do is provide with the necessary fighters while you take the risk?"
"Precisely. If at any point in time it seems like the plan is to fail, then we can flee immediately."
Doubt seemed to fizzle out, instead confidence was reinstated in the nobility. Rather, it would be more accurate to say it resurfaced. For it was only overshadowed by doubt.
Akiol didn't need everyone to agree, he just need a sufficient amount of capable fighters. With what he was able to tell, that condition would be easily fulfilled.
Now, it was time for phase two.
~ ~ ~
Wrock sipped a cup of tea, "Here we are, relaxing among the flowers. Drinking tea, bathing in the sun."
He placed the cup down and smiled, "While Akiol is off the fight the Calamity, we're sitting around."
Kan'na calmly replied, "We can't actually do much to help anyway. There's only one of those weapons as far as we can tell."
"I am aware, but I don't like the feeling of leaving things to someone else. I feel like a side character."
"That's because you are."
Wrock felt his eyebrow twitch, "Oh? I'll have you know I'm certain I surpassed Akiol. With about a week of training, I won't lose even if he uses his sword."
"That sounds like a side character thing to say."
"Are you picking a fight?"
"Am I?"
Yielya munched on a sandwich as she watched the two bicker. She felt similar to them, her inability to help was annoying. However she was the weakest among them, literally speaking.
As a mere First Stage, she didn't have the qualifications to even think of joining. Not that she'd be any help. The Calamity did so much damage she wouldn't be able to heal enough. A truly depressing situation, one that she-
Crack-!
The sound of glass shattering could be heard, and Yielya paused. Kan'na and Wrock stopped arguing and turned to her. Jarvis and Tilia also were interrupted.
Yielya pursed her lips, "Mm, I didn't expect it to be that easy."
Wrock slumped in a depression, "Ah, I really am a side character. The real protagonist was Yielya all along. I worked so hard to enter Second Stage, and she does it by eating a sandwich!"
Kan'na sipped more tea, hoping the taste would soothe the bittersweet feeling in her heart. She struggled as well! Was a sandwich the answer?
Tilia congratulated, "You made it to Second Stage! Congrats."
Playing it off with a shrug Yielya replied, "The taste of the sandwich was sublime enough to shatter my limits."
Jarvis looked over to Wrock, "And that's a one-hit K.O. Brutal."
Wrock's eyes were glazed over, perhaps undergoing some inner reflection. The party left him be, deciding to choose other topics talk about.
Tilia prompted, "So what's with Kiro? Apparently she's been around since you got here right?"
"Kiro. . . she's been really helpful so far. A bit of an alcoholic though."
"Mhm, is she going to be a companion now?"
Jarvis' expression turned concerned, "She has some issues to deal with, I wouldn't ask that of her."
"Well, don't regret it then."
Jarvis remained silent, causing an infection of silence to spread across the area. Everyone spent their time leisurely.
Then Wrock, after managing to conquer his inner demons, suddenly spoke, "I wonder what Akiol is up to."
~ ~ ~
"Hah, some mere Second Star actually dares to command us?"
Akiol inwardly sighed, this was going to be phase two of the plan. Convincing the arrogantly strong to work with him. It was time to turn their strength against them.
Returning the gaze Akiol shot back, "A mere Second Star was quick to face against a Calamity. You had to be dragged out."
"Sure you were quick, to your death. You don't stand a chance against that thing!"
"And you do?"
"More than you."
"By a minuscule amount, we're all fodder in front of the Calamity. So why not join me? As a fellow cannon fodder."
The Fourth Star examined Akiol, "Well I can't decide whether or not your confident or suicidal. You somehow managed to convince the nobles to act, a feat I wouldn't dare say I could accomplish myself."
They shrugged, "I am merely following orders, I just wanted to test you."
"The test was unneeded, we have far more important things to do."
"Yes yes, my apologies or whatever."
The other Fourth Stars greeted themselves curtly. Clearly they were listening only because they had to. That was all Akiol wanted anyway.
Gathering the ones who arrived Akiol explained the plan. Since he wasn't willing to argue, he allowed them to choose which task they wanted to be in charge of.
Surprisingly everything went smoothly. Truly people could be united under a larger threat. It was comforting to see it happen to the strongest as well.
Once they fully developed their plan Akiol asked, "Anything else?"
Silence.
With a nod he informed, "We're going to be setting of at dawn. I'm not gonna tell you what to do though."
Someone teased, "Oh commander, be a little brave. You might be incredibly weak, but we're willing to listen~"
Akiol harrumphed, "Sure, if you can guarantee you'll listen."
Another grunted, "I can't trust you."
"There's the reason. I'll be preparing in here if you suddenly have a question."
As he cleaned up the various documents the Fourth Star combatants left the tent. The tent was provided by the nobles as a temporary strategic room.
As Akiol was cleaning up he noticed one person stuck around. After placing the various documents away he turned to look at them, "There something you need?"
The individual was an Orc, they had their arms crossed and their right hand's fingers drummed against their arm. They didn't have any weapons, so Akiol assumed they were a pugilist.
The Orc sighed, "I didn't want to say this around the others."
"You will around me though?"
"Even if you said anything they wouldn't believe you."
"Fair play, what's the issue?"
"Can you guarantee your weapon will work?"
Akiol shrugged, "Nope, I can't exactly test it."
"I figured as much, so we're risking everything for a chance?"
"I'm afraid so."
The Orc scrunched their face, "I'm not supposed to be on the battlefield. I retired long ago, but I owe a favor. So I ask you: do we have a chance?"
"You're going to trust the words of a Second Star?"
"We are not idiots. We all can tell you are a seasoned warrior. Your actions speak louder than words. With the way you handled yourself facing several near-apex level warriors—I think you know what you're doing."
"Perhaps I misjudged the Fourth Stars. I took those of strength to be arrogant."
"Perhaps some of us are, but when you reach a level of this strength you are granted quite the realization."
"Oh?"
"A topic for the future—if we ever meet again that is."
"The chances of this working purely lie in the weapon. If it works, I can guarantee it will end. Otherwise, fate will decide. If you are uncomfortable with this, I can recommend you write a will."
"That's not comforting at all."
"I'm not going to sugarcoat this."
The Orc snorted, "Fine then, I swear I will fight with all I have. I just ask of you that if things go amiss, you inform us all."
"That's a lot of responsibility."
"The task we are given will take a lot of focus. None of us will be watching your movements."
They stared at each other for a moment, silently reading each other's expressions. Akiol smiled and comforted, "Rest easy, I wouldn't let some of the finest warriors die needlessly."
"I'll hold you to that."
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein