章節 28: Grand Council

"Was it really a wise move to let that boy live Edict Gen?" Eroll asked.

He was following Gen through The Medos. A castle on the central island of the five Skylands. This building was the building where all the High Edicts in every family lived. The halls they walked through were so spacious, their very footsteps echoed through the corridor. It is unwise to speak secrecy in such a place, especially as empty as it was.

Despite his questioning, Gen stayed smiling. He knew Eroll hated when he ignored him and refused to answer. He did it anyway because it was always amusing to see him squirm with curiosity.

Even more so seeing him trying to hide that he's squirming with curiosity.

"My oh my Eroll. What are you a sadist? I'd think that beating he took was more than likely punishing enough," Gen said.

"High Edict Gen. With all due respect…"

"That doesn't sound so respectful to me," A third party asked.

And this was why he despised saying anything meaningful here. All it took was the wrong person at the wrong spot, and he would have divulged every bit of that conversation.

"Edict Medley. It's a pleasure to see you," Gen said. It was definitely not a pleasure to see him.

"I see your still being quite the oddball as ever. So tell me for once. Do you normally let your Bond Guard question your decisions?"

This was one of the few times he dropped his smile and switched it for tepid confusion. "You mistake me Medley. My Bond Guard is simply at a loss of understanding my actions. I merely inform.

"A Bond Guard doesn't need to know anything. A Bond Guard just needs to guard,"

"Well don't you think that's up to the Edict in question to decide? I take a habit in relaying my thoughts to my guard as a way of hearing myself think. I rather like it when he asks question. You'd be surprised at what you'll realize with a second opinion," Gen said.

"Are you serious?" Medley looked at him with wide eyes. He began chuckling, holding his stomach, then falling into full blown laughter. "Did you just say a second opinion?! Ahahahhaah… You really are a black sheep. What kind of edict asks for a second opinion from a non-edict?"

Gen glared his icy blue eyes directly at Medley who continued laughing. He closed them back once he started smiling again. "Perhaps you're right. I guess that is a little funny once you think about it. Maybe I'm not cut out to be an Edict. Why, just yesterday, some punk kid just defied a request from me right in front of his classmates,"

At that moment, Medley halted his laughter. His face went extremely dark, and his eyes were now doing the glaring. "Can you repeat that? I don't think I heard correctly,"

Gen put his finger on his chin. "You mean about the kid who denied becoming a sentinel at my request? Don't worry about that. I requested an audience with the council on the way over here about what kind of punishment we should deal him,"

Gen's eyes went from a smile, to a smirk, despite the hole Medley tried to glare into him.

"You mean you left him alive?! Do you realize what you've done?!" Medley asked.

"Beaten to a near death state might I add curtesy of my Bond Guard,"

"He's alive!"

"Of course he's alive. I couldn't very well go killing someone begging and pleading could I. Would you have me look like a monster?" Gen asked.

Medley's face froze with disbelief. "That's why you spared him? So you can come here and have the high council tell you to do what you should have done from the get-go?" He walked up closer to Gen. "I don't care if he denied you crying and wailing. A child denied you in front of a whole school. The fact that you left him alive… You allowed our decisions to be publicly contested without consequence. What do you thinks going to happen if the public doesn't see our commands as absolute?"

"What are you scared of? That they'll revolt against us?" Gen smirked even harder. An action that caused Medley's face to scrunch up.

"Gen… you'll fix this. If you don't, I'll go to the eastern island, and kill him and everybody that bared witness to it myself," Medley whispered.

Medley walked past him. Gen turned around completely unfazed by the threat. "I noticed your Bond guard isn't here. Are you feeling a bit relaxed Medley?"

Medley turned around. His eyes were dull and looked right through him. "Don't be stupid," He turned back around and continued walking away. "My Bond Guard is always with me, ready to kill a threat on my order,"

Eroll's eyes went wide. He broke out into a cold sweat and his hands were shaking.

Gen looked at him with a hint of confusion. "Is something wrong Eroll?"

Eroll looked at his own hands. "Right now… I just felt the presence of death leave my throat. I hadn't even noticed… how long it was I was just standing at deaths door,"

Gen stared at him, before going right back to smiling like his usual self. "I guess this is what happens when I provoke another Edict,"

"I guess High Edict Medley was right about one thing… You are a black sheep,"

"Well I must be. After all, I'm about to sick the entire world on a teenager,"

Gen continued walking down the corridor until he made it to the council room. There was a round table of ten where each of the Grand council sat. Behind them stood their Bond Guards all holding weapons of various shapes and sizes.

He looked around and recognized that there was no guest spot for him to sit on. They must have taken the chair out and widened their spaces apart.

The fact that they'd go out of their way to show their disdain for him. He felt… honored.

"Edict Gen Ichizo. I believe you requested this audience to inform us of coming danger. Yet it seems to me that you want to inspect our furniture. Before you say anything, I'd like to know ahead of time if this is going to be a colossal waste of ours,"

Old man Sazo Barnes. The grumpiest of them all. Didn't even get a word in before he started complaining. Gen's face immediately deadpanned. He hated dealing with these people the most out of anybody. Out of all the High Edicts, he knew the feeling was mutual in vice-verse. So he did what he thought came natural to him. They still had a duty to listen to what he had to say.

"Ahhh… Grand Council Sazo. Please don't read into it much. I really do appreciate nice Feng Shui. I imagine this pale in comparison to your own homefront," Gen said.

"Ichizo! I've no mood for your jest. Tell us why you seek an audience with us or be gone," Sazo demanded.

"Very well then. A teenager told me no,"

"…"

The room became silent. Everyone stared at him with an incredulous look. Some with a hint of anger on their faces. Others with confusion.

"HOW DARE YOU WASTE OUR TIME WITH THIS DRIVEL! IF YOU CAN'T DEAL WITH A CHILD WHAT ABSOLUTE GOOD ARE YOU?!"

Grand Council Falas pushed her chair back and stood up. "Enough with this nonsense. I've had a long day, and I require refreshments. I suppose I can leave you to deal with this," She began exiting the room.

"I should have figure this was going to be a waste of time,"

"Why do we even listen to him anyways?"

Gen smiled even more. He could only revel in the disappointment that the council displayed. If only he had the time to let their mood sour a bit more. Sadly, some of them had too short of a temper. "Did I mention this kid resisted the Dominance of Will?" Right then, the room froze. It was so silent; you could hear an eagle perch itself outside. "Oh… there goes the expression I was looking for,"

Everyone in the room who were previously indifferent, now had the look of utter horror. They all turned their heads his direction as if to read any signs of deceit.

"Why the silent treatment? That's not a bad thing, is it?"

"You! Are you dead set on raising my blood pressure?!" Sazo asked. He was breathing hard. Falas had to turn back around and sit in her seat. The rest of the council members talked amongst themselves.

"If you knew he could resist the Dominance of Will, why didn't you kill him when you had the chance!? This borders on treasonous," Falas asked.

All eyes were on him now. Every member of the council looking at him. "Come now. You know the rules. Fights between Edicts will destroy the Skylands. We must vow to never use our powers, less we lose our lands,"

All the Bond Guards who had the hands rested on their weapons, and poised to switch to offense, relaxed their hands a bit the moment Falas held her hand up. "We didn't forget… that remains to be said. If you knew the kid held such potential, why did you not kill him on spot?"

"It's simple. If I killed the kid then, he would have just been one more dead teenager lost to the times. Now that you all know about him, his importance has already risen. I'm merely plucking a fruit after it has ripened. Besides, resisting the Dominance of Will doesn't mean the kid himself is powerful. We can kill him anytime we want. But I'm the only one who knows who he is. I see no danger,"

Gen smirked devilishly. He got them in checkmate. The moment he seen the kid's resistance; he knew something was odd. Anything he couldn't explain, he knew the council would know about it.

Using the fact that whatever it was, is to remain a secret from the rest of the High Edicts in his favor, they couldn't very well say it was treason now. He was supposed to be ignorant. With their logic, they may as well just announce to the entire world that there was something they feared out there.

And it was still alive.

Whoever this kid was, he was the perfect seed to cause the chaos he needed. Gen wondered, how much more could he use Ryuma to his advantage.

Sazo rubbed his forehead in frustration. "Could this day possibly get any worse?"

Right then a sentinel broke through the door of the council panting hard. "We've just been informed… Aeragis has returned and has devastated the eastern island of Rubble,"