Death… And Me

Chapter 3932: Protocol

The voting session started, and everyone selected the option they thought would be the best. Finally, the result was delivered on a giant holographic screen at the back of the meeting hall.

-Neutral: 54%

-Elimination: 24%

-Division: 22%

Everyone looked at that, feeling quite impressed that over half of the countries would rather have the twins’ group stay neutral. Ernest’s option got 24% and Ximao’s 22%. In the end, it would be hard to tell which one of those two would win if Donafela didn’t bring up the third option.

"54%, uh?" Ximao nodded slightly. "I guess that also shows the fear some of the smaller countries have."

Ximao was right. When it came to strength, there were obviously stronger and weaker countries in the Runia Continent. Ernest was actually part of one of those weaker countries.

That explained why they would rather have the twins’ group eliminated. After all, when it came to giving advantages to those who joined them, the bigger and more powerful countries would have the upper hand. It made it hard for those smaller countries to acquire these kinds of talents.

Ernest couldn’t say he was happy. He was relying on the smaller countries to win this, but the idea of losing so many golden radiance prospects still hurt, so the third option was like the perfect choice when it came up. The big countries wouldn’t get anyone from the twins’ group, but neither would the smaller ones.

Ximao smiled at Ernest, saying, "There is no need to feel down. Try to remember the information you shared with everyone before. They are, in fact, part of the Verjansy Country, an outsider that the Galates Country has been helping for a while. Perhaps it won’t take long before they all leave and go back to the Green Cluster."

Indeed, no one forgot the result of their investigation. In the end, everyone from Verjansy intended to go back if Verjansy survived the invasion. In fact, selecting the third option was even better in this case. After all, the third option involved no extra resources whatsoever. That said, other than knowledge, they wouldn’t be spending much for someone else’s benefit.

The same went for what Donafela said earlier. With their potential, it is very likely they won’t stay on this continent anyway, even if Verjansy Country doesn’t survive.

*Clap!*

Ximao got up, clapping his hands. "Alright, this is the end. The selected option is that no country will try to recruit any of those seven kids. Well, I’m pretty sure a lot of you will still try to do it in the background, but you’d better be careful to leave no clues behind. I’ll be watching. Anyway, I’m now calling the end of this meeting. Until next year!"

---

In the Celestial Soul Dimensional Realm, the twins’ group watched as the meeting ended. After spending so long in this place, Sister Orb had enough time to hack into the formations without being detected.

"Well, seems like they will leave us alone now," Rean commented.

Roan wasn’t as certain, though. "That’s not guaranteed. All they agreed on is that none of us can join any of their countries. It doesn’t mean they don’t feel threatened by our existence. I’m pretty sure that we will still experience some ambushes and such from those idiots from time to time as we ’grow’ stronger."

[Well, it is not like you are truly in danger anyway. At least now you have an excuse to not join anyone. Still, I’m pretty surprised Donafela decided to follow your plan. She could have just stayed quiet, especially after you ignored her request during the recruitment day.]

Roan understood that. "She could, but it is still true that we are connected because of Verjansy Country. She probably thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get on our good side. Besides, she has Wisfreya already, so she isn’t all that sad."

Roan got up, preparing to leave. "In any case, we can’t stop. I’m in the middle of a mission and had to give an excuse to leave for a moment. I need to go back. The rest of you do whatever you want." He disappeared right after.

"Do you think anything will change now?" Tanxan asked Rean, seeing that Roan had already left.

"Most likely, we will receive more important missions, especially the kind that involves other continents," Rean said. "After all, with that decision of theirs, we became kind of representatives of all the countries in the Runia Continent. I talked to the other students, and interactions between the surrounding continents are quite a common sight during missions. Yet, we haven’t been sent anywhere near those continents until now."

Kentucky understood. "Oh, that would actually be a good way of getting rid of us, wouldn’t it?"

Rean smiled in response. "Exactly. Since eliminating us directly is not possible, it is a good option to have the other continents do it. Well, maybe Ximao will intervene and bar the academy system from choosing missions that require us to go into other continents for this same reason. We will have to see."

Rean decided to leave as well. "Anyway, Tanxan, let’s go to the formations hall. Zangeshu is also there, so we should enjoy our free time before the next mission. The formations used in A1 are pretty good."

Tanxan didn’t need to hear it twice. "Great! Let’s go!"

The group separated, and Rean used his CD to tell Foliana and Wisfreya about that meeting. Foliana just smiled, expecting the twins to have done something. As for Wisfreya, since she was considered part of the Galantes Country, it didn’t really matter much to her.

---

Back in his place, Ximao had Krue’Suan with him.

"What are you truly planning here?" Krue’Suan knew Ximao for a long time, much longer than the time Ximao spent on this continent, so he could tell Ximao had some other plans. Few did know it, but they actually came from the same place.

Ximao faintly smiled. "Nothing much, really. I was also surprised when this group appeared, so let’s say I want to see how far they can go."

"Hmph!" Krue’Suan didn’t buy it. "I know you, and I haven’t seen you having this much fun in a long time."

Suddenly, Krue’Suan remembered something, his eyes looking down to the floor. He wasn’t really looking at the floor, though. Instead, he was focused on the artifact, the Judgemental Eye. "Wait, could it be... The Judgement Protocol?"

Ximao looked at him, surprised. "Oh?! And here I thought you had already forgotten about that."

Ximao’s words reminded Krue’Suan of the day the twins’ group appeared. "The eye broke that day, which I found weird. How could it break? That thing isn’t that weak. The Runia Continent has no idea what they have in their hands, but that’s why we are here. Still... if it broke... it was you, wasn’t it? You were the one who broke the Judgemental Eye. You wanted to stop the Judgement Protocol. How did you even know they would trigger the protocol?"

"I never took my eyes away from the Judgemental Eye," Ximao explained. "Anyway, that’s not something for you to concern yourself with at the moment."

Krue’Suan didn’t think so. "If there is anything I should be feeling, it is concern, a lot of it. Ximao, you are playing with fire here."

"I know what I’m doing," Ximao answered. "And I just hope you don’t open your mouth."

Krue’Suan shook his head in response. "I saw nothing. In fact, I know nothing. This conversation never took place, and I have no involvement in it. Are we clear?"

Ximao smiled. "I couldn’t ask for anything else."