Chapter 420: Dogs
No matter how many times he sees the scenery in front of him, Van could never really get used to people kneeling at him. It just felt… slightly uncomfortable, he thought as the people that were just pointing guns at him were now kneeling one by one.
"You… are a King?"
"It's a long story," Van could only sigh from Apollo's question, "You can ask Athena since she's the one who decided to call me with that title."
Apollo seemed to want to ask more questions, but before he could do so, one of the newly arrived people stood up from the ground; causing a sort of chain reaction as the people around them once again stood up-- their faces even more confused.
The only reason most of them kneeled down was that they saw the President of their country doing the same. They still have no idea who these two weird-looking strangers are that suddenly entered their airspace.
"King… Evans," a man then carefully approached Van and Apollo, and judging by the uniform he was wearing, he was most probably the representative sent by the Common Council.
"Why… did you visit us yourself?" The representative muttered, the tone of his voice overly courteous, "I just received the call a few hours ago asking for us to assemble but; so we're just waiting for Solomon to--"
"Solomon is not going to come," Van shook his head, "But first, can you get this guy something to wear?"
"O… Of course," the representative quickly ordered some men to fetch Apollo some clothes, before once again focusing his attention on Van, "What do you mean… they're not going to come, King Evans?"
"It may not be visible here…" Van muttered as he looked up to the skies, "But the World Eaters have arrived."
"The World-- !!!"
"!!!" Not only the representative but also the other people he was with all took in a short but very deep breath as soon as they heard Van's words. The representative has said that the threat was coming, but it hasn't even been that long since they have been warned-- a majority of their population was still in the dark of what was happening.
"But then why is Solomon--" The representative's words were slightly stuttered; however, it completely stopped as soon as a thought emerged from his mind, "W… wait… Don't tell me the reason your Majesty personally came here is--"
"That's right," Van no longer tortured the poor man's mind as he nodded, "They are here in this galaxy."
And once again, those who knew the situation could only suck in a very deep breath. They thought that they would have time to ease the people of their world from the news that they have made contact with an extraterrestrial species… and now, alas… the threat was literally already at their doorsteps.
"Who are the designated champions here?" Van ignored their obvious woes, however, as he snapped his fingers on the representative's face.
"That… one of them is on the way here as we speak," the representative gulped, "Just… having a hard time because of the politics."
"Politics?" Van furrowed his eyebrows, "Their world is about to be destroyed and they care about--"
"K… King Evans!" A woman then stepped forward before Van could finish his words, "My… my people do not yet know of the circumstances happening. Please, be careful with the words you utter."
"And this is?"
"She… she's the President of this country you landed on, King Evans."
"Is she strong?"
"...No, King Evans."
"Then get her out of here," Van said as he casually waved his hand, "Now where's the champion?"
"She should be here--"
And as if right on cue, a whistle erupted in the air; with the silhouette that was carrying it forcefully landing on the ground.
"Pauline Serre," the individual then quickly saluted at Van, pushing away the huge rifle hung on her shoulders as she did so; her body finely wrapped in some sort of black tactical suit, her head completely covered with some sort of slim helmet, "Ancient-class magician reporting duty, sir!"
"Hm," Van nodded before looking at Pauline from head to toe.
"S… shall we move to a more appropriate meeting space?" The representative mentioned.
"No. Let's just do it here," Van, however, only shook his head before placing his palm on the ground. And as soon he did so, several vines and trees emerged meters away from them, surrounding them in a dome-like perimeter.
"Can you set up a light?" Van then turned his head towards Apollo, who could only sigh as he summoned a ball of fire that instantly brightened up the insides of the dome-- even the cracks and crevices could not escape from its weird brilliance.
"This is…" The other people that were inside the dome could not help but lightly rub their eyes if they were seeing everything right. Van, however, once again ignored their curious hums as he was getting used to it at this point.
And so, before anyone could even say anything, a table emerged in front of Van,
"First things first, this guy is one of them," he then suddenly said as he pointed at Apollo.
"He's one of the World Eaters!?" Pauline quickly pointed her rifle at Apollo as soon as Van's words reached her ears.
"Yes. Do you have any abilities that could be used to restrict him for now?"
"W… wait. Are all of that necessary? If Athena is with you, then I am with you, nephew."
"...I can't really say for sure if you're going to betray us for now," Van muttered before looking at Pauline, "Can you trap him temporarily?"
"No problem, sir," Pauline then quickly pulled her trigger; but instead of a bullet shooting out from its nozzle, a pentagram suddenly appeared above and below Apollo-- and almost instantly, several beams of light that shot out from the pentagram trapped him in a cylinder.
"...You know I can get out of this if I tried, right?" Apollo then sighed as his finger began to sizzle from touching one of the beams.
"Then you truly would be considered our enemy," Van smirked before carefully checking the pentagrams surrounding Apollo. Was this magic mixed with technology? If only these people were more advanced than they currently are, then they would probably be even more helpful than the people in Vivati's galaxy.
And soon, as everyone had slowly started to calm down, Van had started explaining the current situation. Apollo also voluntarily coughed up information about the Ark-- a ship that held a galaxy inside of it.
"That's… ridiculous,"-- were the collective words that the people around him breathed out.
"A ship the size of a sun? How… are we even going to fight a force like that?" The President of the country almost dropped to the ground.
"We don't know when this… Ark is arriving as well," Van then shook his head with a sigh, "But if it does--"
"My planet will be swept up by the sheer size of the ship," Pauline continued Van's words; her tone, completely sedated, "I… thought it would be possible to talk to them first-- but at this point, we're nothing but ants to them. They wouldn't even notice us… we have no time to evacuate anyone."
"We… we are all going to die!" One of the people behind the country's president dropped to the ground.
"...Please tell me you are here because you have a plan, King Evans," Pauline then said as she glanced at Apollo, "You… have already caught one of them, can we use him as a hostage?"
"No," Van sighed, "They shot at him as soon as I defeated him."
"So… are you just here to tell us that we're going to die?" Pauline then stuttered, "Then aren't you more like a Messenger of Death?"
"I'm here to check how strong this world's champions are," Van returned Pauline's glare, "That's you, correct?"
"..." Pauline hesitated to answer Van at first since she was feeling slightly frustrated, but after a few moments, the only thing she could do was let out a small sigh, "I am one of the only 3 Ancient-class magicians of the planet…
...I am confident in my stren-- !!!"
Pauline could not help but slightly take a step back as a hand suddenly covered her entire view-- she was wondering what just happened, but before she could do so, Van whispered behind her.
"Did you see what happened?"
"N… No," Pauline could only turn her head slightly to the back, only to see that it was Van who covered her vision.
"Then I am afraid you won't be of any use out there," Van bluntly said as he stepped away.
"That's--"
"They are just humans, Evans," Apollo, who seemed to be amused by the situation, let out a small but deep sigh that reverberated throughout the entire dome, "You can't expect too much of them."
"I happen to know a human that could probably smash your face to pieces," Van muttered before once again returning his focus back to Pauline, "That gun… what can else can it do?"
"I can destroy comets the size of a city sniping from here, sir," Pauline stood her ground. She understood with what Van said that he no longer operates in the scope of strength they were used to; and so, she chose the feat that would most probably ring in his ears.
"How many times can you do that?"
"If other magicians could provide me with their mana, then I could do it as long as it takes. There… is a possibility that some of them may die, however."
"...I see," Van breathed out, "And you mentioned there were two other ancient-class magicians? Why aren't they here?"
"...They are refusing to meet you, sir," this time, it was the representative that stepped forward.
"Why?"
"They... don't believe the existence of the World Eaters. Only General Pauline answered the call," the representative slightly stuttered as he looked to the side. It was supposed to be his job to convince the people if the hologram presentation did not work… but it wasn't his fault that this planet was quite devoid of any… superstitions.
"The fuck?" Van slightly furrowed his eyebrows, "You know where they are right now?"
"I do," Pauline once again approached Van as she handed him some sort of tablet, "We're instructed not to be within a thousand kilometers from each other at all times-- this map helps us see where each of us are by the second."
"This red dot?"
"Yes," Pauline nodded, "It will alert the government if one passes--"
"Wait for me here," Van then walked away before Pauline could even finish her words.
"...Where are you going, sir?"
"I'm…
...just going to fetch us some dogs."