Way of the Knights

Chapter 869: Solemn Banquet

—

"…we're in trouble aren't we?" Paul solemnly asked after a bout of silence from the team.

Raven just finished retelling the story of how he retrieved Geezer from the expedition team of the Abyssals and the intel they gathered from them. 

The intel supplied was mediocre at best since it only showed them a glimpse of the true might of the Abyssals, yet still it's enough for everyone here to understand that they are nowhere near ready enough to confront them.action

"…I'm not one to give false hopes so I'm not going to deny the possible of that." Raven mentioned, "Still, with the recent projects you guys accomplished, you definitely saved us a great amount of time." 

"But I reckon it's far from enough, right?" Mark interjected. 

"Indeed." Raven nodded and sighed. "It's far from enough, which is why we have to practically double our efforts this time. Our aim is to knock everything on the project list as soon as we can. The sooner we complete the better since it will practically allow us to free our schedules so that we can focus on ourselves."

"Don't we need to inform others about this discovery?" Anne asked. 

"We will." Raven replied, "I have no intentions of hiding this from the rest. Only, to not ensue a realm-wide panic, I plan to tell only the Empyreans and the Divine Knights. It's up to them whether they like to spread this information or not."

"Should I plan for a banquet, Young Lord?" Laughing Dragon inquired. 

"Sure, go ahead and do that. Do inform me of the schedule so that I can appear on time." Raven agreed. 

"It's a good thing that the rest of the projects left were the ones that needed your attention the most. Since you're hear, we can focus our time for those." Ellen mentioned. 

"Right. That's what I was thinking too." Raven chuckled, "The most important thing right now is to finish our to-do list. Once that's done, we'll have more breathing room for ourselves. Maybe we can focus on having you all breakthrough to Divine Knight Stage as well." 

"That'd help a lot." Luna nodded, "After all, we need as many Divine Knights as we could in order to ensure our safety." 

Raven nodded to her but deep down, he felt conflicted. 

In truth, he didn't want Luna nor Vanessa to be involved in this thing. If it's possible, he'll gladly carry this burden alone. He didn't want to risk their safety if he could help it – however, that's the thing. 

He has to. 

Just like she said, Divine Realm needs as many capable Knights as possible in order to meet the enemy. Luna and Vanessa are included in that list, much to Raven's dismay. He couldn't afford to be selfish and draft them out of the fight just to ensure their safety. 

Even at the chance that he did that, his wife and daughter would probably resent him for doing so. 

While he could handle their resentment just to keep them safe, he knows that by the end of the day, Divine Realm needs them. They want and need to defend their home. It's their duty to do so. One that Raven can't take away from them. 

—

The meeting ended on a relatively good terms. 

Even though the dreadful presence of the Abyssals lurk beyond the Outer Worlds, as the Dawn Council representatives, they have to do everything they can to make sure that their home will be able to defend itself upon their arrival. 

Raven and his team began busying themselves. 

Once again, Raven was currently preparing to start the projects left for him to do. With the help of his Avatars, this shouldn't take too much time. 

While Raven prepared himself for another project, Laughing Dragon sent invitations to the Empyreans and Divine Knights. He sent them as soon as possible since they're pressed with time. 

The meeting was due next week, giving everyone ample time to receive the invitations and prepare for the visit. 

At Raven's behest, Laughing Dragon mentioned in the letter that their presence will be highly appreciated as his Young Lord has some things to discuss with them. Which roughly means that they need to attend this meeting. 

In truth, the Dawn Council didn't want to impose upon them but they really needed to know about this. Whether the council likes it or not, they require everyone's participation in this. The council can't handle this burden alone after all. 

With the invitations sent out, they only need to wait a few days before seeing who responds to call. Meanwhile, Laughing Dragon made sure to inform Raven about the schedule of the banquet. 

After dealing with the invitations, Laughing Dragon proceeded to do a background check on the youth of the Divine Realm. 

In particular, those who were being advertised by the Seniors. 

Using his authority as the Supervisor of the Intelligence Department, he instructed his men to file reports about the people mentioned in letters and later on, decide to group them up according to their qualifications. 

As for the rest of the team, they were busy as well. 

It's paperwork that mostly occupied their time. Unlike Raven, they didn't have Avatars to help them deal with the mountains of paperwork on their desk but given that they're used to this by now, it wasn't really that bad. Just time consuming, that's all. 

Just like this, a few days passed by and the council started receiving guests from afar. 

With the Web of Life installed and functioning, the trip of the guests was smooth. They arrived at the council without any hiccups along the way. 

Laughing Dragon began arranging their positions and made sure to prepare a feast for them to enjoy while they wait for others to arrive. 

He already informed Raven that the guests started arriving as a heads-up. Right now, Raven took a break from his work to take a bath, making sure that he's at least presentable when time comes. 

In hindsight, Laughing Dragon shouldn't have been surprised when the saw how everyone whom he sent letters to, appeared early or on-time. 

The letter did implied that their presence is needed for the banquet yet he still didn't expect them to actually appear. 

It seems that he was still underestimating the rallying power of his Young Lord. Shame on him really, but that just made his admiration for the young leader to grow even more. 

While everybody enjoyed the light and calm atmosphere of the banquet, the rest of the Council Representatives started appearing with Raven being the last one. 

When he showed-up, everyone halted and focused their attention on him. Raven gave them a brief nod. 

He approached them one by one as courtesy and joined them for a few round of drinks. This kept the current atmosphere stable but all of this were just pleasantries. 

Once he's done with them, he marched on top of the podium and began talking:

"I am pleased to see all of you. I apologize for the abruptness of this event but I'm afraid it has to be done. After all, whatever I'm about to tell, concerns the state of our home in general."

At this point, the light and calm atmosphere were silently replaced by a tensed one. 

"I won't beat around the bush with all of you." Raven stated, "I've spotted something terrible from the Outer World recently when I went out to install the Outposts."

"I will project my memories to all of you so that you all can see what happened during the trip as well as measure how dull our current situation is. Please don't resist me…" 

Raven didn't waste time and began flaring his Spiritual Presence. 

The fluctuation he released was gentle yet stable. His spirit touched everyone, including his own team, and began linking their consciousness together. 

Once everyone was linked to him, he began replaying his memories, starting from the very moment he stepped out of Divine Realm's territory. 

At this point, it's important to note that some people here never got the chance to explore the Outer Worlds just yet. Sure, those who have the lowest cultivation here were Empyreans – which is absurd, come to think of it but being an Empyrean doesn't necessarily grant them the qualifications to roam the Outer Worlds.

So, for some people present right now. This is the first time that they've seen what the Outer Worlds looked like. 

As Raven replayed his memories, they began seeing the bleakness of what's outside their home. Seeing the horrible living conditions of the beings out there made them realize how lucky they were to be born here. 

It's precisely due to that, that when they discovered the existence of the Abyssals, they began feeling a deep seated dread fill their hearts. 

Although they never got to see them in action proper, the mere implications of what they could do frightens them. 

What frightened them even more is the knowledge that one act of carelessness is all it will take for them to discover where they are and potentially wipe them out with their massive army. 

When Raven's memory ended, everyone in the hall was silent. 

One glance of their current countenance is all it will take for someone to know what they're currently feel about this revelation.