The Conquerors Path

Chapter 836: Chapter 834-What Choice To Be Made?



"A powerful play indeed,"

I spoke, to which Alex chimed in.

"It places the current you like a de facto leader among the current students. Even if everyone doesn't admit it openly, they all think you are the strongest gathered now."

I didn't reject Alex's words, as I myself can see better than anyone else right now the fact of what people think about their senses flowing, their whispers resounding in my mind, the darkness happening all around, all for me to see and split apart. It's beautiful and dark. No wonder many people turn to the dark side after learning some truths about the world as a whole.

"You didn't just bring us here to give us this information, right?"

Suddenly, Mika asked, her words being soft yet powerful, to which I nodded my head.

"The main topic of today's gathering will be about how we will deal with it all. This being a big issue, we need to be careful about how we do this, and we also need to be cautious about which side we will choose to move toward."

My words contained a certain darkness, and it made some of the ones gathered here a bit uncomfortable about the mere fact of betraying this side and perhaps jumping to the other side. It all being things that don't make a lot of sense and, in a sense, could be said to be a dark behaviour that shouldn't be shown by leaders.

"You are talking about standing on the side of the winners?"

Rina asked with a smirk, knowing very well where this was going, to which I nodded my head. It made some flinch as Rika spoke.

"That is just a betrayal of everything. It's what losers or people without any backbone do."

"It's how people survive,"

Tron interrupted. As one that rose from the darkness, they and their training knew better than to teach about the real winners. The beautiful sight of knight-like behaviour from Mika and Rika didn't match much with him as Tron continued.

"What the leader is declaring is the best way for all of us to stay on the better side. It's how empires and powers have lasted for so long-it is by being cowards and spineless at times. And right now, as sad as it is, we are on the losing edge in both power within the academy and outside of it."

His words did not sit well with the kinder side of things-the people who take pride in being on the right side, such as Mika, Rika, Emma, Jacob, and even a bit of Zora.

"Even then, Austin is considered the leader. Even if not accepted publicly, his giving up first will fully destroy any chance of fighting back against this power surge. Austin stands as the most respected now. If we take a step back, all of it will fall. We will be the greatest sinners in it. That is not the path I saw in the way our faction works."

The ones that agreed nodded their heads, while the ones that didn't stayed silent-ones that I rescued a bit later. Ones whose mental view of the world was already twisted didn't care about those hero ideals. As long as you live, you can fight another day. So, to them, it doesn't matter what they have to do to survive the next day to fight.

"That is just naïve thinking. This world works in power. If Austin didn't have the backing he has now or the power he holds, none of this would have been possible. Even if you're kind, it doesn't mean the world would be kind to you. If your stubbornness leads to this group being destroyed, will you pay the price for that loss?"

Tron's question hit home as Rika and Mika bit their lips. The final question was direct-one they couldn't answer but knew the answer to. While they are justice-filled and care about it all, in the end, their love and loyalty to me go beyond any other conviction they hold.

Thus, when push comes to shove, they will choose me ten times out of the ten times that it comes to exist. Though even then, some aren't ones to easily back off-ones that have yet to feel my real warmth.

"I can't still fully accept it. Austin didn't have to save us when he did. He could have left us. We didn't know him, and he wasn't connected to us. He didn't know what we could have been, yet he saved us out of the willingness of his heart and never asked for anything in return. I wish to be someone like that, someone filled with... warmth."

Emma's words made me smile, and Tron fell silent. Her words hit once again for everyone. What I did back then didn't have to be done. There is, after all, no way that I knew what they would become, right? The light smile on Alex's face shows the fact he knows I had somehow found out about it.

To some, I came to them because I saw their potential. To others, they saw me as a saviour who changed their lives and saw something in them when others couldn't see anything. To some others, I became a home-someone to lean on, someone who would never betray them, someone to live for.

To some, I am still an enigma, my mysteries keeping them close to me, and the fist of chaos I promised them keeping them closer. The ways they follow me now and the reasons they started to follow me at the beginning are all different. At first, they might have followed me because they had no other way or nowhere else to go.

But later on, even the devil-like Alex came to consider this his family. All of them have different ways of life. All of them have different mentalities in which they see the world, yet all of them here, except for the later ones, consider each other family and wouldn't hesitate to come running to help at a single utterance of a word.

A brief silence fell in the room as everyone looked at me, who stayed silent. I stayed there against the chair. To the ones who followed me from the beginning, they will take the path I want them to take. Some may feel a pinch of disappointment at it, but the life they have sworn to me will lead them to follow me to the end.

Nihil, now resolved to be a part of my following, will also follow my goal, while the outside one will be Tron. I know him well, but he works under me from the order of Ralph. He knows the fact that I hold immense power, respect, and command within the DarkNight, and he sees me as the perfect follower to rise to power.

His own greed and the future he sees following me keep him loyal to me. Unlike the rest, his life or everything around him doesn't follow at my whim, and I like it. It's good to have one person in the room who would, with confidence, go against my idea. The reason the greatest fail is due to their complacency.

They think they are bulletproof, that whatever they touch turns to gold. That will be the end of them, taking them to the ground of failure. And I have no desire for that to happen to me. That's why I keep someone like Tron next to me-someone I can give a bit of my trust, but someone I can't trust fully and will go against me if need be.

"A lot of expectations in this room,"

I mused as I felt the different emotions boiling in the place. I know very well who will follow me without question and who will follow me while still feeling a pang in their chest. The main part of this meeting is to determine if we would fight against this coming wave of ride neutrally or if we would fight against it to the best of our strengths.

"The toughest choice requires the strongest wills. I once read it in an archaeological record about a single person who headed out to wipe out half of all populations in the thought that the other half would thrive from it..."

My words gained focus as I continued to speak.

"In a way, he was right. By wiping out the half, he would have seen the growth from it. He would have saved the world from its own fall. But it also comes with the fact: who is he to make that decision for the whole world? People make their own choices, and they would have

to deal with the consequences, too."

A silence threaded out as I spoke.

"When you pray for the rain, you will also have to deal with the mud too."

As I said this, I focused my eyes to look around-all those gazes looking at me, all those expectations. It feels a bit different to deal with it all as I now walk upon the half-divine-a sort of messy, tingling feeling as if I am watching this and dealing with it all from the perspective of another. At my level, there are few who would even try to match me or come close to me.

My fingers rhythmically tapped against the table as I took all the expectations in.