CHAPTER 384: CHAPTER 384: OPERATION EXODUS

"Does anyone object to this proposal?" Kael asked everyone.

Priya stood alone at the center of the hall, having so many eyes in her didn’t faze her at all. She was already used to it.

No one stood up to object to her proposal. Why would they? Priya was known for her rather considerate and ’honest’ thinking. Win-win was her way and this proposal of hers was basically a win-win for everyone.

Seeing that no one spoke up, Kael rephrased his question, "If you are all in favor of Priya’s proposal and wish to see its implementation, raise your hand."

Immediately, all the caste leaders raised their humanoid hands, including Marcus.

Priya smiled, Kael smiled.

Kael knew how fiery the process of a voting system could be as he had seen it a lot in his past life.

Politicians drowning themselves in endless mind games as they try to win over their colleagues so that they could have the same vote.

Like every other development, this one was inevitable.

"Very well then, we’ll send a messenger from the Goat Caste to deliver a message to as many of them as possible, after this meeting.

If they agree, we proceed. If they don’t, we eliminate them.

Let’s move in to the next agenda for this meeting,"

As Kael talked, Priya moved away to her balcony with a satisfied smile. She had achieved what she came for.

By now, everyone had forgotten that the main reason they had come to the peach island was because of Kael’s uncle’s death.

"Ah yes," Marcus hurriedly stepped to the center of the hall. He was the one who knew more about the subject as Kael had preferred to always tell him about it.

"As you may all know, and if you don’t know, there is a barrier surrounding this planet.

A spatial barrier that has been protecting the planet and hiding it from the gaze of beings beyond our world.

Some of you who can fly may have tried to fly out of the planet’s atmosphere or tried to reach the moon.

But you realized that there was something, a barrier positioned between you and the stars.

That is the barrier, and with it, no one comes in, and no one goes out."

The caste leaders murmured like market women. Some of them, mostly the avians, already knew about the barrier.

"However, the barrier is fading away, slowly.

The barrier is generated by the arkship and the arkship doesn’t have enough energy to maintain this barrier long term.

We have discussed..." By we, Marcus meant him and Kael. He was letting them know that his status as a Primordial allowed him access to Kael that others couldn’t get.

Marcus had proposed that Kael insert the arkship back into the planet to maintain the spatial barrier and buy them more time.

But that would actually be a waste of time.

Origin Essence would diminish globally and the high-tier creatures would die out without leaving any tangible legacy.

Resorting the arkship to its ’parking spot’ would be no different than going back to square one for Kael.

He knew how hard he had fought against those tigers just to buy Chloe Time to activate the arkship. He wouldn’t let all that effort be in vain.

Mary continued, "The origins of the space barrier are classified and will be shared under a strict need-to-know basis.

What you all need to know however, is that we have enemies, lots and lots of enemies.

And they are just waiting for the spatial barrier to come down before they make their move.

There’s nothing else to do but to prepare for the worst. A significant part of our resources will be going toward the evolution of our members.

If possible, we are pushing for every caste leader to become a tier 5 equivalent before our time runs out.

At the same time, we are also preparing for Operation Exodus, just in case we may need to make a strategic retreat.

The arkship is already preparing, just in case. Its Origin Essence reserves are being enriched as we speak and it wouldn’t stop until the tank is full...which will take quite some time.

All chambers will soon be prepped for habitation and we will see how many creatures we can afford to keep."

After Marcus said the last part, he walked to his balcony, not explaining further.

He left the caste leaders confused. What did he mean by ’afford to keep’?

Then, Kael stood up from his throne, allowing his aura to bellow out and affect everyone, bringing an oppressive feeling to everyone present.

"If we ever need to commence Operation Exodus, the strongest will be prioritized first for survival.

I suggest you all act with haste,"

After Kael said that, the space around his body twisted and turned as he teleported away.

He left the hall without warning and the caste leaders were in uproar.

"The meeting has ended!" Marcus announced.

With all that over, the top leaders of Kael’s Kingdom went back to work again. The caste leaders went back to announce the news and share information that needed to be shared.

The goat caste leader began ordering goats around, taking the shuttles that had been commissioned for the mission to go find all the elephants and deliver the new decree.

Meanwhile, as the different magic shuttles were flying away from the peach island, Kael stood underneath his Iron Blood Shuttle calmly.

With him were Ruda and Olivia, the two he had originally come with.

Nalii, Priya, and the children have parted ways for now.

Nalii still needed to supervise the operation on Peach Island and because of the latest possibility of Operation Exodus, she also had to start transferring some of the Peach trees to the arkship.

Priya had her own work cut out for her, work that she had given herself.

As for the children, they had to go back to Katari, their training was far from over.

Silas was worried, Katari had mentioned that he would be joining the next training session.

Wei was mostly out of herself and mind as she didn’t really know what to do.

While everyone was leaving or preparing to leave, Kael, Ruda, and Olivia were beamed up into the Iron Blood Shuttle.

"Let’s go to the Iron Blood Pyramid, I have to see N’bayé," Kael said to Ruda who manually piloted the shuttle.

Ruda nodded, pressing some buttons and charting a route. The Iron Blood Shuttle lifted into the sky and zoomed off, soon followed by the shuttle of the wolves.

####

"They didn’t even wish me goodbye," Father said as he saw all the magic shuttles zoom off, leaving different glowing trails behind them.

"They work for Kael, father. They don’t really care about things that Kael doesn’t care about," Burdo said while standing beside his father in his humanoid form.

"So you think Kael doesn’t care about me?" Father asked, turning to his blue-skinned son.

Burdo shrugged his shoulders, "Why should he? He only values people based on what they can do. Even if Kael is sentimental, he would not act on it, only cold hard logic.

I was once in your situation, I was at the brink of becoming like you, denied of the resources needed to advance.

I had to prove myself to him before he was willing to invest in me.

Father, what do you have to offer Kael?"

Father went silent. He didn’t have anything to offer. He even had thoughts of taking some of Kael’s stuff...like his mother.

Burdo scoffed, "No wonder he’s not saving you. He probably wants you dead and is just waiting for you to die.

If I were in Kael’s shoes, I would do the same thing."

"Fortunately, you’re not. Even your daughter is not safe, her betrothal was cancelled.

Kael is unpredictable, don’t get too comfortable, if not..." Father trailed off, but what he was implying was very clear.

Burdo frowned, then smiled.

"The future is hard to predict, especially with Kael involved. But at least, I’ll get to see it.

I’m not so sure if you would be able to do that. Oh, that’s right..." Burdo chucked with an evil look on his face.

He still remembered when his father had beat him up and sent him away from the pride.

"...Your grave had already been dug," Burdo walked away, echoing a very evil laughter as he distanced himself from his father.

Father, being reminded of his inevitable death, lost his steady expression. He fell into depression all over again.

He turned to the wooden pyramid and walked, seeking a place of rest...

#######

Two days later, at the Iron Blood Pyramid.

Within the so-called kitchen of the Activity Level of the Iron Blood Pyramid, Kael and N’bayé were present.

They both say comfortably on the edge of the marble slab Island at the center of the large room.

Their hands were stained with blood, same with their clothes.

The blood belonged to the large dead crane lying on the marble slab behind them.