Chapter 2439: Someone Else
"We demand answers!"
...
"Give me my babies back!"
...
"Where is the Patriarch! We demand to speak to him! Why has he said nothing!?"
...
The roars of protest outside the Godlen family estate quickly grew into a fever pitch. The Blood Clones that Leonel was controlling didn't even need to stir up the crowd for much, and they quickly slipped away after their damage was done.
The Godlens weren't used to having to deal with public relations much. Their city was mostly harmonious, but rather than this being due to their excellent governance, it was mostly because of the power disparity.
In a world where everyone carried explosive power in their hands, it was harder to find concepts like democracy. Usually, the powerful ruled, and the weak accepted it.
When that was the sort of dynamic at play, even if things weren't perfect, or even if they were practically in a state of perpetual war, the discontent of the people wasn't often a factor that was weighed in unless it was a matter of face.
Vivak was hesitant to take action personally precisely because of this. The more of an ethereal god he was in the eyes of the people, the easier it was to maintain his air of indomitability, and the less he had to worry about such things.
It was a lot like an empire that had just conquered a territory.
If you wanted to expand your territory, you had to have far more power than the land you were trying to take. This was because assimilating a land that didn't properly fear and revere you was difficult. It would often require dividing the population and forcing them to migrate.
That said, after a territory was already integrated, the power needed to maintain that state was minimal so long as the faith of the people was intact.
If the entire Godlen city suddenly revolted, it would take quite some effort for the main family to suppress everything.
And now, with the people being rightfully pissed off about what was going on, Vivak was feeling pressure from all sides. Quite frankly, he was just a moment away from lashing out much like Anselma.
However, it seemed that he had a calming voice by his side as well. Rather than it being a butler, though, it was his wife.
"I will handle it," Matriarch Pyius said lightly.
...
The Matriarch did surprisingly well. Not many knew her as she had spent so long in the Incomplete World. But that wasn't to say that no one knew her. After all, the time dilation between the two worlds was enormous.
She reassured the gathering crowd that the situation was being handled and that this was just a desperate attempt by the demons.
She used the opportunity to paint the demons as weak cowards that would target the most vulnerable populations without scruples, also telling that since they were willing to stoop so low, they wouldn't stand even a single chance.
How could someone with hope of victory possibly use such methods? Wasn't it too shameful?
Finally, she ended by saying that there might very well be more casualties, but they were taking this into account, starting a city-wide retreat that would protect the largest numbers of people possible.
...
The city-wide evacuation began. Vivak's pride was more than a little bruised, but he knew that this was the smartest choice.
If he was stubborn and didn't allow his wife to do this, then when the next explosion was triggered, the entire city would be overrun with riots. This approach was the best.
What they couldn't have known, though, was that Leonel hadn't bothered to set up any more explosive formations. He had already guessed that this would happen, and he didn't feel the need to waste any more resources.
This was only to his benefit.
Liana and Vivak were correct about one thing: the people of Complete Worlds were strong. Removing them from the equation was just one less problem that he would have to deal with. Plus, he had managed to sneak some of his Blood Clones inside.
The best part was that because these Blood Clones had been formed with the blood of different people, creating a Blood Compass was useless. Anselma would have to literally scan these billions of people one by one if she wanted to find all the Blood Clones inside.
Now, the only things left in the city were Leonel, the task force, and the guards tasked with protecting the nexus nodes. Well, and Leonel's thousands of Blood Clones.
'It's time.'
Leonel's eyes flashed open. He might not be able to decipher the weaknesses of the formation, but he could just barely make out its various functions.
He had found the parts that cooled and controlled energy, and after a few hours of analyzing the main Force Art, he was able to find the function that opened up a small hatch for people to move in and out without shutting down the entire formation.
From what he could tell, there were twelve locations, one to each. In order for these hatches to be opened, you either needed the strength of the Ninth Dimension or a key to open it up.
Leonel couldn't even analyze the whole Force Art, so he had no shot at making a key for it. In addition, he obviously didn't have the strength of the Ninth Dimension.
There were two options he thought of.
After a while of running through a brick wall, he had ended up asking his father's AI if it could help. It had all but told him to piss off and figure it out for himself.
Leonel's lip twitched at the response, but it was expected. His father definitely wouldn't have baked in such a convenient function; he was still the same bitter old man.
The second thing he wondered was if Anastasia could silently build up enough Force to explode with the strength of a Ninth Dimensional existence for a small moment, but he threw that idea away as well.
That idea had the same problem with the destroying a node idea: he would have to actually somehow make it close to succeed, but the security was far too heavy.
That left him with the final hope: waiting patiently for someone else to do it for him.