"WHAT?"
Ciel's voice reached a pitch that could destroy the eardrums of anyone who listened to her, as she glared at Legris and uttered her query.
The ground trembled in response to her voice, and a sudden chill manifested all around her. It felt dangerous, enough for mere men to kneel and beg for mercy.
Fortunately for the men in her presence, they weren't ordinary men.
"Calm yourself." Legris' calm voice suddenly echoed in the turbulent storm of Ciel's wrath, and she slowly retracted the dangerous aura that she emitted.
"It's not like I personally prefer to delay the plan. It's just the safest option right now."
"..."
Silence followed Legris' words. Based on her expression, it seemed Ciel was trying to understand what he was saying.
After about a few seconds of saying nothing, she eventually spoke.
"So how long will it take us to achieve our goals?"
"Well…" A bead of sweat drooped down Legris' pale face as he looked at Ciel's curious gaze. It was clearly a tough choice for him to answer her honesty, but what were partners for?
"A couple more years. Five to seven, give or take."
There was a calm before the storm, lasting an approximate of 0.0000000000005 seconds, enough time for Ciel's brain to fully process what Legris just said.
And it was more than enough time to come up with a response.
"What the hell did you just say?!"
"You have to understand how difficult it is to obtain sufficient energy to reunite you with the Nether and also achieve my goals. The reason for the extended time frame is because of the interference from Jared's team, not to talk of our skirmish with the Constellations too."
Legris was simply being reasonable in his calculations.
The current situation placed them at a disadvantage, and he knew that very well. Currently, he had managed to escape the interference of the Constellations, but with Jared and his allies now in the mix, it was too much.
At the very least, he had to compensate for the time spent hiding, running, planning, distracting, etc. It wasn't even like he desired any delays either.
"It's just how—"
"NO! No way! I refuse to accept waiting that long!" Ciel's voice overshadowed his very reasonable tone.
She sounded like a whiny brat, but what could Legris do about it?
He completely understood how she felt. Not only had she done her part in his plan for some years now, but every waking moment of her existence was pushed towards bringing the Nether back.
To tell her she would have to wait for even longer… that was beyond awful.
"Be reasonable, Ciel."
"NO! I don't want to! We've worked so hard, all this time, and you're telling me we have to do even more work?"
Legris sighed the instant she said this. If anyone was to be complaining, it was him. He was the central figure behind this whole operation, and frankly speaking, he was the one who experienced the most trouble out of all of them.
'Yet I know what must be done. Perhaps I'm approaching this the wrong way…' He swiftly turned his attention to the other male in the group.
"Back me up here, Stefan. You agree that it's reasonable to be cautious, right? We should bide our time well, right?"
Stefan's dull expression faltered a little when he stared at Legris' exaggerated smile. The latter's bulging eyes and slowly nodding head made it clear that he wanted Stefan to agree with him.
"Well, I—"
"No! Stefan, think about it! Don't you want this mission done with as soon as possible? Then you'll also achieve your goals, right? No risks, no rewards! Don't you think so?" Ciel swiftly interrupted the young man before he could get more than two words in.
"Stefan, don't listen to her!" Legris protested, his tone becoming higher than Ciel in an attempt to return Stefan's attention to him.
It worked! Stefan slowly turned his gaze to Legris.
"Stefan, don't listen to him!" Ciel's pitch got even higher, causing Stefan's head to steer in her direction.
"Stefan!"
"Stefan!"
At this point, both sides were calling for him, making him stuck at the center of the impossibly polarizing choices that had to be decided on.
He had to say something… and fast!
"ENOUGH!"
The moment he raised his voice, the entire atmosphere fell silent, and the two who had been talking over him fell into a strange lull.
The energy that pushed them to spew words almost instantly left their bodies.
"Ciel, didn't it take you centuries to gather the members and Arcanas for your Nether Cult? Why are you making it sound like you don't need to consider several factors and exercise patience in order to achieve what you desire?"
As Stefan's question dropped, so did Ciel's countenance.
A guilty expression played on her face, and she hung her head low, realizing just how much truth the boy before her had just spouted.
"Haha! You get it, Stefan! I knew I could count on—"
"And you, Legris… you can't tell me this is the only strategy you could come up with. I doubt you would prefer to just delay your plans because of the appearance of new threats."
Upon hearing this, Legris' body quivered slightly.
"Use your big brain to figure something out… a beneficial plan that is the most efficient, considering the current situation."
As the remnants of Stefan's words echoed in their midst, Ciel and Legris stared at each other for a few seconds.
"It's ultimately up to you, Legris. What do you want to do?" She sighed, finally giving up her tantrums to hear the decision of their leader.
In the end… he was the one who would make the call.
"Well, there is another plan we can use…" Legris began, a small smile forming on his face as he stared at his two loyal comrades.
"It's quite risky, but if we can pull it off… I'll be able to get all the energy we need in one go."
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[A/N]
Thank you all for reading!
