CH398

Everyone watched as balls of fire flew into the sky, almost like fireworks, only to signal the coming deaths of untold thousands.

Ten minutes to go.

One of his minds switched to doing a countdown while the rest just focused on the world around them as he pulled out the bar of food he was given, taking off the paper to give it a look.

If he didn’t know better he would have thought it was chocolate, with its dark colour and glossy appearance, only to see how wrong he was as he took his first bite, and despite the situation they were in felt his eyes light up.

It was rich, but not sweet, with flavours coating his mouth and constantly shifting as a feeling of power came over him, the buffs from it permeating his body to fill it with strength. He couldn’t even begin to guess how it had been made but desperately wanted to know if he ever got the chance. Even if he couldn’t fill his food with power, he at least wanted to recreate the flavour as every feast or holiday meal he’d ever gotten to enjoy in the past flashed through his mind, all while parts of him watched those in the surrounding area go through the same thing as the reason they must have been distributed in the first wave became clear. It wasn’t just for the extra power each person would receive, It was a way to break the tension.

He didn’t think he was wrong to say that some good food could make any situation a little easier, and what he was experiencing wasn’t just good, it was incredible. He’d been letting himself feel smug occasionally with how good his own cooking had been ever since he’d awoken his crafting, but between seeing what his teacher could forge and now trying the food of a tier three cook when it was clearly a mass-produced ration, be couldn’t help but feel humbled in how far he could still grow if given the chance.

He continued to nibble on it, savouring each bite as minutes passed while everyone around did the same, happy to indulge in that brief respite from their thoughts as much as they could before they all finished, going back to focusing on the point with weapons in hand, even if the general atmosphere felt just a little calmer than it had.

Four minutes left.

Without any real thought going to the act, Ben reached out, taking Thera’s free hand in his own, watching her as her eyes were glued to the point before turning to look at the others with him, many of them looking the same.

It was only those who were in charge of the weapon who seemed to have pushed away the world, fully devoted to doing their final checks as they prepared to activate it, each of them desperate for it to go off without a hitch, all of them wanting to see their work paying off and saving the world if they could prove its viability, with the resources to make a dozen more already prepared while what they truly wanted was one for every gate, with how it turned out for the first wave being the deciding factor in that.

He could see Iberu among them, the head of the whole project looking like every muscle in his large body was tense, with him having more invested in the weapon than anyone else. It was the culmination of his life’s work, and he was about to have to see if all of those years had been wasted in the end.

Two minutes.

His minds felt more attentive than they ever had before, even with the thirty-two at his disposal entirely focused on the world around him as time continued to tick down. It felt like each moment was slowing to a crawl from it and he had to force himself to ensure he was still counting properly. Even if keeping track of the seconds himself didn’t truly do any good, he wanted to know, wanted to be aware of every single one before the world changed forever as he felt Thera’s grip on his hand tighten.