Chapter 173: Suspicions

"You're not kidding, are you?" Ashton asked, just to be sure.

"Oh, believe me. I wish I was kidding too..." the old oracle sighed in frustration as well. "Unfortunately, the five of us saw the same vision and that's saying a lot."

"...shit!" Ashton cursed as his expression turned ugly.

Mary and Alice looked at their frustrated faces with confusion. So far, they have no idea what they were talking about but they could tell that it was not something good.

Meanwhile, Aria held onto Ashton's arms worryingly. She bit her lips and was feeling quite afraid.

Blake, on the other hand, looked lost. It's as if he was remembering something he rather not remember at all. The mood of his surroundings wasn't helping either.

Ashton could vaguely sense their distress, it was the strongest coming from Blake. He guessed that Blake must've remembered some traumatic event that happened during his past life.

He sneakily adjusted the power of the Warmth Spell to affect Blake even more. This should help alleviate some of his internal struggles without revealing things he didn't want to tell anybody for now.

And, as expected, it worked. Blake shook out of his stupor and returned his attention to the present. He looked around and was convinced that nobody saw his distress just now which made him feel relieved.

Well... it's okay, he doesn't have to know.

"This isn't the place where we could freely discuss something like this." Ashton said, "Let's get some privacy."

He then stood up with Aria by his side and started walking somewhere.

"Follow me, I've booked a room for us."

Ashton doesn't really have any idea where to go. He's at a barracks right now where some of the responders were stationed, the fact that he was given entry was only because someone wanted him here, otherwise, no one would find him there.

Thankfully, the Oracle was prepared. She reserved a room for them to temporarily use.

Once they arrived there, Ashton immediately placed several spells that isolated the room from the outside. He was just being careful, he didn't want whatever they'd be discussing here to be leaked outside, causing mass paranoia.

Once he settled that, he immediately talked to the oracle.

"You said all five of you received the same vision? Can you tell me more in detail?"

Felicia nodded and said: "As you know, there are four Oracles like me who also share the same duty as I have."

"The vision came to us without any warnings. It was a pitch-black fog and at its very depths, countless maddened creatures' eyes were glowing crimson red. We saw this fog slowly making its way towards the Last Bastion and we heard faint cries of our people."

"All of us saw the same vision. This kind of event only happened a few times in the past but all of which, undoubtedly happen. After some careful research, we found out that the possibility of a Black Fog arriving here is around 99%."

"That's all? There's no Golden Sandstorm?" Ashton asked.

"Thankfully, no. But still...knock on wood on that one." Felicia replied.

"Wait!" Alice protested out of nowhere, "I'm sorry, I'm a bit lost here. But what is this Black Fog or this Golden Sandstorm that you are talking about?"

"I would like to know that too." Mary interjected on the side.

Ashton was about to explain when all of sudden, Blake's voice sounded...

"A Black Fog is considered as one of the Natural Calamities of this world that became deadly due to Demonic Influence."

"Imagine a tsunami of fog, swallowing the entire Last Bastion. Within that fog, all sorts of demons are present. Not only that, but while those demons are within the fog, their strengths are doubled and they cannot die. Furthermore, as the Black Fog takes its course, it will naturally attract more demons to its parade. That...is what a Black Fog is."

Without fail, everyone in the room stared long and hard at Blake. Making him a bit uncomfortable with their stares.

On the other hand though, now that the girls finally received an explanation, they finally understood just what kind of disaster they are facing. And as expected, their expressions weren't too good.

"...no, that's..." Mary paled and took several steps back. "Is that true?"

"I'm afraid it is." Ashton replied to her. "I would know, I've encountered one back then."

Blake looked at Ashton, stunned by the sudden revelation. He couldn't help but think:

'He encountered a Black Fog and lived? How in the world is that possible? I—'

'...we've lost so many back then! All are way stronger than him right now so how in the world—?'

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"I said I encountered one, I didn't say I fought the entire parade. Ease down your imaginations." Ashton snorted as he added this. He was targeting Blake by saying this cause the guy was being so obvious right now.

'Your mask is slipping, Buddy. Careful now.' He reprimanded Blake in his mind. 'Look, Alice is now looking at you strangely.'

Blake looked relieved, he was thinking to himself: 'Ah so he hid. I see. Honestly, I can't blame him. After all, that's also what I did back then...which is why so many of us were —'

'No, Blake...it's been so long. Let it go. It's not your fault.' Blake shook his head as his thoughts went into a dangerous tangent just now.

Meanwhile, hearing this coming from Blake's mouth made Alice a bit suspicious. She starts thinking to herself:

'How does he know all about that? Ashton, I could see. But him? Why does he know when I don't? As far as I know, something like that hasn't happened recently right?'

Sensing the emotional turmoil of these two, Ashton decided to step in and distract them from another topic.

"A Golden Sandstorm on the other hand is the Angelic version of a Black Fog."

"As you can tell, these two disasters are extremely dangerous. I was lucky that found a decent place to stay during that time. I stayed underground for almost an entire month because of a Black Fog."

"Yes, Black Fog can last that long. It moves extremely slowly after all. However, slow it might be, it leaves undeniable destruction and corruption to anything it touches."

"The Golden Sandstorm is also the same. Hell, I even saw those two clashing against each other in real-time. I was cataclysmic, to say the least."

His words because the focus of everyone's thoughts and nobody dared to refute his claims. It might sound a little unbelievable but so was the concept of someone crawling his way back home from hell, yet Ashton was here wasn't he?

Ashton then turned to the Oracle and asked: "Can't anybody from the Federation do something about this?"

"I'm afraid they have their hands full at the moment." The Oracle smiled wryly, "I don't know if you know this, but most of our strongest are keeping the stronger ones in check to buy us more time."

'Right, I almost forgot about that.'

The Moening Sun Federation, rotten at its core as it might be, still has its principles and ultimately desires for the longevity of Humanity.

The High-Evolutionaries of the Federation is keeping the stronger foes under their surveillance to respond as quickly as they could when they make a move. To put it simply, they are too busy and cannot come to Fantasia's aid.

They probably could in case of emergency but unless it comes to that point, they won't come.

"Fine...I'll think of something."

"Actually, I was wondering if we could use 'that' instead..." she said cryptically.

"It's risky. And that's the only one we have. It hasn't been long since it was used so I don't think it's a good idea." Ashton shook his head.

Of course he knew what she was referring to. The Oracle was suggesting using the protective ability of the Beyonder's Astrolabe.

This was a feasible plan. Since the barrier could last for an entire year, the artifact could potentially keep everyone safe without risking anyone's life.

Sadly, that's a little bit of an optimistic view of things. The artifact's effect might be strong but it's in no way invincible.

In addition, Demons are incredibly persistent too. It's most likely that they wouldn't stop attacking until all of them are dead or if all humans were gone.

The movement speed of the Black Fog depends on the marching parade of Demons it's nurturing within. Simply put, it's the demons' march that's moving that fog. If all demons stay in one place, then the fog will never move.

So, if they stopped just outside of the barrier, if they refuse to move, then one year of protection isn't going to cut it. If anything, that's just delaying the inevitable.

"What do we do then?" Mary asked in a distressed manner. "We can't possibly relocate an entire metropolis easily, could we? How long until it arrives anyway?"

They all looked at the Oracle and she regretfully said: "We have one week before the Black Fog could be seen from where we are."

Everybody's expression turned grim at this point. As expected, this is truly going to be difficult to deal with.

At some point, Ashton stood up and said:

"Focus on the cult, for now, I'll think of a way to deal with this."

After he said that, he grabbed Aria and left the room.

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