Ophiscus and Gaia had directly teleported to the meeting hall, but they were surprised to find no one except themselves.
'This is surprising,' thought Ophiscus.
"Whatever it is, I hope it's not too bad," he mused as he took his seat. Gaia, too, took her seat at the head of the table.
A few minutes flew by.
Suddenly, mana started to gather, and a golden magic circle formed by the door. From it, Ancha and Lucien emerged together. They both had solemn looks on their faces; they knew Amaris wouldn't call a meeting unless it was absolutely important.
Lucien took his seat beside Ophiscus and nodded at him.
"Do you know what this is about?" asked Ancha. She had been sleeping peacefully until the beep interrupted her rest.
Ophiscus shook his head.
"Let's hope it's something we can handle," said Lucien.
A few minutes passed, and Aiden arrived. All of them were waiting for Amaris, the one who had called the meeting. Aiden, anxious, was tapping the armrest of his chair.
TICK TICK TICK
"Will you stop that? It's irritating," grumbled Ancha.
TSK
Aiden clicked his tongue and stopped tapping the armrest.
'What is this? This is unlike Amaris. Did something happen to him?' Ancha worried.
However, while Ancha was concerned about her fellow sage, a magic circle of pure black materialized in front of the door.
SIGH
Everyone released a sigh of relief when they recognized that the magic circle carried Amaris's mana.
Amaris, along with his wife Twyla, emerged from the magic circle. Amaris immediately walked up to his seat, while Twyla walked nervously.
'Husband wasn't lying. The human sage is truly the strongest, I hope he can at least take on 10 sages' thought Twyla as she looked at Ophiscus.
However, Ophiscus wasn't looking at her kindly. Not just him, everyone else frowned at her as if she wasn't welcome.
'Why did he bring his wife to the meeting when no one but the rulers of the continents are allowed?' wondered Lucien.
Amaris, noticing his colleagues' stares at his wife, said, "Don't look at her like that. She is the reason I've called this meeting."
Everyone's frowns deepened, and they looked at Amaris for an explanation. Amaris, however, looked at his wife, who was now standing behind him.
Not wanting to make her stand for the entire meeting, Amaris conjured a chair that looked just like his and placed it beside him.
"Ancha, make way."
Ancha looked at him strangely but still made some space for Twyla to sit. After Twyla sat down, Amaris looked at everyone and said,
"Everyone, this is my wife Twyla. She is the head of intelligence gathering for my family."
Everyone now had an expression of understanding.
"It must have something to do with the information she collected," thought Aiden, nodding.
"Twyla, explain to them," said Amaris, looking at Twyla.
Twyla stood up from her seat, bowed to them, and said, "Hello."
Everyone had confused expressions on their faces but still awkwardly nodded at her.
Seeing their expressions, Twyla blushed in shame but continued,
"I had a hunch a few years ago that the werewolves had turned traitors, so I sent some of my spies to investigate. It took a while, but we managed to infiltrate them and started gathering information, confirming that they have indeed turned traitors."
Her expression turned serious, her meek demeanor nowhere to be seen.
"A few days back, we got intel that the otherworlders are sending an army to help the traitors destroy the planet, leaving none alive."
Ophiscus and the rest's expressions turned grave. They didn't like what they were hearing—an army of otherworlders. Everyone shivered as the gravity of the situation sank in.
She clenched her fist in anger and continued,
"Before we could get more information from those wet dogs, our spy got caught and killed."
She gritted her teeth in frustration over the death of her subordinate and looked at Gaia.
"Since it is a matter of grave importance, my husband directly captured the werewolf patriarch's brother. Even though it would mean revealing our knowledge of their betrayal, we tortured him and asked him about the army."
By now, Amaris and Twyla had faces of horror.
"T-T-They are bringing a huge army," said Amaris, terrified.
Aiden, who couldn't bear any more suspense, asked, "How many?"
"50 million saints," answered Twyla.
At the mention of the numbers, everyone had horrified looks. They understood why Amaris had called an emergency meeting.
'50 million saints! Even if all of us attacked together, we could only handle 5 million' thought Ancha.
"T-There's more?" asked Gaia.
Amaris nodded in response. The rest didn't know what to feel at this point.
'50 million is overkill. And there's more? We don't even have 100,000 saints in our world. Why are they sending this much force?' cried Ophiscus inwardly.
"S-Sages too?" asked Lucien nervously. He desperately hoped Amaris would say no.
But his hopes were crushed when Twyla continued, "They are sending 200,000 sages."
BOOM
Everyone's faces paled. They felt like a million explosions were happening in their brains simultaneously.
"200,000? Did you just say 200,000?" asked Ancha, not believing what she heard.
Twyla could only nod in response,
'Ah! I wish all of this was just a bad nightmare.' Twyla thought
"200,000 sages.." muttered Lucien, falling into a daze as he kept on muttering the figure..
Aiden, who was known for his battle craving nature, was shivering in fright.
Looking at her most powerful allies trembling in fear, Gaia didn't know what to do.
'Ahhh! What do I do now? There is no way we can take on 200,000 sages. We only have 20 sages on our side. Why are they sending thi—'
while she was worrying over what to do, William's face flashed in her mind. She jumped out from her seat, clapped her hands and exclaimed aloud,
"That's right, it's because of him."
The rest were confused as to why the world's will was jumping out in joy.
"Because of who?" asked Lucien,
'Maybe she has a way.' Thought Lucien as he looked at her with hope.
Gaia, however, did not answer Lucien
"HAHAHAHAHA!" she started laughing, her voice exploding with each passing second.
"Hey woman, have you lost your mind?" Asked Aiden with an irritated look on his face.
'She must've lost it.' he thought.
Gaia, who stopped laughing, looked at Ophiscus and said,
"The reason they are sending a big army is because they are terrified."
"Who are they afraid of?" asked Amaris, everyone else too is looking at her with hope except Aiden.
'That's right she had lost it! There is no one in this world who is powerful enough to warrant an army of 50 million saints and 200,000 sages.' thought Aiden.
Gaia didn't answer, instead she smiled at Ophiscus mysteriously
Ophiscus looked at Gaia smiling at him mysteriously didn't understand why.
'Why is that woman smiling at me like that?'
He was puzzled as to why she was looking at him like that. But then suddenly an image flashed across his mind
"Are you sure?" asked Ophiscus
"80%" Gaia answered.
"I think I know who she is talking about." said Ophiscus, looking at the rest.
"Who?" Twyla inquired.
"My second son, William."