Chapter 37 protocol : The truth of the rift

The stadium-like hall buzzed with restless voices as hundreds of Executioners sat in rows, the higher ranks filling the inner circle while the lower ranks murmured from the back. The atmosphere was heavy with unease, every whisper echoing against the polished steel walls of Guild Tour’s central chamber.

At the front of the chamber, Cigar stood tall, his cloak brushing the floor as he raised his hand for silence.

> Cigar: “Executioners, today you will hear truths that will shatter the foundation of everything you thought you knew. Listen carefully, and decide where you stand.”

Meanwhile, in the crimson rift, Riven, Lucy, Kira, and Chiper stood locked in tense standoff against Joe and Sasha. Binary energy swirled around them; Joe’s fifteen floating swords glimmered with lethal precision, while Sasha’s glowing threads hummed with destructive potential.

Lucy gritted her teeth.

The air shifted as footsteps echoed behind them. The Executioners from the Council appeared, not weapons raised but with calm precision.

Leader of the troop: “Stand down. You’ve been summoned. The Council demands your presence.”

Joe and Sasha exchanged a look,  Joe smirking“You’ll learn soon enough who really controls this world.”

Sasha: “Train harder, little lambs. The slaughter hasn’t even begun.” their forms dissolved into the rift’s haze, leaving only tension in their wake.

Riven clenched his fist, but Lucy touched his arm.

Lucy: “We’ll get our answers soon.”

And so, reluctantly, they followed the troop back.

The hall fell silent as Riven and his group entered, drawing stares. Some Executioners whispered, others glared with envy or suspicion.

The girl at the head of the Council stepped forward. Her voice, though soft, carried through the arena.

“My name is Clarice ortega to my right is James Michaelson and to my left is Ivan rosewell and we are your leaders. I know you’ve all wondered what the Execution Code is. Why you were chosen. Why the rifts tear our skies.”

Her eyes swept the chamber.

“We are not prophets. We are not seers. We are survivors. We lived the end of the world.”

Shock rippled through the crowd.

James continued “The rifts you fight are not random. They are gateways. The Demon King of another world is testing our strength, sending his creations to weaken us before he arrives.”

Gasps. Shouts. Denials.

> “Impossible!”

“The Demon King? A fairy tale!”

“You expect us to believe this nonsense?”

Clarice raised her hand.

“fifty years in the future, Earth falls. We watched our world burn. We were children then. We survived, and we were all that was left of the resistance,when hope was gone, we came back in time so we can help the world by bringing a technology that was created in the future but could not be used.”

Her words tightened like a vice around the chamber.

Ivan spoke as it clenched his fist “We didn’t see the future. We lived it. And the reason the Execution Code exists now is because we came hear. We did this to give the word the fighting chance this time"

Clarice continued " years ago we embedded the code in three subject, sent them to the Future to face the demon king but it yielded no result and now I believe we must bound together and army if we are to stop him from taking over our world."

The chamber exploded in disbelief.

Some shouted it was all a lie. Others panicked. Fear rippled through the crowd like wildfire.

Executioner (yelling): “This is madness! You expect us to fight a god?”

Another: “We’re being used!”

The panic surged until a voice cut through the storm.

David.

He rose from his seat, tall and unshaken. His voice carried the conviction of a warrior who had already bled for the cause.

David: “Believe them. You may not know the whole truth—none of us do. But I’ve seen enough to know the rifts won’t stop, and the monsters won’t wait for us to argue. If the Demon King is coming, then I’ll fight. With them and with every arms of strength I have.”

The chamber quieted. All eyes turned to David, the boy who had killed a monster from the rift.

Riven said nothing. 

His knuckles whitened. Every word clawed at his mind—the Code, the rifts, the Demon King. Was his entire life nothing but someone else’s plan? He lowered his head, saying nothing, but the silence was louder than any shout.