It wasn’t easy.

What wasn’t?

Having three Tyrants and a Devil Queen arguing.

“The Tainted Tyrant has a a point, Hektor,” Jacob sighed, “if we just launch ourselves into this war campaign, we might be missing something bigger. I have the feeling we are missing something. I don’t think we have any other choice, but Nerea’s no joke. And once we cross her path, it’s going to get really ugly. All of us might die. You are the only one who might put up a fight against her at the moment, and she’s most likely much stronger than you at the moment. So, we need to find an edge. We can’t just play war and expect things to go in the right direction.”

“What are you suggesting, Jaji-boy?” Epagogia was confused.

“I suggest we pool our knowledge and go for it. And when I say ‘go for it’ I mean really go for it. We need something crazy and bold, something dangerous even for us. And just battling strong monsters will not change our insights. We need something far greater if we want to kill The Eater.”

“My talent,” Jacob continued, “is not enough. I’m the strongest warrior in this room, but that’s only if we are all at the same level.”

The Vermillion Tyrant fell silent.

“I can heal most of the problems affecting your body and remodel the imperfections in your Meridians,” Bob suggested. “It should boost your talent by at least two whole realms.”

Epagogia and Hektor turned toward the Plague Doctor.

“Jaji-boy, are you sure?”

The Devil Queen, an expert in deciphering intentions, already saw parts of Jacob’s plan. The Plague Doctor was a legend and if he was even half as good as the tales went, he would be able to bring Jacob to a new level. But now she understood why he didn’t want Juliet in this room. Hearing about that, she would have already lost it.

“That’s just the start,” Jacob said with a grimace. “Getting a stronger body is not enough. The Eater has a talent at the 10th level. Even if I could jump five levels of talent, I would still be too weak. We need much more than that. If me and Hektor can become stronger, we should be able to kill Nerea. But I need to face the absolute worst this world has to offer.”

“You want to go to South America, don’t you?” Bob said with a grin.

“HA! You want to face the Charybdes, don’t you?” Hektor felt his blood pumping.

“The largest nest on Earth, the same place where the worst plague of the world came from. No offense, Bob.”

“None taken,” the Plague Doctor shrugged.

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“Jaji-boy, you want to fly to the other part of the world and… what?”

“Prevent the catastrophe that ruined a whole continent. Plus, there a few Ancient Ruins that only I know of that have the right trials for us. They are in the deathzone where the largest host of Charybdes are incubating. In our past life, I got there after the Charybdes tore down the place. But the remnants of energy over there were massive.”

“Jacob, there is no way our people here will be able to handle the war. If you want them to succeed, we need the warriors. And if we don’t lead, how are they going to help? They no nothing about the apocalypse. If we go to South-America, what’s going to happen if Nerea comes here before the time?”

Hektor had his fists balled.

He didn’t like one bit the fact that they weren’t strong enough to face The Eater. But he wasn’t desperate enough to go for the solution Jacob was proposing.

“Do you know why I sent Juliet away?” Jacob spoke in an uncharacteristically low voice.

“She’s a kid, Jaji-boy, and she has no place among grown-ups?” Epagogia smiled saracastically.

Hektor shook his head and shrugged.

He had no idea why.

“The Blade Tyrant’s influence over her is stiffling her growth.”

The Devil Queen and the Vermillion Tyrant turned toward the Plague Doctor, who continued speaking.

“Jacob is proposing leaving everyone behind.”

Hektor gritted his teeth.

Epagogia stood still.

“Helena has a terrific talent. But she can’t outgrow us if she doesn’t take the same responsibilities we took. The same goes for your man, Hektor, Angelo. Juliet… she has something figured out. My Aunt Linda is already trying to detach herself from us because she’s figured it out. Joseph is the same. Flavius, Geneva, Frank’s mom. There are great warriors among us. But they will never become stronger than us. Not in a hundred years. Maybe not even three-hundred.”

“Fuck,” Hektor swore, “people will die by the thousands just in the first battles. It’s not just about dangers, Jacob. These people have never led such a conflict. They don’t know how to navigate problems. They don’t know which choices they have to take!”

“And that’s why you want them to be in that position,” Bob suggested, “if they take choices and figure out a new solution, like the kid Jacob’s has under his spell, they could become the next Tyrants.”

“And the current Tyrants are not enough, Hektor. If we want to face the greatest threats this world has thrown at us, we need to make these people responsible and stronger.”

They all fell silent.

See, that was the difference between the Tyrants and the others, the understanding.

Jacob had just put something mad on the table.

Abbandoning mankind to get stronger?

What about letting people grow over time?

What about having people learn under their wings?

What about all the people who were going to die because of this?

Any other person who saw this from the outside would label Jacob as an idiot. It was a knee-jerk reaction. If you want to abandon the same thing you have worked so hard for since you came back, you are a madman. It’s a simple ‘if A then B’ logic.

But what would happen if Nerea really got to them? Even if they tried to kill The Eater by joining all their forces, they would still die. It was almost a certainty. And once they were dead, mankind was pretty much done. This right here was the weirdest but most powerful alliance that even happened.

While the silence lingered, everyone was trying to reconcile with Jacob’s proposal, especially Epagogia and Hektor.

They had both promised to follow his orders, but they had imagined they were going to go on a military campaign. Hektor had been excited about leading his men together with Jacob and Epagogia had hoped they would get to her people at some point.

But that was not going to happen, was it?

“We still have many details to discuss and it’s not going to happen overnight. We are going to arm our people before we leave, but say your goodbye because we may very well all die.”