"Num ad conventum me vocavisti, ut de impotentia tantum disseramus?"
Have you called me to a meeting just to dwell upon my helplessness?
Knull’s silent growl echoed through the room.
"We have come to find a plan to evade our creeping extinction," an Elder said.
"Quid ergo semiputridum consilium ex illa vetusta mente tua excogitavit pro inferis."
Then what half-rotted excuse for a plan has your old brians cooked up, for hell’s sake?
"Our old brain!?" A Devilish Elder shouted, unable to believe Knull’s choice of words, and he lost it.
"You, Knull!"
"You were the one who dragged us all into this mess!"
"Your primordial brain has done nothing but drag us down ever since you became conceited with your foolish Knullic beliefs!"
"We were conquerors, Knull." The Elder said, clenching his claws in power.
"We were the most evil, the most powerful."
"That never changed even after Theth’Vorath fell for that woman!"
"That never changed even after Ryuk was given birth to!"
"Theth’Vorgath still listened to you!"
"He was still your beloved puppet!"
"But your arrogance..."
"Your inability to stand the Dragons being on equal footing with us Knulls..."
"That is what brought us to all this!"
"And now you claim we’re the old brains!?" He shouted, infuriated.
"Vae vobis omnibus!"
Woe Upon You All.
"Tam Insanum factum esse propter existentiam pueri minus quam saeculum nati...Dico, vae vobis omnibus."
To have grown so frantic due to the existence of a brat less than a century old... I say, woe upon you all!
Knull cursed at them.
"Quid accidit illi quod vos omnes dignos fecit ut hic omnino sederetis."
What has happened to that which made you all worthy of even sitting here at all?
"You still keep calling him a brat?" an Elder said.
"You called him the same when Bob had escaped with him."
"We could have hunted both of them down and put an end to them, but you said he was just a brat, ignoring him."
"When he killed Zar’kul, you called him a brat still, saying Zar’kul was the weakest of the Knull Calamities, one unworthy."
"Now, he has gotten rid of Marionette, Azraggoth, Achylles, and Aizelran, and still you call him a brat."
"Tell me, Knull, is it when he takes your head off before you realize he has grown more than the little brat in your heart?"
An Elder asked Knull, who silently growled.
Ignoring the question, he asked,
"What are your ideas?"
"We concede."
"QUID!!?"
WHAT!?
A powerful roar of disbelief boomed through the entire void, shaking it with power.
"QUID DIXXISTI MODO!?"
WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!?
"I said, we concede."
The female ancient devil said calmly.
"According to what we have noticed by now, the Son of Carnage isn’t really in a war against all that is Knull."
"The last time he appeared in the domain, he had the choice of destroying the other Knulls and laying waste to cities."
"But instead, he remained perched upon the mountain, only starting to attack after Azraggoth was sent."
"In a way, it is safe to say, he is not after the last drop of blood of every Knull, but solely the ones who have his body parts."
"If he is given what belongs to him, then we Knulls would most likely be free from his calamity."
"RIDICULUM!"
RIDICULOUS!
Knull’s roar boomed in anger.
"Nos rogatis ut nostros ipsos sacrificemus ut nos servemus!"
You’re asking us to sacrifice our own to save ourselves!
"It’s a suggestion, Knull. We lose two souls, or we lose hundreds of thousands in a full-blown war against him."
"Any being with reason will find which is the safest."
"And there are ways to get back the body parts that are inside both the 2nd and 1st Calamity while still keeping both alive."
"Id numquam fiet!"
"That will never happen!"
Knull said, and his words were filled with absolute conviction.
"Si quis alius consilium habet loquatur."
If anyone has any other idea, let him speak.
"Request help from the Nadars!"
An ancient Elder called out.
"Auxilium a Nadaris petere? Tch, quid illi ignavi facere possunt?"
Help from the Nadars? Tch. What can those cowards even do?
Knull replied with a mocking scoff.
"Ask her, the Queen of Nadar, to take control of Theth’Vorgath’s mind and use him to destroy Ryuk."
"He will be erased in a blink."
The Elder said, and Knull paused in silence.
Even though Ryuk was indeed turning into an annoying brat, he knew the capabilities of his old puppet.
If unleashed, nothing could stop him, and even Ryuk would succumb to his power.
To use the father to destroy the son.
Oh, how tempting was that idea.
"Nunc, id quod voco consilium est. Hehehehe"
Now, that is what I call an idea. Hehehehehe!
Knull cackled evilly, but then paused when a sigh echoed through the room.
"Now I see..."
The voice was quiet and slow, yet it froze Knull mid-laughter.
The rest of the Ancient Devilish Elders turned toward the figure.
It was a figure completely covered in a shadowy cloak, while his old black hands, thin as bone, grasped a staff imbued with a purple runic core, gently burning with light.
"Ancient Devil Satano..."
Knull called, his words heavy with respect, as absolute silence crawled through the room.
"We cannot concede to him, Yorimita..." the Elder said as the feminine Elder who had proposed conceding faintly raised her brows.
"We have decided to make an enemy of him since time began."
"We have taken away everything from him and condemned him to death from birth."
"We have ruined his life."
"Even if we gave him back what belongs to him and conceded, he would be stupid to accept the apology and let things lie, not when he is now full both in body and soul and possesses more power than ever."
"Even if he doesn’t destroy the other innocent Knulls, we, who are fully responsible for that decision back then, will all be destroyed by him."
"As much as it seems we’re only sacrificing two souls to save a million, we’ll be sacrificing ourselves first, and the remaining billions of Knullic souls would be at his mercy."
"So, conceding is out of the question at this point."
He explained, and now Elder Yorimita had no words to argue.
Truth was, each of them had been responsible for the war in the past.
Most especially, they had all approved the decision for Ryuk to be divided.
Even if they apologized and returned what was his, it was simply too late.
No apology would work this time.
And power was a spirit that corrupts.
If he regained full power in both body and soul, who could say for 100% sure that he wouldn’t decide to wipe the entirety of the Knullic population out of existence, just because he could?
Conceding was indeed no longer a choice.
"Tum nonne diceres Theth’Vorgath in eum adhibere summum consilium esse, Satano senx antiquus?"
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A/N:
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In and Out_SnowySmoos