But even though C’thlyanu had called for this meeting a few days ago, there were some council members who were not present. Right now, there were four empty seats on the council. Other than Farlow, there was also the sixth seat that once belonged to Rubik, the seventh seat that belonged to Queen Hesbeath, as well as the eighth seat that belonged to Queen Lamina. All the other members of the council were silent as they stared at the empty seats, and they all realised that their seats of power were slowly crumbling due to the actions of one man.
"I take it Hesbeath and Lamina will not be joining us as well."
Rak’hael spoke up with a scowl, and T’arigan, the tenth seat on the council and the leader of the dwarven race spat to the side in irritation before saying.
"I always knew them women were too frivolous to be given any authority. Lamina didn’t deserve to be on this council, and Hesbeath is too dangerous to be given so much power. Yer setting this here council up for failure by letting them sit with us."
T’arigan’s voice came out in a gravely deep tone that made him sound very rough. Barron Skar was about to speak up as well, but C’thlyanu stopped anyone else from complaining as he spoke up.
"I would appreciate it if we could focus on the business at hand. We have a majority attendance, so all decisions made unanimously will still stand. We can relay whatever decision we make here to the missing members when the time comes. The first thing we need to deal with is the issue of Rubik."
The moment C’thlyanu said this, the entire hall descended into silence! There wasn’t a single person who could say anything because they all knew that they had fucked up! The fact that none of them managed to pick out Rubik as an imposter all this time showed just how incompetent they had been, and they didn’t even know how to approach dealing with this! Baron Skarr let out a hot breath as he spoke up in a gruff voice.
"We were foolish in our oversight, and we cannot run from that responsibility. Rubik was a mistake; therefore, I suggest we impose regular inspections on the members of the council. This will ensure that something like this does not happen again."
"That... is a good idea. I second it."
Rak’hael spoke up from beside Baron Skarr, and the other members of the council also followed suit as they agreed. C’thlyanu hummed as well, and they finally agreed that this was the best course of action. C’thlyanu also added that each member of the council will be mandated to pay a specific amount to the Machina to help them in rebuilding their world since the tragedy that happened was partly the fault of the council, and since there was no objection, that was also accepted.
Once that was done, it was time for them to deal with something new.
"Now, what shall we do about Jason Marc of Earth?"
C’thlyanu finally brought up the most important matter and there was another beat of silence that crossed the room before a short green goblin known as Val’kat, the leader of the goblin race and the fifth seat on the council, leaned forward and spoke in a gruff voice.
"There is nothing to discuss about Jason Marc, is there? We should reward him for what he has done."
T’arigan nodded from where he sat and said.
"Aye, his actions er commendable, and his strength worthy of respect. Let’s give him a good reward."
More and more members of the council seemed to also be agreeing to this decision, but then someone coughed from the side, and all eyes suddenly turned towards the second seat of the council, Rak’hael. Rak’hael leaned forward and scowled at all the other council members.
"And why should we reward someone who is still regarded as a fugitive according to the law?"
There was a ripple of surprise that passed over everyone, and C’thlyanu spoke up.
"We should not forget that Rubik had been impersonated by someone else during the time of Jason Marc’s trial. Is that not enough reason to void Jason Marc’s status as a Black Enigma?"
"No, it is not. All it means is that Jason must go through another trial. Rubik’s impersonation changes nothing because Jason still went against the Treaty, and that means he is still a criminal. All the actions he took during the past few months were only for his benefit, and they cannot be used to absolve him of any crimes! Jason Marc destroyed an entire world in his quest for vengeance! Does that not mean anything to you!? The Machina are now an endangered race simply because Jason Marc wished to kill one man! That is not something worthy of any reward! And what sort of precedent are we trying to put forward by absolving him of his crimes now? We are basically opening the floor for rogues and bounty hunters to try to clear their name by hunting down other criminals. That will only lead to greater anarchy in the Primordial Expanse!"
Slam!
Rak’hael hit her hand on the table angrily to make sure the council understood her point, and the silence in the room grew even more tense as the other council members listened. Everyone in the room right now knew that Rak’hael was being slightly unreasonable. It would have been easy for the council to simply remove all of Jason’s crimes and make him a freeman because of his actions against Rubik. Jason had uncovered the impersonation of one of their own, even when none of the other council members managed to figure out that Rubik had been replaced! It didn’t make any sense for the council to punish Jason based on the actions of a fake Rubik!
But at the same time, the council members knew that Rak’hael was making perfect sense. Jason had destroyed the world of the Machina, and he had killed hundreds of millions of people in his quest to kill one man. Was that really something that they could reward? Would it not only cause even greater issues in the future for all the residents of their various domains!?
"I do not believe that is the case at all."
A voice suddenly came from the entrance into the Hall of Fallen Heroes, and all the council members turned to see Queen Lamina, the eighth seat on the council, and Queen of the Vympir race, walking into the room. Lamina was dressed impeccably in a long black gown that exposed some of her cleavage. There was a slit on the side of the gown which showed off her long legs, and the fabric hugged her body in a way that showed off her hourglass figure! But anyone who saw her would be able to easily tell that she was not the same woman who had been a member of the council just a few days ago. There was an air of defeat around Lamina, like a woman who had lost everything that she had ever known in her life. Lamina had large dark circles around her eyes, and her hair was loose and untamed! Even though she was trying to look put together, it was as if her entire life was falling apart at once!
"Lamina, we’ve been expecting you. Please, come and take your seat."
C’thlyanu greeted Lamina respectfully before telling her to join them, but the council members were all surprised when Lamina shook her head and instead went to stand on the raised platformraised platform in the middle of the room. Lamina put her hands together and looked up at the council before speaking.
"I do not think it is right to place the blame for the destruction of the Machina on Lord Jason’s shoulders."
There was a beat of silence that passed through the Hall when the council heard Lamina call Jason ’Lord’. The council members were all aware of how much pride Lamina had! She was not the sort of person to bow her head to anyone! So the fact that she was now referring to someone she had once looked down on as her ’lord’ raised a lot of warning bells in their heads! Rak’hael’s eyes narrowed in anger when she heard what Lamina said, and Rak’hael was about to speak up when C’thlyanu floated forward and spoke first.
"And why is it that we cannot place any blame on him, Lamina? Are you not aware of the things he did on Machina?"