Voices became memories, and words retreated into the shadows.
In the hall, where silence prevailed, it wasn't that fleeting quiet that precedes a storm, but rather the one that follows it. As if everything had stopped, frozen in that stillness that no one dared to break.
All eyes, with those different colors that carried in their depths a contradiction between trust and betrayal, were drilling into his body with gazes sharper than endless bullets. He is now nothing but a miserable criminal, the knife dangling from his hand with blood dripping while the corpse is still warm.
And guess what?! The son of that corpse is standing before you!!
Impossible!
His raised hand in the same position taken by the shadow beside Pluto was like a silent confession, a confession clearer than any evidence...
Uranus didn't move, didn't blink, like a marble statue of an emperor betrayed by his people. But this time, the statue was a blue one that trembled. Their shock wasn't ordinary, but a mixture of betrayal and suspicion.
But his... was no less than its predecessors, as he was battling those conflicting emotions behind his pale face that seemed like a broken mask of a worn-out doll.
But the worst... was that stillness that lasted longer than usual.
Countless questions floated above the presidents, but... no one dared even to whisper. Uranus himself didn't speak, didn't move, didn't defend himself, just stood there... no life in his eyes and no notable reaction, his silence was a scream louder than all words.
Observing the scene, Pluto focused around them like a king watching the fall of one of his soldiers into a trap he himself had set. He didn't seem affected, but rather as if this outcome had been calculated from the beginning.
Then, he sighed slowly, before relaxing his body on his chair, as if he had lost interest in the entire situation. His eyes glowing with hatred that hadn't left him since that ill-fated Kai.
Finally, his voice pierced the charged atmosphere, roaring:
"So? What now, planetary presidents?"
He raised an eyebrow mockingly, as he passed his gaze between them one after another, before adding in a tone tinged with anger:
"Will you expel him too? Will you exile him too? If that's the case, then 'the fourteen brothers' have become..."
And with a strange movement, he raised his hand as if counting on his fingers, and said, feigning surprise:
"Seven... only seven remain..."
He exhaled coldly, and cast a glance at everyone before muttering with contempt:
"As I said before, what a disgrace and shame this group has reached..."
He wasn't content yet, until he cast those threatening words at them:
"Twenty-five cosmic years, and I've been building, preparing, planning... and... waiting."
Then he raised his head slowly, staring toward the ceiling, as if his words weren't directed at them, but at something else... something bigger.
In the midst of that, silence was broken once again, but this time it wasn't Pluto who did it, but someone else.
The unknown who was next to Pluto moved, approached him a little and whispered something to him that no one heard. It was no more than a few words, but their impact was enough to make Pluto laugh a light laugh, before sighing slowly, and raising his short finger pointing to the president of the second planet with mockery:
"Him??"
Then he waved his hand in the air, like someone hitting something invisible, and muttered sarcastically in an audible voice covering his mouth from the side:
"No... my ally... we have — oh, sorry! We've been talking together, and you're still here!"
He moved closer to the device he was filming through, and whispered again:
"He asked me about the identity of that person standing next to Earth... so I told him: 'I don't consider him to exist in the first place, as 'Solaris' my friend died in the war tens of thousands of cosmic years ago.'"
Venus, with his shaded features and red hair that fell to hide part of his face, didn't seem affected. He wasn't angry, wasn't happy, but his expression was neutral... mysterious, as usual where it's impossible to read his emotions.
Then, with a slight smile... or perhaps it was just a meaningless reaction that was barely visible, he added in a calm tone:
"I won't answer you now... I'll come to you, and hit this empty head of yours, until you come to your senses."
For the first time since the beginning of the meeting, Pluto seemed astonished. He hadn't expected such a reaction, but he had barely absorbed Venus's words when they were followed by another bullet, piercing his dignity directly:
"But don't worry... I won't go to your pla—"
He paused for a moment, then smiled coldly and continued:
"Ah, sorry... it's not that anymore."
But, unexpectedly, the surprise came when the hall transformed from an atmosphere of terror to sudden cheers. Everyone jumped as if nothing had happened. Venus hadn't just given Pluto a taste of his own medicine, but succeeded in removing that black cloud that had long overstayed its welcome.
[What a real bastard]
For his part, Pluto frowned a little, and his eyes widened as if before a disgusting scene, then muttered with annoyance:
"Tsk... weak triviality."
But he quickly regained his composure, and sighed before saying:
"Damn you... I wanted to continue the conversation, but you've angered me."
He stood from his chair, his arms opened like the wings of a devil preparing to cast his darkness over the world. He raised his head in defiance, and his eyes that radiated with a mad glow stared at something behind them, as if he saw what no one else could see.
Then, with a slow movement, he picked up the camera with a trembling hand, directed it slowly upward, where the sun hung, which despite its extreme distance appeared as a silent witness to the trial.
He whispered in a voice that was like the rumble of a volcano before its eruption:
"Aaaah... the Sun..."
His first word came out of his throat as if it were the moan of a wounded person, then he continued:
"Our mother... who gave us life... for us all to protect her... and fight for her... regardless of our crystals..."
Then came the last sentence, after he exhaled the air from his chest as if breathing his last:
"It's truly unfortunate... that it will freeze..."
What he said wasn't a threat, but an announcement of a catastrophe. The 'Red Center' was paralyzed where no one believed what they heard, then, everyone realized the bitter truth; the catastrophe was no longer a possibility, but an inevitable fate.
So... this is what's called madness?!
As if Pluto had read what they were actually thinking, he breathed slowly, then said calmly as if each letter was independent:
"Now, look at your beloved star... before it turns into an ice ball."
Then he was silent for a moment, before continuing:
"Two thousand five hundred Kai... have passed while we manufacture and build to reach one goal... revenge."
And finally, we reached the peak of his long plan. He raised his hand pointing backward. There, behind the unknown who had accompanied him all along, the catastrophe materialized:
'The Freezing Device'
It emerged from the shadows like an embodied nightmare, a huge mass of strange black metal, emitting a faint blue light as if it were the breath of death itself. Its outer structure which was wide open, appeared like the mouth of a monster wanting to devour everything... its supporting limbs, and its rifle that topped the structure were no less terrifying than their predecessors...
It wasn't just a weapon, wasn't an ordinary tool, but was something... something that shouldn't exist.
Silence was the best choice to express what they saw... for if 'Power' himself had come back to life, they wouldn't have been struck with such astonishment.
But amid all this terror, a single specter emerged, who didn't bow to panic. His hands didn't clench and his eyes didn't widen like the others... but on his lips was drawn a mysterious smile, like someone who knows the puzzle that will solve all their problems...
Earth..
He stood from his wooden chair with a slowness that suggested unshakable confidence...
"But..." his voice launched directly toward its target... to cut the stretched rope of silence.
Then as he rested his hands on the table that surrounded them:
"What is the Sun's fault in what we said, Ptulooo??"
Pluto was supposed to get angry, to scream, to show any reaction indicating that he was affected by Earth's provocative question. But instead...
he smiled?
It was a broad unexpected smile, a smile that sends shivers down the spine of anyone who saw it... or nostalgia...
It was as if he had finally seen relief in this hell...
So why did Pluto smile?
— End of Chapter —