The reaction was mixed because of the mystery the Grand Xor’Vak had built in the hearts of imperial citizens, who had yet to see him in action but had only heard stories of the things he did.

Although those exploits seemed unbelievable, humanity’s perception and range of acceptability had come a long way from where they were when they were still limited to Earth. They had seen with their own eyes the nearly impossible exploits of both the awakeners among them and even the emperor himself, who was considered the strongest individual among humans.

As a result, they were currently having mixed reactions because the stories of the Grand Xor’Vak and the exploits of the emperor made it nearly impossible for them to tell who was going to win, introducing uncertainty into the current situation.

With possible death on the line, many people started worrying about the possibility of the emperor dying, which would introduce quite a few problems in the current turbulent and most unstable period of Conclave history. Humans were very averse to unpredictability, and even the slightest possibility of things going wrong made them wonder if the emperor was taking a needless risk after a string of victories had given him unwarranted confidence. This made it clear that the people who thought this way believed the Grand Xor’Vak was more powerful than the emperor, leading them to see this course of action as the emperor risking the stability of the empire through his overconfidence when he could have used his forces to conquer everything.

But if those who believed the emperor was strong and those who believed the opposite were divided into two groups, the side that believed in the emperor was larger, as it contained the entirety of the Proxima-based citizens, who were always on the side of the emperor and believed in him fully.

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“What the FUCK?!!!!!!!!!” “OH, BY THE NAME OF MANA!” “ARE THEY KIDDING ME?”

Those were the majority of the reactions of the rest of the conclave civilizations who were watching the address as a video, with all of them having slightly different reasons for reacting in the same way.

While a few of them celebrated, some felt relief that the war was finally over and the anxiety they had been living with was finally going to come to an end. Some felt fear as they knew the day of their reckoning was coming. Some felt surprise at how fast the empire took down civilizations that many of them had seen as impossible to fight and win against. Some welcomed it fully. But before they could fully digest their emotions and come to terms with the situation, the emperor went ahead and announced the upcoming faceoff against the Grand Xor’Vak, which immediately acted as a switch. The emotions felt by everyone were flipped to the complete opposite of what they had been feeling moments ago. Those happy felt sad; those scared felt relief, as in the hearts of everyone in the Conclave, they knew and believed that the Grand Xor’Vak was the strongest individual in the entirety of the Conclave.

Thousands of years of making the Grand Xor’Vak seem larger than everything didn’t just disappear because they saw the emperor fight once. They all believed that the emperor was definitely going to lose, with only a few individuals thinking otherwise, Xalthar being one of them.

However, it seemed like the emperor was intent on not allowing their emotions to settle in one place; he said another absurd thing.

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The Trinarinas cheered when they watched the address the moment they learned about the face off, as they just like the proxima humans had complete trust int he emrpor had a complete trust in the Grand Xor’vaks strength. For them it was the best posible direction things could have gone.

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“For the many of you who existed when we united humanity, I’m sure you remember the things we did following our victory. This time, it is not going to be different, just on a much larger scale and with a shorter timeframe to do it,” Aron said, moving to the next matter without even bothering to explain the situation about his fight anymore, leaving the documents and his previous words to stand on their own since any more explanation would be seen as him just pumping up his confidence and trying to calm himself down.

“In order for a new world to be reborn, the old one has to be destroyed. To do so, we are going to have everyone in the Conclave be a witness to that on the day of the GRAND GATHERING.” The moment he said that, the screens showed rows after rows of white boxes, making many people who saw it for the first time have their hearts skip a beat, thinking they were graves before they realized they were not graves but Medpods, arranged neatly.

“The top ten civilizations have already put in their attendance for the Grand Gathering, and for the next month, we are going to be doing the same for everyone else in the Conclave to ensure their attendance, taking place in the best condition where everything can be made bare and the injustice be set straight, the indebted be repaid. IT IS THE DAY WHERE EVERYTHING WILL BE BROKEN DOWN TO BE REBUILT ANEW AND BETTER.” As he said that, the surroundings changed to show a near-infinitely stretching piece of grassy land with a timer slowly ticking down.

“We will be fair and only do it while presenting undeniable evidence, evidence that will be made publicly accessible to everyone once everything is over. It is the day when the fate of the Conclave will be decided, and a new and better start for everyone as you join the empire.” While he was speaking, everyone watching had goosebumps across their bodies while feeling different things.

Wormholes started opening as imperial military ships started arriving on different planets, dropping atomic printers in different parts of the planets they appeared in as they immediately started with the production of Medpods. This was also being shown as a side feed alongside the emperor’s address, showing that he was really not kidding about his plan to place everyone inside Medpods in preparation.

For those who were on the receiving end, extreme fear came upon them as they wondered if the emperor was planning on keeping them inside them for the rest of their lives.

“Don’t worry, this is the code inside those Medpods that is programmed to release you the moment the Grand Gathering comes to an end. So enter them with peace of mind, as I swear on mana that no one will have their rights taken, abused, or punished for things they didn’t do.” The mana oath was the final nail in the coffin, as it allowed those worried to slightly calm down since it was the only thing that could act as the overseer, ensuring he didn’t go back on his promise.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com