Divine Heritage: Only I Can Judge The gods-Chapter 72: Deeper Trouble

"Professor, you’re just the person I was looking for."

Thalia hopped out of the vehicle and observed the area around the center.

"How are the preparations going?"

The man smiled dryly.

"Everything is in order, Vice captain, everyone should be fully booked before the descent."

Thalia nodded.

"I need a favour..."

Ark could tell that Thalia was just being nice, since she was the highest ranking person currently in Lorsine, they had no choice but to obey her orders.

"We only have seven curse bearers in our squad, along with the twenty one curse bearers we have in the military we have far too little to go around."

Thalia had not mentioned a critical part of the situation because it was something they both knew...

Military curse bearers were only in the military in the first place because they were not powerful enough to join a squadron.

They could get very formidable during their time in the military but they still wouldn’t compare to those who had served as long as them in a squadron, and that was just for those of them who actually got stronger.

The real talents would have already been promoted to squadrons the moment they became exceptional.

So although they were not as weak as regular humans, an elite newbie like Kiera and Luke were far more valuable than them in actual combat.

Thalia then continued.

"How many curse bearers does the center currently have?" 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The professor looked like there was something he desperately wanted to say, but still answered her question.

"Thirty."

’That is basically thirty elite curse bearers...’ Ark thought.

"That is great, I’m going to need—"

"I’m sorry."

"...?"

"What do you mean?"

An uncomfortable silence settled around them when they realized the implication of his words. Thalia looked back at the newbies, whose lives were in her hands and then back at the professor.

"Professor..." she began. "All I need are five men, surely you can part with them. Even with these five, the other four shelters will be sorely under-defended."

The professor shook his head, the old man unable to meet her gaze.

"I am well aware of the situation but this is far above my power—"

"The hell do you mean it’s far above your—" Thalia paused after realizing she had been raising her voice.

She took a deep breath and massaged her temples, no doubt re-calculating their entire strategy.

"You are the highest ranking person in the center currently aren’t you?"

The professor nodded, visibly ashamed.

"That is indeed true but just as the apocalypse warning came, I received a call from one of my superiors to ensure all center curse bearers guard the center and the center alone."

The man pulled out a white handkerchief and wiped his forehead before adjusting his glasses.

He too was feeling the pressure from the entire ordeal.

"An obnoxious order that I would have flaunted, but my superior has placed a proxy in his place, I no longer have the final say here."

Boom!

Thalia slammed her hand against the body of the vehicle, causing it to rock slightly.

"Who the hell gave these orders?"

The professor let out a tired breath.

"Major Grey."

Thalia frowned.

"That guy?"

Kiera and Ark shared a brief look.

Was it possible that the situation they were currently in was related to him? If Grey had close ties with the center then he no doubt knew Ark was in the fourth squadron.

Maybe his self-proclaimed father was hoping to sweep him up in the mess, making everyone else collateral damage

’But will he go that far? Or was the major cooking up something else behind the scenes?’

Thalia was getting more impatient by the second, the more time they wasted the less prepared they would be for the apocalypse.

"You know I could as well withdraw military aid to the canter if you fail to meet my demands?"

The professor paled at her words.

"Vice Commander, please consider the lives you would be putting at risk if you are so. The civilians taking refuge here had nothing to do with the decision."

Although she desperately needed the curse bearers, Ark knew for certain that she would do no such thing.

It was a simple bluff, and a bad one at that, no doubt the professor had already caught on as well.

Thalia gritted her teeth and walked forward in hurried steps.

"Take me to this so-called proxy."

Just as Thalia left, Ark rotated his seat to face the doctor. The woman cocked her head slightly at his sudden movement.

"What?"

There was a question Ark had in his mind when the discussion was nearing its conclusion.

"Can’t Thalia simply force them to comply?"

Before she could answer, someone else cut in.

"The wielders center is an independent body, they do not take orders from the squads or the regular military line of command," Luke said.

"You should know this, it’s basic education. Or are there no schools back in the slums?" He finished, his voice icy at the very end.

Luke then flipped the page of the manual in his hand and glanced at Ark, his eyes staring daggers at him.

Ark barely paid him any attention, it was a surprise that it had even taken this long with two of them in the same space for him to act unruly.

Before anyone else could speak, Thalia hopped back into the vehicle and slammed the door shut.

"Let’s go." She said, her voice barely audible.

Natasha worriedly glanced at her but obliged and started the vehicle, pulling back into the road, away from the center.

For a while no one spoke, unwilling to rouse Thalia’s anger. Things were already going to shit under her command and it didn’t matter who refused who Aid.

At the end of the day, everything that would happen as a result of it would be blamed on her by virtue of being the vice commander.

"Tch."

Thalia rose from her feet and tapped a button on the roof of the vehicle. An extremely thin screen slid down from the roof, hanging in front of them.

On the screen was what appeared to be a map of the entire city of Lorsine.

At the center of the entire map was a red circle that was slowly pulsing.

"Is that...?" Elise was about to ask when Thalia responded.

"Yes, that is where the first get will appear, the central portion of the city, that is where we are currently going."

"We aren’t getting any help and it’s too late to call HQ to have Major Grey reverse the order. We are going to have to do this ourselves."

She zoomed out of the map, showing four glowing blue squares, the four major shelters.

"Here is the plan..."

Ark summoned his system and checked the time before Thalia could begin.

[15:00]

They had fifteen minutes left until the apocalypse would begin.