The Guildmaster was having a bad day.

At the moment, he was beginning to doubt if he had truly been blessed by the gods.

His life seemed cursed.

For the first time in a long time, he didn’t know what to do.

It wasn’t enough that he had to lose to the Hoarder thereby forfeiting a point in their competition.

He was also losing his touch as a leader.

After he had given up on chasing Jeremy and gone back to the Base, he got a different reaction from the people.

At the moment, he was trying to charge up their morale to fight.

He wasn’t having any success so far.

With many Gifteds dead, the rest of them didn’t want to fight on for fear of their lives.

They were of the opinion that they find their way through the Waves of the Armageddon on their own.

He had taken it on himself to talk them out of the idea since they were not listening to their respective team leaders.

For what seemed to be the umpteenth time, he explained their situation to them and tried to coerce them into staying.

"The team leaders and I are your best bet if you want to live. We all would gladly give up our lives to protect you if it comes to that. We’re asking you to do the same at least for the sake of our fallen comrades. Their death shouldn’t be in vain."

There was nervous shuffling at his words but no one gave a reply.

He could still sense hesitancy and unwillingness on their part.

Unlike before were they easily swallowed up what he said, they were doing the opposite now.

They still respected him enough not to openly oppose him though.

At the moment, he was even inclined to believe that the Hoarder had messed with their intelligence.

A burly man stepped up to speak on behalf of the rest of them.

He was looking unkempt as some of them were and his rough English was marked with a strong local accent.

He looked to the ground as he addressed the Grandmaster.

"We are grateful for everything the Pariah has done for us. We saw the Demons eat our brothers and we don’t want the same thing to happen to us if we stay and fight. We prefer to make our own way through all these. We hope you understand and forgive us."

He looked over the small crowd to see that they all shared the same sentiment.

Paul was shocked at what he took to be flawed logic in their reasoning.

Wasn’t it more reasonable on their part to stick with the Guildmaster that had seen them this far?

Perhaps rumors of the Hoarder beating him multiple times had somehow gotten to them and they were scared that their leader couldn’t take him in their final showdown.

He wondered which of the team leaders had let their tongue loose and spread fear in their hearts.

Whatever the case was, he realized that it was something that they had decided long before they voiced it out.

He realized that there was nothing to be done again.

He had tried his best.

He couldn’t hold them back from leaving if that was really what they wanted to do.

"Have it your way then," He said with a light shrug ignoring the stares from the team leaders.

Perhaps they wanted him to push harder to convince them to stay but there was a limit to the length he could go.

If he talked any longer, he would sound pathetic.

The man looked up at him as if to confirm that he wasn’t going to be punished.

In reply, Paul turned back heading straight to his office.

The team leaders watched on silently as their members all filed out through the gate without looking back.

The team leaders felt betrayed if anything and it was all Lisa could do not to burst into tears as she saw the Beta team dissolve in her eyes.

The mighty Gifted Alliance had now dwindled to a paltry number of six people altogether.

Only Paul and his team leaders were left to complete the challenges.

They all had questions for the Guildmaster but Lillith beat them to it and shook her head at the others which was a sign that they keep their distance.

She wanted to pick his mind first.

She found him seated at his desk idly looking at the window.

For some reason, it was a sadder sight than if she had found him in tears. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Have they all gone?"

He addressed her without turning back.

"Yes they have. I thought you’d make them stay."

"If they can’t listen to reason and stay here were it is much safer, who am I to convince them otherwise?"

His voice was now raised and she backed down from riling him further.

"Oh well, you tried your best. This is going to be a huge blow to us. Are you sure we can complete the tasks on our own?"

"Yes we can. They don’t matter. We will get through this."

Paul felt overwhelmed by the burden as he was sure that the team leaders eyes were even more fixed on him now than ever.

He wondered how many of them nursed the idea of leaving with the others.

He was still unsettled by the people abandoning him, it was something that he hadn’t foreseen at all.

His hatred for Jeremy now only made him more desperate to win.

Lillith stood without saying a word in reply.

A king without a kingdom was a sorrowful sight.

He was trying to convince her that they were better off without disloyal members.

For some reasons though, it sounded like he was trying to convince himself too.

[SYSTEM ALERT]

~The Second Wave Of ARMAGEDDON Will Now Commence!~

<The Second Scenario: Let The Sky Fall, Will Now Be Initiated>

[SYSTEM INFORMATION]

<Second Scenario: Let The Sky Fall>

[Scenario Information]

<Week 3>

The moon will turn blood red

[Quest Update]

<Quest 1>

Survive The Third Week

<Quest 2>

Challenge The Third Mystery Of The Five Miseries And Solve It

<Quest 3>

Defeat The Boss And End The Scenario

[Rewards Such As Karma Points And Items Will Be Given For Each Quest Accomplished]

~BEST OF LUCK!~