Chapter 445: The Eternals Turn on Each Other
"How could this happen!" Sersi's eyes were full of unspeakable grief as she stared at Ajak, whom Makkari carried in so carefully.
The face that had once been so full of life was now pale and lifeless, like a withered flower. It was heartbreaking to see.
Makkari's movements were gentle and heavy. She laid Ajak's body down on the conference table. In that moment the whole room seemed to freeze, the air so heavy it was hard to breathe.
Phastos, the calmest and most rational of the Eternals, rushed to Ajak's side first. He expertly lifted her eyelids to check her pupils, then gently pressed her chest, searching for any sign of life.
But every movement he made felt like a verdict on Ajak's fate.
The other Eternals, Sersi, Thena, Gilgamesh and the rest, watched Phastos's every move with a hope they refused to let go of.
Each of them was silently praying that Phastos would bring a miracle, tell them Ajak wasn't really dead, that it had all been a false alarm.
But reality is always cruel. When Phastos finished his examination, he simply turned to the others and shook his head. That silent "no" stabbed into every one of their hearts like a blade.
Grief spread through the room like a plague, and the whole conference room fell into a dead silence.
After a long while, Thena was the first to break the heavy silence. Her voice trembled, but it was firm. "What happened? How did this happen? How could Ajak just suddenly..."
"Where did Ikaris go? Didn't they go out to talk? How did Ajak come back a corpse? Where's Ikaris?"
Thena had sensed something was off about Ikaris by now, but she didn't think he'd be deranged enough to murder Ajak. That possibility hadn't crossed her mind.
Only then did the others begin to come out of their grief. Gilgamesh noticed who else was missing.
"Kingo and Sprite are gone too."
Realizing something was wrong, he looked up sharply. "Wait, where are Kingo and Sprite? Why aren't they here?"
Everyone's attention shifted to the other two missing members.
For a moment, the Eternals seemed shrouded in gloom, every one of them full of doubt and unease.
But Thena forced herself to stay calm. She took a deep breath. "Things are complicated right now. We can't fall apart.
"First, let Makkari tell us exactly how she found Ajak. Then we'll figure out together how to find Ikaris, Kingo and Sprite and get to the bottom of this."
Makkari couldn't speak, so she gestured out what had happened.
Druig, who understood Makkari, watched her hands closely, his brow furrowed, as if he were hearing something bad.
After a moment, he slowly spoke, translating what Makkari had seen. "Makkari says when she first went out, she couldn't find Ajak and the others. Later she ran a long way and finally found Ajak's body at the edge of a cliff. There were clear signs of a fight on her body. She was probably killed by Deviants."
"As for Ikaris," Druig went on, "Makkari says that when she got there, all she saw was Ikaris flying away in a hurry. She doesn't know why he'd leave Ajak there and take off alone."
Sersi's eyes filled with tears. She couldn't accept the cruel reality. "How could this happen? They were fine just now. How could they just run into Deviants out of nowhere?"
Phastos, the smartest man on the team, shook his head slightly, a grave look in his eyes. He began to analyze what had happened. "My guess is these weren't ordinary Deviants. Ordinary Deviants could never kill Ajak.
"But why were they there? And why did they clash with Ajak?
"By rights, if Ikaris was there, he should have been able to save her. Unless..."
Phastos stopped suddenly and didn't finish.
But his suspicion was almost spoken aloud: Ikaris might not be innocent.
Without solid evidence, though, he didn't want to jump to conclusions.
Druig, however, wasn't as cautious as Phastos.
He was ambitious, and he understood human nature better than anyone here.
He said it outright, with a hint of provocation. "My guess is Ikaris killed her in a rage because she opposed one of his decisions."
Gilgamesh flew into a fury at Druig's words.
He knew what kind of man Ikaris was. He could be stubborn, but he would never do something so cruel. However bad he might be, he wasn't that bad.
He shouted back, "Druig, don't talk nonsense! Impossible! Ikaris isn't like that!"
Druig sneered right back. "Then tell me, how else could Ajak be dead? Did she kill herself? There aren't many people in this world who could kill Ajak!"
"Couldn't it have been someone from Hell's Kitchen? Or the Godslayer?"
The two of them were at it again.
Sersi's head throbbed watching them argue again. Now was not the time to fight. The Celestial was about to arrive, they were tearing each other apart, and with their leader dead, they had no one to hold them together.
Could they really save the Earth?
Just then, Thena stepped forward. She strode boldly between the two arguing men and shouted firmly, "Enough! Stop fighting! At a time like this, you're fighting among yourselves!"
Thena's voice rang out like thunder, and the two men fell silent at once.
Seeing that, Thena went on. "Gilgamesh and I have decided to go find Ikaris and the others and get answers."
She paused and turned her gaze to Sersi. Since Sersi wanted to stop the Celestial, Thena wouldn't stand in her way.
"As for your plan to stop the Celestial, figure it out yourselves."
With that, Thena turned and left, Gilgamesh right behind her.
The rest were left to discuss what to do.
What none of them knew was that the Ikaris they were talking about was in grave danger at that very moment. Gravely wounded and barely alive, he lay on the ground beneath the foot of a mysterious figure in black.
"Who... are you..." Ikaris struggled to raise his head, his voice hoarse.
The figures in black ignored his question and murmured among themselves. "So this is the site of the Emergence. The Celestial's power will soon be ours."
One of the black-robed figures glanced down at him with contempt.
"What a disgrace to us Eternals."
Sprite, who had been on her way to meet up with Ikaris, saw it all. Her eyes filled with terror, and she turned and ran.
"Looks like a rat got away."
"Leave it. Set up the equipment first."
"I hear the Council of Reeds is coming too. Let's move."
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