Chapter 257 Storming The Council 3
Portia's eyes narrowed, because how could the reactions of the seven escape her when everyone was subdued under her pressure? She also saw the expressions of the others and basically gauged who was guilty and who was not.
The rest were small fries who Dante could revenge on himself using his own preferred means. Portia would not go as far as to chase them down for their petty schemes, but she definitely could not allow the attempted murder to go unpunished.
"Just as I thought, it's you lot. The so-called Supreme Council of the Eternal Universe in the First Gate," Portia sneered as she focused on the seven.
To this, the faces of everyone became blank because they did not understand what was going on? What is a Supreme Council? What is a First Gate? They knew of a Zero Gate, but since when was there anything like a First Gate.
Looking at the puzzlement of the other councilors, minus those who were added to the Prime Human Council for their strength - amounting to about 40 fellows at most - they were clearly utterly clueless.
This observation shocked Dante greatly and made him pensive. If it was like what he thought, then his heart became cold because he realized that the waters of how the Eternal universe flowed were far deeper than he initially thought.
In fact, even the seven were shocked by Portia's slight reveal, and Juliano - the arrogant handsome young man - shouted out, "Eternal Nightmare, stop! What do you think you're doing?"
Portia glanced at him askance, and that look alone was enough to make him wheeze in pain and close his eyes.
"Hmm, another one I do not recognize. Must be another newbie," she muttered to herself.
"Anyway, it doesn't matter. This is your first punishment for crossing my family; I'm going to reveal your little secrets and plots to the entire universe. Let's see how you deal with that," Portia announced coldly before turning to the rest.
She laughed at them with mockery. "Hahaha, what a cute Prime Human Council. You guys are the nominal rulers of the universe and decide on all matters affecting the universe, right?"
"Well, let me tell you, some of your seats here are not even worth some of the other seats. You may be on this council, but without a superpower or great martial prowess, you will never be a true member of the ruling class."
The 50 or so fellows with superpowers and extraordinary power who were part of the Eternal Universe's roster for the First Gate seemed to lower their heads slightly, while the remaining 63 people were slowly becoming more and more aware of what Portia was trying to say.
"You fight over the Zero Gate and think it's the be-all and end-all, but it's merely a training ground prepared for each universe to harvest resources to train fighters. The real power exists in the main warzone, a place called the Battlefield of Universes."
"There are millions of universes like our own out there in the near endless expanse of the void, but not everyone deserves to live and consume resources, so whoever created everything decided to set down a place for us to meet and fight for supremacy and the right to live."
"To get there, you must pass through the First Gate, which is essentially the same as the Zero Gate, but you need to satisfy one of two criteria."
"Either your superpower grade reaches C and above, or your SDI reaches a minimum of 1000 points on average."
Portia jerked a finger towards the calm Dante. "My son-in-law satisfied both criteria, and everyone knew this from that school's headmistress to those on this so-called Supreme Council, yet he did not even up to the moment he entered the Zero Gate."
Suddenly, the clueless ones had some understanding as they glared at those other people who were on the council with hatred.
So it's because of you assholes and your scheming that we're being pressed to the ground in humiliation in front of nearly the entire universe?
As for those who knew about the First Gate, they first felt ashamed, then confused. While they knew about the supreme council because they aspired to be on it, they had never known about any information blackout towards Dante.
They had been even looking forward to having a powerful ally on the other side, because it would increase their collective benefits and survival chances. Why on earth would anyone want to sabotage something like that?
Seeing the confusion on the faces of the powerhouses, everyone realized that they were innocent of this matter, and they only had to look at the faces of the seven, which were terrible at this moment, as if trying to withstand a volcano, to know who was guilty.
Right now, the seven of them were completely depressed because Portia had cruelly increased the pressure on them, such that they couldn't even speak up to defend themselves or use words to sway the masses and trick them.
They also could not threaten her with certain things to shut her up, but could only sit and watch by the side like a certain type of man who liked to 'watch.'
As such, when the blame-carrying eyes fell on them, they had to face a different problem, the pressure of a ruined reputation and possible explosive political fallout. In such a situation, having strong superpowers meant nothing because only Lara and Portia could ignore all things in the universe and be carefree.
Beatrice too, to a large extent.
Dante as well, but no one needed to know that.
If any of these 7 were hit with dark matter or even anti-matter, they wouldn't be like Portia, who was strong enough to survive for a few days and even terminate her life functions while preserving her corpse.
As for the likes of them, they would literally disintegrate on the spot. Hm, maybe even going as far as anti-matter for overkill; a cleverly timed nuclear shot would be enough.
"The Universe Battlefield is a deadly place, and it's where I got my nickname of 'Nightmare of Eternal,' because to the combatants of the other universes, I was a nightmare, and I was from the Eternal Universe," Portia spoke calmly, facing the others, who she released from her pressure.
They were confused but stood up and sat down quietly, deciding to listen to all this powerful woman had to say, both for their own good and to understand what was truly going on.
"Everyone who knows my name also knows my combination of superpowers. Gluttony allows me to eat and store energy in great amounts, allowing me to eat anything that contains energy. It doesn't have to be typical food."
"Devour allows me to turn all the energy I digest into power for my body, raising my SDI. Devour works in tandem with Gluttony, but I was not born with it, I acquired Gluttony from the First Gate to enhance myself."
"I was only born with my Regeneration superpower that allows me to heal from any damage as long as there is energy in my body. I acquired Devour by luck from the Zero Gate when I was a student."
Portia flexed her arm, and to the shock of everyone, space literally cracked and broke before them. "Working with these three powers over time, I slowly raised my SDI till it became monstrous, beyond what any of you could imagine. Bionics and Psionics of this era could not?enhance me, for I had far surpassed them."
"With my great power, I fought in the First gate for us and captured over 15 territories, and spread our reputation within a small area, giving us the foothold we have today. Otherwise, forget there being a Supreme Council, we might be struggling to maintain our base with just their abilities," Portia stated bluntly as she forked a finger over to the seven, whose eyes darkened as they knew this was the truth.
"Of course, the headmistress has also done her part and is a strong stabilizing force. However, what progress have these guys made since I died? Nothing, I bet, and instead of sharing the knowledge of the First Gate with the whole universe so that everyone can prepare, they had sealed it off for only those they want to know!"
"And I am telling you all this because I want you to understand that the First Gate is no game. Only Lara and I can relatively easily walk up and down there. I may mock them, but these seven are truly strong, even for a cross-universal standard, but they cannot even guarantee their lives," Portia's tone changed and became grave.
Hearing a woman who literally cracked the fabric of space with her raw body's power say this, it was clear as day to those who didn't know how dangerous the First Gate was, and those who already did know nodded with complicated expressions, reminiscing about their brushes with death.
"And yet, these tossed my son-in-law in there without any information. Given the kind of danger I have spoken about, what do you think their intention for him was?" Portia asked coldly.
Murder!
Killing with a borrowed knife!
The other council members were shocked, even those who fought in the First Gate. After all, one side considered Dante to be a good tool to use and bully at first, while the other were secretly looking forward to standing behind him while he charged forward since he was stronger.
Their intentions were not pure, but they were nowhere near as cruel. In fact, they were behaving like typical humans, looking out for their own self-interest at the expense of others.
But trying to kill Dante was foolish; that was like killing a golden goose!
Whether out of morality or sheer common sense, no one does that!
The Seven, who underwent a new round of dirty looks and mental scolding, were thoroughly depressed. Luckily, Portia seemed to be done and released her second level of pressure on them, allowing them to speak.
"You, the girl with the sexy eyes, you can speak for them. Explain to me and the rest of the universe your secret council's esteemed thought process," Portia prompted, leaving Ophelia speechless at being called 'sexy eyes'.
It was not her fault that despite having a Caucasian lineage and a general physique, she had one of the best Asian eye shapes for females. It often made people misunderstand her as a sensual and playful woman when she was just trying to see, goddammit!
However, she coughed and stood up. "Right, now that everyone knows about the First Gate and the Universe Battlefield, I will state our current situation on the other side as well as the intentions of the Supreme Council."
She glanced at Portia and saw that the woman was not stopping her and decided to forge ahead as best as she could.
"Firstly, as Madam Portia said, the First Gate's danger is extremely great, but it has gotten pretty good in the last 20 years. The reputation and suppression both Miss Portia and Miss Lara built up for us have yet to fade."
"As such, I have good news in the fact that none of the territories that both parties captured for us have been reclaimed. In fact, we are actively developing them and have built multiple forward bases as well as outposts on them using our best technology, equipping them with the latest in anti-matter weapons, as such weapons still pose a threat to combatants who come to the battlefield."
Before Ophelia could continue, Portia rudely interrupted. "Huh? You only maintained them? What is that Lara woman doing? Why didn't she conquer any more? She must have gotten stronger in this time after ruling the academy for so long."
Ophelia's expression became difficult, and the eyes of the other 6 flickered with deep meaning. Portia saw this, and her eyes narrowed, realizing that things were not as sweet as she thought with this Supreme Council.
Clearly, as she herself had said earlier, some seats did not have the same value or importance as other seats. This seemed to ring true for more than just the Prime Human Council.
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