"Why do you have so much rice on your plate?! We should divide it equally!" Axel shouted.
"Because I cooked it!" Nicholas retorted.
"The Emperor has not arrived yet. Why did you already serve your plate? Are you trying to fight?!" Jasper had enough of Nicholas' outrageous behavior.
Meanwhile, Samantha and Michelle were lost for words. Like Andrew and Leonel, they could only watch in a distance as Axel and Jasper fought Nicholas.
"I have enough of that bullshit!" Nicholas bellowed.
"What bullshit?" Eric calmly said.
With Zoe by his side, he slowly walked to the table with his usual indifferent expression. He stared at Nicholas with a piercing gaze, causing the latter to calm down.
However, he did not reply and turned around, sitting on the table.
"You are not answering me?" Eric halted.
Nicholas sat at the other end of the table, seemingly conveying something, while Eric halted on the other end, as the others watched on the side in silence.
Seeing Nicholas keeping quiet, Eric said, "Nicholas, I really thought you were willing to follow me. I guess, I believed too early after I taught you a lesson.
I almost thought that Axel would be more problematic than you."
Axel felt embarrassed and turned sideways, not wanting to meet the gaze of others.
"I have met a lot of people like you. Some, I managed to change, but it all depends on my interest.
For you, I certainly don't. So, I will ask you to leave right now." Eric smiled slightly.
Despite beaming a smile, everyone shuddered. The chills ran down their spines as their hair stood on ends.
The Emperor… is angry! They thought at the same time.
It appeared the Emperor was careless to fail concealing his emotions. Nevertheless, he did not care about it, as he wanted to get rid of the annoyance as early as possible.
However, instead of following his words, Nicholas was enraged.
He stared at Eric in ferocity and bellowed, "Who do you think you are to tell me?"
Everyone gasped. They could never believe someone tried to talk Eric disrespectfully. Did he just forget that Eric killed the Bulwark Zombie?! The boys thought.
However, Nicholas believed otherwise. He was the last person to regain consciousness. He believed that Axel's explanation was only a cover up and thought there was someone in the shadow who helped them.
He recognized how strong Eric was, but he certainly should not be stronger than the massive zombie.
Hence, he said what he believed, "Don't think you can fool us. You, Jasper, and Axel were about to die, but someone saved us. However, since the almighty did not want to reveal himself, you, the first to recover his consciousness, manipulated us."
He snorted, feeling smug by what he said.
"Emperor this, Emperor that. What a load of bullshit!" He grinned.
Everyone turned to Axel, the one who narrated what happened and his face turned pale. He did not answer their inquiries but only turned to Eric and lowered his head.
This guy is spouting nonsense! If that massive zombie was not awake and tried to bite me, to which Eric ended its life, I would have believed him. Furthermore, those bloodshot eyes… Eric's state, to which he activated the Last Stand Resilience, was still vivid in his mind.
"What made you think there was another individual who saved us?" Eric was intrigued.
Nicholas grinned. "Like I said, I barely saw anything during the shockwave. However, I still managed to catch the glimpse of that person. He was too fast. The massive zombie could barely catch it. Before it knew what happened, all of its limbs were already severed." His eyes sparkled in admiration.
Eric was amused. This guy managed to stay half-conscious while the others were completely knocked out. Unfortunately…
"So, you don't believe it was me, and thought it was another, not among us?"
Nicholas nodded. "Hump! It's good that you know. So, stop acting and trying to be a leader. I voted for that person to be the Emperor."
"The way I interpret it, it seems you are confident he is watching over us."
"Of course." Nicholas sneered. "He is watching us. Soon, you will receive his retribution."
Everyone could not believe Nicholas' nonsense. However, it was also the right moment to assess how the Emperor would resolve the issue.
Axel, who might have an idea how to support the argument that it was indeed Eric who Nicholas described, went quiet. He had enough of Nicholas anyway. He did not want to save him, if Eric did not allow him so.
Eric nodded, and said, "Alright. Let us postpone the supper. Jasper, carry him and let's go outside. If he resists, help him, Axel."
"No, I'm enough," said Jasper in a resolute tone.
"W-What are you doing? This is ridiculous!" Nicholas protested.
He struggled, but Jasper was too strong. Furthermore, Jasper knew how to lock people and since it was Nicholas who has a major less attribute points than him, it was easy.
Nicholas struggled, while others paved the way for Jasper to leave outside the house. Eric led the way as they soon left the pink gate.
…
Thankfully, some time has passed and the smell of the Bulwark Zombie attracted the other zombie. After all, they instinctively desired to eat a part of an evolved zombie with a stage higher than them.
They were similar to humans, if they ate crystals that could benefit them with evolution, they would be crazed for it.
Hence, normal zombies and third mortal zombies gathered around the Bulwark Zombie to find the red crystals, to which, of course, they would fail.
Nevertheless, the normal zombie ate the flesh of the Bulwark Zombie since they contained necrotic energy anyway, which should suffice in providing them energy to gain closer towards the evolution.
Eric assumed it would happen and he was correct.
As soon as they left the pink gate and headed towards the Bulwark Zombie, since the night limited their vision, they failed to notice a considerable amount of zombies at first.
However, when they finally noticed it, with some zombies that seemed not normal, their faces were drained with color.
They all halted and Eric, too–mostly because everyone already noticed the zombies gathering around the Bulwark Zombie.
He did not explain why those zombies were eating the Bulwark Zombie to them as he said to Nicholas, "If I throw you there. That almighty should save you, right?"
He smiled slightly.
However, everyone who saw his smile thought it was the smile of the devil…