CHAPTER 480: THE DAY BEFORE DOOMSDAY

Malvador had arrived on the Crucible alone.

He had no one with him which was strange because he was about to be in a War. He couldn’t possibly be fighting alone?

Pablo asked him the same thing and instead of answering, Malvador raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

The Ground rumbled just after that and Pablo even believed that the dead dragon King would make his appearance. But fortunately, it wasn’t the dragon King. It was simply the armies of two kingdoms.

In front of Pablo and Forza kingdom’s army stood the armies of Jasper and Hollow kingdom.

The army of the Vampires stood on the side of Malvador and the army of the Cannibals stood at the side of Corrosive, the King of the Cannibals.

Pablo and the soldiers focused on the armies but more than that they were confused about one other thing.

How the hell did all these people come out from the ground of the Ashen Crucible?!

Everyone stared at the scene in front of them and Malvador suddenly broke into laughter.

"You all must be wondering how the hell did all these people come from the ground. Right?"

Everyone nodded excluding Pablo. He didn’t need to nod. He won’t nod.

Malvador kept his eyes on Pablo and answered:

"The answer is simple. They have been here since yesterday. I have already sent the armies of both kingdoms here. Only I arrived here today. Even Corrosive was here, under the ground."

"Why?" Pablo asked. "And why under the ground?"

Malvador kept his smile unchanged. "I wanted to make it grand. Simply entering is boring. Also, my mood changed. So I chose this way."

"But how did you do it?" Harlia chimed. "It isn’t easy to enter this ground and you made them stay under it?"

But Harlia shouldn’t have chimed in. Because...

"Don’t speak in between, woman. I’ll rape your brains out."

Malvador straight out threatened Harlia without his usual smile.

The soldiers gasped.

Harlia went wide eyed.

And Pablo, he couldn’t help but smile.

Harlia was left fuming but she let it go. She would return the disrespect ten fold.

Malvador ignored her and looked at Pablo again.

"Entering this place is difficult, I know. But all these people, they didn’t enter this ground. They fell on it. There are some soldiers who could fly and I used them to make these people land on this ground directly from above. After they landed, they must have heard the voices I am hearing right now, but they held on."

"What about the smell of the smoke? How did they overcome that? Even you fell for the illusion. So they must have suffered that too, right?" Pablo asked.

Malvador nodded and looked at Corrosive.

"Answer him. How did you all survive the illusion? I wasn’t here so I don’t know."

Corrosive nodded and answered, "We fell into the illusion just after seconds of arriving here but we figured that we were in an illusion. So we defeated that, fought with the ashes to break free from it, and won. After that, we simply went underground and stayed inside just like you said."

Malvador clapped for the Cannibal king and focused on Pablo again.

"Staying under the ground wasn’t necessary but like I said, I wanted to do something different."

Pablo shrugged. "Your army, your choice. But if I were you, I would have kept the armies hidden under the ground till tomorrow and when the soldiers would have run to attack me, I would have summoned the armies, taking the attackers off guard."

"I had thought about that. But then I changed my mind because I wouldn’t like people to say in future that I won the war because I took my enemies by surprise. I want perfect victory with nothing but using my strength. Not tactics."

Pablo nodded. "Well, you do you. But you should really use some tactics."

"Why?" Malvador asked.

Pablo smiled. "Because you ain’t winning by brute strength alone as long as I am alive."

Malvador laughed. "Then I just have to make sure you die first."

Pablo kept smiling and Malvador stared at Pablo with eyes that of an executioner. Like someone who was responsible for forcing justice in the world.

Pablo stared back at the Vampire and he tried to read more behind the smile of Malvador.

But he couldn’t do it as Malvador averted his eyes.

"SOLDIERS!" He shouted.

"YES!"

"Make tents and rest. Tomorrow will be a long day and this war might go on without stopping for even a second. Have a breather and hope you stay alive till the end of it."

"YES!"

The vampire soldiers shouted and went behind Malvador.

The army of the Cannibals were still standing but Corrosive ordered the same thing as Malvador ordered his army.

The Cannibals also moved behind Corrosive and began setting up tents and shit.

The army of the Forza kingdom and the armies of the Vampires and Cannibals were face to face, at the opposite ends of the Crucible.

Pablo ordered his soldiers to carry on their chats and jokes and the soldiers did the same.

The war was tomorrow, not right now. So they still had time to spend it leisurely and talk their hearts out.

Harlia also went with her soldiers and continued their talks.

Corrosive also went to sit with the Cannibals and started having fun.

But only two men remained standing and staring at each other.

Malvador Nocturne and Pablo Castillo.

They both crossed their arms in front of their chest and none of them left the gaze off the other.

Pablo was trying to see if he could understand whether Malvador was the same from the inside the way he portrays himself from outside. He wanted to see if Malvador was playing an act or was he like this. Like cheerful, childish, moody, evil and confident.

Meanwhile, Malvador watched Pablo with a smile but his nails were dug deep inside his flesh. He was trying to hold back something. He was trying to hold back his rage for some reason. He was trying to keep the smile on his face while watching Pablo. Because in reality...

He could never smile looking at Pablo.