Rebirth: 100 Days Before Doomsday - Chapter 289

Chapter 289: The Truth About the Veil
“Are you sure there’s no way to make these barriers hold for long? Maybe decades, if not centuries?”

The sudden question came from General Kane who was looking at Grace with hopeful eyes. His question also made the others hold their breaths as they waited for her response.

On the other hand, this unexpected and sudden question made a smile stretch across Grace’s lips but there was no humor in it.

“Let me thank you first for considering me powerful enough to be capable of creating something like that,” she said lightly. Her voice was calm, and her tone almost amused, but the weight behind her words was undeniable.

General Kane shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He wasn’t sure why, but he suddenly felt like he had said something foolish.

Grace tapped her fingers on the polished surface of the table, keeping her expression unreadable as she continued.

“Let me ask this first,” she said, sweeping her gaze over the gathered leaders of the Alliance. “Do you all have any idea why these Monster Beasts are suddenly appearing on Earth? Why they never appeared before the apocalypse?”

A heavy silence followed her questions, and the leaders exchanged uncertain glances.

Finally, it was President Huang who spoke up. “The cracks… the strange portal-like things… the beasts are coming through them. But we don’t know what they are or why they are suddenly appearing all around the world.”

“Exactly,” Grace said. “You don’t know.” She stood up and placed both hands on the table, leaning forward slightly. “Then let me tell you what you should have known from the beginning.”

She paused and let the anticipation build. Only then, she continued.

“Those portal like things you are seeing are not simple rifts in space. They are cracks in the Veil.”

“Veil?” President Grant asked what everyone else wanted to.

Grace nodded her head as she explained. “The Veil is a barrier that has protected Earth from the horrors of the outer realms since ancient times.”

The room fell into stunned silence.

“The Veil has always been there,” she continued. “It has shielded our planet for as long as humanity has existed. Perhaps even longer. It kept not only the Monster Beasts but possibly far worse entities from entering this world. But… even the strongest barrier does not last forever.”

She looked around, making sure each person in that room was listening.

“The Veil has been weakening for centuries. Slowly, gradually. But five years ago, when the apocalypse began, when the world was thrown into chaos, when humans and Shadow Beasts waged war against each other… that’s when the damage became irreversible. And now, the cracks have begun to spread.”

The realization hit the council like a storm.

“If even something as ancient and powerful as the Veil could weaken and crack over time,” she continued, “what makes you think the barriers I created will last forever?”

General Kane had no answer. President Huang had no answer. None of them did.

“The barriers will hold for as long as possible. I’ll try my best about it,” she said. “But they are not the solution. They are only a temporary shield, buying us time. If we keep hiding behind them, if we don’t act, then one day, they will fail. And when that happens, humanity will be wiped out.”

A chill settled over the room.

“So, what do we do?” It was President Evans of Country A who spoke this time. “We can’t stop the cracks from forming, can we?”

“No,” Grace admitted. “But we can prepare. We can fight back. We can make sure that when the barriers do fall, we are not defenseless.”

She looked each of them in the eye.

“We need warriors… stronger ones. We need people who can stand against these Monster Beasts and kill them before they grow in number. We need to train our people, arm them, strengthen them.”

“But… how?” someone asked. “These creatures are far beyond the infected or even the Shadow Beasts. How do we even begin to fight them?”

Grace sighed. “There is a way. But it won’t be easy.”

“Tell us.” President Grant was all ears.

“The Monster Beasts are creatures of immense power,” Grace said. “Ordinary weapons are useless against them. But not the super powers that most of us possess now.”

President Huang frowned. “Are you saying… only warriors with powers can fight them?”

“Yes,” Grace confirmed. “Or at the very least, people who can be categorized as Rank B or above warriors.”

The leaders grimaced. The warriors the Alliance had been training were barely at Rank C. Despite all the advancements made in the past two years, it was still not easy to make these warriors level up quickly.”

And the Monster Beasts were already hundreds in number. This wasn’t a fight humanity could win.

“So,” Grace said, anticipating their thoughts, “we have to change that. We have to expand the training academies, recruit more warriors, and most importantly… teach them how to harness their powers properly.”

“That would take years,” President Evans said, rubbing his temples.

“We don’t have years,” Grace replied bluntly. “We have months at best. And that’s only if the barriers keep holding.”

The weight of her words crushed any further argument.

“The best way to win this war,” she continued, wanting to voice out the rest of her thoughts, “is not just to fight… but to fix the Veil itself.”

A sharp gasp echoed from one of the council members.

“Fix it?” General Kane repeated, looking at her as if she had just suggested moving the sun itself.

“Is that even possible?” President Huang asked as he narrowed his eyes in thought.

Grace exhaled. “I’m not sure. But it seems like something we should do if we even want to think about surviving.”

“Then… how can we know if there’s a way or not to heal the Veil?” General Langley spoke for the first time since the meeting started, asking another question even Grace had no guaranteed answer for.

“I’m sure there’s a way out there. We just need to find where and what is it.”