Immediately after, pin-drop silence followed as all the murmurs were instantly quelled.
Once silence was regained, the murderous aura in the air retreated back to the Ancient One, who slowly took his hand off the table as he calmly sat back in his seat.
"The reason why you're all shocked is very well understood by me..." King Auremis said, his voice as calm and as deadly as ever.
"It is right for you all to be afraid—and heartwarming it is, as your fear is not born of your own lives, but the lives of the Younglings."
"The Gates of Soulless Ruin is a punishment ground for the evil-doers among us, most especially used on those who have betrayed us, falling to the words and promise of the enemies."
"It was something that even the Guardians themselves used to fear as we all know once one goes in, then only the righteous will exit."
"It used to go by the phrase:
"Throw a Silverunic into the Gate of the Soulless Ruin. If he is indeed as righteous as he claims, then he would return alive."
"But if he holds even one blot of darkness within him, they he would be forever lost inside."
"And frankly, of the 100 percent of people who have gone into the Soulless Ruin, only about 20% have returned. Even those who returned are not without harm," he explained as the Silverunic nodded their heads.
The Gate of Soulless Ruin was truly as monstrous as mentioned. There had never been one who was cast into it and came out unscathed.
"But as we all know, the one in charge of such Ruins is none other than the one who bears the title of High Scholar."
"Only a person in such a post could explain to us what the Gate of Soulless Ruin really is—and today, I will be leaving this explanation to High Scholar Emeris to let us truly know what it is..." King Auremis said, taking a seat.
Back on the throne, every gaze turned to look at High Scholar Emeris, who had been silent all the while since the beginning of the meeting, never talking or making a move—until finally, he rose from his seat.
"Those who are to be killed will die in the Gate of Soulless Ruin, and those who are to survive will survive. All who are to be killed or to be alive is in the power of the Royal Blood of the King and the Elders."
"Not in the hands of a Ruin," High Scholar Emeiris said, his voice calm and steady, bringing shock to everyone in the hall.
"You all think the Gate of Soulless Ruin is like a gate to Hell, but to be fair—you really don't understand."
"It is rumored that even Hell itself has its own floors. And that is exactly what the Gate of Soulless Ruin is."
"A slow, drilling descent into death and torture."
"It has a total of nine levels. None would survive the last level, and most could only survive the lower levels based on how strong they were," he explained, a sickened silence reigning all over.
"You think we throw people in, and if they return alive, they must be innocent. But that's a lie. If they return alive, it's because the Ancient Ones and the King want them to return alive."
"And for that reason, they will throw them in for what they believe is just enough to make them suffer, but not kill them."
"If one has been decreed to be responsible for the crimes they committed, they will be outright thrown to the ninth level—where they will not last a second before they are killed."
"And all I say is from experience," he said, drawing a gasp from many of the people in the room.
"You have gone into the Gate of Soulless Ruin?!" one of the Ancients asked as High Scholar Emeris nodded.
"Of course I have. Why do you think the test to be a High Scholar is the most difficult yet least spoken of?"
"It's because you have to climb into the levels of the Gate of Soulless Ruin and reach the 8th level—and come back down all the way while remaining alive."
"I've gone to the 8th level, and by how dangerous it is, I'm pretty confident none among us will reach the 9th and manage to survive."
"But the point is, there are levels to it and one could survive if thrown to lower levels."
"This is what My King Auremis hopes to take advantage of."
"The Gate of Soulless Ruin holds as much fear as the battlefield of the Ancients, if not greater. So there is no better way to test the younglings unless we go ahead and create a battefield."
"But to cause a full-blown war just because of a coming-of-age ceremony is far too fragile."
"Hence—why not send them to the Gate of Soulless Ruin?"
"And having been through a coming-of-age ceremony myself, gone through almost all floors of the Soulless Ruin, I can confidently say I now know what level is enough just to test the average ranking soldiers," he explained, drawing a thick mist of silence across the room.
When they all thought long and hard about it, they realized High Scholar Emeris words made more sense.
The Soulless Ruin truly was the only one that came close to the ancient battlefield in terms of fear factor.
And if it's truly level-based, as mentioned—and High Scholar Emir has gone through it—then it made even more sense.
It made the children's fate even more reasonable and just enough to safeguard the honour of being a Guardian as entering the Gate of Soules Ruin and managing to return alive was more than enough proof that one is worthy to be trained.
And now they could finally see the reason why the King—who is no doubt the one who fears the most for the younglings—will suggest it.
After all, among the children that are going to enter the Ruin, the King's own two and only daughters were amongst them: Filiana and Eliana.
If the Gate of Soulless Ruin will kill everyone that enters it, then why would the King send his own only two daughters inside to die?
"According to my knowledge, the levels where the kids are allowed to venture without facing death will be the second level."
"Any more, and they will meet their death."
"So the test will be simple."
"To test the current Average Silverunic Younglings and for the next year to come."
"They will be required to walk through the first step of the Gate of Soulless Ruin—down, pass its chaos and then arrive in the second level, passing through all its dangers."
"At the end of the second level, that hold the gate of the third level there will be a Vortex waiting for them to send them back here."
"If they can do this, then they can successfully be guardians of the realm—without doubt of their ability at all."