The divine emblem on Toka's chest grew warm; he knew this was the gaze of the divine.
His gaze finally lifted from the tabletop, meeting the eyes of the old troll.
"What is your name?" Toka finally spoke, his tone unexpectedly steady, devoid of the usual youthful impetuousness.
The old troll frowned deeply, speaking with disdain, "My name is Utuka, Elder of the Frozen Blood Tribe, who personally followed Matos's Snow Sacrifice and served in the Ancestral Land for thirty years—"
"Very well." Toka nodded, stood up, and interrupted Utuka's self-introduction.
He walked out of the observer's section and went directly to the council table, and under the focused gazes of everyone, he slowly took out the obsidian Dragon's Eye emblem from inside his leather armor.
The cold stone emblem glowed with a dark golden divine radiance under the firelight, lying quietly yet strikingly in his palm.
"I am Toka, from Tok-Aak, the current diplomatic envoy of Italk, and also one of the first followers of what you call the 'Evil God'…"
His gaze fell upon Utuka, carrying the sharp edge unique to youth, yet settled with a calmness beyond his years:
"You said we betrayed the loa?"
He leaned slightly forward, his gaze like an ice pick piercing the other party:
"When the Tok-Aak tribe wailed in hunger and cold, and their bones covered the frozen earth, which merciful loa bestowed his grace?"
"When Uglo's flames burned the sky, devouring homes and hope, which esteemed loa revealed his divine miracle?"
"When Italk's people were bewitched by the Evil God, their souls gnawed by darkness, becoming like walking dead puppets…"
Toka's voice suddenly rose, each word like a chisel:
"Which loa cast even a sliver of his compassionate gaze?!"
"Is it—is this our fault?!"
He almost growled the last sentence, his teeth clenched, as if swallowing a scalding, bitter wine mixed with blood and ice.
After a brief pause, Toka took a deep breath, his voice returning to a cold calm:
"We did not abandon the loa."
"It was the loa who abandoned us first. Abandoned all our people struggling in frost and death."
Boom—!
These words were like a boulder crashing into still water; the council hall instantly erupted with suppressed whispers and gasps.
Toka continued without pause, his momentum rising again, pressing relentlessly:
"You say we drove away the prophets and elders? Ha!" He let out a short, cold scoff, "It was them! They first absconded with the wealth revered for generations, abandoned the sacred land where ancestral spirits resided, and fled like stray dogs to the feet of Frost Howl!"
"The only thing they couldn't take was us—this group they considered a burden, yet who only wanted to survive on this frozen land, these 'untouchables'!"
"We…had no choice!"
He slowly tightened his grip on the obsidian Dragon's Eye in his palm; the faint glow of the divine emblem seeped through his fingers, as if holding a solidified cold star. His tone also settled down with it:
"And then, he came."
"No blood sacrifice, no offerings, no kneeling in the snow until frozen to beg for a shred of mercy!"
"He was just there."
"And so, we survived! Italk survived!"
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