Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 155. Abdain’s Setup.
Noticing Arslan’s slightly confused expression, Julien laughed soundlessly and explained. “It’s nothing, I’m just glad that we’re protecting someone like you. You wouldn’t believe how many nobles think they’re hidden geniuses and always want to have some input into the strategy. The worst thing that can happen to a military commander is to have his superior issue unreasonable orders.”
“Still.” He added after a brief pause. “It’s not like I would obey any unreasonable orders, even if they came from Elder Samuel himself,” he mentioned with a laugh that didn’t quite reach his eyes. Lightening up the mood was all good and nice, but as far as his predictions went, they had just about fifty percent chance of being wiped out in this place. Their best chance was to either kill or gravely injure Abdain, but with his nigh-impregnable defenses, it would be a hard task to accomplish.
“Oi, you kids.” He nodded towards Arslan, then called out to the rag-tag group that was tagging along with them. “Come over here for a second,” he said in a rather stern tone. The three kids from the Faren Yimarate, the father of the two of them, some old Ikarian man, and the weak guards of those two boys from the south…. In the original plan, there wasn’t supposed to be too much real danger to them, but the appearance of the extremely threatening martial master of the seventh rank in form of Abdain turned everything on its head.
A brief moment later, Julien’s men made the way for Johan, Sarah, Albert and the rest of the bunch. This rag-tag group indeed looked extremely worried, but to Julien’s own surprise, even though he could see fear in their expressions, their eyes were surprisingly clear. He had expected those guys to feel a myriad of emotions, with resentment and helplessness amongst them, but it looked like his assumption wasn’t on point at all.
“We heard everything,” Sarah spoke up with a slight smile, seeing as Julien and the rest of the adults were looking at them with weird looks on their faces. “In short words, we’re in deep shit, right? And you probably want to tell us that you can’t guarantee our safety and that in case something happens, you will protect Arslan over us, right?” she asked almost merrily, her lighthearted attitude throwing everyone off. This particular reaction of being taken off-guard was especially strong in those who already knew well of her personality, like Sirius, Kasha, Reian, and Arslan, who were all bewildered.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Sarah said with a bit helpless, though also wry smile on her face. “I’ve agreed for Johan to do what he wants and I went to follow him, and this doofus followed me,” she said jokingly, sending warm glances first towards her younger brother, then her boyfriend. “I’m tired of always arguing against them… so I might as well follow them and hope for the best. Either we will find our happiness or we will die,” she added a bit sarcastically. She still thought that Johan was absolutely crazy to want to follow Arslan, but what could she do about it? If he was going to be so adamant about it, then she could as well do her best in helping him.
“That’s…” Julien said in a quiet, honestly surprised tone. Then, he let out a laugh and shook his head when he saw Albert hold Sarah’s hand and Sarah pat Johan’s head. He had no words to describe how foolish those three were being, but he didn’t dislike this attitude of theirs. After all, it wasn’t that long ago when he himself had stood by the idea of claiming his revenge or dying as he tried. “I’m glad for you. Since you all appear to have resolved yourselves, I’ll give you a task to accomplish. Please stay close to Arslan and protect him to the best of your abilities,” he said with a calm, meaningful smile. He trusted that this group would be able to figure his intentions out on their own, so he didn’t waste his breath for any needless explanations.
And just like Julien expected, the bunch he was talking with seemed to more or less comprehend, depending on the person, that they’ve been placed in the safest position possible. Even though their task of guarding Arslan was far beyond their ability, doing something like stalling one or two people for a second would be doable. As for the potential risk this task carried, all of them realized it was more than offset by the fact that they would all be protected by Julien’s entire forces. Thus, apart from a few grateful nods towards Julien, none of them did or said anything else.
“Hah,” Julien shook his head a little and smiled in a rather grim fashion. “The easier part is done. Now, just how should I deal with those people?” he asked himself, his gaze turning towards the incoming mass of five or six thousand kids. Whatever it was that Abdain planned to do, it wouldn’t be anything good for their morale. The more gruesome options included slaughtering those kids in large batches while demanding their group to surrender or using those kids as living shields while carrying out the attacks. Had it not been for Abdain’s breakthrough, they would have been able to afford to split their forces and prevent such atrocities from happening… but now, it was only wishful thinking.
“I hate making decisions like those,” Julien thought to himself. However, if he was forced to choose between the success of their mission and the lives of those kids, he would undoubtedly choose the former. As much as he sympathized with those children as a fellow human being, at this time he was one of the Ruishi Federation’s Generals, he was a soldier. There was no way he would risk the failure of his mission without a good reason for it, merely because of his personal preferences and beliefs.
“General Julien,” Sirius spoke up openly, in front of everyone. “I know what you are thinking about, but do not overly focus on your duties. Any extreme actions will make the future plans of our countries much harder… and I don’t think Abdain is as ruthless as you believe him to be. He’s a bloodthirsty warrior, but he had committed commendably few massacres of civilians during his career,” he mentioned meaningfully, though the words ‘commendably few massacres’ hardly rolled off his tongue. As one of Mustafa’s subordinates, he was of the mind that sacrifices for the greater good were necessary, but he could tell that Julien and his men thought otherwise.
“What I’m trying to say is,” he followed up with an ever so slight smile. “We should wait and see what Abdain intends to do before jumping into the darkest of thoughts. Working to save some of those kids should be advantageous for us in the long run… and look, it seems like even our familiar nobles are being sent our way,” he mentioned calmly and indeed, as everyone paid a little more attention to their surroundings, the experts amongst them noticed the Euleanian nobles and their guards. Although those people weren’t trustworthy, they could still be used in one way or another.
“Abdain will likely attack us soon,” Sirius spoke up again, breaking the few-seconds-long silence. “There’s no point thinking about ‘what are we going to do if’. Let us see what happens and react accordingly. Thinking too much is only going to work against us,” he said casually, all the while sending his voice outwards with the aid of his spiritual energy.
Much to Sirius’s satisfaction, he soon sensed that the atmosphere amongst Julien’s men became less apprehensive. He nodded slightly and smiled to himself. It was likely that those youngsters were facing a battle of this kind, one that wasn’t a straightforward clash between practitioners, for the first time in their lives. In those situations, it was most important for the soldiers to empty their minds and to focus on obeying orders, to discard their emotions and thoughts. What Julien did by speaking of their problems in front of everyone was foolish, but it wasn’t like he could put his authority in question by objecting to his actions. In itself, such a choice would also be a foolish one.
“Eh, if only Jasmine was here,” he murmured soundlessly, but just as quickly as this thought came to him, it was discarded. Jasmine would have been able to deal with Julien and their entire battle better than him; she had been an incredibly experienced military commander, after all! Not to mention that she had placed Julien under her thumb with her charm alone. No matter what, it was something only a woman like Jasmine was capable of, and not something an old man like him could emulate.
“Good then,” Julien said resolutely. “Reian, I’ll need your help. Keep Abdain’s men off me while I fight the bastard and if you spot an opportunity, feel free to join in with your own attacks. I’ll try to lead him into a dangerous spot so we’ll have a chance to kill him off,” he stated simply. To begin with, he never expected to pull off any complicated schemes with Reian. It was only because of how the overall situation had developed that he had no choice but to rely on his aid. Alone he might be able to stall Abdain, but he wouldn’t be able to hold the man in place. In this kind of a defensive battle, dealing with a practitioner with unrivaled defenses truly was worst of the worst.
“I’ll do my best,” Reian responded simply, keeping all his thoughts to himself. He had been nearly killed by Abdain just a moment ago, so he had no delusions about taking revenge for Jasmine on his own. He also couldn’t allow any harm to come Arslan’s way… and as dangerous as it would be if it looked like they were about to be wiped out, he would take the boy and attempt to flee with him alone. Out of those present, he was likely the fastest in the sky; as long as he could avoid the incoming attacks during the first seconds, he should be able to flee.
The biggest problem was, though, that Arslan’s body was currently simply too fragile. If he dodged at extreme speeds with Arslan in his arms, the pressure of the movement itself would probably kill Arslan on the spot. The five-year-old, was, after all, ‘only’ a martial practitioner of the second rank. As astonishing as it was for a kid his age to have reached this level, in a battle between experts, he was as fragile as a wet sheet of paper. Thus, unless there was no other option, Reian would rather not rely on this dangerous gamble. It was only the last-resort card, one to implement in case everything else failed.
A few dozen minutes later, just like Sirius predicted, Abdain’s intentions were revealed. The six thousand children and the additional group of Euleanian nobles, counting over two thousand adults, approached them while Abdain’s subordinates and his mercenaries tightened the encirclement around their now quite large group. Soon afterward, the highest-ranked Euleanian nobles, familiar to Julien, Arslan and the three White Guards, came to them alongside a few unfamiliar teenagers. As far as assumptions went, those youths were probably the more confident of the leaders of the many groups of children that had been swept up into this whole battle between two factions.
“Hahaha,” the only one of the four high-ranked nobles with a smile on his face, Duke Diego, greeted them with a merry laughter. “It looks like we’ve all found ourselves in quite a peril, ah? As far as I regret being unable to pass those lands safely, every misfortune carries an opportunity,” he declared loudly. As a seasoned warrior himself, he could tell that the battle would break out very soon, and as he valued his life highly, he preferred to avoid any potential trouble. Thankfully, as haughty as the nobles accompanying him were, they were smart enough to pick up on the clue he just dropped.
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“My retinue might be few, but my two hundred martial masters shall aid in young master Arslan’s protection. Let us get through this time of strife and if the fate so desires, come out of it as brothers in arms,” Duke Diego stated enthusiastically, almost as if he was a character from an ancient novel. This alone stirred the remaining nobles, be it the three high-ranking ones or the lesser ones, but before any of them could speak up, Duke Diego said a few more words in precaution.
“Words are still only words, so allow us to prove our intentions with actions. We shall serve as the second-to-last line of defense and naturally, I shall take part in fighting myself.”
This simple statement caused the originally anxious looks on Julien and Sirius’s faces to lighten up. Yet, at the same time, the eager looks on the faces of many of the nobles died down. Which of them hadn’t had a thought to use the chaos of the battle to take Arslan hostage to them present him to Abdain in exchange for their lives and possibly, even a generous reward? Yet, all because of Duke Diego, they were placed in a tight spot. If they didn’t follow this old, golden-haired man’s example, it was almost sure that Julien would decide to purge them just in case. A few seemingly simple sentences had cut-off all the options they might have had, leaving them with only one path to take.
“So be it,” the golden-haired young man, Prince Ludwig, proved to be the first one to make up his mind. “Truth to be told, I’d rather not, but it’s the only way for both of us. I’ll commit my fighting force to our protection,” he said with a bleak smile, obviously not too happy to be putting his life in danger. It didn’t escape Julien’s attention that unlike Duke Diego, he didn’t offer to fight on his own either. However, the merits of having this seven or eight hundred martial masters as additional aid outweighed the demerits that their potential betrayal carried, so he didn’t say anything.
Right afterward, Chancellor Meinhard and Duke Ayer expressed the same feelings as Prince Ludwig and reluctantly joined the military effort. The minor nobles did the same, leaving one last thing to take care of. The six thousand youths and children that seemed to have been directed here for no particular purpose.
“Did Abdain’s men tell you anything?” Julien asked the five youths. The fact that none of them had been killed or dragged off to be tortured along the way was already more than he had hoped for.
“They did,” the oldest of the youths, a boy that looked fourteen or fifteen at most, stepped forward and answered nervously. “They told us that we are to travel with Arslan, the boy you are protecting. They also said that… if you kill us, then they will send more children over until you’ve killed all two million,” he said in a rather shaky voice.
“…” Mixed feelings overcame Julien as soon as he learned of Abdain’s intentions. This man… he didn’t know if he should hate him or respect his wit. It was apparent Abdain knew that if he did too much, then they would have killed any nuisances even at the cost of deteriorating their morale. However, if it was only a small obstruction, then they were more likely to accept it. Between making his men kill perhaps not two million, but undoubtedly hundreds of thousands of children and taking the burden of protecting this six thousand, the choice was obvious. They could keep high morale at the cost of enlarging their defensive perimeters; it was an acceptable trade and Abdain surely understood it, too.
“We can’t promise much,” Julien said the brave youth. “We will do our best to protect you, but our priority is to protect the young master,” he started explaining, but soon swallowed his words. He wanted to tell quite a few more things to those five youths and ask them to control their respective groups well as to prevent panic, but he could already see Abdain’s men moving. The battle would begin within minutes, so there was no time for idle chatter. He needed to move out to reorganize his five units of thirty-six and he needed to prepare himself mentally before facing off against Abdain.
“We know,” the brave youth said and forced out a surprisingly genuine smile, thus startling Julien out of his thoughts. “Nothing good waits for us if we are taken by those Ikarians, we know this much. We will do our best not to get in your way… so please, save the lives of as many of our brothers and sisters and you can,” he requested and bowed deeply, his actions soon mimicked by the four youths standing a step behind him.
Flabbergasted, Julien didn’t know how to respond. He expected those five youths to be frightened, but they were surprisingly calm. He expected those six thousand kids to be a nuisance, but now that he looked around properly, apart from sobbing and whimpering, all the kids were orderly standing in place without making a ruckus. What was it that supported them to this degree? He couldn’t understand why they weren’t panicking now that they faced battle and death. Was it perhaps their faith? The words instilled in them by that Prophet? He didn’t know and he had no time to find out.
“We will,” he promised and gestured to one of his Cherubim to take care of the details. Assigning spots to those nobles and their guards and making sure that the kids wouldn’t run around aimlessly, those two major issues needed to be quickly taken care of. He glanced towards the five youths, the nobles and towards Arslan one last time, then breathed out and headed off with Reian. He had done everything in his abilities given all those crazy developments, so all that was left was his and his subordinates’ specialty, the marital battle.
Meanwhile, a few kilometers away, Abdain was smiling contentedly.
“It seems like they’ve given in,” he said to himself, caring little about his ruby-golden-robed experts. He had nothing left to tell them, so he could devote himself to his favorite past-time, a life-or-death battle with other powerful practitioners! “A small handicap here and there… you people truly aren’t ruthless enough,” he murmured and laughed inwardly. He disdained killing civilians, but if need be, neither he nor his men would hesitate to bathe those lands in their blood. This difference in their resolve, he was sure that Julien would soon realize how many hours it had shaved off his time.
“The main goal of capturing Arslan, hah. It looks like we might be able to pull it off,” he mused happily. If it was just killing Arslan, then it would have been simple enough. However, taking him alive was far more beneficial and far harder, especially within the forty-three hours which he had left from the limit. It would be a catastrophe if their armies fell to the White Guard before he could accomplish his aim, but he didn’t think he would need to worry about it too much. The last thing he needed to confirm… was whether the rumors of Julien’s strength were true or not.
“Off we go!” he called out energetically, a slight smile present on his face. He didn’t even look behind or around himself to confirm whether his subordinates were carrying their orders out properly. He would be a failure of a commander if he hadn’t taught them to do something as basic as carrying out a pre-set plan, so he intended to trust his men and focus on the part of the job only he could perform. Without doubting himself, he rushed off towards the centermost group of Arslan’s.
Given his speed and breakthrough power, he would need only twenty seconds or so to kill his way through those weaklings he had added to Arslan’s group and to then kill some of Julien’s subordinates to finally get to Arslan himself. As a martial master of the seventh rank, he was a nearly unrivaled existence on the battlefield; very much like Rudford was in the south, in the Sarkcente Kingdom. To stop an ultimate master with cannon fodder… it was an impossible task. Precisely because of that, the strength of the country and the outcome of the major battles were in great part decided by one factor, the strength of the ultimate experts on both sides!
“Come, come!” Abdain yelled eagerly, seeing the lightning-engulfed figure of Julien dash out of the main lines of their almost eight thousand strong group. He was excited to fight this young prodigy of the Ruishi Federation, but more than that, he couldn’t help but smile wryly. Undoubtedly, it would have been far more effective for Julien to keep their ranks tight. However, Julien had abandoned this plan so easily just because otherwise, his men’s morale would take too strong of a blow.
“That’s why being on the offensive in a war is almost always more advantageous,” Abdain mused in those last seconds before the first, or technically the second clash between their two camps commenced. If you and your people were willing to accept some of the more hideous methods as a natural part of the war, then any moment your enemy happened to find himself with too many things to protect would also be the moment signifying his loss. “That’s why if you’ve got things to protect, you must keep them hidden from your enemies…” he added in his heart, then discarded all and any thoughts.
“This man is…” he frowned slightly as he was faced with the silent, chilly killing intent of Julien’s aura. He could tell that even though Julien was a marital master of the fifth rank just like Jasmine, whom he had killed, the fight wouldn’t be nearly as easy as against that woman. Jasmine’s skills were simply too unsuitable against someone like him, a powerful earth-element martial master. Yet, even this woman could have taken his life in that last desperate attack had he not been careful! “Quite dangerous, indeed,” he told himself while watching the fast-approaching silver-haired man.
This time around, he couldn’t afford to allow any direct hits. If there existed an element suited to piercing defenses, then it would be lightning. Yet even despite that, the bigger problem was that he knew next to nothing about Julien’s actual abilities, only about the overall level of his strength. Jasmine had been famous for a long time, while Julien only emerged from nowhere around fifteen years ago. Forbidden arts and sacrificial techniques, for example, those allowing one to burn his own life energy or overexert his Qi Origin in exchange for a brief outburst of immense strength… one careless mistake was enough to concede one’s own life in a battle at their level.
Seconds later, as the two of them moved at speeds that made the surrounding world seem to move at a snail’s pace, they finally clashed. Abdain swung his broadsword, taking the liberty of performing the first attack thanks to the greater range of his weapon. Though, as he expected, he sensed the surging aura of the lightning all over Julien’s body and right afterward, saw Julien disappear in a flash of lightning. “Behind, huh,” the brief, almost unconscious thought passed his mind.
His body reacted instinctually, guided by his aura and a great deal of experience he had accumulated throughout his hundreds-years-long career. Taking two short steps, he twisted his body and without breaking the momentum of the first slash, met Julien’s attack head-on just in time. Lightning Steps and all kinds of movement arts, as mighty as they were and as skilled as their users might be, a martial master of the fifth rank overwhelming a martial of the seventh rank in speed was far too unrealistic. It was true that Julien held an advantage in speed, but it was far from an absolute one!
Smirking, Abdain put more strength behind his broadsword. He ignored the sparks of lightning that were flashing from Julien’s sword and assaulting his hands and forearms; something at this level wouldn’t be able to get past his outer layer of Iron Skin, much less his internal defenses. Just like in the brief clash with Reian, the two swords screeched as immense strength built up between them.
Then, within mere split-seconds, Julien was forcefully blown away, unable to match up in brute strength at all. The expression on his face became a little ugly after this first feeling-out of Abdain, but perhaps surprisingly, Abdain’s face turned quite stiff too.
“Bastard,” Abdain cursed aloud. This fluid swordsmanship of Julien’s and his quick decision to jump backward in orders not to be blown away too far and in order to conserve his Qi… it was just one exchange, but Abdain was sure that it would all be one huge pain in the ass to deal with.
“And here come those guys too,” he clicked his tongue when he sensed Reian’s aura getting close, followed by two units of thirty-six men.
Yet, at the same time as he complained outwardly, a satisfied shadow flashed past his eyes. Yes, his true prey were coming to him just like he wanted.