Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 161. Fight Against Time.
“Alex!” Anna shouted after the running boy, aiding herself with a bit of Qi. “I’m taking my Royal Guard and going too!” she said loudly, causing the thirteen-year-old to almost trip over his feet. So it wouldn’t be only his older brother, but Anna too?! Suddenly, he was beginning to think that the hardest part of his task wouldn’t be to get to the Four Kings as fast as possible but to explain the situation to them without getting beaten up.
Unable to resist the urge, Alex slowed down and looked through the faraway door, straight at his older brother. He could tell that Casimir fell for Anna real bad, so he couldn’t leave without a confirmation; would Casimir agree for her to tag along?
Contrary to Alex’s worries, Casimir merely smiled helplessly and nodded his head, then gestured at him to hurry up. “Gah!” Alex groaned, wishing that he could stay and ask his older brother what was he thinking. He didn’t dare to stop for long, though, so he could only bear with his unsated curiosity as he turned around and once again started running.
Casimir smiled brightly, his eyes following his leaving brother for a second. The kid was rough around the edges, but he was sure that if Alex gave his best, he could become a ruler of their country no less spending than him. “As for her…” he mused silently and glanced at Anna with a weak smile. As he expected, she wore a stubborn look on her face. Seeing her like that, he chuckled quietly and approached her. As much as he didn’t want to take her along, he couldn’t ignore her and just leave.
Two months ago, when the two of them had been introduced to each other by their fathers with the intentions of establishing a political marriage, neither of them was ecstatic. However, that changed once they got to know each other better. They hadn’t told anyone yet, but even without the pressure from their fathers, they would have wanted to get married anyway. Anna was surely angry with him since he was taking such a big risk, but she said nothing, what only made Casimir love for her deepen.
“Fine,” he said helplessly once he recognized what the unyielding look in her eyes meant. “Let’s go together,” he agreed without an argument. He loved Anna for many things, but the greatest one out of them all was that she was not only smart but also thought in a similar way to him. He understood that his only argument against having her tag along was that he would worry about her too much, but he also knew that had he been in her shoes, he wouldn’t have listened either.
“And let’s come back together,” Anna added with a bewitching smile, one that she only ever showed when talking to Casimir. She saw that he wanted to kiss her in his eyes, but she merely puffed her lips and pushed him on the back. They could do that and much more once they returned safely, now was not the time for flirting!
Somewhat regretfully, Casimir hurried towards the exit with Anna following right behind him. He glanced towards Eve as he walked, and so did Anna. The girl looked overwhelmed by everything that had happened before her eyes in the past minutes, but there was nothing they could do. Since they had already agreed to try and save Arslan, they truly needed to value each second. And yet, before the two of them could go through the door, words of a certain boy stopped them in their tracks.
“Wait up, we are coming too,” Laien said with a quiet laugh. He had been ready to reveal his strength earlier and use it as a trading chip if Casimir had still hesitated, but he hadn’t needed to do so. As a result, Casimir remained oblivious to the fact that he and Yin weren’t exactly helpless boys. There was no way they were going to stay here and do nothing while their friends needed help! Still, judging by the unconvinced look on Casimir’s and Anna’s faces, those two needed some convincing before they would agree for them to come along.
Casimir, not really sure how to respond to such a senseless statement, let out a sigh and was about to tell Laien that even though he appreciates his intentions, the two of them would be getting in the way. However, just as he was opening his mouth, he felt how the boys released their auras. At first, he was startled to discover that Laien was a dual practitioner of the eighth rank and that Yin’s cultivation base was infinitely close to that of a martial master’s of the first rank.
Still, Casimir intentions didn’t change; two kids at the level of martial masters of the second rank at best wouldn’t only serve as an unnecessary weight. Alas, he was once again robbed of the chance to say what he wanted as in a matter of seconds, Laien’s and Yin’s auras surged in power so much that for a moment, all the thoughts left his mind; all he could do was to stare at these two abnormal kids with wide open eyes. The cluster of insights that was mixed into their auras was so thick that he was having trouble discerning one insight from another, but one thing was undeniable. In terms of aura alone, those two didn’t lose to slightly weaker martial masters of the fifth rank.
“You two… how…” Anna said in disbelief. She had been training very hard her whole life and thanks to that, she had become a martial master of the third rank at the age of seventeen. Although her talent wasn’t quite good enough for her to earn the right to call herself a ‘supreme martial master’, she definitely was in the very upper ranks of elite martial masters of her rank. At the same time, she knew that Casimir had put even more effort than she did and as a result, became the youngest supreme martial master of the fourth rank in the history of Eulene. And yet, those two boys who looked to be around twelve or thirteen years old, their auras were already comparable to supreme martial masters of the second rank…! And that was while they were still in the mortal realm! This degree of talent was something beyond common sense; it no longer could be described with the adjectives like ‘elite’ or ‘supreme’ but deserved to be called monstrous!
“We can tell you later,” Laien said, glancing over his shoulder at the dark-blond-haired young woman. “Lead the way, let’s not waste time,” he said the next second, his gaze returning to Casimir. Since an explanation would have taken far too long, he and Yin had chosen to simply reveal the full strength of their auras. Having experienced it first-hand, Laien didn’t expect Casimir to argue about whether they would or wouldn’t be useful anymore.
“Follow us.” And just like Laien thought, Casimir said no more and gestured the two of them to follow, having quickly accepted the terrifying surprise as a matter of fact.
To be precise, though, Casimir was quite shaken by this show of power from Laien and Yin, but he pushed those worried for later. Once they succeeded in returning alive, he would have more than enough time to ask those two about their story. As for the option of failing and dying in the Guode Yimarate, he would think about it when he was dying and not a millisecond sooner.
Once Casimir, Anna, Laien, and Yin left the room, all that was left was an uncomfortable silence and one speechless girl. The boy she had come to like suddenly left on a task entrusted to him by his older brother, while Anna went with the above mentioned older brother to risk her life fighting. Half an hour ago, they had been planning what to do for the rest of the afternoon but now, she was left alone. “I guess I might as well tell father what happened,” she decided and stood up. Once her father was done helping out Alex and Casimir, he would surely want to hear the whole story. Those two and Anna would probably tell him that there’s no time, so she might as well do it in their stead.
After all, anything was better compared to sitting alone in a room and worrying for her friends. Though, the part about worrying was likely what she was going to do for the next few days. “At least Alex won’t be in danger…” she told herself, but immediately felt bad for thinking in such a way. She clapped her cheeks a few times, then raised her head. She wasn’t going to get depressed!
Meanwhile, in the citadel, quite a turmoil was brewing up and growing stronger every time words were exchanged between the inhabitants.
“Royal Guard, to me!”
“Royal Guard, gather up!”
Hearing the two Qi-enhanced yells, General Adrian felt all the blood drain from his face. Right now, he was carrying Alexander and the boy’s horse through the air, having given in to his insistent pleas to help him get out of the citadel as soon as possible. He had thought that Casimir agreed to have Alex go to Azuresky and request for aid, but when he heard those two yells, one of Casimir’s and the other of Anna’s, his predictions shattered like a plate of glass. Those two crazy idiots…! Were they really intending to recklessly charge into that war?! Were they still sane?!
“White Sword Unit! Black Sword Unit! You’re also coming with us!”
If he hadn’t been moving through the air with Azuresky’s Second Prince, Adrian would have descended back to the citadel ground at this very instant in order to question Casimir. Those two mad royals, they were taking not only their Royal Guards but also two hundred of his best riders? Yes, if he was pressed to, he could defend the border without them even if they were attacked by hidden elite units, but how could Casimir be doing all of that without even explaining the situation to him, much less asking him for the permission! This brat, he was becoming more and more like his father, and in the wrong way!
“Alexander, tell me what is-…” Adrian began saying once he suppressed his anger, but coincidentally, he had already landed with the boy and his horse.
“Sorry, no time!” Alex shouted and tucked the sides of his horse, sending it into a gallop right of the bat. Mere seconds later, he was already far away and would soon reach the speed of over eight hundred kilometers. With the well-maintained net of roads in the Holy Union, he would be able to maintain this neck-breaking speed for the entire distance of thirteen to fifteen thousand kilometers. Of course, however, doing so would inevitably push his body to its very limits.
“…” More than a little speechless, General Adrian shook his head and flew back to the citadel. He wanted to exchange at least a few words with Casimir, but he could only raise his eyebrows at the speed at which the entire four hundred men deployed. It had been but thirty seconds since Casimir and Anna called for them, but they were already riding down the drawbridge towards the primary layer of the walls. He wondered if he shouldn’t catch up with those two for a bit as he watched the riders leap over the walls and land on top of the mound, but then, someone called out to him.
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“Father!”
It looked like his daughter wasn’t going anywhere. How nice of her to want to explain everything to him! Or so he thought and hoped. If she came with an unreasonable request and told him that Casimir told her to do it, then he would probably lose those last bits of patience which he had left within him.
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“Elite mounts?” Casimir and Anna both noticed how Laien and Yin were effortlessly keeping up at the head of their column of four hundred riders. The two of them hadn’t thought that those two young kids who weren’t even from the nations of riders would be in possession of such rarities, but this surprise didn’t last long as it soon was exchanged for another one.
In the living room, Laien and Yin had flaunted their auras, so they knew how strong those boys were. However, now they just barely sensed how the two of them expanded their auras backward and swept most if not all of the four hundred riders with them. But, what was even more unthinkable, was that suddenly, the auras of those boys thinned out and seemed to disappear. Yet, both Casimir and Anna kept having a feeling that Laien and Yin didn’t withdraw their probing but instead, changed its form for some reason what in consequence made their auras far harder to detect.
“Hoh,” Laien smiled and glanced to his right, at Casimir and Anna. “Casimir, do you still think our odds are one in five?” he asked merrily. Wasn’t that assumption made under the basis of having three hundred people with them? Moreover, he and Yin were also here, but Casimir would likely once again underestimate them. While it was true that alone, they were at best comparable to weak or average martial masters of the fifth rank, together their strength soared into the skies. As long as they had the element of surprise, killing a marital master of the sixth rank wouldn’t be an impossibility! And, those four hundred riders following behind weren’t exactly weak either.
The one hundred Royal Guards of Anna’s were a level below Casimir’s one hundred, but their strength still averaged out around the early third Realm of Heroes. Amongst the two hundred Royal Guards of those two, there were forty martial masters of the fifth rank, of which thirty were in Casimir’s unit. The remaining one hundred and sixty was made up of about fifty martial masters of the fourth rank, sixty of the third rank and another fifty of experts of the second and first ranks. By the looks of it, there was quite some fresh blood with good potential amongst their ranks, but the bottom line appeared to be the chasm between the mortal realm and the Realm of Heroes.
As for the two hundred riders from the citadel, the ‘White Sword Unit’ and ‘Black Sword Unit’, they counted ten martial masters of the fifth rank, about one hundred martial masters of the fourth rank and about eighty to ninety martial masters of the third rank.
Curiously enough, there was not one person who wasn’t a martial master amongst those four hundred riders. Some of them had strong spiritual cultivations, too, but being a marital master seemed to be yet another requirement to join those kinds of elite units.
“Maybe one in four,” Casimir replied to Laien after taking another glance at their forces. He had frowned slightly when Laien called him by his name, but he wasn’t one to be all that bothered by the little things. Thus, he didn’t even bring the matter up and continued with the subject at hand. “If the circumstance was different and we had more information and could form a good plan, it could be as good as half-half, but we don’t have the luxury,” he explained with a wry smile on his face. Jumping head-first into a random battle like this one wasn’t in his style, but the risk was worth it.
Truth to be told, he hadn’t told one thing to those boys or Anna, but he wasn’t planning to say it openly anyway.
“Good enough,” Laien said with a laugh. Without Casimir and Anna’s help, they wouldn’t have been able to come to Arslan’s aid at all. Compared to zero chances of success, one in four chances were infinitely better. “I’m going to cultivate,” he declared with a smile and glanced at Casimir. If there was something the young man wanted to ask him, then now was the time. At their current speed, it would take them somewhere between ten to twelve hours to cross seven thousand kilometers and reach Arslan, so it would be a pity not to use this time to its fullest.
“Go ahead,” Casimir said awkwardly. He usually knew what kind of attitude to take with the person to talk with him well, but Laien kept throwing him off.
“I’ll do the same,” Yin called out to Casimir. “Would you mind if we went behind you two? Our horses will then be able to carry us by themselves,” he mentioned, thinking that it would be better to ask first rather than to force their way into those two spots like Laien was intending to do.
“I don’t mind,” Casimir replied in an even more awkward fashion, then frowned when he heard Anna laugh to his right. “What’s so funny?” he asked helplessly. When it was something logical, he and Anna thought in a scarily similar way, but when it was something subjective, he often couldn’t read this girl at all.
“No, no,” Anna shook her head, her delicate lips forming into a bright smile. “I was just thinking that once you aren’t in control, you don’t know how to act. It’s cute,” she said teasingly. The two of them were very compatible, so Casimir had never acted awkward around her, but it was probably the first time when someone else was taking the initiative in his presence with the exception of Casimir’s father. It was no strange thing that Casimir didn’t know how to react when something like that was going on and there wasn’t a way nor a reason for him to regain the lost initiative.
Not knowing what to say, Casimir gave Anna a resigned look. Still, he was saved from being teased by her further as the flow of their little exchange was interrupted by the two boys making their way behind them. Grateful that his Royal Guard wouldn’t have a chance to listen to Anna making fun of him for too long, Casimir quickly changed the subjects.
“Michael, Adam,” he called out, using his Qi to do so. “Take your tens and secure our flanks. Don’t get too far away, but kill anyone who sees us,” he ordered ruthlessly. It didn’t matter if the people were warriors, wandering practitioners or civilians. Flying beasts were faster than non-elite mounts, so they couldn’t allow for a random message to be sent Abdain’s way.
“Yes!” The two men replied swiftly and split to the sides of their column, then spread out. Their whole group would naturally need to move a little slower since they would be riding through uneven terrain, but that was something they were all used to. Sweeping the enemy lookouts was the basic of the basics of their military training, after all.
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While the events to the north of the Guode Yimarate were playing out, the two battlefields kept progressing unceasingly.
With the night having almost passed, the south-western battle between the core of the White Guard and the allied forces of Yimar Maar and Arakar experienced no unforeseen events. Arakar wasn’t about to bet his life to finish off the drying-out Mustafa and to Yimar Maar’s agitation, he didn’t see the need to commit his white-golden-robed elites to any kind of bloody battles either.
Thanks to the commanders left by Abdain, the central battlefield ended in what perhaps wasn’t a stalemate but bleeding slow enough to be negligible. Be it as it may, the center of Mustafa’s forces couldn’t go all-out against Yimar Maar at the fear of Arakar sending his people out to crush them. This endeavor simply wouldn’t be worth it from the perspective of the White Guard, mainly due to the situation at the right wing.
There, with no potent elites to act as the core of the army, Yimar Maar’s and Abdain’s forces were being steadily killed off hundred by a hundred. At this rate, thanks to the advantage on the right wing, given enough time, the overall battle would undoubtedly be won by Mustafa’s side. However, it once again wasn’t something that either of the sides didn’t predict.
Judging by the rate at which the right-wing battle was developing, Abdain’s predictions would be spot on. As of now, the early morning, twenty hours had passed since the clash began and just below twenty-five percent of the Guode Yimarate’s right-wing forces had been wiped out by this point. Their army would likely rout once the casualties reached seventy percent, and given that they were being beaten one-sidedly, the rate at which they were losing would also increase. However, even then they wouldn’t fall before the forty-eight-hour mark passed.
In other words, the overall advantage laid entirely in Yimar Maar’s, or rather in Abdain’s hands, and Mustafa was painfully aware of it.
“What should I do?” Mustafa kept asking himself. This time around, their communication hadn’t been m cut off due to outside involvement, so he was aware that Abdain had advanced to the seventh Realm of Heroes and was pressing his three White Guards and General Julien’s group. He knew that Arslan was in great danger and he was calm enough to understand that Abdain was only dragging his fight out because he intended to capture Arslan and not to kill him.
He wanted to disregard everything and sacrifice what was left of his cultivation to save Arslan, but his enemies wouldn’t let him pass for free. He would surely need to expend quite a bit of his Qi to get through them and to then outrun Arakar, who would surely follow close by. If he did that, then him killing Abdain wouldn’t matter as right afterward, Arakar would kill the weakened him and capture Arslan either way. The whole difference between failure and the possible success came down to no more than ninety seconds, but as insignificant of an amount of time as it usually was, now it meant everything.
“I really didn’t think he was going to advance in strength out of nowhere,” Mustafa murmured. paying little to no attention to the battle that was going on a few kilometers in front of him. He couldn’t hope for the Ruishi Federation to intervene for the same reason he was stuck in place; the lack of speed. Was the only option he had left to try and kill Arakar and have his Lieutenants capture Yimar Maar, then have Abdain exchange his son for Yimar Maar?
It was possible, but the chances were just too low. Arakar was keeping his distance and avoiding any possible danger to his life from the very begging. The only reasonable possibility of him killing Arakar would be if Arakar himself came to attack him, what the man wouldn’t do. If Arakar focused on fleeing, then he would simply not be able to sustain the Qi expenditure during the chase and his Qi Origin would break down even more, at what point he would lose the ability to kill Arakar anyway.
“Is it the price of taking the risk?” Mustafa asked himself with a self-mocking smile. He had jumped straight into danger dozens of times in his life, but he had always been supported by his own martial prowess and had always emerged victorious in the end. However, now he lacked that important factor, he couldn’t make the miracle happen. He had taken the risk… Arslan had taken the risk, so they should have been ready for the possibility of failure. They should have been, but to him, it was painful to think that everything he had built up in his life could fall just like that.
If he didn’t do anything and if Abdain captured Arslan… then at least, Arslan’s life would be spared, but Makarash would be wrestled away from their hands. Arslan would likely end up an eternal prisoner to enable his enemies to control the loyal experts of the city… a future like that, it was a disaster. He didn’t care that much about himself as he had already lived through enough; if he died, then he died, so be it. However, he didn’t wish for his son to suffer a fate like this one.
“Do I need to pray for a miracle?” he asked himself and looked up at the clear, blue morning sky. He had never once prayed to a god of any kind, he had never believed in their existence. However, if a prayer could help to save his son from his peril, then he would fall to his knees and pray. Alas, all he did was shake his head and laugh in a self-depriving way.
“Not the gods, but the people,” he said to himself. “Isn’t there anyone capable of making the miracle happen?” he asked quietly, his gaze wandering towards the north-east.
If there was such a person, then for what little it was worth, he would be ready to offer him his eternal gratitude.