Huo Ming was being greedy but not obnoxious. The Republic laws Shen had read included such a situation. He was unknown, unproven, and, worse, weaker than these people. They had every right to question him and, if he failed to give a satisfactory answer, fight him for leadership.

Power was the multiversal language. No one wanted to obey someone weaker without sufficient reason. That was true even in the rigid Alliance's military. A D-rank might be a better leader than a C-rank, yet no C-rank would ever obey a D-rank. The military ranks were tied to personal power levels because anything else was unthinkable. It would be impossible to indoctrinate people to go against that unless they started from the crib.

"I accept your challenge, but it'll have to wait," Shen replied. "We're undergoing a military procedure. This is no time to settle personal matters."

Huo Ming smiled and asked, "Are you afraid of death? No, you trust the First Lieutenant to save you. You fear the Saber, don't you? To think such a pathetic cultivator could be called Field Commander."

Ming was right; Shen was apprehensive. He wasn't sure he wouldn't be permanently scarred by feeling the mastered Law of the Saber. He could see the terror in some people's eyes and how their bodies and souls trembled when they felt the Saber pierce someone. Therefore, possibly gaining a minor increase in his willpower didn't justify the potential damage.

Fighting Ming after being frozen made it even more disadvantageous; Shen would almost certainly lose against someone with a mastered Law. That would also disgrace whoever had appointed him Field Commander, which was a bad way to repay the honor—unless this challenge was the whole purpose behind the appointment, to increase Huo Ming's status.

But the best traps could make idiots willingly walk into them, right?

Shen didn't mind admitting his fear to himself. He didn't even mind others knowing he was careful. But he couldn't refuse a C-rank's challenge to prove whose willpower was superior. That ignited the fire of competitiveness in him. Liya had noted his arrogance, and she was right. His pride couldn't take it.

Refusing the fight would be humiliating. He would be admitting his inferiority without even having the courage to put himself to the test. There wasn't even the risk of death. Huo Ming knew exactly what he was doing.

Shen smiled.

And wouldn't it be fun, too? And informative! He wondered how a cultivator fresh from the Republic would compare to Staff Lieutenant Uya. Almost as importantly, he wanted to know how his spearmanship compared to Huo Ming's.

"I suggest we attack each other at the same time," Shen replied as he put his helmet on and took out a C+ spear from his ring. "Let's also factor into the challenge how fast we recover from the First Lieutenant's Saber. You said I was afraid of the Saber? Let's see whose will is so frail that they should have been afraid."

He believed he would lose on the willpower front, too; mastering two Laws required some willpower. But that was already established. It would be just a little hubris if he lost after his words. If he won? It might affect Huo Ming's focus.

Ming wanted to fight. Well, the fight had started at Ming's first provocation, and Shen was countering with his own chain attack. He might pursue the Path of Omnipotence, but until he got there, he wouldn't hesitate to use everything Liya had taught him to beat those stronger than him.

Huo Ming didn't show his displeasure on his face, but his soul rippled ever so slightly. He felt offended by Shen suggesting he was inferior. Yet, he smiled.

"That sounds acceptable." He produced a pure white spear with a red spearhead from his spatial ring. "Should we start?"

Shen replied by attacking the man. Ming reciprocated. The tip of their spears got a hair's breadth from each other, and both people were frozen as the Law of the Saber pierced their existence.

Shen had been right; Uya's Law was nothing compared to Zyn's. Her Sword had threatened to unmake him, but the Saber overwhelmed his mind, demanded all his focus, and became superimposed on his existence. And with that came the ultimate threat: resist, and you'll be remade into the Saber's image.

The Saber was everywhere. It was everything. To deny this truth, refuse this certainty, and challenge its rule was to be proven wrong by becoming one with the Saber.

Shen's mind froze. He couldn't think. There was only the Saber and nothing else.

Yet, the very core of his Self stirred.

That core of his existence barely had a faint sapience around his Will. It couldn't differentiate between a lie and the truth. But remake him into a Saber? Even if the threat was genuine, so what? His Will would remain. It could reach Omnipotence anyway, be it wielding a Saber or anything else.

Or was the attacker saying it would also erase Shen's Will? That they could replace his Self with the Saber's Will?

The arrogance offended him. His Self struggled angrily—

Shen blinked. The Law of the Saber was still piercing him, yet he felt nothing but a headache. His mind was perfectly protected—permanently so. That kind of attack would never work against him ever again.

He could try to resist further, but he wouldn't be that discourteous to Zyn. If he succeeded, it would discredit the First Lieutenant before everyone. The battle royale would end in failure.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

So, Shen waited. Seven seconds later, the Saber left Huo Ming's body and soul. His eyes were glassy and confused, and his soul was suffering. For all of the man's bravado and his two mastered Laws, Shen estimated he wouldn't be feeling that bad even if his Baptism of Self hadn't allowed him to recover his consciousness first. His willpower had been superior all along.

Shen attacked.

He would've held back if this was only a fight to become Field Commander, but this was also about honor. Huo Ming had worded things to humiliate Shen. It was a kind of attack, too, so Shen would crush the man. He could get information later but wouldn't have such a great opportunity like this again.

He used all his power swinging his spear from top to bottom. Huo Ming wore no helmet, but his enchanted robe produced a transparent layer on his head. It stopped Shen.

Shen immediately struck again at the exact same place. The enchantment gave. The spearhead sliced open Ming's head up to his neck but was stopped by the robe there again.

He struck a third, fourth, and fifth time. The robe's enchantment was C+, and so were the man's stats. His Path also seemed to make his body stronger.

But on the sixth swing, Shen's spearhead was already about to hit Ming's heart. A blue bubble materialized while Shen was pinned by the Saber and pushed back a hundred yards.

He had won.

The Republic's cultivators were surprised, to say the least. Shen heard someone mutter, "Impossible!". Even Uya, who was fighting someone else, raised an eyebrow at Shen.

Shen didn't care about being Field Commander, but he also had nothing against it. He could use it to his advantage. So, he did the only thing he could to further cement his position.

He returned to his previous post while storing his helmet and spear away. Once there, he didn't say anything like, "Who's next?" That would give Huo Ming too much credit. Not saying anything was the same as stating Ming's existence and their battle were absolutely irrelevant.

No one else was fighting when a minute remained. The air was devoid of abilities, too. Even those who tried to turn a harmless area ability into attacks had already failed. Some people were even talking to each other while they waited for the battle royale to end.

"I see you were convinced," Uya said. "Whoever didn't attack anyone can now raise your hand to be removed from the exercise. Everyone else will wait for the end and be frozen for another ten seconds. This includes those in the bubbles."

They were convinced indeed. No one who got frozen twice had gone for the third time. Only one of those had even continued attacking, which suggested Zyn made it even worse the second time. Those people were disheartened and silent.

A few who hadn't attacked didn't raise their hands. They believed in themselves to a point but didn't want to risk fighting after being frozen.

Some tried to attack at the very last second. It was both cunning and stupid. Zyn would be expecting it, but he would also be the most exhausted at the end. Naturally, everyone failed.

At long last, a new barrage of Sabers materialized inside the offenders. Shen didn't even feel a headache this time. In fact, he was almost sure he could just walk away unless Zyn turned the blades into more than mental attacks.

Ten seconds later, it was over. The bubbles disappeared, and the ones who had been inside were dropped to the ground.

| The battle royale event has concluded. All treason-related rules apply again.

"First Lieutenant Zyn is returning," Uya said. "Form ranks."

Everyone obeyed. Some people were almost apathetic after the punishment, but mentioning Zyn triggered them. They rushed to their positions, afraid of messing up.

Shen noticed the ones who got it the worst were those who had displayed aggressive behavior as soon as they arrived and then attacked during the event, followed by those who had attacked twice. Not even the living tree that had struck before Uya gave the word was faring that bad despite being frozen for ten whole minutes. The final freezing also seemed much lighter than previous ones, more like a reminder than anything.

Zyn's had dispensed punishment reasonably enough.

When the First Lieutenant returned, he looked judgingly at the Junior Lieutenants. "I expected less resistance," he said. "But it's good that you tried so hard; it makes the futility of your struggle clearer. If you still think you can resist me after all that, you're welcome to challenge me right now. I give my word that I'll step down as First Lieutenant if you win" No one even blinked. "Good. It seems the exercise tired some of you, which would make you bad at learning what I have to teach. I'll give you one Standard day to recompose before the basic course starts. I suggest sleeping, but you're free to spend your time as you see fit. Staff Lieutenant Uya will lead you to your temporary quarters."

Alicia, Sai, and Mark hadn't attacked anyone. The girl immediately looked at Shen. He smiled slightly and gave her a slight nod. It would soon be time for them to talk.

Huo Ming was obviously resentful. Everyone knew Shen would've lost if not for the freezing, but at the same time, Shen had displayed his "overwhelmingly superior" willpower. He was no longer unproven. The Republic's cultivators were now supposed to point out an actual fault of his during his command as an excuse to challenge him.

Uya led everyone to one of the fortress's resting areas. It had countless rooms spread throughout a maze of corridors. D-ranks were usually forbidden from entering the C-ranks areas and higher, but someone of a higher rank could always visit the places meant for weaker people. The Staff Lieutenant was kind enough to show the D-ranks their rooms first, so Shen knew where Earth's humans were staying.

Shen's room was left for last. Each D-rank in the military received a thirty-three-yard-wide square room by default. C-ranks got one-hundred-yard-wide rooms. It tripled for anyone who commanded a unit.

Uya entered the room with Shen and closed the door behind her. "How did you do it?" she asked. "How did you resist a Lawful Suppression? And why didn't you resist mine when I used it against you?"

Shen took offense at her demanding answers from him but decided to reply because, purposefully or not, she had made it easy for him to visit Alicia and the others.

He said, "I didn't purposefully make you look bad if that's what you're thinking, Staff Lieutenant. First Lieutenant Zyn's Law just triggered the enlightenment that made me immune to it."

Liya had never mentioned Lawful Suppressions. Shen guessed it belonged to the list of things only elite military troops were supposed to learn and couldn't share with anyone. He also guessed resisting it let him learn about it for whatever reason.

Uya's face twisted into anger at his words. He could guess she got it from a bad perspective: her Law wasn't strong enough to trigger Shen's enlightenment. She had taken it as an offense.

Shen shook his head. "I'm not insulting you, Staff Lieutenant. I guess you didn't mean to make your Lawful Suppression as strong as the First Lieutenant did. You were testing me; the First Lieutenant was punishing me."

"I don't need your pity, Junior Lieutenant," she replied and left the room without further word.

Shen sighed. That had been counterproductive, but there was nothing he could do. Really, he had told the truth. It was on her if she wanted to turn something so simple into a storm.

He gave her a few seconds to get further away from his room—it was only polite—then finally went to meet Alicia.