Inside the uninhabited Summer Palace of the late emperor, situated amidst New Hope Port City, a door hidden beneath the secondary staircase clicked open.
An armoured head, dexterous and silent, peeked out of the newly appeared opening and surveyed its surroundings. After confirming the absence of guards and other lifeforms from a similar vein, the armoured head stepped outside the passageway with its body and signalled for its compatriots to do the same. Quickly, and quietly, more armoured figures exited the hidden stairwell and assembled on the landing outside.
Time rapidly ticked by and only the orderly footsteps of soldiers and the clinking of their metal armours resounded within the still air. And amidst this flowing sound of metal rubbing against cloth, a quieter sound akin to the steps of a child was heard.
Alexandros Centinni the Twelfth stepped out of the hidden stairwell and quietly breathed a sigh of relief. The journey up till here had not been easy for the young boy. Hours of walking, sneaking, and quietly creeping had taken their toll on the boy emperor.
Still, Alexandros was glad that he managed to make it till here. He had to admit that the month-long cruel training did have its effects. The young emperor made a little note inside his head not to complain as much starting their next session.
"Venerable Emperor." A voice called for the young boy. Alexandros turned his citrine gaze to stare at the two captains.
"We await your royal eminence's instructions," said the two captains, subserviently.
Alexandros was surprised. It was unknown since when the two captains had come to genuinely admire and respect the boy emperor. The young boy hadn't been actively lobbying for their support either. It seemed to have come randomly and naturally.
Still, this was a good sign. Alexandros remembered reading somewhere that a 'ruler was only as good as his subordinates.' And since these men, who were the best out of their lot and were very capable, had come to pledge their services to him, it meant that he was doing something right… Right?
The boy emperor quickly shook such superfluous thoughts out of his head. He then levelled a steady gaze towards the two men and spoke. "The city must be under martial law and the enemy is certain to have men patrolling the streets. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that we keep our stealth."
"The enemy does not know that we are already inside their city, and we must keep it that way. At least until the main army outside begins their assault."
Taking a pause to arrange his thoughts, the emperor continued. "We need to split our party three ways; the first party, consisting of less than a hundred men, will head towards the Governor's Manor and take him hostage. 'A snake cannot function without its head,' after all."
"The second party, consisting of more than a hundred but not more than three hundred men, shall go around the city and start fires. Make certain to keep away from critical facilities. We only seek to cripple the enemy's morale and not destroy the city. Also, this party must try and secure the city's munition storage warehouse and food storage warehouse."
"The third party, containing the remainder of the soldiers, will head to the city's entrance. There, they will wait until the main army outside begins their assault before engaging the enemy in a two-pronged assault. A detachment from this group will also aim to open the fortress gates, allowing entry to the main army."
"This is Our plan? What say you?" asked Alexandros, keeping his tone steady.
Truthfully speaking, the boy emperor had been drilled in such mock strategies countless times by his teacher. The past month had seen him being trained on such simulations to such a point that his lessons on kingship and governance had only been lightly touched upon
During this period, Alexandros had always wondered; why was Wuzhi strangely keen on training him for sieges? Was he expecting him to conduct a siege in the near future?
Previously, the boy emperor had laughed away such doubts. Now, however, he could not do so. He was indeed here, inside New Hope Port City, conducting a siege.
This made Alexandros wonder; did Wuzhi 'foresee' this happening? He knew there existed Paths, like the [Scrying Path], that dealt with predicting and scrying the future. Was Wuzhi a master of such a Path?
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Alexandros did not know, and he did not care either. All he felt was immeasurable gratitude towards the saviour of his life. He understood that his teacher was hiding a few key things from him, but what did it matter? Which person did not hide their secrets from another?
In any case, whether Wuzhi was a master of the [Scrying Path] or not, Alexandros was glad that he had been trained on siege warfare for the past month. The countless nights which he had spent burning the midnight oil came to aid him at this moment.
The emperor patiently waited for his people's council. Learned as he may be, he was still an inexperienced youth. If there was something wrong with his strategy, these experienced soldiers would surely know.
"Venerable Emperor," one of the captains began, "… your strategy is without any flaws. This servant feels that even if he puts his two decades of experience together, he would be unable to come up with a strategy that is better than your royal eminence's."
"He is correct, Venerable Emperor. Your strategy is indeed flawless." The other captain agreed with his peer's assessment without a moment's hesitation.
Alexandros immediately felt a feeling of liberation and fulfilment fill him. It could not be explained how much these words of validation meant to him; a person living each day with guilt.
Imperceptibly lowering his head, he mumbled, "Thank you."
The two captains awkwardly scratched their heads and did not reply. They soon spoke their words of parting and went away to carry out the emperor's orders.
Soon, the soldiers were neatly divided into appropriate parties and each party was given their objectives. The second party, dubbed 'Disruption Party,' were the first to take leave. The two hundred and sixty men will split into teams of two or three, and go around making fires and causing chaos within the city.
After the Disruption Party's leaving, the third party, dubbed 'Pincer Party,' also left with six hundred and ninety men. The party also included ten cultivators, leaving behind fifty men, two cultivators, the small party of Royal Guards, and the emperor.
They would be the final party. The so-called, 'Headhunter Party.'
"Venerable Emperor," greeted two men. One was a middle-aged and dressed in fiery-red robes, and the other was a younger man dressed in jade-coloured robes. These two were the cultivators attached to the Headhunter Party.
At their greeting, Alexandros calmly nodded his head in greeting. Noting the badges affixed at their chest, which informed others of their main Paths, the young emperor spoke. "A [Fire Path] practitioner and a [Wind Path] practitioner, is it?"
"Venerable Emperor's eyes see true," replied the middle-aged man. "I am a Rank 2 practitioner of the [Fire Path], and this boy here is a Rank 1 practitioner of the [Wind Path]."
"Fire and wind, the two Paths have great synergy," commented Alexandros. He then turned to look at his personal knight, Matthias, and asked, "Shall we go then?"
"By your word, your royal eminence," saluted Matthias.
Alexandros Centinni, with a little over fifty men in his party, left the Summer Palace of the old emperor and headed towards the Governor of New Hope Port City's manor.
Dawn was close, and with it drew closer, the first feat of the boy emperor
---
"Lord Governor! LORD GOVERNOR!!" An aide burst into the Governor's office, startling its inhabitants. Clutching onto the bloody stab wound across his chest, he screamed, "THEY ARE HERE!! RUUUNN—!!"
BOOOM!! An explosion went off in the corridor connecting the office. A whirlwind of fire tore through the carpeted floors and wooden walls, sending uncountable fragmented shrapnel whizzing through the air. Many of the smaller pieces left cuts and scratches across the bodies of the middle-aged governor and his various advisors and aides. A few of the larger pieces, propelled by the explosion, directly stabbed through and nailed a few of the unfortunate ones into the floors and walls.
In but a few seconds, the hectic office room became a nailed coffin.
Furious flames, bluish-red in colour, raged across the entire manor as they ate away and burned everything that they came across. The attempts by the remaining few guards, who managed to miraculously survive the initial attack, to put out the fire soon proved useless as the flames continued to rage on. Those that dared approach too close soon met with the ravenous hunger of the gluttonous flames as their bodies burned like candles approaching the end.
It burned, burned, burned.
For ten full minutes, the unnatural, avaricious fire burned away at the Governor's manor. It was unclear how many men, women, and children fell to its jaws, leaving only charred bones and ashes in its wake.
Step. Step. Step. Long after the ravenous fire had calmed, the footsteps of a young child stepped inside what remained of the late governor's office. The boy, who looked no older than ten or eleven, stared with frozen eyes at his smouldering surroundings littered with burnt corpses.
A terrible stench wafted across the air. And yet, the boy remained perfectly still with his arms by his sides. His immaculate face held a forced expression of indifference as he tried his best to even out the furrows forming upon his forehead.
Casting a glance at the half-burnt body of the governor, whose melted face still held an expression of terror, Alexandros was unable to hold back the disgust within his gut any longer. Turning away and running to a corner, he expelled the yellowish contents of his empty stomach.
The Governor was killed, one-fourth of New Hope Port City had been burned, two warehouses of munitions and four warehouses of food storage had been discovered and secured, the main fortress gate had been felled and half the enemy army had been slaughtered.
A total of 8500 lives had been lost, 2500 from the enemy's side and 6000 from the empire's, and the entire siege had lasted for a mere 19 hours.
As the first light of dawn graced the 10th Day of the Eight Month of the Year 735 NCE, New Hope Port City had been successfully conquered by the South Aislan Empire's forces.